On April 24, Chicago aldermen approved Mayor Lori Lightfoot's coronavirus spending ordinance by a vote of 29-21 despite objections of critics who say she is giving herself too much authority to make big purchases using public money without City Council oversight, The Chicago Tribune reported.
Lightfoot had the council meet April 24 to consider the package after opponents blocked it two days prior. The "no" votes came from progressive and conservative aldermen from all over the city, including members of the Black and Latino caucuses.
Windy City Times received a statement from the organization United Working Families. It said, in part, "The Mayor lacked an overwhelming majority for her ordinance with 21 Aldermen voting against her power overreach. Covid-19 has hit the Black, Latinx and working-class communities the hardest, and the mayor's ordinance fails to offer those communities the recovery they deserve."
The statement quotes Ald. Carlos Ramirez-Rosa, D-35th Ward, as saying, "When it comes to this mayor, you have to put it in writing. And so we sought to put into writing guarantees that an equity lens would be applied to federal emergency dollars. That reasonable request was maligned, ignored and dismissed by this mayor."
When asked about Ramirez-Rosa's statements at her April 24 press conference, Lightfoot tersely replied, "I don't put much stock in anything Ald. Ramirez-Rosa says."