Chicago would be empowered to build an $18 million wireless Internet access system across the city under an ordinance expected to be rushed through today's City Council meeting to beat Springfield to the punch. "Instead of having to go to a Starbucks coffee or another upscale coffee or sandwich shop to get wireless access for your laptop, it could be available throughout the city. Any police investigator could immediately log onto the Internet and be in receipt of a mug shot or criminal history anyplace in the jurisdiction," said Finance Committee chairman Edward M. Burke (14th). Chicago could either install its own Wi-Fi cellular devices on streetlights, traffic signals and public buildings across the city or entertain bids from private sector companies eager to do so in exchange for a hefty fee, Burke said. "The city could . . . enter into an agreement to receive a percentage of the revenues that the operating company might receive from providing the service . . . This, in theory, could be quite a large source of revenue for a city that's already strapped," Burke said. Burke seeks to protect rights Either way, the city needs to move quickly before the General Assembly approves a bill pending in Springfield that would preclude Chicago from establishing its own open-air system, Burke said. "If we can get something prepared that would constitute a shell [ordinance] that would protect the city's rights, that's my intention," Burke said. "It would be very difficult for the Legislature to interfere with a right that exists in the city now after the right has been exercised by the City Council. In theory, I suppose there could be a statute that could be adopted [after the fact] . . . to take that power away, but it would be highly unlikely," he said.