By the time the press arrives, the young professionals and the senior citizens have grabbed the best seats, and the meeting has kicked into gear.
He’s absolutely right about that. For Hoyt stands in the meeting room of the Sulzer Regional Library, smack dab in the heart of the 47th Ward, a community in the midst of a rather remarkable political transformation. Home turf to former Park District boss Ed Kelly, this near-northwest-side ward has been resettled by scores of political activists who have used it as a base to launch an aggressive campaign against rising electric utility rates.
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That’s exactly the point. The simplicity of the referendum is its genius, as well as its potential undoing. An overwhelming yes vote may force city politicians to more aggressively negotiate a new charter with Edison. But unless the coalition members can create a momentum that spills out of their ward, city politicians will have no incentive to negotiate a hard deal.
“This referendum is like the New Hampshire primary of lower utility rates,” says Jerry Jaecks, a cochair of the coalition. “If we get a big turnout here, politicians will have to listen.”
Edison planned badly. By the mid 70s, the Arab oil embargo had led to conservation efforts; at the same time industries were abandoning Chicago for the Sunbelt. Demand for electricity plummeted, and Edison was up to its neck in construction bills–which it then attempted to pass on to its consumers in the form of higher rates.
As reports of Edison’s legal setbacks circulated in the financial community, the company responded with an ingeniously crafted proposal that promised a five-year freeze on rate hikes in exchange for a one-time hike of 10 percent. “The agreement we’re announcing today is a sensible, realistic solution to a problem that has caused a sustained outcry from consumers and brought many of the participants in the process to the courtroom,” Governor Thompson announced at the 1986 press conference in which the deal was unveiled.
At the very least, Mayor Washington proposed to spend $500,000 on a study of the city’s options. But in the turmoil that followed Washington’s death, Mayor Eugene Sawyer moved to cut funding for the study to $400,000.
