13 CANDIDATES FOR CITY COUNCIL
Today, we offer our endorsements in the first 13 of 45 competitive aldermanic races in Chicago. We are publishing endorsements in order by ward. We’ll continue publishing them through the remainder of the week. You can find out more about all the candidates — and our endorsement for city treasurer — by going to the Sun-Times 2019 Chicago Voting Guide.
1st Ward: Near Northwest Side
Four years ago, we endorsed Proco “Joe” Moreno for re-election but said he can be an annoying guy, and we’re doing it again. Moreno has been a leader in pushing for affordable housing, and he was the force behind an ordinance that requires employers to give parttime employees paid sick days. In today’s gig economy, the ordinance was a small victory for fast-food workers and coffeehouse baristas. One of Moreno’s opponents, Daniel La Spata, recently produced a Friends of the Parks report that claims, based on dubious research, that there are significant racial disparities in park district services. His work was not convincing. We’ll repeat the advice we offered Moreno four years ago: Dial it down, man. No, that woman should not have parked in the bike lane back in June, but flashing your goofy alderman’s badge and yelling at her was silly. Also, a story broke on Tuesday that the police are looking into whether Moreno filed a false report involving a stolen car. We’ll all just have to keep an eye on that one.
3rd Ward: Near South Side
Pat Dowell’s pragmatic leadership has been a plus for this ward, which includes Bronzeville and parts of Washington Park and the South Loop. Parks and infrastructure in her ward have been upgraded, new businesses have popped up, and a onetime food desert now has a major grocery store, with another reportedly in the works. Dowell is our pick to continue the difficult work of revitalizing a ward that must curb crime — a big concern among residents — and bring in more economic development. It’s also worth noting that Dowell continues to advocate for affordable housing and is refreshingly honest about the difficult choices the next mayor and City Council will have to make to put the city’s financial house in order. She is endorsed over challenger Alexandria Willis, a nurse and public health advocate.
4th Ward; South Side
Challenger Ebony D. Lucas, a lawyer, offers thoughtful answers when asked about problems in her ward, which runs along the lakefront from downtown to Hyde Park. But Sophia King, who won a 2017 special election after being appointed to the seat, is off to a solid start and deserves re-election to a full four-year term. A respected member of the City Council’s Progressive
Caucus, King is a former Latin
School chemistry teacher and Chicago
Public Schools administrator who has been a stalwart on behalf of schools in her ward. In the course of three decades in the ward, she has been a co-founder of the Ariel Community Academy, a neighborhood school in the North Kenwood/ Oakland area, and the It’s Time Organization to help prevent gun violence. She also was president of Harriet’s Daughters, which promotes jobs and wealth creation in African-American communities. Her priorities are jobs, good neighborhood schools and public safety.
5th Ward: Hyde Park, South Shore, Grand Crossing
This ward is ripe for a shake-up after two decades under incumbent Ald. Leslie Hairston. She has served the ward fairly well, but her outspoken, independent voice in City Hall has become muted and she’s less responsive to constituents. Challenger and former community newspaper editor Gabriel Piemonte, who says his campaign motto is “Be Heard,” is our pick to step up the pace and boost citizen engagement. Piemonte has an excellent track record of meaningful community service, such as helping to found a local credit union, serving on notfor-profit boards, and organizing forums on civic issues. He’s solidly progressive — a tradition in this ward for generations — but also practical. He understands, for instance, that problems with petty crime and crumbling infrastructure must be addressed first if struggling South Shore is going to attract new businesses. There are no easy, idealistic answers here. Activist William Calloway is also running.
6th Ward: South Side
Deborah Foster-Bonner ,an accountant who runs her own business, has devoted decades to service in her community. She started a block club because she thought she and her neighbors should get to know each other and watch each other’s backs. She served on a local school council. She started a “friends” group for her son’s grammar school to raise funds to hire teaching assistants and support after-school programs. Now she’s trying to bring a cooperative grocery store to Chatham. She is smart, expressive and positive. We endorse Foster-Bonner over the incumbent alderman, Roderick T. Sawyer, who told us he was pretty offended that Ald. Danny Solis (25th), working with the feds, secretly recorded conversations with Ald. Ed Burke (14th). Sawyer knocked Solis for not keeping
his “mouth shut.” His loyalties are misplaced. Pastor Richard A. Wooten also is running.
7th Ward: South, Southeast Sides
Stable leadership is needed in this ward, which has had an aldermanic revolving door since Sandi Jackson got caught up in a corruption scandal and resigned in 2013. Incumbent Greg Mitchell is our pick for a second term in this ward that includes South Shore, Calumet Heights and Jeffery Manor. Mitchell has a chance to build on accomplishments that include $15 million in infrastructure improvements, a project to deal with flooding in the south end of the ward, $11.8 million in renovations for Bouchet School, and more town halls and block clubs. But Mitchell’s got to make sure constituents get basic services that allow for a decent quality of life: There’s no excuse for inaction after repeated 3-1-1 calls about broken street lights. Meanwhile, we’re impressed with the community commitment of challenger Jedidiah Brown, one of a cadre of outspoken millennial activists. Educator Charles Kyle is also running.
8th Ward; South Side
This ward, which includes parts of Avalon Park, Burnside, Calumet Heights, Chatham, South Shore and Greater Grand Crossing, is a challenging one. Pockets of the ward are devastated, with little to no investment. Incumbent Michelle A. Harris is visible in City Hall, and she is competent when it comes to providing ward services, such as making sure the garbage gets picked up. But she is not so visible for people who live in, say, Burnside. When all three challengers in this race dwell on her lack of transparency and visibility, that suggests the problem is real. But none of the challengers — educator Jewel R. Easterling-Smith, barbershop owner Faheem Shabazz or Senior Tax Assistant Linda Hudson — has persuaded us they can do better. Harris helped secure state funding for an indoor track facility and has worked to close problem businesses. We endorse Harris, with the hope she spends more time in her ward, particularly as the proposed nearby Obama Presidential Center is poised to bring change.
9th Ward: Far South Side
Ald. Anthony Beale’s focus has been to bring development and opportunity to the 9th Ward. A highlight of his fifth term came just two months ago when the U.S. Bank Pullman Community Center opened. It is a $20 million, privately financed 135,000-square-foot sports, recreation and educational center at 10355 S. Woodlawn. Kids finally have a place to play baseball. There are other signs of progress: The Pullman Historic District is enjoying a renaissance since former President Barack Obama designated it a national monument in 2015. A year ago, a Whole Foods Midwest Distribution Center opened in the ward. Beale also worked to get a new 95th Street Red Line CTA station. He’s pushing for a Red Line extension to 130th Street to come to fruition. Yet, the alderman acknowledges there is work to do. Crime has dipped but remains a big issue. Investment in the ward is uneven; there are food deserts and blighted areas. Among four candidates in this race, Beale is by far the most qualified to lead the ward for the next four years. He has our endorsement over social worker Cleopatra Watson, police officer Paul Collins and former Chicago Public Schools counselor Essie Hall.
10th Ward: Far Southeast Side
In her first term, Ald. Susan Sadlowski Garza has steered millions of dollars in TIF funds toward the repairs of crumbling infrastructure in the ward, including repairs on bridges and at schools. More than two dozen businesses have opened to help bring about 1,600 jobs. The Far South Side got its first dog park, which was long overdue, and it’s in this ward. Change isn’t coming fast enough for her opponent, Robert “Bobby” Loncar, who wants revitalization of commercial districts in the ward that includes Calumet Heights, the East Side, Hegewisch, South Chicago and South Deering. We want that, too, and believe Sadlowski Garza is qualified to take the lead. She is endorsed. We ask, however, that Sadlowski Garza make a change in how she organizes the ward’s Labor Day parade, an event she revived. Currently, checks to participate in the parade are made out to Friends of Susan Sadlowski Garza. That creates the appearance, if nothing more, that she is using the community event to raise campaign funds. She says all money goes into putting the event together. So fine. Set up a separate bank account.
11th Ward: Southwest Side
Patrick D. Thompson, whom we endorse, has been a more than credible alderman in his first four years. The fact that he’s a Daley doesn’t much matter either way with us. He’s been doing the ward basics, such as spending $500,000 of his aldermanic menu money to place 19 crimesurveillance cameras, remotely controlled by the police, throughout the ward. He has invested TIF money in three public schools. He worked with the mayor’s office to build an $8 million annex at the Mark Sheridan Math & Science Academy. Service requests by ward residents now can be made online, and Thompson has extended his ward office hours. Also running is David Mihalyfy, an assisted living aide.
12th Ward: Southwest Side
In a conversation with the SunTimes Editorial Board on Monday, incumbent Ald. George Cardenas was accused by two challengers in this race of allowing an asphalt plant to go up in the McKinley Park neighborhood with little community input because he had received a campaign donation from the plant’s owner. Cardenas’ defense was that the owner didn’t give him a donation; the owner’s father did. As if that’s a difference. The alderman also said he did, in fact, reach out to the community. Cardenas also is tainted by other recent apparent conflicts of interest, though he has been accused of no crimes. Challenger Jose Rico says he has a plan to avoid such conflicts. First, he said, he would serve only two terms as alderman. He also would not accept campaign contributions from a developer until after the community has had a say in the developer’s project. Rico is endorsed. The former teacher once worked for the U.S. Department of Education, where he focused on the Obama administration’s efforts to increase rates of high school graduation and college enrollment among Latino students. He is a senior vice president for United Way, a job he says he would give up if elected. Union organizer Pete DeMay also is running. Another candidate, Martha Yerania Rangel, did not participate in the endorsement process.
13th Ward: Southwest Side
Given the recent dark news stories about Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan — how he and another politician may have worked a tag-team shakedown on a local businessman — we had to think long and hard about endorsing his hand-picked alderman for re-election. But here’s the thing: Marty Quinn is a really good alderman. He tends to his ward’s business. He works hard. He has railed about smelly soundproof windows near Midway Airport and the disruptions of Airbnb rentals. We suspect Quinn could have acted more decisively when his brother, political aide Kevin Quinn, was accused of sexual harassment. But let’s be honest: it was his brother. We also take seriously a federal lawsuit filed by his opponent in this race, David Krupa, who accuses Quinn and Madigan of trying to muscle him off the ballot. But consider Krupa. He is 19, once held a stupid “Hillary for Prison” poster outside a polling place, and has been accused of abuse by a former high school girlfriend. In 2017, she was granted an emergency order of protection in 2017, which later was extended for nine months. We endorse Marty Quinn.