Black caucus hires Freddrenna Lyle in ward fight

UPDATE 4:15 PM: JP posted a post about this same article. He wanted to note the comments left on this article there were 26 when he published his post.

In this article from the Chicago Sun-Times our former Alderman was hired to represent the city council's Black Caucus in the ward remap process that is expected to get started soon:

Now, Lyle will go to war for her former colleagues in the high-stakes battle to hold onto the 19 City Council seats and 20 majority black wards they have, despite a dramatic decline in Chicago’s black population.

Chicago lost 182,000 black residents in the 2010 U.S. Census, in part because of the demolition of CHA high-rises. But Lyle argued that African-Americans, for the most part, remain in “compact, single-race neighborhoods.”

Chicago’s Hispanic population, which grew by 25,000 residents, is “more spread out,” the former alderman said.

“As opposed to having 19 wards with 80 or 90 percent black population, you may have some wards that have 65, 70 or 80 percent. But we’re going into the process anticipating that we will retain the same number of African-American wards,” Lyle said.

Noting that Chicago lost nearly 53,000 white residents, Lyle said, “If there is to be an increase in Latino wards, it should come at the expense of wards represented by white aldermen.”

Ald. Howard Brookins (21st), chairman of the City Council’s Black Caucus, said $1 million has been set aside for the remap process and Lyle’s legal fees should come out of that pot.

Brookins argued that Lyle is a logical choice to fend off a demand that at least four and as many as six new Hispanic wards be created at the expense of African-Americans.

“She went through it ten years ago. She’s an attorney. And she has an idea as to how City Council works and specific expertise with respect to drawing maps,” Brookins said.