Runoff endorsement #6WardChicago

For some reason it surprises me that Richard Wooten who was thrice a candidate for Ward 6 Alderman endorses incumbent Ald. Roderick Sawyer as he goes into a runoff against Deborah Foster-Bonner.
Then again often in election season we see candidates endorse their former rivals often. And I do believe that in Ald. Sawyer's runoff in 2011 against then Ald. Freddrenna Lyle, Wooten also endorsed Sawyer. And of course in 2011 Sawyer would win that runoff and take his father's old seat as 6th Ward Alderman.

The election is next Tuesday.

King Food & Deli #6WardChicago

Photo by Richard Wooten

On Nextdoor Richard Wooten a prominent leader in the 6th Ward posted this picture of a business that moved into the former Church's Chicken on 87th & King Drive. The complaints made by Wooten and others is based upon the signage and also the products they offer. What you see would be acceptable in other neighborhoods - I could dare say low-income - but for Chatham well not acceptable.

Apparently enough people complained that 6th Ward Ald. Roderick Sawyer had to release a statement on this.

• Ald. Sawyer, community leaders speak out about new problem business in Chatham
  
  CHICAGO (July 5, 2018)--Ald. Roderick T. Sawyer (6) stood with community leaders on Thursday to speak out against a newly opened business in the Chatham neighborhood.
  
  Ald. Sawyer joined Chatham-Avalon Community Council President Rev. Dr. Marc A. Robertson, Greater Chatham Alliance President Richard Wooten, and Chesterfield Community Council President Elizabeth Prowell to voice outrage at the King Food & Deli located at 87th Street and King Drive. Ald. Sawyer said he had heard from a number of neighborhood residents who were offended by the store’s use of bulletproof glass and merchandise for sale, including blunts and unhealthy snacks.
  
  “This store is an affront to our community,” said Ald. Sawyer. “Chatham is a family-oriented neighborhood. By marketing unsavory items and using bulletproof glass, the store fails to treat our residents--its potential customers--with the respect we deserve.”
  
  Ald. Sawyer said he had been unable to prevent the opening or regulation of the opening of the store, and called on his colleagues in the City Council to pass 7th Ward Ald. Greg Mitchell’s proposed ordinance to require aldermanic approval of these sort of retail food licenses.
  
  “Unfortunately, this is a problem we see far too often in African American communities,” said Ald. Sawyer, who is chair of the City Council Black Caucus. “I believe this could be at least partially addressed by increased local control over licensing decisions for aldermen. That’s why I support Ald. Mitchell’s ordinance, and hope it is passed quickly by the City Council.”
  
  Ald. Sawyer said he would continue to fight to protect the 6th Ward against problem businesses, and was seeking solutions to address community concerns about King Food & Deli in the immediate term.

This could beg the question of how does Chatham and the surrounding areas that want to be attached to Chatham attract these so-called family-oriented businesses? How do we keep businesses such as the King Food & Deli from opening in the community?

Community press conference regarding Eddie Johnson

A press conference was called today by Richard Wooten, former police officer and current leader of the Gathering Point Community Council and Grater Chatham Alliance, meeting at Josephine’s (formerly Captain’s Hard Time dining

Eddie Johnson was scheduled to appear (after meeting with Wooten and several ministers a few days ago). Unfortunately, Johnson was called into a meeting with Mayor Emanuel as well as having the President come to University of Chicago that day, so he was not in attendance.

Wooten instead used the press conference as an opportunity to express support for Eddie Johnson as permanent Police Superintendent. Wooten was joined by representatives of community organizations from West Chesterfield, Chesterfield, Chatham, Englewood, Greater Grand Crossing and Park Manor as well as 6^th Ward Alderman Rod Sawyer and Victor Love & Josephine Wade of the restaurant.

 

Wooten and others noted that “We are not pleased with the process, but we are pleased with the person.”

Praises for Johnson included how he boosted morale for officers in the 6^th district, reduced crime, and instituted “Peace in the Park” program at Cole Park, immediately following the death of Thomas Wortham IV.

Wooten also talked about plans for a Justice Town Hall meeting, especially for the residents of the greater area, in which Eddie Johnson will be invited. Specifics will be determined, pending Johnson’s schedule.

Andrea Watson of DNAinfo was in attendance, so expect a story very soon. Channel 2,5,7 and 32 (local CBS, NBC, ABC, & Fox stations, respectively) were also in attendance, so expect stories today as well, perhaps as early as noon or 4pm .

Reporters asked tough questions such as “How can Eddie Johnson change the culture of ‘Code of Silence’ which has been around for generations”

Where rahm's PAC money is - and is NOT - going to for Aldermanic Races

Yesterday, DNA info published a piece that says where Mayor Rahm Emanuel's Chicago Forward PAC put their money.

In the 6th ward, NO ONE is getting money. While Ald. Sawyer is part of the Progressive coalition that opposes the Mayor in certain issues (as opposed to another "progressive" coalition that some may deem as fiscally conservative/pro-North side), none of his opponents (Rich Wooten and Brian Garner) seem to be backed by Rahm Emanuel, which seems somewhat unusual, give our ward's track record of  voting (i.e. the last election was determined by just 2 votes per precinct).

Howard Brookins of the 21st received the 5th most form the Chicgao Forward PAC, with $43,266 so far. Anthony Beale of the 9th ranked #14 with $26,776  so far.

It would be interesting to see where each ward stands with polling as far as mayor is concerned, and if that will affect the vote for alderman.

Greater Chatham Alliance 6th Ward Aldermanic Forum is online

Chatham from Narvelle Media on Vimeo.

From Greater Chatham Alliance, regarding the forum they hosted on January 31:

Hello, Greater Chatham Alliance Members,Chatham and other 6th Ward Neighbors:

If you are still undecided about your votefor our 6th Ward Alderman, GCA is proud
to present an on-line video viewing, for 5 days,to present an on-line video viewing, for 5 days,of our Aldermanic forum held on Saturday,January 31st at Crerar Memorial Presbyterian Church.

We had hoped to have it also featuredon CAN-TV, but we may not make theirschedule.

In any case, click on the link below toview our Aldermanic forum:

https://vimeo.com/119695699

From The Sixth Ward blogger JP Paulus: I attended this forum, and thought, like the 2011 one, was well done. Forum moderator (and WVON Radio host) Cliff Kelley stated that he felt that out of the many forums he has hosted and attended, he felt Greater Chatham Alliance was one of the best.

If you haven't decided, I think this forum will be one major tool to help you to decide.

Mailer In the 6th Ward Aldermanic Race

Received this mailer recently in the mail from Alderman Roderick Sawyer. It states his stance on education as well as his endorsement by the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU).

There have been allegations that someone is going in residents mailboxes and removing mailers. If there are any other mailers, please contact us and we will post.

6th Ward candidate events = January 14-18

We have a few events sponsored by the 6th ward candidates for alderman. This post is just covering the events of the next few days. We will post more as details arise, such as the 6th Ward Candidate Aldermanic forum, sponsored by Greater Chatham Alliance on January 31.

 

 

6th ward: Former candidate makes endorsement and petition challenge continuance

Worlee has been doing a great job keeping track of what's been going on in the race for 6th ward Alderman. Yesterday we learned that candidate Dumars Franklin had withdrawn from the 2015 election for Alderman and then we learned today that Mr. Franklin has endorsed Richard Wooten.

That news was announced in the tweet below:

Thank you Dumars Franklin, who previously was an aldermanic candidate for the sixth ward, but has now endorsed me. pic.twitter.com/WkAFozD84d
— Richard A. Wooten (@TeamRichWooten) December 11, 2014

Furthermore it was noted by Worlee on his Concerned Citizens of Chatham page that there is a continuance with the petition challenge for Delton "Jerry" Pierce to December 18, 2014.

Of course for the 2015 elections in wards 6, 9, and 21 we will continue to have further updates.

Prayer today & tomorrow

Temple of Glory International church is hosting all day prayer at their church. It is going on RIGHT now.  The address is 311 E 95th St Chicago, IL 60619

The 2ns event is tomorrow at Carter Temple at Wabash & 79th.  This one has a taint of politics, as 6th Ward Aldermanic Candidate is hosting this event (prior to aldermanic elections as well as general  election day.). JP is planning  on attending the 1st 1/2 of the event.

Flyer for candidate Richard Wooten for State Representative

Richard Wooten is the other police officer -  with the other being Paul Gregoire - in the race to replace Constance Howard in her state representative seat  for the 34th District. He's also running for 6th Ward Democratic Committeeman against the incumbent committteman 6th Ward Ald. Roderick Sawyer. Wooten was very vocal during the whole ward remap debacle  when the process began in earnest. That drives his run for committeeman in part, and hopefully voters are learning what he seeks to do as our state representative in Springfield, IL.

Politics: What you missed...

First off last weekends GCA forum at the House of Hope will be seen on CAN-TV. This forum featured especially the candidates for 34th District state representative in addition to Ald. Roderick Sawyer and Richard Wooten (who's in the race for state rep) for Democratic Committeeman of the 6th Ward as well as Darnell Macklin who's running for GOP Committeeman of the 6th Ward. Here is the schedule of future airings of that event as provided by GCA

• Sunday, March 11th at 1:30 PM on Channel 21
• Monday, March 12th at 8:00 AM on Channel 19
• Thursday, March 15th at 1:30 PM on Channel 21
• Friday, March 16th at 8:00 AM on Channel 19
• Tuesday, March 20th at 1:00 PM on Channel 21

Also the following Monday there was a debate on CLTV's Politics Tonight featuring Ald. Sawyer and Wooten in their race for 6th Ward Democratic Committeeman. What factor in that debate especially was the ward remap which was concluded back in January. Click the links within the brackets to watch the two parts of that segment [VIDEO: PART 1 & PART 2]

Richard Wooten has made the Capitol Fax...

Wooten is a candidate for State Representative from the 34th District to replace the retiring incumbent Constance Howard. He recently put out a press release calling for churches to recieve public funds and caught the eye of Rich Miller. This is his thought:

Black churches have always been very influential on South Side politics, so this is a pretty darned blatant attempt to win over their support.

We got a release for this event - posted to our calendar - for a minister's breakfast at Josephine's on 79th Street. Sent a tweet to his campaign alerting him to the post at Capitol Fax.

UPDATE MARCH 6, 2012 12:40 AM This was part of the email. We didn't exactly get a release but we did get this image. This definitely is one way for him to garner favor among the religious in the 34th District!

IVI-IPO makes endorsements in local races

UPDATE 9:06 PM IVI-IPO has a questionnaire Richard Wooten in the race for Democratic Committeeman. Sorry I jumped the gun on an endorsement, but it was important to see Wooten's responses!

IVO-IPO has endorsed Elgie Sims for 34th District State representative, but have chosen NOT to make an endorsement for 6th ward Democratic committeeman. Kari Steele was also one of 3 endorsed for Water Reclamation District. The link for their endorsements is here.

Here is a link to all responses that they received., so you can see what our local candidates said (IF they responded)

Sawyer and Wooten may be on CLTV's Politics Tonight in the near future

Per a comment on CLTV's show Politics Tonight Facebook page:

‎JP Paulus We are currently working on getting the 6th Ward Dem. Committeemen on the show...will keep you posted on a date! And we're working on getting an email address up and running, we'll post it when it's available!

Here's the link to the comment.

When our Deomocratic Committeeman candidates, Richard Wooten & Rod Sawyer, are scheduled as guests, we'll let you know!

Progress IL: Remap Complicates Ward Committeeman Races

Several Democratic ward committeeman races are featured in this article. One of those races are in the 6th Ward. They also look at the 36th Ward which was even more drastically altered as a result of the ward remap that concluded last month:

Other ward committeeman races have also been complicated by the remap, including the 6th Ward contest between Ald. Roderick Sawyer and Richard Wooten, a former police officer, who is also running for state representative.

The South Side's 6th Ward moved north in the new map, cutting out communities like West Chesterfield, Burnside and parts of Chatham. Sawyer was the only member of the Black Caucus to vote against the remap.

The alderman says that he is not looking at a legal challenge. But Sawyer is also clear that he will represent voters in the current, not future, 6th Ward boundaries. “I serve the people who elected me,” Sawyer says.

Wooten organized community meetings against the remap, criticizing it for cutting out the 87th Street business district and communities below 87th Street. A call to Wooten this afternoon was not returned.

This morning I attended the West Chesterfield hearing and was attended by Ald. Sawyer, Richard Wooten, and Sandra Wortham (who is running against Wooten for state representative of 34th District). Also in attendance was 9th Ward Ald. Anthony Beale who had already been invited to future West Chesterfield meetings. In the near future you will see my review.

Rich Wooten running for State Rep. AND Committeeman

Rich Wooten, who won 3rd place in this year's aldermanic election, had previously said he would run for state representative, to take over from retiring Connie Howard. This morning on Facebook, he also added an intention to run for 6th Ward Democratic committeeman.

Here is the Facebook wall post:

Morning all, after attending the Chatham Avalon Park Community Council meeting last evening and hearing the many concerns and issues that were voiced by residents of the 6th ward, which continue to go unattended to by our Alderman. Excuses, Excuses, and more excuses? I am convinced that I will be running for 6th ward Committeeman, and Illinois State Representative of the 34th District. People deserve real results to their issues, not poiltical posturing. I felt the frustrations and tentions brewing. It is important that we Restore Value, BALANCING THE POWER & Getting The Job Done!!!!!!!

You can friend him on Facebook here.   (note that his Facebook shortname is "WootenHasMyVote" )

We will soon post up candidates for 2012 elections. Please send  any information on candidates to blog (at) TheSixthWard (dot) us