Editorial: Our choices for City Council: Wards 14-20

Here is the Tribune Editorial Board’s third installment of endorsements in contested races for aldermanic seats in Chicago’s Feb. 28 municipal election.

14th Ward

Something, or more precisely, someone will be missing from this election season’s aldermanic ballot — a change that should make most 14th Ward voters, as well as most Chicagoans, deliriously happy.

Ed Burke.

The 79-year-old, white-haired City Council fixture ruled over his Southwest Side fiefdom for more than five decades. He was known for his pinstripe suits but became infamous as the preeminent symbol for the toxicity of Chicago machine politics. Now facing trial on charges that include racketeering, bribery and attempted extortion (he has pleaded not guilty to all charges), Burke opted to not run for what would have been an astounding 14th term. We join all of Chicago in heaving a sigh of relief.

Running to replace him are Jeylu Gutierrez and Raul Reyes. Gutierrez works as district director for Cook County Commissioner Alma Anaya and is backed by Congressman Jesús “Chuy” García, who is running for mayor. She tells us that many 14th Ward voters, particularly Hispanic residents, harbor a deep lack of trust in city government, and have felt disconnected from ward leadership under Burke.

“They are telling me enough is enough,” Gutierrez told us. “I want an honest, transparent administration where my constituents get together and decide.” Gutierrez backs violence prevention programs as one approach to tackling violent crime in the ward, some of which is gang-related.

Reyes works in the city clerk’s office. He has been part of Burke’s 14th Ward political organization, and received a $50,000 campaign contribution from Burke’s brother, former state Rep. Dan Burke. Reyes clearly has ties to Burke, and that makes it impossible for us to back him. Instead our endorsement goes to Gutierrez.

15th Ward

Incumbent Ald. Raymond Lopez has been one of Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s fiercest critics, and last year even flirted with the idea of challenging her in the race for mayor. Ultimately, he decided against a mayoral run, which perhaps is good for 15th Ward voters since he has been a strong, committed advocate for them.

He correctly believes that getting rid of bloat in the city budget is the way to provide property tax relief to Chicagoans. “For the last three budgets, I have highlighted the thousands of vacant yet fully paid for jobs in the budget that add millions to the property tax levy,” he told us. “If you want to give relief, start with only charging taxpayers for those positions we intend to fill and use to deliver services.”

Lopez’s opponents are Gloria Ann Williams, a resident service coordinator with Catholic Charities who touts her more than 20 years of community service, and Victoria “Vicko” Alvarez, who most recently worked as chief of staff for Ald. Rossana Rodriguez Sanchez, 33rd.

In the 15th, which includes the Chicago Lawn, Gage Park, Back of the Yards and West Englewood neighborhood, our endorsement goes to Lopez.

16th Ward

This ward includes Englewood, a South Side neighborhood deeply troubled by violent crime and disinvestment, a neighborhood that demands intelligent, tireless leadership. That’s exactly what ward residents get with incumbent Ald. Stephanie Coleman, the daughter of former Ald. Shirley Coleman.

Stephanie Coleman defeated incumbent Toni Foulkes in 2019, and since then she has brought affordable housing for seniors to the ward and ensured that money set aside in the city budget for violence prevention programs was spent on Englewood. Coleman backs the use of tax increment financing as a means to spur development in blighted neighborhoods, but adds that much more transparency and accountability must be baked into TIF use.

Also on the ballot are Carolynn Denise Crump, a Chicago police officer who unsuccessfully ran in the Illinois House 6th District primary last year, and Eddie Johnson III, a Chicago Public Schools technology coordinator. We endorse Coleman.

18th Ward

We’re trying hard to understand why voters keep returning incumbent Derrick Curtis to office. In 2017, he explained missing a $1,500 property tax payment by saying it “slipped my mind.” In 2019, he submitted responses to our candidate questionnaire that were nearly the same as those from Ald. Michelle Harris, 8th. Then, this year he said he was rethinking his political support for Lightfoot because she had failed to call him when he was in the hospital due to a low blood count. “I deserved some type of call or conversation just to see how I was doing,” Curtis told the Sun-Times. We think the people of the 18th Ward deserve new leadership.

Heather Wills is a longtime community organizer who says what’s missing in the ward is a strong connection between the alderman’s office and the people of the 18th, which includes neighborhoods on the Far Southwest Side. “I know how to mobilize people. I’d go into the community and ask what they need,” Wills tells us. “That builds relationships, that builds trust.” Leading a ward starts with communicating consistently and earnestly with its residents. Wills is endorsed.

19th Ward

Matthew O’Shea has been this Far Southwest Side ward’s alderman since 2011. We endorsed him in 2015 and again in 2019. There are several reasons why we remain impressed by O’Shea, one of which is his reputation as a consensus builder. “I’ve tried to quietly find the middle ground in a time when we need to turn down the volume of polarizing ideology,” he tells us. Well said.

He says fighting violent crime shouldn’t be an either/or proposition between doing a better job catching criminals and embracing violence prevention strategies. “Chicagoans are too often faced with a false choice between law and order and violence prevention,” O’Shea tells us. “To truly stem the tide of violent crime, we need both operating at full strength.”

Violence prevention and street outreach efforts that are currently yielding strong results should be ramped up, he says. To deal with the Chicago Police Department’s staffing shortages, he proposes hiring incentives that include a $5,000 signing bonus for new recruits and $10,000 in down payment assistance for first-time homebuyers in the department.

O’Shea also correctly voted against Lightfoot’s inflation-tied automatic property tax hikes. “We can all agree that the city needs to establish new revenue streams to reduce our reliance on property taxes,” he tells us. O’Shea gets our endorsement over Michael Cummings, a retired Chicago police sergeant, and Tim Noonan, a computer consultant.

20th Ward

This South Side ward encompasses parts of Woodlawn and Washington Park — neighborhoods that likely will absorb the economic impact of the future Obama Presidential Center in Jackson Park.

Incumbent Ald. Jeanette Taylor has been this ward’s staunchest advocate when it comes to ensuring that her constituents feel the benefit of the planned Obama center but aren’t displaced by the gentrification that could result. She stewarded passage of the Woodlawn Housing Preservation Ordinance, a measure that secured assurances of affordable housing and protections from rising housing costs for ward residents living near the presidential center site.

Taylor’s commitment to ward residents is good to see, particularly in light of her predecessors — Cliff Kelley, Arenda Troutman and Willie Cochran — all of whom were indicted on public corruption charges and wound up in jail. Both of Taylor’s opponents, Jennifer Maddox, a retired Chicago police officer, and Andre Smith, a finance manager, have a track record of commitment to their communities.

But Taylor’s the clear choice. She is endorsed.

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