Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Politics / Clout City / News What Streets Do They Sweep?
Posted by Hunter Clauss on 03.31.10 at 05:32 PM
A majority of aldermen didn’t show up for today’s special session of the City Council, which meant they didn't get to weigh in officially on Mayor Daley’s plan to overhaul the city’s street-sweeping system. But the meeting was more about bucking Daley’s authority than bitching about a bunch of street sweepers.
Last week Daley ordered the city’s department of Streets and Sanitation to clean streets according to a new grid system, a move he can legally make without seeking council approval. Daley’s plan would have taken control of street sweepers from aldermen and the ward superintendents they pick. Needless to say, that plan didn’t sit well with many aldermen, who complained the grid system would hurt the quality of street sweeping and strip them of control. So aldermen Joe Moore (49th), Willie Cochran (20th), and Ricardo Munoz (29th) called for today’s special session as a way to put the brakes on Daley’s plan, which would have gone into effect tomorrow.
The only problem was that the plan had already been scrapped by the time aldermen began trickling into council chambers. Over the last couple days, as word of the would-be insurrection spread, Streets and San commissioner Tom Byrne started telling aldermen that he was throwing out the grid system plan in favor of a new one: aldermen will still have some control over street sweepers, but the total number of sweepers would be reduced to 40 and street cleaning will only take place four days a week instead of five.
Moore told reporters after today’s meeting that he believed more aldermen would have shown up if the compromise hadn't been reached. He said he and his colleagues had made a statement regardless.
“The message to the mayor is that we need to be treated as equal partners,” Moore said.
Second Ward alderman Bob Fioretti agreed even though he supports the idea of a grid system. “The way it was handled [by the mayor] shows problems of ‘It’s my way or the highway,’ and that needs to end,” he said. “When we have 25 people showing up at a City Council meeting called by an alderman, it sends a message to the administration.”
Still, that message might have been delivered louder and clearer if Fioretti, Moore, and their counterparts had been able to assemble the 26 aldermen needed for a quorum. Former 42nd Ward alderman and Daley supporter Burt Natarus, making a surprise visit, jokingly offered to stand in for one of the missing aldermen. “If you give up your street sweepers, I feel sorry for you,” he said. But having lost his 2007 re-election bid to Brendan Reilly, Natarus's services could not be accepted.
One of the absent alderman, Lona Lane of the 18th Ward, told me she was in her City Hall office during the special session but couldn’t make it downstairs in time because she was drafting an ordinance with other city officials.
“By the time I got there, they were walking out,” she said. “I ran into Alderman [Richard] Mell. He said, ‘Lona, it’s over. We didn’t have a quorum.’”
Comments (11)
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So Daley asks alderman for a $2B commitment to a sports pageant and they vote unanimous give him a standing O but Daley steals an alderman's idea for a more efficient way to route our street sweeping machines and the aldermen find their spines. Our Village elders pick the darnedest time to pull their heads out.
Daley pledged no new taxes when he was stumping for his budget a few months ago. Let's see if the revolutionary mo rolls into the votes on some new TIF districts in a couple of weeks.
“The message to the mayor is that we need to be treated as equal partners,” Moore said.
Moore is confused. The mayor and Council are not equal partners. This is not the federal government with co-equal branches. The aldermen hold all the cards. They control the purse strings. All they have to do is get their act together. You'd think Moore would understand this by now.
like
dislikeTime for all good incumbents to declare which side of union money they want to be on.
Moore told reporters after today’s meeting that he believed more aldermen would have shown up if the compromise hadn't been reached.
really, Joe?
If this is the kerfluffle we get when we tweak street sweeper routes, wait til we try dragging Chicago garbage truck staffing into the 21st century.
Lona Lane is as dumb as a box of rocks.
18th ward should have elected Paul Stewart.
I'm with Smilin' Bob on this one. Look at a map of the 2nd Ward and you can see that it's not really conducive to efficient street sweeping.
"So aldermen Joe Moore (49th), Willie Cochran (20th), and Ricardo Munoz (29th) called for today’s special session..."
Union reveille! Step up & be counted or be sorry. Labor is making a list, checking it 2x. Time for budgeting: $100K/ race, but how many races?
Which side are you on, boys? Which side are you on?
Early in the 3rd year of their term comes the single most important decision a Chicago alderman makes:
What's my best bet for getting re-elected, Daley money or union money?
"...Lona Lane of the 18th Ward, told me she was in her City Hall office during the special session but couldn’t make it downstairs in time because she was drafting an ordinance with other city officials."
WOW! An alderman drafting legislation! You buried your lead!
"...Lona Lane of the 18th Ward, told me she was in her City Hall office during the special session but couldn’t make it downstairs in time because she was drafting an ordinance with other city officials."
Chicago's chickens tremble at the news
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