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  • Automobiles on Lake Shore Drive pour back into the city...

    Chicago Tribune historical photo

    Automobiles on Lake Shore Drive pour back into the city after a holiday weekend on July 6, 1947. This photo was taken at 7:30 p.m. from the North Avenue Bridge. From the 1940s to the '70s, a section north of North Avenue featured a unique, though problem-plagued, system of curb-high lane barriers that could be raised or lowered to provide six lanes in the direction of rush-hour traffic instead of the standard four lanes in each direction.

  • The damaged Lakefront Trail borders South Lake Shore Drive at...

    Zbigniew Bzdak/Chicago Tribune

    The damaged Lakefront Trail borders South Lake Shore Drive at East Hyde Park Boulevard in Chicago on Jan. 14, 2020.

  • A person crosses the Lincoln Park Passerelle over Lake Shore...

    Armando L. Sanchez / Chicago Tribune

    A person crosses the Lincoln Park Passerelle over Lake Shore Drive on May 26, 2021, in Chicago.

  • Workers place stones on a wall of the Outer Drive...

    Chicago Tribune historical photo

    Workers place stones on a wall of the Outer Drive Bridge, circa May 1937, which would connect South Lake Shore Drive with North Lake Shore Drive.

  • Scene where a small plane made an emergency landing on...

    E. Jason Wambsgans / Chicago Tribune

    Scene where a small plane made an emergency landing on Lake Shore Drive on Sept. 22, 2013.

  • The famous Potter Palmer mansion on Lake Shore Drive and...

    Chicago Tribune historical photo

    The famous Potter Palmer mansion on Lake Shore Drive and Schiller Street in Chicago, which was torn down and an apartment building was built in its place in 1950. The Palmer mansion established the Gold Coast neighborhood on Lake Shore Drive.

  • A snow-filled Lake Shore Drive looking south from Diversey Parkway...

    Chicago Tribune historical photo

    A snow-filled Lake Shore Drive looking south from Diversey Parkway from atop the Park Lane Hotel in Chicago, circa 1932.

  • Lake Shore Drive, looking north from the Drake Hotel, circa...

    Chicago Tribune historical photo

    Lake Shore Drive, looking north from the Drake Hotel, circa July 1927.

  • Northbound traffic on Lake Shore Drive during 5:30 p.m. rush...

    Chicago Tribune historical photo

    Northbound traffic on Lake Shore Drive during 5:30 p.m. rush hour, looking south, circa August 1947.

  • Vehicles drive along Lake Shore Drive near North Avenue Beach...

    Armando L. Sanchez / Chicago Tribune

    Vehicles drive along Lake Shore Drive near North Avenue Beach on May 26, 2021, in Chicago.

  • The scene looking south from 39th Street over Lake Shore...

    Chicago Tribune historical photo

    The scene looking south from 39th Street over Lake Shore Drive in May 1930 after it had been opened to traffic.

  • Spray from Lake Michigan waves rises over Chicago's Lake Shore...

    Chris Walker, Chicago Tribune

    Spray from Lake Michigan waves rises over Chicago's Lake Shore Drive retaining wall in 1987. The crashing waves caused the drive to be closed later in the day.

  • The Field Museum along Lake Shore Drive on June 18,...

    Brian Cassella / Chicago Tribune

    The Field Museum along Lake Shore Drive on June 18, 2020.

  • The angle turn on Lake Shore Drive, near the bridge...

    Chicago Tribune historical photo

    The angle turn on Lake Shore Drive, near the bridge over the Chicago River on Dec. 1, 1937.

  • Jean Baptiste Point DuSable bust on Michigan Avenue in Chicago...

    Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune

    Jean Baptiste Point DuSable bust on Michigan Avenue in Chicago near the Chicago River on a rainy morning, June 25, 2021.

  • Looking north from Oak Street from the fourth-floor roof of...

    Chicago Tribune historical photo

    Looking north from Oak Street from the fourth-floor roof of the Drake Hotel, one can see the new and old Lake Shore Drive on Aug. 30, 1937. Editors note: This negative contains damage marks from heat.

  • Abandoned vehicles sit along northbound Lake Shore Drive after a...

    E. Jason Wambsgans / Chicago Tribune

    Abandoned vehicles sit along northbound Lake Shore Drive after a blizzard hit the area on Feb. 2, 2011.

  • An aerial view of an empty South Lake Shore Drive...

    Zbigniew Bzdak / Chicago Tribune

    An aerial view of an empty South Lake Shore Drive seen from Maggie Daley Park during the coronavirus pandemic on May 13, 2020.

  • 4th Ward Ald. Sophia King, left, hugs 17th Ward Ald....

    Abel Uribe / Chicago Tribune

    4th Ward Ald. Sophia King, left, hugs 17th Ward Ald. David Moore, when he became emotional after Chicago's City Council voted to changed the name of Lake Shore Drive to Jean Baptiste Point DuSable Lake Shore Drive on June 25, 2021.

  • A view looking north on Lake Shore Drive in Chicago...

    Chris Walker, Chicago Tribune

    A view looking north on Lake Shore Drive in Chicago shows high waves on Lake Michigan north of Oak Street on Oct. 30, 2012.

  • Chicago traffic on Lake Shore Drive near Grand Ave. on...

    Antonio Perez / Chicago Tribune

    Chicago traffic on Lake Shore Drive near Grand Ave. on May 10, 2021.

  • Vehicles drive south along Jean Baptiste Point DuSable Lake Shore...

    Vashon Jordan Jr. / Chicago Tribune

    Vehicles drive south along Jean Baptiste Point DuSable Lake Shore Drive near 41st street. Today the Chicago City Council voted to rename Lake Shore Drive to honor the first non-Indigenous settler of Chicago.

  • Lake Shore Drive just past 79th Street, shortly before it...

    Nancy Stone/Chicago Tribune

    Lake Shore Drive just past 79th Street, shortly before it opened to the public. Newly finished South Lake Shore Drive between 79th Street and Ewing Avenue in Chicago was opened to traffic and people were using it to bike, walk and drive.

  • Lake Shore Drive was laid out in 1875 to connect...

    Chicago Tribune historical photo

    Lake Shore Drive was laid out in 1875 to connect Oak Street with North Avenue, at the south end of Lincoln Park, but it grew into the thoroughfare that runs the length of Chicago's lakefront parks. This view, from the 1920s, looks north from about Oak Street.

  • Thousands attend the opening of the Outer Drive Bridge, also...

    Chicago Tribune historical photo

    Thousands attend the opening of the Outer Drive Bridge, also known as the Link Bridge, on what is now Lake Shore Drive at the mouth of the Chicago River on Oct. 5, 1937. The bridge was intended to ease congestion on Michigan Avenue and in 1937 it was one of the longest, widest and heaviest bascule bridges.

  • Northbound traffic on Lake Shore Drive at Irving Park Road...

    Chicago Tribune historical photo

    Northbound traffic on Lake Shore Drive at Irving Park Road during evening rush hour, circa August 1947.

  • Fog and rain roll in Jan. 10, 2020, as cars...

    Terrence Antonio James / Chicago Tribune

    Fog and rain roll in Jan. 10, 2020, as cars move along Lake Shore Drive at 39th Street in Chicago.

  • Cars move along Lake Shore Drive as the sun sets,...

    Armando L. Sanchez / Chicago Tribune

    Cars move along Lake Shore Drive as the sun sets, seen from the former John Hancock Center on Aug. 7, 2019, in Chicago.

  • The opening of the Outer Drive Bridge connecting North Lake...

    Chicago Tribune historical photo

    The opening of the Outer Drive Bridge connecting North Lake Shore Drive with South Lake Shore Drive on Oct. 5, 1937.

  • Stranded commuters stuck on Lake Shore Drive in CTA buses...

    Brian Cassella / Chicago Tribune

    Stranded commuters stuck on Lake Shore Drive in CTA buses are evacuated by CTA employees and Chicago firefighters in the snow around 11 p.m. Feb. 1, 2011.

  • Cars flow along Lake Shore Drive in downtown Chicago in...

    Zbigniew Bzdak, Chicago Tribune

    Cars flow along Lake Shore Drive in downtown Chicago in 2013.

  • Cars on Lake Shore Drive pass through Grant Park on...

    Armando L. Sanchez / Chicago Tri / Chicago Tribune

    Cars on Lake Shore Drive pass through Grant Park on April 13, 2020.

  • The Lake Shore Drive Bridge rises over the Chicago River...

    Antonio Perez / Chicago Tribune

    The Lake Shore Drive Bridge rises over the Chicago River on Nov. 6, 2019, as sailboats return to winter storage.

  • Lake Shore Drive, south from 51st Street on Oct. 19,...

    Chicago Tribune historical photo

    Lake Shore Drive, south from 51st Street on Oct. 19, 1947.

  • People fill Lake Shore Drive on May 28, 2017, during...

    Michael Tercha / Chicago Tribune

    People fill Lake Shore Drive on May 28, 2017, during the annual Bike the Drive event.

  • Heavy wind and waves pound Lake Shore Drive near the...

    E. Jason Wambsgans, Chicago Tribune

    Heavy wind and waves pound Lake Shore Drive near the S-curve on Oct. 31, 2014, in downtown Chicago.

  • Mr. and Mrs. John Barnes, part of Chicago's "society," stroll...

    Chicago Tribune historical photo

    Mr. and Mrs. John Barnes, part of Chicago's "society," stroll down Lake Shore Drive on Easter Sunday with their dog "Dandy," circa April 1932.

  • A failed Chicago Spire along Lake Shore Drive in Chicago...

    Antonio Perez / Chicago Tribune

    A failed Chicago Spire along Lake Shore Drive in Chicago on Sept. 8, 2014.

  • Cars move along Lake Shore Drive as the sun sets,...

    Armando L. Sanchez / Chicago Tribune

    Cars move along Lake Shore Drive as the sun sets, seen from the former John Hancock Center on Aug. 7, 2019.

  • Lake Shore Drive is at a standstill heading north while...

    Brian Cassella / Chicago Tribune

    Lake Shore Drive is at a standstill heading north while the southbound lanes are nearly empty Feb. 1, 2011.

  • Protesters take to Lake Shore Drive on Dec. 11, 2015, in...

    Jason Wambsgans / Chicago Tribune

    Protesters take to Lake Shore Drive on Dec. 11, 2015, in Chicago.

  • The Tribune's helicopter surveyed the traffic situation on July 6,...

    James O'Leary, Chicago Tribune historical photo

    The Tribune's helicopter surveyed the traffic situation on July 6, 1958. This view looking north at Hollywood Avenue and Lake Shore Drive at 6:45 p.m. shows the traffic rush homeward had not yet started. The Edgewater Beach is in the lower left corner.

  • First responders manage the scene on South Lake Shore Drive...

    Terrence Antonio James / Chicago Tribune

    First responders manage the scene on South Lake Shore Drive near 35th Street in Chicago, where a small plane landed July 27, 2018.

  • McCormick Place, Soldier Field and Lake Shore Drive in 2012.

    Zbigniew Bzdak, Chicago Tribune

    McCormick Place, Soldier Field and Lake Shore Drive in 2012.

  • The infamous S-curve on Lake Shore Drive, just south of...

    Chicago Tribune historical photo

    The infamous S-curve on Lake Shore Drive, just south of the bridge, circa December 1937.

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PUBLISHED: | UPDATED:

Jean Baptiste Point DuSable Lake Shore Drive it is. Or rather, will soon be.

Two years after a South Side alderman introduced an ordinance to rebrand the landmark Chicago Lake Shore Drive to honor DuSable because he was upset he didn’t hear the Black founder of Chicago mentioned during a river boat tour, the City Council on Friday ended months of racially charged debate by adopting a compromise to make it so.

The vote was 33-15, with “no” votes coming from 12 white and three Latino aldermen.

The ordinance calls for the renaming to happen immediately, but a city spokesman did not respond to questions about how long it will take to change the signs.

4th Ward Ald. Sophia King, left, hugs 17th Ward Ald. David Moore, when he became emotional after Chicago's City Council voted to changed the name of Lake Shore Drive to Jean Baptiste Point DuSable Lake Shore Drive on June 25, 2021.
4th Ward Ald. Sophia King, left, hugs 17th Ward Ald. David Moore, when he became emotional after Chicago’s City Council voted to changed the name of Lake Shore Drive to Jean Baptiste Point DuSable Lake Shore Drive on June 25, 2021.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot opposed Ald. David Moore’s initial plan to rebrand the iconic lakefront ribbon of concrete “DuSable Drive” on the grounds it would make the city tougher to market. But she got behind the late “DuSable Lake Shore Drive” deal rather than risk taking a total loss in the 50-member council.

Moore and other DuSable backers agreed to the compromise instead of trying to hold together a majority in the face of pushback from the mayor and opponents on the council, or risking Lightfoot using her first veto to further impede them.

Ald. Carlos Ramirez-Rosa, 35th, said the lack of proper honor for Black leaders has a harmful impact on Black children. Naming the road for him “is a small but important step to addressing racial injustice,” Ramirez-Rosa said.

The protracted street rebranding fight came as Chicago faces many pressing problems, from rising violent crime to crushing financial shortfalls coming out of the pandemic.

But in a city where symbolic representation has long been a measure of political strength, Moore and supporters of the change saw winning as a point of pride for Black Chicagoans and others who think DuSable hasn’t gotten his due. Capitulating to opponents would have been another indignity in what they see as long-running under-appreciation of African Americans’ contributions.

“It’s been argued not to change the name Lake Shore Drive because it’s so iconic,” said Ald. Sophia King, 4th, who co-sponsored the ordinance. “I argue just the opposite. Let’s rename it because it’s so iconic.”

Backers of the change chose a particularly contentious target for the DuSable name. It’s one champions say befits the Black man who became the area’s first nonnative settler when he set up a trading post along the Chicago River in 1779, but which opponents argued would besmirch an emblem of the city as beloved as the Sears Tower or Marshall Field’s.

Downtown Ald. Brendan Reilly, 42nd, pointed out DuSable already has a bridge, a museum, a harbor and other things named after him in the city, and said his constituents “would prefer to keep the name Lake Shore Drive.”

“I can tell you the feedback I’ve been getting about the proposed compromise is that it’s a very long name, and it could be even more confusing,” Reilly said.

And Ald. Brian Hopkins, 2nd, said a proposal to instead rename Millennium Park would “vastly exceed” the honor of rechristening the road.

The outcome was unclear until the vote took place. A prior attempt to pass the “DuSable Drive” version got blocked by opponents in May.

Jean Baptiste Point DuSable bust on Michigan Avenue in Chicago near the Chicago River on a rainy morning, June 25, 2021.
Jean Baptiste Point DuSable bust on Michigan Avenue in Chicago near the Chicago River on a rainy morning, June 25, 2021.

It was then supposed to get an up-or-down vote at Wednesday’s council meeting, but Lightfoot adjourned that one after two aldermen used a maneuver to stall her pick for corporation counsel in protest of the Law Department’s treatment of Anjanette Young in her lawsuit over an infamous botched police raid.

Celia Meza’s nomination to be the city’s top lawyer also passed the council Friday.

Backers of renaming the famous street “DuSable Drive” announced Thursday they would be open to Lightfoot’s proposed compromise name, as long as the vote happened Friday.

They said they had the votes to pass their version, but were worried opponents of the plan would keep using various maneuvers to hold it up.

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For example, an alderman against the change could have moved to re-refer the proposal back to committee.

A Lightfoot veto would have required 34 votes to overcome it, a much steeper hill to climb.

The “DuSable Drive” ordinance could have failed, with a couple different alternative plans floating around, among Reilly’s Millennium Park plan and Lightfoot’s competing proposal to rechristen the downtown Riverwalk for him.

Or, given recent raucous City Council get-togethers, they worried the body wouldn’t be in session long enough to take up the DuSable motion.

At her post-council news conference Lightfoot said she helped forge the compromise on Lake Shore Drive because that’s what democracy is about, but said she agrees with Reilly that the council has more important issues to deal with.

She also defended her administration’s legal dealings with Anjanette Young, saying “you can’t settle with someone who doesn’t want to settle.”

And she praised Meza, her corporation counsel, as “the embodiment of integrity.”

Also Friday, Lightfoot’s package of rule changes for local businesses also passed, including a ban on liquor sales at stores after midnight.

But aldermen stripped her proposal of a key provision allowing businesses to put up signs without full City Council approval.

Reilly successfully moved to pull that portion out of Lightfoot’s business ordinance in a micro-battle over aldermanic prerogative, Chicago’s informal tradition that aldermen defer to each other on matters in their wards, which Lightfoot has repeatedly challenged.

Lightfoot has said the sign issue isn’t about stripping aldermen of their power but helping businesses. Aldermen voted to take her sign proposal out of the business package, by a 25-24 vote. They then passed the rest of the package 49-0.

A vote on the sign measure by itself was put off for another month by two aldermen.

A day after 22 aldermen sent a letter to Lightfoot, calling on her to consistently follow the council’s rules of order and saying failure to do so is “not only unacceptable and illegal, but also a manipulation of our democratic process,” Ald. Anthony Beale introduced an ordinance to give aldermen their own parliamentarian to interpret whether council rules are being properly followed.

Several aldermen were upset at what they deemed inconsistencies by Lightfoot in rulings during Wednesday’s raucous meeting, which prompted Beale’s move.

jebyrne@chicagotribune.com

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