|
Dear Neighbors,
The remap of the Wards required by the 2020 U.S. Census was completed with a City Council vote during a special meeting Monday, May 16. A planned referendum on two competing maps was avoided because 43 aldermen (two more than a required 41) agreed to one map.
The expected date for the new maps to take effect will be May 2023, after the aldermanic elections of 2023 take place. Until then, please expect your current alderman to provide constituent services.
Effect On Our Neighborhoods
As you can see from the drawings below, we were able to hold firm and retain our ward largely untouched, except that the 43rd Ward had to shrink to get closer to the average population per ward of 55,000 people. We therefore made the painful decision to shrink our western boundary and a bit of our Gold Coast area to comply with the Constitutional duty to keep wards generally the same population. (A 5% deviation either way is viewed as acceptable).
The areas that we could not keep largely return to 32nd Ward Alderman Scott Waguespack. The 32nd Ward was altered in the last remap, and this map restores the ward to its more compact boundaries from Western Avenue to the 43rd Ward. The map also restores the 32nd Ward’s jurisdiction over the Chicago River, including the Lincoln Yards and former General Iron sites.
Our neighbor, Second Ward Alderman Brian Hopkins, was able to reshape his ward substantially from the “lobster” of the existing 2010 map. No doubt more could have been accomplished, because of the enormous population growth of the River North area. However, because Alderman Hopkins lives in the western part of his ward, the map retains that area as the ward's edge and therefore had to maintain the "bridge" to Streeterville, which comprises most of his Ward.
With our northern neighbor, 44th Ward Alderman Tom Tunney, Diversey is retained as the traditional boundary between Lincoln Park and Lakeview.
Importantly, we kept our traditional portion of the Gold Coast, maintaining the 43rd Ward's stewardship of Lincoln Park from North Avenue to Diversey. The park is a city treasure, and we work hard to balance the popularity of the park and beach to the entire city with our residents' needs for recreation and quiet access.
Thanks to University of Illinois Professor Chris Kanich for this treasure trove of all the iterations of the maps that were discussed in the remap process. (The "May 9" map is the one just passed). Professor Kanich also created this great tool to check which ward you live in now, and the future ward which will govern your choices for Alderman in the next election in February 2023.
| 
