Alejandra Cancino

Frustrated that few protections exist for seniors who live in Chicago public housing, aldermen back measure that aims to force the Chicago Housing Authority to give notice when it rehabs its buildings.

The grab bar complaint is the latest in a series of grievances by CHA residents about the agency’s failure to keep residents safe.

Elderly CHA residents demanding action on elevators disrupt a CHA board meeting. The protest follows a BGA/WBEZ investigation into chronic problems that have led to hundreds of vulnerable and often frail seniors trapped in elevators or in their apartments.

Administrators at state pension systems are scratching their heads over how exactly an estimate for $500 million in pension savings came to be.

Expensive cost overruns are the rule, rather than the exception, when the Chicago Housing Authority orders up renovations at senior housing complexes it runs. Inconvenience, frustration and sometimes danger for elderly residents accompany the rehab work.

The total of those hit for lobbying the mayor without registering rises to three in cases that emanate from a BGA lawsuit that led Mayor Emanuel to release thousands of pages of business related emails from his personal accounts.

City ethics watchdogs have uncovered enough evidence to suspect yet another instance of improper lobbying of Chicago officials, an issue that came to light following settlement of a Better Government Association lawsuit over Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s personal email accounts.

As the state grapples with budget gridlock, the Rauner Administration is pushing a change to a program for low income seniors initially billed as a cheaper and better alternative to nursing home care. Thousands could see in-home services scaled back, as costs soar with an aging population.

Communications released by settlement of a BGA transparency lawsuit against the Emanuel Administration shine an ever brighter light on the special access afforded to favor-seekers with influence and power.

The mayor appears to have generated more headlines than results with a privatized infrastructure spending proposal that has cost taxpayers millions of dollars more than he said it would.