Wednesday, November 24, 2021

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.

And I just go to show that tweet about a map provided by the city council Black Caucus

I hope everyone has a Happy and safe Thanksgiving holiday.

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