Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Politics / Clout City / News The Conundrum of the Quorum
Posted by Hunter Clauss on 03.30.10 at 12:55 PM
The City Council may gather for a special session this Wednesday thanks to aldermen Joe Moore (49th), Willie Cochran (20th), and Ricardo Munoz (22nd)—but the meeting could also turn out to be a complete bust and political embarrassment.
The trio wants the council to take a vote on Mayor Daley’s plan to restructure the city’s street-sweeping system, a move he can legally make without approval from aldermen. Under Daley's plan, starting April 1—the day after the special session—street sweepers will patrol the city according to a new grid system that the mayor claims will cut costs. Gone will be the days when each ward has its own street sweeper overseen by the ward’s alderman and Streets & San superintendent. Moore, Cochran, and Munoz argue the change will hurt the quality of street sweeping, and they want the City Council to have a say in the matter.
But the vote could be kicked to the curb.
According to state law, the council has to have a quorum present—in this case, a majority, or 26 aldermen—in order to vote on anything. That means Moore, Cochran, and Munoz have to convince at least 23 other council members to show up on Wednesday—no small thing considering the council's longstanding deference to Daley. “We’re working on it,” Moore said Monday.
Cochran said he too had been lobbying fellow aldermen for their support, but he didn’t sound entirely optimistic. “I take their word, but we won’t know exactly if they’ll be there until that day,” he said.
Moore tried to bring up the issue last Friday, when a special session was called to confirm Daley’s appointments to open seats in the First and 29th wards, but Alderman Ed Burke (14th) rattled off a few parliamentary rules—one supposedly established in a decision issued by his wife, state Supreme Court justice Anne Burke—that limited what can be introduced during such meetings. Moore didn't get a chance to bring the sweeping plan up. He later told reporters that if the plan goes ahead, then “Chicago’s reputation as the cleanest city in America is going to take a blow.”
Moore's wife, Barbara, has joined the cause, creating a Facebook event page dedicated to opposing Daley's plan. As of Tuesday morning it had 30 confirmed "guests" and numerous comments, including one from 35th Ward alderman Rey Colon, who wrote of Daley's plan, "F#*k! That!"
Second Ward alderman Bob Fioretti, who hasn't always been on Daley's good side, supports the mayor's plan. In 2008 Fioretti attempted to persuade the city’s Streets & San department to adopt a grid system for street sweeping and garbage removal. Fioretti argues that a grid system would make economic sense while also helping the city identify areas that need more frequent trash collection and street sweeping. He said the mayor’s office didn’t score many points with aldermen by announcing the changes so suddenly and so close to the deadline, but he thinks the grid system could be phased in, with each ward still keeping a street sweeper for emergencies. Fioretti also said he’ll attend Wednesday’s meeting, but he doesn’t think it’ll do much good.
“Whenever the mayor calls a special session, everyone shows up,” he said. “Whenever an alderman calls a special session, nobody shows up.”
Comments (3)
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Hunter,
Why don't you talk to me and I will tell you want the real problem is in Chicago with its Street Sweepers. These Alderman could have saved allot of time and energy if they would just inlist my advice on how to manage sevice in this city. I had a plan in 2004 and 2005.The horse is out of the barn and Da Mayor let it out!
like
dislikeMoore and his career pol cronies are rallying to the defense of their "little mayor" personas. Of all the issues facing Our Fair City... One would hope our 50 Best & Brightest had other things to worry about. When's the special session on school admissions? Where's the special session on the stewardship of the parking meter fund? Our aldermen should not be micromanaging street sweeping machine routes. Our aldermen should not be appointing ward sups. Is there a legislative branch in Chicago? Anyone? Daley does this every spring, a fake issue to let the aldermen act like a deliberative body for a day, demonstrate their oratory prowess for the cameras, then it's everybody back to work rubber stamping.
We turn the corner on 1 year and counting until election day and the campaign event schedule cranks up. You'd think it would be illegal to use Council Chambers for a political rally. Daley's popularity is at its all time nadir. Come next year an anti-Daley talking point no matter how stoopid will come in handy with Chicagoans, and Daley's willing to oblige as long as everyone gets back to work in time for the fall budget season. "I was one of the ones who showed up to oppose Daley when he tried to take our street sweepers away." Who knows, it may help distract the masses from such things as budget votes, parking meter votes, Olympic votes, TIF votes, and the rest of the mindless automaton votes.
