On May 18, 2011 Mayor Rham Emmanuel announced his newly reorganized city council committees, which included the appointment of Alderman George A. Cardenas as Chair of Health and Environmental Protection for the next four years. Ald. Cardenas is undertaking a joint committee created by Mayor Emmanuel. Formerly the Committee on Health and Committee on Environment will now be joined together as a result of Mayor Emmanuel reducing the number of committees from 19 to 16 to cut city spending by 10 percent. “It is a privilege to be head of this new committee there is a lot to do in terms of health and environment not only in the communities that I represent, but in the city as well. I am eager to get things done,” said Alderman Cardenas. With that, Ald. Cardenas has hit the ground running introducing a resolution on May 18th in City Council calling for the clean up of the Chicago River. The resolution comes as a result of the Chicago River earning fourth place as one of the nation’s most polluted rivers on America’s Most Endangered Rivers list. The first hearing on this resolution was held Tuesday, May 31 in the City Hall Chambers to discuss a time line and the measures to be taken to clean the river. “There is no time to waste we need to get working on issues that are directly affecting our communities day to day,” expressed Alderman Cardenas.