June 23, 2010
"LOVEABLE" ALDERMAN LAURINO UNBEATABLE IN 39TH WARD
ANALYSIS & OPINION BY RUSS STEWART
Here's a sight never seen: Chicago motorists pasting an "I Love My Alderman" sticker on their bumpers. After a decade in office, city aldermen are invariably more despised than cherished.
Marge Laurino, from the Northwest Side 39th Ward, is an exception. It's as though a mammoth dose of nitrous oxide -- the dental "laughing gas" -- has been inhaled by everybody, and giddiness is everywhere. "I Love Marge" sentiment is pervasive.
This column usually sniffs, scrounges and scours the political netherworld to unearth negativity. Who wants a "puff piece"? But, after contacting almost a dozen 39th Ward community and business leaders and area politicians, not one had an on-the-record nasty comment about Laurino.
"She has the right attitude," said 39th Ward Republican Committeeman Bill Miceli. "Her office provides city services to all who ask, doesn't think that they're doing you a favor, and doesn't expect a future quid pro quo." Adds Miceli: "That's not the case in other wards," mentioning the 45th Ward.
Laurino, who was appointed alderman in 1994, has done a "pretty good job," acknowledges former North River Commission president Scott Berman. "She's very competent," adds Mayfair Community Association past president Dennis Hammer.
"She's personable and political," said one community leader who wished anonymity of Laurino. "The ward has a vibrant commercial sector, better than most area wards, but she still takes care of family and friends, getting them on some public payroll. And she's a puppet for Mayor Daley" in the City Council.
When asked why, after 16 years, she's running again, the alderman, no shrinking violet, smoothly replied: "I'm really good at my job. I can access government at all levels for the benefit of my constituents." Does she have any ambitions? Responded Laurino, age 58: "Being alderman is a great job. I know of no other job where I can have such an impact on the quality of life of my constituents."
To the uninformed or forgetful, the 39th Ward has had just two aldermen since 1965, a span of 45 years, both Laurinos. Laurino's father, Tony, who once was a precinct captain for Vito Marzullo, relocated to the Northwest Side in the 1950s and became ward secretary to Alderman Patrick Shapiro, while also serving as a license inspector for the Bureau of Water. When Shapiro was elected as a judge in 1964, Laurino replaced him -- and was reelected overwhelmingly seven times.
Known as the "Alley Alderman" due to his focus on providing city services, Laurino was the chairman of the council's Traffic Committee. He also focused on the family business: Marge Laurino was an aldermanic aide from 1980 to 1994, his son Bill was a state representative from 1970 to 1996, and nearly every other relation, by birth or marriage, got a city job, including his daughter, his son-in-law, his wife and his step-daughter. Laurino also got his precinct captains on the payroll somewhere, building and maintaining a potent precinct organization. After Frank Annunzio, a West Side congressman, moved to the Northwest Side to run in 1972, Laurino was instrumental in getting him elected and keeping him in Congress until 1992.
But the "Laurino Machine" nearly collapsed after the feds indicted the alderman and a bunch of friends and family for conspiring in a ghost payroll scheme. Laurino died before standing trial, his daughter was appointed by Daley to replace him, and her father's travails are now ancient history.
In 1995 Marge Laurino won a difficult runoff for the succession, beating Tony Fornelli 6,882-4,982, with 58 percent of the vote. She got 61 percent of the vote in 1999, she was unopposed in 2003, and she got 79 percent in 2007.
Politics has reverted to normal in the 39th Ward. Laurino's husband, Randy Barnette, is the ward Democratic committeeman and works for the City Colleges of Chicago system; her nephew, John D'Amico, is a state representative; and the ward's 47 precincts are still manned by an army of payrollers.
The period to circulate nominating petitions for the 2011 election commences in mid-September. Nobody has indicated any interest in taking on Laurino.
The 39th Ward runs roughly from Devon Avenue to Waveland Avenue, in an arrow shape, between Kedzie Avenue and Cicero Avenue. Demographically, ethnically and economically, it is quite diverse. It cast 13,175 votes (72.5 percent of the total) for Barack Obama in 2008, evidencing a sizable liberal voter base, but that base does not vote for alderman.
Sauganash, in the northwest corner of the ward (west of Pulaski Road and north of Bryn Mawr Avenue), consists of 11 precincts, is decidedly upscale, heavily Catholic and full of professionals, and is the Laurino base. Laurino got 1,483 votes in the area in 2007, to Obama's 2,147 in 2008, or 664 fewer.
Mayfair, in the southwest corner of the ward (west of Pulaski and south of Bryn Mawr), consists of 10 precincts, is largely blue collar, and is packed with city workers. Laurino got 1,513 votes in the area in 2007, to Obama's 2,687, or 1,174 fewer.
Albany Park, in the southeast corner of the ward (east of Pulaski and south of Foster Avenue to Montrose Avenue), consists of 10 precincts and is ethnically diverse. The area is filled with non-citizens who occupy two- and three-flats and multi-unit apartment buildings. According to Berman, it is more than 25 percent Hispanic, almost 20 percent Asian (including Koreans, Thais, Vietnamese, Cambodians and Laotians), about 15 percent Indian and Pakistani, 10 percent Middle Eastern and 10 percent East European, largely Russians and Bosnians. Laurino got 1,220 votes in the area in 2007, to Obama's 3,446 in 2008, or 2,226 fewer.
The Peterson Park/Hollywood Park/North Park Village area, in the northeast corner of the ward (north of Foster and east of Pulaski), consists of nine precincts, is affluent, is filled with two-flats, and has a significant Jewish and student population, being near Northeastern Illinois University and North Park University. Laurino got 1,336 votes in the area in 2007, to Obama's 2,679, or 1,343 fewer. In the North Park Village precinct, which is filled with seniors, Laurino got 320 votes, to 292 for Obama.
Finally, the Portage Park/Old Irving Park area, south of Montrose between Lawndale Avenue and the Kennedy Expressway, consists of seven precincts and resembles Mayfair. Laurino got 777 votes there in 2007, to Obama's 2,216, or 1,439 fewer.
Turnout was 7,924 in 2007 and 18,181 in 2008. Clearly, against a popular, well financed liberal reformer, Laurino would have a problem, but no Obamas are emerging.
Laurino listed her top accomplishments and goals:
(1) The Peterson-Pulaski corridor, to which Laurino wants to attract more high-tech companies. "We've created thousands of jobs" in the last decade, she said. The old CCH building is now occupied, and Precision Plating and New World Van Lines have relocated. "It's a great location," she said.
Laurino is the chairman of the council's Economic and Technological Development Committee.
(2) The ward's three TIF districts (Cicero-Peterson, Peterson-Pulaski and Lawrence-Pulaski), are flourishing, according to Laurino, with $5 million spent. The new Whole Foods Market at Cicero and Peterson has "been enormously successful," although the condominiums that were planned in the second phase of the development are stalled.
(3) The ward has four east-west commercial strips: Peterson, Foster, Lawrence and Montrose. Along the latter two, particularly east of Kostner, the incidence of Korean-owned businesses is high. Unlike other wards to the west, people "shop where they live," especially in Albany Park, Laurino said. "There is a very low vacancy rate," she added. Many of the Korean-American business owners live in Lincolnwood and Skokie.
Lawrence and Irving Park have been streetscaped recently.
(4) North Park Village: The heating and air conditioning system was rehabbed in the 600 existing units. Another 31 will be constructed, starting in 2011, and an Alzheimer's day care center will be opened.
(5) A new police station was built in Albany Park. Crime has "declined for two years," Laurino said.
(6) New Albany Park Multicultural Academy, Edison and Haugan Middle schools were opened. A "preventable care" health center at Roosevelt High School was opened, and one soon will be opened at Hibbard School.
(7) A 3-mile hiking and biking recreational trail, along the former Mayfair Cutoff line, from Foster to Devon, is planned, supplementing the Sauganash Trail path.
(8) A Dominick's shopping center was built at Foster and Pulaski, and a Walgreens will anchor a new mall at Lawrence and Pulaski.
But there is criticism: The former Skil site remains unoccupied. The 60 condos north of Whole Foods are unbuilt. There are pockets of blight along Pulaski near Peterson.
In the 2001 ward remap, the 39th Ward lost four Albany Park precincts to the 33rd Ward and three Peterson Park precincts to the 50th Ward. The 2011 remap, effective in 2015, surely will slice off more of Albany Park, making the 39th Ward whiter and upping the owner/renter ratio, now 70-30, to at least 80-20.
The outlook: Like a typical Laurino, the alderman has been on the city dole for 30 years. She can retire with a gigantic pension. But there is no sense of disconnect or outrage in the 39th Ward. Everybody's reasonably content. Laurino, like her father, understands that if she keeps delivering services, nobody cares how many friends and family pad the payrolls.
Laurino will win easily in 2011.