New ward boundaries for Calumet City aldermen were unanimously approved Thursday as the City Council agreed on maps to slightly redraw the seven wards based on a population decline of about 2,000 people and a shift in density between the central wards.
Each of the wards have just more than 5,000 residents and the main changes involve the middle wards boundaries on the north side of the city, according to a public discussion of the maps led by city attorney Michael Kasper.
“Congratulations and thank each aldermen for their work on this,” said Mayor Thaddeus Jones after the City Council approved the maps.
The new maps will be posted online shortly, officials said, but the maps presented to a packed house Thursday are similar to the existing maps.
The 4th Ward loses some less populated ground on the west side of the city to the 7th Ward in response to increased density on the north, they said. It also takes a few blocks from the 2nd Ward, a district that now appears as a large square, its sides lined neatly against the 1st and 4th Ward. The 6h Ward cedes some ground on the south of the city to the 7th Ward seven while the 1st, 3rd and 5th wards appear virtually unchanged.
As an example for how little these boundaries changed, the vote was unanimous, which is rare for major votes in general but especially hard to come by in Calumet City where there is often cause fights over laws.
“I’ve been doing this for 25 years. This is the first unanimous plan I’ve ever been involved with,” said Michael Kasper in a comment met by applause from the 60 people at the special council meeting.
A few of residents shared their frustrations about one aspect of the redistricting, saying the City Council called an recent emergency meeting to review the maps on a Sunday afternoon in conflict with an NFL playoff game.
“There was three people here,” said Calumet City resident Darryl Jester.
He said not only was he frustrated because the meeting was called with short notice and poorly attended, and said the city still has not provided a block by block explanation of the boundary changes.
When Jester argued with Jones after the mayor responded to his comments with a question, and after Jester at one point referring to Jones by his first name and talked over him, Jones had him removed from the chamber.
Neither Jones or anyone else was able to explain the reason for the scheduling of the previous ward map meeting.
Residents who supported Jester’s comments had many of their concerns assuaged when Kasper went to the television screens showing the new ward map and asked for some of the them to call out their addresses. Most saw that they were in the same ward and read the data showing how no ward was significantly larger than any other.
hsanders@chicagotribune.com
