The Chicago City Council on Wednesday rushed to the rescue of businesses and individuals whose everyday lives and livelihoods have been crippled by the stay-at-home shutdown triggered by the coronavirus.
At a virtual meeting almost certain to be downright tame, compared to the last foul-mouthed free-for-all, aldermen are expected to approve a parade of relief ordinances that target:
- O’Hare and Midway Airport concessionaires that have shut down entirely or seen their revenues plummet because of the travel slowdown.
Normally, airport concessionaires pay the city a percentage of sales or a “minimum annual guarantee” based sales the previous year — whichever is greater.
The relief package championed by Mayor Lori Lightfoot would waive rent and fees for two months — April and May — for restaurants and stores.
Beginning in June, those concessionaires would pay base rent only. The “minimum annual guarantee” would be deferred. It would need to be paid back at no interest, only when business recovers to the point where the concessionaire hits a level of sales that is 75% of what it did in 2019, before the coronavirus.
If sales are still depressed when the minimum annual guarantee is readjusted in January to reflect the pandemic’s impact the prior year, the relief will continue until the 75% benchmark is reached.
Advertiser and internet providers Clear Channel, JC Decaux and Boingo Wireless would get a two-month rent waiver.
For rental car companies at O’Hare and Midway, the city is offering to waive the minimum annual guarantee or base rent for the months of April, May and June. Rental car companies will continue to pay percentage rent, facility rent at O’Hare only and customer facility charges passed on to passengers as part of the cost of renting a car.
Aviation Commissioner Jamie Rhee has portrayed the relief package as “more generous” than any offered by other major airports because repayment of the deferred rent could be extended for as long as three years.
- Workers in danger of being fired, suspended, transferred or having their pay cut because of absences tied to the coronavirus.
Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s anti-retaliation ordinance would apply to workers who stay home because they have COVID-19 symptoms, have been exposed to someone who has tested positive for the virus, or their business is deemed nonessential by statewide stay-at-home order.
Already, City Hall has received 32 complaints of retaliation against workers who stayed home during the pandemic, according to Andy Fox, director of the city’s new Office of Labor Standards.
The anti-retaliation ordinance would also apply to camp counselors and domestic workers. Employers would have 30-days to “cure” the violation before penalties are imposed. And self-certification would be allowed.
“If the employee was able to produce a written note, a text, some communication that says, ‘I’m home. My doctor told me to be home. I’m quarantining’ that would be enough for us to find this is a COVID-related instance. And if an employer took adverse action against them, we’d be able to investigate it and initiate an enforcement action,” Fox said.
“It is a slippery slope. We’d like something concrete to tie to it because it could be ripe for abuse if someone simply didn’t want to go to work. We want some communication with a medical provider.”
- Businesses struggling to adjust to a landmark ordinance requiring large Chicago employers to give their employees at least two weeks’ notice of their schedule and compensate them for last-minute changes.
Acknowledging many businesses may not survive the stay-at-home shutdown of the Chicago economy, Lightfoot’s watered-down ordinance would postpone until Jan. 1 the “private cause of action” section that allows aggrieved workers whose schedules are changed without adequate notice or compensation to file their own lawsuits.
That wasn’t enough to satisfy Ald. Tom Tunney (44th), owner of Ann Sather’s Restaurants. Noting that “nearly a quarter of the workforce is currently unemployed,” Tunney appealed to his colleagues to delay an increase in Chicago’s minimum wage and the predictable scheduling ordinance until Jan. 1. Both take effect on July 1.
“Employers are just as vulnerable in this pandemic as the workers. ... To introduce these regulations and wage increases at this time is the wrong time,” Tunney said.
“I just worry this is really going to set Chicago employers and workers back. The people we want to help the most.”
- Businesses whose licenses have expired since March 15. The ordinance approved Wednesday will waive fines tied to those expired licenses as well as collection of accessibility fees paid by cabdrivers and ride-hailing companies whose business has slowed to a crawl.
- Affordable housing properties that had been difficult to finance even before the pandemic. The mayor’s plan authorizes Housing Commissioner Marisa Novara to approve $3 million in grants and no-interest loans to affordable housing developers with outstanding debt to the city and modify those loan agreements for three years after the statewide, stay-at-home order is lifted. Ald. Ray Lopez (15th) branded the move a “$3 million bail-out for developers” that would be better spent helping renters.
- Restaurants with outdoor dining spaces poised to make a comeback as soon as the stay-at-home shackles are lifted. When they do open, they’ll have an extra hour to play with, thanks to an ordinance championed by Ald. Brendan Reilly (42nd) that would allow downtown Chicago’s outdoor patios and rooftop gardens to stay open until midnight this spring, summer and fall — if they’re lucky enough to come back at all.
Also on Wednesday, Ald. Matt O’Shea (19th) introduced an ordinance that would allow any business forced to close for more than 30 days — either because of the governor’s order or because employees got sick with COVID-19 — to petition the city to refund its license fees for that period.
And Aldermen Matt Martin (47th) and Harry Osterman (48th) joined Lightfoot in introducing their long-awaited ordinance to chip away at Chicago’s severe shortage of affordable housing by legalizing coach houses and other so-called “accessory dwelling units.”
