Ald. Anthony Beale (9) speaks at Wednesday’s City Council meeting. [Don Vincent/The Daily Line]

After circling in legislative purgatory for 16 months, a proposal to roll back a controversial 2021 crackdown on speeding finally earned a final verdict from the City Council on Wednesday. Aldermen rejected the push, siding with Mayor Lori Lightfoot as they called to accelerate the city’s efforts to tamp down on accelerating traffic deaths.

During its last meeting before the August recess, the City Council also voted to approve dozens of other measures, including a bid to crack down on drag racing, an update to the city’s ethics rules and Lightfoot’s “equitable transit-oriented development” ordinance to boost housing density near public transit.