Hello Brand-New Beautiful Dunning Library!

The new Dunning library officially opened today, with a full Ribbon Cutting ceremony with the complete suite of dignitaries, including Mayor Daley, Alderman Rice, Former Alderman Banks, 38th Ward Alderman Cullerton and emceed by Eli's Cheesecake president Marc Schulman, who generously contributed cheesecake and dessert for all attendees. Bravo. Kudo's thanks to the Mayor, Aldermen Rice and Banks (really, I mean it!) and all who contributed to its construction and grand opening.

Farewell Borders in Norridge

Sadly, the Borders book store in the Norridge Commons shopping center closed today. It was only there for five years or so. They say there are no bookstores in Chicago west of Western. We've got to find a way to change that somehow.

Holy Moly!

It's old news now. We have a new alderman, Nick Sposato! Congratulations Mr. Sposato! Do good! Either way, this blog will report it!!

Something to think about as you head to the polls tomorrow

In case you're insufficiently pumped up to go vote tomorrow, read "Chicago Inspector General Says We Spend 18 Million a Year on People Who Don't Work".

Don't Forget to Vote

Runoff election day, tomorrow, Tuesday April 5.

Upcoming Aldermanic Run-off Debates

Televised debate between Rice and Sposato next week Monday, March 28th, 7pm on "Chicago Tonight", Channel 11 WTTW.

The live debate at the Bethesda Home on Wednesday March 30, 2011 has changed. It will now be held at the St. William Catholic School, Liebrich Hall, 2559 N. Sayre. Same date, 7:00pm. Get the details at http://galewood.net/2011/forum-new-location/. The sponsor is still trying to secure Mr. Rice's attendence.

36th Figures Prominently in Former Mobster's New Book

The revelations keep coming...

Frank Calabrese Junior Talks About Chicago Politics and the Outfit: MyFoxCHICAGO.com

Sun-Times Profile of Nick Sposato

Firefighter bucks odds in 36th Ward - Chicago Sun-Times

Rahm Likes Rice. Should You?

There's a lot of consternation and gnashing of teeth on the blogs about Rahm's endorsement of Rice. It shouldn't really come as a surprise since he's basically returning a favor. It was the 36th Ward Democratic Organization that got out the vote for Rahm in his successful bid to become congressman of the 5th (our) District in 2002. This, in turn, resulted from Mayor Daley's request to Alderman Banks in order to reward Rahm for, among other things, doing a good job in Daley's 1989 mayoral campaign.

Now just because Mayor-elect Rahm endorses an aldermanic candidate, doesn't mean it's a lock. Emanuel endorsed machine candidate Tommy O'Donnell in the 47th ward aldermanic race and he ended up losing to wunderkind pot-hole-reporting app developer Ameya Pewar. You gotta really like that.

Check out Ben Joravsky's story in this week's Reader, "How Ameya Pawar Bowled Over the 47th Ward".

Heir, Apparently

Quote from an article on the aldermanic runoff elections in the Trib:

Rice scoffed at the idea the vote was a referendum on him. He said some of the other candidates entered the race as "shills" simply to depress his vote totals and force him into a runoff.
"If even one of those other five hadn't run, I'd be dancing in the street today," Rice said. "Instead, I have to take money I would have spent on community baseball and softball programs and use it to print signs so I can win in April. It's a shame."

Darn this pesky democracy thing!

How The 36th Voted in the Mayor's Race

36th Ward Mayoral Results

Turnout	Emanuel	Chico	del Valle	Braun	Van Pelt-Watkins	Walls	% Asian	% Black	% Hispanic	% White
48.1%	49.7%	36.9%	9.5%	2.4%	0.5%	0.4%	3.5%	5.6%	33.1%	56.4%

It's A Runoff

36th Ward Aldermanic Results

Updated 10:33 a.m. Feb. 23, 2011
100% of precincts reporting
Source: Associated Press

Candidate        Votes Pct.
---------        ----- ---- 
Rice             6,709 48.1% (runoff) 
Sposato          3,346 24.0% (runoff) 
Biancalana       1,964 14.1% 
Murphy           656   4.7% 
Motzny           650   4.7% 
Randazzo         628   4.5% 

Revolution Day

From Baghdad to Cairo to City Hall to west Belmont, let's bring regime change to our ward.

36th Ward Candidate Forum

A 36th Ward Candidate Forum will take place on Thursday, February 17, from 6:30pm to 8:00pm at the West Belmont Branch of the Chicago Public Library on 3104 N. Narragansett Ave. It's being sponsored by the Galewood Gazette, the Galewood Residents Organization, Moms In Action, and Garden Club Galewood/Montclare.

Arby's on Harlem Closed and Land Up for Sale

Arby's on Harlem has closed and the property is up for sale. This is notable for two reasons. One, this Arby's has been there for what seems forever, as emblemized by that big old dilapidated cow poke hat sign. Can't say I'll be sad to see it go. It's an ugly relic. Secondly, Harlem between Addison and Irving is overdue for some aesthetic enhancement. It's been starting to go to seed in recent years with uncollected litter, grafitti, little greenery, and uninspired development.