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Originally Posted by LouisVanDerWright
One thing I did hear that was interesting is that both Lori and Toni want to jack the ARO up to as much as 50% of new projects which will essentially kill all non-as-of-right new construction in the city. Mindnumbingly stupid policy, but very lucrative for me if it goes through!
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I read Lightfoot's policy last night and had to do a double take; I'm glad I did, because it's easy to misunderstand. She's not proposing to change the percentage of affordable units in new developments. She IS proposing to decrease the amount of units that developers can buy their way out of, increasing the
required on-site percentage from 25% to 50%.
So, for a 100 unit building, this would change the number of affordable on-site units from 3 to 5. Not a huge change and still far below the inclusionary zoning requirements in coastal cities. I'm sure it will kill the proforma for a few projects but all in all this is much better than Rosa and Guzzardi's favorite eat-the-rich proposals.
Also, Lightfoot wants to eliminate aldermanic prerogative for any projects that provide all of their required affordable units on site, or various subsidized housing proposals that provide more than 10% affordable housing. Basically this opens up a new route for developers to build multifamily in Lincoln Park and Wicker Park where the returns are highest, and potentially the higher returns in those neighborhoods can subsidize a greater number of affordable units on site. This is basically how Moreno was able to get more affordable housing built in his ward than any other ward in the city.
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Originally Posted by the urban politician
The Blue Line is on course to becoming the most in-demand CTA line in the city at some point in the future, unless something gets done to improve Red Line access to the West Loop.
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The Blue Line is maxed out right now. The power system won't allow CTA to add more trains. A fix is probably 4-6 years away, optimistically. The only thing CTA can do in the meantime is rip out the seats and cram more people in. At some point the infrastructure will put a cap on growth.