Ward remap news

 I would like to go more in depth but I share this to state that so far the city council has failed to agree on a map and next June voters would have to choose a map. Here's a very interesting development out of the remap that affects the far south side:

The city’s ward remap process was led by Ald. Michelle Harris (8th), chair of the Rules Committee, political insider and attorney Michael Kasper and the Aldermanic Black Caucus, whose members said they fielded feedback from alderpeople across the city.

The city’s map includes 16 majority Black wards, 14 majority Latino wards, one majority Asian ward and one “Black influence” ward that isn’t quite a majority — the 27th Ward.

Under the proposed map, indicted Ald. Carrie Austin (34th) would be drawn out of her Far South Side ward. The longtime alderwoman said she’ll likely retire rather than run for a new term under the proposed map, which would move the 34th Ward into parts of The Loop, West Loop and Near West Side.

The maps I've seen out there show that what used to be Ward 34 would be largely taken up by Ward 21 a seat held by Ald. Howard Brookins. Again this remap appears to be a test of wills between the Black Caucus and Hispanic Caucus of the Chicago City Council. Hispanic Caucus want a few more wards drawn in their favor while the Black Caucus is contesting this.

Here's a draft map that was seen at a meeting of the city council yesterday Dec. 1, 2021 the deadline for Alderman to approve a map before voters must do so. If you have difficulty seeing it click on the tweet to enlarge. Perhaps later on I can find a much better copy of this draft map.

BREAKING: Here's what Chicago's new ward map could look like. https://t.co/fbaIgIy0R3 pic.twitter.com/teBQX2m60u

— Block Club Chicago (@BlockClubCHI) December 1, 2021

It does appear what was Ward 34 would be taken up by the Ward 21 & 9.

Also I retweeted this yesterday Ald. Ray Lopez (Ward 15) doesn't seem that happy about this draft himself.

Uh, no thanks pic.twitter.com/eii2p2keGH

— Ald. Raymond Lopez (@RLopez15thWard) December 1, 2021

What are you thoughts on this remap? Excited about the opportunity to to vote on which city council ward represents you?

The Chatham Walmart has reopened

 

[VIDEO] After getting hit by the unrest in the last week of May as a result of what happened to George Floyd in Minneapolis the Walmart on 83rd & Stewart has reopened. I'm very glad as Ald. Howard Brookins fought to get this store built and open. I'm especially glad that the unrest didn't cause Walmart to shut this location down permanently! 

Also noted in this CBS 2 report before the unrest the store had originally 485 jobs upon reopening Walmart added 750 new jobs. There are new health care offices at this location also.

Early voting starts tomorrow

 We will have a different election than we had in our history so far. This is due to the ongoing pandemic as the rage for now is to vote by mail instead of voting in person or even waiting until Election Day and going to your local precinct which is what I plan to do.

On Oct. 14, 2020 - tomorrow on Wednesday - early voting around the city will begin. You can register and cast your ballot at designated locations within all 50 wards and at the Loop Super Site located at 191 N. Clark St. or at Clark/Lake.

Here are the locations for wards 6, 9 & 21

• Ward 6 - Deneen Elementary School, 7257 S State St. 
• Ward 9 - Curtis Elementary School,  32 E 115th St.
• Ward 21 - Turner - Drew Language Acad.,  9300 S Princeton Ave.

These are the operating hours for early voting until Election Day Nov. 3, 2020 for all sites throughout the city and at the Loop Super Site

• Early Voting sites in all 50 Wards - plus the Loop Super Site
  Monday-Friday - 8:30 am-7 pm
  Saturday-Sunday - 9 am-5 pm
  Election Day, Nov. 3 - 6 am-7 pm

Here's a notice from Ward09.com - Ald. Anthony Beale's constituent webpage about the early voting at Curtis Elementary on 115th Street

If you want more information check out the Chicago Board of Elections page on Early Voting.

Become part of the solution

I'm very dismayed at the unrest that unfolded over the weekend here in Chicago. I witnessed the demonstrations in downtown Chicago and unfortunately the vandalism of Chicago's streets and businesses having seen graffiti on not only streets and buildings and buses also. Even seen streaks where it was apparent someone threw something at a window on some buildings.

I get that people are upset about what happened in Minneapolis, Minnesota with Mr. George Floyd. It's generally agreed regardless of your political affiliation or even ethnicity that the police officers involved in his arrest and death had a very callous disregard for that man's life. It's great that people are demonstrating another instance of police mistreatment of yet another citizen.

What bothers me is the destruction not only of downtown Chicago which I know the city itself will do its best to take care of. It's the destruction in looting in south side neighborhoods. An area of the city which could ill afford it.

I've seen people bring up 1968 - there were riots after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. - there are parts of this city that never recovered from those riots sadly. And I'm definitely concerned that those areas hard hit by the recent looting and violent may take a long time for recovery.

I've seen reports of the Walmart in Chatham on 83rd & Stewart was not only looted, it was also on fire. I've not been up there to see what's been going on with that, however, I'm sure many of us assume it's still standing and will be repaired.

I remember the debate over bringing a Walmart to that location. The debate was over the rate of pay for Walmart workers. Another debate unfortunately was racial as people were concerned about who'd shop there as people of many backgrounds will shop there. Some of those comments were seen on this blog at that time.

Ald. Howard Brookins was eventually successful in getting a Walmart on 83rd and it's sad to see that in a matter of days his hardwork to bring new stores and jobs into the community has suffered a reversal. As of now it appears that this Walmart will be reopened in the near future, I did start off pessimistic on this and I'm glad the recent unrest wont close any Walmarts in the city.

Just about 13 years ago J.P. Paulus and I started this blog. My goal was to create something of a community blog akin to blogs such as the now defunct Broken Heart of Roger's Park, Uptown Update, Sloopin' and even Edgeville Buzz. I don't know if this blog had fully fulfilled that mission over the years though by some accounts whether second hand or personally it seems that we have.

I don't consider myself a community activist or even a journalist though some have argued as such over the years. I do know that as of now, my goal is to be part of the solution.

My goal is to continue updating you all especially with our fb page. You all stay safe out there

Lori Lightfoot Mayor-elect #ChiMayor19

[VIDEO] Congrats to the Lightfoot campaign on their victory last night in the runoff for Chicago Mayor over County Board President Toni Preckwinkle. What will the next four years under a Mayor Lightfoot look like. I'm sure in the coming days we will know more about her plans for the city.

From Chicago Tribune returns from last night's runoff election which includes the city treasurer's race and of course the 15 wards with runoff elections.

Let's start with the namesake of this blog The Sixth Ward Alderman Sawyer beats a challenge from Deborah Foster-Bonner.

 And in the 21st ward Ald. Brookins beats a challenge from his 2015 runoff opponent Marvin McNeil

In other nearby wards:

Ald. Hairston appears to thinly defeat a challenge from opponent in the 5th Ward

 In the 15th Ward Ald. Raymond Lopez defeats a challenge by Raquel Yanez

In the 16th Ward, Ald Toni Foulkes - who had been elected to that post in 2015 after being an alderman in the neighboring 15th Ward - was defeated by Stephanie Coleman who is the daughter of former 16th Ward Ald. Shirley Coleman.

And in the 20th Ward which was held by Ald. Willie B. Cochran who resigned his seat due to a federal plea deal there will be a new Alderman there Jeanette Taylor defeating Nicole Johnson

Today is the day... #ChiMayor19

[VIDEO] In addition to the mayoral race, we also have the city treasurers race and select wards that are in runoff elections today. I especially want to highlight the runoff in the 6th Ward which we have somewhat covered since February and in the 21st Ward.

Polls have been open since 6 AM and you can vote until 7 PM. Hopefully you take time out to cast your ballot today!

2019 election page is up #ChiMayor19

 Thanks to JP Paulus for starting the page.

The 2019 page will be updated as often as possible with ballot position numbers, other links involving the campaigns, hopefully some headshots along with returns as they become available. We hope this page will help you all make an informed decision as far as who you would vote for in wards 6, 9 and 21.

We will also cover the election for ward 21 this year also. The reason is a bit different from 2015 which for back then we considered Ald. Howard Brookins' role in the ward remap of 2011-12 and his former position as chairman of the city council Black caucus. It's also interesting that many of the people who are stepping up to run against him this year also ran against him in 2015.

As always if you have any additional information with regards to the candidates who are on the ballot feel free to let us know. Write a comment, tweet us, write on our fb page, and of course feel free to send an e-mail with our address in the sidebar.

For historical purposes our previous election pages which aren't publicly linked however they're still viewable for a limited time only.

• 2011
• 2015

Body found in trash can on west 95th Street last week!

On our FB page and on Concerned Citizens of Chatham have seen a notice from Ald. Howard Brookins with regards to a murder victim. The body of a woman was found in a trash can on west 95th Street last Monday unfortunately the woman herself still hasn't been identified.

I thought it was important to find an article about this grisly story:

Investigators will now await toxicological results and additional details of a death investigation following an autopsy for a woman found dead inside a trash bin on the city’s South Side.

City trash collectors discovered the woman’s body as they emptied the bin into a truck in an alley in the 500 block of West 95th Street in the Brainerd neighborhood just before 11:30 a.m. Monday, police said.

It was unclear how long the woman’s body had been in the trash can, but a Chicago police spokeswoman said it the woman’s body had no obvious signs of trauma.

Well so far most of the other stories I found out there about this, are very short and not a lot of information as of now! Hopefully we will see further updates to this as far as the late woman's identity and hopefully what happened to her.

Meanwhile here's a statement from Ald. Brookins' office

 

87th/Dan Ryan mall parking

I'm sharing this for those of you who have been affected by this and for those of you who patronize the shopping on the west side of the Dan Ryan to beware. I will share first Worlee Glover's post from Concerned Citizens of Chatham looking for people affected by the towing of legally parked vehicles.

Also a post at Nextdoor regarding this. 

I am at the Staples mall protecting my people

That predatory tow truck company got 1 van under my watch. I met another victim who owns a pickup. He had to pay $1,500 to retrieve his truck. It cost more for pickups! I filed my paperwork. This is a job for Ald. Brookins to address. He is going to hear from me.

A bit more detail

Ash Said is the owner of Rapid Recovery, which received an "F" from the Better Business Bureau.

 I recommend you sign up for nextdoor to get involved in the discussion or get in touch with Worlee or share a comment here on this blog about what your experience as far as the parking in the shopping areas of 87th/Dan Ryan.

Hey perhaps we should get the Parking Ticket Geek involved! Though I recognize he doesn't specialize in towing of legally parked vehicles from privately owned parking lots.

Any events to share?

Making another call for those who have events they want to share.

As always if you have events that are worth sharing send them to us. It could be a community meeting, LSC, parent advisory council, PTA, park advisory council, political event, a new business, etc. Send them to us.

Feel free to post to our FB page, tweet us, or if you got a ig ready flyer tag us. As always feel free to send an e-mail to the address below.

blog @ thesixthward.us

 Also bear in mind election season is upon us, we do expect more readership during this period from now to the November elections and through to next year's city elections. This would be a good time to get some exposure for your events, especially if you don't have a significant social media presence.

• facebook.com/thesixthward
• facebook.com/lovechatham (i.e. Concerned Citizens of Chatham)
• twitter.com/thesixthward
• instagram.com/thesixthward

WBEZ: What’s A Democratic Ward Organization?

We just had an election yesterday and the day before WBEZ educates us on these fabled ward organizations. Of course to bring it down to reality your alderman may be a Democrat ward committeeman or woman - such as Ald. Roderick Sawyer (Ward 6), Ald. Michelle Harris (Ward 8), Ald. Anthony Beale (Ward 9), or Ald. Howard Brookins (Ward 21).

Another controversy to bring up is how they were able to appoint - not through a special election where the voters choose - representatives to the Illinois General Assembly for example. These organizations and the committeman who run them may not have the clout they did say during the 1960s, but they still have clout regardless.

Anyway, let's allow WBEZ to educate us

While ward organizations still play a role in turning out voters on election day, they’re not the political force they used to be. https://t.co/fHPF637qZy

— WBEZ (@WBEZ) March 19, 2018

Each of Chicago’s 50 wards has a Democratic party representative called a ward committeeman or committeewoman. Elected every four years, they serve as the party’s link to the patchwork of neighborhoods and communities that makeup Chicago. In more than half of the city’s wards, the committeeman and the alderman are the same person.

“Just to open up our doors on election day, it costs you on average $10,000,” said Ald. Walter Burnett (27th Ward), speaking at a recent press conference to defend Pritzker’s gifts to ward organizations. The candidate gave Burnett’s own group $15,000 on March 5.

But Burnett said that’s nothing unusual and ward organizations need those donations from candidates to survive.

“You literally have to pay people to stand outside in the cold and pass out literature and convince people to vote,” he said. “Not one person is gonna be putting up a sign, not one person is going to be passing out literature for [a candidate] unless he’s paying them.”

Read the whole thing to know the history of these often little know elected offices. As you may or may not know each ward has not only Democratic committeemen they also have Republican committeeman (although for the most part in Chicago the Democrats are solidly the majority). Every year during a presidential election such as 2016 and we'll do it again in 2020 each of the 50 wards will elected a committeeman or committeewoman. As stated these positions don't have the clout they used to, but they're still very important!

For What It's Worth: Every candidate but one draws an objection in 2nd Subcircuit race

I'm quite late to this post however Jack Leyhane - the blogmaster of For What It's Worth - covers the race for 2nd Subcircuit. Mainly the news is over objections to petitions, and recent entrant to this race 21st ward Ald. Howard Brookins scored himself two objections. Perhaps someone out there didn't like the fact that he pivoted towards a judicial election as opposed to taking on Bobby Rush for US House or Representatives.

This race is for the vacancy of Valerie Turner who was forced to give up her post when it was discovered she allowed a clerk to don judicial robes and preside over cases for traffic court. The clerk attorney Rhonda Crawford ran for judge in 1st subcircuit and won, however, was barred from taking the bench.

#NEXTGEN Youth Summit at Simeon Career Academy

 Just got this in via e-mail today.

• 21st Ward Alderman Howard B. Brookins, Jr. to Host 
  2017 #NEXTGEN Youth Summit in the South Side of Chicago
  
  2017 Youth Summit at Simeon Career Academy
  
  Chicago – On October 14, Alderman Howard B. Brookins, Jr. teams up with various organizations, schools, and community leaders to host the 2017 #NEXTGEN Youth Summit. The Youth Summit will take place at Simeon Career Academy located at 8147 S. Vincennes starting at 9:00am and ending at 4:00pm.
  
  This is the first year that Alderman Brookins will be hosting a Youth Summit in the 21st Ward. “I think it is extremely important that we as leaders and adults develop opportunities for young people to learn and get inspired to become positive productive citizens of our ward and the city,” stated 21st Ward Alderman Howard B. Brookins, Jr., Chairman of the Committee on Education and Child Development.
  
  The Youth Summit will be filled with keynote speakers, live entertainment, and workshops on career development, college readiness, health and nutrition, STEM, entrepreneurship, public speaking and art. In addition, the Youth Summit will have two panel discussions – one will focus on Government and Politics and its Effect on Young People and the other will focus on Violence in Chicago. Lastly, there will be an area where various organizations will disseminate information to all of the participants. 
  
  For additional information please contact the 21st Ward Office at 773-881-9300.

Flyer posted to our ig page.

Sneed: Black officials to boycott Duckworth event

Last week Tammy Duckworth became the Democratic nominee for US Senate against incumbent Senator Mark Kirk. I would ask if this would hurt her chances to win, however, I recognize that we have a long way between now and November.

“Why would we want to express unity with Tammy Duckworth, who was selected for that spot by the Washington insiders at the Democratic National Campaign Committee?” said a powerful member of the City Council’s 18-member black caucus who asked to remain off-the-record.

Sneed is told a hush-hush meeting of aldermanic and state caucus members, who had endorsed Andrea Zopp for the U.S. Senate seat, met recently in Hyde Park to discuss the boycott of the Duckworth event, which sources claim was organized by U.S. Rep. Robin Kelly and Secretary of State Jesse White, who supported Duckworth’s primary candidacy.

Word is the boycott support group includes powerful State Sen. Kwame Raoul, State Sen. Kim Lightford, State Sen. Toi Hutchinson, State Sen. Patricia Van Pelt, Ald. Howard Brookins (21st), Ald. Roderick Sawyer (6th) and Ald. Leslie Hairston (5th).

“It was taken for granted we would suck it all up — her candidacy — and it was patently unfair,” the source added.

The Duckworth event is set for 8:30 a.m. to 10 a.m. at Pearl’s Place, 3901 S. Michigan Avenue.

Howard Brookins mail for US Congress

Tomorrow is primary election day and one of the races Democratic voters will consider is the 1st congressional district race Bobby Rush has a challenger in Ald. Howard Brookins (21st ward) who shared this tidbit in a mailer that you see below:

I see got to hit him for that missing money for a job center. A story we've written about a few times in the past. Is this enough to propel Brookins from Chicago's City Council to Washington? Good question.

The whole mailer you can see below or here.

Speaker Madigan endorses Brookins....

I saw an article about this in the Sun-Times yesterday, and it's unbelievable. In addition to being the Speaker of the House of Representatives in Springfield, Michael Madigan is also the 13th ward Democrat committeeman and chairman of the state Democratic Party. He is also one of the most powerful Democrats in this state.

Make no mistake many politicians including some of his fellow Democrats have had to do battle with him and with varying degrees of success (which could be little to none). That being said when he makes an endorsement that would likely carry lots of weight. That being said Brookins (who faces Congressman Bobby Rush for his 1st Congressional District seat) still have to go through the primary.

Rich Miller takes a further look at this recent development:

As explained in the story, Brookins asked Madigan for help with his petitions and Madigan complied. Madigan’s 13th Ward has just two precincts worth about a hundred votes two years ago in that district, so it won’t mean much, anyway.

* But, c’mon. There’s no big mystery here. At the same time Brookins made his pitch to Madigan, Congressman Rush’s son Flynn was running against Madigan’s House Majority Leader. He ended up dropping out, likely because of serious defects in his petitions.

BTW, yesterday was the first day of early voting. Do you plan to vote ahead of the March 15th primary? Have you received your voter registration cards?

2015 the year that was

 Earlier this year Chicagoans went to the polls to either vote out their incumbent Alderman or to vote in new ones. In addition, the city threw the mayoral contest to a run off for the first time and resulted in a victory for Rahm Emanuel and a second term for mayor.

As a result of the recent municipal elections Ald. Roderick Sawyer replaced Ald. Howard Brookins as chairman of the city council Black Caucus. Ald. Sawyer has been all over the McDonald shooting and the release of the police footage of that incident.

In addition, Ald. Brookins is running for the 1st Congressional District seat held by Bobby Rush. Congressman Rush had reportedly been looking at retirement until he revealed later that he plans to run for re-election in 2016.

Though he's been re-elected a recent reversal of events during the last two months of 2015 has activists calling for his resignation. The reversal involves a police shooting last year of Laquan McDonald shot by a police officer 16 times and any footage of this incident suppress by Mayor Emanuel & state's attorney Anita Alvarez.

Speaking of the state's attorney as a result of her alleged role in the suppression of police footage of the McDonald incident activists are calling for her to resign as well. For the moment while the next mayoral election is 2019, Alvarez has a primary coming up next year. She already has some seemingly strong opponents going up against her so we shall see if she can eke out the Democratic nomination - which is certainly a shoo-in for being elected in November.

Another Chicago politico in Circuit Court Clerk Dorothy Brown as a result of federal investigations into her campaign has lost the support of the Cook County Democratic Party. She had originally been slated but federal warrants caused Democratic "bosses" in Chicago to remove their original slating.

We're still following the Whole Foods Market coming to 63rd & Halsted. Thanks to Bruce Montgomery on instagram we've been seeing some progress as far as construction of the future site of Whole Foods Market Englewood.

Disclosure: One of the bloggers here at The Sixth Ward is a team member at Whole Foods Market.

In addition local lender Seaway Bank celebrated 50 years in business. While loyal customers and the bank's employees are celebrating there are some hiccups and that includes the sudden resignation of their new President & CEO who had been installed in 2014.

Also another local lender Highland Community Bank failed and taken over by a Indiana-based bank. As a matter of fact in different times Seaway had been in talks to buy the bank located on 87th Street near Ashland Avenue.

BTW, on the south side Pullman after a new factory opened up and a national monument designation is in the running as of this posting for 2015 Curbed Cup neighborhood of the year. In the meanwhile near the end of the year Chatham was the recipient of further attention thanks to the many modernist homes built in the area over the years.

What is a story you followed during the past year? What are you predictions and expectations in 2016?

CapitolFax: Could Rush be toast?

Just to piggyback off of JP's post this morning we get some more details on the petition challengers of Bobby Rush. Alderman Howard Brookins who is also running for the 1 congressional district seat initiated a challenge to them. Over there you will get links to see copies of the petitions in question that Rush had turned in.

In a press release Brookins noted the following discrepancies:

• Multiple signatures from the same person on different petition sheets.
• One signer signed for another person or multiple people at a single address.
• Circulators signed their own sheets.
• Circulator signatures do not match.
• Notary notarized his own signature.
• Circulators repeatedly visited the same addresses and collected duplicate signatures.
• Some sheets have no signatures and only printed names.
• Is it possible for the veteran Congressman to push back the challenges to his petitions?

Here are the examples of the discrepancies for Rush's petitions provided by Howard Brookins

• Bobby Rush Petition Sheet 1
• Bobby Rush Petition Sheet 2
• Bobby Rush Petition Sheet 3

Will the veteran Congressman be able to beat out these challeges to get on the ballot next March?

Another iteration of the Clout Wiki

Sometime before the 2011 municipal elections an earlier iteration of the Clout Wiki was shared on the 1n73rw3bs to the delight of Chicago political geeks such as myself. For many years, it was online with no updates other than the current officer holders when it was first published then eventually went offline.

Our friends at Aldertrack has unveiled a new version with the current players of Chicago politics especially those elected this year. Here's hoping they will continue to update for years go come.

In addition they have some changes to make such as 21st ward Ald. Howard Brookins is no longer chairman of the City Council Black Caucus. That distinction now goes to 6th ward Alderman Roderick Sawyer. Just one example amongst many to be sure.

Now I wonder who ran the earlier Clout Wiki!

UPDATE: The earlier version of the Clout Wiki was produced by Aldertrack's Mike Fourcher who conversely is also responsible for the current iteration of it. As per the comment you see below.

Chatham NeighborWorks Day

Chatham NeighborWorks Day

The Chatham NeighborWorks Day is June 6 and starts at 9:00 am at 8100 S. Maryland Ave. There will be a community Block Party and BBQ following the planting of flowers.