Well, election day has finally arrived and we want to hear Yo thoughts on the aldermanic candidates in a number of key wards where development issues are shaping up as battlegrounds.
Will South Loopers stick with Ald. Madeline Haithcock (2nd) or opt for one of several candidates who say that shoddy construction work is a hot election issue in the neighborhood?
How about you folks over in the 19th ward – are you going to stick with Ald. Ginger Rugai, who touts the arrival of a Borders store as a crowning achivement? Or will you cast a ballot in favor of one of two challengers, both of whom accuse Rugai of shunning development in the Beverly, Mount Greenwood and Morgan Park neighborhoods.
Up in West Rogers Park and surrounding neighborhoods, will a challenger force Ald. Bernie Stone (50th) to finally remove that pinup of Farrah Fawcett from his office wall and depart after more than 30 years in the job? (Is it a good or bad thing that your alderman has been in office since Richard Nixon was president?)
Is anyone in the 7th Ward putting their money where their mouth is and placing a bet on whether incumbent Darcel Beavers can rack up more votes than her challengers, who include high-profile candidate Sandi Jackson?
In Uptown, will locals stick with Ald. Helen Shiller (46th), who was won praise for advocating for low-income residents and has been accused by detractors of scaring away developers? Or has rival James Cappleman amassed enough support to push Shiller out of the job?
Over in the 42nd ward, Ald. Burt Natarus is under fire from rival Brendan Reilly for taking donations from developers, although Natarus says he caps such donations. In a column today, architecture critic Lynn Becker takes aim at Natarus for supporting the demolition of the old Farwell Building on Michigan Avenue.
But we saved our favorite for last: ChiKat, over at our Woodlawn journal, is urging locals to get to the polls in the 20th ward, where scandal-plagued Ald. Arenda Troutman is fighting for her political life. ChiKat notes that Troutman recently appeared on Chicago Tonight, and links to The Beachwood Reporter’s account of the interview. Troutman was apparently asked her views on plans to build an Olympic stadium in Washington Park: “I’m for what the people are for,” Troutman reportedly said. “Well, do you think the people are for it?” the interviewer asked. Troutman: “I don’t know.”
In other news, Troutman recently poured water on the proposed Columbia Pointe development, a stance that seems to have won some support for her challenger, Willie B. Cochran.
To be fair to Ms Rugai, ( who I am still unsure if I will vote for her) She didn’t just have a a Border’s booksstore set up shop, she had them anchor her shopping campus. It was also Border’s very first brick and mortar location outside of a shopping mall. (I believe she went to school at Little Flower with the current ceo that is why it got done the way she wanted), she reconfigured 95th st to allow for pedestrian and vehicle access to Borders/Chipotle/Panera/Cold Stone. with a very large yet unobtrusive heavily landscaped parking lot. I must admit, it has made negotiating the 95th st shopping district much easier than it was. Her work is now continuing across the street with a complex similar to the Oak park strip mall on Harlem and Lake.
Why the hesitation, NSH? Do you have gripes with Rugai or do you prefer another candidate?
Honestly alison I am torn, the 19th ward is the NY Yankees of chicago politics, any of the players could be starters on any other team but there can only be one 19th ward alderman. All three candidates would win by a landslide in any other ward, but we get the pleasure (displeasure) of only being able to pick one.
Sheehan, who I only briefly met just about 4 years ago still knows me by name when I run into him at the local coffee shop, he is the definition of a “people person” he could easily bring the ward together. That being said, there are no nice people in city government so they will either turn him into one of them or shun him to the corner.
Sommerville is the prosecutor’s prosecutor with the States attorney. If you ever have the displeasure of being involved in a criminal case and you end up with John on your side, you’re in luck the perp will serve some serious jail time. His hard nosed result orientated style will keep our streets safe, but may scare away developers.
Then there’s Ginger… She is willing to keep lots vacant for that perfect development to raise its head. 95th st at the beginning of her term was in shambles, and remained that way up until just a few years ago when the “perfect development has finally started to come to fruition.
111th and kedzie has been tired and boring since the beginning of forever. When plans were announced for a Mt greenwood town square on the corner, ginger only wanted it done her way (which meant tearing down more businesses than the community wanted her to) So the development was put on the back burner. The develpment was recently started but only on a smaller scale than what she wanted, as if it sat any longer it would be political suicide.
But where she has failed us is at 115th and western. The vacant unkempt land has severely hurt surrounding property values, but she promises us a plan is in the works… We’re on 16 years and counting however.
oh, Yo, how could you forget the 32nd?
Watch as Ted “I’ve never met a cinderblock development I didn’t like” gets his head handed to him by Scott Waguespack.
When almost fully gentrified neighborhoods start saying “enough is enough, already!,” I’d say that’s quite a story, and quite an omen for the future (a good one).
Here in the 42nd, it’s actually a fairly easy decision. Natarus, despite his sometimes eccentric nature, has overall been very good for the ward. He has correctly described the job as being something of the neighborhood’s janitor. This is not some sort of position for power hungry liberal activists to engage in broad social policy. If that’s your cup of tea, try government at the state or federal levels. Reilly does not present himself as a viable alternative. Many of his positions seem to be the same as Natarus’. The only difference, as far as I can tell (apart from the standard electioneering “fluff”) is that Reilly has pledged not to accept contributions from developers. As I’ve previously argued on these pages, the problem is not with aldermen accepting campaign cash. The problem is with the continuation of the bizarre and archaic
Chicago tradition of Aldermanic prerogative. Take the development and zoning decisions out of their hands, and place them in the hands of planning and design professionals within the DPD, and on the various commissions. Besides this, why is accepting big money from unions any better than taking it from developers? Guess what – it isn’t! If unions can attempt to push their influence in this way, then developers have every right to as well…
What a pussification on a not so original cop-out. The old ‘If group A is getting away with corruption, why should we not look the other way if B is corrupt?’. Niiiiccceeee….
Who do you think is on these commissions? The commissions are made up of other Alderman, and guess what, they are taking money from the same developers to the vote the project through the commission. Take a look, for example, at developers who concentrate their work in the 2nd Ward, suddenly providing campaign donations to other Ward bosses on the Plan Commission.
While we are at it, we need a great idea like more more taxation without representation; oh wait, we did away with that some generations back.
You need local and central representation if you ever hope to keep the process honest. Just do away with under the table payments or campaign donations, or halt city officials investing in projects or business’s and you can curb the problem. City officials need to learn that their job is to serve the people, not find the leads on the next business opportunity they and their buddies should get in the ground floor on.
bye-bye, Burt!
ha ha ha ha ha, the biggest buffoon is gone!
Awww. So poor Virgil Jones in the 15th got 0 votes! Didn’t he even vote for himself?
To NSH: Nice to know that Ginger is doing something for the adults in her ward. What’s the latest on improvements, if any, to the Ag School so that the kids can benefit as well?