The notion of black political decline gained further credence in last year’s mayoral election, when efforts to unify community leaders behind a consensus choice fizzled and the most prominent black candidate failed to win a single ward.

But the recent redrawing of ward boundaries showed that blacks could still wield considerable influence in city politics and be a significant factor in Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s City Hall.

Although Chicago’s black population dropped by more than 11 percent between 2000 and 2010, the ward map ratified last month did not reflect the full extent of the blacks’ exodus from the city. With the quiet backing of Emanuel, the City Council approved the Black Caucus’s redistricting proposal to preserve black majorities in 18 of the 19 wards currently represented by black aldermen.

The city’s Hispanics, whose numbers have been growing for decades, will now have 13 wards where they are a clear majority, an increase from 10. Still, even as all but one Hispanic incumbent voted for the new map, some activists said they were considering a legal challenge to the boundaries because Hispanics would remain at a disadvantage.

According to 2010 United States Census data, Chicago is almost evenly divided between blacks (32.9 percent), white non-Hispanics (31.7 percent) and Hispanics (28.9 percent), with a relatively small Asian population (5.5 percent). The council that was elected last year (22 white aldermen, 19 blacks, 8 Hispanics and one Asian) does not mirror those proportions.

Black aldermen said the remap could have turned out much worse for them. The community’s strength in elections factored into the more favorable outcome, they said, and helped the Black Caucus get crucial support from Emanuel for their plan, which prevailed over a rival map from the Latino Caucus.

Alderman Walter Burnett (27th Ward), a former chairman of the Black Caucus, said he did not know definitely why Emanuel had ended up siding with black aldermen, but he believed the voting strength of the community weighed heavily.

“The African-American community is the strongest bloc, voting-wise, in the city,” Burnett said. “I’m sure that was in the psyche of everyone. No one really wanted to be on the bad side of the African-American aldermen.”

The importance of the black vote was obvious from the turnout for the 2010 Democratic primary. Voters in predominantly black wards cast 42 percent of the ballots, according to election data. Wards that include a large Hispanic population represented just 11 percent of the total votes.

“They were the power base,” William Beavers, Cook County commissioner and a black Democrat, said of the black voters, “When these wards turn out, they have more votes than all those Latino boys.”

The makeup of the city’s electorate is tilted more heavily in favor of blacks than the population data would suggest because the Hispanic community is younger, it includes many who are not citizens, and its turnout at elections tends to be relatively weak.

Emanuel racked up a strong showing in the black community in his successful mayoral run. He did not do nearly as well in Hispanic wards.

One veteran alderman, who asked to remain anonymous for fear of angering the mayor, said Emanuel backed black aldermen because he would need their 19 votes as important city union contracts expired this year.

On other legislative issues, Emanuel has often contacted aldermen directly to try to win their support. They said Emanuel’s preference for the black proposal was made plain to them through his loyalists in the council, especially Alderman Patrick O’Connor (40th), the mayor’s floor leader.

Alderman Proco Joe Moreno (1st) said O’Connor’s support for the Black Caucus’ map was a clear indication that Emanuel backed that proposal.

“I think it would be naive to say he didn’t have any conversations with O’Connor,” Moreno said.

Declining to name names, Elisa Alfonso, a redistricting coordinator with the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund, said aldermen had told her the mayor’s allies on the council lobbied them aggressively for the Black Caucus plan.

“There was tremendous pressure to get people to support that map,” she said. Her organization is considering whether to sue for ward borders that would be more favorable to Hispanics.

Of his remap role, O’Connor said, “I certainly wasn’t in there being the mayor. I just tried to keep the process moving.”

In an e-mail on Thursday, a spokeswoman for Emanuel said the mayor was not personally involved at any point and felt the final map was fair.

“The mayor is pleased the Council has agreed on a map of our political boundaries for the next 10 years since it allows all city leaders to focus full time on our most urgent work: making our schools stronger, our streets safer and stabilizing our finances,” said Sarah Hamilton, the spokeswoman.

Shortly after the vote, a handful of black and Hispanic aldermen traveled together to Mexico to donate four city ambulances. The topic of the remap did not come up in their conversations, they said.

“Obviously, the map wasn’t to everybody’s liking, but at the end of the day we have to recognize that African-Americans still are a political power in the city,” said Alderman George Cardenas (12th), who was born in Mexico and organized the recent trip. “The mayor wanted a cohesive council.”

Dan Mihalopoulos contributed reporting.

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Post tags: City Council, City Council Black Caucus, City Council Redistricting, George Cardenas, Joe Moreno, Politics, Race, Rahm Emanuel, Walter Burnett, ward remap, William Beavers

The measures cleared the council as protesters demonstrated outside the chambers in City Hall, claiming the ordinances would infringe on their First Amendment rights. One protester, a 22-year-old man, was arrested after allegedly striking a police commander, said Chicago Police Department News Affairs Officer Darryl Baety. Charges are pending.

The council voted 45-4 to tighten restrictions on public gatherings. Protesters will now be required to describe the sizes of signs, banners or sound equipment in permit applications for protests and the minimum fine for violating the ordinance will increase from $50 to $200.

Aldermen Will Burns (4th Ward), Robert Fioretti (2nd), Leslie Hairston (5th) and Nicholas Sposato (36th) voted against the ordinance. Ald. Mary O’Connor (41st) was absent.

The second measure, which gives Emanuel greater control over city contracts for the summits, passed 41-5 without debate. The ordinance also allows Police Supt. Garry McCarthy to expand the department’s ranks by deputizing police from other cities. Ald. Sandi Jackson (7th) joined Burns, Fioretti, Hairston and Sposato in voting no.

Emanuel revised the ordinances after his original proposals elicited strong pushback from aldermen, organized labor and other critics.

The mayor had sought to drastically hike fines for resisting arrest, with the minimum fine rising from $25 to $200 and the maximum fine jumping from $500 to $1,000. Emanuel also scrapped plans to require a “parade marshal” for every 100 participants in a protest and an increase in fines for violations of the city’s public gatherings ordinance.

Emanuel aides said the mayor retreated from those proposals in response to concerns from aldermen, protesters and community groups.

Ald. Joe Moore (49th), who voted for both measures, said he believes the impact of the ordinances has been “blown out of proportion.”

Ald. Edward Burke (14th) said the measures are needed to help keep the city secure during the two international summits.

“This is intelligent planning and this is what we need to do,” Burke said.

Hairston, who voted against both ordinances, said she is worried the requirement to describe the sizes of signs could be used to judge the content of those signs.

“I still have concerns about freedom of speech and civil liberties,” she said.

© HUNTER CLAUSS for Chicago News Cooperative, 2012. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Chicago Protest Laws, Chicago Protest Regulations, Chicago Protests, City Council, G8 Summit, Joe Moore, Leslie Hairston, NATO Summit, Protests, Rahm Emanuel

After tweaking his 2012 budget to secure unanimous approval from the City Council in November, compromise was the word of the day at City Hall on Tuesday also. Emanuel made 11th-hour revisions to his proposals to tighten regulations on protesters and cabbies, both of which cleared aldermanic committees and could receive final approval at Wednesday’s council meeting.

As with the budget amendments, the changes did not please everybody, drawing criticism that he had not skinned far enough back from his original positions and failed to engage with grassroots critics.

But by showing even a little willingness to bend, Emanuel again endeared himself to many aldermen who were weary of predecessor Richard M. Daley’s notoriously authoritarian leadership style and feared that the new mayor would operate in an equally despotic manner.

“The kind of defensiveness that was all too frequently a hallmark of the Daley administration has been absent from the Emanuel administration, at least in my experience,” said Ald. Joe Moore (49th Ward), praising the new mayor for having the “innate wisdom” to know when to hold his ground and when to forge compromises.

Before Emanuel retreated from his initial plan to raise fines on protesters who resist police, Moore said he spoke about his concerns with the mayor’s corporation counsel, his council lobbyists and “via email with the mayor himself.”

“He realizes no one has a corner on all wisdom, and that it is not only good government but also good politics to heed input,” Moore said. “He is more interested in making a deal than in getting his way on everything.”

Ald. Scott Waguespack (32nd), said he met over the weekend with Emanuel aides and contrasted such collaboration with what he said was Daley’s “my way or the highway” approach to the council.

“I think he would have been in a rush to get things done with no questions asked,” Waguespack said of the former mayor.

As President Barack Obama’s chief of staff, in the two years before he returned to Chicago to run for mayor, Emanuel often was criticized for pursuing only what he saw as readily achievable and being reticent to push for more politically tricky proposals that Obama had promised, such as immigration and health-care reform.

Now, as mayor of Chicago, it is necessary for Emanuel to be similarly willing to appease diverse interests when politically expedient, said U.S. Rep. Mike Quigley (D-Ill.), who succeeded Emanuel in Congress and endorsed his mayoral campaign.

Although Quigley said Emanuel is “occasionally intense” in making his views known to other elected officials, the congressman said that does not mean he declines to be accommodating toward critics of his policies.

“He is not a pussy cat, but he is not a saber-tooth tiger either,” Quigley said. “He is inherently a practical guy.”

With both the protest and taxicab proposals, Emanuel’s concessions still left intact the core of what he sought from the start.

While still pushing for a raft of improvements by the taxi industry, Emanuel at last agreed to permanently increase the cost of a cab ride by $1.

In the latest plan to alter the city’s rules on demonstrations, drafted in advance of this spring’s NATO and G-8 summits here, the mayor again deviated from some, though not most, of what he first proposed.

On Tuesday at City Hall, Police Supt. Garry McCarthy confirmed that the administration abandoned its push to increase the minimum fine for resisting police officers from $25 to $200. The maximum fine would have gone from the $500 to $1,000. Emanuel also withdrew his proposal to require “parade marshals” for every 100 participants in a protest.

Still, Emanuel would receive authority to unilaterally grant no-bid contracts for the summits, and the city could deputize out-of-state officers to deal with protests.

Emanuel spokeswoman Sarah Hamilton said the amendments were made in response to “a number of concerns, not just from aldermen, but from activists and people in the community.

“We were open to suggestions,” she said.

Former 46th Ward Ald. Helen Shiller was among the community leaders that Emanuel aides met with about the protest plans.

“I’m really glad this conversation is happening and that there is a flexibility there,” Shiller said Tuesday.

Shiller said mayoral aides engaged in longer discussions with Marilyn Katz, a public-relations executive who criticized Emanuel’s plans. Katz did not return calls seeking comment Tuesday.

One of the two ordinances affecting protests was approved unanimously Tuesday by a council panel, but the other drew three dissenting votes, from Robert Fioretti (2nd), Leslie Hairston (5th) and Nicholas Sposato (36th).

Other critics also were not placated. The Chicago Federation of Labor sent aldermen a letter last week urging them to vote against the proposals because they would infringe on “the rights of workers, community groups and other constituents to engage in peaceful protest.”

“Our position has not changed,” CFL spokesman Nick Kaleba said Tuesday after Emanuel’s revisions were announced.

Harvey Grossman, legal director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois, said he did not know of any meetings between Emanuel aides and organized opponents of the ordinances, including the ACLU.

“He certainly has changed his position over time,” Grossman said, “but we haven’t seen any public negotiating.”

Even Moore, the 49th Ward alderman, acknowledged that he had a say in the amendments — but not in the drafting of the mayor’s original proposal.

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Post tags: ACLU, Chicago Protest Laws, Chicago Protest Regulations, Chicago Protests, City Council, Harvey Grossman, Helen Shiller, Joe Moore, Leslie Hairston, Mike Quigley, Nicholas Sposato, Politics, Rahm Emanuel, Robert Fioretti, Scott Waguespack

Emanuel aides said the meetings were intended to clarify the intent of two recently introduced ordinances that have garnered criticism from some aldermen and activists who say the measures would infringe on First Amendment rights.

“The ordinances are fairly complicated and we want to make sure people understand what they do,” said Emanuel spokeswoman Jennifer Hoyle.

One of the measures would dramatically increase the penalty for violating the city’s rules on public gatherings, from a minimum of $50 to $1,000, and require marches to have a “parade marshal” for every 100 participants. The other ordinance would hike fines for resisting police officers from a minimum of $25 to $200, and raise the maximum penalty from $500 to $1,000.

When Emanuel introduced the ordinances at last month’s City Council meeting, he said they would be temporary measures for the two international summits. But Emanuel last week said he “misspoke” and that the changes would be permanent.

Council members Ricardo Munoz (22nd Ward), Scott Waguespack (32nd), Michele Smith (43rd) and Ameya Pawar (47th) said they had concerns about the ordinances that they planned on voicing during the briefings.

“The fines and penalties are, shall we say, chilling for free speech,” Smith said of the planned changes to the protest regulations.

Waguespack said he was concerned about a proposed rule requiring applicants to provide “a description of any recording equipment, sound amplification equipment, banners, signs, or other attention-getting devices to be used in connection with the parade.”

Hoyle said that rule would help city officials gauge the scope of the demonstrations and determine how to accommodate protesters. She said the fine increase would bring Chicago’s penalties in line with the standards in other cities.

“We’re just trying to work with them and help them achieve whatever their purposes are,” Hoyle said. “It’s not as adversarial as everyone thinks.”

The briefings will involve Lori Healey, the former top aide to Mayor Richard M. Daley who is the organizer for the two international events, as well as Corporation Counsel Stephen Patton and deputy chief of staff Felicia Davis.

A separate briefing Thursday will be held for reporters, Hoyle said.

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Post tags: Ameya Pawar, Chicago Protest Laws, Chicago Protest Regulations, Chicago Protests, City Council, Felicia Davis, G8 Summit, Jennifer Hoyle, Lori Healey, Michele Smith, NATO Summit, Rahm Emanuel, Ricardo Munoz, Scott Waguespack, Stephen Patton

Colon has served as committeeman since 2004, and his exit leaves only one candidate for the top party post: Nancy Schiavone, a lawyer who unsuccessfully challenged Colon for alderman last year. Schiavone could not be reached for comment.

Colon did not immediately return calls for comment.

Committeemen vote to slate party candidates and fill state and county legislative vacancies. Aldermen frequently run for Democratic ward committeeman to solidify power in their wards, though the position is unpaid and does not have the same influence as it did during the heyday of patronage hiring.

But becoming a committeeman also can help build name recognition for candidates hoping to oust incumbent aldermen.

Colon’s removal from the ballot came after his nominating signatures were challenged by Miguel Sotomayor, who ran for alderman in last year’s election, and Roger Klich, who lives in the ward and once supported Colon.

Michel Dorf, an attorney for Sotomayor and Klich, said the board’s vote against Colon should serve as a lesson for other candidates.

“He only filed about 19 signatures above the minimum that’s required, and that’s just a very risky strategy,” Dorf said after the hearing. “The rule of thumb is you should be filing at least three times the number of signatures, and to file only 19 over the minimum showed a lot of overconfidence.”

Sotomayor and Klich challenged the validity of 162 signatures in Colon’s nomination papers, which would put Colon below the 347 needed to run. Last month, a hearing officer for the board recommended that their objection be upheld.

Colon is the third incumbent ward boss who has encountered trouble staying on the ballot for this year’s primary. Ald. Toni Foulkes (15th) dropped her re-election bid after her nomination papers were challenged. Raymond Lopez, who ran against Foulkes for alderman in last year’s election, will run unopposed for committeeman of that ward.

Ald. Howard Brookins (21st) is currently fighting to stay on the ballot after a preliminary examination by election board officials found he was about 100 signatures short of the required total.

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Post tags: 35th Ward, City Council, Howard Brookins, Michel Dorf, Miguel Sotomayor, Nancy Schiavone, Politics, Rey Colon, Roger Klich, Toni Foulkes

Brookins, who is running for re-election as the Democratic committeeman of the 21st Ward, may not have enough signatures to remain on the ballot after his nominating petitions were challenged and a preliminary review by officials at the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners found some signatures invalid, according to Jim Allen, a spokesman for the board. If the preliminary results stand, Brookins would be about 100 signatures shy of the 939 that he is required to collect from registered voters in the ward.

Brookins said he would challenge the preliminary examination and seek affidavits from at least 125 people whose signatures were removed.

“It’s not over,” he said. “I anticipate on being on the ballot.”

The objection was filed by Bruce Crosby, who said he supports Brookins’ opponent, Vernita McClinton-Farmer. Crosby’s objection alleges numerous irregularities with Brookins’ petitions, including that signatures were forged, signers were not registered to vote at their listed addresses and that signers were not residents of the 21st Ward.

Brookins is running against Vernita McClinton-Farmer, whose own nomination petitions are being challenged for not having enough valid signatures. Brookins said he believes McClinton-Farmer is 117 signatures short of the requirement. The objection to McClinton-Farmer was filed by Mae Amos, whom Brookins said supports his campaign. McClinton-Farmer did not respond to requests for comment.

Allen said a hearing will be held on Friday to discuss the preliminary examination of Brookins’ petitions.

Brookins is being represented by veteran election law attorney Burt Odelson, who led the residency challenge to Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s candidacy.

If Brookins is removed from the ballot, he would become the third incumbent committeeman forced out after an objection to his candidacy.

Ald. Toni Foulkes (15th) withdrew from the committeeman’s race in her ward after her nomination petitions were challenged for not having enough valid signatures. A hearing officer for the board of elections recommended that Ald. Rey Colon, the incumbent 35th Ward Democratic committeeman, be removed from the ballot because of insufficient signatures.*

Neither Foulkes or Colon returned calls for comment.

Raymond Lopez, who lost to Foulkes in last year’s aldermanic election, will run unopposed for 15th Ward Democratic ward committeeman. Nancy Schiavone, who ran against Colon for alderman last year, will run unopposed in the 35th Ward.

*Correction: An earlier version of this article incorrectly said that Ald. Rey Colon had withdrawn from the 35th Ward committeeman’s race. A hearing officer for the Chicago Board of Elections recommended that Colon be removed from the ballot, but he did not withdraw.

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Post tags: 21st Ward, Bruce Crosby, Burt Odelson, City Council, Howard Brookins, Mae Amos, Politics, Rey Colon, Toni Foulkes, Vernita McClinton-Farmer

These 50 Democrats are chumps compared with party colleagues in the state legislature. Those guys know how to chew gum, draw a map and stick a knife in rivals’ backs at the same time.

The legislators have demonstrated brutish aplomb in undermining Republicans in the process of drawing new congressional districts each decade. Illinois will lose one of 19 seats because of population loss, and the majority Democrats drew the map.

The handiwork overseen by Michael Madigan, the House Speaker and master cartographer, is cannily heavy-handed but quite legal, says a three-judge federal panel that just rejected a Republican lawsuit.

Judges John Tinder, Robert Miller Jr. and Joan Lefkow conceded that the devising of the 18-district map “was a blatant political move to increase the number of Democratic congressional seats.”  But they didn’t buy the plaintiffs’ legal arguments, especially that key federal legal provisions were violated.

For sure, they roll their eyes over a new 17th District linking the Quad Cities with Democratic-leaning parts of Peoria and Rockford, “slicing away parts of Republican Congressman” Aaron Shock’s and Donald Manzullo’s districts “and splitting the City of Rockford, which has been within a single district since 1850.” Bobby Shilling, a Republican, remains in the 17th, but with just 51.9 percent of his current constituents. That’s better than Adam Kinzinger, a Republican who is in a new Second District with just 20.5 percent of his constituents.

And then there’s Judy Biggert, a Republican who sees her suburban 13th District demolished and morphed into four new districts with her own Hinsdale home in a redrawn Fifth District with faraway Wrigley Field. That’s job security for Quigley.

Qualms are voiced too over the Fourth District in Chicago, which was created in 1990 to ensure a Latino majority. It’s legal even with “a bizarre configuration” as it connects heavily Latino Near Northwest Side and Near Southwest Side areas with a mile-long sliver between them.

It explains partly why the legal arguments got technical, including mathematical formulas — “the Polsby-Popper measure” and the “Reock indicator” — to discern the compactness of district populations.

Redistricting is especially galling for Republicans after five won seats last November, with four vanquishing Democratic incumbents. Illinois is a Democratic state, but Republicans have 11 of 19 congressional seats.

Testimony included evidence of active involvement in the Illinois remap by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee in Washington. There were e-mails to John Cullerton, the Senate president, on how to “destabilize Republican incumbents,” with the goal “seemingly accomplished,” wrote the court.

The new map gives the Democrats an advantage in 12 districts and the Republicans in only 6. The filing deadline is Friday and some Republican incumbents must choose between suicide missions against Democrats or running against one of their own.

The law’s rules of the road are clear and many stem from the Voting Rights Act, which was passed in 1965 and amended in 2005. Central are notions of one man, one vote — meaning that districts need virtually identical populations — and that designated “minorities” must constitute more than 50 percent of a district before they can have a chance of electing a minority.

The court bought the Democrats’ assertions that their map largely preserved existing boundaries, though its analysis was short of convincing. Further, it agreed with the Democrats’ claims that they had tried to maintain “communities of interest,” another relevant matter.

Communities of interest? Ann Lousin, an elections expert at the John Marshall Law School, is “never sure what it means,” she said. “One could easily say that certain racial and linguistic and ethnic groups are all pretty inward-looking and therefore have a community of interest.”

So the court admits the Democratic map is imperfect but, in a footnote, says the Republicans’ version is similarly flawed.

The lesson? “If the legislature drafts a map that complies with one person, one vote and also complies with the Voting Rights Act, as interpreted, the courts won’t second-guess the legislature,” Lousin said.

“The legislature” means the majority Democrats. So centralized power wins out. Like gambling in Casablanca, that may not be a shock. But eat your heart out, City Council.

© JAMES WARREN for Chicago News Cooperative, 2011. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Aaron Shock, Ann Lousin, City Council, Donald Manzullo, John Cullerton, Judge Joan Lefkow, Judge John Tinder, Judge Robert Miller Jr., Judy Biggert, Michael Madigan, ward map, ward remap

Just days ago, Ald. Daniel Solis (25th Ward) had deplored freshman colleague Nicholas Sposato (36th) as an “embarrassment,” vowing to ignore Sposato’s lack of support for a charter school proposal in his ward and force the plan through his Zoning Committee.

But Sposato announced on the eve of the meeting that he supported the charter plan after all. And Solis, rather than humiliating Sposato at Thursday’s special committee meeting, ended up leading a chorus of praise for the rookie alderman.

Solis said he regretted how he had blasted his fellow alderman recently, when Sposato delayed a vote on a zoning proposal from the United Neighborhood Organization, which plans to build the school on the far Northwest Side. Once led by Solis, UNO also has close ties to Mayor Rahm Emanuel.

“Today, I’m very proud of Alderman Sposato,” Solis said as the zoning committee unanimously approved the UNO proposal.

Sposato was caught in the middle of a fight between UNO and the Chicago Teachers Union, which vehemently opposes charter schools. UNO needed the zoning change to build the new school in Sposato’s ward, at 2102 N. Natchez Ave.

Union members had packed a community hearing last month in the ward, and “robocalls” orchestrated by the CTU jammed the phone lines at Solis’ office on Wednesday.

Aldermen usually can control if and when real estate proposals for their ward are approved. But Solis had said the UNO issue was too vital to respect that protocol, and he took the extraordinary step of calling the special meeting to hasten the approval process.

Sposato’s 11th-hour announcement in favor of the plan turned what could have been a smack-down into a love-fest, and it immediately seemed to dampen the vehemence of the UNO plan’s critics. At City Hall on Thursday morning, only a few union organizers sat in an audience largely made up of triumphant UNO supporters.

Joseph McDermott, a union organizer and former high school teacher, said Sposato “took this farther than any other alderman would have” before ultimately caving to powerful political influences.

“I’m not mad at him,” he said. “I’m disappointed, but I know that the full force of the mayor and the full force of this very politically connected organization had exerted a lot of pressure on him.”

Ahead of Thursday’s zoning vote – and before Sposato revealed his stance – sources said Emanuel aides pressed panel members to ignore the alderman’s neutral stance and back UNO’s plan. UNO CEO Juan Rangel was Emanuel’s mayoral campaign co-chairman.

Sposato previously said he was concerned that some UNO schools do not perform up to city-wide standards. He also noted that public opinion in his ward appeared divided.

Yet, in finally staking out a clear position Wednesday afternoon, Sposato said the mayor’s aides and UNO officials reassured him that students at the new school would come exclusively from the surrounding area. And Sposato said he would be able to monitor the new UNO school’s performance and its impact on neighborhood schools.

CNC City Hall bureau chief Dan Mihalopoulos contributed reporting.

© REBECCA VEVEA for Chicago News Cooperative, 2011. | Permalink | 2 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Charter Schools, Chicago charter schools, City Council, Danny Solis, Nicholas Sposato, United Neighborhood Organization, UNO

Ald. Nicholas Sposato (36th Ward) delayed a scheduled committee vote last week, saying he was undecided on the plan for a site in the Galewood neighborhood, on the far Northwest Side. Normally, his reticence would be enough to put the project on hold indefinitely, given the council’s tradition of letting aldermen make real estate decisions in their wards.

But the Zoning Committee’s chairman, Ald. Daniel Solis (25th), told the Chicago News Cooperative on Monday afternoon that he would carry out his threat to discount Sposato’s wishes in this case and had called the special meeting just to vote on the matter at 10 a.m. Thursday at City Hall.

The United Neighborhood Organization has put forward the charter school proposal. Solis was UNO’s leader before becoming an alderman, and the clout-heavy Latino group’s CEO, Juan Rangel, was co-chairman of Emanuel’s campaign in the February mayoral election.

Under the unwritten council rule known as “aldermanic privilege” or “aldermanic prerogative,” the Zoning Committee customarily would not even hold a hearing on a development proposal without the local alderman’s express backing. Solis countered that the UNO school proposal was “too important to leave to protocol.”

“This issue just overrides [aldermanic privilege], when you’re talking about kids — kids who have to go to overcrowded schools — and when you’re factoring in the track record of UNO in most of the schools they have opened,” Solis said.

Solis said he brokered a meeting between Sposato and UNO leaders, but when that did not lead to a solution, he said, “I decided to push it.”

His arguments in favor of the UNO plan echoed comments last week by Emanuel, who has been a vocal proponent of charter schools and has forged a strong relationship with Rangel and UNO, speaking at the group’s annual dinner gala last month. Last week, after Sposato deferred a committee vote, Emanuel said he hoped that a deal could be worked out to allow UNO’s Galewood proposal to become reality.

Solis predicted that the UNO zoning change request would win preliminary approval from his panel. He said aldermen could schedule a special meeting of the full council solely to give final approval to the plan before the next regularly scheduled meeting, which will be next month.

Rangel had said any further delays would make it impossible to construct the school in time for the 2012-2013 school year. Chicago Public Schools officials already have given their support to the plan, but a zoning change is required to allow construction of a school on the site.

On Monday afternoon, Sposato again said he wanted more time to consider the UNO proposal. He said he only learned of the special zoning panel meeting announcement from a reporter: “I’m surprised and disappointed [Solis] didn’t call me.”

Sposato acknowledged that six members of his own zoning advisory panel recently voted unanimously to support the proposal from UNO, but the first-year alderman added that he has received petitions with “hundreds of signatures” of constituents who opposed the plan. And he said most speakers at a recent community meeting on the topic also voiced dissent.

“I was hoping to have another community meeting, but I guess not now,” Sposato said.

UNO officials have accused Sposato of bowing to pressure from the Chicago Teachers Union, which organized opposition to the Galewood plan and opposes the proliferation of charters in general. Sposato replied that he feared the new charter school would not perform well, noting that three UNO schools recorded results below the district average on standardized exams.

In recent memory, the precept of aldermanic privilege was violated only twice: to defeat a Wal-Mart proposal in the 19thWard on the South Side in 2004 and to approve the now-abandoned plan to move the Chicago Children’s Museum to Grant Park in 2008. The Children’s Museum plan was championed by then-Mayor Richard M. Daley over heavy opposition from environmentalists, neighbors who live near Grant Park and their alderman, Brendan Reilly (42nd).

© DAN MIHALOPOULOS for Chicago News Cooperative, 2011. | Permalink | 4 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Aldermanic Privilege, Charter Schools, Chicago charter schools, City Council, Danny Solis, Juan Rangel, Nicholas Sposato, Rahm Emanuel, United Neighborhood Organization, UNO, zoning

Preckwinkle picked Fritchey, a Cook County commissioner and former state representative, over Ald. Scott Waguespack (32nd Ward), her former City Council colleague, in what she called “a hard decision.”

“I’m a Democratic committeeman and there are a couple of committeeman races where there are people I have worked with, and John is one,” Preckwinkle said. “Although I’ve worked with Scott and have a high regard for him, I’m going to support John.”

Fritchey said Preckwinkle’s endorsement has added value because she has worked with both candidates.

“Given that she has had the opportunity to serve alongside me and Ald. Scott Waguespack, her belief that I’m the best choice for 32nd Ward Democratic committeeman and her endorsement of my campaign means a lot to me,” Fritchey said.

Waguespack did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Fritchey helped elect Waguespack to the council in 2007, but they had a falling out shortly after the election. Waguespack has said the feud stems from zoning changes Fritchey wanted him to support, which Fritchey denies.

Fritchey on Friday criticized Waguespack for supporting a new map of ward boundaries proposed by the council’s Latino Caucus. In that map, parts of the 32nd Ward north of Diversey Pkwy. are folded into another ward.

“It makes you question his political motivations and real commitment to these voters,” Fritchey said, adding that he would like to see the ward remain intact.

© HUNTER CLAUSS for Chicago News Cooperative, 2011. | Permalink | 4 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: 32nd Ward Democratic Committeeman, City Council, John Fritchey, Politics, Scott Waguespack, Toni Preckwinkle