CHICAGO — Mayor Brandon Johnson’s first City Council meeting saw aldermen sign off on his plan to stack key leadership roles with his allies, an early victory for the new mayor who spent much of his first day holding the gavel attempting flattery and levity — including an opening dig at Fox News.
But the meeting also left unresolved immediate concerns surrounding Chicago’s migrant crisis after opponents blocked a measure to fund shelters through next month.
After snapping a few selfies with the new body of aldermen behind him, the mayor banged the gavel and solemnly declared that he had “breaking news.”
“This City Council meeting is being recorded live from Naperville,” Johnson said, a jab at a “Fox and Friends” segment in which a correspondent interviewed two men at a diner in the western suburb about crime in Chicago and their purported lack of faith in Johnson.
Johnson’s joke was an acknowledgement of the negative reputation he holds among conservative media regarding his platform of racial justice and taxing the rich. The remark drew laughs from aldermen and highlighted the attempts at humor that have been a hallmark of the affable mayor’s political style, which continued to emerge via the occasional compliment to friendly aldermen and through restraint during moments of criticism.
Yet the meeting quickly turned serious over the migrant crisis, which dominated public comments as the arrival of asylum-seekers in Chicago continues unabated. Amid controversy over the cost to taxpayers and where the migrants are being housed, a planned vote to designate $51 million from surpluses toward migrant services was later delayed.
Members of the public who mainly identified themselves as residents of South Shore, where one of the shelters is slated to open despite community opposition, lambasted the city for neglecting South and West side residents. Downstairs on another City Hall floor, a news conference led by Johnson allies about migrant housing was disrupted by a group with ties to conservatives and the mayor’s runoff opponent, Paul Vallas.
The meeting began with a series of votes on Johnson’s plan to reorganize the City Council and scuttle an earlier deal brokered among aldermen ahead of his April 4 election. That measure created nearly 30 legislative committees and assigned chairmanships amongst each other in a move aimed at establishing their independence.
But Johnson quickly undid the plan, stripping Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s handpicked Finance Committee chairman Scott Waguespack of that role and giving it to Ald. Pat Dowell, a key supporter who served as Budget chair under the previous administration. Johnson’s plan also installed another close ally, Ald. Carlos Ramirez-Rosa, as chair of the powerful Zoning Committee and the mayor’s floor leader, while other democratic socialists such as Ald. Byron Sigcho-Lopez and Ald. Jeanette Taylor will lead the Housing and Education committees, respectively.
Johnson’s committee setup passed the Council 41-9, with some resistance from those who most vocally opposed him during the election. Ald. Raymond Lopez attempted to block the vote after complaining of being “excluded” and warning Johnson that he was headed down the same path as Lightfoot, who alienated aldermen early in her tenure.
The new mayor explained that a “no” vote on Lopez’s motion meant that “the work of the people can proceed,” a frequent theme of the progressive who has promised his election means “the people” will come with him to the fifth floor of City Hall. Lopez’s motion failed, and aldermen then gave the final sign-off.
Other aldermen who had gripes with the reorganization were David Moore, who said his 17th Ward residents on the South Side were “disrespected” because their voices weren’t represented in the new structure, which does not give him a leadership position. And Ald. Jim Gardiner, who has been the subject of an FBI investigation, scolded Johnson for not rewarding Council members based on seniority, but his colleague, Johnson ally Ald. Andre Vasquez, noted that under the old guard, committees didn’t meet for long stretches despite having a budget.
“I appreciate the value of seniority. I also appreciate the value of labor,” Vasquez said.
After the vote, Dowell received a standing ovation upon Johnson recognizing her as the first woman and Black alderman to lead the Finance Committee. Then Ald. Anthony Beale, a Vallas supporter, announced he will resign from the Zoning Committee, now led by Ramirez-Rosa.
Aldermen also approved Ald. Walter Burnett as vice mayor, while Ald. Samantha Nugent was voted in as president pro tem and Ald. Stephanie Coleman as her assistant pro tem.
Waguespack, a previous Lightfoot ally who voted “no” on Johnson’s reorganization structure, delivered a goodbye speech as Finance Committee chair and noted his leadership followed “one of the biggest machine corruption scandals in recent history” — his predecessor Edward Burke’s wide-ranging corruption indictment.
That same ex-alderman, who has pleaded not guilty, ruffled Lightfoot four years ago during her first City Council meeting. The day was largely uncontroversial until Burke stood up to question whether the rules were inappropriately written because they weren’t gender neutral.
That led Lightfoot to sharply cross examine Burke in a memorable exchange that ended when she declared, “I will call you when I’m ready to hear from you.” While Burke provoked the incident, some aldermen took exception to the mayor’s brusque handling of his objections.
The former mayor had aggravated City Council during the inauguration a week earlier when she criticized aldermanic corruption then turned to encourage council members them to stand and clap. Johnson, by contrast, has focused on being conciliatory, turning to aldermen and thanking them for their service during the inauguration and making jokes at City Council.
Johnson’s reorganization plan shuffles city funds — including cutting the Finance Committee’s budget by $175,000 — to pay for a new Police and Fire Committee chaired by Ald. Chris Taliaferro at a cost of roughly $230,000. The plan also adds just under $50,000 to the Health and Human Relations Committee chaired by Ald. Rossana Rodriguez Sanchez, $80,000 to the Immigrant and Refugee Rights Committee chaired by Ald. Andre Vasquez, and $70,000 to the Workforce Development Committee chaired by Ald. Michael Rodriguez.
The reorganization increases the overall spending on committees from $5.6 million to roughly $6.2 million.
For the first time, Johnson is also funding the vice mayor position, which has largely been ceremonial. It gives Burnett just over $400,000 to expand the role and hire staff in order to serve as a mayoral liaison to the community, responsible for attending and hosting meetings, forums and hearings across Chicago “in coordination with the mayor’s Office of Community Engagement,” Crain’s Chicago Business reported Wednesday.
But the successful effort to delay the vote on the $51 million allocation for asylum-seekers was an early indication that Johnson won’t get his agenda rubber-stamped by the council. A vote on allocating $51 million in budget surpluses to keep shelter and food operations running through next month was blocked later Wednesday by Lopez, Beale and Ald. Anthony Napolitano.
Beale, who represents the Far South Side, later told reporters it’s unfair that seniors are waiting years to get off public housing waitlists but the city was able to find $51 million to “throw away” for new arrivals.
“This money will be gone in 45 days,” Beale said. “You might as well take that $51 million and set a match to it, because it’s going to be burned up. That’s a problem.”
The meeting adjourned with Johnson praising the body for its “commitment to democracy” and well as to the “soul of Chicago” — a frequent theme of his inaugural address earlier this month. The next Council session will convene in a week, and Ramirez-Rosa told reporters after he is confident the $51 million migrant item will pass then on a second attempt at a vote.
The blocked vote on the migrant spending was also the latest in a series of conflicts over how the city can absorb the recent influx of migrants, a crisis that has seen nearly 10,000 new arrivals in Chicago since August, mostly from Central and South America.
That was when Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, sent the first busloads of migrants north, arguing border towns had run out of room and resources to shelter migrants and said “sanctuary cities” such as Chicago should accept them. Johnson and other Illinois officials have derided Abbott’s action as a cruel political stunt, but the question of how to respond to the surge of migrants — more than 700 of whom are currently sleeping on the floors of Chicago police station lobbies — has proven divisive in communities across the city.
A pre-Council press conference to present plans to combat the migrant crisis and homelessness in Chicago quickly devolved Wednesday morning when about a dozen people — some wearing shirts for the group Ex Cons for Community and Social Change — interrupted the speakers.
Before the disruption, Sigcho-Lopez, the 25th Ward alderman, had vowed that “we are not dismissing or will ever dismiss the issues that we currently have with Black residents” who faced school closures and the dismantling of public housing. As his chief of staff, Lucia Moya-Calderon, began explaining potential plans for small, medium and large temporary housing solutions, Tyrone Muhammad with ECCSC and others walked through the conference demanding that the group “fight for” unhoused ex-cons.
Moya-Calderon said their goal was to help “every person experiencing homelessness in Chicago and asylum-seekers that are in police stations. ... We can do it together.”
“Commit to me that we’re first!” Muhammad said before the disruptors shut down the news conference. “You can’t get in front of us, that’s all we’re saying.”
Muhammad was one of three men arrested while protesting the opening of a migrant shelter at the former Wadsworth School in South Shore. He also was a paid consultant for the People Who Play by the Rules PAC, according to state records, which is led by Republican operative Dan Proft.
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