Bikes
Divvy Day: The New Fares Are Live
Today's the day. Starting this morning, Divvy's updated rates are in effect. Recap for anyone who missed last issue: classic and e-bike overage ticks up to 20¢/min; scooter overage jumps to 34¢/min; out-of-station parking climbs to $2.00 (members) and $3.00 (casual) for e-bikes and scooters. If you're a member who almost never blows past the 45-minute window, you'll barely notice. If you're a heavy scooter user, you will.
The city frames the increases as funding better maintenance and nudging better parking behavior. That latter goal is reasonable — sidewalk-blocking e-bikes and scooters have been a genuine nuisance. Whether the price signal is well-calibrated or just a revenue opportunity dressed up in compliance language is a fair question, but the direction is defensible.
City Hall vs. Its Own Cyclists: The HB 2454 Problem
A March 6 Chicago Tribune op-ed by Charna Albert and Nik Hunder of Chicago Bike Grid Now! delivered a pointed message to Mayor Johnson: you campaigned on cycling infrastructure. Now your administration is actively opposing a bill that would protect cyclists.
The bill in question is HB 2454, which would designate cyclists as "intended users" of all legal riding roads. This would reverse a 1998 Illinois Supreme Court ruling (Boub v. Township of Wayne) that found cyclists are merely "permitted, not intended" users — a distinction that lets municipalities off the hook when road defects cause crashes and injuries. On roughly 90% of city streets today, Chicago can't be held liable for injuring a cyclist.
Last month, the City of Chicago filed an opposition slip on the bill. The administration's stated rationale: "By exposing municipalities to sweeping liability and potential changes to roadway standards, the proposal would result in millions of dollars in new annual costs." Advocates counter that the liability exposure is exactly the point — it would give the city a financial incentive to maintain roads that cyclists actually use.
Mayor Johnson celebrated Chicago's 500th mile of bikeway last fall. But most of those miles are paint on pavement, not protected infrastructure — and on the streets behind the painted lines, the city's legal position is that it owes cyclists nothing. HB 2454 remains in the Judiciary – Civil Committee. With the primary on March 17, it's a useful question for any state legislative candidate.
Reminders: Survey, Training, Primary
- Sunday, March 15: The Portage Park Neighborhood Bike Network online survey closes. Strong in-person turnout (200+ people) at the March 6 meeting showed real community appetite for the proposed network of greenways and protected lanes. Five minutes to fill out the survey; meaningful signal for CDOT.
- Tomorrow (March 12), 6 PM: Bike Bus Leader Training at Butcher's Tap, 3553 N. Southport. Chicago Family Biking hosts.
- March 17, Illinois Primary: HB 2454 is a live question. Ask your state legislative candidates where they stand.
Wildlife
Rodenticide Killed Lincoln Park's Owls. The Pattern Continues.
The Lake County Audubon Society published a piece on March 6 spelling out what wildlife advocates in Chicago know all too well: rodenticides don't just kill rats. They kill everything that eats rats.
The city's own data tells the story. Of 101 brown rats sampled from Chicago alleys, 74% tested positive for at least one anticoagulant rodenticide (AR) compound. Of 93 "mesopredators" — skunks, raccoons, opossums — sampled in the region, 100% showed exposure. Great horned owls, red-tailed hawks, and migrating raptors funnel through Chicago along the Mississippi Flyway; they are perfectly positioned to bioaccumulate whatever poisons the rats absorb.
In spring 2024, Lincoln Park residents celebrated when a pair of great horned owls nested and hatched an owlet. Then the male died. Then the owlet. Then the female. Necropsies confirmed rodenticides in all three. The city's rat-control program had, in effect, eliminated Lincoln Park's owl family.
The Chicago Bird Alliance continues to push back, noting the darkly ironic twist: owls and hawks are among the most effective natural rat predators in urban environments. Killing them with rodenticide is, quite literally, counterproductive.
What you can do: Choose wildlife-safe rodent control at home — dry ice, exclusion, habitat modification. If your building's management or exterminator relies on anticoagulant bait blocks, ask them to switch. The Chicago Bird Alliance's petition is one venue for adding your voice.
Lead
The $28M Hearing and the 30-Year Gap
Two pieces of lead news worth tracking:
Near-term: The Chicago Department of Water Management has announced a public hearing on its intent to apply for $28 million from the Illinois EPA's Public Water Supply Loan Program for lead service line replacements, specifically targeting census tracts with the highest need. Details on the hearing date and comment process have not yet been widely publicized — watch the DWM's announcements page and LeadSafeChicago.org for updates.
Structural: A recent analysis from Inside Climate News lays out the math starkly: Chicago's official plan replaces 8,300 lines per year, completing the job by 2076. The EPA's Lead and Copper Rule Improvements (LCRI), finalized last fall, gives water systems roughly 20 years from 2027. Chicago's timeline is 30 years behind the federal requirement.
Making matters worse: the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law's $15B allocation for lead pipe replacement sunsets in 2026, adding urgency to every dollar. The Trump EPA has sent mixed signals — defending the LCRI against an industry lawsuit (filed by the American Water Works Association, which argues the 10-year timeline is "infeasible") while also missing key SRF funding deadlines. Among the five U.S. cities with the most lead pipes, only Chicago has not yet committed to a timeline that matches the federal mandate.
The pace problem is real. The city has drawn between $70–90M of a ~$325M federal loan that expires next year, and spent about $41.5M of $60M it authorized for replacements in 2023 — in a program that needs to be accelerating, not coasting. Free replacements are available for households below 80% AMI ($83,350 for a family of four). Information: LeadSafeChicago.org.
Housing & Abundance
BUILD Plan: More Details, Same Opposition
The Quorum Forum podcast (the Illinois Municipal League's policy show) dedicated an episode this week to the BUILD plan — a useful window into how municipalities are processing HB 5626. The framing from the municipal side: preemption is a categorical threat to home rule, regardless of the merits of any individual provision. The framing from housing advocates: local zoning autonomy has been used primarily to exclude.
Some HB 5626 provisions worth knowing that weren't prominent in initial coverage:
- Parking minimums eliminated starting January 1, 2027, for small residential units (under 1,500 sq ft), affordable housing, assisted living, ground-floor retail in mixed-use buildings, and residential conversions. This is quietly significant — parking requirements are one of the primary mechanisms that make infill housing financially infeasible.
- Single-stairway buildings legalized statewide starting January 1, 2027, for buildings meeting specified requirements. Chicago recently passed its own single-stair reform; this would apply the standard across Illinois.
- ADUs statewide — HB 5626 would require all Illinois municipalities to allow ADU construction in single-family zones, taking the policy Chicago just implemented citywide and applying it everywhere.
The bill remains in committee. Committee hearings in earnest are expected after the March 17 primary.
ADU Countdown: 21 Days
April 1 is three weeks away. Building permit applications open the same day the citywide ordinance takes effect. If you're in a multifamily zone outside downtown, you're in. If you're in a single-family zone outside the original pilot areas, your alderperson needs to opt in your block.
Coach house builders: the apprenticeship requirement for contractors is real and not widely understood. Start those conversations now. Questions: adu@cityofchicago.org. Permit activity tracker: Chicago Cityscape ADU.
Vegan
The Wave Continues — But Bloom Plans a Return
The wave of Chicago vegan restaurant closures documented in a January Chicago Tribune piece hasn't reversed, but there's one note of cautious optimism: Bloom Plant Based Kitchen, which closed February 21, announced that it intends to return with a new concept. No timeline or details yet, but it's at least a sign that the team sees a path forward rather than an exit.
The underlying pressures — ingredient costs, rent, labor, Chicago's long winters reducing foot traffic, and a dispersed dining geography that makes destination dining harder — haven't changed. The survivors are places with distinctive identities and loyal bases: Kale My Name, Veggie House, Penelope's Vegan Taqueria, and PLANTA Queen. Worth supporting them now.
This week: Bike Bus Leader Training March 12, 6 PM, Butcher's Tap. Portage Park Bike Network survey closes March 15. Illinois primary March 17 — ask your candidates about HB 2454. City Council meets March 18. ADU ordinance effective April 1 (21 days). Vote-by-mail applications due March 12.