I thank all of the 49th ward residents who came out to vote. Whether you voted early or on a cold Tuesday, February 27, you exercised our most precious American right – the right to vote. Your votes put me in an aldermanic run-off election with the incumbent on Tuesday, April 17. You showed that not only is change is possible, but given the close results, that every vote truly does count.
I thank all our Gordon campaign volunteers, the women and men, the students and seniors, the renters and homeowners, all the moms and dads who have been with us for a year, and those that recently joined our campaign.
I thank all our campaign supporters who held Gordon coffee meetings in their homes, shared Gordon campaign literature with a neighbor, or wrote large and small checks to help us pay our union-shop for the printing.
Finally, I thank and congratulate aldermanic candidates Jim Ginderske and Chris Adams and all of their volunteers and supporters for their tremendous work to raise important issues and encourage residents to vote.
Today, I look forward to a united, grassroots, community-based campaign to reclaim the 49th ward aldermanic office for the citizens of this ward who have waited for 16 years to have an alderman who listens and responds to their needs first.
The day after the election we were swamped with emails, phone calls, and visits from residents coming into our office at 1600 W. Morse Ave. for the first time. Most people are sending us their support, pledge to “Vote Gordon” on April 17, and are offering to help campaign with us.
Next week we’ll have some details about the next steps to help win the election on April 17. For now, it certainly makes sense to start making lists of what you can do to help - gather your phone, address and email contact lists of your neighbors and friends.
Again thank you for your vote and your support.
Sincerely,
Don Gordon
7 comments:
Mr. Gordon looks dapper in yellow.
An alderman does not have to power to raise or lower your taxes individually it stems from the city budget. Don has lived in the neighborhood for 25 years and wants everyone who lives here now to be able to stay as long as they want.
Joe likes to play on peoples fear rather than work for positive influence. He seems to have learned and practices politics much like Karl Rove. He is anxious to divide the community rather than unite it.
Don will work for an economic city budget and work with creative ways to help fixed income continue to live where they want.
Joe is a member and supporter of the Cook County tax machine so watch out for Joe as he is much more likely to have his hand in your pocket.
Annie- This is NOT true at all. Joe Moore has illustrated on numerous occasions that he has no spirit of fair play and will stoop tomany different levels of lying and cheating to win. He has done so for years from what I've heard.
Don has NEVER discussed raising property taxes. I have heard him talk about raising taxes on cars to encourage use of public transportation AS AN IDEA, but he is not in favor of raising property taxes. He is is favor of making te affordable housing in our community BETTER. Low income people deserve to live without drug dealing and crime also. Living with poor conditions should not be a given and Don has concrete ideas on how to improve these matters.
I recommend you read his website.
www.dongordon.org
Annie: the simple answer is, no, it's not true. Firstly, no single alderman has the power to raise your property taxes. Secondly, if you are a senior on a fixed income, you can probably qualify for a freeze of the assessed value of your property. Please do not let Joe Moore scare you into voting for him.
Annie on Ashland, Joe Moore is doing a REALLY GOOD JOB of running people like you (and me) out of our homes by raising property taxes.
Assay Moore's record for yourself, Annie. Consider that he has voted against only ONE TIF district, and that two months before this election, after I wrote him. I don't know if my letter to him made a diff, but I strongly feel that he would have rubberstamped it just like he has all the others were it not for a looming election in which he faced 3 talented challengers.
There have been 2 major tax increases in the past few years and I ask you this: did Moore utter a word of protest?
When I moved from Lakeview to a rental on Fargo back in 1987 and observed the neighborhood for a while. I observed that local homeowners and good landlords like mine were fighting the crime and blight with no help from Moore, and I increasingly felt that it was the intention of the local leadership to "shake out" the increasingly spooked middle-income homoeowners and old landlords by deliberate neglect, so that big developers could come in and buy up the property being disposed of cheaply by panicked property owners.
That is only a feeling, and certainly nothing I could prove. Yet I noticed that while upper-middle-priced condos were being planned for the sites of single family homes, that more and more evacuees from housing projects slated for demolition, were beginning to move into the area, and that these people were NOT the choicest tenants.
Listen, the Mooron will say ANYTHING to get re-elected. Also, he can scarcely be considered a part of the local middle class anymore. He hangs out mostly in Evanston, and his own property at 1431 W Fargo is unkempt and decrepit in the extreme. To me, this is his way of displaying contempt for the neighborhood, for it isn't as though he can't afford to maintain his place. While his ward still has one of the highest rates of violent crime- 40 murders in one year!!-he courts big-name celebrities and socialites who have given copoiusly to his campaign coffers.
Consider that Gordon has a 10th the money to work with. Consider also that Gordon is middle-class (former IT manager) who quit his job to run his campaign, effectively putting his life on the line. He is a local homeowner, of a nice but unpretentious two-flat at 1228 W Lunt.
With Joe, we have had painful tax increases along with being one of the most badly serviced wards in the city. We rank in the bottom 15 wards in terms of services delivered, in addition to continuing to experience alarming violent crime rates, while neighboring Edgewater, which was worse off when I chose Rogers Park in preference to it 10 years ago, has pulled ahead and become very safe while continuing to be extremely affordable.
REmember- Joe will tell you whatever he thinks you need to hear to get re-elected, so judge by the results of his leadership, and give someone else a chance.
Taken straight off Don's website:
7.) Advocate for sensible property tax relief which progressively reduces allowable increases and reassessments in order to create an incentive for property owners to remain in the community. This will provide protection for both single-family homeowners and apartment building owners who would otherwise be forced to sell because of punitive property tax increases.
It's a shame he's so vague- NOT!
Craig,
I found a flyer of yours on my wife's car today. Can you email me the Word file? I'd like to print up a bunch more and flyer more cars & doors to get people to tune in for detail about the run off.
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