Category City in Motion

The city’s quarterly record of payments to certified minority- and women-owned firms, read whole: $7,437,695,599 paid on Department of Procurement Services contracts across 18 reporting periods, $2,634,584,486 of it — 35.4 percent — to MBE and WBE firms. The share crossed 40 percent in four periods and ends at 24.7 percent in the first quarter of 2024, the lowest in the file; it has not been updated in 763 days.

The city’s second reimbursement stream, read whole: 95,612 payments worth $23,966,486.16 between July 2005 and August 2026, every one of them filed as mileage. Payments fell from 9,976 in 2006 to 1,995 in 2022 and have since risen to 2,333, while the median payment grew from $243.86 to $315. Six departments hold 80.4 percent of the dollars and inspector titles a third; no employee is named, and the file records no miles or rate.

The city’s contractor business diversity program file, read whole: 400 annual reports from 266 vendor numbers, submitted between June 2021 and July 2026. The file holds 211 reports for calendar 2021, 35 for 2023, none at all for 2024 and eight for 2025. Seven in ten arrived in a single year, 2022; 34.8 percent come from businesses reporting 1,000 or more employees. The file lists only businesses that reported having a program, so no compliance rate can be read from it.

Chicago’s employee reimbursement file, read whole: $10,733,689.07 across 5,787 payments from January 2, 2025 to September 9, 2026. Tuition is 48.1 percent of the money; another 31.1 percent carries only a batch code, every one of those payments at the Police Department. Police and fire account for 92.0 percent of the dollars, and the most common reason by count is boots.

Chicago’s contracts file, read for sole-source approvals: $1.13 billion approved in 2026 in the file retrieved September 15, 16.2 percent of all approved award dollars that year - against $638.7 million for all of 2015-2025. One record is $1.05 billion: a ten-year contract to operate and maintain O’Hare’s Airport Transit System, whose previous contract was filed as an RFQ. Without it, 2026 stands at $82.9 million.

The marathon organizer's own street-closures page, transcribed whole for October 11, 2026: 41 course segments with 40 closing at 6:00 a.m. and reopening in a posted wave from 10:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., the Columbus finish stretch closed Thursday to Monday, Grant Park starting September 24, and the page's own caveats quoted with every table. Anticipated times, as posted - a schedule records intent, not events.

When does the sweeper come? Chicago publishes the 2026 answer as a file: 837 ward sections, 8,545 scheduled section-sweep dates from April 1 to November 20 - 2,721 still ahead as of September 7. The median section carries ten dates, two Ward 2 sections carry 66, and the city's own side-of-street convention explains the two-date months. A decision-guide read: what the schedule confirms, what it can't, and where the lookup lives.