Politico: The remap's clash of the Chicago caucuses

 As it turns out on this Thanksgiving Eve the December 1st deadline is just around the corner. So I'm copying a lot more than I would actually be comfortable with but here's what's written by Shia Kapos on the ward remap:

The Chicago City Council’s Black Caucus presented vague details of a redistricting map for the city’s 50 wards, though Ald. Jason Ervin was clear about wanting to keep a three-seat advantage over the Latino Caucus.

His caucus is calling for 18 majority-white wards, 17 Black wards (one less than there is now), 14 Latino wards (one more than there is now) and one Asian ward.

“We believe this number is appropriate and gives everyone the space needed to move this program forward,” Ervin, chair of the council’s Black Caucus, said at a press conference yesterday at the Harold Washington Cultural Center. He displayed a map that made sweeping generalizations about where Black and brown wards might be but didn’t show how individual wards might be drawn. Tribune’s John Byrne has a picture.

The boundary debate is ratcheting up the tensions between the two caucuses ahead of a Dec. 1 deadline for the City Council to approve a new ward map. If it's not nailed down by then, voters could get to decide in a referendum next year.

The Black Caucus’ proposal falls short for the Latino Caucus, which has presented a detailed citywide map that uses census data to create ward boundaries that account for the population increase among Latinos — which has surpassed Black population in Chicago.

“If this is something that the Black Caucus wants to use to start discussions, I can tell you that they’re off on the wrong foot,” Ald. Gilbert Villegas (36th), head of the Council Latino Caucus said in the Sun-Times story by Rachel Hinton.

Points of contention are on the South and Southwest Side sides where there’s been a Black exodus while the Latino population has grown in areas such as Chicago Lawn, New City and Ashburn. The Latino Caucus is recommending 16 Black wards and 15 Latino wards.

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot called for the two caucuses to come to an agreement. “If they don’t reach a compromise, most of the members of the City Council are going to lose — most of them will lose, some won’t, but most of them will,” she said at an unrelated news conference. “Because, if they throw this to a referendum, anything is possible. They have to recognize the art of compromise.”

After December 1st, voters would get to decide the ward map that they want. I get a feeling there won't be a compromise hear and no real mayoral influence to get there. My prediction, but then again who knows.

The red line extensions funding from recent federal infrastructure bill

I'm sorry I missed this story about how the recent infrastructure bill which was signed by President Joe Biden into law would affect us in Illinois. Especially how it would affect the south side of Chicago, particularly this Red Line extension through Roseland into Altgeld Gardens.

From the Sun-Times:

President Joe Biden signed the historic $1 trillion infrastructure bill into law Monday, passing to Gov. J.B. Pritzker and Mayor Lori Lightfoot — at the White House for the ceremony — the massive job of spending the billions in new money flowing to the city and state in the next five years.

For the first time, there will be a dedicated funding stream in the form of grant programs to make all transit and commuter rail stations in compliance with the Americans With Disabilities Act, a legislative victory for the champion of the measure, Iraq War vet and double amputee Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill.

Based on interviews with Lightfoot and Pritzker, expansion of the CTA Red Line from 95th to 130th Street, speeding up lead water pipe removal and rebuilding portions of the Eisenhower Expressway through Chicago and nearby suburbs, the I-190 turnoff near O’Hare Airport and I-80 in Will County have emerged as among the priority projects to be bolstered by the federal spending.

The federal funding will speed up some projects already in the works — removing lead water pipes in Chicago — jumpstart transit and highway projects stalled for years — while helping to bankroll large scale electric vehicle charging networks throughout the state.

Public transit expansion, lead pipe removal, expanding broadband internet access and creating a new support system for electronic vehicles are at the top of Lightfoot’s list.

Lightfoot said there “definitely” will be federal money to expand the CTA Red Line from 95th Street to 130th, though she had no timetable yet for the project.

A spokeswoman for Rep. Bobby Rush, D-Ill., said at the White House he handed a letter to Department of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg urging him to support the Red Line South Side expansion to near the edge of the city.

“This transit desert disproportionately impacts Black residents, meaning that the early termination of the Red Line has considerable equity implications. This results in many of Chicago’s African American citizens literally being disconnected from the ‘mainland’ of the rest of the city. It reminds one of the ‘colony’ and the ‘motherland’ divides of a past time,” the Rush letter said.

Glad to see it's a priority for the mayor, however, no timeline yet to begin construction only that  the federal infrastructure money would be used to expand the red line. By expand hopefully she means starting construction, however, I want to see what else is out there by the mayor and governor regarding this extension,

Game Stop "smash & grab" in Chatham

 Downtown has been victims of "smash and grabs" even some suburbs are reporting such crimes most recently a Louis Vuitton store in Oak Brook, Illinois. Try one of those in Chatham at a Game Stop on 85th/Cottage Grove.

A report from Hyde Park Patch:

A video game store in the Chatham neighborhood also reported an unknown amount of merchandise was stolen at around 6:30 p.m.

No one was in custody in relation to any of the incidents as of Saturday afternoon, police told Patch.

To go back downtown not too long after this incident there was a smash and grab on the Magnificent Mile at the Neiman Marcus store. Here's a story from CBS Chicago on this [VIDEO]

Fall back one hour tonight!

Tonight is the night. Set your clocks 1 hour. Daylight Savings Time ends until March 13, 2022.

Worlee at Concerned Citizens of Chatham has some helpful tips for you as we fall back as far as time.