Greater Lincoln Park DFA - November Meeting Minutes

Written by: Tom Tresser on Nov 14, 2007 2:22 PM EST

Linked to groups: Greater Lincoln Park DFA

Our new chapter met last night at the home of Merle and Tom Tresser.
12 people attended.

- We have a blog at www.glpdfa.wordpress.com where we'll post projects and details about the chapter.

- We collected $240.00 in dues (@ $20/person). We need to establish a bank account (includes registering as an Illinois political organization).

- We discussed the Latin School Lincoln Park soccer field project and decided that our chapter is in opposition to this project for these major reasons:
     - bad process: secret, non-transparent, no appeal
     - bad policy: limiting access to precious public asset to favor private entity, allowing advertising into the park for private gain, opens entire park system to privatization
     - bad finances: the fees that the Latin School are putting into the project are apparently what they would've paid anyway over time
- Merle, Michelle and Sydney will draft a statement on behalf of our chapter and John and Mark will make recommendations for deployment of that statement.
- A group of citizens met last night on this topic a few blocks away and John Paul Jones from Friends of the Parks attended. This ad hoc group will meet again on Nov. 28 and we'll update everyone on this and other reactions to the project.

- IMPORTANT - our first sponsored event is Monday, Nov. 19 at the Lincoln Park Library (1150 W. Fullerton) at 7pm - DEPUTY REGISTRAR TRAINING. We need a total of 25 attendees. IF YOU HAVEN'T ALREADY RESPONDED, PLEASE LET MARIA KNOW YOU WILL ATTEND - 312-909-1767, MSANTONATO@SBCGLOBAL.NET, BY THURSDAY EVENING - WITH YOUR ADDRESS. SHE HAS TO LET THE BOARD OF ELECTIONS KNOW IS COMING ON FRIDAY.

- Our next meeting is Tuesday, December 11, 7:00pm at the house of John Lohrmann, 210 W. Scott, Unit I.

- We'll discuss the movement to amend the Illinois Constitution, we need people to take on Membership, Recording Secretary, House Meetings and to set up our endorsement process.

I'm including the text below to show what an amazing job the North Side DFA is doing and what we're aiming for...

This message was sent by Sandra Verthein, group organizer for Northside DFA:

Last spring Northside DFA adopted or endorsed seven candidates for alderman in Chicago in an attempt to make progressive change in our city government.  National DFA got in on the act as well and endorsed ine candidates, adding all of them to the DFA-List.   We worked
incredibly hard in those elections; we had some wins, some losses, and some very disappointing near misses.

Since then there have been some very interesting developments, including a newly formed "progressive and independent caucus" in the City Council being lead by three of our NDFA candidates, Alds. Moore, Munoz and Preckwinkle.  And yesterday there was a crucial v ote on Mayor Daley's budget proposal, which includes what Congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr. aptly called a  "corruption, waste and mismanagement tax" n his recent Chicago Tribune commentary, "Don't accept Daley's taxes."

There were a total of three votes on the budget yesterday:

A vote on Daley's overall budget proposal: passed 37 to 13 A vote to raise property taxes by $86.5 million: passed 29 to 21 A vote to raise other taxes and fees (including a tax on bottled
water): passed 40 to 10. Though I appreciate any spark of independence, there is something a bit disingenuous about the fact that so many aldermen were willing to vote against the property tax increase but were NOT willing to v ote against the budget that is supposed to be funded by that! tax inc rease, or against the other fees, many of which disproportionally affect that "other" constituency, the ones that don't vote as often -- renters and non-homeowners.

So, how did everyone do?  (And keep in mind that for years there has been almost no opposition to the mayor's budget.)

Our winning candidates:

4th Ward Ald. Toni Preckwinkle (NDFA endorsed candidate and DFA-List
candidate) voted "no" on all three votes.  A quote from Toni: "Ald.
Toni Preckwinkle (4th) accused Daley of ignoring the crunch caused by rising labor costs and declining housing revenues until after the mayoral election, then failing to address the "structural" problems of skyrocketing debt, low cash reserves and underfunded employee pension funds."
22nd Ward Ald. Ricardo Munoz (NDFA endorsed candidate and DFA-List
candidate) voted "no" on all three votes.  
49th Ward Ald. Joe Moore (NDFA adopted candidate and DFA-List
candidate): voted "no" on all three votes.  A quote from Joe:
"Nothing has eroded public confidence in our local government more than the constant drumbeat of criminal indictments and convictions [...] How many bottles of water must be sold to pay for the $12 million fund created to compensate victims of the city's rigged hiring system?"
1st Ward Ald. Manny Flores (DFA-List candidate): voted "no" on two, "yes" on fee increase.
7th Ward Ald. Sandi Jackson (DFA-Li st candidate): voted "no" on all three vo tes.
Our "losing" candidateas -- the Aldermen that we supported candidates against but who were re-elected anyway:

21st Ward Ald. Howard Brookins (NDFA and DFA supported Leroy Jones):
voted "no" on two, "yes" on budget
43rd Ward Ald. Vi Daley (NDFA and DFA supported Michele Smith): voted "no" property tax, yes on other two.
50th Ward Ald. Bernard Stone (NDFA and DFA supported Greg Brewer in the primary, NDFA supported Naisy Dolar in the run-off): voted "no" on two, "yes" on fee increase.
National DFA and the Loop DFA group also supported David Askew for 2nd Ward Alderman in the primary, and though he didn't win, the incumbent was replaced by a challenger candidate Bob Fioretti, who voted "no" on all th ree votes.

Here is how our other northside alderman voted:

32nd Ward Ald. Scott Waguespack: voted "no" property tax, yes on other two 39th Ward Ald. Margaret Laurino: voted "no" property tax, yes on other two 40th Ward Ald. Patrick O'Connor: voted "yes" on all three 44th Ward Ald. Tom Tunney: voted "yes" on all three 46th Ward Ald. Hellen Shiller: voted "yes" on all three 47th Ward Ald. Eugene Schulter: voted "no" on two, "yes" on fee increase 48th Ward Ald. Mary Ann Smith: voted "yes" on all three And here is a breakdown of all the votes:  

Vote on overall budget

Yes (37) Dowell (3rd), Hairston (5th), Lyle (6th), Harris (8th), Beale (9th), Pope (10th), Balcer (11th), Cardenas (12th), Olivo (13th), Burke (14th), Thompson (16th, Thomas (17th), Lane (18th) , Rugai (19th), Cochran (20th), Brookins (21st), Zalewski (2! 3rd), So lis (25th), Ocasio (26th), Burnett (27th), E. Smith (28th), Carothers (29th), Reboyras (30th), Suarez (31st), Waguespack (32nd), Mell (33rd), Austin (34th), Banks (36th), Mitts (37th), Allen (38th), Laurino (39th), O'Connor (40th), Daley (43rd), Tunney (44th), Levar (45th), Shiller (46th), M. Smith (48th).

No (13) Flores (1st), Fioretti (2nd), Preckwinkle (4th), Jackson (7th), Foulkes (15th), Munoz (22nd), Dixon (24th), Colon (35th), Doherty (41st), Reilly (42nd), Schulter (47th), Moore (49th), Stone (50th).

Vote to raise property taxes by $86.5 million

Yes (29) Dowell (3rd), Hairston (5th), Lyle (6th), Harris (8th), Beale (9th), Pope (10th), Balcer (11th), Cardenas (12th), Olivo (13th), Burke (14th), Thompson (16th), Thomas (17th), Lane (18th), Rugai (19th), Cochran (20th), Zalewski (23rd), Solis (25th), Ocasio (26th), Burnett (27th), E. Smith (28th), Carothers (29th), Reboyras (30th), Mell (33r d), Austin (34th), Mitts (37th), O'Connor (40th), Tunney (44th), Shiller (46th), M. Smith (48th).

No (21) Flores (1st), Fioretti (2nd), Preckwinkle (4th), Jackson (7th), Foulkes (15th), Brookins (21st), Munoz (22nd), Dixon (24th), Suarez (31st), Waguespack (32nd), Colon (35th), Banks (36th), Allen (38th), Laurino (39th), Doherty (41st), Reilly (42nd), Daley (43rd), Levar (45th), Schulter (47th), Moore (49th), Stone (50th).

Vote to raise other taxes, fees and fines

Yes (40) Flores (1st), Dowell (3rd), Hairston (5th), Lyle (6th), Harris (8th), Beale (9th), Pope (10th), Balcer (11th), Cardenas (12th), Olivo (13th), Burke (14th), Thompson (16th), Thomas (17th), Lane (18th), Rugai (19th), Cochran (20th), Zalewski (23rd), Dixon (24th), Solis (25th), Burnett (27th), E. Smith (28th), Carothers (29th), Reboyras (30th), Suarez (31st), Waguespack (32nd), Mell (33rd), Austin (34th), Colon (35th ), Banks (36th), Mitts (37th), Allen (38th), Laurino (39th),! Oresquo ;Connor (40th), Daley (43rd), Tunney (44th), Levar (45th), Shiller (46th), Schulter (47th), M.Smith (48th), Stone (50th).

No (10) Fioretti (2nd), Preckwinkle (4th), Jackson (7th), Foulkes (15th), Brookins (21st), Munoz (22nd), Ocasio (26th), Doherty (41st), Reilly (42nd), Moore (49th).

You can also read more here:

Tribune article with stupid title (how is a 26-21 vote "breezing?"):
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-council13nov13,1,5152110.story?page=2&track=rss

List of roll call votes on Tribune blog:
http://newsblogs.chicagotribune.com/clout_st/2007/11/daley-budget-an.html

A great link to ward-by-ward info, a city hall seating chart showing where all the freshmen aldermen sit, and more:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-alderman-map-htmlpage,1,823609.htmlpage

Peace,
Sandra Verthein
Northside DFA

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Location: Chicago, IL 60614