City Council Latino Caucus Moves to Put the Proposed Congregational Card on the 2022 Poll to the Voter Poll – CBS Chicago

CHICAGO (CBS) – One day after the city council averted a potential showdown vote on a controversial new ward card prepared by the Black Caucus and the Rules Committee, members of the Latino Caucus moved to send the remapping process to a voter vote next year.

Members of the Latino Caucus and three other non-Caucus allies on Thursday filed a petition with the City Clerk’s office trying to put their proposed ward card on the ballot paper during the 2022 primary election.

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Latino Caucus said, however, that they intend to continue negotiations with other city council members in an attempt to reach a compromise that at least 41 councilors would approve and avoid the need for a voter vote on a new ward card for the city.

The city is required to redraw the boundaries of all 50 wards every 10 years based on new U.S. census data.

“What we submitted was a reflection of the city of Chicago: 16 African American branches, 15 Latino branches, 15 Caucasian branches, 3 minority-majority branches and, for the first time ever, an Asian majority branch,” Ald said. Gilbert Villegas (36th), President of the Latino Caucus.

If 41 councilors vote to approve a new ward card for the city before next year’s primary election, the voter turnout triggered by Latino Caucus would be canceled, leaving councilors still with more than six months to negotiate a deal.

If a card is not approved by the council, or is approved by less than 41 votes, all 10 councilors who voted against the council-approved card can submit a petition to put a proposed card on the ballot during next year’s primary election.

If the battle for a new ward card ends up in the hands of voters, it would be the first time in 30 years that voters would decide on a new card.

A spokeswoman for the Latino Caucus said their move on Thursday to trigger a voter turnout was only meant to ensure transparency during the shortening process, not as an act of aggression against other councilors.

The move comes a day after the city council’s rules committee chairman Ald. Michelle Harris (8th) unveiled her committee’s proposal for a new map of the city’s 50 departments and called off a potential showdown vote during a special City Council meeting.

Harris said the Rules Committee will host two hearings on the proposed card next week before taking time off during the holidays, and then hold further public hearings in January.

“To promote transparency and to ensure that everyone has access to the redistribution process, I will chair meetings of the Rules Committee over the coming weeks and months to review the map and discuss proposed changes,” Harris said.

Without a vote on a map on Wednesday, the city council will miss a deadline on Dec. 1 to adopt a new map of all 50 departments based on 2020 Census data, which opens the door to having two or more maps placed on the ballot next year for the voters to decide.

The City Council’s Latino Caucus has drawn up its own competing map and has required that each new ward map include at least 15 Latin American majorities, based on the city’s growing Latino population. Their map would include 15 majority-latino branches (up from the current 13), 16 majority-black branches (down from the current 18) and the city’s first majority-asian branch.

Proposed new ward map of Chicago, prepared by City Council Latino Caucus (Source: Twitter / Chicago Coalition Map)

However, the Black Caucus has insisted on at least 17 majority-African-American branches and has said there should be only 14 Latin American majority branches, as well as the city’s first majority Asian branch.

While the Rules Committee’s card is backed by the Black Caucus, it was not immediately clear whether it meets either the Black Caucus ‘claim for 17 black wards or the Latino Caucus’ claim for 15 Hispanic wards.

A proposed map of Chicago’s 50 departments made by the City Council’s Rules Committee (Source: Twitter / Ald. James Cappleman)

While Latino Caucus released its proposed card in early November, it was not until Wednesday that the Rules Committee’s proposal had been made public.

In a letter to Harris, Latino Caucus Vice President Ald. Silvana Tabares (23^rd) said that the Rules Committee’s proposed card “seems to punish rapporteurs who speak for strong sections of the Latino, Asian and African American societies.”

“We will petition to protect our communities from inappropriate retaliation for our commitment to a protected activity: advocacy for minority communities,” Tabares wrote.

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As CBS 2 Political Investigator Dana Kozlov reported Tuesday night, many Chicago communities hope a new ward card gives them more unity – instead of leaving their neighborhoods divided between strangely shaped departments, each under the jurisdiction of another councilor.

At Ainslie Street and Central Park in Albany Park, walking from 35th Ward to 33rd Ward or 39th Ward involves a distance on a matter of feet. Three wards that divide a block up are equal to fragmented representation in the town hall for the residents. A new card can change that.

But here’s the problem – no one knows what the new department card will look like. Less than 24 hours before the councilors are given a mandate by law to vote on the redrawn card, it is still hidden in secrecy.

Some guard dogs say that everything corresponds to the town hall business as usual.

“They’ve essentially done it in a back room with the doors closed and not a lot of sunlight or transparency,” said Madeleine Doubek, CEO of Change Illinois.

Doubek said it should concern everyone living in Windy City – an appropriate use of the moniker in this case.

“What they’re doing is basically rigging the system to favor the established companies and keep themselves in office,” she said.

It is a well-established practice in Chicago, despite campaign promises from Mayor Lori Lightfoot that it would be different this time.

“We are terribly disappointed,” Doubek said.

Change Illinois sent a letter to Mayor Lightfoot Tuesday in which they expressed these concerns. The group spent months working with the public on what they call a people map, which holds most neighborhoods in one congregation instead of splintering them.

The proposed Folkekort and the current map can be seen side by side below.

Follow these links to take a closer look current map and the proposed The people’s card.

“There are communities like Englewood, like Logan Square, like Austin and many others – Back of the Yards – that have been shattered and divided historically,” Doubek said.

Chinatown is also one of these communities – in fact, it has never been covered by just one department, despite a decades-long struggle.

“Our whole driving force behind making an Asian-American majority department is to ensure that the Asian-American voice is heard in the city council,” said Justin Sia of Asian Americans Advancing Justice Chicago.

Sia said they have been promised that it will happen this time. If not, they will go to court.

But for those wondering why they should worry, Doubek says neighborhoods splintered along multiple wards mean confusion for people trying to get help from the city.

“It makes it impossible for you to understand who you need to reach out to and how you need to get the government to respond to you,” she said.

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Shattered neighborhoods also undermine the power of community groups and organizations.

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