New recordings of iconic City Council moments: The Rundown
Good afternoon! It’s Thursday, and I’m debating whether this 45-minute recipe is worth it for an imitation Crunchwrap Supreme. Here’s what you need to know today.
A 40-year-old recording of then-Mayor Harold Washington leading the Refrigerettes in a rousing cheer for the NFC Champion Chicago Bears just weeks from their only Super Bowl victory is one of 800 newly digitized audio clips showcased on a web page unveiled by City Clerk Anna Valencia.
As my colleague Fran Spielman reports for the Chicago Sun-Times, the page features more than 800 newly digitized audio clips recorded between 1970 and 2012. There are captions, indexes to legislation and City Council journals, and links to related historical archives.
An audio archive of recent Chicago history would not be complete without a recording of the Council debate preceding the 2008 deal to privatize the city’s parking meters. Ald. Billy Ocasio (26th) cast one of only five “no” votes on that day, after bringing a piggy bank to the debate as a prop.
“This is the sound of parents taking money out of a kid’s piggy bank. Not having anything in the piggy bank. That’s what we’re talking about here today,” Ocasio said. [Chicago Sun-Times]
The Trump administration has claimed the squalid building was a magnet for criminals and Venezuelan gang members, but court records filed this week indicate the raid was actually based on intelligence that “illegal aliens were unlawfully occupying apartments in the building.”
As Sophie Sherry reports for the Chicago Sun-Times, some U.S. citizens reported being detained for hours. But one man, who helped neighbors hide, was left undisturbed by the feds, prompting questions about what the heavily armed agents knew about the building and its residents before the raid.
The new arrest reports show building owner Trinity Flood and property manager Corey Oliver gave “verbal and written consent” to search the building. Agents only checked units “not legally rented or leased at the time,” according to the reports.
Tenants had complained about the abysmal conditions at the building for years, long before the arrival of Venezuelan migrants. Residents long suspected Flood and Oliver had tipped off the feds ahead of the raid. [Chicago Sun-Times]
3. The Cook County court clerk launched its e-ticket pilot program
Drivers issued traffic citations in the suburbs may receive tickets through a quicker electronic process under a pilot program launched this week by the circuit clerk’s office.
Rather than waiting about a week or longer for a handwritten, mailed ticket to be entered in the court system, the new “e-citation” pilot program can make tickets available within a day or two.
Forty municipalities and the Cook County sheriff’s office are participating in the program, according to Circuit Clerk Mariyana Spyropoulos’s office. Her office is hoping to bring the Chicago Police Department and all other Cook County municipalities into the program. [Chicago Sun-Times]
4. Englewood’s Earle STEM principal received a Principal of the Year celebration
Principal Regina Latimer-Lake was chosen from a pool of 20 regional winners as the statewide Elementary Principal of the Year by the Illinois Principals Association.
The association recognizes principals across all grade levels both statewide and regionally. Latimer-Lake was selected from a pool of 20 regional winners to be honored with the statewide award.
Earle STEM staff coordinated a surprise assembly, keeping it under wraps from Latimer-Lake. She was called to the gym under the guise of an “issue with a parent,” she said. Instead, she was met with Chicago Public Schools staff, longtime mentors, news cameras and a sea of students in maroon Earle STEM polo shirts applauding. [Chicago Sun-Times]
Chicago proudly claims Florence Price as one of its own. After all, it was here she became the first Black female composer to have a symphony performed by a major orchestra, WBEZ’s Courtney Kueppers writes.
But this week, a new opera about Price’s origin story premiered in the Twin Cities in Minnesota, which has spent weeks at the epicenter of President Donald Trump’s immigration enforcement campaign. Still, Minnesota Opera chose to charge ahead with its planned premiere of “My Name is Florence.”
“This particular story feels, to our company, so essential right now,” said Ryan Taylor, Minnesota Opera’s president and general director, adding that the project has been in the works for years. “We planned this work having no idea what might be coming down the pike, and so I think we feel a responsibility to the creators. It’s exciting. And at the same time, there’s sort of like a dull ache that won’t go away.” [WBEZ]
Here’s what else is happening
- There has been no public sign of a response to NBC “Today” show host Savannah Guthrie’s message to her 84-year-old mother’s kidnapper. [AP]
- For the first time in decades, the U.S. and Russia have no limits on nuclear weapons. [NPR]
- Here are the Winter Olympians with Illinois ties to watch. [WBEZ]
- Review: Lyric Opera’s “Così fan tutte” is a sparkling, high-energy take on Mozart’s 1790 operatic classic. [WBEZ/Chicago Sun-Times]
Oh, and one more thing …
A 96-year-old Collegiate Gothic building on the DePaul University campus is being considered for preliminary landmark status, Chicago Sun-Times architecture columnist Lee Bey reports.
The city’s landmarks commission will decide whether to grant the designation to Cortelyou Commons, 2324 N. Fremont St., a dining hall and event space completed in 1930.
If approved, the building’s exterior would have preliminary landmark protection until a measure for a permanent designation is put before and approved by the City Council.
The city seeks landmark status for the building two months after the aldermen gave DePaul permission to raze four 1890s rowhouses and a 1925 apartment house to build a $60 million basketball and athletics center on the 2300 block of North Sheffield Avenue. [Chicago Sun-Times]
Tell me something good …
What is your favorite outdoor activity during winter in the Chicago area?
Chris writes:
“Cross Country Skiing at the local Forest Preserve.”
Feel free to email me, and your response may be included in the newsletter this week.
Discussion in the ATmosphere