The line between embattled Chicago Ald. Edward Burke’s lucrative law practice and his public office is so thin that he has recused himself from hundreds of City Council votes that have sent millions of dollars in benefits to his private clients — from mega bond deals to tiny zoning changes.

Burke’s dual roles as the most powerful alderman on the council and high-end tax attorney for companies with business before the city have played out for decades. But the potential for conflicts of interest have taken on heightened interest after federal investigators raided Burke’s City Hall and ward offices in recent weeks.

An examination of every City Council vote in the last eight years by the Better Government Association and WBEZ — the most comprehensive review of Burke’s record to date — found that Burke has used a parliamentary maneuver to recuse himself a startling 464 times. The comparable total for all 49 other aldermen combined is 108.

In the exquisitely orchestrated rubber-stamp world of City Hall politics, Burke’s recusals were more theater than substance. The outcome of the measures he refrained from voting on were never in doubt and all passed by wide margins.

A BGA/WBEZ examination of Burke’s voting record and his firm’s appeals also found repeated cases where Burke, 14th, the longtime chairman of the council’s influential Finance Committee, used the powers of his office to support private clients of his tax appeals firm Klafter & Burke.

He has sponsored ordinances on their behalf, written letters of support to city bureaucrats on his official letterhead and routinely presided over committee debates without first disclosing his dual roles as both the steward of tax dollars and private attorney for companies seeking the city’s approval.

Experts said the overwhelming volume of recusals by Burke paints a portrait of a severely compromised public official.

“His law practice and clients and business interests are so significant that they’re constantly conflicting with the business of the city and his obligations as a public servant,” said Juliet Sorensen, a law professor at Northwestern University and former federal prosecutor in Chicago who wrote a book on public corruption.

In that environment, the clout of an alderman like Burke, who took office in 1969 and is the longest-serving alderman in Chicago history, could be more important than his vote, Sorensen said. “The fact that he himself doesn’t cast a vote doesn’t necessarily mean that he has zero influence on the matter before the council,” Sorensen added.

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Burke earlier this year, for example, presided over a heated three-hour hearing on a taxpayer subsidy for Illinois’ largest Catholic health system, Presence Health, heaping praise on witnesses and sparring with opponents before announcing his abstention during the roll call vote at the end. The subsidy was approved anyway.

Federal authorities have not revealed what prompted their raids or what materials they sought, though files and computers were seized. But the raids have only intensified the focus on Burke’s two roles.

The list of Burke’s law clients reads like a who’s who of city contractors, real estate developers, banks, and business owners who have received tens of millions of city dollars following actions approved by the council. The benefits to his clients range from bond deals, zoning changes and redevelopment cash to historic landmark designations and even permission to hang a sign over a city sidewalk, records show.

The city’s ethics ordinance appears to only require aldermen to abstain from voting in circumstances where interests conflict. And federal law-enforcement authorities typically save their fire for public officials who are caught explicitly “trading a public action for something of value,” said Renato Mariotti, a former federal prosecutor in Chicago who handled corruption and white-collar crime cases.

“For the feds to prosecute Ald. Ed Burke, they would have to catch him engaging in some sort of quid pro quo,” Mariotti said. “The best way to do that is through a wiretap of some kind.”

Neither Burke, his spokesman nor one of his attorneys, Anton Valukas, returned calls seeking comment. Another one of Burke’s attorneys, Charles Sklarsky, declined to comment.

Immediately following last month’s initial raid, Burke released a one-paragraph statement:

“As you are aware, there have previously been several other investigations such as this,” said Burke, 74, who has never been charged with a crime but has come under the scrutiny of federal agents multiple times. “In every instance we cooperated fully. And in every instance nothing has been found.”

In the 1990s, Burke’s staffing practices at the Finance Committee came under scrutiny as part of a sweeping federal ghost-payrolling investigation called Operation Haunted Hall. The probe netted dozens of convictions, but Burke was never charged.

Atop an exclusive club

Klafter & Burke stands near the top of a cottage industry of law firms in Cook County dedicated primarily to commercial property tax appeals.

A review of all assessment appeals filed since 2010 reveals that Burke’s firm of four lawyers has represented commercial property with a total assessed value of nearly $7.8 billion, winning $1.5 billion in reduced assessments for those properties during that time and resulting in lower tax bills.

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Privately, competitors have complained for years about how they’ve lost clients to powerful lawmakers such as Burke or longtime Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan, who also runs a property tax assessment appeals firm named Madigan & Getzendanner.

The expansion of Burke’s law practice has dovetailed with his consolidation of political power.

In recent years, his most prominent client was Trump Tower Chicago, for which Burke reportedly won millions of dollars in tax breaks. Burke recently dropped the account amid growing dismay in Chicago Democratic circles regarding President Donald Trump’s immigration policies.

Others include leading national banks that often need city approvals for a variety of issues. Earlier this year, Burke guided a multibillion-dollar O’Hare International Airport improvement bond deal through the City Council. Three banks that are his private law clients stood to benefit. But Burke didn’t vote himself.

Burke recused himself, invoking “Rule 14,” a council rule that requires aldermen who attend meetings to cast votes unless specifically excused. Rule 14 doesn’t require aldermen to explain why they are abstaining but typically aldermen use the rule when they think they have a real or perceived conflict of interest.

Though such recusals suggest a conflict of interest, Burke didn’t explain what the conflict was, according to recordings of the public meetings on the matter.

But the BGA and WBEZ found that three major financial institutions that are longtime Burke clients filed economic disclosure statements as part of the bond deal — Fifth Third Bank, U.S. Bank and Bank of America. They stand to share in millions of dollars in proceeds from the deal.

An analysis of Cook County documents shows Klafter & Burke has handled 962 tax appeals for the three banks since 2010, largely for bank branches in the city and suburbs. Those appeals knocked nearly $34 million off the assessments of their combined properties.

Executives for all three banks declined to answer questions about why they hired Burke or how they got to be part of the O’Hare deal.

Larry Magnesen, a spokesman for Cincinnati-based Fifth Third Bank, said Jennifer Burke, the alderman’s daughter who also works at Klafter & Burke, handled property tax appeals for the bank. He declined further comment.

Authorization for $4 billion in bonds to expand O’Hare passed through Burke’s Finance Committee in March, with Burke presiding over the meeting and the roll-call vote. Before the 90-minute committee debate on the issue, Burke announced he would “abstain,” which he later did. Two days later, records show, Burke stood on the council floor to move the legislation for a vote before the full council, where he again recused himself, records show. Again, his abstention had no impact on the outcome because the measure passed by a 40-1 margin.

City Council members who chair committees, such as Burke, are typically responsible for introducing legislation on the council floor that emerges from their committees. Records show Burke made the motion for passage of 125 of the 464 measures in which he later recused himself. Records also show Burke has recused himself four times on legislation he sponsored.

Also this year, Burke, as Finance Committee chair, presided over a sharp committee debate regarding a move to grant $5.5 million in city tax subsidies for Catholic-owned Presence Health’s new headquarters in the Loop.

Many aldermen opposed the subsidies based on the company’s opposition to performing abortions.

On Jan. 12, Burke chaired the contentious three-hour committee hearing in which he backed witnesses supporting Presence and challenged aldermen who opposed the subsidies.

Burke’s critics on the committee said his conduct made clear he favored Presence. Burke cut off Ald. John Arena, 45th, during the debate as Arena launched into probing questions of one Presence witness, according to a transcript of the meeting.

Arena and other opponents said they felt blindsided when Burke casually said after the debate and as the vote was being called that he would abstain from voting because he had done legal work for Presence affiliates and helped one of its hospitals with a 262-bed expansion.

County property records show Klafter & Burke also filed property tax appeals on behalf of one Presence Health property in 2016 and 2017.

Arena said in a recent interview that he and his colleagues were unaware of Burke’s conflict even as Burke guided the debate on Presence.

“You shouldn’t even be participating in the debate and especially not as a chairman, presiding over the debate,” Arena said of Burke.

The measure was approved by the Finance Committee and forwarded to the full council by a 13-7 vote. Days later, Burke once again moved to have the Presence issue voted on by all the aldermen before recusing himself again at the last minute. The measure was approved by a 31-18 vote.

Spokespeople for Presence did not return messages seeking comment.

Lord of the ward

Burke’s potential for conflicts also occurs in his ward, the same Southwest Side area he’s represented for nearly a half-century and where his fortress-like, three-story home in Gage Park looms over his constituents’ bungalows and ranches.

One longtime fixture in that ward has been Rokaitis Towing, which previously hired a lawyer other than Burke for property assessment work, records show.

In 2013, however, owner John Rokaitis hired Klafter & Burke to appeal the property assessments on three pieces of land owned by the towing firm. Three months after those appeals were filed, Burke separately sponsored an ordinance in the City Council titled: “Grant(s) of privilege in public way for Rokaitis Industries Inc.”

The one-page ordinance granted Rokaitis permission to hang a new store sign over a public right of way on Archer Avenue for $300 per year.

Unlike in other instances involving clients, Burke did not recuse himself and voted for the measure, which passed the council unanimously.

Rokaitis, now 80 and retired, said he couldn’t remember why he fired his old attorney and hired Burke instead.

“I guess I hired him because I needed that kind of help,” Rokaitis said of Burke’s property appeal work. “I might have hired him because he’s my alderman and I was being supportive — just for that.

“I don’t remember talking to Ed Burke about it, but I don’t remember talking to anybody about it,” Rokaitis said in a telephone interview from his Indiana home. “I remember buying the sign. I remember they filed for permits, but I think the sign company took care of all that.”

He said while the timing might look suspicious to some, there was nothing inappropriate about the arrangement.

“You do for me and I do for you? Never,” Rokaitis said. “That may have happened with others but not in my case, for sure.”

The sign still hangs over the sidewalk.

All of Burke’s clients who were interviewed by the BGA and WBEZ, including Rokaitis, say they hired Burke for his tax expertise and not for his clout at City Hall.

“Yes, we’ve used him. We really don’t know him that well, but he is a great man,” said Michael LaCoco, owner of LaCoco’s Pizza & Wings at 3350 W. 47th St., just around the corner from Rokaitis Towing.

LaCoco first hired Klafter & Burke in 2011, records show. That’s the same year he and his wife went to City Hall looking for a zoning variance to build a speakeasy-themed nightclub called the “Coco Club” on the second floor of their restaurant.

The permission was granted by the city, and the Coco Club opened in 2015, catering to private bachelor parties and hosting live entertainment on the weekends.

Asked about what Burke may have done to help get city permission for the Coco Club to open in the 14th Ward, LaCoco declined to answer.

“Listen, I don’t want to talk about that,” he said.

The club opened the same year Burke also floated a controversial idea to allow topless dancers in cabarets that serve alcohol — a proposal that died with little fanfare. While vocal in his support for the idea, Burke never mentioned he had at least one private client that could have potentially benefited.

The Coco Club advertised burlesque dancers nicknamed “Red Hot Annie,” “Claira Bell” and “Monet MaCabaret” for a New Year’s Eve party that year with performers wearing lingerie.

Also in 2011, another project was developing in Burke’s ward at 5007 S. Lawndale Ave.

A company called Park Place Venture LLC had just taken over a flagging residential development called Park Place Homes, records show. The company bought the already partially developed 14-acre property in 2009 and then hired Klafter & Burke two years later to appeal the property taxes on 61 parcels.

By 2013, Park Place Ventures had drawn up new plans for the rest of the property, proposing 14 three-story buildings with 78 affordable units instead of the 181 units planned by the first developers.

The ordinance the company needed to change the plan sailed through the City Council in November 2013 by 49-0, with Burke recusing himself, records show.

What did not come up in either the floor vote or during the City Council Zoning Committee was Burke’s long history steering the project through City Hall when it was owned by a previous development company that was also his client.

Records show that, as far back as 2007, Burke helped secure up to $7.4 million in taxpayer subsidies for the project when it was owned by former Ald. Ted Mazola of New West Realty and his partners, who were developing the property under a corporation named 5007 Lawndale Corp.

“Please be informed that I fully support a request for Tax Increment Financing (TIF) assistance by 5007 Lawndale Corporation for a new residential development,” Burke wrote on his City Council letterhead to the acting commissioner of the Department of Planning and Development on Aug. 30, 2007. “If you have any questions do not hesitate to call me.”

That redevelopment plan also sailed through City Council in 2007, with Burke recusing himself.

Neither Mazola nor his former partners on the deal returned telephone calls seeking comment. Nor did officials with the new development company, Park Place Venture, LLC.

View/search document collection

See all of Ald. Ed Burke’s recusals since 2011, here.

Dan Mihalopoulos is an investigative reporter on WBEZ’s Government & Politics Team.

Chicagoans in minority neighborhoods on the West and South Sides have the greatest exposure to toxic air pollution and other environmental health hazards in the city, according to a first-of-its-kind analysis that community groups are using to fight Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s industrial planning practices.

The findings, illustrated through a citywide map and provided to the Better Government Association, were compiled by the environmental advocacy group Natural Resources Defense Council. The group hopes to use the document to persuade city officials to stop a frequent practice of steering scrap yards, distribution warehouses and other polluting businesses to the same neighborhoods with large concentrations of Latinos and African Americans.

Among the most dramatically affected communities: Little Village, Pilsen and the far Southeast Side. Activists in those communities say Emanuel’s city planners are pushing dirty industries to majority Latino and black communities while neighborhoods like Lincoln Park on the more well-to-do North Side are shedding their industrial past to make way for condos and high-end amenities.

The data behind the map scores areas of the city based on 11 environmental benchmarks defined by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, including toxic pollution in the air and water, proximity to hazardous waste, exposure to lead paint and vehicle traffic. It also factors in demographic characteristics, including race and income, for all households in so-called census blocks, narrow geographic slices of the city defined by the U.S. Census and sometimes smaller than an acre in size.

 

Officials at the NRDC say the city, whether under Emanuel or the soon-to-retire mayor’s successor, can use the analysis to make decisions about where to locate polluting factories, freight operations and other facilities as well as rethink planning and zoning practices. The information also could be useful in guiding city decisions on what areas are most in need of environmental monitoring and enforcement of anti-pollution laws.

“Those places that are most burdened are the last places you should put factories,” said Yukyan Lam, who created the NRDC map. “If you’re going to build another warehouse facility, it’s going to add to air pollution. Any kind of planning, any kind of zoning should keep in mind the burden.”

The Chicago study results show the greatest exposure to air, water and land pollution falls on neighborhoods with large concentrations of African American and Latino residents, ranging from the far South Side to Little Village, Pilsen and McKinley Park on the West and Southwest Sides. African-American neighborhoods such as Englewood and Roseland also rank high for pollution exposure. Some pockets of North Side neighborhoods, including sections of Albany Park, Avondale, Irving Park and West Ridge, also show high levels of pollution exposure.

The environmental group’s research represents a thorough analysis, according to one state official.

“You look at the map and certain areas just stand out,” said Chris Pressnall, environmental justice officer for the Illinois EPA. “It’s a thoughtful bit of research.”

Environmental justice policies have been written into law in Cincinnati, Los Angeles and Newark, New Jersey. California uses a pollution hazard map similar to the one produced for Chicago to inform policy in regards to environmental justice communities. And New York City last year passed a law to create an environmental justice plan.

Chris Wheat, Emanuel’s policy chief and formerly the the mayor’s top sustainability officer, was noncommittal on whether city officials would use the NRDC data to make policy decisions. But he acknowledged there are disproportionate pollution problems across Chicago. “We hear the concerns,” he said.

Still, Wheat said the city has made “significant progress” in tightening regulations, pointing to new restrictions on manganese as part of efforts to address harmful chemicals on the Southeast Side.

“I don’t think our efforts ever stop,” he said. “We are not resting on our laurels.”

Environmental justice is a term rooted in former President Bill Clinton’s administration. In 1994, Clinton signed an executive order that created an office within the EPA that “works to protect human health and the environment in communities overburdened by environmental pollution by integrating environmental justice into all EPA programs, policies and activities.”

Mapping can be used to identify areas that are deemed environmental justice communities as well as create and enforce policies.

The Illinois Power Agency, a state body that oversees the purchase of electricity by utilities that serve residential and small businesses, is putting together a list of environmental justice communities to determine eligibility for solar energy generation projects funded through the same 2016 law that steered millions of dollars in subsidies to two Exelon nuclear power plants.

The NRDC, which has allied itself with the neighborhood groups, produced its map to provide them ammunition in resisting relocations of dirtier industries to their communities. A spokesman for the NRDC said it paid for the research, not the community groups.

Little Village activists fought a proposed warehouse development that is expected to bring hundreds of diesel-fuel trucks to their neighborhood every day, a strain on a community that already suffers from poor air quality, local and federal statistics show. The warehouse project received approvals from city plan and zoning panels as well as the City Council in September.

The new NRDC research was completed as the administration was conducting a review of two dozen zones that were formally designated by the city in the 1990s as industrial corridors because of concentrations of heavy industry and proximity to highways, railroads and waterways such as the Chicago River. The goal of the designation was to provide protections and incentives to lure new industry to the city while keeping older industrial firms from leaving.

The city’s public health officials declined to comment to the BGA despite repeated questions about the NRDC’s findings. Instead, a spokeswoman provided a statement that said the department “is committed to improving the health of our residents, communities and environment. As part of our commitment, we regularly work with other city agencies to ensure health is considered when making decisions. We know that when communities have more economic opportunities, better transportation and cleaner streets, health improves.”

The statement also said that the health agency “partners regularly with the Chicago Department of Planning and Development (DPD) to provide insight and information regarding their efforts to invest in our communities.”

Kimberly Wasserman, executive director of the community activist group Little Village Environmental Justice Organization, said she wants the research to begin a new dialogue with the city.

“What we hope to gain is a conversation on environmental and health impacts,” Wasserman said. “You can look at them individually but you also have to look at them collectively.”

She said she also hopes the data will “empower” the city of Chicago’s Department of Public Health to study Little Village and other communities that live with pollution caused by nearby manufacturing and transportation-related developments.

More reporting from the Chicago Sun-Times: In Austin, amid higher pollution risk, family struggles with respiratory worries

Los residentes de los vecindarios minoritarios al oeste y sur de Chicago están viviendo una mayor exposición a la contaminación tóxica del aire y otros riesgos para la salud ambiental en la ciudad, según un análisis único en su tipo que los grupos comunitarios están usando para luchar contra las prácticas de planificación industrial del alcalde Rahm Emanuel.

Los hallazgos, ilustrados a través de un mapa de la ciudad suministrado por la organización Better Government Association (BGA, por sus siglas en inglés), fueron compilados por el Consejo de Defensa de los Recursos Naturales (NRDC, por su acrónimo en inglés), un grupo internacional de defensa del medio ambiente, que espera usar este documento para persuadir a los funcionarios de la ciudad a que detengan la práctica frecuente de dirigir desguaces, almacenes de distribución y otras empresas contaminantes a los mismos vecindarios con grandes concentraciones de latinos y afroamericanos.

Entre las zonas dramáticamente más afectadas están: ‘La Villita’, Pilsen y el sureste. Sus activistas aseguran que funcionarios de la alcaldía que dirige Emanuel, están empujando la industria sucia a la mayoría de las comunidades hispanas y afroamericanas, mientras que vecindarios como Lincoln Park, en la zona más acomodada al norte, están despojándose de su pasado industrial para dar paso a condominios y comodidades de alto nivel.

Los datos detrás del mapa califican las áreas de la ciudad según los 11 puntos de referencia ambientales definidos por la Agencia de Protección Ambiental de los Estados Unidos (EPA, por sus siglas en inglés). Se incluye la contaminación tóxica en el aire y el agua, la proximidad a los desechos peligrosos, la exposición a la pintura con plomo y el tráfico de vehículos. También toma en cuenta características demográficas como la raza y el ingreso para todos los hogares en los llamados “bloques censales”. Es decir, estrechos segmentos geográficos de la ciudad definidos por la Oficina del Censo de los Estados Unidos (USCB, por sus siglas en inglés) y, algunas veces, hasta menores a un acre.

 

Los funcionarios del NRDC sostienen que la alcaldía, ya sea bajo la dirección de Emanuel o de su sucesor, puede usar este análisis para tomar decisiones sobre dónde ubicar fábricas contaminantes, operaciones de carga y otras instalaciones, además así de repensar las prácticas de planificación y zonificación. La información también podría ser útil para que sus decisiones tomen en cuenta cuáles son las áreas más necesitadas de monitoreo ambiental y garantizar el cumplimiento de las leyes contra la contaminación.

“Los lugares que están más contaminados deberían de ser las últimas opciones para instalar fábricas”, señaló Yukyan Lam, quien creó el mapa para NRDC. “Si van a construir otro almacén, se agregará a la contaminación del aire. Cualquier tipo de planificación, cualquier tipo de zonificación debe tomar en cuenta la carga de contaminación existente”.

Los resultados del estudio en Chicago muestran que la mayor exposición al aire, el agua y la contaminación de la tierra cae en los vecindarios con grandes concentraciones de residentes afroamericanos e hispanos, desde el extremo sur hasta ‘La Villita’, Pilsen y McKinley Park al oeste y el suroeste. Los vecindarios afroamericanos como Englewood y Roseland, también presentan un alto rango de exposición a la polución. Algunas áreas del norte como Albany Park, Avondale, Irving Park y West Ridge, también han presentado altos niveles de exposición.

La investigación del grupo ambiental representa un análisis exhaustivo, según un funcionario estatal.

“Usted mira el mapa y ciertas áreas se destacan”, dijo Chris Pressnall, funcionario de justicia ambiental de la sede de EPA en Illinois. “Es una muestra de investigación cuidadosa”.

Las políticas de justicia ambiental han sido convertidas en ley en Cincinnati, Los Ángeles, Newark y New Jersey. California utiliza un mapa de riesgo de contaminación similar al desarrollado en Chicago para informar la política sobre justicia ambiental en las comunidades. Y la alcaldía de Nueva York el año pasado aprobó una ley para crear un plan de justicia ambiental.

Chris Wheat, jefe de política de Rahm Emanuel y anteriormente su principal funcionario de sostenibilidad, no se comprometió a garantizar el uso de esta herramienta de NRDC por los funcionarios de la alcaldía para la toma de decisiones. No obstante, reconoció que hay problemas de contaminación desproporcionados en todo Chicago. “Escuchamos las preocupaciones”, dijo.

Sin embargo, Wheat manifestó que la alcaldía ha hecho “un progreso significativo” en el endurecimiento de las regulaciones, apuntando a las nuevas restricciones al manganeso como parte de los esfuerzos para encarar los químicos dañinos en el lado sureste.

“No creo que nuestros esfuerzos se detengan”, afirmó. “No estamos durmiendo en nuestros laureles”.

“Justicia ambiental” es un término arraigado en la administración del expresidente Bill Clinton. En 1994, firmó una orden ejecutiva que creó una oficina dentro de la EPA que “trabaja para proteger la salud humana y el medio ambiente en comunidades sobrecargadas por la contaminación ambiental al integrar la justicia ambiental en todos los programas, políticas y actividades de EPA”.

La creación de mapas puede ser usada para identificar áreas que se consideran comunidades de justicia ambiental, así como para crear y hacer cumplir las políticas.

La “Illinois Power Agency”, un organismo estatal que supervisa la compra de electricidad por parte de empresas de servicios públicos que sirven a residencias y pequeños negocios, está elaborando un listado de comunidades vulnerables para la protección de ‘justicia ambiental’ y así poder determinar la elegibilidad para proyectos de generación de energía solar financiados a través de la misma ley de 2016 que destinó millones de dólares en subsidios a dos plantas nucleares de Exelon.

El NRDC, que se ha aliado con grupos de vecinos, realizó este mapa para darles una herramienta infalible en la lucha por detener el traslado de más industrias sucias a sus comunidades. Un vocero del NRDC dijo que pagó por la investigación, no por los grupos comunitarios.

Los activistas de ‘La Villita’ luchan contra una propuesta para desarrollar una bodega que llevaría cientos de camiones de combustible diesel a su vecindario todos los días. Los camiones agregarían a la contaminación de la una comunidad, la cual ya sufre de mala calidad del aire, según las estadísticas locales y federales. El proyecto recibió la aprobación de los comités de planeación y zonificación de la ciudad y del concejo municipal en septiembre.

La nueva investigación del NRDC se terminó al mismo tiempo que la administración estaba llevando a cabo una revisión de dos docenas de zonas que fueron designadas formalmente por la ciudad en 1990 como corredores industriales, debido a su concentración de industria pesada y su proximidad a carreteras, vías férreas y ríos navegables, como el río Chicago. El objetivo de la denominación fue dar protección e incentivos para atraer nueva industria a la ciudad y evitar que las firmas industriales más antiguas se marcharan.

Los funcionarios de salud pública de la alcaldía se negaron a dar declaraciones al BGA a pesar de haberles preguntado varias veces sobre los hallazgos del NRDC. En cambio, una portavoz emitió un comunicado donde apunta que el departamento “está comprometido a mejorar la salud de nuestros residentes, comunidades y medio ambiente. Como parte de nuestro compromiso, trabajamos regularmente con otras agencias de la ciudad para garantizar que la salud sea tomada en cuenta para la toma de decisiones. Sabemos que cuando las comunidades tienen más oportunidades económicas, mejor transporte y calles más limpias, la salud mejora”.

Esta declaración también señala que el departamento de salud “se asocia regularmente con el Departamento de Planificación y Desarrollo de Chicago (DPD, por sus siglas en inglés) para intercambiar perspectiva e información sobre sus esfuerzos para invertir en nuestras comunidades”.

Kimberly Wasserman, directora ejecutiva del grupo comunitario “Little Village Environmental Justice Organization”, espera que esta investigación permita un nuevo diálogo con la alcaldía.

“Esperamos lograr una conversación sobre el impacto a la salud y el medio ambiente”, expresó. “Puedes verlos individualmente, pero también tienes que observarlos colectivamente”.

También señaló que espera que los datos “empoderen” al Departamento de Salud Pública de la ciudad de Chicago para estudiar a ‘La Villita’ y otras comunidades que viven con la contaminación causada por su cercanía la industria manufacturera y desarrollos relacionados a la industria del transporte.

If you live in Illinois, chances are strong you live in a town that manages its own police and fire pension funds. Think your public safety departments are too small for their own funds? Think again. State law says that any city, village, or town with a population between 5,000 and 500,000, that employs at least one full-time police officer or firefighter, must have a pension fund. In 2016, there were 356 local police pension funds and 297 local firefighter pension funds in Illinois — up from 346 police and 286 firefighter funds nearly 10 years ago.

Illinois is unique. According to a 2012 Marquette Associates report, the United States in total had 1,511 public pension plans and Illinois made up 43 percent of that total. Pennsylvania, which came in second, had only 137 funds.

If you live in Illinois, chances are also strong that you live in a town with poorly funded police and fire pension funds. A common way to judge pension fund health is by its funding ratio, that is, take its assets (how much money the fund has) divided by its liabilities (how much money the fund needs to pay out all its benefits). For example, if a pension fund has $90 million in assets and $100 million in liabilities, it would have a funding ratio of 90 percent. There is no official standard to what is considered a “healthy” public fund, but in the private sector, a fund generally is considered “at risk” when it’s under 80 percent funded. In 2016, the aggregate funding level — the combined average of all police and fire funds in Illinois — came to 57.6 percent.

Use the BGA public safety pension tool below to find out how relatively healthy or unhealthy your funds are. After all, you and your fellow taxpayers will need to foot the bill for any pension fund shortfalls in your community. If you have any questions or concerns about your town’s specific police/fire pension fund, you can go to the Illinois Department of Insurance’s website to find the fund’s financial documents and get more information.

Database: Funding Ratios for Illinois Police and Fire Pension Funds, Statewide

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The funding for these local public safety pension funds has varied over time. From 1999 to 2009, funding levels dropped year after year. Starting at 77.3 percent in 1999, aggregate funding levels bottomed out in 2009 with a funding ratio of 51.1 percent.

In 2011, a new law went into effect to attempt to bolster funding. The law required all public safety funds to have a funding ratio of 90 percent by 2040. With the new law and a better economic climate, public safety pensions have started to regain some funding footing. But, each fund is managed independently and funding levels can vary greatly. More than one hundred funds have more money on hand than they owe, with one locality reaching a funding ratio of 515 percent. On the flip side, there are a few jurisdictions that have no funding for their pensions at all.

There are proposals currently being considered in Springfield that would consolidate public safety funds in one form or another. We’ll examine those plans more in future posts. Stay connected with the BGA for more information and analysis of Illinois pensions, proposals that address funding problems, and more.

Metra’s Board is preparing to raise fares for the fourth consecutive year. If you are feeling railroaded, you are probably not alone. After all, the average commuter also likely has been dealing with increased income taxes, property taxes, a new beverage tax in Cook County and the introduction of a plastic bag tax in Chicago.

That’s a lot of increases in a short time frame. Over the past four years, for example, a monthly pass on Metra has increased nearly 34 percent from $135.25 to the proposed fare of $181.25 from zone A to zone D.

Metra will present the fare increases along with its budget at its next board meeting on October 6th. Board meetings are public and you have the opportunity to offer public comment.

Here’s some background and the history behind Metra’s fare increases as well as information on how you can voice your concerns:

How much will your fare increase?

You can use the application below to see how your fare will change.

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The increase in fares is predicted to raise an additional $17 million in revenue. At the same time it released its proposed fare increase, Metra announced it had also identified $8 million in spending cuts and savings including lower utility costs, a proposed hiring freeze, less advertising costs, and cuts to service worth $3 million.

Metra’s 10-year plan

Metra has planned to increase fares. In 2014, Metra put in motion a $2.4 billion “modernization plan” to buy 367 new coach cars, rebuild 85 train engines, and buy 52 new train engines, all by 2024. The agency planned 10 years of fare hikes to pay for the plan. In addition, the plan called for borrowing $400 million and getting an additional $1.3 billion in state and federal funding.

According to the modernization plan’s fare schedule, Metra would have increased 2018 fare revenues this year by 4 percent.

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However, Metra officials said that due to the Illinois budget impasse between 2015 and 2017, the full implementation of its modernization plan was put on hold. The state cut back funding for Metra and did not pass a bill for construction spending, known as a capital program, needed for funding.

What’s happening now?

Instead, Metra has followed a much smaller program of rebuilding its current stock of train cars and engines. According to a Metra press release, between 2014 and 2017, Metra rebuilt 115 cars and 25 train engines. Metra has a total of 850 cars and 150 engines and the agency said it will continue to rebuild with time and funding. It also has a plan to buy 25 new cars and 10 new engines.

Although Metra has put a hold on the bigger modernization program, officials argue it still needs  a fare increase due to the agency’s budget deficit, partly as a result of decreased state funding. Metra provided three reasons for increasing fares:

1. The state’s recently passed budget included a 10 percent cut to a fund used to partially match regional sales tax collections and a 2 percent state surcharge for collecting regional taxes.

2. Lower gas prices, lower vehicle sales, and an increase in online shopping have decreased sales tax collections.

3. Increases in personnel costs and inflation.

What can you do?

Metra will be presenting a preliminary budget with the proposed fare increase at 9 a.m. Oct. 6th at 547 West Jackson Blvd on the 13th Floor. There also will be a series of public hearings on the proposed budget. The board will vote to finalize the budget, with the fare increases, at its Nov. 10th meeting.

In order to speak, you must fill out a Metra public comment form (provided to you at the meeting or accessed here). The total time for public comments is 30 minutes and each speaker is allotted 3 minutes at most. The order is first come, first served.

Other transit agencies also have raised fares; however, comparing fare increases across different transit agencies — with unique infrastructure and funding structures — is complicated.

Still, an increase in fares no matter the justification always is a tough pill to swallow, particularly when commuters, like those shown below, do not perceive improvements in service.

Massive delays on @metraUPNW tonight due to signal problems and, remember, fares will keep going up until whenever. HAPPY FRIDAY! #Chicago

— Bill West (@BillWest5) September 23, 2017

Left work late. Now stuck at a stand still on the @metraMDN. But at least our fares keep increasing. Also sweet seats huh @OnTheMetra pic.twitter.com/GBC2mG9QEI

— Ryan Francis (@trosedfr) September 22, 2017

@metraRID is late again. Time to raise those fares. Life @OnTheMetra.

— Marko Masnjak (@m_masnjak) September 20, 2017

Metra also is reliant upon state and federal dollars. If you want to know where your legislative officials stand on funding Metra and other transit agencies, or if you’d like to offer your thoughts and concerns, you can find their contact information at the following links:

• Illinois General Assembly Representative

• Illinois General Assembly Senator

• Congressional House Representative

• Congressional Senator

Included in the budget Illinois lawmakers approved on July 6th was a 1.2 percentage point increase in Illinois’ income tax rate. The 32-percent increase in the rate to 4.95 percent from 3.75 percent means the rate now stands nearly as high the, pre-crisis, temporary rate approved by Democrats in 2011 that expired in 2015.

Lawmakers said the tax increase will allow the state to begin paying down some of the $15 billion backlog in bills the state owes social service providers, health care providers, and other contractors.

But, what does the tax increase mean for everyday earners? For every $10 you earn, you will be paying an additional 12 cents in tax. For the median income household in Illinois, that amounts to about $691 more in annual income tax.

The 32-percent increase may also raise the state’s effective tax rate compared to a few of its neighbors. May is the critical word here, because in the United States each tax system is unique as a snowflake and making a simple comparison of the highest and lowest income rates does not tell the whole story. Of the five states surrounding Illinois, only Indiana shares a flat tax — one tax rate applied to all eligible income levels. All other states have progressive income tax systems — with a range of rates applied to different income ranges. In some states, like Indiana, counties may also collect an income tax directly.

We took a look at the estimated effective 2016 tax rate — a measure of how much is actually paid in tax — for households across the region earning $57,574 with two earners — the Illinois median — and found that, in 2016, Illinois ranked fourth in effective tax rate. This recent change could push Illinois to second place, with potentially higher rates than Wisconsin and Iowa, states that had 2016 effective rates around 4.44 percent and 4.10 percent, respectively.

Whether you think the increase in tax is worth the pain to your wallet may have more to do with your own income level and your view of the role of government. If you are thinking of packing up the car and heading west, keep in mind Iowa will tax every dollar you earn over $70,785 at 8.98 percent.