While the holiday malaise has abated the battle to redraw Chicago’s 50 wards, for the time being, both Latino and Black council caucuses are taking a breath, eyeballing each other, looking for signs of weakness before the next round.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Latinos demand more wards in the new map (15 Latino wards and 16 Black wards), arguing population growth (up 5 percent). Still, Black representatives do not want to give up more than one ward (17 Black wards and 14 Latino wards) despite a population decrease (10 percent). Currently, the City Council comprises 18 Black wards and 13 Latino wards. The only thing both sides can agree on is the first-ever Asian American majority ward with a population increase of 30 percent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The final decision may go all the way to June.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Speaking about the strong stance of the Chicago City Latino Caucus, Sylvia Puente<\/a>, President, and CEO, of The Latino Policy Forum<\/a>, said, “We had a Latino caucus ten years ago that didn’t have the “ganas”, the will that I think this Latino caucus has.” Puente was a guest on the Latino News Network (LNN) podcast, \u201c3 Questions With\u2026\u201d<\/a>. “We have several new members (Latino Caucus) who are being very vocal about saying equity means that we are 30 percent of the City and that means 15 (wards).<\/p>\n\n\n\n