Question: What is a Chicago Ward?
Answer: A ward is one of the City of Chicago’s 50 legislative districts. Each ward has one elected alderman. The fifty aldermen make up the City of Chicago’s Council, who, with the Mayor of Chicago, are charged with governing the city.
So, essentially, the wards are political districts, although many take on identities of their own or are closely entwined with their neighborhood’s identity.
Historian Douglas Knox says that ward boundaries must be re-drawn after every census. He writes in the Encyclopedia of Chicago:
The City of Chicago ward map’s convoluted boundaries suggest as much and look as if the wards might have been drawn by three monkeys with an Etch-a-Sketch. You can find the City of Chicago’s ward maps here.
So, essentially, the wards are political districts, although many take on identities of their own or are closely entwined with their neighborhood’s identity.
Historian Douglas Knox says that ward boundaries must be re-drawn after every census. He writes in the Encyclopedia of Chicago:
“State law requires that ward boundaries be redrawn after each federal census to ensure roughly equal representation by population size. In the 1970s and 1980s there were five court-ordered partial redistrictings to redress the underrepresentation of racial and ethnic minorities.”These court-forced "redistrictings" are indicative of Chicago's long history of racially-motivated gerrymandering and other unethical ward futzing.
The City of Chicago ward map’s convoluted boundaries suggest as much and look as if the wards might have been drawn by three monkeys with an Etch-a-Sketch. You can find the City of Chicago’s ward maps here.
