If the federal sting that snagged Ald. Arenda Troutman were a Hollywood movie, Chicagoans in the know might be complaining about a flawed plot.
Troutman, who represents the South Side’s 20th Ward, was arrested for allegedly taking money to grease the way for a real estate development at 5730 S. Halsted St.
But the site in question, as it turns out, isn’t even in Troutman’s ward.
If the 5730 property “was on the other side of the street, it would have been in the 20th,” said Thomas Leach, a spokesman for the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners who double-checked the city ward map at the Tribune’s request. But the site is actually in the adjacent 16th Ward, he said.
Under longstanding practice and tradition, Chicago aldermen have great power over governmental approvals that can clear the way for a real estate development or kill it. But those familiar with the way Chicago works also know that the alderman of one ward typically has no say over what happens in the ward of a colleague.
“We assumed that she knew her ward, and that [the property] was in her ward,” said Ross Rice, a spokesman for the FBI.
Rice said investigators did not double- check, and from the FBI’s perspective, it’s a moot point.
Either Troutman herself believed the parcel was in her ward and she could influence the process, or she knew the parcel wasn’t in her ward and thought she could take money anyway, he said.
Troutman’s lawyer, Sam Adam Jr., said the revelation about the location of the parcel used in the sting casts the case further into doubt. He said Troutman knows the exact boundaries of the area.
“And that should prove to everyone that there was nothing fraudulent going on,” he said, because Troutman wouldn’t do anything fraudulent and draw attention to a development she knew wasn’t in her ward.
Attempts to reach Ald. Shirley Coleman (16th) were unsuccessful. But a Coleman aide, reached by phone, knew immediately that 5730 S. Halsted was in her boss’ territory.
The ward boundary isn’t the only odd twist in the plot line.
When Troutman took the first step in an alleged attempt to get a zoning change to make the project possible, she was told by the city’s zoning administrator that the parcel could accommodate the development just the way it was–raising the question of whether investigators checked the zoning status before deciding on using the property in the sting.
Then, trying to do what she could, Troutman allegedly made a call to the city’s Planning Department to say she would be writing a letter in support of the project. She allegedly was stymied again, informed by a department employee that the correspondence would not be necessary because the land was not owned by the city.
Details of the sting are outlined in a criminal complaint, filed Monday by an FBI agent assigned to the case.
The complaint charges that Troutman continued to try to find a way to earn bribe money, finally using her clout to allow the developer to use a public alley for access to his project’s parking lot.
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ALDERMEN ANGRY
Ald. Arenda Troutman’s alleged comparison of Chicago aldermen and other politicians to common hookersdrew responses Tuesday ranging from a chilly “no comment” to outrage from her City Council colleagues. At one point during the probe, investigators said, they caught Troutman on tape making a reference to politics and prostitution. “Most aldermen, most politicians are hos,” she allegedly declared, using the common street term for a streetwalker.
