City Council Passes Speeding Camera Ordinance, Rahm Delays Vote on Infrastructure Trust
By Chuck Sudo in News on Apr 18, 2012 7:20PM
It's been a busy morning at City Hall. The City Council approved a slew of measures this morning, the biggest being the speeding camera "Children's Safety Zone" ordinance. That was expected. What wasn't was slight increase in resistance to the vote.
The ordinance passed by a 33 to 14 vote, after Mayor Rahm Emanuel's office made numerous adjustments to the ordinance to assuage the fears of aldermen that their constituencies would freak out once the cameras are installed and tickets are meted out. 11th Ward Ald. James Balcer made an impassioned plea for his colleagues to support the measure.
For the record, the aldermen who voted against the ordinance were John Arena, James Cappleman, Ameya Pawar, Harry Osterman, Robert Fioretti, Pat Dowell, William Burns, Leslie Hairston, Roderick Sawyer, Sandi Jackson, Michael Chandler, Nicholas Sposato, Scott Waguespack, and Brendan Reilly.
Emanuel also delayed a vote on his Chicago Infrastructure Trust. City Council Budget Committee chairman Ed Burke (14th) and 40th Ward Ald. Patrick O'Connor (40th) deferred the vote. 22nd Ward Ald. Ricardo Munoz said he knew of at least two other aldermen who were set to vote against the plan. Waguespack said tabling the vote indicated "we still have serious concerns about this.”
City Council approved a measure that would allow the city to charge $25 for Petrillo Band Shell seats at Taste of Chicago and a measure to add thousands of rental bikes to the city.