Invisible alderman

By: Danielle HesterThe news: Bob Fioretti cruised to victory over 14-year incumbent Madeline Haithcock in a run-off election for 2nd Ward alderman. Fioretti will become the first non-black to represent the majority-black ward in more than 90 years.

Behind the news: The Metro Chicago Information Center estimates that the 2nd ward is 53 percent black. But the current 2nd Ward is a dramatically different place than the historically black ward to which Haithcock was appointed to represent in 1993.

Bob Anderson, Haithcock's chief of staff, says the 2001 remap added more West Side residents and subtracted South Side areas. In the run-off election, Haithcock garnered 57 percent of the votes from the ward's five remaining South Side precincts, where 41 percent of registered voters cast ballots. The turnout was just 26 percent in the 2nd Ward's other precincts, where Fioretti claimed 69 percent of the votes.

Many of the remaining precincts have gentrified and undergone shifts in race and economic class, said Cynthia Young, Haithcock's chief legislative assistant. "There where a lot of new people that moved in that did not know [Haithcock]."

Yet, when talking with 2nd ward residents-white and black, new and old-the same response is often heard: Haithcock just wasn't visible enough.

Richard Bobo, 65, an African American living in the ward for about 25 years, said Haithcock had changed since she took office. "[Haithcock] just wasn't around. I think she thought she had the vote by default," Bobo said. "She didn't know what was going on and never had no idea about the gentrification that was happening."