Politics
Chicago
Mayor Johnson pressed to appoint zoning board commissioner
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Will Mayor Johnson finally send nominees for vacant zoning board seat?
Helen Shiller, Swathi Staley said to be picks for panel viewed as having controlling authority over major development projects
From left: Mayor of Chicago Brandon Johnson along with Chicago’s Zoning Board of Appeals nominees Helen Shiller and Swathi Staley (Getty, Helen Shiller, LinkedIn/Swathi Staley)
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson plans to nominate a City Hall insider and a veteran of the nonprofit scene to the Zoning Board of Appeals in hopes of rounding the panel into shape as vacancies take a toll on development and proposals.
Various sources with knowledge of the process have said Helen Shiller, the former 46th Ward alderman, and Swathi Staley, chief investment officer of the YMCA of Metropolitan Chicago, are expected to be forwarded to the City Council for consideration as the five-member board remains shorthanded, according to reports from the Chicago Tribune and Crain’s.
That’s been a chronic condition during Johnson’s year-and-a-half in office, most recently holding up a vote on a homeless shelter the mayor wanted in Uptown when the shortfall resulted in the lack of a tie-breaking voter in a 2-2 deadlock.
Shiller earned a reputation as a strident progressive who often butted heads with former Mayor Richard M. Daley during her tenure representing Uptown, from 1987 to 2011.
Shiller and a representative of the Zoning Board of Appeals, which is viewed as having controlling authority over major development projects in the city, declined comment, the Tribune reported.
Shiller is considered a political ally of Johnson, and recently served as a consultant of sorts for newly elected 46th Ward representative Angela Clay, a supporter of the mayor.
Staley is an attorney who has been part of the executive leadership of YMCA of Metropolitan Chicago for the past four years, including 18 months in her current role. She was selected as part of the 2023 cohort of the Obama Foundation’s Leaders USA program.
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The Zoning Board of Appeals had one unfilled seat at the start of Johnson’s term in May 2023, and it remained vacant until a vote on the Uptown shelter in February.
Two members of the board — Sam Toia and Zurich Esposito — left when their terms expired. A would-be replacement, Vaishali Rao, withdrew her candidacy.
The current members are Brian Sanchez, Angela Brooks and Adrian Soto.
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