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.

Why Public Transportation is an Important Issue

Even though Belmont Heights is only 12 miles away from downtown, it takes over one hour to get downtown using the CTA. That's slower than 12 miles an hour. You can get downtown faster on a horse. There are farther suburbs where access to downtown is much faster than ours. If we want better access to higher paying downtown jobs and attract more professionals to our area (think increasing the tax base) then we need improved public transportation to our community.

Updated List of 36th Ward Aldermanic Candidates

These are the candidates whose names will appear on the ballot:

• JODI BIANCALANA
• THOMAS J. MOTZNY
• BRIAN MURPHY
• BRUCE RANDAZZO
• JOHN A. RICE
• NICHOLAS SPOSATO

Aldermanic Candidates Respond to Tribune Editorial Board Questionaire

The Chicago Tribune has submitted questionaires to candidates running for local office. Of the eight candidates listed as running for 36th Ward alderman, so far these two responses were posted (Brian Matos' was removed, apparently due to a successful petition challenge):

• John Rice
• Nicholas Sposato

 Click on the names above to see their responses.

38 & 45 Ward Aldermanic Forums

Nearby wards are having Candidate forums. We in the 36th should too.

OIPA & PPNA 38th Ward Aldermanic Candidates Forum

Thursday, January 20, 7 PM
Irish American Heritage Center
4626 North Knox at Wilson, Chicago


45th Ward Aldermanic Forum, cohosted by 5 neighborhood groups

Wednesday, January 26, 6:30 PM
Copernicus Foundation
5216 W. Lawrence, one block east of Milwaukee Ave., Chicago



Cohosted by:

Jefferson Park Neighborhood Association (www.jpna.net)
Portage Park Neighborhood Association (www.portagepark.org )
Old Irving Park Association (www.oldirvingpark.com)
Mayfair Civic Association (www.mayfaircivic.org)
The Copernicus Foundation ( www.copernicusfdn.org )

Open Letter to 36th Ward Aldermanic Candidates

Hi Y'all,

Of course we all remember Harold Washington, but did you ever hear of Leon Despres? That's what the best of Chicago leadership looks like.

Sincerely,

Ben

Let’s build cities for people (not cars)

From a fascinating article on population size, urban planning and future cities, "Let’s build cities for people (not cars)":

"The suburb/city with its inefficient, hugely distributed systems of pipes, wires, and pavement stretching toward the horizon was powered by artificially cheap energy."

and

"Today’s cities have dense urban centers ringed by ever-expanding, car-dependent, undifferentiated miles of inefficient urban and suburban sprawl. This structure is environmentally unsustainable and not conducive to pleasurable human activity. We need to break up that sprawl into a galaxy of cities, towns, and villages. Doing so would free up vast swaths of land for parks, agriculture, and wildlife, all of which would be easily accessible to people without having to resort to long, slow, polluting car rides. "

(Hey, didn't I basically say this a week ago? Yep, I did!)

List of 36th Ward Aldermanic Candidates

Here's the lineup of candidates for 36th Ward Alderman. "Challenged" indicates their petition signatures have been challenged.

• JODI BIANCALANA Challenged
• SANDRA D. MALDONADO Challenged
• BRIAN MATOS Challenged
• THOMAS J. MOTZNY Candidate
• BRIAN MURPHY Candidate
• BRUCE RANDAZZO Candidate
• JOHN A. RICE Candidate
• NICHOLAS SPOSATO Candidate