Quote:
Originally Posted by cannedairspray
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Of course the people that live in the neighborhood should have an outsized influence on the business that is conducted within it, not some rando from Pilsen or South Loop or Rogers Park.
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The guy is doing what the people in the ward want. You might say they're dickheads, but it's their ward, not yours or mine. Does anyone have any plans to move there or do we just like walking around their neighborhood sometimes, seeing the pretty pictures, and enjoying the view when we're on the LSD?
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Hey, ...... you, some of us on here ARE constituents of Reilly, and some of us have direct experience with the slimey hack.
You know one of the first things he did when elected? For decades, billboards were generally allowed downtown. The big ones were permitted, but many smaller ones weren't, mostly because the city just couldn't be bothered to issue permits for them and there was little to no penalty for putting up an unlicensed one.
So Reilly gets elected, and pushed through an ordinance that billboards without a license were fined $10,000 PER DAY, for a "problem" almost nobody cared about. And when owners attempted to get licenses, Reilly refused to help small condo associations like the one I was President of. Couldn't even get a call back, and the city basically said we needed aldermanic signoff to get a permit.
That corruption and "care for constituents" cost my association about $30,000/yr. Which might not be a lot for some associations, but was equivalent to 50% of our annual budget.
So, maybe know a little more about the situation before defending Reilly like he's some sort of white knight.
Quote:
Originally Posted by cannedairspray
You guys are all mad from the perspective of the city or of simply liking skyscrapers. That's fine. But Reilly doesn't work for you. He works for the people in his ward. If they like him shooting this down, guess what, he's doing his job well. You don't have to like it. You can kick and scream about it. But that doesn't change anything about whether or not he's representing his constituents accurately.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by cannedairspray
Well, they could vote him out, but I bet most of his constituents agree with him, so...  |
Most are too busy working their professional jobs to pay attention, but live downtown because they want the density and convenience of downtown.
A significant portion of those who do pay attention value density and don't mind traffic, and want public access to waterways - after all, everyone in the 42nd ward lives within walking distance of the River, and most live within walking distance of the lake. We'd like to have access to those amenities and don't support privatizing then.
Then there is a loud, mostly retired contingent who give heavily to election campaigns and want things to be like the quiet downtown of a Mississippi River town, instead of the center of a global City.
Reilly gets press, people with the time and interest generally preferred to just give him money, and people who believe he's bad for both the neighborhood and City are too busy to lead a charge against him. Most probably believe that beating a Machine candidate is nearly impossible anyway.
I'd run, but I don't really have any political connections of the kind needed to get a campaign going. Running for Alderman isn't as expensive it hard a running for Congress, but running in the 42nd Ward can be pretty difficult given the politically plum place it exists in the city both geographically and politically.
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