“Don’t hate the players, hate the game.” — Ald. Joe Moreno 

That was the alderman’s response to an investigation by Block Club Chicago into how several large residential projects in the 1st Ward moved forward despite significant community opposition. Many of the developers of these new buildings donated to Moreno’s campaign. 

Moreno has it half right—there is something wrong with “the game” in Chicago. But instead of shrugging his shoulders, perhaps he should work with other aldermen to change the game. Chicagoans are used to “kissing the ring” when dealing with their aldermen. For more than a century, aldermen have exercised outsize influence in their wards. This influence stems from aldermanic privilege, the long-standing norm where the entire City Council defers to an individual alderman with respect to zoning, permitting and development decisions in that alderman’s ward. It is a pervasive norm, one that has even made its way into various laws. The practice, while grounded in reasonable concerns, invites corruption and abuse.  

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