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Rugai said that last month she had decided on her accord that the plan needed a fourth round of revisions in order to satisfy her colleagues and make sure community leaders across Chicago wouldn’t be freaked out or angry that the council had passed something that critics dubbed—quite incorrectly, mind you—“the toxic dirt ordinance.”
“I had decided to hold this long before our offices received hundreds of robocalls using inflammatory language,” she declared. “I’d asked for revisions long before those calls came. I just wanted to make a note of that.”
Suzanne Malec-McKenna, commissioner of the city’s environment department, noted that the latest version of the ordinance ensures that aldermen have the chance to veto any particular plan to reuse soil or rubble in their wards–an addition made in response to concerns raised in earlier discussions of the ordinance. Playing the lawyer that he is, alderman Ed Burke insisted the language be stronger and more specific.
She assured him that it had been combed repeatedly and reiterated that passing it was critical. “This has been a long process, but we think this type of investment of time is absolutely worth it. Other cities are watching us to see what we do on this issue.”
