Solis won’t seek another term on City Council
Represented 25th since 1996, faced 4 re-election rivals
Ald. Danny Solis, who over the past two decades on the City Council served as an influential behindthe-scenes player in Chicago politics, won’t seek re-election, he said Saturday.
Appointed by Mayor Richard M. Daley in 1996, Solis is the council’s secondlongest-serving Latino. His ward includes the Pilsen neighborhood. Solis, 69, chairs the zoning committee, giving him some power over just about every development in Chicago.
“After 23 years representing the greatest community in Chicago, it’s time to enter a new chapter in my life and pass the baton of public service to another,” Solis said. “Chicago’s challenges are many, but our capacity to meet them is unlimited, and I know that the citizens of the 25th Ward will make their voices heard in this upcoming election season.”
Solis got his start in politics as an activist and protester who criticized the power structure as a student at the University of Illinois at Chicago in the 1970s. He later helped start an alternative high school for dropouts and cofounded the United Neighborhood Organization before forging close ties with Daley and Rahm Emanuel.
In recent years, Solis has drawn criticism from Pilsen activists and residents who accuse him of being too cozy with developers that are changing the neighborhood’s character through gentrification. Solis defended his record on Saturday, rebutting the criticism by saying, “The job of any alderman, the first priority is to work to make the neighborhoods he represents better. That means safer, better schools and creating jobs. I think under that criteria, you can’t deny what I’ve done.”
Solis said he’s worked with organizations to support affordable housing development in Pilsen and worked to shut down bars that were “bad for the neighborhood.”
“I have no embarrassment,” he added. “I’m proud of what I’ve done in Pilsen.”
In a statement released through a spokesman, Emanuel called Solis a “champion” for his constituents.
“Danny Solis deserves the thanks and congratulations of our entire city after a lifetime of public service, and I will be the first in line,” the mayor said in the statement. “As a leader in the City Council for more than 20 years and as a leader in his community for even longer, Danny has been a champion for immigrants, for school students and for families. His efforts have paid dividends in our classrooms, in the halls of new libraries and in parks that will delight for generations. Danny has transformed his ward, and along with it Chicago. I will forever look fondly on the eight years Danny and I served this great city together and while the simple view may be that he was an ally on City Council, the reality is much more. Danny is a friend.”
Solis’ retirement is the latest high-profile departure from the City Council. Longtime Ald. Margaret Laurino also has announced she’s stepping down from the post previously held by her father, ensuring someone from outside her family will represent the Northwest Side’s 39th Ward for the first time since 1965.
The council’s longestserving Latino alderman, Ricardo Munoz, 22nd, announced his retirement this summer. Ald. Ariel Reboyras, 30th, and George Cardenas, 12th, would be the longest-serving Hispanic members if they’re successful in their re-election campaigns next year.
With at least four candidates vying to defeat him, Solis faced a likely tough battle for re-election in February. Many of the council’s veterans are expected to have stiff challenges in February, including Emanuel’s floor leader, 40th Ward Ald. Patrick O’Connor, Finance Committee Chairman Ed Burke, 14th, and Joe Moore, 49th, setting the stage for what could be a markedly different City Council next spring.
Solis’ family emigrated from Monterrey, Mexico, decades ago, and his father bought their first home in Pilsen in 1967. Solis said his political interest stems from his “personal experience being an immigrant in the greatest country in the world.”
“Even though it’s the greatest country in the world, there’s things that need to be fixed or made better,” Solis said. “That’s the attitude I’ve had most of my life.”
Over time, Solis said, he “evolved” from a “radical” student activist who was arrested during protests to a pragmatist seeking common ground. As he got older, Solis said he realized the importance of compromise, which he said helped build strong relationships with Emanuel and Daley.
“I think they both respected that, even though I had a history of activism and being radical, they also saw the (evolution) of being a more pragmatic leader of my community,” Solis said. “We got along well.”
Solis praised both Daley and Emanuel but said he was “probably more intimidated by Mayor Daley because it’s not just Mayor Daley, it’s the whole legacy of his dad and the power that has been in Chicago for decades.”
Emanuel is younger, and the two had a shared connection as Solis’ political operative sister, Patti Solis Doyle, worked with the Clintons alongside Emanuel.
Asked why he’s retiring, Solis ticked off 23 years in March as alderman, 16 years running a neighbors group in Pilsen and UNO, five years at the alternative high school and about half a decade in college.
“I just felt it was time for me to focus a little bit on my family, myself, my grandkids, my son who is going into college this year,” Solis said.
Candidates vying to replace Solis include Aida Flores, Hilario Dominguez, Alex Acevedo, Troy Hernandez and Byron SigchoLopez. He said he has not decided whom he will support to replace him.
In addition to Pilsen, Solis’ ward also includes Chinatown, West Loop and the South Loop. He said he’s proud that Pilsen recently was ranked one of the “coolest neighborhoods around the world” and said Chinatown is “the top Chinese-American neighborhood in the country.” South Loop is the “next big neighborhood” in Chicago, he said.
“I have no regrets. I think I did my part. I made a difference,” Solis said. “Some people will agree with me on that, some people won’t, but in my heart I know what I’ve done. I’m happy about it.”