After months of backroom wheeling and dealing, Chicago’s ward boundaries have been officially redrawn, and Lincoln Park is nearly intact within the 43rd Ward.

The 43rd Ward’s boundaries have shifted only slightly, moving slightly further west to Racine rather than Sheffield, and losing a bit of ground to on the ward’s south end. But Ald. Michele Smith trumpeted the final boundaries as a victory.

The Chicago City Council unveiled its new ward map Thursday morning at a special meeting, then promptly approved them minutes later.

South of the 43rd Ward, the new map takes 2nd Ward from the South Loop, West Loop and Near West Side, and turns it into a scribble-shaped ward that stretches from the Gold Coast to Ukrainian Village.

When the council meeting began soon after copies of the new map were passed out, it was clear that Fioretti was outflanked. So with Ald. Nick Sposato from the Northwest Side — whose mostly white ward was being turned into a mostly Hispanic one — they tried to delay a vote on the map.

They were promptly rejected, though, and the council passed the new map by a vote of 41 to 8. Voting no were aldermen Fioretti, Scott Waguespack (32nd), Rey Colon (35th), Roderick Sawyer (6th), Michael Zalewski (23rd), Michael Chandler (24th), John Arena (45th) and Nick Sposato (36th). Toni Foulkes (15th) was absent.

The 41 votes in favor of the map means that no referendum will be held on the map. However, it doesn’t mean a lawsuit can’t be filed against the city, which could nullify the map.

After the vote, Smith said she credited Lincoln Park’s forceful showing at a public hearing last week as the reason for the 43rd Ward’s continuity.

“We turned out more people in a more passionate way than any other community. I’m so proud of them. And it was really truly grassroots community organizing,” she said. “We had five former aldermen on board. How unusual is it to have aldermen from 1969 to 2011 all signing the same document?”

A self-styled progressive, she said she realized the map was a hard pill to swallow for many of her peers, particularly Fioretti. However, she had to put her community first, she said.

“I voted yes, because in the end, my choice was to try to put my community back together. So I was able to play a role in forging the citywide compromise, and then ensure the safety of my community, which as a representative has to come first,” she said. “The South Loop is a newer political entity. Lincoln Park, as I said, goes back 40, 50 years now and it’s always been an experienced community, for decades.”

Fioretti said he was considering his options in terms of a lawsuit, but he would continue to serve the current 2nd Ward until 2015.

“The current map remains in effect until the next election, contrary to what thoughts are. We were elected to represent the political boundaries that were in effect for the last election,” Fioretti said. “Why was this done the way it was done? Who knows. This was controlled from the Fifth Floor and the silver-haired caucus. It was predictable.”

Fioretti also said he was going to be paying close attention to the new 2nd Ward boundaries, though he stopped short of saying he’d be campaigning for reelection there.

“I’m going to be listening very carefully to the new 2nd Ward,” Fioretti said.

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By Boyee from Mid-North in Lincoln Park
Posted: 01/19/2012 8:49 PM

I strongly disapprove of this map from the Black Caucus. The 2nd Ward has no business stealing part of southern and western Lincoln Park. Going to 3 wards instead of 2 is much worse than the compromise version of the Latino Caucus map which maintained the same basic boundaries in Lincoln Park except for the finger off to Clybourn Ave. The only positive is see is DePaul being all in the same ward. The Latino Caucus compromise map was far superior.