The Blog

Naisy is running an excellent campaign. She filed the most petitions of all the candidates. She is building a strong staff and has met with many key leaders. Her 8 years of experience in City Hall as well as her many years in the ward per her in a prime position to offer viable alternative to Stone for ward residents.

Naisy Dolar had a fluffy Asian liason position paying around $35,000 a year with a staff of HERSELF to manage as "Director" and no real responsibilities. I worked with her and I can tell you that she is nothing more than a self-important girl who fancies herself a Daley insider with clout. She was totally expendable and not responsible for anything critical. If that is her "8 years of experience in city hall" that somehow qualifies her to serve as alderman, perhaps we should get the custodial staff to run too. At least they understand providing crucial services to the city! And why is she "building a strong staff" now? Isn't it pretty late for that sort of thing? The election is in two months! Too little, too late. Naisy Dolar is anything but viable. She's a joke with a cheerleading team.

It seems it didn't take long for Brewers Bigoted Bloggers to act, you know the ones who have started the racist whisper campaign in the 50th. A threat was made to Naisy that the Brewer camp would be going nasty and within 48 hours of that threat being made it has started. Things are about to get interesting, especially if Brewers Bigoted Bloggers keep it up. Don't be surprised if that backfires. LOL

what threat? what whisper campaign? the brewer campaign has made no threat against naisy or her campaign. we are not running against naisy dolar, but running to beat bernie stone. we have no intention of saying anything about naisy, because we are running against bernie stone. that's why we are building a strong alliance of progressives and disaffected residents, to beat bernie stone. but if some member of our team or a volunteer did so, then please give me a call at (773) 559-5848. they'll be gone immediately. naisy will be the first to tell you that i don't mess around. i won't tolerate machine tactics in my campaign... ac

AC, as a resident of the 50th, I received a "push poll" telephone call that included a racist statement about Naisy's leadership. Can you publicly avow that the Brewer campaign was not behind it? The "questions" I was asked were definitely skewed in Brewer's favor.

the brewer campaign was definitely not behind that. we've done no polling, and i've definitely seen no results. i do understand that naisy has seen the results of a poll, and it might have been this one. i would love to hear more about this poll. if you care to call the office number above (also found on our website), i would definitely be interested in your experience. we're running a clean campaign, we have a substantial campaign plan designed to beat bernie stone, and those kinds of tactics are not a part of it...

Don't you people see what is happening? Stone is trying to divide and conquer using the same tactics he's used for 34 years. Don't believe me? Look at the mailing he put out when he ran as a REPUBLICAN against Carol Mosley Braun. Each one included her picture so he could remind everyone that she was African American. Still don’t believe me? Look at what he said about Harold. Stone knows he's in trouble, and he's already playing the ethnic politics game by getting his challengers to fight about who's not a racist. By calling each other racists, you’re just falling into Berny’s trap. Brush up on your history, and you'll see what I mean.

AC what makes you believe Naisy saw the poll? Did your candidate see the poll as well? If so, where and when? I mean you would know if he did, right? If so what did the poll say? I raise this only because you claim to believe that Naisy has seen the poll, what information do you have that Naisy has seen the poll?

naisy and greg were, together, both shown a poll on wednesday. there is no reason to believe that this is not the one described above. i don't particularly know what was in the poll, aside from generalizations. what is important about this is that, a.) the dolar campaign knows that this poll was not commissioned by the brewer campaign, but seems to have inferred to her supporters that it was; b.) the dolar campaign knows the purpose of this poll (and it was not a push poll), but has attempted to paint it as nefarious, presumably because they don't like its conclusions; and c.) the dolar *campaign* has acted with an incredible amount of naivete in this matter. it is merely another piece in an increasing pile of evidence that the dolar campaign could not, even if everything came together, beat bernie stone. if anything, by actively trying to divide the anti-stone vote, they assure stone's re-election. they seem to have lost sight on what the purpose is here...

So are you confirming the existence of a poll? If so I would dare say you know more about its results and other aspects than you are saying. As a representative of the Brewer campaign you have gone on record on this matter. We have not heard from anyone with the Dolar campaign.

yes, i know of a poll conducted by a widely respected pollster for a third party using scientific (and ethical) methods. the fact that the brewer campaign had nothing to do with it can be easily confirmed by honest parties from our d-2s. i can't speak for the honesty or transparency of any other campaign or group. i can only confirm that the brewer campaign is highly professional, directed at beating bernie stone and has no other target, and does not indulge in dishonest tactics.

I got a call that said that Mrs. Dolar was a member of HDO. I don't know if that's part of a whisper campaign or someone being neighborly. It was someone I trust, though.

http://howardwatchers.blogspot.com/2006/12/discriminating-phone-poll.html Everybody's getting polled like this.

Campaign manager, I hope that you are not an example of the professionalism Brewer would bring to the office. I don't know what you are talking about up above @3:39. (You used the word "infer"incorrectly, by the way.) My statements and question are based on having been "polled" -- I have received no communication about it from the Dolar campaign.

thank you for correcting my grammar. i'm sorry that you did not understand a response i wrote to someone else, or if it was outside your experience. and, no, i will not be taking a job on greg's aldermanic staff. i was only brought in to beat bernie stone...

I don't think a connection to HDO would be significant to most people. We don't really know what connection means here. It might explain how both Naisy and her husband got city jobs in the span of a couple years, but most voters in the 50th don't even know what the HDO is. If the Brewer campaign isn't going to make an issue of it - they say that they aren't running against Naisy - who will? And that's assuming it's even true. You never know with Ald. Stone's goon squad!

Naisy tells people that "people close to the Mayor" asked her to run. So maybe she really is HDO. JSinthe50th, I think you are wrong, people know about HDO if they have lived here for awhile and if they read the newspaper.

So now Naisy is HDO? LOL Sounds like you guys are getting a little desperate. BTW JS what's it like to post on a blog that you can't edit. Its must suck when somebody says something you (on behalf of Brewers Bloggers) don't like and can't delete. . .LOL

Dear neighbors, Please recognize Stone's mopes are stirring the pot, egging on a challenger v. challenger cat-fight. Nothing serves their purposes better. As has been posted previously, if you know your ward history this is Classic Alderman B. S. And it's going to get worse before it gets better, folks. Please don't forget that a phone call or post might not be from who it appears to be. For now, let's agree on one thing: It's time for a change. If we must, let's agree to disagree on who the best challenger is. We don't need to decide that now, we can decide that in the voting booths in Feb. Meanwhile, let's encourage all the challengers to work hard and get their message out, may the best challenger win. It doesn't matter who the best challenger is if Stone gets his 50% + 1 on the first ballot. If we hold Stone to less than a majority, we ALL win. Thinking people in the 50th, whenever they might be tempted to post a snipe at a challenger, pause and ask themselves, wouldn't the ward be better served by posting instead on some area of dissatisfaction with the Current Occupant? Those who cannot resist the temptation to snipe at a challenger mark themselves as stooges for the status quo. If you can't think of something critical of Stone to post every day, you aren't trying. Thanks!

Hugh has got it right. Divide and conquer is Bernie's game. You think he wins on his principles? He don't need no stinkin principles. He turns people against each other and preys on the worst in people like the true republican he is.

Yes, Greg Brewer is a licensed architect in the state of Illinois. But an extensive seach of Google has come up with nothing regarding his professional accomplishments. He seems to be a stealth architect. What is Greg's exact position at Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, LLP. What is his title? How many employees work under him? What is his yearly salary? What does he actually do at work? Can he do his job at Skidmore and run an aldermanic campaign at the same time? Is his employer allowing him to run for alderman on their dime, with expectations that they wlll benefit if Greg is elected? Greg has a connection with a group interest in bungalows. Is he just a member of this organization, or has he ever had any official posts or duties? Greg brags that he would be a great alderman, but we can't find any informaton on what he has actually done.

Hate to break up this fascinating debate, but If the readers want the story behind all this, here is the real story of whats behind what is happening in the 50th ward. The Indian community in the 50th ward is in danger of losing its place to the new Indian communities in the Naperville/Aurora area. You can get almost anything Indian you need in the burbs, and Indian customers from that area are not taking the long trip to Devon, the local businesses are having to adapt or die. The lack of parking is one of the major reasons. The famous "parking garage" issue was mostly the local Indian communities idea to help get more customers. Thats one of the reasons Stone supported the parking lot. The other is the lack of a "non ethnic" shopping area to attract non ethnic customers. Unlike many parts of Chicago, WalMart won't affect local businesses; WalMart doesn't carry ethnic products. On the other hand, Wal Mart WOULD attract shoppers from the nearby suburbs, and provide a lot of local jobs, both of which is why Stone opposed the "big box" ordinance. The other issue is gentrification, the rich are displacing the poor in the Lincoln Square and Lincoln Bend area now. The 50th Ward is next. The current residents of the ward are worried that there will be no place for them when that happens. On the other hand, the local bank is salivating at the idea of replacing all the ethnic poor with rich upscale customers, and is backing an architect who is apparently opposing anything that might strengthen the communities and make it more difficult to displace those communities with wealthier customers. 40 years ago, in the afterglow of the 60's, I and a bunch of others set out to make the 50th/40th,etc wards a paragon of diversity. We succeeded. We are not going to let some greedy banker and a downtown architecture firm destroy what we built for another bland gentrified community. And let me tell you one more thing. We are making sure that any bank that wants to invest in the community, instead of replacing it, s going to get a lot of community support, and that's not going to end when the election does. We are going to build this community up, and if the local bank is not interested in helping, we will work to replace it with one that does.

Judy, sorry your Google search didn’t turn up much on Greg’s career. Greg is a project manager with Skidmore, Owings and Merrill. He works to help create comprehensive plans for communities around the world. In other positions, he has specialized in hospital planning and project management. Clients have included Memorial Hospital and Health Systems in South Bend, the Tzu Chi Foundation in Taiwan, the Great River Medical Center in Burlington, Iowa, the UIC Outpatient Care Center on Taylor Street, and the Samsung Science Park in South Korea. The bungalow group you’re talking about is West Ridge Bungalow Neighbors. Greg helped found the group. They work for bungalow preservation and appreciation in the West Rogers Park/West Ridge neighborhood, and many members encouraged Greg to run for alderman. I hope this helps. If you have specific questions, you can always contact us at 773-559-5848, check out our web site at www.gregbrewer.org, or e-mail me at owen@gregbrewer.org. Randy, you’re right that the Indian community in the 50th Ward is in danger of losing its prominence to the suburbs. Greg spoke about that at the Indo-American Democratic Organization annual dinner. You can find his comments at www.gregbrewer.org/media/IADO_Dinner91706.pdf. As for the parking garage, the problem with it is that it is out of scale with the neighborhood, would require a $4.5 million giveaway to a developer who has a history of problems finishing projects, and it wouldn’t provide nearly the amount of parking promised. Then, there’s the fact that nobody bothered to actually talk to the neighborhood about the parking garage. Stone’s “done deal” was made behind closed doors with no community input. There is a problem with parking, but this isn’t the solution. Furthermore, Stone has shown that he doesn’t care about parking in the area. When the developer of the old Nortown Theater site applied for a zoning change, he applied for zoning that waives the parking requirement. Then, there’s the old parking garage that Stone gave away in the 1990s. Residents are also right to be worried about gentrification and tear-downs. Greg will halt this by down zoning many areas of the ward so that building owners are not encouraged to rip down bungalows and build huge condo towers. Stone has never seen a piece of property he didn’t want to up-zone. Greg is committed to creating a community zoning board to review projects, and he’ll host a monthly town hall meeting so residents can always find him and hold him accountable. As for your nearly slanderous talk about the local bank: That bank has invested in this community for decades by lending to local business owners and finding creative ways to provide immigrant communities with borrowing options. They are committed to West Rogers Park. Greg lives here because this is a diverse community. He loves this community, and he is working to preserve that economic and ethnic diversity. Owen Brugh Communications Director Citizens for Brewer

> ... I and a bunch of others set out to make the 50th/40th,etc wards a paragon of diversity. We succeeded. Wow! I did not know my neighborhood was a creation, and that the architects were still around and living in my midst. I would like to hear more of your story of how you created the paragon of diversity. Thanks!

Uncle Berny loves running against schmucks! One is a carpetbagger. Another has a base that can't vote. The third has an arrest record. As Uncle Berny says, "They're schmucks. I love running against schmucks!"

Well, Hugh, I can't speak for the others, but as for myself; I would happy to tell you how I got involved. During the late 1950's and 1960's My father and his best friend, Mel Meyers, established one of the first food banks at the Margate Park fieldhouse near the lake. Mel had quite a number of projects going to help the underprivileged, and when I grew older, he would occasionally "rope me in" to helping with some of them, in particular, semi unofficial social work on the south side. One of them peripherally involved a Servo-Croation runaway that had been unofficially "adopted" by this black woman (she ran sort of an unofficial ministry for runaways, in spite of not having much money for herself. ) That got me involved helping immigrants. Eventually, I started helping immigrants coming from Russia during the '73 exodus settle in Rogers Park and Chinese settle in Skokie. At the time, a lot of us working with immigrants felt that an extremely diverse community would be a shining example of the value of immigrants and tried to help as many different groups settle in the Westridge, West Rogers Park, and Budlong Woods/Lincoln Bend areas as we could. I wasn't the leader of that movement, or even particularly concerned with it being a "movement", I just wanted to help people and do the right thing. A lot of those folks who were involved are still around...as a matter of fact, many of them became an unoffical part of Bernies Stones organization (I am not, by the way. I had a different path to my life. ) I talked with one a few days ago. He is still at it, trying to help a teacher start an after school tutoring/day care center, and a group of Hispanic immigrants start a home repair service....and trying to help Bernie get re-elected. That is the thing nobody here seems to understand about the 50th ward; It really is a community, with a long history, not just simply a collection of residents. We have lived side by side and traded with each other for decades. And more importantly, nobody here seems to understand the job of alderman of a community like this. Alderman no longer control patronage workers, and the slightest hint of corruption ends with them being prosecuted, since the Feds, the press, and various involved residents tend to consider them open game. It is really a low paid, thankless job; anyone who can successfully balance the interests of tens of thousands of people can make three or four times as much as a manager in the private sector. Add in a community so diverse that we have basically every side of every conflict on the planet represented here...Jews and Moslems, Blacks, White, and Hispanics, etc, and the various Indian communities, and you have one heck of a balancing act. You just can't toss anything new into the mix, even something as obvious as a public school or senior housing centers. It takes months of delicate negotiations between the various communities to keep the situation from degenerating into a imitation of Beirut. Diverse means difference of opinions, and it take a master negotiator to keep everyone from each others throats. And thats not to mention the fringe folks who think a new Bike path or a music ensemble is incredibly important, when we barely have the budget to keep basic services running and get a few improvements in, mostly through various negotiated deals. And so what if Bernie supported the machine? It kept the community alive and reasonably healthy, and thats the important thing. Opposing the Democratic machine certainly would not have helped the community any. My main concern with this election is the fact that some of Bernies opponents are trying to divide the community and exploit hate in order to defeat him. (These opponents are probably NOT Brewers organization, or any other actual candidates, by the way. It takes a unique sort of insanity to try and start a race war and endanger the lives of tens of thousands for something as minor as winning an aldermanic election. All the candidates seem to be well intentioned and decent people, if a bit naive about what they can achieve if elected. Some of their supporters, however, scare the heck out of me. ) It won't work, though. For three decades, we have watched Bernie as he kept peace among the various factions here, and though these opponents are threatening that peace, their words are mostly falling on deaf ears. But still, thats a hate crime, in my opinion, and I just hope that the FBI busts whoever is doing it and they end up soon in federal prison where they belong. The other thing that bothers me is the "Methuselah" and "Dinosaur" comments. Outside of the fact that it is playing on age discrimination (not a wise idea in ward dominated by senior citizens and ethnic groups that traditionally respect their elders), the ward is perfectly aware of all the things that could be done with, say,internet portals. The problem isn't just merely financing, many such things are the jurisdiction of other city departments, and those departments won't allow the ward to do such things independently. Even if Bernie were too old (he isn't), his staff is entirely up to date on the latest community informatics. There just isn't time or budget to do much, just keeping the ward running from day to day takes all of everybodies time and then some. Ideas are easy, making them happen without a budget, and without letting vital services slip, is the hard part.

Here here, Randy! Long live Uncle Berny! Long live Cousin Ilana!

i think the best thing to form an unbiased opinion is to look at every candidate. Check out one of these before you write off Stone http://www.goodforthe50th.com/ or www.stone_about_the_50th.html

When you lead with your greatest accomplishment being something from 1977, that is sad. My uncle is 79 years old and you know where we put him? In a retirement home. Let's put our Strom Thurmond out to pasture already. This is the same guy who was against Harold Washington.

> it is playing on age discrimination It's not age discrimination. I guarantee you I would just as disappointed at a 20-something Aldermen who sleeps on the job. I don't care that Stone is 79, I care that he cannot seem to maintain alertness while while hundreds of millions of property tax breaks and bond sales roll by.

> ... the slightest hint of corruption ends with them being prosecuted, since the Feds, the press, and various involved residents tend to consider them open game. WOW! Right out the Alderman's hymnal: I haven't been indicted (yet) so I must be OK!

> ... the 50th ward; It really is a community, with a long history, not just simply a collection of residents. We have lived side by side and traded with each other for decades. Sure, but I'm having trouble with your idea that our neighborhood is teetering on the brink of chaos, only held together by the unsung efforts of Bernard L. Stone and that racial harmony hangs in the balance in this election.

> Even if Bernie were too old (he isn't), his staff is entirely up to date His staff can't vote for him. Only the Alderman can do that. And from what I have witnessed, he is not CAPABLE of reliably performing that duty at this point. It's not even an issue of qualifications or experience any more.

All of Bernie's kids have been on the Chicago payroll for years. Ilana's husband got a cushy job at O'hare airport with no experience whatsoever and this is after years of being a ghost payroller at City Hall. He even admitted that he didn't know what the hell his job was suppossed to be.

Witness Men At Work This Week Some readers are probably thinking ole Hugh is exaggerating about Stone dozing in Council Chambers. Well, this week you can see for yourself. You owe it to yourself to see your elected rep in inaction. 1. Finance Committee: Wednesday, January 10th, 2007 10:00 a.m. 2. City Council Meeting: Thursday, January 11th, 2007 10:00 a.m. ....both in Council Chambers, LaSalle side of City Hall, 2nd floor Don't think you have to sneak in or anything. Stone is not at all inhibited taking a little time-out in full view. He sits in the back row near the rail, feel free to introduce yourself even. It won't matter. Tips for Observing A Nodding-Off 10 AM might not be best. Don't show up too early. I wouldn't wish a full City Council meeting on anyone. A City Council meeting is excruciating, even for strong, highly-caffeinated men. Plan a late lunch Thursday. Try stopping by 1:30 or 2-ish, the afternoon doldrums, but not too late - they like to get the heck out of there before the kitchens close in downtown restaurants! Tips for Observing a Quorum Violation OR stop by EARLY on Thursday, say around 9:15 or so. The PUBLIC session of the Finance Committee will be the day before, but the Finance boys sure don't like to vote with people watching. The Finance committee will adjourn Wed to Thursday morning. whic is when they will call the votes. It will be interesting to see if a quorum shows up. Watch as Stone & Burke pass hundreds of millions of dollars of tax breaks and bond sales that will be passed by the full council later that day. Bring your camera phone, but be discrete. Council Calendar http://chicityclerk.com/citycouncil/calendar.html

Actually, I never said the neighborhood was teetering on the brink of chaos... Bernie and his staff has kept the peace for decades. It is interesting to note that the hate monger trying to harm race relations has had no traction whatsoever that I have seen. Like most hate mongers, he (or she) is not particularly literate (According to the history tab, The fake Wikipedia entry took numerous tries to get the spelling right.) Even more significantly, like most hate mongers, he (or she) does have a clue as to anyone but themselves think. For example, I showed the Wikipedia entry to a number of ward residents. The reactions to one entry in particular (accusing Bernie of apologizing for slavery 27 years ago) was particularly hilarious; reactions ranged from incredulity that Bernie would apologize for anything, to amazement that Bernie was old enough to be alive in the 1850's, (he wasn't) and therefore had something to apologize for. Most everybody interpreted it as apologizing TO those harmed by slavery on behalf of the community. But nobody has seen the slightest evidence of racial tension (for one thing, no particular race is dominant in the ward. Hard to have a fight if there are a zillion sides.), so it probably doesn't matter. There are two other points that I would like to make. Outside of the inherent stereotypes of age discrimination inherent in Hughs comments, the fact of the matter is that nobody in the ward cares about what happens in council meetings. I have never met Bernie or Ilana (yet), but I am close with a number of members of the Indian community, and I know that, for example, when that horrible fire occurred on Devon Avenue a while ago, Bernie and the ward staff was there for the Indian community, working very late hours doing everything they could to minimize the damage. And thats what really counts. Yes, residents are usually somewhat upset with Bernie, he is fair, which means that nobody gets everything they want. He is also tough as nails, which is what you need if you intend to deal with some of the more obstreperous residents. The other point I would like to make is to correct a statement I made earlier. I am interested in the welfare of the ward residents, not in who runs it, in my view, the alderman is an employee of the ward, nothing more. However, after reading this comment thread, the underlying bigotry, and, more importantly, the fact that challengers organizations has not made any serious attempt to limit the damage this may cause the community, and I have decided to become more involved in this election. It isn't necessary to demonize any side to win, and frankly, it is counterproductive. Most of the ethnic groups here have fled a country where demonizing opponents was heavily used, and are wary of anyone using the tactic. Look, there are legitimate differences in the visions of the various candidates and the incumbent, and it is up to the community to decide which one they prefer. Greg, the bank and his supporters will obviously benefit from the gentrification of the ward, their bungalows will increase in value. So will many others. There is nothing wrong with that. The gentrification will drive out the non property owners, however, and will not benefit all the business owners, either. It will definitely change the character of the community, and reduce the number of specialized ethnic services the community offers to its members. Some residents are concerned about that, and thats a legitimate concern also. The ward diversity is a unique and valuable resource, not only to Chicago, but to the national interest, and should not be discarded lightly. I won't proselytize either view, I am not wise enough, I don't want that responsibility. But I will NOT let these election tactics harm those whom all sides are claiming to want to serve, either. The ward will still be here no matter who wins, and it's economic situation is precarious enough that I am worried about stressing it any further.

> nobody in the ward cares about what happens in council meetings. speak for yourself, bro

> ... gentrification ... will definitely change the character of the community ... At the JCC last spring Stone stood before a community meeting on his Touhy-Western TIF proposal and pronounced: "Change is coming, whether you like it or not."

> ... this comment thread, the underlying bigotry ... Can you please give some examples of bigotry in this thread? Thanks

just to clarify.... The candidate that is all about gentrification, that would be Stone, right? TIF'ing up & down Devon, Western, and Touhy, providing lucrative public subsidizes for luxury condos? And the bank you refer to, that stands to profit from all this, that would be Mutual Bank, right? same bank owned by Stone campaign contributor Amrish Mahajan? who serves with Stone on the Plan Commission? that approves all the TIF projects? let us speak plainly neighbor

> It takes a unique sort of insanity to try and start a race war yup

Wikipedia is always looking for volunteers. If there's something out there you don't like, change it.

Actually, in this case, altering the Wikipedia entry potentially might be considered evidence tampering, if the Feds ever decide to prosecute. That is unlikely though, as I said, there has been no effect on relations in the neighborhood, and prosecuting an incompetent hate monger is a waste of everyones time and money. I do want to clarify a point, though. As far as I know, all the candidates are in favor of gentrification, the real issue is to what extent, and who loses by it. There are tradeoffs to everything, and more so in a complex community like this. The wards present policies tend to favor the tiny businesses serving the specialized needs of the ethnic community a bit more. As I, and many, see it, the candidates policies would favor establishment of more profitable, but less specialized, businesses. That has both good and bad sides. Those tiny businesses are NOT going to contribute as much to the financial wealth of the community. And when you look at how much the restaurant district just north of the loop has changed what used to be skid row, it has to make you reconsider. On the other hand, these tiny businesses provide much more employment for minorities and serve ethnic needs that are not met anywhere else in the city. If the city is to be truly non discriminatory, is it right (or even legal) to foster policies that eliminate services and jobs that are needed for certain ethnic groups (such as the Orthodox Jews or Pacific Rim immigrants) to reside in the city? My issue with the bank (not with Greg) is that they have done to little to develop the community economically, and are taking the easy way out even now. I haven't named the bank (and won't, other than to say it is not Mutual) because it is not my intention to fight with them, but to get the bank to start stepping up to it's responsibilities in the neighborhood. Local banks are supposed to help the community grow, and this one has repeatedly failed miserably in that respect. Let me reiterate that this election isn't any sort of "good vs. evil" thing, it just several groups with different visions of the future of the community. A local US attorney recently said that alderman control the economic growth of their community. That is not quite correct. Alderman mostly only have the ability to SLOW the growth of their community. Some outside force has to come in to cause the community to grow economically. Bernie has attracted a lot of those forces, and I think it is is unfair to blame him solely because he is also friends with those developers. There are 49 other wards in the city, plus the suburbs, competing for development dollars, and it is part of his responsibilities to help get a portion of those funds. Greg would have to do the same thing if he is elected. I happen to favor Bernie because I think sacrificing a lot of diversity for a slightly better economic growth is not worth it in the long run, and I think we can get better sustainable growth by maximizing economic potential of the existing ethnic communities, rather than replacing them with the richer yuppie communities. I might be wrong. But consider this. What sort of competitive advantage would the ward's economy have if it was just like every other community?

> ... all the candidates are in favor of gentrification, the real issue is to what extent ... > Local banks are supposed to help the community grow, and this one has repeatedly failed miserably in that respect. Those darn banks! Holding our neighborhood back from realizing its potential! This unnamed bank has done too little under Stone and your greatest fear is they will do too much when Stone is gone. What a highly nuanced view you have!

> ... if the Feds ever decide to prosecute. That is unlikely ... I agree. Highly unlikely. So why not jump in, flesh out the story of how you and Stone built the Shining City on a Hill known as Rogers Park, based on your recollections. I know I'd like to read it.

Actually, I will do one better. I will explain something of the history of Devon avenue, and why I am upset with the bank. I was picking up some groceries on Devon Friday, and as I came back, I visited someone who remembers when Devon was a dirt road. That was a long time ago, even before my time. When I was growing up, Devon had become a major commercial center. At the corner of Devon and California was Rosin Optometrists. People would come from all over the world to visit it. There were other world famous stores, on Devon, on Lincoln avenue, on Western avenue. Did you know that Lincoln Village was the first shopping center, ever, in Chicago? Know how that came about? Wasn't the government. It was a local bank, which had executives that had the vision to see what the area could become, and the courage and dedication to make it happen. But that was then. All those executives of that bank are now retired, and the new generation in charge of the bank are, charitably, cautious; Unit banking and community banks area thing of the past, and banks can make more money investing in faraway places than in their own communities. And government can do little to help. Don't blame Bernie for the decline. He kept this neighborhood from disintegrating, in face of city budgets that were slashed and slashed again. Theres no help available from the city, Chicago can't even afford to keep helping special education students, let alone whole neighborhoods, and most of those neighborhoods are in far worse shape than ours. As I walked toward California Avenue, something about the scene reminded of the 1970's, walking along 47th avenue towards King drive on the south side of Chicago. I was scared back then, a few weeks earlier a driver had pulled into a gas station a block from the 47th street carnival, and gotten shot for the crime of asking directions. But I was not scared last Friday, even though Devon was shabbier and darker than 47th street was in my memory. As I passed an abandoned shopping cart, an old woman rushed past me, grabbed the cart, and shouted "I am going in that direction anyways, I might as well take it back" And the thought hit me. I was not afraid, because I was home. Yeah, maybe the grocery shelves were full of labels from some country where they apparently never invented vowels, and I couldn't understand most of what anyone was saying, but out on a dark street, I was home. As I reached California avenue, I looked east, to where, as a young child, my father had brought me to the a meeting room of the second story of the bank, where they taught the children of immigrants about what it meant to be an American. I remember the banks dedication, it's involvement in the community, and the pride I felt in being even a small part of this. And now I finally understand how important that was. An alderpersons job is to act as an ombudsman for the residents to the city, the local community has to take responsibility for its own growth. And the financial part of the community is responsible for providing the environment to cause it to grow. Except in this case, that bank does not see an opportunity there. Instead it sees a bunch of little, hole in the wall third world businesses it wants to get rid of because it's depressing property values of the bungalows it holds the mortgages on. I DO see those opportunities. I see see a living, thriving (if poor) community that actually cares about itself and each other, and is doing the best it can under difficult circumstances. All it really needs is a financial institution to take an interest in developing it economically. And thats why I am upset with the local bank. P.S. for clarification, Rogers Park is NOT part of the 50th ward, and, though I did do some work there back in the 1970's, it is not what I am talking about here. My community is in the 50th and 40th wards, (West Rodgers Park, Westridge, Lincoln Bend/Budlong Woods) and I only claim to be one member of a large group that helped make it a very diverse community. It is sorta like New Orleans. Officially, FEMA and the Coast Guard did all the rescue work during the Katrina storm, but unofficially, there were millions of FBO's and individual ministries involved. A few weeks ago, a Foster bus driver watching a passenger help another passenger, qnd he told me that he felt like he was back in New Orleans during the storm. That made me very proud. The members of our community help each other, and have for decades. Thats why the hate monger had no effect; we know and care about each other, his (or her) lies can't touch us. And thats what makes me see the potential of the ward. The Swedes are long gone, and only a small fraction of the Jews are left, replaced by newer immigrants. But the spirit is still there, passed down to the new residents as an inheritance from the old. And it was that spirit that made the community successful. But all the spirit in the world won't help if the resources aren't there. Bernie does not control those resources; the banks do.

Why does Gregg Brewer have a picture of him and Bernie Stone shaking hands? I thought they didn't like each other.

That is a picture of Greg Brewer and Irv Loundy, Vice President of Devon Bank. Not Bernie Stone. Irv Loundy is the chairman of Brewer's campaign.

Oops! Thanks for the clarification. Unfortunately, Irv sure does look a lot like the picture of Berny in all those posters. I've seen his name on Brewer's materials. He must be a big force behind his campaign.

Since it is a day in honor of Dr. King, I thought I might make a comment on the 50th ward and us "dinosaurs" in the context of the early civil rights movement, and why the banks abandoned the community. To set the stage, lets review a little history . Jews had fared little better in America in the 1930's than they did in Europe. For example, here in America, radio evangelists with millions of followers regularly urged destruction of the "Christ Killers". After WWII, antisemitism decreased for a few years, then re-emerged under the leadership of Senator "Tailgunner Joe" McCarthy, disguised as anticommunism. As a consequence, by the late 1950's, most of the Jewish communities in America were seriously concerned about potential "American Holocaust". In the same time period, a wave of migration had brought southerners, blacks and whites alike, to Chicago, which was the most segregated city in America at the time. Seriously segregated. Trying to move outside your neighborhood meant risking a severe beating at best. Or even just staying in your neighborhood. In West Rogers Park and Lincoln Bend/Budlong Woods, white southern gangs would sometimes drive into the neighborhood, beat up Jews at random, and leave. Sometimes Jews as young as first graders playing on the grounds of Jamieson grade school. The Jews that grew up in this environment had a strong anger about social injustice of any kind and were heavily involved in the early civil rights movement. Over in the east coast cities like New York, this anger was mostly expressed by joining voter registration drives in the south. Here in Chicago, however, voter registration wasn't the main issue, (there was no discrimination, even dead people could vote, and often did), integration was. From the mid 1950's on, the Jews of the far north side worked hard to foster better relations between all the races of the city. That was us, the dinosaurs, the methuselahs, Bernies and my generation. Mostly anonymously. At first, the fear was of getting beaten or killed by the racists, later, they had to dodge the blockbusters and redliners, who used fear to cheat black and white homeowners alike. At the end, they also had to include some of the marchers and protestors, who could ruin years of careful bridgebuilding between the races with a single confrontation. And always, they remembered their origins here in Rogers Park (East and West) Lincoln Bend/Budlong woods and Westridge and tried to make it a shining example of true diversity. I can't (and wouldn't even if I could) claim credit for that, I was just one insignificant part of a movement that, unorganized as it was, made a major contribution to the fact that there are now only two neighborhoods of Chicago that are still unintegrated. I was one of the youngest then, but that was a half century ago, and I am old now. A lot of the others came back to wait to die in nursing homes in the area that they loved, and most of rest are long dead (probably still voting, though. tradition means a lot to Jews.) But Methuselah's? We built this community, we still love it, and we are still fighting (and succeeding) in keeping it vital in spite of an almost total lack of financial support from the outside world. But it is not easy. We succeeded too well. As the diversity grew, the banks that helped build the most modern business community of the 1960's redlined us. Oh, not so obvious as outright redlining, but loans and business improvements were few and far between, especially for the small ethnic group businesses that cluster around the intersection of Ghandi Way, Mother Teresa way, Golda Mier way and California. As gentrification inches closer, the redlining is relaxing, since those same banks now see a return to customers they are more comfortable with, and a chance to reverse the diversity that has happened since the 1960's. We want the gentrification to come. Diversity means everybody, including the rich yuppies (and all the money they could spend at local businesses). But one thing about us Methuselahs. We get really stubborn in our old age, and we are not going to waver on our commitment to make this community a home for all, from the homeless to the millionaires, and for every race and culture that wants to come and live here with the rest of us. It's probably hopeless. While our opponents have $100 a plate dinners at fancy downtown restaurants, we meet informally in tiny gatherings and in non "now" restaurants like "What's Cooking", in Lincoln Village. It is unlikely that even with the best cabbage soup in the city we can compete with bank executives and tons of campaign money. Then again, decades ago, it also seemed hopeless too, we never seriously thought we could even make a real difference, let alone help integrate the city. We just knew we could not stand by the sidelines and do nothing. In any case, I, at least, do take comfort in the fact that the hate monger didn't manage to make even a dent in community relations. It means we built this community well, I just hope we built well enough to survive the challenges of the next few years.

> It is unlikely that ... we can compete with bank executives and tons of campaign money. You too modest! You are doing quite well! Amrish Mahajan President and Chief Executive Officer Mutual Bank 6335 N Western. $2,000.00 5/9/2006 to Democratic Club of the 50th Ward $1,000.00 4/27/2006 $2,000.00 6/10/2005 $1,000.00 6/11/2004 $300.00 5/23/2003 $300.00 5/3/2002 $300.00 5/18/2001 $1,500.00 12/13/2002 to Bernard L Stone Campaign Committee http://www.elections.state.il.us/CampaignDisclosure

Actually, as I keep repeating (apparently to no avail), I AM NOT PART OF THE STONE CAMPAIGN! That last post, for example, was inspired by a posting in Streetwise by it's editor on whether Dr King would have approved of what civil rights had become, and by a CSPAN show on the modern civil rights movement. I was watching the show, amazed at all the misconceptions of what the early civil rights movement was about, when a speaker, Dan Reynolds, said the smartest thing I heard that day..."Lets concentrate on what works"; word for word, the same thing I heard decades ago. I did a little googling, and realized that practically nobody knew about the contribution West Rogers Park and Lincoln Bend residents made to the early successes of civil rights in Chicago, so I wrote the posting. There are a lot of unsung heroes of that era. Most didn't take any credit because, even today, it wouldn't be smart. But is you look hard enough, you will notice firms whose names you would never associate with civil rights, financing many of the groups that help bring about most of the successes of all reforms of civil liberties in the 50's and 60's. Those firms did a lot more behind the scenes, as well. To reiterate, I am not part of the Stone campaign. I got involved only because of the vicious age discrimination rhetoric and the potential threat that the hate monger posed to the community I live in. I know what real racism is like is like, I don't want that raising it's ugly head here, especially for something as silly as an aldermanic campaign. And do you really think a community with as many retirement homes as ours would appreciate comments like "Dinosaur" and "Methuselah"? Other than that, I don't care who wins. I hope Greg and his friends make a bundle off their bungalows. Even the mortgage bankers financing them. I really do. I just hope he doesn't lose interest afterwards. We need people who are committed to developing the community. But I am not going to stand by while Bernie is attacked for doing a good job for over three decades and growing old in the process. More importantly, I am not going to let Ilana be penalized for growing up in the community and having Bernie as a father. I never stood for discrimination because someones parents were black, asian, or hispanic; I am certainly not going to tolerate it because someones parents were politicians. Get this clear. Here, in our community, you are judged on your own merits. Got a problem with that? You are going to find that is the one thing we won't tolerate. Yes, property values would rise if Devon avenue looked more like most suburban downtowns, but Ghandi Marg is an integral part of our community, and it is up to them to decide it's fate, though the rest of us will support them in whatever they choose. My issues are with some of Greg's supporters, not Greg. The hate monger, the banks that suddenly "rediscovered" the community after years of neglect, the arrogant suburban yuppies of the DFA that think they can wander into our community and tell us how to live our lives, and the assorted spoiled brats who are upset because we Bernie spent what little budget we had on the basic needs of our community, not on bike paths or art shows. And frankly, until you mentioned it, I wasn't really aware of how much Mutual had spent on our community. I commend them for that, and hope they will take a serious look at the potential of the various groups within the community. There is a lot of money to be made here, if someone has the wisdom to figure out how to take advantage of it. That's not an easy task. Our community is a delicate balance of many different interests, and what helps one hurts others, and we want to take care of everybody, from the bungalow owners to the homeless. If whoever gets elected doesn't believe that, well, they can discuss it with whatever politician is in the cell next to them.

> real racism ... I don't want that raising it's ugly head here me neither > I wasn't really aware of how much Mutual had spent on our community. > I commend them for that Mahajan's contributions to Stone are "spending on our community?" > what helps one hurts others I don't accept that

As I see it, there is a pro-development/pro-business/anti-resident candidate in the mold of Stone (Salman Aftab), A Daley crony candidate in the mold of Stone (Naisy Dolar) and a true progressive who cares about his fellow residents (Greg Brewer).

I would see it completely differently, especially since resident means different things to you and me, but thats the nature of a democracy. However, the one thing I would dispute is the relationship of this election to Daley...there isn't one. Why? One final backgrounder on the underlying issues: Lets take a look at the next decade or so for America. Chicago, and this community, and you will see why some banks are so interested in this community. In the next ten years. America and China will be in a global economic war over the resources of Africa and South America. The third world nations involved will have to decide between China, with it's low tolerance for diversity and homogenous population and America, with a tradition of diversity, and with a significant number of residents from their own countries. Adding to the America's credibility will be the fact that Americas leader may be Barack Obama, who can claim membership in many different ethnic groups. But he, alone, would not be enough. The era of colonial style influence ended with the Iraq war, and these next ten years will require Americas troops be its global businessmen, not it's warriors. And Chicago will be at the heart of that army. Most cities in America are declining in influence. The financial community is moving from New York to Singapore, Macau, and Hong Kong, and the nntertainment community id moving from California to the Internet. Chicago, however, with it's focus on globalization, will be growing only more influential. The area is already preparing for 2016, for example, the first direct flights to South Africa from Ohare are starting up, and we are one of two cities in America short listed for the 2016 Olympics. And thats the underlying key to whats happing in this election and this community. If Chicago gets the Olympics (very likely) America will be pouring tons of money into the city because those Olympics are going to be a major contest for impressing the third world nations that control the resources necessary for both America and China. The decision for the Olympics will be made in April, shortly after the election, and, if Chicago gets it, this area will become one of the hottest values on the planet, since it's massive ethnic diversity will give it a head start in coping with the wide range of visitors due to arrive in 2016, especially the by then wealthy and massive Indian middle and upper classes. The businesses in this community have hung on for decades, carefully keeping thier dollars within the community because outside investment was so impoverished. Now that the payoff is coming into view, there are those that would try and steal it from them, from us, and we have only one question, one reply to deliver to them. WE WERE HERE, WHERE WERE YOU? With luck, in a decade, this community will be wealthy and world famous again, due to all the hard work and determination that we put into building it yet another time. Don't think we are going to hand it over all that easily to the first carpetbagger that happens to wander in and stake a claim.

THE ANTI-STONE ORGY IS OVER---NO LONGER WILL THE OBSESSIVE HATE FILLED RANTINGS OF STONE HATERS LED BY "HUGH"DEVLIN GO UNCHALLENGED DONT LET "CONCERNED CITIZEN HUGH" FOOL YOU INTO THINKING THAT THE LIES AND INNUENDOES HE PRINTS ON THIS AND OTHER BLOGS ARE ANYTHING MORE THAN THE ELECTRONIC TERRORISM OF A HATEFULLY OBSESSED KEYBOARD COMMANDO--HUGH KNOWS ELECTRONICS -AND HE USES IT TO HIS FULL HATE-FILLED PURPOSE--THIS IS A MAN WHO ONCE POSTED ON A SITE THAT ANYONE WHO COULDNT POST A NEW SMEAR AGAINST STONE ON A DAILY BASIS -WAS NOT TRYING HARD ENOUGH. WHEN YOU SEE ANY POST RELATING TO ALD. STONE OR THE 50TH WARD FROM "HUGH" KNOW THAT YOU ARE READING HATE MOTIVATED LIES AND SMEARS BY A TRUE HATE-MONGER HIDING BEHIND HIS KEYBOARD IN HIS HIDING PLACE--THE HUGH DEVLINS OF THE WORLD ONLY OPERATEIN THE SHADOWS

i am truly appalled--a 50th ward blog that claims to be fair regarding this election, is now openly censoring-i wont give the name because it would only draw readers to a one sided sham-site that is part of one of the campaigns opposing STONE those regular blogs readers will soon find out when they see that"moderation controls" are in place and all comments w ill be posted after "approval"-the blog moderator is js in the 50th -why would they do this?

i too saw what matt just posted-im afraid that my posts would be censored too-i have posted many times on the js site but today saw that censored approval is now at play-i have wondered why the censorship is in place, hours after at least one stone supporter began posting -i am so dissapointed-as a progressive- to see fascistic tactics at work in this campaign-that is not liberalism or democracy

Forgive me for not searching the above comments for an answer. I have lots of comments about life in the 50th, but am not really able to articulate them. But I AM curious as to who is footing the bill for those hideous, Citzen Kane-style posters that are plastered all over the 50th. The ones that say that Stone is MY alderman. Technically that is correct, but not in practice. As with TV commercials, I am always intrigued as to why if something is so good for me, I must be bombarded with hype. Lastly a word to those candidates using telephony to educate us uneducated: If you use a telephone to invade my house in an attempt to sway my ideas about issues, then I don't care how good you are, I won't vote for you. You usually call during dinner, often using a computer which continues to cycle until someone answers. I hope I speak for others when I say that this is a form of condescension to the voters--candidate over-identification is not always a good thing, especially when he/she annoys potential supporters. Reliance on these annoying old-world campaign tactics tells me that you have no fresh ideas.

HERE WE ARE ,LESS THAN A WEEK LATER AND JS IS CENSORING AGAIN.JS SITE IS JUST A PROPAGANDA VOICE OF THE BREWER CAMPAIGN.THAT IS NOW OBVIOUS!!

i think i saw the post that did it.A poster stated that the original Brewer biography proudly said Greg had a leadership role in the building of the "ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY in MECCA,SAUDI ARABIA" and has worked extensively in the MIDDLE EAST. Since that initial posting on Brewers original site his bio keeps changing downplaying his MIDDLE EASTERN TIES --DECREASINGLY.JS must be following the orders of his Brewer Campaign Commanders who want these facts FOR SOME REASON not in the light of public discourse>

Brewer is 85K in the hole. Looks like he can't raise a dime! If he's not working the phones what is he doing with all his time? I thought he had that Stone-look-a-like Laudy on his side? Where is the love?

*Sigh* Now I remember why I stick to social work and stay out of politics...I really have no talent for dealing with moral ambiguity. The 50th is a very diverse ward, with many Islamic businesses,and we should remember that these are our friends and neighbors, and we should be proud that they choose to take residence in our community. Any ties Greg might have with the Middle East are irrelevant, the 50th (and the 40th) has a wide collection of residents with ties to various parts of the Middle East, and they certainly have a right to a voice in the affairs of the ward. Therefore, the fact that Mr Brewer has Middle Eastern ties is NOT a negative for his campaign. (Not a positive either, though. I would prefer a prospective alderman spent more time within the ward than half a world away.) More significantly, any role in the establishment of any kind of university (or any other positive activity, especially in a region as conflicted as the middle east) is a worthwhile effort, and Greg should be proud of his involvement. The last century has been quite difficult for regional cultures in the Middle East, and I hope that the establishment of the university will accelerate the process of normalizing the relationship of the regional cultures to wider global community. On the other hand, I really would like to ask everyone to leave debating the global issues to outside the ward. Here, we live in peace with each other; our goal here is to build a community. I might remind everyone that a significant portion of our residents fled their homelands to avoid the chaos such issues brought, and have no desire to resurrect any such ghosts from their past. We should respect that.

Randy,the intention of the coment regarding BREWER'S CHANGING BIO is just that --his bio keeps changing as does DOLAR'S-GET THIS-it had NOTHING TO DO WITH ISLAM OR THE MIDDLE EAST-E-X-E-C-P-T TO ILLUSTRATE A CONSTANTLY CHANGING PERSONAL BIO OF BREWER!

Ihave known BERNY STONE for decades. Stones bio doesnt change to fit election strategy.The 50th ward remains Chicago's finest community due to the hard working dilligence of ALD. STONE

i am a union member .how dare my union endorse an opponant of my alderman,stone ,in favor of a far left supported non-working archtect.what really fries me is that my dues paid for the candidates mail to me.

WHATS REALLY AMAZING IS HOW THE STONE HATERS GOT BREWER TO FIGHT THEIR WAR WITH HIS AND HIS FAMILY'S MONEY UNLESS THERE ARE GOING TO BE JANUARY/FEBRUARY SURPRISES. THE MEAGER DONATIONS LISTED THRU 12/31 FROM HIS MOST "ARDENT"SUPPORTERS IS FARCICAL

Randy Gordon said... "And thats not to mention the fringe folks who think a new Bike path or a music ensemble is incredibly important, when we barely have the budget to keep basic services running and get a few improvements in, mostly through various negotiated deals." I just want to say that the bicycle bridge linking the bike paths by Lincoln Village had Federal funding. It was essentially free to the Ward. Bernie turned down a couple million dollars worth of infrastructure to my community.

Bike Man-you're not telling the truth.The Bike Path and Green Space along the river is due to Stone.IT EXISTS-Typical Left Wing tactics-When the TRUTH won't work-L-I-E!

the fiftieth ward is under INVASION from the same far-left groups who are the "BLAME AMERICA"crowd. their agenda is not the community's or the nation's.ONLY ALD. STONE,HIMSELF A WW2 VETERAN,standsfor the TRUE FIFTIETH WARD and OUR NATION

*Sigh* All I am trying to keep this silly aldermanic election from turning into an exercise in theatre of the absurd. Neither Bernie or Greg is a villain, and I will resist all attempts to turn either of them into one. But there are real issues about the future of the ward, and I would like to encourage them actually being incorporated into the debate at some time. Bernies age, military experience or Ilana isn't an issue, nor is Greg middle east connections, or for that matter of fact, his bio in general. And, in particular, a bike path, one way or another, isn't relevant. I am having trouble determining what the IMPORTANT issues of this raceare, and, I suspect, so are many other residents. Which brings up an interesting question. Outside of personal attacks, could someone comment on the issues that ARE important to our ward, that an alderman has the power to affect and whose amelioration would have a significant affect on our community? I have been studying the ward for some time (I do some work with the seniors and the homeless, and have been looking tnto what could help them) and, frankly, I haven't seen any "low hanging fruit" anywhere, given what I know of budget constraints and and the practical realities. (Not to say there isn't actions I would love to take, just none that don't assume a lot more budget than we have, or don't sacrifice something more important, at least in my view.) So. A challenge. Anyone out there got a positive suggestion for action in our ward that requires some community effort and an alderman to bring to fruition and would result in something significant (rather than something nice to have)?

I have a suggestion. Introduce a recycling center nearby with accessible hours or even better, city pick-up that really DOES recycle the items. How about police officers, paying attention when our children are walking home from school. How about someone to remove the OBNOXIOUS speed humps that 1)cannot be seen 2) bottoms out a car, and place them where they belong- around schools. Also to R.G., Ilana may seem nice when you have superficial conversation with her, but watch your back! She's not what she appears to be. Capsman need not defend/rage/rant(but probably will...sigh).

WILLOW-YOU HAVE THAT RIGHT-I'M TOLD YOU'RE MOST LIKELY A 'WENDY'WHO SHOULD REALLY PUT YOUR OWN HOUSE IN ORDER BEFORE YOU GO OFF ON A "HATE-YOUR NEIGHBOR"CAMPAIGN.FROM WHAT THOSE WHO KNOW YOU BEST SAY- YOU'RE USING THE CAMPAIGN TO FIGHT A PERSONAL WAR AGAINST A GREAT LADY,ILANA !!

I wasn't sure why exactly I was leaning toward re-electing Bernie until I attended the leftist love fest at Boone School last night. I was reminded of the old Monty Python skit, where they were announcing election returns for House of Commons races and they introduced the candidates as being from either 1) the Silly Party, 2) the very Silly Party or 3) the Sensible Party. Excepting for the fact that Aftab said he was opposed to all TIFs and Brewer seemed to hedge a bit on whether he would back the others in a runoff, they all pretty much propounded the same standard old leftist multiculturalist mantra. Dolar, with a radical multiculturalist from the IL Coalition for Immigrant Protection running her campaign, called for "multicultural sensitivity training for cops." Aftab pretty much dittoed. Good God, after decades of affirmative action in hiring, sensitivity training up the wazoo and the constant threat of racial profiling lawsuits, are they still beating this dead horse? Brewer, the big champion of the bungalow buyers, oddly didn't have anything to say about actually lowering the property tax burden. Had plenty of ideas on how to spend the tax boodle, though. Everyone was hand-wringing over school overcrowding and the crappy caliber of Chicago Public schools, but oddly, not a peep about illegal immigration and the impact that it is having on the schools. Given the fact that post 1990 immigration is fueling 100% -- that's right, 100% -- of the growth in school population, you think it would be worth considering as some school districts are now suing the feds for not enforcing the border and thereby saddling them with a massive education burden. But taboo subjects such as illegal immigration and its impact on the 50th Ward don't fit in with the leftist rosy worldview and are ignored like the 2 ton elephant in the living room. I think Bernie has the whiff of typical machine scandal about him, though nothing has ever attached, and he probably is too complacent. But God save us from these other three zany utopians. I vote: Naisy Dolar -- Extremely Silly Party Salman Aftab -- Very Silly Party Greg Brewer -- Silly Party Bernie Stone -- Silly/Sensible coalition.

BERNY STONE HAS NO "WHIFF"-THE MAN IS HONEST AND SERVES WITH HONOR.I'M PROUD TO BE REPRESENTED BY HIM.

Why are so many hateful people supporting Brewer?Their rancor was on display at Boone last night.Hate and anger are typical FAR-LEFT tactics;Brewer's staff are professional HATE-MONGERS

i 'm curious-did the lefties serve wine/brie and left-wing kool-aid to the Boone audience?

anyone vote aftop is crazy person

Ok, lets take this in order. Willow, thank you for your post, but a little more information might be useful. I really don't know much about recycling issues in the ward. If you could post a couple of URL's it would be helpful. I was under the impression our recycling capacity was adequate. Certainly, ita a worthwhile goal, though I am not certain about possible cost restraints on implementing it. In what areas of the ward are children unprotected when going to school? Have there been repeated problem? If something is happening, it certainly needs to be addressed. I am afraid I don't see Ilana's relevance to any of this. Bernie is the one running for office, and, in any case, services delivered, not personality should be the issue. Politwriter. Whether they are leftists or rightist (whatever that means) is irrelevant. To be honest, I am still trying to figure out what progressive means. Obviously, those attending Bone were members of the community and had legitimate concerns that ought to at least be discussed. Look, property taxes are far too high, but thats maily becuase the state is not picking up it's fair share of the tab (Illinois is 47th out of 50 in persent of state dollars for schools, for example. One of the reasons property taxes are so high.) I can't see TIF's as inherently bad or good, they are just a divice for helping blighted neighborhoods. Salman might do better explaining WHY a particular TIF is wrong. Illegal immigration is certainly an important issue, but is it an issue relevant to an aldermans job? What exactly would anyone have an alderman do that's legally (and financially) possible? Everyone might read this recent article in the Capitol Fax blog. http://thecapitolfaxblog.com/2007/02/01/in-the-trenches/ And think about the repuration it is bringing our community...I am not all that thrilled to hear we are the equivalent of a middle school lunchroom... I will never get old enough to forget what that was like, and I wouldn't wish that reputation on anyone. Here is a possible idea. If we really want to lower property taxes, why not bring some additional sources of revenue into the war. Today, Condaleesa Rice was telling Congress that the State department was lacking people familiar with other culture, since there is such a high demand for them among multinationals. The ward would be a good place to start a training center for multicultural businesses. Maybe we could get a big enough grant to start something like that and use the dollars and influence to offset some of the property taxes in the ward. I mean, we have a lot of influential Democrats controlling both houses of Congress, and if Chicago gets the Olympics, we might get some more grants to help show off how Chicago (and the US) can support globalized business.

I am buoyed to see that Mr. Gordon recognizes that illegal immigration is an important issue in the 50th ward. It affects school overcrowding, the dearth of affordable rental units, crime and most visibly, the strain on our parks. An alderman could do a lot in to ameliorate the effects of illegal immigration: 1) Propose to rescind the "Chicago Sanctuary Order" which is effectively a don't ask don't tell policy that precludes Chicago Police from checking into a suspect's immigration status and working with ICE to deport illegals. When Los Angeles County rescinded its "Sanctuary" provisions, it found that more than 5,000 of the 10,000 Los Angeles County jail inmates were here illegaly and is moving to deport them upon completion of their sentences. Chicago can't do that by law. That's just the first thing a conscientious Chicago alderman could do. The noises that Brewer and Aftab make about "ethnic sensitivity training for cops" surely show they haven't a clue. Naisy Dolar's campaign manager, Marisa Garsiosa, is a staffer with the very immigrant welfare rights group that pushed thru this idiotic and dangerous Chicago policy.

THE THREE CARPETBAGGERS IN CHIEF-GUNSLINGER,MAD DOG AND "BLAME AMERICA"MARISSA

Is this what we have come to? Name-calling and hate-mongering? These people are YOUR NEIGHBORS! Honest disagreement is healthy but this has gone well beyond that. How can you expect a candidate to help improve our community if this kind of talk is the consituency that they have to deal with. Be what you want others to be before you criticize them. I would like to offer some comments about the campaign. I would appreciate it if we could act like we all are working towards the same goal of getting the best candidate. That doesn't mean we will agree on who the best candidate is, but understanding the thinking of others has helped me form my opinion before and I have appreciated some of the insight that I have seen in other postings. Here goes... Bernie may or may not have done a good job over the last 5 years. Honestly it's hard to tell. Much of that is because of how he operates. The building at Rockwell and Devon, the Northtown theatre zoning change, the opposition to the bike bridge. There's been little or no direct communication from Bernie about these controversial decisions. They may or may not be based upon a valid balancing of considerations. But transparency in government is important because the lack of it has led time and time again to abuse. Bernie's failure to communicate is a problem in and of itself whether or not he is doing it for the best of reasons or not. Greg Brewer seems like a decent guy. I don't believe he has a hidden agenda but he does represent a viewpoint that is focused on his expertise in development and project planning. He's go more experience than any of the other candidates in that area but he is a relative new-comer to the community organizing issues involved in this kind of diverse community. Nancy Dolar seems like the flip-side of Greg. She lacks the strong administrative leadership and technical knowledge that Greg bring about development issues. But she has a clear focus and passion for the kind of community organizing we really could use. I sort of wish I could blend her with Greg and get the best of both. Salman Aftab is a wild-card. He is more of an outsider than either of the other two. He seems the least likely to be encumbered by promises to constituencies and more likely to be independent. These are characteristics I always prize. On the other hand, it's not clear that that approach will work well in the type of give-and-take environment that the political sphere requires. Who would I vote for right now? I honestly still don't know. But I do believe that Bernie is too set in his ways and we need a change that he will not be able to make. He could still change my mind though if he were to open things up. I'm keeping an eye out for now...

If you are truly willing to be fair-minded,I would like to give you a few things to consider-ALD. STONE HAS EVENING OFFICE HOURS ,EVERY MONDAY AND THURSDAY EVENINGS, beginning at 6:30p.m. and lasting until the last constituent has been seen..ALDERMAN STONE'S CAMPAIGN AS YOU CAN SEE THROUGH ITS MAILINGS HAS BEEN POSITIVE AND HIGH ROAD-THE OPPOSITION HAS NO REAL ISSUES ,SO THEY MANUFACTURE FALSE ONES.ALSO, THE UGLY TONE IS COMING FROM THE OPPOSITION, AS A CAMPAIGN TECHNIQUE COMMON TO NON-INCUMBENTS,TO CREATE AN ANGER IN THE COMMUNITY THAT THEIR "MESSIAH" CAN EXPLOIT.-THE 50TH WARD WAS AN UN-ANGRY COMMUNITY THAT THE OPPOSITION 'S PROFESSIONAL CAMPAIGN STAFFS HAVE ATTEMPTED TO DIVIDE FOR THEIR PURPOSE.DON,T LET THEM SUCCEED!

Frustration with Bernie is real and is I think is probably THE key issue in the campaign. Painting Bernie as all good and the others as having "no real issues" doesn't serve to further the debate about how to improve the community. None of these candidates is a "Messiah"... including Bernie. But the community working together is essential for any of them to make a positive impact. The kind of divisive rhetoric that you are choosing to continue does nothing but hurt the community. I would ask that those of you that are concerned about the community first and your candidate second should show that by refraining from any more of this kind of behavior.

Tired seems to be saying that he or she is weary of the negative campaigning. If that is so the finger can only be pointed at the 3 challengers to Alderman Stone who have made Stone-bashing the keynotes of their campaigns. That was clearly evident at each of the public forums where they appeared where they devoted at least 40% of their utterances to ad hominem attacks and the balance to things less negative. As to a community consensus, It would be interesting to assess the percentage of campaign partisans for each candidate who actually reside in the 50th Ward, i.e. the community. The 3 challengers to Stone seem to have a distressing number of outsiders in their respective entourages. That would seem to suggest that Brewer and Dolar in particular are in the thrall of people whose agendas are related to accumulating power with the 50th Ward simply being a convenient battleground. The Schakowsky-Suffredin Machine, the public employees labor unions, the Chicago Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee rights are all involved on behalf of Brewer and Dolar. Are these external organizations genuinely interested in the quality of life in the West Ridge area?

In response to "poliwriter"... Decrying Stone-bashing while bashing the other three candidates is at best disingenuous. As a long-sitting incumbent Stone himself is a fair issue in the campaign. His record is what the campaign is about for both him and the other candidates. Trying to discredit other candidates with charges of "outside" influences and being "in thrall of people whose agendas are related to accumulating power" is really nothing more than mudslinging. For Bernie's sake I would suggest that you find a more postive way to contribute. Your comments make him look bad. I know I'm concerned to see these kinds of comments here on this blog without someone from Bernie's campaign here to disavow this kind of behavior. This just feeds into the perception that Bernie is out of touch with the community... That's what ultimately could get him defeated. Is there nobody from Bernie's campaign that can speak directly to the community's concerns with Bernie's record without resorting to this kind of behavior?

Actually, not replying to statements in a blog doesn't say anything about whether a candidate is in touch with his community. I might remind everyone that the real test is whether the community is, overall, being served properly. The problem with explaining aldermanic decisions is that the tradeoffs involved are huge and complex, and can't be easily explained. Take, for example, the nike path. Does anyone seriously believe an alderman would let slip through his hands ANYTHING of value without a really important reason? It is a free win for him, after all. More importantly, explaining decisions isn't really important. What is important is the end results. Alderman are elected to manage the ward to the residents benefit. Thats the problem I am having with this whole election. What exactly are the WARD issues being debated? As far as I can see, the only WARD issue of any consequence is property taxes. With all the different taxing authorities with a say in property taxes, the only thing I can see an alderman do to lower rates is to bring more taxable revenue into the ward. Do any of the candidates have any ideas how to achieve that? For that matter of fact, why ARE people backing any of the candidates? Salman is not going to win, obviously, but what do his supporters want? How about Naisy's or Gregs supporters? Just because their candidates loose the election, doesn't mean their concerns should be ignored. The problem is, it is really hard to tell what they want, outside of defeating Bernie. We obviously aren't going to get the taxing authorities to give up their share of the cut, and the government isn't going to allow unilateral action on illegal immigrants, GLBT's or any other group of residents, so what can each set of supporters get out of this election, no matter which candidate wins? You can't really complain you aren't being listened to if there is there is nothing for anyone to hear.

> Take, for example, the [bike] path. Does anyone seriously believe an alderman would let slip through his hands ANYTHING of value without a really important reason? ok, what's the really important reason?

I understand Gordon's lament. Many of the same voters who are now saying that Catholic Naisy Dolar's support for down the line abortion on demand and Greg Brewer's support for homosexual marriage were the very same people bashing Tony Peraica last fall for his anti-abortion and anti-gay marriage positions. Those matters are not germaine to performing the tasks of an alderman or County Board President. How hypocritical of the multiculturalist lefties to trumpet those concerns during a County Board election and then turn around and pooh-pooh them during an aldermanic race as being irrelevant, which they are. But illegal immigration is a major issue affecting the 50th Ward and I'm sick and tired of Pollyana's like Gordon saying that its a matter for the Tsar in far off St. Petersburg. As I noted, Chicago has a "Sanctuary order" that doesn't allow Chicago Police to ask about illegal immigration status or co-operate in deporting illegals when they happen to be found. The Census bureau says we have more than a half-million illegals in Illinois -- that's probably a low-ball number. Given the wonderful "diversity" of the 50th Ward, so valued by Dolar and Brewer, do you think maybe there are more than a few in our midst? Just look at the pile of Corona bottles littering Indian Boundary Park every Sunday and Monday morning. Dolar and Brewer were crying about school overcrowding. Where do you think that comes from? The average illegal alien woman as assessed in California, has a fertility rate of 4.4 compared to 1.9 for black and white American born women. At $10k per child per year in the Chicago Public Schools, who's paying for that? Does the average illegal lawn cutter or laundromat attendant pay $44k per year in taxes to the schools? Here's something that a serious aldermanic candidate can propound: -- surveying the actual number of illegals in Chicago schools and sending the federal government a bill to compensate Chicago taxpayers for their failure to enforce our immigration laws. --denying in-state tuition rates (a subsidy) to illegal aliens in the Chicago City Colleges. -- denying certificates of occupancy to slum lords who rent to people without valid Social Security numbers or other proof of legal residence. -- rescinding business licenses of firms who wantonly hire illegals. -- denying city funds to organizations like the IL Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights who encourage and succor illegal alien lawbreakers. -- Start co-operation with Immigration and Customs enforcement to deport illegal aliens criminals who are eligible for release from Cook County jail, rather than just putting them back out on Chicago streets. -- close down the illegal alien open air hiring markets, such as the one at Pulaski near Foster and the ones springing up outside numerous Home Depots. Cities like Carpentersville, locally and many others nationally are beginning to do just these things. If the vision and will existed, the Chicago City Council could as well. Any aldermanic candidate who cries about school overcrowding, crime, property taxes and quality of life in the parks while refusing to even address this pivotal and critical issue is either a fool or a deceiver.

its truly amazing-the minute Stone supporters defend Berny against scurrilous charges,a fraud comes along telling them that defending Stone will "hurt him".yeah right

Actually, I think I am a multiculturalist, (if that means liking a variety of cultures) and pretty much a moderate as far as illegal immigration goes; Bush's illegal immigration plan is probably the only thing Bush has proposed that I can live with and is likely to become law. Unfortunately, most of politwriter's suggestions were outside the wards control (Though I believe a new school is being built to decrease overcrowding. With the upcoming budget cuts, however, I am considerably worried about operating funds to run it.) Anyhow, I would like to clarify that I am not so much a Bernie supporter as that I haven't found any compelling reason to support any of the other candidates. Bernie is doing a good job, given the economy, and none of the other candidates has proposed anything that indicates they could do anything substantially better. Greg's proposal of town meetings does make me a little scared, though. I know our residents, and the only thing coming out of a meeting like that is hard feelings between the various groups. Negotiating with each group individually seems to me to be a much more effective method of resolving issues and getting things done in the ward. I have been investigating starting up a 501c(3) EDC or Business incubator in the area, but it is hard to see what might be the sort of businesses we could fit in the area, given the existing congestion. Given the wide variety of residents and cultures, the only think I can really see is some sort of Internet based university for multicultural commerce, helping American businesses and non American businesses train aemployees for transacting business outside their native lands. That would be a partial solution to the illegal immigration problem. I suspect a least a portion of the illegal immigrants might wish to return to their lands of origin if they could go back as highly paid employees of a foreign subsidiary of an American corporation. The ward could then generate extra income via taxes on salaries they earned in their native lands.It could also generate income from tuition paid by the corporations employing them, and even train some unemployed American citizens to work in other countries and cultures.

THE WEST ROGERSPK SITE "OWNED BY HENRY M. MORRIS AND CO-MODERATED BY BREWER SUPPORTER RICHARD CONCAILDI IS A COMPLETE AND TOTALFRAUD,ESSENTIALLY A CENSORED ANTI-STONE SCREED IN WHICH A STONE DEFENDER WAS BANNED AND CALLED A "NUTCASE", BUT HUGH DEVLIN,A HATE FILLED SERIAL POSTER USES AS A PLAYGROUND.THIS IS THE SAME "HUGH" YOU SEE ALL OVER THE BLOGS-THANK YOU ,READER, FOR HAVING AN OPEN BLOG AVAILABLE TO EVERYONE,NOT LIKE THE MORRIS/CONCAILDI SHAM THAT ISA BIGOT'S PLAYGROUND!!

I honestly believe that this election is a referendum on Bernie not a election based upon any other issue. As Randy and others have pointed out, much of the discussion has surrounded issues that the Alderman has little control over. What does matter is day to day performance in the ward. I think Bernie's approach of resolving things behind the scene is the core of much of the frustration with him. I do believe that this is sometimes the best approach, but too many controversial decisions have been made without a transparent process. I am hesitant to trade a known for an unknown but I haven't seen any movement on Bernie's part to be more open and I think the public demand for this to change is very clear and real.

Randy Gordon is not a serious person. An internet University will solve the massive immigration invasion --- Good Gods!!! The inane Executive orders (the don't ask, don't tell, Sanctuary order)promulgated first by Harold Washington, then by Richie Daley and then concretized by the Chicago City Council have made Chicago a safe haven for and a magnet for illegal immigrants. We're all paying for this folly and none of the three dwarfs running against Stone have done anything but applaud it. Fiddling while Rome burns.

"[this blog's] NOT LIKE THE MORRIS/CONCAILDI SHAM THAT IS A BIGOT'S PLAYGROUND!!" exerpt from bigoted rant "Randy Gordon is not a serious person!!!" Oh my goodness... my world is at end... "Good Gods!!" poliwriter is a pagan... "Stone defender called 'NUTCASE'" community demands to know which NUTCASE was outed "ok, what's the really important reason?" Hugh... making typical incendiary bigoted remark I finally get it! Stone has decided that his persona needs a facelift and he hired some unemployed gag writers to help create a new image for him. Am I right? Now that I outed you do I get to be on TV or something? You guys kill me!

typical lefty answers-rebut truth with scorn and sarcasm-the MORRIS/CONCAILDI site is a sham and the presence of HUGH DEVLIN in more than 50% of the posts,unhindered ,makes it his playground.the active posters are majority STONE HATERS- MORRIS IS ALMOST IN DEVLIN'S LEAGUE BUT HE HIDES IT-reality is MORRIS IS DEVLIN'S ENABLER-I'M SURE MORE SCORN WILL FOLLOW THIS STATEMENT OF FACT,BUT THATS THE WORST DEVLIN,MORRIS,AND "THE HATE-STONE BRIGADE" CAN DO HERE BECAUSE "HANK" CAN'T BAN ANYONE HERE

What "to whatyusay"said echoes my sentiments.I read the west rogers site and find devlin apalling and ,yes, hank is a phony and an enabler.yahoo should ban hank morris like he bans other yahoo members.

ann g is a career STONE HATER in the DEVLIN mode. This is the follow -up poster to DEVLIN,iow,his TAG-TEAM PARTNER ann has been looking for another crack at Stone since the hank rubin defeat in 1991.

Well, considering Jon Stewart (Daily Show) is a respected political pundit, thats probably a compliment. In this case, however, I was serious, but I failed to fully explain my idea. My goal is to bring lots of revenue into the ward. We have enough ideas how to spend tax dollars, I think an idea how to create those dollars to spend is a change of pace. Our ward's resources consist of, basically, people(mostly immigrants), and the fact that Democrats are in charge of congress, with many of the most powerful being from Illinois. So, how can we use those resources to solve our property tax problem, and turn our large immigrant population from a cost center to a profit center? The answer, of course, is to get big business and the federal government to toss lots of bucks and tax rebates our way. So how do we do that? Well, we find something that the federal government wants badly and only some area with lots of immigrants and use our federal connections to get grants to deliver what the government wants. So, what does the federal government want badly right now? Well, all over the world, China is competing with us for resources. China's strategy is simple, they are delivering on infrastructure projects throughout the third world. Condaleesa Rice has testified that what the US needs is a huge workforce abroad that can deliver infrastructure projects in the third world. Normally, that would be Halliburton, but this IS a Democrat controlled congress, and there is currently no equivalent Democrat acceptable company or resources to supply that workforce. Why not our ward? Our ward has a huge workforce, familiar with those areas of the world (although many of them are illegal immigrants), why not propose to train them and send them there to build infrastructure in competition with Chinese laborers? Everybody wins in this scenario. The illegal immigrants win. For those illegal immigrants who just came here to America to get a job, I am reasonably certain that they would prefer an equivalent paying job in their own country, where they could be with the families they left behind. The US wins; instead of a military occupying force, we have sent a bunch of native citizens who are building, rather than destroying (as if we had the military reserves to send anyways); and America gets an enormous amount of good will. The ward wins: In several ways. Tax revenue from the training center, and tax rebates from a grateful US government. Less illegal immigrant's draining our funds, Instead of a huge number of illegal immigrants looking for the lowest paying jobs, they are no w back in their own countries, making good wages, and while they are here, the government (and big business) pays to house, train and provide care for their children in preparation for the move back to their own countries. The legal immigrants win: Not only is there less strain on resources for them, but there is a lot of opportunities for small business caring for the needs of those that will be shipped off to foreign countries to work on infrastructure projects. Residents win. The illegal immigrants are now in the training centers cost and profit columns, not the wards. Local jobs are freed up, and land values increase due to the wealth of the ward. Best of all, it is probably an easy sell to Rahm Emmanuel, Barack Obama, Dick Durbin, Mayor Daily, and the many other influential politicians in the area. For example, I would image all the politicians with a stake in Ohare airport would love the extra traffic, it would make a great story in support of Chicago's bid for the 2016 Olympics, and it would make make multinationals take the Midwest area more seriously as a place to do business.

P.S. If any of Lynn Sweets friends read the above comment(likely in this forum), see if they can get Lynn to ask the Obama what he thinks of my idea of using illegal immigrants as good will ambassadors/foreign workers in their native countries.

I don't get the new mailing I received yesterday from Brewer. It had an VW bus with mud on it and new hubcaps and a For Sale sign in the window. I get the For Sale sign and I get that the bus was supposed to be Stone but couldn't the mud have been slung at him? Plus, I like VW buses--they bring back good memories and represent peace etc. I guess it was supposed to say that Stone was old, rusty and for sale. I'm not voting for Stone but I really didn't like this symbolism.

if you don't get Brewer's true meaning than you're a fool.this vicious DOUBLE BIGOTRY HATE PIECE is the act of a desperate campaign that has been HATE-BASED all along, and now is over the top.

I have already voted for Greg Brewer and I see no "hate campaign" coming from his side. He is just trying to bring new hope to ward after 34 years of it being poorly represented by Bernie Stone. Brewer stands for reform and that is long overdue.

I also voted- for Dolar. There is no hate coming from her campaign and she really see's the issues and has a plan for positive changes in our ward. I like the bike path completion plan, crossing the street with a family IS dangerous, no matter what Stone say's. Does he OWN a bike? I doubt it.

TO:Willow You dont even ride a bike maybe dont own one either LOL, nor do you know the facts about the path not being completed. All you know is rumors from the dolar camp who uses the path against Stone. GET THE FACTS!!

Naisy Dolar just mailed out a piece lamenting the overcrowding in area schools. She should be the last person to complain, since her campaign manager is the very architect of our school overcrowding. Her manager, Marisa Graziosa works for the radical multiculturalist IL Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, which made Chicago a safe haven for illegal immigrants by pushing the sanctuary order, low interest home loans for illegals, in-state tuition for illegals etc. ad nauseum. There is no baby boom among white and black native born Americans. 100 per cent of the growth in the schools is due to recent immigration and Naisy and her lefty friends don't even want to ask how many illegals we're schooling locally at $10k per kid per year. If, God forbid, this Philippina maestro of the race based spoils system should make it to a runoff, Berny will eat her alive with this.

polit: your comment sounds racist. Remember,"immigrant" is not synonymous with "illegal immigrant". There is a vast difference.

To Willow Nothing racist here, just the facts. Were not talking about grammar here just the facts. Look Naisy talks about school over crowding but just recently joined the local school council, that’s just because her kids are now going to be in school and so she can use it for her campaign. Where has Naisy been all these years?? LOL !! It’s all a dog and pony show. Naisy is digging up the past were looking to the future and I don’t see Naisy taking us there. If you want to bring up the wall, bike path maybe post the truth that the completion was not done because of the engineers, and plans still in the works for completion!!! The wall on Howard?? The Community and neighborhood residents voted on it . This was not decided just by the Alderman. Naisy should get her facts straight. She Lies. Hasn’t lived in the ward all her life, and retracts her comments later with a revised statement. These are all deceptive lies.

Willow is obviously an intellectually dishonest member of the hate America first crowd. No arguments, just silence the opposition with the trite moniker, "racist." A page right out of Joseph Goebbels book. There are at least a half million illegal aliens in our state -- probably closer to a million. The average adult education level 4th grade. The per capita fertility rate is 3.3. It costs money to educate children -- about 10k a year in Chicago. Someone is paying for this. If willow is concerned about the distinction between the illegals and those legally resident -- he would urge his pals Naisy and Marisa to call for an audit of our schools to determine how many of the children local property taxpayers are paying for are legally in our country. Oh! But it would be "racist" to ask, wouldn't it willow? In any event the racemongering racketeers at Dolar's campaign manager's outfit, would scream bloody murder if we asked. Daisy has been trying to make a career out of denigrating the American community and doling out spoils to an ever growing class of victims. She is an odious fraud.

At this point, I feel compelled to make two observations. In reality, the issue of illegal immigrants is a matter for the federal government, there is nothing you can do locally, one way or the other without running up against federal intervention (eg. National Guard troops). Immigration is clearly a responsibility of the federal government according to our laws and constitution. In practicality, there is no way to force 12 million people (of any group or affiliation) out of the country against their will without destroying the country in the process. If you want illegal immigrants to leave, you are going to have to provide inducements for them to voluntarily leave. There are ways of doing this that would appease all most sides in this debate, save those that are determined to punish illegal immigrants. To those objectors, I would suggest that generating a better life for Americans is a far higher priority than punishment. We need a compromise that would generate net jobs and wealth creation for both America and the immigrants native countries and citizens. I have suggested one such way in this forum, there are many others. I have never believed that there are jobs American's don't want to do, except in one case. American's aren't usually interested in jobs in other countries. Therefore, if you want illegal immigrants to leave voluntarily, provide them with equivalent jobs in their own countries. I believe the country can make a net profit, in both jobs and wealth, in the process of doing so.

The federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) offers a special training program for local law enforcement officers to assist them in locating and processing illegal aliens. Several localities are enrolling their police in this program. Chicago does not. Chicago police are precluded from co-operation with the federal ICE authorities due to the "Sanctuary ordinance" that was enthusiastically supported by Naisy Dolar's campaign manager and her fellow illegal alien welfare advocates at CCIRR. Is that local enough for you Randy? No one's talking about rounding up all the illegals and shipping them back as Eisenhower did in the "Operation Wetback" of the late 50s. But roundups at places of employment as happened last fall, elimination of non-emergency benefits, such as education would pose a constructive eviction. It would certainly ease the overcrowding of 50th ward schools that Ms. Dolar is jabbering about.

Actually, it would not. We could not possibly prosecute enough illegals to make even a dent in the situation, let alone afford the cost of shipping them all the way back to whatever their native countries are. As far as cutting off education. I really can't see the benefit of having large numbers of employed youth with no hope milling about. I mean, isn't that our main source of suicide bombers in Iraq? You really want to make things that easy for Chavez to duplicate it here in the US? When life gives you lemons, make creme broullet and sell it at a high markup. We can turn the illegals from a cost to a profit center. There is plenty of infrastructure that needs to br built in their native countries, and both the profits from building that infrastructure, and the good will and control of the richer foreign markets resulting from that could be ours. We can make our lives better while helping them as well. I am having real trouble seeing the downside of that. This isn't charity, or begging; its a business case. Most of the illegal immigrants are from countries that are woefully underdeveloped, we can make those countries rich and ourselves richer. I mean, what are those countries going to say? we are not going to let our own citizens back in, or let you build roads and factories here with our own citizens? Yeesh, even Chavez would face a revolt if he tried that. Send in enough of our own troops (again, composed mostly of native illegal immigrants given citizenship) to protect them, and we could break the cycle of poverty and despair that has gripped the third world for centuries, and this time, without inciting an insurgency.

Winter weather alert -- good news for Alderman Stone's forces. The already questionable level of voter enthusiasm in the 50th ward due to the absence of a heated Mayoral race may be further dampened by the bad winter weather moving in. That means a low turnout -- Good news for Berny.

willow no one wants to hear your hateful statements anymore..you are a big supporter of naisy..being a neighbor on her block, and you are the most hateful person on every single blog, not to mention you are one of the only people on every single blog. you show true hatred for naisys campaign..show your true colors wendy, youre really shining.

what i meant to say about you and naisys campaign is that you say no hatred comes from her campaign and yet you are a big supporter...are you also not a big hater?? BIG BIG hater might i add.

Naisy Dolar's operatives may be as naiive as their candidate's public pronouncements. One Dolar Ward heeler went up to the door of a 50 something Jewish professional woman who had a Daley/Stone sign on her front lawn and solicited her vote for Senora Dolar. When the homeowner suggested she was backing Alderman Stone, the Dolarita, went on by insinuating that Stone was too old and that he was just running so as to appoint his daughter. The had the effect of infuriating the woman backing Stone, who said she didn't care about his age and doubted her gossip about the Alderman's daughter. Consequently, the Dolar girl: 1)wasted her own time by going up to a door of an opponent's supporter, 2)Stirred up the opposition voter so that she is now absolutely sure to go to the polls and may tell others about Dolar's catty negative campaigning. Looks like a novice political wannabee has surrounded herself with novice political wannabees. One can only cringe at the thought of the level of sophistication of a Dolarite Aldermanic office.

Willow: STOP worshiping the devil and read some self help books. They MAY help you with all your anger problems!!

This election will be an interesting study of grassroots politics and the Internet in ethnic neighborhoods. It will be interesting seeing the turnout. Certainly seniors, Jews, and Indian residents seem quite motivated at the moment, mostly due to the negative campaigning making them feel threatened. I wonder how much blogging (or precinct work in general) applies to politics in the 50th ward? After the election is over, I am going to start a survey on how many residents actually read english language blogs (or any blogs). I suspect the number is rather low. Considering the rather autocratic cultures of their native countries many residents grew up in, I suspect most of them view indicating their true political opinions to strangers as a somewhat foolish activity.That certainly must affect the nature of precinct work.

Randy Gordon is a bloviating blowhard who makes no sense and has far too much time on his hands. Anyone want to help take up a collection to get him some arts and crafts materials -- or perhaps a parakeet? At least then he could amuse himself while no longer meaninglessly expending precious bytes out of the ethernet.

Sorry you feel that way, Ed. I am not a skilled writer, and I apologize if my phrasing of the issues offends you, it was not done so deliberately. You seem to feel strongly about my last comment. It wasn't meant to be a slam against bloggers, but an observation that this election, with it's heavy concentration on blogging , will be acting as a test as to whether blogging is an effective tool in elections. A large number of alphabloggers have been questioning this themselves, observing that social networking sites, like Facebook or Myspaces, seem to be much more effective, the idea being that most readers get a large portion of your news from friends, in the form of pointers to YouTube videos and web pages. That being said, I should point out that I do have a hobby, a considerable portion of my time is spent try to attract new businesses to the ward and to make life better for the existing residents. I really do love this ward, and hope to make a difference in the quality of life here.

THE PEOPLE OF THE 50th HAVE SPOKEN. CONGRATILATIONS TO BERNIE. MAY ALL YOU HATERS CRAWL UNDER THE STONE AND WEEP!!!!!

SIX MORE WEEKS UNTIL THE END THE STONE AGE!!!!

who are the brewer and aftab supporters going to vote for? anybody feel like sharing?

Should Dolar voters be excommunicated from the Catholic Church? Naisy Dolar overtly approves of homosexual marriage and abortion unto the final trimester and beyond -- partial birth abortion -- where the child is about to be born live and they wait until her or his head sticks out of the uterus -- and then the abortionist sucks the brains out of the little child's head with a needle. In the Nazi era this was called infanticide. Today moronic euphemistmeisters like Dolar call it, "A woman's right to choose." Naisy Dolar likes this. She approves of this. While a 14 year old girl has to get her parent's permission to get her ears' pierced, Naisy Dolar doesn't think it reasonable for a 14 year old girl to have to get her parents' permission to get an abortion -- a major surgical procedure. Well let's see if all of the people with Dolar signs on their lawn approve of this. Let's tell Saint Margaret Mary's school children that abortion and homosexual activity are moral -- altho the Pope doesn't think so -- the eternal Church doesn't think so -- but Daisy Nolar does and the current little local weasel priests won't adhere to the Pope's order to excommunicate the likes of Naisy Dolar. Despite the fact that Pope Benedict said that people like Dolar should be excommunicated. So let's start the Naisy Dolar/St. Margaret Mary abortion rights club. And let's start the Daisy Nolar/St. Margaret Mary Catholic Society for the advancement of Homosexual Marriage/ And how about Saint Margaret Mary School youth affilliates of same? Daisy No -- you may ending up wishing that you never put you little 5'2'' frame and comparable IQ into this particular little scuffle.

what do social issues have to do with this election?? Go Naisy!!!!

To: Just wondering here. My prediction is that a portion of Gregs supporters will just drop out (If you look at the precinct maps, they were mostly Gregs neighbors; they were supporting him, not opposing Stone. ) I suspect not only Aftab's supporters, but the entire Sikh/North Indian community will come out in force for Stone. This is a golden opportunity for them. First of all, the Indian community in the 50th is a lot more affluent than in other areas of the city, they don't really care about unions that back Naisy(or, for that matter of fact, as business owners, they are actively hostile.) More significantly, however, their one real concern is maintaining good public images so as not to exacerbate the somewhat tenuous peace after the 9/11 incidents. It really is going to look bad for their image if they help unseat a Jewish candidate, especially after he went to the mattresses for them on the parking garage issue. On the other hand if they show support, it will not only look really good in the press, but they can probably bargain for a few favors as well. Naisy doesn't have any real influence with this group, she was not their representative, she represented Asians (mostly philipinos), a competing social group http://www.spcs.neu.edu/pfp/downloads/Chicago_Case_Study.pdf I suspect Naisy did as well as she did simply because Stone and Greg were concentrating on knocking each other out. I don't think she is going to do as well in a runoff. The Olympic committee visits Chicago next week, and I am almost certain Chicago is going to win. I hope that, by 2016, during the Olympics, we can use the ward to demonstrate to the world what a peaceful and prosperous middle east would be like, since we pretty much have the same set of cultures in miniature. While I can't say anything bad about Naisy, right now, I think the power brokers would agree that a Stone win would be a stronger step in that direction.Chicago's rise as as the leading city for globalization in America is far more important than any aldermanic election, especially since this election is devoid of any serious issues. In the next ten years, we, as a ward, and as a city, have a chance to become a center of global commerce; bringing wealth and reputation that can only benefit us all. Lets not blow that over something as silly as this election.

I have voted for Brewer but will NOT vote for Daisy as she does not have the experience from what I see to do the job. Seems like there is always attacking in her campaign and from her volunteers. Too pushy.I got fed up with all the calls from her office and her people. Looks like Stone gets my vote now!!

Thats o.k. :)

Hey kt where u stand?? I guess im 4 Stone too since my guy Brewer lost, rite there with the resident. how bought anyone else?

You know where I stand since you read my above comment. Speaking of comments, I noticed that you don't speak of any issues and yet you do vote. You must not be happy with the way things are run in the 50th since you say you have voted for Brewer, and now you say that you will vote for Stone. I don't get it, why did you not vote for Stone in the first place?? Alderspawn, is that you?

I guess I just let people talk a hole in my head being I am a first time voter.I am finding out there are sooo many lies out there to try to get Stone out of office and the SEIU mailings never really backed anyone. I see what the news says about them targeting Alderman that didnt vote for the big box. There are certian reasons behind that from my understanding now. So Stone has got my vote. Dolar also made false statements / lies and her people hound you to much and also I see them putting down the Alderman and his family. I think they shoul stick to issues instead.

kt The Chicago City Council passes non-binding resolutions on everything from homosexual marriage. to the War against terror in Iraq, to the rights of geese. The SEIU put out one of their slick brochures (paid for by the sweat of working people) lambasting Tony Peraica last Fall when he was running for Cook County Board President, because he didn't agree with them in their enthusiastic enbrace of homosexual marriage and abortion on demand. (Just what kind of union is this anyway? Are these natural matters for working trade unionists?) Apparently when socially responsible persons run for even nondescript housekeeping offices like Cook County Board -- these non-germaine social issues are of paramount importance. But when socially irresponsible people like little Miss Daisy Nolar run for office, their positions in support of homosexual marriage and abortion on demand are irrelevant because, after all, Alderman is basically just a housekeeping position. Well how can you have it both ways? The Catholic Filipinos with Dolar signs on their lawns must be apprised of what exactly the are backing. Do they want to potentially advance the public career of a person who embraces these positions that are anaethema to their Faith, to the Communion of Saints, to the Holy Father and to the greater good of humanity? Do they want their neighbors, employers and co-workers and to know that with their Dolar signs, they and their family support homosexual marriage, abortion on demand and partial- birth abortion as does the anti-humanist Dolar?

Give someone else a chance, for a change. I doubt that Stone started off looking like he knew what he was doing, either. Truth be told, 50th needs some new blood. It is a ragtag, disorganized ward comprised of unstable, low-budget commercial districts and generally jaded, disenfranchised homeowners, who just keep getting angrier. How much worse could it get with a change of guard?

Naisy Dolar has to be the dirtiest politician to have surfaced in the 50th ward in a long time. She was the only candidate in the 4 person field to send out negative advertising on 2 of her rivals -- Stone and Brewer. She has hired a crew of kids to go door-to-door and they have obviously been prepped on what negative aspersions about Stone that they should slyly whisper. The sooner her mammoth ambition is nipped in the bud, the better!

can you provide more information on using kids?

Interestingly, I got a call yesterday from someone purporting to be from Naisy Dolar's office. I said I intended to vote for her. When I asked where my polling place was, I was given an incorrect address of Warren Park. So, that means it was either a very incompetent campaign worker for Naisy, or a deliberately crooked one who worked for Stone. Guess I have a tough choice ahead of me today, eh?

STONE Wins 4 More years All the winers, Go to Wisconson to get some cheese to go with the wine. LOL