City Council approves Rahm’s watered-down NATO/G-8 rules
BY FRAN SPIELMAN City Hall Reporter fspielman@suntimes.com January 18, 2012 1:46PM
A protester is arrested by Chicago Police in front of the elevators as the Chicago City Council voted on ordinances addressing security and protest permits for the upcoming NATO/G8 summits in Chicago at McCormick Place. Wednesday, January 18, 2012 | Brian Jackson~Sun-Times
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Updated: February 21, 2012 8:26AM
With protesters chanting “We vote no” outside the City Council chambers, Chicago aldermen on Wednesday approved Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s watered-down plan to handle thousands of protesters who descend on Chicago for the NATO and G-8 summits.
“I like learning from things. I listen to people. I told you guys early on we’re not gonna have my way or the highway. I don’t think you make progress that way. I listened to people and we made the changes necessary,” Emanuel said after the measures were approved by successive votes of 45-to-4 and 41-to-5.
The mayor said he fully understands the passions stirred — and on display Wednesday — by even tip-toeing near the First Amendment.
“My mother used to take me to civil rights marches and anti-war marches. That’s how I got interested in politics. That’s okay for people to feel passionate. It’s also our responsibility to modernize this so people can express their First Amendment rights and the law can be enforced as appropriate,” he said.
A succession of mayoral retreats made the bitter pill easier to swallow for aldermen who initially feared the mayor was attempting to snuff out dissent for years to come in the name of securing Chicago for the May 19-to-21 summits at McCormick Place.
Last week, City Hall blinked by modifying the mayor’s proposed parade restrictions and fines, issuing the first of at least four parade permits and offering to provide free sound equipment and port-a-potties to the protesters.
Earlier this week, Emanuel waved the white flag again — this time, by dropping the item that has drawn the most heat: dramatically higher fines for resisting arrest.
Surviving measures include: more surveillance cameras; parks and beaches closed until 6 a.m.; sweeping parade restrictions and higher fees for those events and empowering Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy to “deputize” out-of-state law enforcement personnel in the event that demonstrators overwhelm Chicago Police.
The mayor would also be granted sweeping authority to purchase goods and services for the summits — without City Council approval or competitive bidding — provided those items cannot be purchased under existing contracts.
“Thank you, Mr. Mayor for listening to us. Thank you for changing the ordinance so peoples’ rights are not discriminated against,” said Ald. Walter Burnett (27th), chairman of the Special Events Committee that pushed through changes to the parade ordinance.
Ald. Joe Moore (49th) argued that the watered-down plan was “far from the wholesale trampling of First Amendment freedoms” that critics contend. The debate has been filled with “overheated rhetoric, over-the-top hyperbole, blatant misrepresentations and character assassinations,” Moore said.
“I congratulate Mayor Emanuel ... and other members of the mayor’s team for their open-mindedness and lack of defensiveness about their proposals. It is truly a refreshing change in City Hall,” Moore said.
“The city’s history, unfortunately, is replete with examples of abuse of government authority — be it the police riots of the 1968 Democratic Convention, the formation of the Red Squads or the unlawful detention and arrest of hundreds of peaceful demonstrators in March, 2003.”
Ald. Edward M. Burke (14th) was a Chicago Police officer during the infamous clash between protesters and police at the 1968 Democratic National Convention that gave Chicago a black eye that took nearly 30 years to heal.
“It doesn’t take a genius to realize that we have got to be prepared. Just as they were chanting in 1968, ‘The whole world is watching,’ the whole world’s eyes are gonna be on Chicago in the spring,” Burke said.
“We all have the responsibility to help the mayor, the superintendent of police, the fire commissioner make sure we get this right. This is intelligent planning this is what we need to do.”
Ald. Leslie Hairston (5th) was the only voice of City Council dissent.
For the second straight day, she warned that the revised parade restrictions could “put local parades out of business.”
They include: an 8 a.m.-to-10 p.m. restriction on the use of amplified sound; a $200 minimum fine and a $50 permit fee and a requirement that parade organizers describe sound equipment and signs too large to be carried by one person.
“We have to be careful of how we regulate content. I still have concerns about freedom of expression and civil liberties,” Hairston said.
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