January 19, 2011
"BURGER KING MENTALITY" PREVAILS IN LAKEFRONT WARDS

ANALYSIS & OPINION BY RUSS STEWART

On the Lakefront, in upscale and semi-impoverished wards, aldermen are deemed indentured servants, not public servants. They're indistinguishable from the server at Burger King, who chirps that you can "have it your way."

Elsewhere in Chicago, residents are "low maintenance." They don't bitch, blather or bellow when their problem or complaint is not instantly remedied. On the Lakefront, "high maintenance" is the norm: They want it fixed, right now, their way.

Aldermanic burnout has precipitated bailouts in the 43rd, 46th and 48th wards. Three incumbents who have been loyal supporters of Mayor Rich Daley are retiring this year. Vi Daley (43rd), age 67, has served since 1999, Helen Shiller (46th), age 63, has served since 1987, and Mary Ann Smith (48th), age 64, has served since 1989.

Of the three, Shiller is toxic. A rabble-rousing, anti-capitalist, anti-development activist for more than 40 years in her Uptown ward, forever championing the "have nots," Shiller and her agenda are passe. All 10 of the candidates vying to succeed her revile her, and none wants her endorsement. Smith, in her Edgewater ward, is surreptitiously backing state Representative Harry Osterman, the son of her predecessor. In Lincoln Park, Daley did not want to subject herself to another nasty onslaught from ward Democratic Committeeman Michele Smith, whom she barely beat in 2007.

In the 49th Ward, incumbent Joe Moore, who won by just 247 votes in the 2007 runoff, has gotten the voters' message. He eschews ideology, embraces a Burger King mentality, and shuns his former preoccupation with artsy-fartsy pursuits like banning foie gras.

Here's an analysis:

43rd Ward (Lincoln Park): The upscale ward was once a hotbed of anti-Machine liberalism, having elected such icons as Bill Singer (1969) and Marty Oberman (1975) as aldermen. Back then, voters preferred platitudes over services. Now they exhibit "Don't tread on me" self-indulgence. Residents expect to be pampered by an obsequious alderman, and they are obnoxiously petulant when they aren't. They want Burger King service, not platitudes.

Today's soupe du jour is redevelopment of the vacant Lincoln Park Hospital on a 3-acre site at Halsted Street and Webster Avenue. The Chicago Plan Commission, over the objections of Vi Daley, endorsed a mixed-use plan, including 160 condominiums, medical offices and a 20,000-square-foot grocery. Nearby property owners are agog and inflamed; they don't want trucks, deliveries and incessant congestion. Those several blocks away could care less; they want the convenience of a food store.

That put the alderman in an untenable position: She alienated half the ward, which wants a Fresh Market, and she disgusted the Webster neighbors, demonstrating such anemic clout that the city approved the project over her objection. Confronted with a lose/lose situation, Daley quit.

Barack Obama won the ward in 2008 by 22,673-7,451, getting 74.4 percent of the vote, and in the 2010 assessor's race, independent Forrest Claypool beat Democrat Joe Berrios 8,083-5,496, getting 45.2 percent of the vote, with 3,954 votes (22.1 percent) to the Republican candidate. The ward is liberal but independent.

Ten candidates are running in the Feb. 22 election, with the top tier including Daley's aide, Chuck Eastwood; her erstwhile vituperative critic, Smith, a former assistant U.S. attorney who forced Daley into a 2007 runoff, getting 46.1 percent of the vote (3,838 votes) and who now is siding with Daley as a hospital plan foe; Tim Egan, a hospital administrator who got 12 percent of the vote (1,059 votes) in the 2007 election and who favors limited hospital development; and businesswoman Bita Buenrostro.

In the second tier of candidates are Jim Hinkamp, Raf Vargas, Fred Christie, Mike Jankovich, Carmen Olmetti and Mitch Newman.

In 2008 the ineffectual Democratic committeeman, Peg Roth, retired, prompting a bombastic contest between Smith, Egan and Eastwood. Smith finished first, with 4,204 votes (39.9 percent of the total cast), to 3,514 (33.4 percent) for Egan and 2,811 (26.6 percent) for Eastwood. That's a template for this election.

Egan said Smith has been "autocratic and dictatorial" as the committeeman, and he derides her as a "liberal partisan unsuited for the job of alderman." Smith retorts that she is "open and participatory" and pledges to "fight the culture of corruption that permeates" the city. Daley has made no endorsement.

Turnout was 8,992 in the initial 2007 election and 8,321 in the runoff. Smith has a precinct apparatus in place, and he is endorsed by former aldermen Singer, Oberman and Chuck Bernardini. Egan claims he has "built a broad coalition," with backing from Democrats Jesse White, Tom Dart, Jim Houlihan and John Fritchey and Republican Ron Gidwitz. Outlook: A Smith-Egan runoff, with an edge to Egan.

46th Ward (Uptown): Shiller has long been derided as a hare-brained liberal, advocating such idiocies as making the 46th Ward a "nuclear free zone." Her dream was to dig a moat around the ward to keep developers and yuppies out and Section 8 renters and welfare recipients in. She is an icon to her ward's "have nots" and much beloved by the ward's liberals, of which there are a plethora.

Obama won the ward in 2008 by 21,783-3,780, getting 84.1 percent of the vote, but the ward is evolving materially, not ideologically. It has progressed from majority non-owner-occupied to nearly majority owner-occupied, and the latter residents have a distinctly different set of priorities, namely, to protect their property values.

In prior races, Shiller's "have not" base was a slight majority. She won by 5,834-5,133 (with 53 percent of the vote) in 2007, by 6,240-4,536 (58 percent) in 2003, by 6,272-5,022 (55 percent) in the 1999 runoff, by 5,988-4,460 (57 percent) in 1995, and by 8,613-7,652 in the 1991 runoff, defeating Mike Quigley, who now is the 5th U.S. House District representative. In 1987 she ousted incumbent Jerry Orbach in the runoff by 9,751-9,253 (with 51 percent of the vote). She supported Harold Washington for mayor, and her "low income" coalition barely eclipsed Orbach's Lakefront and Jewish base.

Shiller's trajectory since 1987 has been downward. Now a cog in the "Daley Machine," her base has eroded by about 4,000 votes. Long opposed to "big box" development, Shiller relented on the Wilson Yards shopping center, anchored by a Target, provided that all the housing units, which cost the developer $400,000 each to build, were "affordable housing." The result: Apoplectic outrage. Her "poor" base was incensed that she let a big-box store defile the ward, and the more affluent were angered that she let Section 8 renters becloud the safety and esthetics of the mall. "It's the 'Tar-ghetto,'" said Diane Shapiro, the Republican ward committeeman and an aldermanic candidate. "People are afraid to shop there." As a result, Shiller needs a hazmat team to erase her toxicity.

The top tier of candidates for this election includes 2007 loser James Cappleman, ward sanitation superintendent Don Nowotny, anti-Wilson Yards activist Molly Phelan, police officer Mike Carroll and Shapiro. Also running are Befekadu Retta, Emily Stewart, Caitlin McIntyre, Andy Lamm and Marc Kaplan. Nowotny, Cappleman and Stewart are openly gay, and Retta is black. The ward's gay population is about 20 percent.

Outlook: Cappleman, Phelan, Carroll and Shapiro are virulently anti-Shiller, splitting 60 percent of the vote; Nowotny, a mayoral appointee, worked closely with Shiller for years and has ties to both the "have nots" and neighborhood businesses. He will get the bulk of the pro-Shiller 40 percent. Expect a Nowotny-Phelan runoff, although Cappleman could surprise.

48th Ward (Edgewater): The ward's Democratic organization, run by Carol Ronen, is a Burger King franchise run by a clique who "do it their way," avoid elections and prefer anointments. "It's insiders' musical chairs," lamented aldermanic candidate Phil Bernstein, a local business owner. Ronen was appointed to a state Senate seat in 1999 when Art Berman resigned, and Harry Osterman was named to her Illinois House seat. Smith was appointed as alderman in 1989 by Daley to replace the late Kathy Osterman, Harry Osterman's mother. When Ronen quit to go on Rod Blagojevich's payroll to boost her pension, she picked a major donor, Heather Steans, as senator. Osterman, a liberal, voted against the state income tax hike. After he wins, Ronen will pick his replacement.

The field includes Bernstein, anti-Daley gadfly Pat McDonough, Steve Chereska and Jose Arteaga. Smith was unopposed in 2007, getting 6,736 votes.

"I'm running because I want to make an impact, and the place to make it is the City Council," Osterman said. Retorts Bernstein: "He'll be just another go-along alderman, wasting money." Outlook: Osterman wins without a runoff.

49th Ward (Rogers Park): During the real estate boom from 1995 to 2006, more than 6,000 rental units in the ward were converted to condominiums. Most young buyers presumed they could flip their home and upgrade to Lincoln Park. It didn't happen, and they're stuck for the foreseeable future.

In 2007 Don Gordon ripped Moore for his effete preoccupations and almost won. In the anti-Moore field are Brian White, Nathan Myers, Blane Roberts and Roosevelt Akins. White advocates making the whole ward a tax increment financing district and spending the money for affordable housing.

Obama won the ward in 2008 with 89.1 percent of the vote. Yet all of those property-owning liberals recognize the obvious: They can't sell now, and they'll never sell if the ward is crammed with low-income renters. Prediction: Moore wins easily.