Bikes
The Grand Avenue Gauntlet — Tonight
After weeks of buildup, tonight is the night. Two dueling events on opposite ends of the transportation-politics spectrum, both happening this evening:
5 p.m. at Grand & Noble: Roger Romanelli's coalition holds its protest against Phase 2 of the Grand Avenue Safe Streets project — the stretch from Damen Avenue east toward Ogden. Romanelli, executive director of the Fulton Market Association and a veteran of Ashland BRT opposition, has been rallying business owners who argue that parking loss will hurt them.
4:30 p.m. from Daley Plaza: Supporters of the project — the self-styled "GRASSheads" — are riding out from downtown, passing the protest site, and continuing northwest to the Portage Park open house. It's an elegant logistical two-fer: show up for the count at Grand, then make the 6 p.m. meeting.
6 p.m. at Portage Park Senior Center (4001 N. Long Ave.): CDOT's community open house for the Portage Park Neighborhood Bike Network. Three new bike lanes (Central, Laramie, and Montrose) and five neighborhood greenways are on the table for the 30th, 38th, and 45th wards. Notably, no barrier-protected lanes are proposed — this is a lower-conflict network of striped lanes and greenways through quieter residential streets.
Alderman Nicholas Sposato (38th Ward) has said he's reserving judgment until after tonight's meeting — which means community turnout actually matters here. The survey at chicago.gov/portagepark remains open through March 15.
Watch Streetsblog Chicago and Block Club tomorrow for event recaps.
Lead
Accelerating — But Is It Fast Enough?
The city made some quiet contracting news in January: Mayor Johnson, the Department of Procurement Services, and the Department of Water Management announced four inaugural Lead Service Line Replacement Small Business Initiative contracts totaling $1.67 million, awarded to three minority- and women-owned local construction firms. The goal is to build a bench of experienced small contractors who can eventually compete on larger projects — a workforce development pipeline embedded in an infrastructure program.
It's a sensible idea. It's also a very small number.
The math, as a reminder: Chicago has roughly 400,000 lead service lines to replace. The city has managed about 7,923 replacements in the past four years — and approximately 60% of those happened as opportunistic add-ons during unrelated water main work. To meet federal mandates, the pace needs to jump to 10,000 replacements in 2027, then 15,000, then 19,000. The city drew only $70–90 million of a $325 million federal loan that expires next year, despite planning to accelerate dramatically in 2026.
Meanwhile, Chicago was required to notify approximately 900,000 renters, homeowners, and landlords that their tap water may be unsafe — and had reached only 7% of them as of last summer. That's a separate failure from the physical replacement work, but it compounds the same underlying problem: residents who don't know they're at risk can't protect themselves.
The SBI contract program is genuinely worth developing. The scale of 2026's ambitions makes the January number look more like a down payment than a delivery.
Housing & Abundance
ADU Ordinance: 27 Days, and a Permit Bottleneck Forming
Chicago's citywide ADU ordinance takes effect April 1 — now less than four weeks out. Since the original pilot program launched in December 2020, the city has received 1,031 applications to build accessory dwelling units. Of those, 809 were pre-approved. But only 398 building permits have actually been issued — meaning roughly half of pre-approved projects are stuck somewhere between approval and breaking ground.
Red tape appears to be the culprit: longer-than-average permit processing times and construction requirements that don't always flex for smaller structures. With the citywide expansion about to open the floodgates to applications from all 77 community areas rather than the initial five-ward pilot zones, the bottleneck will only get more visible unless CDOT and DPD act to streamline the back end.
In Springfield, the BUILD package bills continue their march. The Illinois House Housing Committee has approved HB 1813 (banning municipal ADU prohibitions statewide) and HB 1814 (disincentivizing large-lot single-family construction). A related measure, HB 5626 (the parking minimums and single-staircase egress bill), has added Rep. Jehan Gordon-Booth as co-sponsor and is awaiting a Senate committee hearing. The Illinois General Assembly hearing calendar is the place to watch for advocates who want to testify in person.
The Illinois Municipal League's formal opposition to the broader BUILD package continues to be the primary organized resistance. Their core argument — home-rule authority over local zoning — is not without legal weight, but in practice it has historically functioned as a veto for any well-organized homeowner bloc. The IML's position and the housing crisis are not compatible over the long run.
Tonight: Grand Ave. protest (5 p.m., Grand & Noble), GRASSheads counter-ride (Daley Plaza, 4:30 p.m.), Portage Park open house (6 p.m., 4001 N. Long Ave.). Portage Park survey closes March 15. Primary election: March 17. City Council next meets March 18. Citywide ADU ordinance effective: April 1.