>> Good evening and thanks for joining us on the week in review.

I'm Nick Blumberg.

Chicago's reviled parking meter deal might be getting a little less bitter.

Nearly 2 decades ago, Chicago in to what is widely considered a textbook case of what not to do.

>> And municipal finance, a key City Council committee advances a resale of Chicago's parking meters after negotiating some new sweeteners.

>> Price gouging and gentrification is happening at communities.

So it's been the time Alders.

Also consider 2 dueling renter protection ordinances but hold off on any votes.

In meantime, a mayoral hopefuls two-over candidates running for 2 offices at The state Supreme Court hears arguments over whether serious Chicago police discipline cases should be heard in public and.

>> Kyle Seale hits one high and deep into right center field.

And this one.

>> Pitches inside.

>> The Cubs and the Sox both clinched postseason appearances with Northside Start.

Pete Crow-armstrong earning his spot MLB through get here.

>> And now to our week in review panel.

Joining us are Steve Daniels of the Chicago Tribune editorial board.

Heather Sharon of Wt Tw news, Michael Puente of WBEZ and Michael Lippe Trott of Block Club.

Chicago, thank you all for being here get right to it.

Heather.

The Finance Committee approved this could have renegotiated meter resale deal yesterday.

Didn't make it float through the full council today, Phyllis, what happened?

Well.

>> 2 only to alderman can block a vote at any initial city council meeting.

And that's exactly what happened today because Alderman Jason Ervin, who wanted the city to buy the meters back through a newly created infrastructure front isn't happy with this deal.

So he was working behind the scenes to see how many people he could get with him and in politics and perhaps in life.

If you don't know if you've got the votes, you don't vote.

So they'll come back and try again on to All right.

We will be keeping an eye on that, certainly.

But, you know, Steve, this deal involves new owner sharing 5% of annual profits with the city that's earmarked for pension payments.

>> Does that feel like a sort of a significant concession, something you know, worth the council's consideration?

I think this is the best of a bad play in the best of a bad hand.

>> The 5% is not a lot of money over the course of 50 or 60 years, something 360 million was the estimate which and so that it out it kind of a rounding error in the city budget.

70 million one-time payment will help would help for next year's budget.

And and there's some concessions in terms of taking years out of service, which has been a real sore point.

>> When the city does that then has to pay the meter vendor to reimburse them for events or things along those lines.

>> so I think, you know, we we didn't love that, though.

There wasn't a lot for Parker's in deal for the actual people who pay in body.

But yeah, I think you look at it and I think most of the autumn and seem to think that's about as good as we were gonna be able to do.

Yeah.

And even just some psychic value of getting any concessions.

What's interesting, though, is that that profit sharing agreement could sort of incentivize the city in the city council to increase rates on Parker's because if the parking meters make more money, the city will make more money and this will be the first time since 2008 that the city will get any Bennett for benefit of what you actually I guess I'm not feed the meter now because that is from the 91 is a But what you put on your credit from a So that means that the city council is going to have some hard decisions to make and right now meter, you know, costs are rising with inflation.

>> And that is part of why the city's budget is in such a bad shape because many of its revenue sources don't rise with inflation.

So it does go up another terrible choice.

city council have to look at.

You know, Mike, the deal also includes a pledge by the new owners to sell an airline used for deportation flights.

There was a separate measure this week that move forward.

>> Basically forcing companies doing big business with the city to disclose if they do any work on the Trump administration's mass deportation push, do you think we might see more efforts like this to sort of hold companies accountable and lawmakers eyes for their role, you know, in the immigration crackdown either in Chicago and other cities?

>> I think so.

I think especially here in Chicago over the being such a blue city, they want that kind of information.

But in the end, some of these companies are so intertwined.

How do you keep them?

How do you know, keep track who's dealing with this dealing with that?

It seems like a slippery but I can understand why Chicago would want to know that information.

begs the question, especially as we get further into campaign season, how much of this last is this something that's coming up more so.

>> On the heels operation, Midway Blitz leading into both the November elections in the mayoral elections that we're seeing people.

We know this push for accountability, transparency on.

you getting money from being a packed theater company that has ties with ice and seeing more less these progressive land mines where these times just so inflammatory in these these concepts or from a story when it comes to the ballot, data centers also that I'm sure it's going to be a hot button topic now, but I'm eager to see, you know, a year from now, 18 months from now.

Is this something that people are going to scrutinizing when it comes to the city's years from now?

Post post Trump, right to highlight, right?

Yeah.

Let's stick with data centers for write the you know, the mayor is calling for a yearlong moratorium.

>> Alderman Bill Conway is pushing zoning changes that would make it more difficult to build new data centers.

What are you going to be watching for as officials try to, you know, kind of parse out what guardrails ought to be put in place.

I think everyone's pretty united when it comes to some form of regulation, especially in city limits.

Chicago doesn't have that many data centers compared to other areas, but still 40 data centers and city limits something to follow along.

And when it comes to water use when it comes to noise.

Want to make sure that that's a mine and particularly with the mayor essentially is to moratorium until there can be more of a regulatory body.

And then parallel with that.

You have Bill Conway.

>> Particularly looking at what he describes as a data center popping up on the sale that did that more or less skirted around the public comment being able weigh in on it.

Want to see how all of that plays out because I think everyone is specially in the past couple years from people barely hearing about data centers to now every city you hear about it and dating back 2 years ago, financial benefit that a lot of the city's initially put an with the rise of AI the rise of the use.

See now the realistic environmental impacts.

And I think it's going to be good that more or less has some foresight.

So we're not a situation 15 years from now where some haphazard decisions lead to data centers mean the next parking meters of Chicago.

You could see that sort of the difference.

Me being on the other side of the state line.

You can see the competition for data centers.

We have a state like Indiana who are actively encouraging more data centers to come to that state.

Are they going to pull away some of that economic investment that would probably go to Chicago or Cook County into northwest Indiana.

Northern Indiana has been there's been interesting change.

I think in a number of respects.

One of them is that.

>> Well, Indiana, certainly there's a whole bunch of Republican states that where data centers and now the problem politically.

So this is not as a bipartisan pushback.

Second thing is that there is now data centers in the The ones I've been in Chicago have been here for 30, 40 years.

Are a lot of them have anyway, right?

There are some there.

They were meant to support.

Basically the Internet like you're you're able to use they're not high bullseye alert in the eye data Centers.

Hi Piper scaled the data centers probably coming to Chicago.

City in any most of those are are targeted for Exeter.

Been kind of buried in rural areas.

So it gets confusing.

I think the public is confused a little bit about what exactly we're talking about.

And so it suddenly becomes anti data center across the board.

Yeah, I was going to say that the only proposal for Heupel Scare Data Center in Chicago is on the former U.S.

Steel site where JB Pritzker is working very hard to create that Clinton center.

The mayor has said that that data center is not moving forward.

Now.

So.

>> You know, the question is, and as Michael said, you know, is this a hot button issue that people running for office are sort hitching their wagons to or is this going to be sort of as we rethink our relationship with these with energy and sort of energy consumption will be interesting thing that lost on a lot of people.

I think when you you asked the average person on the street, even average person who thinks they're in the in the know.

>> To explain the difference between these different types of data centers when it comes to the election and like nationally we think about in Memphis, the giant center that's built out there, people can complete.

That was something that can be built the Chicago right.

And when we speak about a quantum computing campus asking the average voter, can you explain the difference between a data center and a quantum computing campus?

They don't have a hard time even the most progressive United States.

Let's be clear.

I cannot accept met with the Queen, met with the KRON and people recently before that.

I really didn't know much about it at all.

So I mean, have playing things because >> I year year and a half ago in the city Chicago quantum computing.

That was the new progressive fans.

All right.

Get where he's Agus.

The quantum computing.

And now that quantum computing colliding with data centers aware limbo of like is this progress of is not yes.

Well, and it's interesting to, you know, a lot of the concerns that folks have around the rise of data centers are the proliferation of AI, you know, concerns about how is this going to affect the job market?

But, you know, the editorial board had a peas recently, you know, basically saying, you know, take these fears seriously, but but skeptically, when you look at the effect on yeah, imean, there was a report that basically said the impacts on the work force and on work life.

The fears.

>> Of massive white collar job losses and the like haven't really come to pass to date but, you know, we early early innings AI and all of this.

It is certainly not to say that there is no reason is, you know, that this is all a trumped-up thing that people shouldn't be worried about.

Just simply that lets you keep you keep your head.

The don't lose your head about this.

And let's and let's let's see what happens in.

And but then you also have the issues of AI and robots taking over the world, right?

is so there's that there's that scale and the end the human and the end human beings in end of the debate that made white collar job losses look like nothing right before the opening scenes of Terminator.

I'm not so >> Yeah.

So you know, it's it's it is.

It's wild times in terms of the debate at the moment, record it or and I really liked House described as widespread but shallow.

And I I was just getting so integrated into every aspect of life that even people who are the most visual about it cannot fully say you don't use a accurate in terms if you Google something good was going to give us a Aires whether like it or not, right, right.

Use a gun.

And if I you can, you can go through.

result was like to an extent that is a I And I think there's it's going to be a point where especially >> young people coming up in college, especially young journalists, is going to be on them to have that extra level of judgment in making sure even integrate AI isn't a part of it.

Yeah, old enough to remember when I was in journalism school, they were all yelling about Wikipedia and that feels incredibly think about All Mike, another of the job market downtown Chicago hotel workers.

>> They are in the middle of a labor dispute.

What is the latest there?

Well, you're talking about 7,000 downtown hotel workers.

Their contract expired in August.

>> So you're talking about the union that unite here.

One local one in downtown Chicago.

They are negotiating with each and every different hotel chain at the Marriott Hilton and Hyatt.

And this is really coming at a bad time.

It's fall season.

Coming up, Christmas shopping is coming up.

>> You have big Bears games and playoffs.

So if they were to hit a strike right now, it would be terrible.

And they're they've already authorized the strike.

They've already have a signed up for strike benefits so they can go on strike at any moment.

>> Yeah.

And you have to imagine that, you know, we've seen these large-scale strikes before, you know, we've seen, you know, the lines outside of hotels, as you say, and I would imagine lawmakers up for election in November, probably, you know, November and February.

Don't want to see that happen.

Either They're supposed they're still negotiating.

We'll see what happens.

You.

But you've got think maybe one domino falls off followed.

But >> you're talking like 48 hotels, downtown Chicago at Salon com.

Heather jumping back to City Council for a minute.

Another issue that's sort of in a holding pattern right now is the side.

>> 2 renter protection ordinances.

Both could have been considered by the full council this week.

Now we're looking at next week.

Fill us in on where things stand well.

>> Like I said, any to alderman can say no vote today.

That's what happened with these ordinance.

Is one really supported by the mayor and sort of tenants organization.

The other crafted by Alderman biggest unsupported somewhat typically by landlord groups.

They are both up for a vote on Tuesday and that means that if there's going to be negotiations to craft a compromise, they got to start talking now, the problem is, is that the 2 ordinances are pretty different still, even though the mayor has sort of scaled back his initial proposal that would have sort of required landlords to have a reason to evict tenants and it could have triggered big fines if they were trying to sort move their tenants out so they could, you know, raise rates rents, I should say, or they wanted to sort of do rehabilitation.

So the biggest changes are sort of off the table.

But, you know, there's no consensus on what should happen.

There may be some group project work going on over the weekend.

Some very curious to see how they work through some of the fundamental differences before even get to the deeper.

>> These would have actions, but even just like moving fees because of multiple news outlets have done investigations on how is really just extra doesn't really go towards anything.

You don't get it back.

Compared to deposit.

And with the mayor's ordinance more, let's get rid of a lot of those fees putting a cap on deposits.

What a month and a half rent compared to the other one more or less making show making it to where you just have to state what fees are coming.

But that think that big fundamental difference to work Yeah, it'll be interesting to see where where things shake out.

Well, sticking with you for a minute, Michael, you know, summer is winding down just last weekend, revelers are gathered Douglas Park for Riot Fest.

>> A summit was not quite so happy about how much cleanup is needed after all the storms in the out there.

Yes, Riot fest is this weekend.

I was out there for Friday.

Eisai alkaline trio, Pop Pistols.

It was it was a good time.

But coming into Saturday and Sunday, you saw storms are route roll through.

>> And on top of the people going to the high traffic areas and that was part.

It was truly a mess when it came to Monday morning as more or less a mud pit.

A lot of standing water in puddles and a lot of work for the city and contractors to get him to turn Douglas Park around media at the park.

Now a big thing is with the storm conditions.

I spoke to the partnership on Monday and they say they're given, right?

That's a little bit of extra time to get their infrastructure out.

So it's not until this upcoming Tuesday.

The 29th expected the park to be fully clear.

And then as a metaphor process in terms of the walk through with a partnership or write fast to assess the damage is right.

Fest tasked footing the bill to repair the park.

But when we think about it, if 29th is the person to be clear, they say it takes a couple days a week to assess the damage and getting started going on repairing the damage.

It will take a while and then we want Halloween hits.

Anything goes in terms of snow.

That's freezing and it's going to be a race against the clock to really get.

That was part repair on top of coming winter.

And we think about this, a baseball diamond and the festival grounds, a soccer field and a football area that's going to be a lot for the families who use that was part to really get back used the park ahead of the winter.

Yes.

>> just going to say, you know, lo these festivals are Greelot Palooza, Ryan fans.

But is it fair to the public who utilizes those parks?

mean, the parks like you know, just looking at the forecast last week and I was surprised there was still going to have that.

I pray you open the gates a little bit later.

2 o'clock.

Buck.

but it takes so long to rehabilitate the grass.

You got to wonder, is there a better option?

Yeah, we are lamenting Chicago not having standing festival grounds early those who were talking earlier before it was.

It's just terrible lack right his time of year.

>> You know, typically have monsoon mid-September is nice.

Time of year in Chicago.

This is least my opinion like the nyces, whether that you generally have in the city is now to about mid to maybe 3rd week of October.

It's going to save few weeks series.

Yeah.

And and so it just was terrible.

Terrible luck side.

Yeah, I would.

I guess I would urge that people don't take one terrible yell 50 year Whatever for that weekend.

sort of extrapolate it out forever.

It's definitely something when it comes to Africa.

over the spent 11 right?

Far right been a Douglas Park sense getting pushed out of Humboldt Park and there's been a growing group of community advocates and are strongly against right fast.

And they're definitely using this to advantage in terms of advocating.

>> To push right beside Douglas Park, if you remember back 2024 right, that's announced that they were going to move over the bridge and they reneged on that promise.

And then people were very upset by.

And now, as we've discussed, when comes to the festival grounds at because I talked to earlier this week are doubling down on that.

They really want to see something in what some guy just learn from Heather is that there's going to be nonbinding advisory referendum on this on the ballot.

So people have a chance to weigh in and you'll get to say whether Chicago should have its festival grounds name won't know where it is or how we put our customers might be a vacancy in Soldier Field for too long.

we can about All right.

Well, we've been kind of talking around the election, some actual mayoral election news candidate William Quinlan.

>> Is suing over double dippers.

You know, candidates running for, say a statewide office or county treasurer or Congress.

>> And mayor of Chicago in February, sour grapes, legit grievance.

A little bit of both.

>> Well, he's a pretty good lawyer based on some of the stuff is on in the past.

you know, I don't I don't pretend to know the ins and outs of the state law on this on this situation.

But apparently there's a legal now.

This is as I'm sure the rest guys will say something that happened in Chicago elections forever and ever and ever and we've had, you know Washington was running for the same office, said the only ran it was in a different officer running for different has sent some office when he ran for Mayor Richard, any number of of really giants of our politics did all of this over time.

So so, yes, I guess sour grapes up to a point for sure.

But I think it's something for voters to consider when when a politician does give up their office in order to go for something bigger and that's a risk that they're taking with their career on.

There is the question, of course, you know, sort of the changing petition gathering time.

So this year for the first time, everything's been sort of, you know, moved up and a little bit because >> the state decided that the cities and across the state needed more time to prepare for elections.

So narrow candidates for mayor have to file their petitions no later than October.

26, which means that somebody like say Secretary of state, Alexi Giannoulias has to formally say I want to be the next mayor of Chicago.

You like a week before asking the people of Illinois to reelect him as the Illinois secretary of state and whether or not you think that is a bad look, I do not think there is an actual legal question here because state law has been very clear that specific only applies for specific elections held on the same day.

Now, I cannot handle a mayoral election.

3rd.

I do not believe that is what it's going to happen.

So I do not know that this is sort of going to go anywhere.

But Bill Clinton got us all talking about.

It.

Didn't know Yeah, I think that was a goal, especially as you said, Heather, with.

>> This just logistically, all this essentially be a perfect storm to raise this question in terms of like you said.

>> you having to formally declare right before a different election.

We are asking people to elect you for a different office, right?

It does raise the question of some of career politicians in that way where seeing people move over and positions.

I remember for the 7th congressional district where a leshawn for say no, if I don't get elected to this position, I'm going to retire.

Right?

And I think that there's going to be very few people where that will make a statement like that to say if I don't win this one election, I'm done with politics.

I'm not going to put waves hernia sickly.

Of course, although she didn't do for when to come trailer run to run for mayor and she's hoping the voters will reward her in a way that they will not reward somebody like Alexa, Julius, for my older.

If you're a voter, you are kind of confused to which office they're running for maybe shouldn't the candidate.

>> Put their cards on the table which does or her going after, you know, I'm just and it, you know.

>> Yeah, there there may be something you may have to sacrifice rent.

You know, it may be that other political office, but I would just think, OK, maybe the law but maybe just in terms deciding which office you want to have trying to have your cake and eat it, too.

Writing on.

There are other, you know, other states other, you know, election authorities that have resigned to run rules where they basically say if you want to jump in, you've got, you know, you got to give that up.

>> So, you know, could be the kind of thing that if there was ever political will for it.

We saw here in Illinois.

>> Yeah, I mean, it's a very least it's something for voters to take into consideration.

So at the very least when you're doing, especially something like Chicago mayoral race, we have multiple people running for mayor who are going to if they don't win, hang on to their the office to that.

They already have.

Yeah.

I just think it's it's worthy of consideration.

If you're a voter 12, we're talking about changing rules.

We should all be asking.

Why do we vote for mayor in February when everybody else votes for everything else in November?

Well, it's because decades ago.

>> People wanted to reduce turnout in local elections.

And that is why it is not.

thank the Democratic machine for you so we don't vote for mayor along with president or, you know, other want to start changing things I also having to make it at the end of even an April, you could have done something like that.

But, you know, well, we may have double dippers in the race.

The 4 of you, I would never make that accusation.

You're great.

But we are out of time.

So our thanks to Steve Daniels, Heather, Sharon, Michael Puente and Michael Live truck.

And we're back to wrap things up right after this.

>> Chicago tonight is made possible in part by the Alexander and John Nichols family.

The Pope Brothers Foundation.

And the support of these donors.

>> And that's our show for this Friday night.

Now for all of us here at the week in review, I'm Nick Lumber.

Thank you for watching.

Stay healthy, stay safe and stay informed.

Have a great weekend.

All right.

The Sox and the Cubs clinch within 2 minutes of one another.

see a mix in the 40 40 club.

>> I know you're excited about your South Siders, what he actually You got update for Miguel Vargas.

And when talk to Mayor Commi having we need him to come through.

But what a great year for the White Sox.

Up to 3 straight 100 season losses.

It so I mentioned, they're cats and dogs living together.

>> I mean, I thought it was it's so cool to see that the socks, you know, you have a great weekend and the you know, the Guardian do exactly there on Saturday.

All right.

Closed captioning is made possible by Robert a cliff and Clifford law offices, personal injury, law firm.

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