New ward map keeps Lincoln Park, DePaul intact

City Council voted on Thursday to pass a new redistricting map that would preserve the Lincoln Park community, and DePaul University.

The new map passed 41-8 in a City Council vote, receiving the bare minimum votes needed.

The amended map, called "The Map for a Better Chicago," will keep the majority of Lincoln Park intact, and place DePaul University's entire Lincoln Park campus in the 43rd Ward.

The original map would have split Lincoln Park into five separate wards, which did not sit well with Lincoln Park residents, including 43rd Ward Ald. Michele Smith. Just hours after the vote, Ald. Smith sent a letter out to her community, congratulating them on their efforts.

"Without your hard work, our community would have been divided into fragments that do not reflect traditional neighborhood boundaries. In the original proposal, almost half of Lincoln Park would have been excised from the 43rd Ward," Smith's letter said.

Over the last month, members of the Lincoln Park community spoke out against the proposed remap through letter, phone calls and emails. Earlier this month, 650 members of the community attended a hearing at the DePaul University Student Center.

"We support a map that keeps Lincoln Park intact," said Emma Rosenberg, Director of Communications for Ald. Smith. "With a map that splinters Lincoln Park, planning something like a street festival could require approval from up to four different aldermanic offices."

Rosenberg told The DePaulia that not only would the original proposal present obstacles to community planning, but it would also require the community to build fresh relationships with new aldermen.

DePaul University is currently split between two wards - the 43rd ward east of Sheffield Avenue and the 32nd ward to the west. The University seeks aldermanic assistance for building permits and other city approvals. The original plan would have required DePaul to build new relationships in order to foster its continued growth.

"DePaul's position is in support of the wishes of our neighbors in the Wrightwood Neighbors Association and the Sheffield Neighbors Association [and the Lincoln Park Chamber of Commerce], that Lincoln Park not be divided into several wards and that the current boundaries are maintained as much as possible," said Peter Coffey, Director of Government Affairs at DePaul University, in a statement a day before the vote.

Coffey said that 32nd Ward Ald. Scott Waguespack's office is currently involved with the construction of the new Theatre Building on the west side of campus while Ald. Smith's office will be involved with construction of the new School of Music facilities on the east side of campus.

The remapping fight, however, is likely to continue, according to Coffey.

"If history is any guide, once a map is approved, legal challenges will be brought and the courts may make some changes in the boundaries," he said.