Greetings!
The Mayor’s Office will be releasing the budget forecast on Monday, with estimates through year end of 2020 and estimates for 2021. Public meetings for the budget will be hosted by the City over the next few weeks and a list of dates is provided below. Due to COVID-19 health concerns, there will not be in person meetings held like last year. Municipalities across the U.S. are seeing huge revenue losses as COVID concerns impact revenue streams across the board. City officials are working with counterparts across the US to work on federal revenue sources in a bi-partisan approach to help municipalities deal with the fiscal impacts of COVID-19.
The budget priorities will be laid out in detail and provide details on our budgets and the huge budget gap we will face due to the COVID pandemic. The budget meetings will include testimony and citizen intake by Budget Director Susie Park, Chief Financial Officer Jennie Huang Bennett, and the Chicago City Council Budget Committee Chair Ald. Pat Dowell. On Monday August 31st there will be a City State of the Budget address followed by several virtual town hall meetings to be live-streamed on Facebook. Details on the budget meetings are available below.
There have been police reports of several recent carjackings in Bucktown and an arrest of a juvenile has been made in connection to these crimes. Per state juvenile records laws the Police Department cannot release the name of the juvenile. Police are also searching for an arsonist in the Bucktown & Wicker Park neighborhoods. Detectives are investigating and are asking for any videos from around the arson scenes. Any information like videos, recognition of the offender(s) should be provided to Sgt. Henkels at CAPS- 312-744-8290 or detectives in Area 5 at 312-746-7394. The 14th District is hosting all of their CAPS meetings on Zoom during the pandemic but you can always reach out on individual or community issues in between CAPS meetings.
Senior citizens who are 75 or older will have an extra year to renew their driver's license as a COVID-19 precaution. Secretary of State Jesse White’s office announced 2020 driver’s license expiration dates will be extended by one year for this particular age group. For all other drivers, license expiration dates already had been extended until Nov. 1. To read more go to www.cyberdriveillinois.com.
The City of Chicago has launched another engagement tool to combat the spread of COVID-19 in Chicago—a Snapchat lens. To encourage users to wear masks when in public, this first-of-its-kind Snapchat augmented reality lens deploys new technology that only allows the user to unlock the lens when they put on a mask. Known for offering its users “Easter eggs,” or hidden surprises found only through unique codes, Snapchat collaborated with Ogilvy-Chicago to design an AR lens that is “quintessential Chicago.” The City worked closely with Snap Inc. and Ogilvy to produce, refine and complete the new designs to ensure they were aligned with the City’s current public health awareness initiatives, specifically, the ‘We Are All ONE Team: Team Up, Mask Up’ campaign. Try the new snap lens to turn your mask into your favorite sports team's mask: chi.gov/maskup. This pandemic is not over, and until there is a vaccine please avoid large groups, wear a mask and practice social distancing. Chicago and the suburbs are seeing a constant increase (Covid data) in cases so please, always wear a mask in public.
Have a nice weekend,
Scott Waguespack, Alderman