STREET FIGHTERS
Two aldermen tangle over honorary signs
If the two bickering aldermen were women, you might call it a cat fight. Since they’re men, let’s call it a street fight— literally.
Ald. Anthony Beale ( 9th), chairman of the City Council’s Transportation Committee, is blocking Ald. Jason Ervin ( 28th) from ramming through 18 honorary street designations for living Chicagoans before a rules change that will limit designations to two every year per alderman — and require the honored individual to be dead.
On the day a reluctant City Council finally agreed to put itself on an honorary street designation diet, Beale graciously agreed to exempt signs in the pipeline. It was a last- minute concession tailormade to let his colleagues get one more in under the wire before the new rules take effect.
Instead, Ervin took advantage of the offer — by introducing 18 honorary street designations, Beale suggested. That prompted Beale to draw the line.
He put none of the so- called “Ervin 18” on the agenda at Thursday’s Transportation Committee meeting. Instead, Beale told his colleague to choose one to be considered next month.
“I changed the rules for some of my colleagues who stressed that they had one more sign they wanted to implement. But there was some manipulation of the rules that I used to try to accommodate some of my colleagues,” Beale said this week. “Lo and behold, one of my colleagues put in an abundance of signs. He had asked me for one, and he put in [ 18]. I’m gonna let him pick the one that he wants out of the [ 18].”
Ervin’s ill- fated binge would have renamed West Side streets as Sergeant Michael Eaddy Avenue, Rev. Dr. Marshall HatchWay, Apostle John T. Abercrombie Avenue, Paul Adams Avenue, Rev. Johnny L. Miller Lane, Rev. Leroy Elliott Way, Rev. Johnny Henderson Way, Rev. Clifford Spears Avenue, Rev. Donald Coleman Avenue, Rev. Homer Gardner Avenue, Rev. Elmer Lesure Avenue, Ald. Ed H. Smith Way, Elder Ellis Rice Way, Rev. Ferdinand Hargrett Avenue, Rev. S. F. Simpson Way, Alpha and Omega MBCWay, Saving Our Sons Way and Rev. Walter L. WilliamsWay.
Smith is Ervin’s predecessor and political mentor. He’s the one who retired months before the 2011 aldermanic election and persuaded former Mayor Richard M. Daley to appoint Ervin to take his place. That gave Ervin, a former Maywood village manager, a leg up on the competition.
Ervin took Beale’s ultimatum in stride. He does not consider it the final word. “We just had that conversation. But I’m gonna sit down and talk with him and see what we can come up with. I hope to reach an amicable solution,” Ervin said.
Ervin was hard- pressed to explain the avalanche of honorary street signs he tried and failed to get in under the wire.
“These have been items that had come to me from members of the community. ... I kind of held them as a policy personally in the ward not to honor individuals [ who] were still living,” Ervin said. “But there was always the ability to do it. As for example, we had a lady who turned 100, and we honored her.
“But when the total idea was taken off the table, we kind of met and decided to go ahead and submit those.”
Why not just abide by the new rules limiting the honor to the dead?
“They were requested by members of the community [ to honor the living]. Generally as a policy, I had said I didn’t think it was something we should do. But when it was something that could no longer be done, I decided to move forward,” Ervin said.
For decades, Chicago aldermen have been addicted to honorary street designations as a way to curry favor with clout- heavy constituents and campaign contributors.
Scores were added every year, forcing the Chicago Department of Transportation to drop everything to rush the brown signs into production in time for ceremonies arranged by aldermen at the expense of more pressing safety needs. The exact number of signs is unknown.
The plan championed by Beale would confine honorary street designations to two every year per alderman. Sponsors would be required to pay for those signs — at a cost of between $ 600 and $ 1,200 — from their expense accounts or from the $ 1.32 million in annual aldermanic “menu money.” The signs would sunset after five years and be removed unless the designation is renewed.