Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Gay Chicago Magazine Reviews The Lakeview Forum

"The crowded field of 11 candidates running to succeed 46th Ward Ald. Helen Shiller, who is retiring, tried once again, with varying degrees of success, to differentiate themselves from each other ..."  Read the entire article in Gay Chicago Magazine, which also supplied the photo above to Uptown Update.  (Thanks!)

7 comments:

  1. I look forward to getting all of my political news from Gay Chicago Magazine if there will be more ads like the Crew sidebar ad. Thanks, Crew!

    Oh, crap. Existential dilemma. I have spoken out against the objectification of women in UK dailies (the so-called page 3 girls). What do to? Wait! Is that a little whiff of cognitive dissonance wafting over from Carmen Avenue? I think it is! I'll breathe deep and then alt + tab back to the page before I have to exhale.

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  2. Well, it comes as no surprise that Marc Kaplan (of Copwatch, who was once sued by a cop for encouraging kids to make false police reports) doesn't want any more cops hired.

    But Emily Stewart also feels that way? Sorry, Emily, you're off my short list. Perhaps if you'd had bullets and riots in front of your house, you might feel differently. I have, and bringing better and more law enforcement to Uptown is the number one issue I've voting on.

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  3. Gotta agree with you gg. Very surprised that Emily feels that way. She's not even a consideration now.

    It's amusing to read about Kaplan. If it were up to him, all cops would be run out of Uptown in his quest for "social justice." What a clown. Why he's wasting his time is beyond me.

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  4. Dear UU Readers,

    I feel that this issue is so important that I need to directly address it. Although I am thankful that Gay Chicago Magazine covered the LVCC forum, they have mischaracterized my position on funding public safety.

    I have never been in support of shifting police resources to higher crime districts. If elected, I will fight to ensure that the 46th Ward does not lose any of its public safety resources.

    In fact, I have promised to fight to increase the number of on-duty police officers in the 46th Ward. However, that is going to be expensive and that is why I am so focused on budget/pension reform.

    We are facing dwindling reserves and a large budget deficit. The pension reform legislation that passed in Springfield may force the City to contribute an additional $550 million to its employee pension funds in the years to come. That could bring our structural deficit to more than $1 billion/year, unless we raise property taxes or issue bonds. I do not support increasing property taxes or digging ourselves into a deeper hole.

    What I do support is a forensic audit, zero based budgeting and pension reform in order to help us put additional police on the streets.

    Every candidate for alderman brings something unique to the table. What I bring is a background in corporate finance law and the courage to eliminate waste and stand up for pension reform for current employees of the City. No other candidate has taken that position.

    I support pension reform NOT because I am an ideologue...I support it because it is necessary.

    I'd also like to note that I support participatory budgeting as a means to allow residents to directly effect change in their Ward. Assuming that a majority of residents support using our discretionary funds to hire off-duty police officers to patrol hotspots in the Ward, we will see an immediate increase in the number of sworn officers on our streets if I am elected.

    I hope this clears up my position on funding public safety in Chicago and the 46th Ward.

    Thank you for your time.

    All The Best,

    Emily

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  5. I don't think Stewart's point is wrong. The city is in deep financial trouble and the money simply isn't there to hire thousands of new cops. Sad, but true.

    As for Kaplan, please don't call him a clown. We clowns resent that.

    Like the Rolling Stones song he thinks "every cop is a criminal".

    I don't intend to vote for Emily Stewart, but she does seem to have an excellent grasp of the financial reality facing da fine city of Chi Caw Gah.

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  6. Credit Emily for proper use of the word "effect" and for using a term we need to hear from every candidate: forensic audit.

    If your hat's in the ring and you're not looking to audit the books before discussing anything that deals with the budget you need to stop wasting our time.

    Speaking of wasting our time, did someone mention Marc Kaplan?

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  7. Was just reading though Kaplan's website..... he sounds like Schiller 2.0

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