Last week in the City Council 28th Ward alderman Ed Smith made a plea for unity–a simple request, but one that exposed a new fault line in local politics. “We should not allow this ordinance to be so divisive that it takes years to get over it,” he said during the big-box minimum-wage debate. “This issue has caused some people to feel bad and not want to work together.”
Best of Chicago voting is live now. Vote for your favorites »
Then came the big-box ordinance, which required large retailers like Wal-Mart to pay employees a minimum of $10 an hour plus $3 in benefits by 2010. No one had as much to say about it–or as much at stake–as the council’s 19 black members. Representing some of the city’s most depressed areas, they’re eager to get new development and jobs in their wards, and some had big boxes promising to come in long before the ordinance became an issue. Most are indebted to Daley, and even now none can afford to declare war on him. Yet the debate last week made it clear that at least a handful of them believed they had a little more room to maneuver, and that’s what they intended to do.
During the debate this group of aldermen let it be known that they were tired of being pressured by ministers who answered to Daley, and they seemed to see the union members and community activists who were lobbying in favor of the big-box ordinance as potential new foot soldiers in the upcoming elections–no doubt aware that the union members, who hoped to expand their living-wage campaign, were threatening to work against anyone who didn’t vote for the ordinance. Wal-Mart and Target were threatening to drop plans to build several stores in the city, and Daley warned that aldermen who voted for the law would scare off more employers and throw away jobs and sales-tax revenue. The aldermen came out in support of the ordinance anyway.
There was a collective gasp. Beavers was referring to a 2004 ordinance setting new rules for awarding city construction contracts to minority firms. Moore rose and asked Daley, in his role as council president, for a chance to respond. Daley granted the request.
A few minutes later Shirley Coleman tried to strike a balance. Coleman, whose 16th Ward is one of the most blighted areas of the city, took a moment to thank Daley for his help in building a new campus for Kennedy-King College in her ward. “Mr. Mayor, I will be forever indebted to you,” she said. But she didn’t feel the need to pay the debt back right then. She said she too was there to represent the poor people in her ward, and as a former welfare recipient, she just couldn’t vote against a higher wage for struggling workers: “I say to the big box, it’s your loss if you don’t come into our neighborhood.”
Howard Brookins, alderman of the 21st Ward, also deplored the threats from union and community activists. “We were elected to be leaders,” he said. “Unfortunately we are living in a time when we will be led the wrong way if we listen to the people.”
The audience cheered, and Daley, looking resigned, banged the gavel.
