Alex Nitkin

Gov't Finance & Accountability reporter, @IllinoisAnswers/@BetterGov. Formerly of @thedailylinechi, @trdchicago & @DNAinfoChi. Tips: [email protected]

[Alex Nitkin @AlexNitkin]

Dec. 2.
Come by to learn more about our work, and how you can support it!
https://t.co/mkH8NXSCmu

[Joel D. Anderson 🆓 @byjoelanderson]

man, who should we believe: someone who's virtually never gotten along with her colleagues in a true newsroom and was previously accused of being a terrible manager at their previous stop, or the multi-Emmy-Peabody-Polk award winner beloved by his co-workers?

[Andrea Guthmann @AndreaGuthmann]

Something I’ve never seen before in #Chicago- cruise ship pulled right up to lakefront trail @navypier. Find out what else has been happening locally this week from @bpopetv @vimiller @alexnitkin & @sashaannsimons @wbezintheloop 📻 @wbez https://t.co/qL5RNiKNIs

[Alex Nitkin @AlexNitkin]

HB5198 passed the House last month and has picked up some powerful sponsors in the Senate, but it has yet to clear a committee vote in that chamber as time runs out on the session.

Read our full story here:
https://t.co/xiDDvfN2W3
(7/7)

[Alex Nitkin @AlexNitkin]

New from me: an under-the-radar bill pending in Springfield would beef up rules designed to push wealthy Illinois suburbs to allow more affordable housing.
Here's what HB5198 would do, and where it stands:
(1/7)

[Alex Nitkin @AlexNitkin]

Many suburban mayors are opposed. Burr Ridge Mayor Gary Grasso told me his constituents need to be able to "say what they want and don’t want in their communities — that’s why they moved here.”
The average home in Burr Ridge costs $700K+.
(6/7)

[Grace Hauck @grace_hauck]

Months After Late Property Tax Bills, Thousands Are Still Waiting With No Resolution in Sight. by @ad_quig @chicagotribune and @AlexNitkin @IllinoisAnswers https://t.co/vxCJfnJcq8

[Alex Nitkin @AlexNitkin]

Watchdog finds the City Council's in-house financial research body hasn't been living up to its mandate to provide reliable, independent counsel — even as it's added some more members in recent years.
Context from our story last year on @ChicagoCOFA:
https://t.co/rNor8YbpfH

[Chicago Office of Inspector General @ChicagoOIG]

OIG finds @ChicagoCOFA provided limited assistance to City Council in budget planning and decision making.

🔗 https://t.co/YZbfLgjgRb

[Alex Nitkin @AlexNitkin]

@journo_cam @WBEZ @Suntimes Congrats!

[Alex Nitkin @AlexNitkin]

Damn. Definitely never heard the head of a sister agency speak this way about a sitting mayor:
(Context from @jus10chi:
https://t.co/X8tDxGLpEk)

[talia soglin @talia_soglin]

Hearing on the CTA’s motion for a TRO in its Red Line Extension case against the feds is today at 10am. From court filings: “A city’s infrastructure is its lifeblood; it is what makes a city a city”

[Alex Nitkin @AlexNitkin]

New: Chicago officials have for years resisted calls to mandate proactive apartment safety inspections, even as renters keep dying in preventable fires.
The City Council just passed an ordinance directing departments to study the idea in earnest:
https://t.co/I2gI7YGIGl

[Alex Nitkin @AlexNitkin]

@FrankCalabrese Frank unless you have a copy of the letter, please link to an article that reported this!

[Chris Bury @ChrisBuryNews]

After more than three decades in network news, I find this @bariweiss direction a massive misunderstanding of the TV audience. Paid opinion is ubiquitous. Real reporting is precious.

[Geoff Bennett @GeoffRBennett]

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting may be gone, but the mission it fueled lives on at the @NewsHour : free, fair, independent journalism for all -- without paywalls or partisan pressure.

If that work matters to you, help us keep it going. Support our work by donating here: https://t.co/D07Z8PNDiA

[Alex Nitkin @AlexNitkin]

I'm sure no one wants to hear this right now, but worth keeping in mind:
Any meeting of more than 12 alders that isn't open to the public is a violation of the Illinois Open Meetings Act

[Paris Schutz @paschutz]

A three hour weekend meeting between Alders and Mayor didn't yield much... this email from Ald Samantha Nugent to other proponents of the "alternative budget" indicates they will go forward with budget votes of their own this week... as the two sides engage in a congress-like spending standoff:

[Alex Nitkin @AlexNitkin]

Context on this practice, before anyone thinks Council staffers are getting $200K bonuses...
https://t.co/Hb2XPWc87z

[Citizen 𝑣𝑠 Machine, PhD @CitizenVMachine]

It's happening again...

🎅 Christmas bonus season for aldermanic staff! 🎅