COMMENTARY IN SUPPORT OF SHILLER

September 11, 1988

Chicago Tribune

PERSPECTIVE

A `TRAVESTY`

Gary McCormick.

Your recent front-page article on Ald. Helen Shiller and housing in Uptown was a travesty. For eight years, the Machine ran the 46th Ward. Former Aldermen Ralph Axelrod and Jerry Orbach had staff who didn`t have any community background or experience. The alderman`s office was a disaster during their terms.

There was no community involvement. The aldermanic staff consisted mostly of people who did not live in or were not active in the 46th Ward. There was no dialogue on anything, let alone housing.

The people elected Helen Shiller on a platform of inclusion. Helen Shiller brought people who hadn`t any hope a chance. The Shiller campaign consisted of people of all backgrounds, racial and economic. It was a promise of opportunity for all in the 46th Ward.

Helen Shiller was elected by the biggest vote margin of the decade. She campaigned on affordable housing for all residents.

At the time, people said it was just a campaign promise. After the election, Shiller made the promise a commitment. The commitment to affordable housing meant hiring community people for her aldermanic staff. Unlike the former alderman, who had no communication with the community, Shiller`s office became an active advocate for affordable housing. It is for that reason that she can organize community activists and organizations.

Mayor Sawyer has actively fought her plans in Uptown, yet she still has made progress. Shiller has been alderman for a little over a year, half of that time under an unfriendly city administration. Progress has been difficult but she has fought hard.

The Tribune asserts Helen Shiller has a vast army of city workers. Nothing is further from the truth. Mayor Sawyer certainly is not rewarding her support of his opponents.

Shiller`s organization is made up of volunteers who believe in her agenda. Instead of Machine hacks, as the former alderman had, she has dedicated supporters who believe in her cause.

Shiller did not create the housing problems of the ward. Machine politics did. Shiller`s Machine opponents offer only more neglect. Instead of standing in the way of progress, Helen Shiller is leading the way.