Springfield's dangling a big housing carrot, and CPS is hunting leakers. So yeah, somebody's nervous — and it sure isn't the press. This is Chicago Politics and Urbanism Daily. I'm Cassidy, Devin's here, and today we're stress-testing two reform promises: one about building more housing, one about keeping school board secrets. The housing plan is the part that actually hits real neighborhoods. So let's see whether Springfield means it, or just wants the press release. And that leak probe tells you exactly where CPS leadership's head is right now. Spoiler: not with the kids. From Steven Vance at Chicago Cityscape:
Illinois is closer than it has ever been to passing a serious statewide housing reform package. Governor JB Pritzker's **BUILD Plan** — short for *Building Up Illinois Development* — was the centerpiece of his February “State of the State” address, and a package of proposals was simultaneously introduced. If any meaningful slice of it passes, it will reshape where and how new homes can be built across Chicago and the surrounding region.
Chicago Cityscape's Steven Vance has a deep breakdown of Pritzker's BUILD Plan — Building Up Illinois Development — the centerpiece of the governor's State of the State back in February. Illinois is 142,000 units short on housing, and this is Pritzker's big swing at fixing that statewide. And the photo they lead with? Two- and three-flats in Evanston. Banned in most of that city now. That's the story right there: suburbs zoned out the middle class, and now we're all acting shocked there's a shortage. The political lift here is real. This touches Springfield, City Hall, and every suburban municipality that's spent decades saying no to density. Vance's point is pretty simple: the package only works if it passes as a package, not cherry-picked apart. Right, because the suburbs will absolutely try to shave off the teeth and call it a win. I've seen this movie. Chicago Tribune writes:
A law firm hired by the Chicago Board of Education has come up empty in its effort to identify the sources of two separate media leaks, one of which revealed the names of finalists in the school district’s CEO search last fall. The board’s law firm, Salvatore Prescott Porter & Porter, interviewed most of the 21 board members and reviewed their emails, but found “insufficient evidence to reach a conclusion,” according to a report released by the board office late Thursday.
Chicago Board of Education hired a law firm, interviewed most of its 21 members, reviewed emails, spent roughly 28 grand — and came up with absolutely nothing. The firm's conclusion was 'insufficient evidence to reach a conclusion.' That's a sentence that earns its money. Twenty-eight thousand dollars to find out nobody's talking. And meanwhile CPS can't keep a CEO search confidential for five minutes, while Board President Harden is out here calling leakers 'bad actors' like this is a spy thriller. Credit where it's due: WBEZ's Sarah Karp broke the finalist names. That's the kind of local accountability reporting that actually serves parents. Harden says the leaks 'eroded trust.' A 28-thousand-dollar witch hunt that found nothing is doing a lot more eroding than that. And after the names went public, a candidate walked. So the board's big secret didn't even last long enough to matter. What exactly were they protecting? Got feedback, a story idea, or a correction for Chicago Politics and Urbanism Daily? Send us a note at chicagodailyfix at lantern podcasts dot com. We read what you send, and it helps shape the show.
You'll find links to every story we touched on today in the show notes, so if something stuck with you, that's the place to dig in a bit further.
That's Chicago Politics and Urbanism Daily for this Monday. This is a Lantern Podcast.