Saturday, December 10, 2011

Tribune: Black caucus hires seasoned litigator and 15th ward to be majority hispanic...

Looks as if the Black Caucus is serious about making sure their interests are protected in this ward remap:
Consensus on a new Chicago ward map remains so elusive that the City Council Black Caucus has prepared for a potential legal battle by hiring attorney Burt Odelson, an election law expert schooled in the arts of negotiation and litigation.

"It makes sense that he's around for this last bit of negotiation in case we do have to go to court," said caucus Chairman Howard Brookins, 21st. He spoke Friday as remap leaders entered their 10th day of talks, with their fellow aldermen placed on call for the weekend to sign off on any tentative agreement.

"Talks are continuing," said Ald. Richard Mell, 33rd, who as Rules Committee chairman heads the effort. "Hopefully, we will be able to present a map that gets 41 votes."

Getting approval from 41 of 50 aldermen would end the possibility of a March primary referendum on dueling maps, which takes place if any 10 aldermen endorse an alternative plan. Such a referendum was held 20 years ago; the map is changed every decade to adjust for population shifts found by the U.S. census.
You might have seen JP Paulus make a comment where he hopes that the people get to decide on a ward map instead of the insiders at City Hall. That last paragraph in the quote is exactly what he's referring to in his desires.

That linked Tribune article also mentioned the news about a possible remap of the 11th Ward which is opposed by Ald. James Balcer and Democratic Committeeman John Daley. Stated before that is the home ward of the Daley family and it largely contains the neighborhood of Bridgeport. We blogged about that here yesterday.

It also looks like the number of Black wards given up is back to one instead of two. Looks like it could again be the 15th Ward:
Latinos would get 13 Hispanic-majority wards and two additional wards with significant Hispanic populations. There are now 10 Hispanic-majority wards, but the number of Latinos in the city continues to rise and some experts contend they were shortchanged a decade ago.

African-American-majority wards would number 18, one less than they now have and two less than under the last remap, even though the city's black population dropped by about 181,000 — equal to more than three wards.

One of the new Hispanic-majority wards would be the 15th, now represented by African-American Ald. Toni Foulkes. The Black Caucus believes Foulkes would still have a shot at re-election in that ward.
Hmmm, it still doesn't seem like such a big loss though. Oh the Black Caucus will give up a ward but one of our people should still be able to win re-election in their ward.

Although it has been stated before we can have a ward that has a majority population of any racial or ethnic group however that doesn't mean they'll necessarily vote for anymore who will look like them. It almost makes this exercise pointless although I do understand why it has to be done in this way.

1 comment:

  1. Since Harold Washington took office, the city's black caucus has rubber stamped all types of ordinances which made the city a sanctuary for illegal aliens. These ordinances attracted these individuals to the detriment of the black community which will likely lose representation on the council. Sure they are now more Hispanics in Chicago of voting age but so many of them aren't legally eligible to vote due to their illegal immigration status. The only way blacks will regain and retain power will be by helping enforce immigration laws and repealing all the sanctuary ordinances. I'm a Latino myself and I hate what I'm seeing. I really hope the black community learns from their mistakes quickly. They can start by voting out the Congressional Black caucus (which has always sided with the pro-open borders lobby in Congress) before they try to pass the ridiculous piece of legislation called the DREAM Act this next year.

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