Politics

Push to Rename Northerly Island for Pope Leo Fails to Take Off

A proposal to honor Chicago-born Pope Leo XIV by renaming Northerly Island in his honor failed to take off Tuesday, with several members of the Chicago City Council saying the headline-grabbing proposal was deeply flawed.

When it became clear that the proposal, crafted by Ald. Raymond Lopez (15th Ward) was crashing and burning, Ald. Nicholas Sposato (38th Ward), the chair City Council’s Special Events, Cultural Affairs and Recreation Committee, said he would not call for a vote on the non-binding proposal.

Chicago Park District rules prohibit parks — including Northerly Island Park, home to a concert and event venue and once home to Meigs Field — from being renamed for anyone who has not yet been dead a year. The rules also prohibit parks from being named for anyone endorsing “a specific religious affiliation.”

Former Mayor Richard M. Daley bulldozed Meigs Field in 2003, preventing planes from landing at the small lakefront airport, later turning it into an outdoor concert venue and an urban nature sanctuary.

Pope Leo, the former Robert Prevost, is the head of the Roman Catholic Church.

Lopez, one of the most conservative members of the City Council, said park district rules allow those requirements to be waived in extraordinary cases — and told his colleagues that surely the elevation of a Chicagoan to the papacy qualified.

However, Lopez has frequently clashed not just with Mayor Brandon Johnson but also other members of the City Council, including those who sometimes agree with him. Several of Lopez’s proposals, including a push to hold parents accountable if their children violate Chicago’s curfew or a host of other laws as well as a measure to regulate little free libraries, have been rejected by overwhelming majorities on the City Council.

Northerly Island — located downtown, not far from the Museum Campus — is in the 4th Ward, represented by Ald. Lamont Robinson, an ally of the mayor, who said Lopez did not consult him before he attempted to rename a major park in his ward.

“This wasn’t done the way it should have been,” Robinson said.

Lopez’s failure to get Robinson’s blessing for the renaming violated the City Council’s long tradition of aldermanic prerogative.

That unwritten code calls on alderpeople to mind their own business and defer to the alderperson whose ward is impacted with the implicit understanding that what they want to happen in their ward will be rubber-stamped in return.

After warning her colleagues not to attempt to rename anything in her 16th Ward, Ald. Stephanie Coleman said she was concerned that renaming Northerly Island for Pope Leo was a bad idea, noting that Chicago drill rapper Chief Keef, who has been repeatedly arrested on drugs and weapons charges, was slated to perform at the venue operated by Live Nation.

“That should raise some questions,” Coleman said. “We should not be doing this haphazardly.”

Ald. Matt O’Shea (19th Ward) — who took pains to remind his colleagues that he is a practicing Catholic who is raising his children in the church and represents a ward with many active parishioners — said he was frustrated that this issue was even on the agenda.

“We have very serious issues in this city,” said O’Shea, who is also one of the most conservative members of the City Council. “We  have more pressing issues.”

Contact Heather Cherone: @HeatherCherone | (773) 569-1863 | [email protected]

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