I see that the Chicago City Council is sticking with its core competency and not doing anything. In this case it’s the new ward map necessitated by the decennial redistricting. Crain’s Chicago Business reports:
The remap process has been fraught for months: A majority of City Council’s Latino Caucus is standing firm behind their map, dubbed the “Coalition Map.†It would create 15 Latino-majority wards, up from the current 13; 16 Black-majority wards, down from 18; a new Asian-majority; 15 majority-white wards and three wards with no racial majority.
Their map, they argue, reflects the city’s growing Latino population, which grew as the city’s Black population dropped. Latinos make up 30% of the city’s population, compared to 29% for Black Chicagoans, 31% for white, and 7% for Asians.
“Coalition Map†supporters are at continued loggerheads with 33 aldermen who stand behind a map created under Rules Committee Chair Michelle Harris, 8th. That map has the support of a majority of City Council’s Black Caucus and would create 16 Black-majority and one Black-influence ward, 14 Latino-majority wards and an Asian ward.
Harris hopes to get 41 total aldermen to support the Rules Committee map in time to avoid a referendum letting voters decide instead in the June 28 primary. The deadline to avoid that fate is in mid-May. Several Latino Caucus members filed paperwork already to put that measure on the ballot.
But recent spats suggest detente is out of reach: During the previous three hearings, members of Council could barely agree on who would testify first, who had access to the map room where districts are draw, or the basic protocols for negotiations. Harris supporters have said she “has faced more disrespect and disparagement from her colleagues than anyone prior to her†throughout the process.
Everything is unfolding exactly as I foretold. The black caucus and the Hispanic caucus, rather than making common cause are jockeying for power that their numbers don’t support. The beneficiaries of this political infighting will be white politicians.
I’m betting that it will be left up to referendum. I wonder what it would take to get another map to choose from? My guess is that the fairest map is probably the one supported by the Hispanic caucus but that actually overstates Hispanic strength in terms of voters.
