A MESSAGE FROM 49TH WARD ALDERMANIC CANDIDATE DON GORDON
Alderman Moore, for the past 3 years our Rogers Park lakefront has been under increasing assault while you have stood idly by. You have told residents that you are an “independent and progressive” alderman who will take a stand to protect and preserve our shoreline. The truth? You ignored the lakefront and delivered no help while we worked successfully to protect it.
CALVARY MARINA (APRIL 2003) I organized the 49th Ward Parks & Beaches Committee for you. Within months we discovered that the City of Evanston was resurrecting a 20-year-old plan to build a 375-slip marina off Calvary Cemetery on our ward’s northern border. A marina would be an environmental nightmare, plus it would cut sand flow to our beloved Rogers Park beaches. That year you chastised our committee in a public meeting at Loyola Park. You said that Evanston had “no plans” and we were getting residents upset over nothing. Well, as we all discovered, Evanston’s plan was not fantasy. Our Freedom of Information requests exposed the project. I’m proud to have led the effort with dozens of Rogers Park citizens who worked with Evanston activists to fight the marina. We defeated it in their City Council (OCTOBER 2005). Since you never once stood with us, we formed the Rogers Park Conservancy - a strong voice for lakefront preservation and our community.
LEONE JUNIOR GUARD PROGRAM (FEBRUARY 2005) One of the most successful youth programs in Park District history was targeted for cost-cutting. This 80-year old program gained national recognition as the first junior guard program in the country and helped over 400 youths every summer. Youths were trained as lifeguards, and they learned discipline and how to be good young adults. Today it is a faint shadow of what it once was. Less than 100 children enroll in a program that provides little of the character building that was the hallmark of Sam Leone’s legacy. During the controversy you did open your office for a meeting with Park District officials - but only after I lobbied on behalf of the Leone Alumni Organization. You just stood by and did nothing to help us try to save it. Alumni of the program were furious that their own alderman wouldn’t take a stand with them. Well, I won’t be too busy to make it one of my priorities as alderman. I’ll fight to restore this program to the stature that it once had.
LAKEFRONT ADVOCACY (OCTOBER 2006) For years now we have seen plans to extend Lake Shore Drive to the Evanston border, to do landfill, or place marinas along our shoreline. Once again, Alderman Moore, you dismiss this as so much imagination. Once again, the residents of Rogers Park know better. Last October at Loyola Park the Park District unveiled plans for a marina near Loyola University. Few knew about it - except, of course, for you.
The plan was developed at least a year before we got to see it! Last minute scrambling by concerned residents, myself, and our campaign staff ensured a turnout of over 400 people to deliver a resounding message of “No thank-you.” State Representative Harry Osterman spoke eloquently on our behalf while you seemed to nod off in the back of the room. On November 7th residents spoke again by voting for a lakefront referendum. Over 75% of voters delivered another loud “No thank-you” to the wholesale destruction of our lakefront. My campaign and I worked all summer to get signatures to put the referendum on the ballot. You want to take more polls?
This Tuesday, thousands of 49th ward residents will turn out again to deliver another resounding “No thank-you,” this time to you Alderman Moore. We want an alderman who will take a stand to protect and preserve our lakefront. I’ll be that kind of alderman.
Citizens To Elect Don Gordon 49th Ward Alderman
1600 W. Morse Ave., Chicago, IL 60626 773.262-9473
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