Crain's: New Aldermen Will Require Patience

There's a really good article in Crain's today about how having so many new members of the City Council will slow things down while the newbies learn the ropes and find connections and mentors.  Nowhere is this more true than Uptown, where all three of our aldermen are new.

"Just how disruptive an aldermanic transition can be is illustrated by a liquor license change that had been in the works for eight months when Alderman Rey Colon was elected in the 35th Ward eight years ago. The paperwork disappeared with the defeated alderman, says Ty Fujimura, owner of Small Bar in Logan Square. “We ended up pretty much having to go back and reapply,” he says."

We wonder how well Alds. Smith, Shiller and Schulter are cooperating with their successors and if we, the people represented by the aldermen, will be the true victims of a bad or begrudging hand-off?  We hope all three sitting aldermen would be bigger and better than that.