Aldermanic Prerogative's Role in Continuing the Cycle of Segregation

This article first appeared in the November 2018 issue of Pro Builder.

“A City Fragmented” is the title of pioneering analysis on the effects of the power of Chicago city council members (aldermen) to initiate or block city council or city government actions concerning their own wards. This prerogative (or privilege, as it’s also known), has been criticized for leading to inconsistent applications of ordinances, to legislative inefficiency, and even to outright corruption, affecting Chicago’s low-income communities over the course of decades.

The report claims to be the first to specifically identify current bureaucratic mechanisms upholding this practice and to quantify its power through a legal lens. The study by the Chicago Area Fair Housing Alliance and the Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law defines aldermanic prerogative as the extralegal and unlimited control of Chicago City Council members, the mayor’s office, and the Department of Planning and Development at the ward level used to initiate—and in some cases block—city government actions, including zoning proposals.

The report contends that this practice perpetuates systemic racial segregation in Chicago’s communities and subjects housing and community development decision-making to political influence.

“We have approached a day when unfettered political power wielded by unaccountable leadership, or ‘the Chicago Way,’ is unacceptable,” said Albert C. Hanna, local fair housing advocate and report contributor, in a statement, adding, “Our hope is that the City will abide by its own laws, abide by the principles of justice and equality, and finally create change that affords all the opportunity to live safely in our City, whoever they are, wherever they choose.”

Finally, the report’s recommendations to end aldermanic prerogative include citywide planning to enact racial equity in housing, centralization of zoning, and legislation and ordinances to actively deter NIMBYism.