Rossana Rodriguez-Sanchez, newly elected alderman of the 33rd Ward, squeezed into the corner of a City Hall elevator, grinning and clutching a Starbucks cup. Others piled in only to disembark a few seconds later on the second floor, where dozens lined up to enter council chambers for the first meeting of Chicago’s legislature presided over by Mayor Lori Lightfoot.
By 9:45 the aldermen streamed in. Byron Sigcho-Lopez, freshman alderman from the 25th Ward, explained to reelected 37th Ward alderman Emma Mitts how to pronounce “Sigcho.” Forty-fourth Ward alderman Tom Tunney embraced the 16th Ward’s new alderman, Stephanie Coleman, who towered over him in an emerald-green dress. Forty-first Ward alderman Anthony Napolitano arrived pushing 38th Ward alderman Nicholas Sposato in his wheelchair.
Burke promised to be brief. “I think there is a serious flaw in the proposal on rules, for instance, rule two provides as follows: ‘The clerk, parenthesis, or someone appointed to fill his place . . . ‘” Burke went on to enumerate similar references to masculine pronouns in rules four and eight.
Next were the committee assignments. Technically, the City Council decides who will chair its committees, but in practice the aldermen haven’t swayed from mayoral nominations to these posts since Harold Washington became mayor in 1983 and Burke, along with two dozen other white aldermen, blocked his legislative agenda. Committee chairs decide which ordinances get debated and voted on in the council, and control budgets in the hundreds of thousands of dollars without much oversight.
A small crop of “no’s” rose up from the floor when the vote was called. The motion passed and the chairs were approved, as were the city department heads proposed by Lightfoot.
Newly elected First Ward alderman Daniel La Spata walked to the back of the council floor to speak to a constituent in the gallery. He seemed a bit disoriented. “I heard my name being called, introducing ordinances today,” he said. “We need to figure out what my name is attached to. Trust me, on my first day I’m not introducing any new ordinances.”
