Chicago Municipal Governance Symposium (Panel 1): Representation, Corruption, and the Inner Workings of the 50 Mini-Mayor System

We are accustomed to taking as a given the design of our city council—one that carves up our city into 50 wards with an equal number of independently-elected alder-people, working industriously and parochially to benefit local constituents.

We forget that in fact, our political institutions are malleable, and that our way of doing things isn’t everybody’s way. Other cities can provide models, as well as cautionary tales. Rules can be changed, institutions can be recast, and the very fabric of our city government can be reshaped. Most importantly, the contours of our institutions have profound effects on our ability to rise to the challenges that face our city.

To better understand the options, weigh the trade-offs, and consider the best levers to make our city government more effective, we’ll convene a host of local leaders and experts for in-depth discussion and dialogue focused on a number of themes, from representation, to power; from inner machinations to outside influence. Across these discussions, they’ll consider—and debate—the implications and potential effects of key institutional designs: the size of the council, and the absence of at-large representation.

About the panel:

In this panel, we will discuss the alderperson system. Chicago is rich with diversity, where identities and interests vary widely across the city. However, the ways in which those identities and interests are represented in city government has often given way to gridlock, corruption, and ineffectiveness.

How are we to make sense of how different individuals, communities, and interest groups accumulate power and influence in a system of 50 “mini-mayor” alder-people? In a city as segregated and varied as Chicago, how does the structure of small, distinct districts lead to conflict and division within the council? How do the inner workings of the council under this system exacerbate the difficulty of legislating effectively on behalf of the city? And are there structural solutions that could end the cycles of corruption and segregation?

• Jessica Trounstine | Professor and Department Chair, University of California Merced

• Chris Berry | William J. and Alicia Townsend Friedman Professor, University of Chicago

• Greg Hinz | Columnist (Politics), Crain's Chicago Business

• Justin Marlowe | Research Professor, University of Chicago

• William Howell (Moderator) | Director, University of Chicago Center for Effective Government