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Page 4 of 4
There's one question left to answer in this blog... why do I sound like I'm pulling for Solis? And it's corollary, if he's such a great guy, why has he been in the Mayor's pocket for 10 years and looked the other way as HDO poisoned everybody's water?
There are layers to the answer, and the first one is a disclaimer. I'm working for him. He's a client all right? A guy's gotta eat! Plus, my girlfriend works for him.
But having said that, I worked the better part of the year as a community organizer in his ward, and I can say, with as much integrity as I can muster, that I'm working for Danny Solis because I think he's the best candidate for this post and he really needs help right now.
The liberal White romantic left (of which I have been a card-carrying member for many years), following the immigration marches, will want Cesar Chavez in every political post. But Latino politics in this country is getting to the point of real mainstream maturity. There are pensioners who want looking after, homeowners and small business people of the middle class who need tax breaks and incentives, and a whole new generation of fresas (Mexican yuppies or Muppies) who are university educated professionals with real spending power and the expectation of arriving in this country's most elite circles, in addition to the immigrant wave that seems to keep coming, both legally and illegally. Add to that the fact that the 25th Ward is, while majority Latino, one of Chicago's most diverse wards. It contains Chinatown, the Taylor St. Little Italy and Oakley's Heart of Italy neighborhoods, and the predominantly African-American Tri-Taylor neighborhood, in addition to Pilsen . Add to that the fact that the 25th Ward is so close to downtown, to UIC, to the Medial District, that it is about to get inundated with money. There is no place in a more crucial state of transition and what is needed now is really good leadership.
In the past two years, Alderman Solis has worked with the major community organizations in his ward to put together a broad-based advisory committee called the Pilsen Planning Commission. Pilsen Alliance, the area's most left of center organization, has renounced the PPC but all the other groups have embraced it for what it is: one of the best real attempts in the city to initiate a community-oriented comprehensive plan for development in a neighborhood in danger of gentrifying so quickly that its Mexican stakeholders get banished. Solis and the PPC have created a mandatory 21% affordable housing set aside for all new developments and with the help of LISC/NCP have put together a comprehensive plan that addresses everything from education to housing. In addition Solis has used his industrial TIF to develop the massive Pilsen Industrial Corridor along the ward's southern border into an increasingly attractive place for businesses to operate from. He has established a National Historic Landmark District that gives over 4,200 households the chance to freeze their property taxes for 8 years if they put money into preserving their buildings. In short, he's doing everything that a city politician should be doing right now.
Criticism of him says he's inaccessible, he's not Mexican enough, he's too close to the Daley machine, he's in the big boys' pockets. Everybody wants to see candidates who will stand up to the Mayor now. I do too, but what's funny is that the White aldermen in the Mayor's pocket aren't under any pressure in this election and neither is the Mayor himself. The point is that everyone is either scared of the Mayor or in love with him, and as long as that is true the council people will have to play ball.
And then there's the competition... How embarrassing is it that a guy, Medrano, convicted of accepting bribes can run for the exact same office he betrayed? That's like re-hiring an airline pilot who crashed drunk.
Then you've got Cuautemoc Morfin, a guy who has absolutely no political experience and not one coherent idea. You've got Martha Padilla, who is the Muppie candidate trying to appropriate the populist rhetoric while biting off the hand that fed her. And then you've got the HDO boys. Eddie Acevedo is a very shady guy, the type of politician people call a "ghetto pimp," and his brother is on the city disability payroll , which should supposedly disqualify him from holding office. And then you've got the Al Sanchez crew, the HDO brute squad.
Oh folks it's all a long way round to shouting, "SAY NO TO HDO!" as loud as possible. But don't throw out the baby with the bathwater. Chicago needs a mature, cohesive body of Latino leaders in the next few years to deal with their increased influence and the demands of a three-generation constituency. Solis should be there, so should Rick Munoz, Manny Flores, Miguel Del Valle, and Billy Ocasio. What newer neighborhoods should offer to the mix are candidates who speak Spanish as a first language and can get immigrants to the polls. Hot tip is that Carina Sanchez and Jesus Salazar are giving HDO fly-boy George Cardenas hell in the 12th Ward too.
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