CITY HALL — Aldermen Wednesday approved a plan to give 10 Chicagoans three minutes each to have their say at the start of City Council meetings despite concerns that it unfairly limits the ability of the public to participate in council meetings.
The measure — which has the support of Mayor Rahm Emanuel — was blasted again as "inadequate" by Andy Thayer of Uptown Tent City Organizers.
Ald. Michelle Harris (8th), the chairwoman of the Council's Rules Committee, turned back an effort by Ald. Ameya Pawar (47th), a candidate for Illinois governor, to extend the public comment period by an hour.
"Our job is to listen and hear what the public has to say," Ald. Susan Sadlowski Garza (10th) said.
Pawar voted against the measure, as did Ald. Brendan Reilly (42nd).
Michael Graham, an attorney for watchdog group Project Six, headed by former Council Inspector General Faisal Khan, also objected to the 30-minute limit.
A judge ruled in December on a suit filed by Thayer that city officials must allow members of the public to weigh in at Council meetings. Initially, city officials vowed to appeal the decision by Cook County Circuit Court Judge Diane Joan Larsen, saying it was "contrary to the language and the intent of the Open Meetings Act."
However, city officials dropped their appeal in March and promised to put new rules in place by this summer.
Chief Assistant Corporation Counsel Jeff Levine said earlier this week that giving the public any more time to weigh in would be "redundant" since the public also is allowed to speak at meetings of the Council's committees.
Members of the public would be allowed to sign up to speak on a first come, first served basis before 9:15 a.m. The Council meetings start at 10 a.m.
The three-minute limit will be tracked by the newest addition to the Council chambers — two huge digital clocks that resemble a countdown clock in a gymnasium.
Thayer and activist Rick Garcia filed a lawsuit that claimed that the city violated the Illinois Open Meetings Act on May 22 and June 22 of last year by not allowing them — and other members of the public — to speak before the Council voted to approve a $15.8 million tax increment financing deal for developer Montrose Clarendon Partners.
The project includes a 26-story mixed-use building with 381 residential units, a grocery store and 278 parking spaces in the 4400 block of North Clarendon Avenue.
Larsen has not ruled on another claim in the suit — that city officials improperly blocked Thayer and other opponents of the deal from entering the Council chambers by filling its seats with City Hall interns.
Neither has Larsen ruled on whether the actions taken by the Council at the disputed meetings should be voided, as Thayer and Garcia have asked.
