Who are the power-wielders here? It's the veteran alderman. According to the article, "...the people in charge of the process appear to be veteran aldermen who are looking to protect their power base while not running afoul of the Voting Rights Act or the “one man, one vote” rule."
Besides divided neighborhoods, the biggest losers in any remapping are people without the clout to get some of what they want behind closed doors.
This includes rookie aldermen – like the 36th ward’s Nick Sposato – who will lose much of his constituency in any map proposal (and, with that, much chance of re-election). It also includes specific interests and minority groups besides Blacks and Latinos.
That's the best argument I've heard for reducing the number of alderman in Chicago. (The second best being we have more aldermen than New York City.) It's also an excellent reason for establishing term limits for the position of alderman.
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