Almost five years ago, I happily joined the chorus of Chicagoans straining to find clever ways to describe the bizarre boundaries of the newly created Second Ward, which zig and zag around several north- and near-north-side neighborhoods.
But I’m starting to realize there was another—perhaps even more significant—consequence of the mayor’s creative gerrymandering that’s only now becoming apparent.
Now Hopkins is clearly the mayor’s front man on the issue of industry on the near north side.
In addition to messing with Fioretti, the 2011 reapportionment of the Second Ward roped in most of two planned manufacturing districts that stretch along the Clybourn and Elston Avenue corridors.
This was a time when north-side aldermen actually gave a hoot about working people. As opposed to such present-day north-side aldermen as Brendan Reilly, Tom Tunney, and Michele Smith, who in 2014 voted against raising the minimum wage in Chicago.
Beware, Chicago, of any mayoral statement that includes the word “reform.”
