What got 47th Ward Alderman Eugene Schulter involved in politics back in the 1970s was an urge to stop the Chicago Transit Authority from tearing down the Ravenswood line in his beloved community. Schulter, then in his 20's, became one of the youngest people ever elected to City Council. Today, the alderman says that he still has that energy and care for his community. Still on the stop of his agenda is keeping the CTA in line and putting the ward first. In recent years, he has helped revitalize Lincoln Square—bringing an ever-growing arts community into the area; creating affordable housing for seniors and long-time residents of the area; and looking out for residents by trying to maintain the diversity of the ward, despite gentrification and how much the area has changed since he first stepped foot into office.
Windy City Times spoke with Schulter about his accomplishments, goals and ideas.
Windy City Times: What do you feel are your major accomplishments within the ward this part term?
Eugene Schulter: There are a lot of issues that we worked on. The top priority, of course, is education. I work with my principals, and we have quarterly meetings with our principals. The purpose of these meetings is to really work on issues involving our schools, and I have a dedicated staff member that works with the principals and teachers in our ward, so that the principals are not left out there hanging by themselves. It's a really important thing—making sure our schools get the attention they need. At the last meeting, we discussed how we can get the young people of our ward excited about our recycling program that will begin in August.
Our ward was selected as one of those seven wards, and that didn't happen by chance, either. It was something we worked really, really hard to get the city to include the 47th Ward. … We made sure we were included, because we are the number-one ward in terms of the Blue Bag program that currently is in effect. I always thought that really was a bad program. People didn't believe they were actually getting their materials into the recycling circuit. As a result of that, we formed a committee on the environment about four months ago, although we've always been working on environmental issues. One of the recommendations of that group was to work with our principals and teachers. We now have people who are parties of that committee from the local community, as well as the sanitation and environmental departments.
That was just one thing we really focused in on, but we have really got millions of dollars spent in our local schools in terms of refurbishing and rehabilitating them [ as well as ] helping with new programs at our grammar schools and high schools. That is our top priority, because we really have to keep the families in the city of Chicago, and there's not a better way than to make sure your program with education is number one.
…We have single moms [ and ] gay and lesbian couples in our schools. They all share the same kind of interest in making sure the young people are also getting the best that they possibly can get.
The next issue we are very proud of is gentrification. [ It's ] really moving forward in this region, and the most vulnerable population is the seniors. I negotiated with the Advocate health care system to donate $20 million worth of land to me at Irving and Western. One building [ for affordable senior housing ] is already occupied, and the second building is nearing completion. Those are two rental buildings. We are addressing the needs of the diverse income levels of seniors in our community. … We're very proud of being able to take a leadership role in making sure this goal is accomplished.
The next big item is the fact that we need to expand park space in the ward. What we did was battle the developers in the area around Lincoln High School. We have an area called Clark Park, a small park by the Chicago River. We had 10 acres being held by the United Parcel Service. … I was able to use TIF [ tax-increment funding ] dollars from the 47th Ward to buy the land. We said 'no' to more condos and 'yes' to more green space in the ward. This will be a major expansion of Clark Park for everyone to enjoy.
We also have developed, over the last four years, affordable housing set aside for all people within our ward. We request that developers put aside 10 percent of 10 units. They have to set aside 10 percent of their units for long-term renters of our ward. These units are beautiful, and will give long-term renters the opportunity—the schoolteachers and the social workers of the world—to own in our ward.
WCT: That way, you can maintain the diversity of your community.
ES: Exactly. And, of course, we continue to work on controlling the development of the ward. A number of years ago, we down-zoned all of our side streets and some of the major streets in our ward, so some of the residents have the ultimate say in terms of what is going on in their own neighborhoods. That is a very important legacy in terms of the power of the people of the 47th Ward.
At one time in the 47th Ward, we had no arts organizations. Of course, we worked on getting the Old Town School of Folk Music to set up shop. It's a wonderful economic engine. It offers us mixed cultural events for the community to celebrate the diversity of our great city by offering a variety of concerts and famous folk and roots festival held each summer. Those are really important things. Of course, we also worked to get the little arts center by Montrose and Ravenswood into our ward as well, which is another wonderful resource for our community to go to. With these two major arts organizations, it helped to bring theater and other arts venues to the ward that we never had before, and it continues to build.
On the political front, we really worked hard to deal with the issue of the replacement of [ State ] Rep. Larry McKeon. I supported the heirs of that vacancy. I felt very strongly that we needed a candidate ultimately to replace Larry, so we got that accomplished as well.
WCT: It was amazing being [ at the slate-making meeting to determine McKeon's successor ] , because four of the six candidates were openly gay—which was historical.
ES: Absolutely. As chairman of that committee, I wanted to make sure everyone there presented their credentials. As you know, we were there until 1 a.m., which I don't believe has every happened in the history of Illinois. There were no smoke-filled rooms with people making decisions. It was very straight-forward. I thought the ultimate selection of Rep. Greg Harris was wonderful, because he'll work not only on lobbying on behalf of the gay and lesbian community, but also do an excellent job for the total community as a whole. I think he'll be a fine leader for the future of our community, as well.
Of course, I have always supported all of the gay initiatives, [ including ] more funding for AIDS research. I worked with Alderman Tom Tunney on the Center on Halsted, making sure we have the dollars to help that along. I was a big advocate for the Gay Games. Some of the venues were, of course, in the 47th Ward as well. Those are just some of the major things I can recall that we've been involved in. I'm really excited for the future.
One thing I didn't talk about is the Lincoln Square area of the ward, dealing with the infrastructure issues with streetscape; the planting of trees and putting new lighting in; and updating the Lincoln Square Mall, which is conducive to the small, entrepreneurial, independently-owned stores that I constantly work to get into the ward—with wonderful help with residents of our ward involved in our retail committee. It's something we work at all the time, because we really have encouraged our ward to be supportive of small, independently-owned stores. We've made many of our major streets into pedestrian-oriented streets as well, which reinforces this whole notion of coming into the community and being able to live here [ while ] not having to drive a car to get everywhere.
WCT: What are some issues close to your heart, if elected into office again, that you'd like to tackle next term?
ES: Education is still number one. Park space is also still very important. Also, schools and libraries are very important to us. We have to make sure with the recycling program, our war is a leader and a model for the rest of the city as how this should really occur. We also want to make sure that we still work and strive in terms of [ having ] additional stores to service the needs of the community. Affordable housing will still continue to be a high priority for us, in making sure we celebrate our diversity by encouraging people to own a piece of the rock here in our ward.
WCT: Are there any issues regarding the gay and lesbian community that you feel need to be addressed or might come up?
ES: I think funding for AIDS research is always a major issue. We still need to stamp this disease out and so we need to continue to look at ways to better fund this area, and I will continue to work on that in the City Council.
WCT: It's particularly important because federal funding just keeps decreasing.
ES: Oh, yes. That's why we have to get rid of George Bush and work with our new Congress to sensitize them [ as to ] why we need to make more funds available for this research. No question about it.
WCT: Is there anything else you'd like to add about what you want to get done?
ES: I'd say that the 47th Ward is a great place. The gay and lesbian community has always played a strong role in making our ward a great community through their investments in both business, as well as living here as proven by example that we can all live in harmony together, and that we should continue to do that. One of the things we're also going to be doing by working through Rep. Greg Harris is to reach out even more, to make sure everyone feels they are included in any process. Of course, I'm always willing to work with the gay and lesbian community in any way that I possibly can.
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