Mapping the City
One of the most important consequences of the decennial census is the redrawing of electoral maps to reflect population changes. The competing interests of politicians, racial and ethnic groups, and neighborhoods are likely to make for a contentious process to redraw the boundaries of Chicago’s 50 wards after the 2020 census data arrive.
Although state law dictates that each ward be “contiguous,” “compact,” and as “nearly equal” in population as possible, the process of drawing ward boundaries has been controlled by politicians to ensure their reelection, shut out rivals, and boost ethnic and racial clout. With contorted wards and fragmented neighborhoods, the map approved in 2012 makes it hard for some communities to wield influence and for their residents to know where to turn for help.
This time around, the Coalition for Honest and New Government Ethics (CHANGE) Illinois is advocating for community input in drawing a “more equitable” map. See the current ward map.
“Ending ward gerrymandering and giving residents their power and voices is critical to this process,” CHANGE Illinois executive director Madeleine Doubek said. “We need a map that puts the people first.”
CHANGE Illinois has asked that at least $250,000 in the city’s budget be set aside for community engagement in the mapping process, including meetings with residents and community leaders.
In an interview with WTTW last year, Mayor Lori Lightfoot supported an independent redistricting commission, but her office declined to tell The Daily Line this fall whether she still favors the idea. The office did not respond to a LWV Chicago question about whether funding is in the 2021 budget proposal Lightfoot submitted October 21.
The redistricting process can begin anytime that the census data are made available. A new ward map must be submitted to the city clerk’s office as an ordinance, sponsored by aldermen, and supported by a majority of aldermen to pass. It has to be approved by the 2023 election.
An independent citizens’ commission could avoid the self-serving, opaque process of previous redistrictings that were controlled by elected officials, but it would face pressure from politicians and groups that could lose clout. When Lightfoot told WTTW in 2019 that she supported an independent commission, Ald. Jason Ervin (28), head of the City Council’s Black Caucus, immediately said that he wants to maintain 18 majority-Black wards even though the city’s Black population has been decreasing.
But some neighborhoods that have been divided among several wards could benefit from new ward boundaries. Englewood, whose population is more than 90 percent African American, has been split among six wards since the 1970s.
“No one really has a clear focus on the development of Englewood,” State Rep. Sonya Harper, previous head of the nonprofit Grow Greater Englewood, told South Side Weekly. “When people look at the Englewood community and all the challenges that we deal with and how we’re portrayed on the news media, the one thing that they don’t know is that we’re split up politically and that lends itself to some of the dysfunction that we have.”
Logan Square, Back of the Yards, Little Village, Austin, Lakeview, Avondale, Uptown, Chinatown and South Loop are also represented by two or more aldermen.
“When neighborhoods and communities are splintered and split up this way, the people who live there are left with little to no representation. They don't know who to turn to and who they can count on,” Doubek wrote in Crain’s Chicago Business. “Even the most politically savvy among us couldn't easily navigate a situation like that.”
Chinatown, split between two wards, has never had one alderman. Ald. Byron Sigcho-Lopez (25) told The Daily Line that it is a challenge to represent portions of Chinatown and four other neighborhoods. “When the voice is split into three or four parts, it’s diluted,” he said.
Representatives of several organizations attending a CHANGE Illinois press event in October expressed support for meaningful citizen participation in redistricting. They include LWV Chicago, Common Cause Illinois, the Chicago Urban League, the Coalition for a Better Chinese American Community, the Latino Policy Forum, Workers Center for Racial Justice, and the Metropolitan Planning Council.