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Tensions flare: Lightfoot, alderwoman clash at Chicago City Council meeting
It was an ugly confrontation at City Hall Wednesday as an alderwoman says Mayor Lori Lightfoot lashed out at her in an angry face-off.
CHICAGO - On Wednesday, the Chicago City Council adjourned without voting on a controversial plan to rename a portion of Lake Shore Drive after Jean Baptiste Point DuSable, who was Chicago's first permanent resident.
DuSable was a Black trader who settled at the mouth of the Chicago River.
The name change is not supported by Mayor Lori Lightfoot. Instead, Lightfoot suggested a compromise of "DuSable Lake Shore Drive," but that deal fell apart. In addition, the mayor has also proposed renaming a portion of the Chicago Riverwalk and a park after DuSable.
Ald. David Moore (17th) sponsored the name change. Before Wednesday's meeting, he said the cost for renaming would be a little more than $800,000 to the state, city and CTA. Moore is pushing back against critics who say it would cause lakefront property values to plunge.
"When you see other colleagues getting with a real estate firm to push fear mongering, in Chicago we call the dog whistles, among their constituents and saying your property values are going to do down and all of that, which is not true at all, those are the things that's racially charged," Moore said.
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Chicago City Council meeting adjourns early after heated exchange
Ald. Carlos Ramirez Rosa talks about Wednesday's Chicago City Council meeting, which ended abruptly after tensions flared surrounding the botched police raid of Anjanette Young.
Meanwhile, tensions became heated at the City Council meeting, which forced the early adjournment.
The fight revolved around the botched Chicago police raid of Anjanette Young. She was left standing naked and handcuffed when officers entered the wrong home.
Last week, Mayor Lightfoot's pick for corporate council – the city's chief legal officer – who she was looking to get approved on Wednesday, filed a motion to dismiss Young's lawsuit against the city. The city reportedly wanted to settle for $1-million, but Young's lawyers viewed the offer as too low.
Alderwoman Jeannette Taylor met Mayor Lightfoot at the back of the council chamber and some heated words were exchanged.
"I'm like lower your voice and get your finger out of my face. You see me doing this, so I’m saying lower your voice. She got her finger out of my face, but she kept screaming at me," Taylor told FOX 32.
Alderwoman Taylor says the disagreement was not over the mayor's pick, but rather the city's position on moving to dismiss the lawsuit.
When asked if the mayor is losing control of the council and respect from aldermen, Taylor had this to say.
"Ever since COVID you don't want to work with people, you pick and choose who you work with, we never going to get anywhere if we all don't work together," she said.
The mayor released a statement after the council meeting saying in part, "Today a small group of aldermen brazenly created a spectacle."
She also went on to blame the aldermen for preventing votes on actions that would provide relief to hotel workers.
The vote on renaming Lake Shore Drive has been pushed to Friday afternoon.