Equity & Economic Opportunity

From federal lawsuits to scathing reports, the administration of the city’s greenspaces has for decades come under fire on grounds that underserved communities are treated unfairly

Only 16 of the 600 parks in city neighborhoods have security cameras, but many of them are in white, wealthy neighborhoods without much of a crime problem. Many parks in higher-crime areas, including more neighborhoods of color, have no cameras at all despite requests from residents.

Transforming Chicago’s most famous public housing complex will cost taxpayers $2 billion. It also came with often-unkept promises of jobs, city contracts and homes for those forced from the neighborhood.

To quell a rising controversy 25 years ago that threatened to derail his grand plan to raze the public housing complex, Mayor Richard M. Daley made promises to the residents he was kicking out — including jobs.

Mayor Bob O’Dekirk’s proposal to build a billion-dollar pipeline to access Lake Michigan water from Chicago rankles some Joliet activists who say the costs should fall harder on major companies that use the most water.

The hospital also admitted to vaccinating ineligible people at Trump Tower and a luxury jewelry shop, according to an audit obtained by the BGA and Block Club Chicago.

Illinois three years ago began requiring firms getting tax breaks through a state jobs program to report how much they spent with minority- and women-owned vendors. But it has turned into little more than a bureaucratic paper shuffle that collects little useful information.

Transforming Chicago’s most famous public housing complex will cost taxpayers $2 billion. It also came with often-unkept promises of jobs, city contracts and homes for those forced from the neighborhood.