CITY HALL — The dashcam video of a police officer fatally shooting 17-year-old Laquan McDonald may have been released in 2015, but its impact was felt throughout 2016 at City Hall.
Handpicked by Mayor Rahm Emanuel in March to replace former Supt. Garry McCarthy, new top cop Eddie Johnson said he took office "at a time of unparalleled challenge."
After completing a top-to-bottom review, Johnson said significant progress has been made in restoring the trust between the department and Chicagoans.
But police misconduct was again costly for Chicago taxpayers, with the city paying out approximately $47.5 million in settlements and judgments in 2016, records show. Officials expect that cost to grow again next year, and set aside some $56 million to cover legal costs associated with misconduct in the 2017 budget.
At the same time, the gun and gang violence that wounded more than 4,100 and killed more than 700 people in Chicago showed no sign of slowing, even during bitterly cold weather that marked the last weeks of 2016.
[DNAinfo/Kelly Bauer]
As part of an effort to stop the violence, Emanuel has charged his staff and the police department with hiring 250 new officers, 92 new field-training officers, 100 new detectives, 37 new sergeants and 50 new lieutenants in 2017 — with another 441 members of the police department set to be hired in 2018.
To do that, the city must enroll 100 new recruits per month through 2018 in its six-month training academy, city officials said.
But that wasn't all that Emanuel and the City Council faced during 2016.
New Agency Formed To Investigate Police Misconduct
The outcry over the McDonald case spelled the end for the Independent Police Review Authority, after Emanuel said it "defies common sense" that the agency disciplined only two officers since being formed in 2007.
Sharon Fairley addresses the media. [DNAinfo/Ted Cox]
The debate over how to replace the review board roiled City Hall for months, with critics saying the new Civilian Office of Police Accountability will not effectively hold officers responsible for misconduct or allow Chicagoans to keep tabs on the department's operations.
Sharon Fairley, who is leading the effort to set up the new agency, promised aldermen that the new agency will investigate allegations of excessive force and misconduct by police officers more thoroughly and faster.
City officials have until Sept. 3 to get the new agency up and running.
Teachers Strike Narrowly Averted, But Schools Suffer $140M In Cuts, With More Looming
An agreement between the Chicago Public Schools and the Chicago Teachers Union on a new contract — reached just minutes before a midnight Oct. 11 deadline — kept 380,000 students in school.
The four-year deal maintained — and in some cases expanded — lucrative perks for teachers and support staff members.
[DNAinfo/Evan Moore]
An eight-month deadlock over a new deal ended once Emanuel agreed to heed months of calls from union officials, aldermen and parent-led group Raise Your Hand to give schools millions of dollars that had been collected by the city to spur the redevelopment of blighted areas.
Union issues were the least of the school's district's problems. Chicago schools started the 2016-17 school year in September with $140 million less than they had at the start of the 2015 school year
While school system CEO Forrest Claypool told reporters July 13 that school budgets would "hold the line" and protect classrooms from another round of cuts, schools got about 7 percent less this year for each student in kindergarten through 12th grade compared with the 2015-16 school year.
More cuts may be on the way after Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner vetoed $215 million that CPS officials were counting on to pay pensions this spring.
City Council Agrees To Raise Water, Sewer Taxes To Pay For Pensions
The City Council agreed in September to raise the city's water and sewer taxes by 30 percent, adding to the long list of city fees and taxes that have risen as Emanuel struggles to put the city's pension funds on firmer ground.
The average household will pay an extra $4.50 a month next year in order to turn on its taps and flush its toilets. When the tax is fully implemented in five years, the owner of the average home will pay $228 more a year.
The tax increase will raise $56 million next year for the Municipal Employees' Annuity and Benefit Fund, which had been scheduled to go bankrupt in 2025. The fund covers most non-police or fire department city employees, who have a separate pension fund.
Since Emanuel took office in 2011, a new garbage hauling fee, 911 phone tax hike, vehicle sticker fee increase and a tax on cable television — not to mention the record-breaking $589 million property tax hike approved in October 2015 — have been imposed to the fill the massive deficit facing the city.
What Will The Trump Administration Mean For Chicago?
After Emanuel said much of Chicago woke up "despondent" Nov. 9 after the election of Donald Trump as the 45th president of the United States, Chicago officials spent many of the remaining days of 2016 trying to figure out what the businessman-turned-politician's victory would mean for Chicago.
Emanuel — who criticized Trump as unfit to lead America during the campaign — has repeatedly said Chicago will remain a sanctuary city despite Trump's promise to withhold federal funds from municipalities that protect undocumented immigrants from deportation.
While Emanuel has said he doesn't think Trump will make good on that threat, the mayor and City Council set aside $1.3 million in taxpayer money to defend immigrants threatened with deportation.
In addition, Trump could decide to exact some revenge on Chicago officials, who took down a street sign honoring him outside Trump Tower and blasted him as a racist who should not be allowed to occupy the White House.
[DNAinfo/Heather Cherone]
20th Ward Alderman Indicted — Again, For The Third Time
Ald. Willie Cochran (20th), a retired Chicago Police officer who represents the neighborhoods he once patrolled, was indicted Dec. 14 and accused of shaking down a local business owner and stealing $30,000 he collected to help people in his ward, court records show.
In fact, news of Cochran's indictment came during a council meeting, while the alderman sat chatting with colleagues and listening to a celebration of the 2016 World Series victory by the Chicago Cubs.
[DNAinfo/Heather Cherone]
Cochran is the third sitting 20th Ward alderman to be indicted for criminal wrongdoing while in office.
Former Ald. Cliff Kelley was indicted in 1986 on charges of bribery and income tax evasion. Before he was convicted, Kelley lost the 1987 election to Ernest Jones, who died in office in 1990.
In 2008, Cochran replaced Ald. Arenda Troutman, who pleaded guilty to charges she demanded political contributions from developers looking to do business in her ward. Those charges were highlighted by Troutman's now infamous quote caught on tape: "Most aldermen, most politicians are hos."
Troutman was sentenced to four years in prison.
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