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| 10/23/2006 | |
 Excerpts of press coverage of Alderman Shiller. View a more complete archive. *** Indeed, when it comes to the lock-step following of the Democratic party line today, there is only one exception — Ald. Helen Shiller (46th). For nearly 20 years, the independent Democrat and former 1960s radical has been a lone voice in the council wilderness for public debate, discussion and decision-making. Patrick T. Reardon, (Chicago Tribune, July 2, 2006) ***
Under urging by board member Serafin Kogan, Lakeview Towers contributed $2,500 for a chess and checker table, arbors and plants. Ald. Helen Shiller's office helped with lighting and benches. Others pitched in to add trellises and concrete patios, including the popular "elder's circle," where three benches form a conversation circle in the shade of a 70-year-old honey locust tree. Leslie Baldacci, (Chicago Sun-Times, June 20, 2006) **** Ald. Helen Shiller (46th) said she introduced the ordinance with three goals in mind: streamline the process; clearly establish where small theaters can and cannot be located "so low-density communities are not overwhelmed"; and allow schools, churches and Park District facilities to have live theater as an "incidental" use. Fran Spielman, (Chicago Sun-Times, November 17, 2005) **** An ordinance creating the license, introduced last week by Ald. Helen Shiller (46th), addresses a subject that's been under debate since November 2003, when inspectors from the city's Revenue Department abruptly closed down a number of off-Loop theaters and cited them for an array of previously unknown violations. The measure is expected to receive full City Council passage in December. Hedy Weiss, (Chicago Sun-Times, November 9, 2005) **** "I am not saying this is a perfect plan, but we are negotiating to get something that works for everyone," said Ald. Helen Shiller (46th), one of several City Council members who have been working with administration officials on towing program changes. Gary Washburn, (Chicago Tribune, November 23, 2004) **** But you can't please everyone, said Denice Davis, chief of staff for Ald. Helen Shiller, whose 46th Ward includes Uptown. "We have to get viewpoints on all sides and try to create a win-win for everyone," Davis said, citing the new Borders bookstore on Clark Street that recently attracted debate about the neighborhood's future. "It reflects what everybody wanted to see," Davis said, "someone who makes $300,000 a year and wanted that Borders, or it could be someone who wanted affordable housing." If anything, Davis said, the neighborhood's racial and socioeconomic diversity is a model for other Chicago neighborhoods dealing with similar issues. "We all want to live here, and it forces us to look at each other and be sensitive to each other," Davis said. "We have to work collectively for the better of all." Maegan Carberry, (RedEye, May 17, 2004) **** The decision to give beleaguered motorists -- now eligible for the boot after just three unpaid parking tickets -- a break before City Hall tightens the noose with higher parking fines, followed repeated demands by lakefront Ald. Helen Shiller (46th). Fran Spielman, (Chicago Sun-Times, February 22, 2004) **** The decision to give beleaguered motorists a break before City Hall tightens the noose with higher parking fines follows repeated demands by lakefront Ald. Helen Shiller (46th). Two months ago, Shiller introduced an ordinance establishing Chicago's first-ever parking ticket payment plan and convinced all but three aldermen to cosign it. That forced the hand of a Daley administration reluctant to go along for fear of the high default rate that accompanies similar payment plans. Fran Spielman, (Chicago Sun-Times, January 13, 2004) **** Talk to a city alderman or two and you'll likely get a sympathetic, even passionate argument for the value of storefront theater. Ald. Helen Shiller (46th), is one such advocate. She is working on clarifying the language attached to the so-called Theatrical Community Center license, or TCC, designed for small non-profit companies. For years, according to various producers around town who have tried (and failed) to get clarification on permit requirements from the city's Department of Revenue, a fledgling theater producer might hear from Revenue that she needs both a TCC and a PPA, or just one of the two. The answer, for the record, is: One of the two. "If we don't do better," Shiller says of laying out small-theater permit requirements, "then we basically make it impossible to do that kind of business." Shiller says there is an "inherent conflict" within the city regulatory code when it comes to storefront theater. "We have the Department of Revenue serving as the regulatory department, doing the enforcement. But they're also the licensing department." So who's going to truly facilitate neighborhood theaters? Who will help them get up and running properly, when the same city department is getting heat from on high to crack down in the wake of E2? Michael Phillips, (Chicago Tribune, December 21, 2003) **** Led by lakefront Ald. Helen Shiller (46th), the City Council is demanding that Mayor Daley give beleaguered drivers now eligible for the boot after three unpaid tickets a break before tightening the noose with higher parking fines. Last month, Shiller introduced an ordinance co-signed by all but three aldermen to establish a first-ever payment plan that would allow motorists to get their names off the list that city boot crews use to hunt down cars on the streets of Chicago and at O'Hare Airport parking garage. Fran Spielman, (Chicago Sun-Times, December 16, 2003) **** "I told the alderman [Helen Shiller of the 46th Ward] that I was getting desperate, couldn't find a condo that I could afford and might be out of an apartment soon," Salinas said. "She encouraged me to participate in the lottery." "It is the fairest way we could come up with to sell these affordable units. It gives everyone in our ward a fair chance," Shiller said. The alderman works with Housing Department officials to hold lotteries roughly six months before mixed-income housing projects in her ward are completed. "In the next year we will hold at least one other lottery, possibly two, for 13 units [in the 127-unit development about to go up on the former Rainbo Roller Rink site at 4836-50 N. Clark St.] and 10 affordable units in another project," Shiller said. Jeanette Almada, (Chicago Tribune, November 23, 2003) **** "The alderman [Helen Shiller, 46th Ward] gave us the go ahead. We could have begun that demolition as a right but waited for her blessing," Miller said in an interview last week. "I told them that I would not object to it," Shiller said in an interview earlier this month following a community meeting at which residents heard the developer's latest proposal. "We appreciated that they gave us the window [to find a way to save the building from being razed]," she said. The developer has owned the building for more than a year, and received a demolition permit in January, but waited for community review and approval of the project. Jeanette Almada, (Chicago Tribune, November 23, 2003) **** The proposed ordinance, introduced by Ald. Helen Shiller (46th), would authorize the Department of Revenue to set up payment plans for vehicle owners with outstanding debts because of parking violations, booting fees and storage fees. Jimmy Greenfield, (Red Eye, November 20, 2003) **** Ald. Helen Shiller (46th) believes the recent high-rise fire in the Loop is not a reason to force small-business owners into installing sprinklers. "This sprinkler ordinance would not address the problem that we have with clubs," Shiller said. "Why are we doing it? It's a knee-jerk reaction to something else." Jimmy Greenfield, (Red Eye, November 6, 2003) **** Five hundred downtown parking meters will be restored, but motorists will pay double to use them--rising from $1.50 an hour to $3, or 25 cents for every five minutes. That prompted Ald. Helen Shiller (46th) to introduce an ordinance to repeal the ban on feeding parking meters after they expire. Fran Spielman, (Chicago Sun-Times, December 5, 2002) **** The zoning change advanced by the Zoning Committee at the behest of Ald. Helen Shiller (46th) would sharply restrict the density of future development on the east side of Halsted between Cornelia and Grace and on the west side of the street between Grace and Waveland. The area, formerly in the 44th Ward, has been in the 46th since the ward remap took effect in April. Zoning Committee Chairman William Banks (36th) welcomed Shiller's decision to take "preventive" action instead of waiting for the massive rewrite he's spearheading of Chicago's 1957 zoning ordinance. "In Phase Two, we'll go into communities and redirect planning as it applies to development. But in this particular case the alderman sensed there was more urgency. If she waited eight months to a year, she's afraid she would get more and more applications for residential uses and then it would be too late," Banks said. "She's identified a problem or a potential problem, consulted with her community and determined what they want--in this case, a business-entertainment district." Fran Spielman, (Chicago Sun-Times, December 2, 2002) **** Lefkowitz says he was relieved when redistricting brought Agudas Achim from Smiths ward into Helen Shiller's 46th Ward. "Helen called up and said, `Rabbi, I'm here to help you,'" says Lefkowitz. "I was delighted." Yet Smith says that until the next city election in March, Agudas Achim remains under her purview, and she's concerned. "This is a tragedy in the making," she says, "because if someone doesn't bring this together, Agudas Achim, such an important part of history, will be lost forever. This still should be a sacred place. The mystery to me is why the Jewish community hasn't embraced the building. Don't they care?" Chicago Reader, September 6, 2002 **** Before reducing the booting threshold from five unpaid tickets to three, aldermen must make sure that motorists eligible for the boot have "every opportunity to get a fair hearing and, more importantly, that tickets are fairly given," said Ald. Helen Shiller (46th). "Individually, aldermen can make calls in an attempt to get through the bureaucracy and, on many occasions, be successful for our constituents. But someone who just gets that ticket often does not know what to do and, when they do know what to do, it requires them taking time off from work," Shiller said. Fran Spielman, (Chicago Sun-Times, August 1, 2002) **** Ald. Helen Shiller (46th), who led the Tuesday night meeting, said the suggestions make it clear that area residents want four major problems--parking, traffic, public urination and sanitation-- addressed before accepting more night games and bleacher seats. "They're saying, 'Don't do anything until we do that because anything you do will only make things worse,' " she said. "We've learned some lessons from the way protections were and weren't carried out over the last 15 years (since lights were installed at Wrigley). This is the time and the opportunity to improve upon that. That's what the community is asking us to do." Fran Spielman, (Chicago Sun-Times, October 25, 2001) **** [Ald.] Lyle is taking the advice of Ald. Helen Shiller (46th), who suggested she invest in an automated telephone call in machines to tell the seniors that they may be contacted by these lenders and what to do. "It's heart wrenching to talk about someone losing their home because they didn't understand a document." Chinta Strausberg, (Chicago Defender, April 6, 2000) **** They were joined by Ald. Helen Shiller (46th), who went building to building along the drive, checking on residents without power. She said the utility should have warned residents to conserve energy and reduce the strain on the infrastructure. "I think the biggest sin here is stupidity in terms of the messages being sent out," Shiller said. "They made a PR move when they should have made an appeal." Jeremy Manier, Anthony Colarossi, Amanda Beeler, Diane Struzzi and Phat X. Chiem, (Chicago Tribune, August 2, 1999) **** "I worked fairly hard against her (in 1987), and then she got elected, and I thought, Oh, my God, we're going to have to move," says Joän Pawelski, a homeowner on the western edge of the ward. "There are plenty of people who still hate her, but I think she's a really good alderman. Helen is smart, and she's not corrupt. She understands the budget, and she understands how to get things done. We live on Beacon Street, almost in the 47th Ward, and I've got to tell you, our ward is so much cleaner than over there." Patrick T. Reardon, (Chicago Tribune Sunday Magazine, December 15, 1996) |
