After another partisan debate over language, the Chicago City Council Thursday approved Mayor Harold Washington`s $3.9 million plan to combat street gang crime by a vote of 33-12.
All the votes against the plan were cast by supporters of the mayor who had objected to wording in the resolution authorizing the program and brushed aside what anti-administration aldermen said was an attempt at compromise.
Five pro-Washington council members joined with the majority bloc to approve the plan with new language that had been suggsted by Ald. Roman Pucinski (41st).
Afterwards, Washington said the resolution as approved was on the ”right track” but did not rule out a veto.
The council voted after hearing an emotional plea from Ald. Miguel Santiago (31st).
”Do not pass it for the mayor. Do not pass it for the majority bloc. Do it for those parents are are still suffering today in agony because their children were cut cown on the street,” Santiago said. ”I`m pleading to all of you to put your political business aside.”
The five Washington supporters who voted for the plan were Ald. Lawrence Bloom (5th), Burton Natarus (42d), Martin Oberman (43d), Marion Volini (48th) and Anna Langford (16th).
”I voted for it rather than holding up the program solely becuase of the language,” Bloom said.
Earlier this month, the council had deferred action on the plan when aldermen aligned with the mayor objected to language giving the council authority to approve contracts with community groups seeking funds for anti-gang efforts.
The language controversy erupted after the plan had been passed and sent to the council floor by members of a special Committee on Youth Development and Employment, who had voted without seeing a copy of the resolution.
However, the language came to the attention of pro-Washington aldermen when Santiago, the committee`s chairman and a member of the majority bloc, called for a vote by the full council.
When Santiago brought the plan up for a vote again Thursday, Pucinski, also a member of the majority bloc, introduced an amendment to change the offending language.
”What this does is perfect the legislation to meet the objections of the mayor,” Pucinski said. ”We removed that language. We have made this concession in good faith because we want to move forward.”
He moved to replace the word ”approve” with language giving the council the right to ”concur” on the awarding of ”$251,000 in corporate fund revenues to be used to create a pool of funds to be used for grants to community-based delegate agencies to support youth development and crime prevention programs.”
Majority bloc aldermen argued that the language was changed to
”concurrence” at the request of Michael Holewinski, the mayor`s director of the gang program task force. Holewinski later denied this, saying he had used the word but not in that exact context.
Volini argued against the language change, saying that recent action by Washington had made the point moot, but later voted for the plan with the Pucinski amendment.
Earlier this week, Washington, upset with delays in implementing the program, said he would immediately commit $1 million in city funds to the effort and ignore any objections from the council`s majority bloc.
Washington said the city can use $750,000 from its corporate funds to begin hiring and training crisis intervention teams without council approval.
