Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Love Her Or Hate Her
Fox Chicago News ran a story tonight rating the responsiveness of Chicago aldermen. Our own Alderman Shiller was featured. Some highlights from the story (with video):
Pleasing all of the people all of the time though, can be difficult. Take, for example Ellen Fiedelholtz, Stan Hollenbeck, and Peter Donalek, three constituents of ward 46, where Alderman Helen Shiller has presided for 23 years. It's a ward made up of very different neighborhoods, with very different people.
"You have to meet the needs of everyone who live here," said Ellen, commenting on Alderman Shiller's job and the complexity of ward 46.
"She has to balance between the people who are affluent and the people who have very little," added Peter. "It's a tough job and I think she's doing a very good job."
Getting through to the Alderman may take some time. "I call and I call again," said Ellen. "I have to continually call up and talk about that area on Broadway that is a little seedy. I think there needs to be more uniformity in the way the calls are taken and responded to so residents know they're being heard by their alderman."
"I think Helen falls into that category of you either love her, or you hate her," commented Stan about Alderman Helen Shiller.
In response, Shiller said, "You'll get a response. You may or may not like it, or you may think we should find some other way to do it, but we'll do the best to figure out what we can do."
...As for Alderman Helen Shiller, whose staff also answered two of three calls, she said, "I freak out if something like this falls through the cracks because to me, that's really important."
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"She has to balance between the people who are affluent and the people who have very little,"
ReplyDeleteAhem. If a person calls and asks to have a street light repaired or a stop sign fixed, do these calls get prioritized by whether or not it affects people who are affluent and people who are not affluent?
And... Is it acceptable to ignore the complaints of an "affluent" person if that person is complaining about the gang fights and the drug dealing?
Perhaps people who are less affluent may also like to enjoy living in an area where they don't have to be constantly on the look out for the next gang fight or have to tolerate the rampant drug dealing.
The assumption that people who are less affluent want different things from our city government than people who are affluent is just darn right silly.
And by the way, by what yardstick to you measure affluent? I don't drive a BMW or other fancy car. I don't live beyond my simple means. I struggle to pay my bills on time. I work in excess of 2400 hrs per year. I think I'm better off than some, but I know there are plenty of people better off then me.
Don't get me TIFed off Helen.
Sheesh....sure is getting tough to be an Alderman these days. First Mayor Daley, now FOX news.
ReplyDeletewell said Toto. I'm sure some would consider me 'affluent' because I own an evil condo. Simple facts are, my budget is so tight it has been almost three years since I have taken a vacation. I don't own a car nor can I afford to rent one when it would be of great assistance. I live in the WY TIF District and over $2300 of my property taxes went to Wilson Yard last year.
ReplyDeleteDon't get it twisted: I am incredibly fortunate to be where I am and I am grateful. But when my hard earned, paid-in-full taxes are funding her WY plans, I get a bit upset.
I do not want to see continual blight and poverty in Uptown. I want TIF money to go to CTA, not STA (Segwick, Target, and Aldi). I want the gangs squashed and the bridges renovated (and not the bridges in the park but LSD bridges over Montrose and Wilson). I want people in this neighborhood to respect each other and the land. I want some local entertainment (sorry IP, I don't count hookers as entertainment ;). Maybe a movie theater, or opening the Uptown SOMETHING new!
Oh, almost forgot, I want a NEW ALDERMAN!
Honestly, it's not the services aspect of her office which is upsetting (though, most of us could do without the reports of rude behavior).
ReplyDeleteIt's stuff like this that gets the dander up.
If she wants to turn her ward into an ideological incubator, fine - as long as she's open and honest about every aspect of her ideas, and has garnered the appropriate public support prior to moving forward.
Cherry-picking precincts for referendum, creative bait-and-switch tactics, declaring deals done amidst mounting public displeasure and quietly stoking class conflict simply don't cut it.
Insulting and ignoring your constituents isn't a great tactic, either.
Well said UptownUnity. Just because I purchased my home does not mean that I am not struggling and working incredibly hard to pay my mortgage. Maybe people have different ideas of affluence.
ReplyDeleteMy thought is that some people have much lower expectations for things such as schools, hospitals and even government than others. I have high expectations for all three so I am going to be on you when you say, or in her case don't say, what your plans are. Some people just don't have any personal investment in any of the three. She can label these people whatever she wants. But many people who pay a lot of fees and services in this city just demand more and she likes to call those people elitist. Is it elitist to want a polite response from the Alderman? NO! But she would rather dismiss those people than come clean with regards to what they are asking.
ReplyDeleteWhoa, she has to deal with like 3 types of constituents?!?! I'm trying to decide if Helen's ability to bring together different types of people is more like Mandela, or Ghandi.
ReplyDeleteWhy is it that every time the 46th ward is in a sentence, the inevitable mention or insinuation of class warfare follows. This is coming directly from her office and staff, I am sure of it. And it's jumped the shark. When I call to ask about wilson yard, I am not giving them the full run down of my financial situation, I am calling as a neighbor, as a taxpayer--oh wait, maybe because I am a taxpayer, I have extra money to spend on taxes, so therefore....I am wealthy??
ReplyDeleteTime to cut the Alderman in half and save the tax payers money.
ReplyDeleteAnd can't most of the issues be handled by 311?
I must say that I'm impressed with Stone's air-tight call tracking system.
ReplyDeleteA Steno pad.
The bottom line is that she is doing more harm in the ward now than good. Letting taxes be increase so dramatically is essentially taking money out of the local business owners hands. If residents pay more in bills, they have less to spend at local restaurants and shops;the neighborhood economy takes another hit. The fact that she says it bothers her when all of the 3 messages weren't returned is just nonsense- if she cared that much so many of our emails and phone calls wouldn't go unanswered and people wouldn't be treated rudely by her office workers. Her staff are a direct reflection on her and they certainly don't help her image.
ReplyDeleteWhat has she done in this current term that has benefited a majority of the residents and businesses of the ward? She is unaccessible to the people. Just try to personally speak with her or set up a meeting and you will see. It never happens!! The residents have had to try and stop the gang violence without her help. I do believe as a community everyone does need to help if they can but shouldn't she lead this type of a program when the people she represents ask her to instead of completely ignoring it?
Has she ever sent out a press release to the residents or held an open meeting for residents to explain the funding and the decisions she made regarding WY? Maybe we could all cut her some slack if she just communicated with us in any way besides having her staff hang up on us when we call.
Trust me, her staff reads UU and the comments and they know what is being said yet nothing is ever addressed. She continues to hide from the people she says she represents but the only peoples interest she represents is her own. WY was a way for her to buy votes to keep her and her staff employed beyond the next election...
Ze election is one year away + a few days.
ReplyDeleteZe 2nd part of the property tax bills is due next November or December.
Zince the north lakefront has done relatively well in terms of real estate appreciation(or less depreciation) than most other hoods most of us are going to get zocked with double digit property tax increases.
Zhis does not bode well for Shiller/Ziller?
Zhee?
Ze Mayor is clearly Zcared.
He should be.
Zive la Resistance!
Has she ever sent out a press release to the residents or held an open meeting for residents to explain the funding and the decisions she made regarding WY?
ReplyDeleteTo be fair, meetings in some shape or form have been conducted.
These meetings were addressed in the FWY lawsuit, of course; but, at times, there have - unarguably - been moments of lucidity from the alderman's office.
The problem being that those moments have been few and far between, and consistently inconsistent.
Again, most people aren't going to immediately get bent out of shape if a street light takes a little while to get fixed - or, if TIF dollars are used in a way that some affluent types don't like.
What will bend people into uncomfortable positions is the sense that they're being hoodwinked.
More to the point: People, by nature, don't trust politicians and will react (as opposed to "respond") accordingly, if given the opportunity.
Helen's issue is that she's simply not taking any honest, appreciable measures to gain (or, in some cases: regain) the trust her constituents.
A dog park here, and some signage there won't overcome the crater left behind in her public image by the way she handled WY and gang violence.
Making matters worse is her aloofness - which generates the perception that she is unconcerned, and to some extent, annoyed at the fact that people don't trust her. Even to the point where she uses strawmen to cover this lack of trust (note: it's not that people don't trust her, it's that her "political opponents" are brainwashing everyone).
The press release following the violence in August pretty much made that clear to everyone.
In a word, her political career has become a trainwreck.
If only she'd put half the effort into actually communicating and being forthright as she does making excuses, she (and we) would be better off.
After watching old Bernie Stone defend not being investigated by the IG the other night on Chicago Tonight, I couldn't help but see the similarities. He and Helen are on the same level (although he has way more clout than she ever will), in terms of being out of touch. Old Bernie has rigged the system so long, he is almost clueless when it comes to the basic fiduciary duties and moral obligations you must have as a public official. It was almost comical to watch old man Stone try to defend himself while sitting next to his younger colleague Alderman Ricardo Munoz and debate why someone can't make sure he is on the up-and-up.
ReplyDeleteThere seems to be a new breed of Alderman coming into the Aldermanic game these days and the old horses just don't have the gallop anymore to keep up.
Helen is one of those old horses whose been living high off the farm for way too long and has just kind of forgotten how put on a proper show. Hopefully they will be put out to pasture very shortly.
Wow no one said it so I will: HATE HER
ReplyDeleteLove it Nash. The only one brave enough to say what they're really thinking. I believe " I hate her" should be the only comment aloud on uptown update.
ReplyDelete"Fairy New" I believe in mom and apple pie.
ReplyDeleteI also believe you should tell us something about yourself.
Like why in 2 outta 3 comments here you have defended Helen.
Perhaps your just one of those opened minded religious types who love her so.
By the way I do hate Helen.
I also hate my cousin Mayor Daley.
Sarah Palin.
People who don't shovel their snow.
Gangbangers.
The Iranian regime.
Osama Bin Laden.
Coke II.
Illinois Nazis. I really hate them.
All of which is very surprising since by nature I'm a bright and shiny person.
IP.
ReplyDeleteI don't recall defending Shiller. (I defended a couple of the nice girls that work at the front counter of Shiller's ward office).
I really appreciated Nash's honesty. So many people go to great lengths of writing paragraph after paragraph of nonsense. When in reality, they should have wrote "I hate her".
No one on here says who they really are. So why should I start? I will say that I am not religious. I am cynical.
Alderman are not required to return calls. They aren't required to do anything.
ReplyDeleteIf you want Helen out you should start coordinating your calls to her office now.
You can track these calls on a Google Spreadsheet. You can record the caller initials, the reason for calling, the time you called, the number of attempts, whether you received a call back, etc.
If you really want answers, call the Democratic party Committeeman.
"Alderman are not required to return calls."
ReplyDeleteExactly. As fun as the report was, unfortunately Fox only served to further fuel the alderman's personal mythologies about themselves as "little mayors" or ombudsmen or one-stop-shopping service providers. I was grateful at least they mentioned 311 as a post-script in the studio banter after the tape.
If someone besides Helen is elected in 2011, will that person be able to stop the TIF spending that she started? I realize that the actual buildings at Wilson Yard with the Target can't be stopped, but what about the Fish Farm? And Maryville? Will there be time to stop those?
ReplyDeleteFairly New,
ReplyDeleteI didn't ask you to identify thyself.
In one statement you claimed to be a city employee.
In your profile your a college student.
They are not mutually exclusive.
Methinks you are just another Shiller lover masquerading under a different screen name.
Which is ok since I am actually all 53 people who regularly post here. I might even be you.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAGH
I don't hate her. I am angrily frustrated by her goals and tactics.
ReplyDeleteHatred has no discernible profit margin and doesn't serve the greater good ... unless, of course, you're talking about Illinois Nazis.
Fox should have gone even farther to identify the handful of aldermen who not only fail to deliver services to their constituents bu,, instead, use their office to intentionally trash their ward to try to keep a voting block together. Shiller would have been tops on that list for all her years of demanding that police kill CAPS and not crack down on 23rd District crime or her blatant efforts with city department administrators to block streets and san services and zoning and building code enforcement. They could even give a Shiller-Tillman award to commemorate that level of evil.
ReplyDeleteDoes anyone aside from me remember how Shiller used to storm up to people planting flowers in their own front yards and scream at them for being racist gentrifiers? Even a flower is racist in Helen Shiller's "not-my-reality" dreamworld of a mind.
Nothing is supposed to be beautiful in Uptown - which is probably explains why she is trying to skunk it up with a fish factory.
Another thing about what the Fox Report missed:
ReplyDeleteStan Hollenbeck, Uptown Resident, is almost certainly the Legislative Reference Director of the Chicago City Council, unless he recently retired.
If he didn't retire, I'm not totally sure why Fox was quoting a city employee on the performance of another city employee, but the conflict of interest isn't as funny as the tepid support he gave one of his bosses.
Kind of like "random Uptown resident" Derrick Davis, after the Sheridan riots last summer, being interviewed about how great Uptown is -- "it's 80% better" since Shiller became alderman -- and forgetting to identify himself as the son of the alderman's chief of staff, and sometimes Shiller employee himself.
Stan Hollenbeck used to be a teacher at Disney Magnet school until it was discovered that he did not have proper teaching credentials.
ReplyDeleteYikes, truthbearer. Its pretty scary to think that CPS didn't do the proper background checks/verifications for an elementary school teacher.
ReplyDelete