Effort to delay recreational pot sales fails after gov promises to give 2 new licenses to owners of color

Ashlee Rezin Garcia/Sun-Times

With an assist from Gov. J. B. Pritzker, Mayor Lori Lightfoot on Wednesday survived a crucial test of her City Council muscle that uncomfortably pitted her against members of the Black Caucus.

The issue was whether or not to delay recreational marijuana sales in Chicago for six months to give African-American and Hispanic entrepreneurs a chance to get a piece of the action after being shut out of the first group of owners.

The vote to block the six-month delay was 29 to 19. That means the sale of recreational weed can proceed as scheduled on Jan. 1. The vote followed a dizzying array of mayoral rulings, aldermanic appeals and procedural votes. The closest of those votes was 26 to 22.

The tension was reminiscent of Council Wars, when 29 mostly white aldermen led by Edward R. Vrdolyak (10th) and Edward Burke (14th) blocked then-Mayor Harold Washington’s every move.

It all started when Ald. Gilbert Villegas (36th) and Brendan Reilly (42nd) moved to put off a vote on the six-month delay. With that, Ald. Anthony Beale (9th) moved to adjourn the meeting.

Aldermen voted 32-16 not to adjourn. When it became clear that Lightfoot had the votes to kill the six-month delay, Villegas withdrew his earlier motion and pushed for a final vote.

Ald. Anthony Beale (9th) speaks during a contentious Chicago City Council meeting, where aldermen were scheduled to vote on attempt by the Black Caucus to delay sales of recreational marijuana in Chicago for six months to give African American and Hispanic people a chance to get a piece of the action, at City Hall, Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2019.

Just 24 hours earlier, the six-month delay had squeaked through a City Council committee by a vote of 10 to 9. Villegas predicted then that the Black Caucus had the votes in the full Council, potentially costing cash-strapped Chicago $5 million and the state a whole lot more.

What changed overnight?

A lot of arm-twisting by the mayor’s office and a Pritzker promise to earmark two of five new medical marijuana dispensary licenses — to be located in Hyde Park and Chinatown, aldermen said — to so-called social equity applicants.

The new medical-only licenses were approved earlier this year as a part of a state law making the medical-marijuana program permanent.

“That is a win,” said Ald. Michael Scott Jr. (24^th), especially after getting assurances that once the shops are up and running owners will be able to get a recreational license and be able to open a second location — something the state has allowed for the medical dispensaries already in business.

“You’d have essentially four licenses that are African-American,” said Scott.

Ald. Michael Scott Jr. (24th) holds his head during a contentious Chicago City Council meeting at City Hall, Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2019.

The two social equity licenses were also enough to convince Ald. Walter Burnett (27^th) to vote with Lightfoot and against the six-month delay.

“We’ve got to understand when we have some wins, man. ... Are we responsible if we just fight and lose? Or are we more responsible if we fight, we negotiate, we compromise and we win for our community?” Burnett said.

When a heckler in the gallery denounced Burnett as a “sell-out,” the aldermen blew his cool.

“All of these punks in the crowd on Facebook and all that stuff who talk all that smack … Who cares what they say? Bump them. Bump them,” Burnett said in remarks mistaken by some members of the media as profanity.

Ald. Walter Burnett Jr. (27th) yells Wednesday during the monthly Chicago City Council meeting at City Hall. Aldermen were scheduled to vote on attempt by the Black Caucus to delay sales of recreational marijuana in Chicago for six months to give African American and Hispanic people a chance to get a piece of the action.

Later Thursday, the governor’s office said there’s been no determination about who will receive those licenses.

“The state is working to finalize social equity standards for the remaining medical licenses and has to work through the rule-making process to get that done,” Pritzker spokeswoman Jordan Abudayyeh told the Sun-Times. “When the rules are approved, applications for the remaining medical licenses will be opened for applicants and we will follow the application process to award those licenses.”

Burnett and Scott were joined by five other members of the 20-member Black Caucus in voting against the delay: Pat Dowell (3^rd); Michelle Harris (8^th); Chris Taliaferro (29^th); Emma Mitts (37^th) and Matt Martin (47^th).

But other members stood their ground.

Ald. David Moore was so incensed by the defections, he said he was leaving a Black Caucus that didn’t stand up for African-Americans.

“If we don’t stand up for our community as African American aldermen, then what the hell do they need us for?” said Ald. Howard Brookins (21st). “We’re not rubber stamps for this mayor or anybody else.”

Normally, City Council votes are well-orchestrated. Mayoral allies know exactly how many votes they can count on.

That was not the case Wednesday. There was genuine suspense. African American aldermen left the Council floor to huddle in a backroom. Mayoral allies conferred with Lightfoot on the rostrum.

When it was over, Lightfoot denied that there would be any residual impact on her relationship with the Black Caucus.

“We all support the notion that we must have equity. ... But, as my mother always says, there’s a right way and a wrong way to do it. … Delay without any kind of strategy behind it is a useless exercise,” she said.

Noting that Pritzker made “specific concessions,” Lightfoot said, “In the words of one alderman, sometimes you just have to take a win. That’s what today was about.”