Aldermen approved Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s coronavirus spending ordinance Friday over the objections of critics who say she’s giving herself too much authority to make big purchases using public money without City Council oversight.
The mayor’s emergency powers ordinance passed the council by a 29-21 vote following contentious debate. Lightfoot had the council meet Friday afternoon to consider the package after opponents used a parliamentary procedure to block it at Wednesday’s meeting.
The vote was unusually tight for a signature mayoral initiative. The no votes came from progressive and conservative aldermen from all over the city, with members of the Black and Latino caucuses joining white aldermen in coming out against the plan.
On Wednesday, the mayor had excoriated the five aldermen who stopped the vote as a small group of selfish obstructionists more interested in “preening in front of the press” than working to help their constituents who are in the grips of the COVID-19 pandemic.
But on Friday, Ald. Carlos Ramirez-Rosa, 35th, said Lightfoot’s failure to include provisions in the ordinance guaranteeing equitable distribution of coronavirus funds to protect vulnerable Chicagoans made it unacceptable. “With this mayor, we’ve seen that you have to get it in writing,” Ramirez-Rosa said.
The ordinance codifies a set of extraordinary spending powers, many of which Lightfoot already granted herself via a March executive order. It allows her administration to move money within the city budget and sign contracts under $1 million without aldermanic approval if the funds are to be spent in response to the virus.
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Facing aldermanic pushback last week to her proposal, Lightfoot agreed to have her finance team provide weekly reports to the council Budget Committee detailing such spending.
Downtown Ald. Brendan Reilly, 42nd, said Lightfoot’s moves to limit the scope of the powers and build in a June 30 end date, unless the council extends it, were key concessions. “I ultimately have faith in Mayor Lightfoot to be judicious with these powers we’re giving her,” Reilly said.
Some aldermen and community groups still accused her of mayoral overreach, saying they worried struggling neighborhoods wouldn’t get enough protection from the virus and that minority-owned businesses would get short shrift on the contracts unless the council had a chance to vet her plans.
On Friday, Ald. Byron Sigcho-Lopez, 25th, one of the aldermen who blocked the earlier vote, said there also were concerns the Lightfoot administration could enter into problematic short-term borrowing agreements with banks or other shortsighted deals in order to make ends meet as tax revenue plummets during the pandemic.
“In the past, the city has not had a good track record with toxic swap deals and privatizations of things like the parking meters,” Sigcho-Lopez said. “Ultimately, it’s our responsibility as elected officials on the council to help make sure we don’t enter into these kinds of bad deals again.”
Opponents also cited the 2019 teachers union strike as an instance when mayoral power backfired.
Lightfoot has repeatedly said there’s no time to let the council debate purchases of protective equipment and other contracts in response to the virus, because the city is competing against other government entities and could lose the deals if the city doesn’t act fast.
The normally routine end of the meeting devolved into a protracted online procedural fight. Lightfoot critic Ald. Raymond Lopez, 15th, asked to speak to the body because his reputation had been impugned, but Lightfoot blocked him from doing so.
North Side Ald. Andre Vasquez, 40th, tried to make a motion to hold the next council meeting in two weeks instead of a month, which led to another argument and roll call vote.
As the chaos dragged on, someone could be heard to yell “This is a total s— show!” on the livestream.
Asked whether the close vote on her emergency powers signals future problems for her agenda, Lightfoot said she’s focused on fighting the coronavirus.
“What the 29 voted for was to make sure that we continue doing everything we can to keep our residents safe in this time of pandemic and to continue to have a sense of urgency around the measures that are needed to do just that,” Lightfoot said.
Commenting on the chaos at the end of the meeting, Lightfoot said, “It’s important for us to maintain the dignity of ourselves as elected officials. Literally on today’s broadcast people were watching all over the world. I think they saw democracy in action but I think they also saw some things that are regrettable.”
Aldermen on Wednesday also voted to send back to the Zoning Committee an ordinance that would require old buildings in Chicago to install hard-wired smoke detectors or ones with 10-year batteries. Several council members said they don’t want to burden low-income residents with new costs.
Ald. Sophia King, 4th, introduced an ordinance requiring City Council approval for all ordinances, orders and appointments at any time when the city falls within boundaries of a national disaster.
Vasquez introduced measures requiring the city to provide personal protective equipment to any city workers required to work during a disaster, and to require businesses to provide PPE for essential workers during disasters.
And Ald. Brian Hopkins, 2nd, introduced a resolution calling on Lightfoot and Gov. J.B. Pritzker to issue orders ensuring continued garbage and recycling pickup during the COVID-19 crisis.
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