Jan. 21--The Chicago City Council meets Wednesday and is expected to vote on an ordinance to rein in "bad landlords" and a host of other items before Mayor Rahm Emanuel and aldermen return to the campaign trail for the Feb. 24 city election.
The landlord ordinance would ban anyone with at least a 25 percent interest in a building that is on a published city scofflaw list for life-safety violations like lack of smoke detectors from doing certain transactions with the city. They would not be allowed to acquire city land, get city financial assistance, obtain zoning changes, get business licenses or secure building permits not related to addressing problems for which their buildings were cited.
Another item on the agenda is a new ordinance increasing the number of affordable housing units or alternate fees that some for-profit residential developers must create to get project approval. That ordinance, however, could be deferred to another day by a parliamentary maneuver amid resistance from builders, sources said.
Also up for a vote is a measure to limit the amount of petroleum coke that can be stored at Southeast Side industrial facilities. And Emanuel is expected to introduce a measure that would allow the University of Chicago to take parkland for President Barack Obama's future library, while his election foe, Ald. Bob Fioretti, 2nd, is expected to introduce a parking ticket amnesty program that is opposed by the mayor.
