Aldermanic remap could cost millions

By Fran Spielman City Hall Reporter

Chicago may be headed toward a repeat of the 1990 remap referendum that cost taxpayers $20 million.

Sources said a majority of the City Council’s 50 aldermen—but fewer than the 41 needed to avert a referendum—are uniting behind a new ward map that includes 17 black wards, 17 white wards, 13 Hispanic wards and three Hispanic “influence” wards where the Latino population tops 40 percent.

That would give Hispanics three more super-majority wards as a reward for their 25,218-person population gain in the 2010 U.S. Census.