Mayor Lori Lightfoot on Wednesday unveiled a sweeping package of protections to help Chicago businesses and consumers bounce back from the economic devastation created by the coronavirus pandemic.
The kitchen sink of an initiative she calls “Chi Biz Strong” includes everything from financial and regulatory relief for businesses, an umbrella of protections for consumers and new job opportunities for ex-offenders.
“In order to recover from this pandemic quickly and holistically, we must take bold action and reimagine how we do business here in Chicago,” Lightfoot was quoted as saying in a press release.
More than a year of pain and hardship has proven that, “the way we typically do business does not work” for everyone, the mayor said.
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“Now is our opportunity to address the structural inequities that have held us back for so long and create a post-pandemic world that fully supports small businesses across the city, protects workers and, above all, roots equity and inclusion within our city’s economy,” Lightfoot said.
“Thanks to this package, we will be able to do just that and set our residents, communities and businesses up for long-term success.”
On Tuesday, the Sun-Times disclosed the mayor’s plan to require third-party food delivery services that thrived during the pandemic to collect and remit Chicago’s restaurant tax and extend the 15 percent cap on delivery fees until 180 days after all pandemic-related restrictions on restaurants are repealed.
The Sun-Times also disclosed that the city would relax restrictions on sidewalk sandwich boards and overhaul licensing and permitting to make it easier for restaurants to open.
But, the pair of ordinances Lightfoot introduced at Wednesday’s City Council meeting goes a whole lot further than that. The sweeping plan includes:
• Authorizing $10 million in “targeted grants” for businesses hardest-hit by the pandemic, along with a “discounted payments plan” for businesses in debt.
• Extending the life of Chicago taxicabs — from seven to 10 years for standard vehicles and from 10 to 15 years for fuel-efficient taxis. City Hall estimates the longer life will result in “expanding the pool of eligible taxicabs” by 20%, saving the dying industry as much as $20 million this year along.
• Paving the way for “low-speed” three-and-four-wheel electric vehicles to carry passengers for hire, provided they travel at speeds not exceeding 30 mph, carry no more than 10 passengers and steer clear of downtown streets during morning and evening rush periods. The rules for charter buses would also be revamped to make it easier for buses carrying large groups of tourists and visitors to Chicago to operate.
• Eliminating barriers that have made it impossible for non-violent ex-offenders drive public vehicles or enter the hospitality industry. For example, minor cannabis offenses would no longer prevent someone from obtaining a livery license.
• Shaving up to three weeks from the time it takes for new restaurants to get licenses to open in spaces occupied by previously shuttered establishments and up to two months off the 150-day wait for business permits, signs and awnings. No longer would a separate ordinance be required for each public way permit.
• Authorizing both delivery and carryout of cocktails-to-go while ending alcohol sales from liquor and other stores licensed to sell “packaged goods” at 10 p.m. That makes permanent a mayoral security curfew implemented during the pandemic.
• A first-ever “wage-theft” ordinance to help Chicago’s most vulnerable workers recoup what City Hall pegs at “up to $400 million in wages stolen” from them every year by “bad-faith employers.”
• Requiring anyone who hires a “domestic worker” to enter into a written contract to pay that employee a minimum wage of at least $15-an-hour. The minimum wage would also apply to chain business workers by preventing employers “within a single unitary business group from undercounting their employees.”
• Revamping Chicago’s paid sick leave ordinance to include “caring for a family member with a closed place of care, classroom or school.” The revised ordinance would also cover mental and behavior health and “future public health orders.”
Lightfoot had vowed last summer to lead a “second Chicago renaissance” — by following a roadmap to recovery from the economic devastation created by the coronavirus pandemic and the stay-at-home shutdown it triggered.
Lightfoot declared on that July day that the pandemic and the systemic vulnerabilities that forced Black and Hispanic Chicagoans to bear the brunt of it had provided a “once in a generation opportunity” to create a “new economic model based on dynamic, inclusive growth.”
She promised to seize that opportunity by following the blueprint she proudly unveiled during a highly-orchestrated news conference — complete with videos — fit for a COVID-19 Recovery Task Force with more than 200 members and contributors.
“If we do this right — and I’m committed to making sure that we do — this will be the kind of transformation that, generations from now, we’ll be talking about as the second Chicago renaissance. … If we do this right, people are gonna be coming to Chicago to say, `What happened? How did the Chicago renaissance start?’” the mayor said.
“There is a great hunger and need for investment. There is a great hunger and need for healing. What this task force report does very well is meld those two aspects to make sure that we are building healthy and vibrant communities that … can unleash the potential that has been suppressed for way too long because we focused almost exclusively on the downtown.”
The package unveiled Wednesday appears to deliver on that bold pledge. Now, it’s time for Chicago aldermen who must approve the package to comb through the nitty-gritty details.
