Sun-Times: Ward map battle over, but bitterness lingers

As stated already Altgeld Gardens will soon be in Ward 10 it is especially noted in this Chicago Sun-Times May 16, 2022 article. Altgeld Gardens is currently in Ward 9

That much was clear on Monday when Ald. Anthony Beale (9th), one of Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s most outspoken City Council critics, traded insults with Ald. Jason Ervin (28th), the mayoral ally who chairs the Black Caucus.

It started when Beale said he joined forces with the Latino Caucus only after Ervin locked him out of the map room.

“If somebody can find a text message or a phone [call] that says, ‘Alderman Beale, would you mind coming in the room so we can talk,’ I’ll give you $100 for every one that you can find. But we all know you can’t find it because Alderman Beale was locked out of the process,” Beale said.

When he and neighboring Ald. Susan Sadlowski-Garza (10th) finally got into the room, Beale said he was told by Mike Kasper, who spent decades as election law expert for now-indicted former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan, that Kasper “had orders not to move any of my lines.”

“But let me tell y’all something: I’ve got broad shoulders and I’ve got thick skin. Tony Beale is gonna rise again,” Beale said.

Ervin responded to the lock-out charge without using Beale’s name.

“When the Black community’s political ... survival was on the stake, you walked away from us to go somewhere else. Why, we don’t know,” Ervin said.

“No orders were given to chop up the 9th Ward. No orders were given by anybody but to preserve Black Chicago. Those are the orders that were given by us all because our people depend on us to deliver for them — not to sell anybody out in this body or in this space. And I want my hundred dollars, because I got it on text.”

Also from the debate on the City Council floor from Ald. Beale:

“Look what you’ve done. Englewood still has six aldermen. … It’s gonna take an hour and a half for Altgeld Gardens residents who were taken out of my ward and put in the 10th Ward to get to their alderman. Three buses and an L to get to their representation. That’s disenfranchising people. Look at what they’ve done to the 36th Ward. It’s a string across six wards. How is that community going to be represented?”

Yeah ward 36 on the northwest side is a true mess. A truly gerrymandered shape some of you probably see an image of that before the ward map was finally approved.

If this Chicago ward map is approved, the annual 36th Ward picnic will feature a tug-o-war. One team will be in the larger NW section, the other in the SE section. A rope will extend along Grand Avenue. The first team whose team members all step out of the ward loses. pic.twitter.com/uisjjWue06

— John Hector (@jthector) May 10, 2022

 Again under a new ward map this is what the far south side of Chicago will look like. Effective as soon as next year's municipal elections.