Community leaders in Lincoln Park are taking up arms against a plan that could potentially split the North Side neighborhood into five different wards.

Chicago’s aldermen are currently deliberating over two proposals for the city’s upcoming ward redistricting process, an often-arduous endeavor that occurs every 10 years.

The boundary remapping is intended to balance populations in the city while respecting ethnic voting blocks, but tempers often flair when aldermen and communities clash over who gets what.

In a letter sent to Skyline on Tuesday, the heads of seven resident groups in Lincoln Park stated their opposition to the “Map for a Better Chicago” proposal, a ward redistricting plan led by the Black Caucus which currently enjoys majority support in the city council.

In addition to reworking ward lines across the city, the map would see the 43rd Ward’s boundaries shift southward and away from the Chicago River, landing parts of the ward’s current Lincoln Park territory in the 2nd, 27th, 32nd and 44th Wards.

Portions of the ward’s southern border, which currently stops short of the Near North Side area, would be redrawn into the Gold Coast and parts of Streeterville.

The letter — signed by members of the Lincoln Central Association, Mid-North Association and the Wrightwood Neighbors Association, among other groups — stated that City Council should do their best to preserve the boundaries Lincoln Park, where residents “pay significant property taxes to support the City of Chicago.”

“It’s very disappointing that recent developments concerning the remapping of Chicago’s Ward boundaries place an unfair burden on the people of Lincoln Park,” the statement read. “New ward boundaries could tear apart the fabric of well-established neighborhoods, all a result of old-style political jockeying.”

The letter goes on to state that the proposal “fails to accurately reflect the city’s current ethnic and racial balance” and is “gerrymandered [so] that ward services could not be delivered effectively.”

According to the letter, about 45,000 residents live in the neighborhoods represented by the community groups. The ward’s residents population is currently 84 percent white.

So far, only one alternative to the Black Caucus map has been introduced: the “Taxpayer Protection Map,” touted by the Latino Caucus. That map would see a part of Lincoln Park’s Wrightwood Neighbors area turned over to the 32nd Ward, along with a stretch of Cortland Street and an industrial area occupied by the A. Finkl & Sons steel mill.

This map, “while not perfect, more closely preserves Lincoln Park to its established boundaries,” the groups’ letter read. “It should be restored as the foundation for the remap as long as it keeps our community associations in one, or at most two, wards.”

The two redistricting proposals were filed in December after council leaders were unable to reach an agreement on a new ward map. If a consensus is not reached in City Council, the redistricting could be decided in court, or by a voter referendum. The last remapping referendum was held in 1990.

Ald. Michele Smith (43rd), who began her first term in the ward in May, has publically come out against the “Better Chicago” map, stating that the proposed boundaries would undo the character of a neighborhood.

“Lincoln Park has been a community of interest for 40 or 50 years now,” she said. “We’ve worked together to revitalize our community; our schools are centered in this area, our parks, our businesses…are all within these boundaries.”

Smith added that the popular map would wreak havoc on her ability to provide constituent services such as garbage pick-up and snow removal.

The alderman said that the city has scheduled a public hearing for North Side residents to testify on the two proposals. The meeting, which will held before the Committee on Committees, Rules and Ethics, is set to take place at DePaul University’s John R. Cortelyou Commons Building, 2324 N. Fremont St., at 6:00 p.m. on Jan. 11.

“We’re trying to ask people to come and say why Lincoln Park should be kept together,” Smith said.

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By Hal from Lincoln Park
Posted: 01/12/2012 11:14 PM

I was at the ward remap meeting last night, and while the federal law was blamed several times as the reason for the remap, there was no mention of what the penalty was for non-compliance. Do the aldermen go to jail So, what would be the penalty if some (or all) of the wards remained the same ?

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By Ted from Lincoln Park
Posted: 01/12/2012 7:45 PM

And let me clarify- when I say everyone supports, I mean everyone support's Michele's opposition to this plan.

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By Ted from Lincoln Park
Posted: 01/12/2012 7:40 PM

Let's call this for what it is, retaliation against Michele Smith for not playing ball with city hall; her opposition stance to the Webster Square development that everyone supports. trying to chop up her power base for not toeing the line.

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By Boyee from Mid-North in Lincoln Park
Posted: 01/05/2012 1:11 PM

Both these proposals should be scrapped and the 43rd Ward\\\'s boundaries should be left alone due to the non-existent demographic changes.