Emanuel Says City Will Avoid Ward Remap Lawsuit

By Chris Bentley in News on Dec 7, 2011 8:20PM

Image Credit: Monika Thorpe

Mayor Rahm Emanuel said Chicago’s aldermen will agree on a new ward map without wasting city resources on lawsuits or a reprisal of the 1980s Council Wars.

That’s despite an ugly spat between Ald. Richard Mell (33rd), chairman of the City Council’s Rules Committee, and Budget Committee Chairman Carrie Austin (34th) that the Sun-Times reports “almost came to blows” and required a police officer to calm tensions in City Hall:

In language laced with profanity, sources said Austin accused Mell of being a racist and treating African-American aldermen like plantation n-----s.

A police officer was summoned to the third-floor to restore order. At one point, Ald. Pat O’Connor (40th), Emanuel’s City Council floor leader, urged Mell to back off because he was exacerbating racial tensions.

Demographic changes discovered by the 2010 U.S. Census set the stage for a ward remap fight. Chicago’s 50 wards lost 200,000 people, 90 percent of whom were African American. Gains in the Hispanic population since the last remap in 2000 have City Council’s Hispanic Caucus looking for four new super-majority Hispanic wards, for a total of 14.

It was in that context that last week’s ugly racial dispute came to a head, as Black Caucus chairman Ald. Howard Brookins (21st) told the Sun-Times:

“The danger is racial tensions between blacks, Hispanics and, potentially, whites because of who is involved — [Ald. Edward M.] Burke and Mell, who were seen as obstacles to Harold Washington,” Brookins said, recalling the 1980s power struggle known as Council Wars.

He added, “Mell and Burke represent Hispanic wards. We figured that out pretty quickly in the process — which is why it helped that Pat O’Connor came into the room.”

Things have likely been pretty hectic for Mell lately. His estranged son-in-law Rod Blagojevich was sentenced to 14 years in prison today. City Council colleagues expect the 73-year-old to retire, a move Mell has discussed openly since 2002.

If at least 41 aldermen do not approve a new ward map, and at least 10 aldermen propose an alternate map, Chicago voters would choose between the two next March. As Emanuel was quick to note, that could bring about a repeat of the 1990 referendum, which cost $20 million.