4111 West 21st Place

Chicago, IL 60623
Phone: 773-521-3137
Fax: 773-522-1832

Report-Outcome of the Public Hearing of the

Illinois Senate Redistricting Committee
April 30, 2011
Acknowledgments

The Lawndale Alliance thanks the Senate Redistricting Committee for conducting a public
hearing on Chicago’s West Side. This meeting was not part of the original schedule, and was
organized as a result of community input from the Senate Redistricting Committee’s first public
hearing.

Meeting Summary

There were approximately 40-50 people in attendance throughout the duration of the hearing,
which lasted about 2 and a half hours. Most people in attendance seemed to have been members
of the Lawndale Alliance, SACCC and/or residents of the East and West Garfield Communities.
There were a couple organizations representing Latino interests, including MALDEF and the
Latino Policy Institute. To the best of my recollection, there were no elected officials from the
West Side region present, except Senator Kimberly Lightford, a member of the Senate
Redistricting Committee, Senator Annazette Collins who represents District 5, and
Committeeman Ed Smith.

Members of the Lawndale Alliance were invited to testify first. Presenters included
Valerie F. Leonard, Jimmy Lee Lard, Larry McLaughlin and Rose Santiago. A copy of the
Lawndale Alliance testimony, including proposed maps, is found at
http://www.scribd.com/doc/54626850/Public-Testimony-to-the-Illinois-Senate-Redistricting-
Committee-4-30-11 The primary concerns included a desire to keep Senate District 5 and each of
the African American legislative districts intact to the fullest extent possible, given the reduction
in African American population; a desire to count prisoners in the census count of the originating
towns in the next Census; a desire to preserve the 3 historically African American Congressional
districts. The Alliance also provided mapping proposals developed by the United Congress of
Community and Religious Organizations with input from the Lawndale community. The
mapping proposals were part of a statewide Unity Map proposal advanced by a multi-racial
coalition advocating for a map that would optimize opportunities for Latinos, Asians and African
Americans to be fairly represented in the State Legislature. Information on the Unity Map may
be found at http://www.unitedcongress.org/redistricting Ms. Leonard acknowledged that the
West Side maps were still being reviewed by the community, and indicated that she would be
providing the Committee with more detailed information under separate cover.
Members of MALDEF and the Latino Policy Forum testified on behalf of the Latino community.
They indicated that the growth in Latino population in Chicago and the Western Suburbs
warranted the creation of 17 Latino majority districts, including 5 new districts. They gave
assurances that, while their proposal called for a significant increase in the number of Latino
districts, that this would not come at the expense of the African American community.

Dwayne Truss, a resident of Austin, representing SACCC, provided testimony regarding Illinois
Legislative District 78. He indicated that he realized that the district was never drawn as an
“African American district”, although the district is represented by an African American. He
stated that he was pleased with the diversity of the district, and that the district “works” for its
residents. The 4 representatives and 2 senators come from the Western Suburbs and Chicago’s
West Side. Their collective experiences give insights into education and economic development
issues from a regional perspective, as opposed to having a single legislator focused on an area
comprised of a few seemingly monolithic communities. He requested that the Legislature keep
District 78 intact to the fullest extent possible. When asked where the thought District78 might
expand given the decline in population, he asked the Committee consider expanding northwest.

Alex Lyons, a local business owner from East Garfield, testified that he would like to see the
East and West Garfield communities be kept intact, with one representative; and that prisoners
be counted in the Census count of the originating city.

Any questions regarding this report may be addressed to Valerie F. Leonard at 773-521-3137 or
valeriefleonard@msn.com

Respectfully submitted,

Valerie F. Leonard
Co-Founder