County commissioners give preliminary OK to new district map
— Sun-Times Media Wire and Sun-Times June 15, 2012 5:52PM
Proposed new Cook County district map which was preliminarily approved on Friday. / photo from Board of Commissioners office
Updated: June 19, 2012 4:26PM
A proposed map redrawing boundaries for the Cook County Board of Commissioners districts received overwhelming preliminary approval Friday.
Fifteen of the 17 commissioners signed off on the plan, which is slated for a final vote Tuesday.
The lone dissenting vote came from Commissioner Earlean Collins (1st District), who has voiced concerns that population shifts could result in the African-American community losing one of its five seats on the board, which has a total of 17 commissioners.
Collins did not return calls seeking comment on Friday.
Commissioner William Beavers (4th) did not vote on the proposal.
If approved on Tuesday, the map would take affect immediately, according to a spokesman for Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle, who added that no commissioners would be mapped out of their districts.
It would retain the five African-American districts, likely increase the number of Latino majority districts from 2 to 3, and retain the Democrat-Republican split of 13-4.
The county’s population fell by 182,000 from 2000 to 2010. The total of about 5.2 million residents includes 280,000 fewer whites, 107,000 fewer blacks and 174,000 more Latinos.
