To avert the first ward map referendum since 1992, 41 alderpeople must agree on a map no later than May 19, the deadline for the June 28 primary election ballot to be finalized.
Gilbert Villegas
A final vote on the measure, which advanced unanimously Monday, is set for March 23.
The map crafted by the Chicago Ward Advisory Redistricting Commission failed to win the support of a single alderperson after nearly a year of work.
The city of Chicago approved the plan in its 2022 budget three months ago, promising $500 a month to 5,000 low-income households for one year. It would be the nation’s largest test of a guaranteed basic income program.
The session failed to resolve the central issue at the heart of the debate that will determine the balance of political power between Black, Latino and Asian Chicagoans.
City Council members have yet to redraw the city's ward maps. They’re contending with a controversial ordinance to go after street gangs’ profits. And, the city’s watchdog released two reports on a botched smokestack demolition and a wrongful police raid, while the city's without a permanent inspector general.
Any hope that a holiday break could reset the raging dispute over the map that will shape Chicago politics for the next decade and determine the balance of power between Black, Latino and Asian Chicagoans was extinguished Friday as members of the City Council clashed during the first of four public hearings scheduled this month.
The City Council met briefly Wednesday afternoon, allowing Rules Committee Chair Ald. Michelle Harris (8th Ward) an opportunity to unveil the map drawn behind closed doors and supported by the City Council’s Black Caucus.
Negotiations over a new ward map that will shape Chicago politics for the next decade remained deadlocked Tuesday, with no sign of a possible compromise less than a day before the deadline set by state law.
If 41 alderpeople do not agree on a map, the final decision could be made by voters for the first time in 30 years via a referendum.
The leaders of the Chicago City Council’s Black and Latino caucuses sparred Thursday as a compromise over the boundaries of the ward map that will shape Chicago politics for the next decade remained elusive.
The leaders of the Chicago City Council’s Black and Latino caucuses said Tuesday that they could endorse a new Chicago ward map with 18 wards with a majority of Black voters and 15 wards with a majority of Latino voters.
Chicago’s newly approved 2021 budget includes a yearlong basic income pilot for 5,000 Chicago households. We discuss what the city is hoping that money can do to help low-income Chicagoans financially recover from the pandemic.
Authored by Alds. Silvana Tabares (23rd Ward) and Anthony Napolitano (41st Ward), the measure to give alderpeople the final say over whether employees could be disciplined for flouting the vaccine mandate was sent to the legislative purgatory of the City Council’s Rules Committee.
The Chicago City Council’s Latino Caucus on Friday unveiled a map that would reduce the number of wards with a majority of Black voters by two to 16 wards and add two wards where a majority of voters are Latino.
Four City Council members share their thoughts on the mayor’s budget proposal, the embattled park district, and more.
