And Then There Were Three [Aldermen]: One Ward Remap Perspective

By chicago-pipeline at January 25, 2012 | 10:28 pm | Print

by Teddy Varndell

A few weeks back, when Alisa asked me to write something about the remapping of Chicago’s wards, we were in the midst of an already long drawn out process of multiple public hearings and aldermanic debate that I thought would go on for weeks. It appeared that the only matter to my neighborhood was whether it would wind up in the 1st or 32nd wards or stay divided between the two.

I’d already been to one of those hearings, ostensibly to let Ald. Scott Waguespack and Ald. Proco Joe Moreno, know that I felt they had a rare opportunity to correct an embarrassing remnant of the Gabinski Matlak era. They could fix the grossly gerrymandered appendage of Ukrainian Village joined to the 32nd ward by a narrow swath cut through the First ward, dividing the Wicker Park landmark district and SSA#33. One way or the other, in or out of either ward, or the people living in the Eastern European ghetto, and its umbilical attachment, could receive better, more efficient city service.

Now I didn’t wait my turn to state the obvious (I was 54th on the agenda), but I did learn a few things while I was at the hearing. First, that my umbrage at the retention of the vesticular pendant of Ukrainian Village via block wide connection to the 32 ward mothership, was approaching petty chickenshit, when you saw what was being proposed for some neighborhoods. Lincoln Park, primarily Smith’s 43 ward, was being hacked into five pieces. Neighborhood groups, in the neighborhood where neighborhood groups first gained political traction along the lakefront, would now have to vie for the attention of multiple aldermen. Aldermen that no longer saw the names of the group’s rank and file on their walking lists. All in all, it looked like Wicker Park was pretty lucky.

But the most astounding thing to me, aside from the packed hall turnout, was that it seemed you could take a perfectly good ward on our Near South Side, Bob Fioretti’s 2nd, and drop it on a bunch of unsuspecting folk up by the ballpark, just because they were white and, I’m guessing, presumed disorganized. (Only a couple of people showed up to complain about the effect on their current second ward 2nd ward. The meeting I was at had an unmistakable Lincoln Park bent.)

Wow. My problems were small. The Leavitt to Hoyne, south to Chicago situation was nothing compared to the troubles facing the residents of the 43rd ward, (or those poor folks in the second 2nd.) Besides, there was time, and due process, maybe even a referendum.

Boy was I wrong, because by the following Thursday, without warning, both of these issues came home to roost in Wicker Park. It turns out that the Wrigleyvillians and their Lincoln Park brethren weren’t nearly as disorganized as presumed. They had spent the week successfully encouraging Ald. Smith, Ald. Tunney and their council allies to return the 43rd and 44th wards pretty close to their original, post census 2000, square and squat boundaries. Good for them.

But this still left the matter of the second ward. It sure as hell wasn’t going back to the south side, that turf had already been divvied up. And without 2 you were one ward shy.

So a new ward was carved Wednesday night, mostly from Waguespack’s 32nd, that stretched tenuously from that embarrassing appendage in Wicker Park, east all the way to the Oak Street beach. Along it’s way the new ward dissects neighborhoods, landmark districts, local chambers of commerce and an SSA or two. It’s amazing how much cartography* can be accomplished in the dead of night, without the distraction of community input.

What’s the upshot for Wicker Park and its aldermen? Moreno is fine, arguably better off. He retains the lucrative Milwaukee Ave stretch with its five figures worth of contributions to his campaign committee. He loses those pesky citizen voters adjacent to it and their requests for constituent services. (“Lady, I’m sorry someone’s puking up tequila all over your rosebush, but that’s out of our ward. Hold on and I’ll give you Fioretti’s number over in 2).

Waguespack doesn’t fair so well. He potentially loses a large chunk of financial and volunteer support with the new 2nd ward picking up the 2nd, 3rd, and 33rd precincts of the old 32nd. Virtually all of the Wicker Park Committee’s board of directors reside in those precincts, many of whom were instrumental in the successful grassroot effort to remove his predecessor from office, ending 72 years of machine control of the ward. Scott had the courage to vote against the map, though maybe not the savvy or clout to defeat it.

Proco, on the other hand, voted for the map and provided the all important 41st vote. My guess is he will tell you that he did this in order to prevent the city from a costly referendum and an even more expensive potential court challenge. I think it had more to do with patching things up with Rahm after his vociferous support of Gary Chico’s bid for mayor. In the end the rational behind his decision to support the map doesn’t really matter. Either way, my neighborhood got screwed by his lack of political courage.

What can be done to rectify this? There may be grounds for legal challenges. There is conflicting language in the ordinance. The map may violate federal laws applying to gerrymandering and “one person, one vote.” But that is way beyond my depth of knowledge and resources. Leave it to the pros. (… and the rest of the slighted aldermen.)

Better, I think, for the neighborhood groups in the new 2nd ward to reach out to each other and create a forum to discuss their concerns going forward. Then to present as much of a united front as is possible to our new alderman. Let him know that we have an infrastructure of community that he can rely on while charting these new waters. This redrawing of political maps may provide us with an opportunity to improve our neighborhoods and give them a stronger voice in City Hall.

On Wednesday February 1st, at 7 pm, at the Wicker Park Fieldhouse, 1425 N. Damen Ave., the Wicker Park Committee will host a community meeting to discuss the remapping, when it will take effect, and how we can move forward as a community. The three aldermen (Bob Fioretti 2nd, Proco Moreno 1st, Scott Waguespack 32nd) have been invited. We’ll see who shows up. I hope you can make it.

About Teddy Varndell: He buys, he sells. He writes a bit as well. Burma Shave.

*WBEZ’s Interactive Map: LINK 

all photos by chicago-pipeline

Photo 1: 1st Ward Ald. Proco Joe Moreno address the crowd during WPC-hosted Aldermanic debates as 32nd Ward. Ald. Scott Waguespack, at far left, looks on. February 2011

Photo: Charles Wicker statue

Photo: Rahm greets the next generation, Election Night Feb. 22, 2011, photo by Philin Phlash

Photo: Ald. Waguespack at an SSA #33 meeting, in basement of Wicker Park Art Center, 2009

Photo:  Ald. Moreno, at a mayoral rally for Gery Chico, Feb. 13, 2011

Photo: A dog paddleboards off the coast of Evanston, Fall 2011

Photo : Teddy at the WPC Scarecrow Extravaganza, Oct. 2010

Articles Bucktown Featured Neighborhoods Residential Updates Wicker Park Ald. Scott Waguespack, alderman, Fioretti, Proco Joe Moreno, Teddy Varndell, Ward remapping, Wicker Park Committee, WPC