RESOLUTION
WHEREAS, The Members of this Chamber are proud to congratulate our friend and colleague, Alderman Ricardo Munoz, on his twenty-six years of dedicated service to the people ofthe 22nd Ward and the City of Chicago; and
WHEREAS, Born in Monterrey, Mexico, Alderman Munoz's immigrated with his family to the United States and settled on the Near West Side of Chicago. After graduating from high school, Alderman Munoz earned a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Political Science from Northern Illinois University; and
WHEREAS, Initially appointed in 1993 as Alderman ofthe 22nd Ward by Mayor Richard M. Daley, Alderman Munoz was re-elected by his constituents to six additional consecutive terms in office. In 1994, Alderman Munoz was elected as 22nd Ward Democratic Committeeman, a position he held until 2016; and
WHEREAS, As a junior member ofthe City Council, Alderman Munoz proposed an innovative idea for generating hundreds of millions of dollars in new education spending without raising taxes by linking the bonding capacity of city agencies with poor bond ratings to those with higher ratings, thereby enabling new bonds to be issued at rates more favorable to the City. One of the first initiatives undertaken in 1995 by the newly reconstructed Board of Education was to adopt Alderman Munoz's proposal; and
WHEREAS, Alderman Munoz challenged City leaders to provide more educational opportunities for Chicago school children. During his tenure in office, more new schools were built in the 22nd Ward than in any other Ward in the City. His educational agenda included the construction in 2003 of the first new high school building in the Little Village community in over 90 years. True to his reputation as an innovator, Alderman Munoz proposed making this new high school into the City's first ever "dual language" academy, with a curriculum that requires all students to become proficient in at least two languages; and
WHEREAS, One of the original sponsors of the historic Chicago Living Wage Ordinance, Alderman Munoz helped lead a citywide, multiracial coalition of labor, community and religious organizations to victory when, on July 29, 1998, the City Council passed its first living wage ordinance requiring city contractors to pay their employees a salary high enough to support a family. On November 6, 2002, the City Council increased the living wage by 16% and, in an historic amendment, indexed the living wage to the cost of inflation. The enactment in 2014 ofthe Chicago Minimum Wage Ordinance and in 2016 ofthe Paid Sick Leave Ordinance was the culmination of many years of sustained efforts by Alderman Munoz and others to improve the lives of Chicago workers; and
WHEREAS, The longest tenured Latino and fourth longest tenured member of the Chicago City Council, Alderman Munoz was a founding member of the City Council's
Independent Caucus, now known as the Progressive Caucus. A reform-minded councilman, Alderman Munoz was committed to ending ethical abuses by city officials; enhancing public confidence in the administration of city government; addressing quality of life issues by organizing local block clubs and weekly clean-ups of streets, alleys and vacant lots; and providing uncompromising service to the 60,000 residents of the 22nd Ward, which includes the Little Village, North Lawndale, Archer Heights, LeClaire/Hearst, Vittum Park and Sleepy Hollow neighborhoods; and
WHEREAS, Alderman Munoz served with distinction on many City Council Committees, including most recently as a member of the Committee on Committees, Rules and Ethics; Committee on Education and Child Development; Committee on Finance; Committee on Human Relations; and Committee on Public Safety; now, therefore,
BE IT RESOLVED, That we, the Mayor and Members ofthe City Council ofthe City of Chicago, assembled this tenth day of April, 2019, do hereby extend to Alderman Ricardo Munoz our deepest gratitude and thanks for his many years of exceptional service to the people of Chicago, and our best wishes for continued success in all of his future endeavors; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be presented to Alderman Ricardo Munoz as a token of our appreciation and esteem.