Mayor Brandon Johnson’s appointment of progressive Southwest Side alderman as Zoning chair delayed

The Chicago City Council is still without a new leader for its powerful Zoning Committee after a mayoral ally on Wednesday delayed a vote to install firebrand progressive Ald. Byron Sigcho-Lopez into the role.

Mayor Brandon Johnson had recently been attempting to shore up support for the outspoken Pilsen alderman and staunch Johnson supporter to fill the seat left empty for eight months after the mayor’s original pick resigned amid controversies over how he wielded the post . Johnson’s handpicked Rules Committee chair, Ald. Michelle Harris, 8th, opted not to call the item at Wednesday’s council meeting, however, without explaining why she was stopping the council from considering the mayor’s choice for the key position.

But mayoral critic Ald. Brendan Reilly, 42nd, fired a warning shot earlier during the meeting as he passed out flyers indicating Sigcho-Lopez would require 34 votes rather than 26 from the 50-member body given the rushed manner in which his appointment was presented to the full council.

The delay comes three months after several City Council members tried unsuccessfully to strip Sigcho-Lopez, 25th, of his Housing Committee chairmanship. He faced criticism at the time for speaking in front of a burnt American flag at a rally calling for unruly protests during the Democratic National Convention in Chicago next month and featuring blistering condemnation of the Israel-Hamas war.

Sigcho-Lopez was terse in remarks to reporters after the setback Wednesday, merely saying that “conversations are ongoing … (and) we’ll take a vote eventually, soon.”

Asked about her decision, Harris said she and the Johnson administration talked about “process and making sure everybody can feel comfortable,” before adding that she plans to set up a Rules Committee meeting as early as next week.

Harris also denied her hesitation was due to Reilly’s saber-rattling.

“It’s one person running the meeting, and that’s the president,” Harris said, referring to the mayor. She then waved Reilly’s flyers and asserted, “This is irrelevant.”

Reilly, meanwhile, spiked the ball, telling reporters “I’m glad that the administration blinked.”

Asked about the delay, Johnson argued there was “no heat” from critics who oppose Sigcho-Lopez’s appointment. He played down the controversies surrounding the Pilsen alderman and said there is nobody on the council better suited for the Zoning post.

“He has fought against gentrification. He is clear about the need for economic development, as well as affordable housing,” Johnson told reporters during a news conference after the council meeting. “That’s what the people of Chicago want.”

Still, Sigcho-Lopez has always had detractors on the council who don’t appreciate his outspoken positions. And the flag incident hardened some colleagues’ feelings toward him.

Sigcho-Lopez maintained after his appearance at the rally in March that he did not see the flag. A Marine combat veteran set the flag aflame to protest America’s support of Israel before Sigcho-Lopez arrived, the alderman said at the time. Nonetheless, Sigcho-Lopez’s stout criticism of the war in Gaza has bristled pro-Israel advocates and anti-semitism watchdogs, including the Anti-Defamation League.

The Pilsen alderman has also fiercely derided gentrification in his Latino-heavy Southwest Side ward, often earning the ire of the real estate industry. Realtors and developers say that attitude has a chilling effect on development.

By seeking to tap Sigcho-Lopez as the influential Zoning chair — a role previous 25th Ward Ald. Danny Solis held when he faced federal faced corruption charges — Johnson was signaling he plans to press ahead with his leftist agenda that the Zoning Committee has not made many moves on. The more politically moderate Ald. Bennett Lawson, 44th, is keeping the Zoning seat warm on an interim basis.

The Zoning Committee has been without a permanent chair since early November, when Johnson’s first pick, Ald. Carlos Ramirez-Rosa, resigned amid bullying allegations. The stalemate reflects the slow pace Johnson’s administration has taken with vacancies as well as the rancorous tenor of this era in City Council.

Ramirez-Rosa, 35th, was accused of “manhandling” Ald. Emma Mitts, 37th, after a video surfaced showing him standing in front of the council chambers door as she tried to enter the room for a vote on placing a symbolic question on the city’s sanctuary status on this year’s primary election ballot. Three other aldermen then accused him of threatening to use his zoning power to scuttle projects in their wards if they went against him in a vote.

Ramirez-Rosa publicly apologized to Mitts, who cast a decisive vote saving him from censure, but has denied the “manhandling” and bullying allegations. For months, he has sought to regain the seat, but his bid to win over Black Caucus aldermen ultimately failed.

He has also done his own behind-the-scenes maneuvering to try to clear his name by commissioning his staff to do a legislative “analysis” of his Zoning chair decisions to prove that he adhered to aldermanic prerogative throughout his tenure, per the report that was obtained by the Tribune in a public records request. His office presented the findings to Johnson’s team in late May, but the mayor nonetheless opted for Sigcho-Lopez instead.

Johnson was also attempting to appoint Ald. Walter Burnett, 27th, to replace Sigcho-Lopez as Housing chair, an olive branch to the Black Caucus following the flap between Mitts, the body’s longest-serving sitting Black woman, and Ramirez-Rosa.

Burnett, a political moderate in the body, endorsed Johnson’s 2023 runoff opponent Paul Vallas. Johnson nonetheless tapped Burnett to be vice mayor shortly after winning office in a bid to grow his political alliances. His appointment was also delayed Wednesday.

Major votes withheld, but zoning board gets appointees

Many of the most anticipated pieces of legislation set to come up for a vote Wednesday were ultimately withheld, putting them on long runways for potential passage given the council’s August recess. Chief among those postponed was an ethics ordinance that has spurred a tiff between the mayor and progressive ally Ald. Matt Martin, 47th.

Martin’s ordinance would restrict lobbyist donations to Chicago mayors. A 2011 executive order from former Mayor Rahm Emanuel had codified the rule, but the city’s ethics board determined it was unenforceable as the board tried to crack down on registered lobbyists improperly donating to Johnson’s political committee.

The ordinance merely stops “backsliding,” Martin said when he advanced it through the Ethics Committee that Johnson named him to chair. Two aldermen last month used a parliamentary tactic to delay a final vote on the measure.

Martin was unsure ahead of a meeting with the mayor Tuesday if he would bring the ordinance back up for consideration. He told the Tribune Wednesday he now intends to pursue final approval in September and said he is considering additions to the legislation.

Aldermen held off on a vote to re-legalize construction of additional dwelling units such as coach houses in most parts of the city. The legislation to relax construction restrictions stalled as the mayor and sponsor Ald. Bennett Lawson, 44th, continued to discuss how it should affect neighborhoods zoned for single-family housing.

Aldermen also did not consider a Lincoln Park development near the Chicago River that would break with the council’s tradition of aldermanic prerogative. The 615-unit development with a 25-story tower and 15-story tower advanced past the Zoning Committee with support from Johnson despite opposition from Ald. Scott Waguespack, 32nd, who said the project was too big for the area.

But the council did approve two Johnson appointees to the Zoning Board of Appeals, filling the influential government panel for the first time in almost two years and adding another jolt to the mayor’s leftist housing agenda even as Sigcho-Lopez’s nomination to Zoning foundered.

Former 46th Ward Ald. Helen Shiller and Swathi Staley, general counsel for YMCA of Metropolitan Chicago, got the stamp of approval in voice votes.

The now-closed vacancies dogged Johnson’s progressive program when a proposed homeless shelter in the 46th Ward failed earlier this year in a ZBA vote. And pro-development advocates complained the short-staffed zoning board was slowing down business.

Ordinance targeting hateful flyers passes, bid to drop speed limit begins

Aldermen also passed an ordinance from Ald. Timmy Knudsen, 43rd, that cracks down on the distribution of hateful flyers with new $1,000 fines. The legislation came in response to someone leaving antisemitic flyers attached to rat poison on 80 Lincoln Park cars.

The white supremacist group responsible for the flyers had been able to stay  “a hair within the law,” but would now face punishment, Knudsen said.

Aldermen also approved nearly $22 million to settle lawsuits against the city, including an $11.25 million agreement to end a lawsuit accusing the Fire Department of sexist hiring practices.

Ald. Daniel La Spata, 1st, introduced an ordinance seeking to lower Chicago’s citywide speed limit to 25 mph from 30 mph. The legislation would also launch a pilot program that would allow Chicagoans to take photos of cars obstructing bus and bike lines to 311, enabling the city to ticket the delinquent drivers. La Spata’s ordinance was sent to the Rules committee in an apparent bid by opponents to stall the legislation.

jsheridan@chicagotribune.com

ayin@chicagotribune.com