Legislative Corner

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As Chairman of the Committee on Economic, Capital and Technology Development, Alderman Laurino not only looks after the needs of her ward but also tackles citywide issues that affect quality of life for all Chicagoans. She has been the driving force behind several key pieces of legislation.

Alderman Laurino has worked closely with Finance Committee Chairman Edward Burke (14th Ward) on creating a wireless infrastructure that would allow ubiquitous, citywide high speed internet access for Chicago residents. She chaired four public hearings in communities around the city on this topic and currently sits on the Mayor's Advisory Council on Closing the Digital Divide. Significant progress has been made on this project in the past year, with the city of Chicago issuing a Request for Proposals for installation of the infrastructure. The City is expecting to evaluate responses to the proposals in 2007.

Alderman Laurino introduced an ordinance which would expand mandatory ethics training to include all city employees on a yearly basis. In order to implement such training at minimal cost, one of the innovative ideas included in this ordinance is to make the training available as an online program. This program was up and running by the end of 2006.

Again partnering with Alderman Burke, Alderman Laurino sponsored legislation that requires the City to have realtime webcasts of the Chicago City Council meetings. Equipment will be installed in the City Council Chambers, with the first live webcast expected in 2007.

Joining with Alderman Manuel Flores (1st Ward), Alderman Laurino sponsored a ground breaking ordinance that regulates restrictive covenants that are placed on property once occupied by grocery and drug stores. In the past grocery and drug stores would close and leave behind anticompetitive covenants attached to their deeds, which prevented other similar stores from occupying the property, even if the original store had no intention of returning to the area. This new law is thought to be the first of its kind and greatly limits the duration of such restrictive covenants, enabling future development and hastening the return of needed services to communities.

Recently Alderman Laurino again joined with Alderman Flores to introduce a resolution that called together various civic groups and industry associations to shed light on the disparity in distribution of grocery stores throughout the city. At her Committee meeting, Chairman Laurino convened a Task Force, with member on both sides of this issue, to provide recommendations that would help to alleviate this problem.

In the coming year, Alderman Laurino is looking forward to further advancing these and other economic and technological advances.