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- City Of Chicago Didn't Collect $26.7 Million In Fines
+ The City Of Chicago Didn't Enforce The Building Benchmarking Ordinance, Failing to
+ Collect $30 Million In Fines
- Hasn't Enforced The Benchmarking Ordinance Fines for 2,905 Non Enforcements In Past 5 Years
- (2019 - 2023)
+ Not Enforcing The Benchmarking Ordinance's Fines From 2018 - 2022 Reduced Accountability
-
- Back to Blog
-
-
Electrify Chicago has analyzed the last five years of city benchmark data, and found
- 2,905 instances of buildings not submitting data. Based on the
-
- latest (2024) official notification letter
- fines for non-compliance could total up to $9,200.
+ 3,325 instances of buildings not submitting data. Based on the
+
+ latest (2024) official notification letter
+ fines for non-compliance could total up to $9,200 per year.
+
+
+
+
+
+ A screenshot of the energy benchmarking notification letter's section on fines, as of
+ Feb. 2024 (
+ source
+ )
+
+
+
+ With a maximum of $9,200 of fines multiplied by 3,325 instances of non-compliance
+ (
+ source, City of Chicago data portal
+ ), that
+ means a whopping $30,590,000 dollars of fines could have been collected
+ by the city's commissioner of business affairs and consumer protection (who is given this
+ responsibility in the
+
+ original ordinance
+ ).
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+ The full data portal screenshot, and a zoomed in view of the query result count (
+
+ target="_blank" rel="noopener">source
+ )
- With $9,200 of fines X 2,905 instances of non-compliance, that's a whopping $26.7 million dollars of not-collected fines
+ Through a FOIA request, the city reported that they had no recorded instances of
+ enforcement. We believe it's extremely unlikely the city levied and then collected fines
+ without any record, and thus believe that no fines were levied in this time.
+
+
+
Why This Matters
+
+
+ Without consequences for non-reporting, building owners who perform poorly can simply opt
+ out of reporting their data. Some very large and culturally significant buildings have
+ consistently not submitted. As an example, view
+
+ 2023's largest non reporting buildings in the data portal
+ . Not having all buildings report means the goals of the ordinance aren't being met, and
+ the public loses out on valuable information for buildings that could be emitting the most
+ or be the least efficient.
+
+
+
Next Steps
+
+
+ An older version of the energy benchmarking notification (
+ source, WayBackMachine
+ )
+ did not contain any information of potential fines, and just this recent update to make
+ sure building owners are aware of the consequences for not reporting should improve
+ reporting. However we believe it is crucial the city then follow through and fine any
+ buildings who choose to ignore repeated requests to report their energy use, in keeping
+ with the original ordinance.
-
+
diff --git a/src/scss/colors.scss b/src/scss/colors.scss
index ccc5425b..1963e808 100644
--- a/src/scss/colors.scss
+++ b/src/scss/colors.scss
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ $black: #000;
$white: #fff;
$text-main: #000;
+$text-light: #737373;
$link-blue: #2136ab;
$chicago-blue: #41B6E6;
diff --git a/src/scss/global.scss b/src/scss/global.scss
index 29c7bf3a..a6b4c66a 100644
--- a/src/scss/global.scss
+++ b/src/scss/global.scss
@@ -20,6 +20,16 @@ body {
a { color: $link-blue; }
+a.grey-link {
+ background-color: $grey-light;
+ color: $black;
+ border-radius: $brd-rad-small;
+ padding: 0.25rem 1rem;
+ text-decoration: none;
+
+ &:hover, &:focus { background-color: $grey; }
+}
+
h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6 {
&:focus {
border-bottom: solid 0.5rem $chicago-blue;
@@ -27,6 +37,11 @@ h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6 {
}
}
+h1 { margin: 1.5rem 0 0.5rem 0; }
+h2 { margin: 1rem 0 0.5rem 0; }
+
+p.-no-margin, p:first-of-type { margin: 0; }
+
/**
* Default Form Styling
*/
@@ -74,8 +89,9 @@ summary:focus { outline-offset: 0; }
img { max-width: 100%; }
img.-shadowed {
+ margin-top: 1rem;
border: solid $border-thin $grey;
- box-shadow: 0.125rem 0.125rem 0.125rem $box-shadow-main;
+ box-shadow: 0.125rem 0.125rem 0.25rem $box-shadow-main;
}
.large-text { font-size: 1.3em; }
@@ -140,7 +156,7 @@ form.search-form {
border-radius: 1rem;
border: solid 0.25rem #ff5454;
background: #ffdce8;
- border-top-width: 3rem;
+ border-top-width: 2rem;
max-width: 40rem;
h2 { margin-top: 0; }
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