As a Chicago resident, my understanding has always been that Aldermen of any ward in Chicago possess what’s called an “aldermanic prerogative”, the supreme right as it were, to determine what shall be built within their ward and what shall not. Eric Zorn from the Chicago Tribune rightfully points out that aldermanic prerogative is a very useful instrument when it comes to sorting out small zoning matters rather than burden the entire Chicago City Council with local issues such as curb cuts, variances and the like.

That being said, the saga surrounding 6000 W Touhy in Chicago’s North Edgebrook neighborhood continues to unfold behind the scenes, and it seems as though the unwritten rule of aldermanic prerogative has been in suspension for Alderman Brian Doherty (41st Ward). During numerous meetings over the last year with residents of the small subdivision north of Touhy Ave., consisting of Meade, McVicker, and Sherwin Avenues, Ald. Doherty has given the residents the impression that he is siding with them on the issue of the proposed 300-car parking garage. The residents strictly oppose the construction of this garage for a variety of reasons. Ald. Doherty has been balancing a tightrope trying to avoid alienating the residents, as well as the owner of 6000 W Touhy Ave., Gus Tountas, who is attempting to build the 300-car garage to accommodate the parking needs of a new health club in this building.

The issue here is this: A 300-car garage will cause a complete traffic nightmare for this tiny subdivision, because the only legitimate ingress/egress points to the garage would be off of Meade Ave. An exit/entry point to this property from Center Point Road (east end of 6000 W Touhy Ave.) would mean having to utilize an easement that is leased by Mr. Tountas. Not a reliable solution for the amount of traffic that we would be talking about with a 300-car garage. To make matters worse, the traffic light at the Meade/Touhy Ave. intersection has a 2-3 minute red/20 second green cycle which would cause a perpetual traffic backup on Meade Ave.

Nevertheless, the latest status of the application for the garage permit on the City of Chicago website is shown as follows:

This is more than puzzling, because it appears that since the most recent 41st Ward Zoning Advisory Board meeting in early June (at which Mr. Tountas didn’t show up), Mr. Tountas appears to have made quite a few inroads on his way to securing a complete permit for the construction of the garage. In other words, while the residents have been discussing this matter for more than a year with their Alderman and the Zoning Advisory Board, Mr. Tountas has been working behind the scene (not with the community) to make this monstrosity happen. Meanwhile, Brian Nadig from the Reporter & Journal Nadig Newspapers reported on June 28, 2008 in Volume 44, Number 26, on page 1:

Doherty said Thursday that he was not notified of several permit applications for the site despite his request that a hold be placed on issuing permits for the property. “I had to call (the city’s zoning and planning departments),” Doherty said. “I’m very disappointed with the city administration.”

So Ald. Doherty is disappointed, huh? But what exactly happened to aldermanic prerogative, in this case? Or is this not really about aldermanic prerogative, rather Ald. Doherty not being straightforward with his constituents? I’m just asking, you know, because something in this story doesn’t add up. In the interim, it appears as though Mr. Tountas’ project is moving forward because his application for a permit for the health club was filed before an ordinance to rezone the site was filed, hence the site would not be subject to B1 zoning requirements. Again, thanks Mr. Doherty, while we’ve been discussing the downzoning issue with you and the Zoning Advisory Board month after month after month, Mr. Tountas was able to sneak in his application behind our backs which in essence means that the residents have been wasting their collective time pleading their case with you and the Advisory Board.

We live in Chicago, and I understand that. But Dan Mihalopoulos’, Robert Becker’s and Darnell Little’s Tribune piece really hits home for me now.