BLOGNOTES: Another avid reader e-mail.
For what it is worth, I have not seen Acorn flyers or workers west of Clark Street. I was contacted twice today by Gordon volunteers, once on the phone and another to the door. The guy at the door actually lived in the neighborhood and for some reason, told me that he had to share an apartment at Touhy and Sheridan with a room mate because the neighborhood rents are pretty high. He was smiling as he said it, sort of like "what are you gonna do," and he seemed much more cheerful than the person who came to my door stumping for Moore on the weekend. She too was a neighbor, but when I told her that our house was not supporting Moore, she didn't even react. It was kind of like a resigned look. She asked me if I cared to say why not and I asked her why should I. I didn't say it to be obnoxious, but to have her tell me why she felt strongly enough to support Joe that she would work the precinct.
She mentioned the big box and Iraq and how important it was to have a progressive person like Joe. I told her I was against the war and in favor of big box, but so was everyone else I knew. I asked her what she thought about Joe's ideas for up-zoning Clark Street or the redevelopment on her block (she got a 4 story townhome project listing and unsold at $579,000 where neighbors had expressed interest in having a park). She agreed that the townhome project sucked and she also said she was a bit sad when they tore down the Adelphi.
I asked her about the schools and she said agreed that the schools were struggling, except for where her kids went (Armstrong), but then she admitted that most of the kids at Armstrong don't live in Rogers Park. We talked about a bunch of stuff, like the parks and the developers and all of that. By the end, it didn't seem like she was all that excited to be doing what she is doing. All she could say was that she was glad I was involved and she wished she knew more about some of the issues that I raised.
As she gathered her stuff to leave, she said that she has a lot of Moore supporters on the block. I wasn't convinced. I keep seeing Gordon signs popping up all over. There were 4 more on my block today and no new Moore signs as best I can tell.
I'm not sure who will win this thing, but it seems like Gordon has momentum. Thought your readers might be interested.
Anonymous
12 comments:
I'm going to do a write in when i vote. very displeased with both candidates.
I was at an event at St. Margaret Mary last night and people were all talking about Mr. Gordon. One guy said he had been knocking on doors for the past two evenings.
Maybe someone can help me out...
I just received a political email (nothing to do with Ward business) from Jim G. with a return email of the ward office. Unless the Ward's email list was used or sold to Citizen for Moore, JG would have no access to that email.
The question I have...isn't it illegal to use city/ward resources for political purposes? Does that include the Ward's email list, email server, etc.?
Dr. O raises an interesting point. Anyone know the answer?
Dear Jarvis -- if you do a write in you might as well vote for Joe. Do you want Joe? If so, do as you plan. If not, vote for Gordon and give the guy a chance. We know Joe is bad; Gordon, at worst, is an unknown. I'll take that unknown element to rid community of bad seed. If nothing else, I will stake a week's pay on Don being better about communicating with the community.
Despite this lovely propaganda, with Jim Ginderske's endorsement and votes and the upcoming barrage of information about Don Gordon taking radical right-wing campaign contribs... I look forward to the long-overdue sinking of his sputtery "swift" boat. Indeed- wake-up BH and friends. Anybody who even pretends to defend this diverse, tolerant and progressive ward and want better for it and then goes on to support a lil reactionary like Don Gordon needs to reevaluate from which side any meaningful change will come. And the preposterous approach of endlessly attacking Joe about his campaign contributors and then ponying up to the trough himself with the Chamber of Commerce, David Herro, et al, is both hypocritical and shameful. Don Gordon is fighting for Himself and monied interests who see Rogers Park as one of the last fields in the city they can slash and burn with their conservative darwinistic methods in furtherance of the economic ends of driving out lower income residents in favor of more ugly and ovepriced condos and their own financial gain. All the many legitimate concerns of our neighborhood are now being pushed aside as the money machine does everything in their power to spite Joe Moore on the living wage, and further remove the ability of low-wage people and families to lay claim to even the smallest measure of prosperity, property, healthcare ad infinitum- so the pie of the 1% who owns more than the rest of us combined just gets bigger and juicier for them. Nobody should be surprised- we have been watching this kind of "leadership" in dismay nationally. Hence the results of the recent congessional election. Culturally and spiritually, there is also an underlying war going on in the inner heart of the Gordon campaign, subtle but always persistently present- intolerant, angry and with a bent toward attacking difference and diversity. It is low-level class warfare in the style of Bush/Cheney/Rove. Knowingly or unknowingly, Don Gordon has aligned with these interests to win an election. Make no mistake, despite any clever machinations to the contrary, Don Gordon is NOT fighting for us!
Perfecto has worked among conservative Republicans in many levels of our political system, well aware of their dark, cynical, immoral and selfish endeavors and long-term plans for this country. At it's core, their vision essentially denies that all people are capable of lifting themsleves up and that those who try, may need some help to do so as they struggle against a deck that has been heavily stacked against them.
"The Devil wants each of us to see him or herself as so ugly that even God can't love them..."
I learned to "know thy/this enemy" and their motivations and woke myself up. I would challenge any undecided voters, as well as Gordonites, to look within and without during this crucial election and do the same.
Perfecto -- maybe you should have gone on Penn & Teller with "government stooge" Moore. They could have pegged you as "union stooge" because you clearly are. Unions don't give jobs, don't protect low income people, and are only out to line THEIR coffers at the expense of the very low income people they profess to protect. Once great, unions have disintegrated into dying kleptocracies trying to keep themselves alive (and their leadership well paid and flying about in corporate jets) while doing NADA for the actual workers.
So you'd rather have "government stooge" Moore who protects slumlords than someone who might actually improve living conditions for low income peoples in RP by clamping down on slumlords and bringing in good businesses that pay living wages? Why, yes you would because DG wouldn't be your stooge. Bummer.
pamela, the reason i say this is that i went to a gordon "coffee" recently and was extremely disappointed. not in gordon, but his campaign chair. the hour and a half i was there he didn't speak to one specific idea gordon has for the 49th ward (gordon himself might). his representative was very judgemental and hypocritical and uttering half-truths. if gordon will have those types of people on his staff, no one will benefit.
Jarvis -- please come to Jean Stiles coffee talk as posted on broken heart earlier next Tues at 1419 W. Jarvis at 8 pm to hear Don. He has specific, proactive, constructive things he commits to implementing. It would be good to hear.
If the campaign chair disappointed, I am sorry. I have been impressed with his work ethic and ability to move the campaign forward and rally volunteers and deal with the myriad personalities. Unfortunately I think that dealing with all the attacks from Joe and the unions takes a toll and causes one to go to a bad place instead of focusing on the positive. The campaign chair has done tremendous heavy lifting. I'm sorry that the coffee talk you attended didn't reflect as well on him as what I have seen out of the public eye. I'm looking forward to giving this team a chance. It's possible that they will disappoint but it's also possible that they will impress.
RPers and maybe even voters seem to want perfection in a candidate and their supporters and workers. That's just not going to happen. We know that 16 years of Joe has not moved us forward. Will DG and his crew? Who can say with 100% assurance? But I say that it's time to give someone else a chance. Surely they can't be worse and worst case scenario we at least broke the chokehold that Joe has had on this ward. If he's re-elected then I say we'll have our own Bernie Stone and Joe will have the job for another 3 decades unless someone else gives him a job (and that hasn't happened despite Joe's attempt to get the hell out of here).
.."driving out lower income residents in favor of more ugly and ovepriced condos and their own financial gain."
Does this sound like anyone we know?
Speaking of campaigning...
Monday night a friend living in a condo on the 1600 block of Fargo had a knock at his door. He figured it was a neighbor since he hadn't buzzed anyone into the building. He opened the door to behold ....Joe Moore. My friend informed Mr. Moore that if he didn't leave the building he'd call the police and have Moore arrested for criminal trespassing.
I asked my friend what Moore said and he replied "I don't know - I'd already slammed the door".
If you're for the Living Wage Ordinance then why would you support Gordon?
Post a Comment