Johnson council leadership shakeup melts away after Burnett exit

Mayor Brandon Johnson’s plan to reset committee leadership and recalibrate his alliances landed dead on arrival Thursday as Chicago City Council wouldn’t provide the 26 votes necessary to fill several vacancies.

Johnson’s plan was to fill the opening left by Chicago City Council dean Walter Burnett’s retirement with progressives that might appease criticism from both the Latino Caucus and Black Caucus, Crain’s reported. Although Burnett’s replacement — his son, 29-year-old Walter “Red” Burnett — was unanimously confirmed to take over the 27th Ward seat, no committee chairmanships were voted on.

The biggest prize — chair of the zoning committee — Johnson slated for 1st Ward Alderman Daniel La Spata, a progressive who helped Johnson push through a landmark ordinance slashing parking requirements for transit-oriented developments, the Chicago Sun-Times reported. A cycling advocate known for championing protected bike lanes, La Spata is set to lead high-stakes negotiations with developers that shape the city’s growth and housing pipeline.

If confirmed, La Spata would have sidelined 44th Ward Alderman Bennett Lawson, who’d been serving as interim chair since the fall but was deemed too green to keep the role. Kennedy Bartley, the mayor’s chief of external affairs, told the outlet that La Spata’s efforts around parking minimums and other reforms made it easier to build housing in the city.

Whoever ends up as chair of zoning will lead discussions with developers and either help push Johnson’s effort to increase the speed of affordable housing development or come at odds with it. The city is still short of an estimated 120,000 affordable units currently needed in the community, leaving the mayor to bet that La Spata can drive reforms to speed up housing construction.

The other key move in Johnson’s plan was for 37th Ward Alderman Emma Mitts to replace Burnett as vice mayor. The veteran alderman has a long and sometimes fraught history with Johnson, including a very public spat last year when she accused him of reneging on a promised housing committee chairmanship. Burnett’s version of the vice mayor role came with a $400,000 budget and an assignment as Johnson’s political envoy; Mitts, who has criticized the mayor’s handling of council relations, said she didn’t expect the same perks and vowed to keep her independence.

Other stalled moves included who would take La Spata’s pedestrian and traffic safety committee. Johnson wanted that to shift to 40th Ward Alderman Andre Vasquez, a frequent Johnson critic who led the charge against the mayor’s failed $300 million property tax hike during last year’s bruising budget battle. Vasquez’s former committee, immigrant and refugee rights, would then have been chaired by first-year 26th Ward Alderman Jessie Fuentes, a close Johnson ally. The contracting oversight and equity committee, previously held by Mitts, was proposed for 17th Ward Alderman David Moore to take over.

The planned reshuffle provided a glimpse into Johnson’s effort to both shore up his base and placate critics. But critics were unappeased, pushing votes on committee chairmanships further into the fall.— Eric Weilbacher