Helen Shiller
Encyclopedia
Helen Shiller is a former member of the Chicago City Council
, where she represented the 46th ward from 1987 to 2011.
in New York
. Shiller she grew up in a middle-class family. Shiller's parents were home owners. Shiller's father, Morris, was a self-employed chemist
. Her father "perfected fake suede
." Morris Shiller emigrated to the United States
from Latvia
. Morris Shiller lost every member of his family in the Holocaust, with the exception of a brother who didn't turn up until 20 years after World War II
ended.
, the same progressive boarding school that Pete Seeger
's children attended. Shiller graduated with a degree in history from the University of Wisconsin–Madison
, where she was active in the anti-Vietnam war
movement. In 2005, Shiller graduated from DePaul University
's School for New Learning Master's Program, where her focus was public policy.
in 1972 or 1976 with her husband Marc Zalkin and her infant son, Brendan. Shiller lived on N Malden Street in Uptown. Shiller drove a cab and worked as a waitress and free lance photographer, and jumped into radical
politics. With one of Chicago's most controversial political organizers, Walter "Slim" Coleman, Shiller helped organize the Intercommunal Survival Committee, a sort of white support arm of the Black Panther Party
. The committee evolved into the Heart of Uptown Coalition, a political and social service organization then steeped in the rhetoric of Marxism
. In the coalition, "comrades" were expected to organize "cadres" and maintain - in Shiller's words back then - the "frame of mind" of revolutionaries. The Uptown Coalition provided an array of programs geared toward providing essential services for the poor, including medical clinics for pregnant women, mothers and young children; a legal aid clinic, food pantries and distributing clothes and meals to the poor. Shiller and her allies have labored for decades to preserve Uptown
as the last North Side lakefront neighborhood south of Rogers Park
that is home to significant numbers of poor folks.
Shiller supported Michael Bakalis
in his 1978 primary challenge to Illinois
Governor
James R. Thompson
, attacking Thompson for "making deals with the Chicago machine" and for being unsympathetic to the urban poor.
Shiller helped open an extension of Shimer College
at 4833 N Broadway in the Fall of 1978.
Shiller took on Illinois' dentists when in 1978 the Uptown Peoples Community Services Center joined consumers groups in a federal lawsuit which attempted to break up the dentists' monopoly on fitting dentures.
From 1981 to 1987, Shiller was President and CEO of Justice Graphics, Inc. a print shop, a small business of which Shiller and Coleman were two of five owners.
Shiller recalled in 2003:
Sheriff
Richard Elrod, and ward committeeman since 1973, slated himself for alderman.
At the time, Shiller was 30 years old and the editor of Keep Strong, a leftist magazine. Shiller's first attempt at elected office was to join a multi-way challenge to Axelrod. Shiller had much of the support that ex-street gang
leader Jose "Cha Cha" Jimenez had in Jimenez' unsuccessful challenge to incumbent Alderman Cohen in the 1975 elections. Shiller's base of support was the center of the ward, an area of poverty
where families lived crowded together in large and mostly rundown apartment buildings between Broadway and Clark Street. Shiller promised to work to keep the poor of Uptown from being displaced by real estate developers who were reportedly planning to develop the area for middle and upper class living.
Independents including Aldermen Dick Simpson (44th), Martin Oberman (43rd), and Ross Lathrop (5th), and former alderman and mayoral candidate William Singer (43rd), endorsed Angela Turley, founder of the Organization of the Northeast (ONE), a community group. Turley was also unanimously endorsed by the 46th Ward Citizens Search Committee, a group of 50 ward residents who interviewed 10 candidates. A three-way race for alderman of the 46 ward remained between Axelrod, Shiller, and former television news reporter Michael Horowitz, after Turley and another candidate Carl Lezak, a former priest and former director of the American Civil Liberties Union
(ACLU), were stricken from the ballot by the Chicago Board of Elections Commissioners, Turley for failure to file an economic interest statement.
Shiller charged that the regular Democratic organization used unfair campaign practices against her, challenging about 100 of the 400 new voters she helped register, removing her campaign posters, and "machine workers" telling store owners to remove her signs. The Chicago Tribune
endorsed Axelrod, noting Shiller "runs primarily as a champion of the poor." Lezak ran as a write-in candidate in an attempt to draw enough votes off Axelrod to force a run-off. Axelrod defeated Shiller receiving 5,575 votes or 54.5% to Shiller's 3,475 votes. Lezak received nine votes and ended up spending election night in jail as a result of an altercation in a polling place with a Democratic precinct captain over an alleged election law violation.
"I ran for alderman of this [46th] ward in 1978. I was terrified. I was very shy, afraid to speak to more than five people at a time," Shiller recalled in 2003.
endorsed Axelrod. No candidate received a majority of the vote in the three-way race in February, 1979, resulting in a run-off between Shiller (6,852 votes; 46%) and Axelrod (6,088 votes; 40%). The Chicago Tribune
and Turley endorsed Axelrod in the run-off. The Chicago Tribune
wrote that "Ms. Shiller's program shares many elements with that of the Black Panthers
and appears to be based on hopes of an eventual "revolution" [not defined]." Turley described Axelrod as "the lesser of two evils in the race now." Axelrod challenged 1,060 voter registrations on the ward's rolls, and 931 of the challenges were upheld by the Chicago Board of Elections Commissioners. Axelrod enlisted 40 volunteer attorneys and 200 off-duty policemen to challenge ghost voting in a project he called "Operation Safeguard." Axelrod defeated Shiller in the run-off by 247 votes.
Shiller recalled in 2003:
's campaign as the campaign organizer for the 46th Ward in Washington's successful first campaign for Mayor
of Chicago
. Shiller, operator of a print shop, Justice Graphics Inc., published the heartily pro-Washington All-Chicago City News, a 40,000 circulation left-wing, bilingual, biweekly newspaper edited by Shiller and Walter "Slim" Coleman. Coleman formed a plan to register 100,000 new voters for Washington by canvassing public aid offices and became a close advisor to candidate and Mayor Harold Washington. Justice Graphics printed the campaign literature for Washington's first mayoral campaign.
Alderman Axelrod quit the City Council to take a job in the sheriff's office just before the 1983 election. Community activist Charlotte Newfeld and Jerome Orbach went to a run-off, which Orbach won by 66 votes.
"Harold [Washington] was mayor, and he was harping on me to run for alderman," Shiller recalled in 2003. Shiller, Nancy Kaszak, and Gerald Pechenuk challenged pro-Vrdolyak
incumbent Alderman Jerome Orbach in 1987. Kaszak was a lawyer, a former vice president of the Chicago Council of Lawyers, a Mayor Harold Washington
appointee to the Commission on Chicago Landmarks
, a leader of the Lakeview
Citizens' Council, and president of Citizens United for Baseball in Sunshine (CUBS), which opposed night baseball at Wrigley Field
. Newfeld, Orbach's challenger from 1983, co-chaired Kaszak's campaign. Pechenuk was a consultant for Lyndon H. LaRouche Jr. for 12 years, and was treasurer of LaRouche-supported Sheila Jones's mayoral campaign. Shiller challenged Pechenuk's nominating petitions.
Shiller got Chicago Transit Authority
(CTA) bus driver John Paczkowski suspended after Paczkowski asked a Shiller campaign worker to refrain from holding up the bus to distribute Shiller flyers. Working the bus stop at 4250 N Marine Drive with Shiller was the architect husband of CTA Board member Natalia Delgado. Shiller complained to Delgado, and Delgado complained to CTA management.
Shiller was one of 18 incumbent aldermen and 5 challengers endorsed by Mayor Harold Washington
. Washington appeared at a rally for himself and Shiller at which Shiller announced her candidacy. The Chicago Sun-Times
endorsed Kaszak, as did the Independent Voters of Illinois-Independent Precinct Organization
(IVI-IPO), the National Organization of Women (NOW), the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees
(AFSCME), former 46th Ward aldermanic candidate Charlotte Newfeld, and former aldermen William Singer and Dick Simpson. The Chicago Tribune
endorsed Orbach.
Shiller charged that Orbach catered to developers, displacing people in the wake of rehabilitation that priced housing out of the reach of many, and said she wanted community zoning
boards, with their decisions binding on the alderman. Shiller charged that most of Orbach's campaign war chest had come from developers and regular Democrats outside the ward.
No candidate received a majority of the vote in the four-way race in February, 1987, resulting in a run-off between Orbach (40%) and Shiller (38%). Kaszak endorsed Shiller, although many of Kaszak's followers supported Orbach. No alderman tried harder than Orbach to portray himself on both sides of the political fence. Orbach attempted to stage a public conversion to a pro-Washington position. Some prominent independents, such as retiring Ald. Marion Volini (48th), state Rep. Ellis Levin and state Sen. William Marovitz, endorsed Orbach, as did the Chicago Sun-Times
and Chicago Tribune
.
"His [Orbach's] relationship to large real estate developers is very important. He's become more of an advocate for people outside of the ward than for people here," Shiller charged.
Some of Orbach's allies spread the absurd rumor, aimed at Jewish voters, that Shiller would use the power of City Hall to try to transform Israel
into a Palestinian state. Shiller's forces called Orbach a racist, an accusation that had no substantiation, considering the large number of blacks who had backed Orbach in his early campaigns.
Shiller recalled in 2003:
In the months leading up to the election, Shiller supporter Bob Parnell, head of the Center for Street People, 4455 N. Broadway, and the Heart of Uptown Coalition registered to vote 80 homeless people using the Center's address, and on election day fed them a meal at a local church and helped them vote. Jesus People USA
, a 500-member commune/business/charity/religious group with many members living in the ward, had supported Orbach throughout his career, but suddenly switched to Shiller before the run-off. Jesus People spokesman Dennis Cadieux explained "We think Jerry Orbach is a lovely man, but he doesn't have what it takes to stand up to the development...If things keep going there will be massive displacement. People will be thrown out of their homes. We decided that Helen Shiller would do the most to prevent displacement." Orbach supporters charged that a City official had offered City contracts to the Jesus People's construction firm if Shiller were elected. On Tuesday, April 7, 1987 Shiller defeated Orbach by 498 votes, 9,751 to 9,253.
package. Shiller requested that the committee deny the Uptown Chicago Commission (UCC) its entire grant of $20,000, which would have been used to pay the salary of a staff person to help residents, including senior citizens, get money for home improvements. Shiller conceded the 32-year-old Uptown Chicago Commission had criticized her in the past. The Uptown Chicago Commission had long been at loggerheads with the Heart of Uptown Coalition, of which Shiller was co-chairman with Walter "Slim" Coleman. Ald. Kathy Osterman
(48th), part of whose ward is also served by the Uptown Chicago Commission, asked the Budget Committee to award the group the $20,000 as recommended by Mayor Harold Washington in his community block grant recommendations. The Uptown Chicago Commission's application had already been reviewed and approved at three levels in the city bureaucracy. Shiller accused the Uptown Chicago Commission of helping developers displace low-income Uptown residents. After heated debate, the Budget Committee voted 9-5 in favor of Shiller's amendment to remove the entire grant for the Uptown organization.
After the death of Mayor Washington, Shiller was a supporter of Ald. Timothy C. Evans
(4th), who was defeated by Ald. Eugene Sawyer
(6th) for Mayor. Weeks later, at the first City Council meeting under Mayor Eugene Sawyer, the funding for the Uptown Chicago Commission was restored. Shiller said restoring the grant to the Uptown Chicago Commission would affect the 48th Ward, but not her ward. "I was not going to have them operating in the 46th," Shiller said. Shiller said she reached an agreement to keep the Uptown Chicago Commission out of her ward several days before Washington's death. "Mayor Sawyer had nothing to do with this," Shiller claimed. "He had recommended no changes."
community college
district. (Other sites considered included other sites adjacent to north side Chicago Transit Authority
(CTA) stations, a former hospital on the lakefront, the site of the former Riverview Park and the Edgewater Golf Course in the West Rogers Park neighborhood, currently Warren Park). The Uptown site west of the Wilson Chicago Transit Authority
(CTA) station was opposed by those concerned for the displacement of low income residents, largely blacks, southern whites and American Indians
. The project was mired in heated controversy for decades. Avery v Pierce, a federal lawsuit filed in 1975, claimed that the demolition for the construction of Harry S Truman College
in Uptown resulted in the loss of about 3,000 low-income housing units and alleging that city and Chicago Housing Authority
(CHA) funds were misspent developing Truman College. Plaintiffs were represented by Shiller's former campaign manager, attorney James P. Chapman of the Uptown Peoples Law Center.
In 1985 Randall H. Langer, a young developer active in apartment rehabilitation in the neighborhood, aided the creation of a local historic district
, the Sheridan Park Historic District, which foes said was of dubious historical value. They charged the district was created merely to facilitate gentrification
, which would force out low-income people. Nineteen tax delinquent properties in Uptown were offered for sale by auction by Cook County
in Fall, 1987. Langer deposited an irrevocable minimum cash bid of $114,000 on the vacant lots with the County Treasurer.
Since 1983 Cook County had a program which allowed local governments to obtain tax delinquent property for almost nothing during the county's tax delinquent property scavenger sale. To obtain a property, the local government must have a specific plan for developing it. On October 28, 1987, Shiller heatedly urged the Tax Delinquency Subcommittee of the Cook County Board to accept a no-cash bid for the 19 tax-delinquent parcels in Uptown. A decision was deferred. County Commissioner Rosemarie Love requested the delay on grounds the Washington administration had not spelled out its plan for the properties. Subcommittee chairman County Commissioner Richard Siebel said the County's no-cash sales program was "designed to place property back on the tax rolls as quickly as possible - not for land-banking. It's not appropriate for us to pass this until the city tells us, parcel by parcel, what they intend to do and how they plan to pay for it." County Commissioner Harold Tyrrell added, "Properties we gave to the city 12 years ago are still war zones. I don't want the same thing to happen here." County Commissioner Chuck Bernardini, a Chicago Democrat, pointed out that the City already owned 7,000 tax-delinquent lots.
Pulitzer Prize
-winning commentator Mike Royko
wrote in the Chicago Tribune
:
In City Council, Shiller attempted to head off the judge's decision in Avery v Pierce by proposing an ordinance that directed the city to settle and accept a consent decree
. The consent decree would have put most vacant parcels in Uptown into a land bank for future affordable housing, administered by a community development corporation
, funded by the City with $100,000 over two years. The consent decree also would have established a "desirable" goal of 3,000 low-income units there. On November 16, 1987, the Committee on Finance of the Chicago City Council, chaired at the time by Shiller ally Ald. Timothy Evans, voted 21 to 2 to recommend to the full City Council that the City Council direct the city to execute the consent decree. Shiller gloated during committee hearings that, with Mayor Harold Washington's backing, the decree could not be stopped. The proposal was on the brink of passage when Washington died. Weeks later, on December 9, 1987, at the first regular business meeting of the City Council of the post-Washington era, Washington foes brought the proposal out of committee with the express intention of killing it. Ald. Bernard Stone
(50th), who joined Alderman Osterman in blocking the agreement, told the Council he was opposed because Shiller's "arrogance prevailed and that arrogance has to be answered on this floor." The consent decree was rejected by the Council 29-17.
Shiller's proposal was criticized in a series of editorials. The Chicago Tribune
called the proposal "silly," editorializing:
In 2003 Shiller explained the editorials:
Not only did the desired properties not go to the affordable housing advocates, but many went to one of the local players Shiller and allies disliked most. On December 3, 1987 16 of the parcels were sold to private bidders at Cook County's annual scavenger sale. Langer and partnerships Langer controlled bought 13 of the parcels.
In 1989, Shiller sponsored a resolution creating a sub-committee on Domestic Violence. Since that resolution, the Chicago Police Department invested in a computerized domestic violence incident tracking system and the city now funds domestic violence counselling centers and programs for supervised visitations.
in Davis' unsuccessful primary challenge to Daley. Daley supported Shiller's challenger, Michael Quigley. Shiller won with 53% of the vote in a runoff election, amid charges that Quigley was a carpetbagger
.
In the 2001 redistricting of Chicago wards, Daley had hoped to redraw the map so as to deprive Shiller of her most committed supporters in the 2003 city council elections. However, this backfired when none of the (pro-Daley) aldermen in wards surrounding the 46th wanted to contend with "her" supporters. Shiller and Daley, however, reached an understanding: the mayor supported her in the 2003 elections and also pushed forward development of Wilson Yards, a vacant lot in her district into a Target store
and affordable housing. Shiller has consistently voted with the mayor ever since. In 2004, Daley gave her control over the Wilson Yard Tax Increment Financing District
and the $26.5 million it generated.
, a social worker and community activist, with 53% of the vote. The alliance with Shiller benefited Daley in the election also, as he won 79% of the vote in the 46th ward, running ahead of the 72% he received citywide.
Shiller has been described as "committed to liberal causes" appropriate for the lakefront district she represents. She worked for the passing for the human rights ordinance, recycling programs and city responsibility for public health and safety in the Chicago Public Schools. She initiated an anti-apartheid ordinance in 1990 and added a budget amendment to triple to city's AIDS budget in 1992. She co-sponsored the domestic partners ordinance which extends benefits for unmarried couples.
Shiller has recently worked with the Department of Housing to develop the Planned Purchase Assistance Program, which provides opportunities for home ownership to working families.
Criticism of Shiller in the 2007 election was largely focused on the lack of communication to ward residents, failure to obtain ongoing input from residents for zoning changes in the ward, her lack of involvement in CAPS meetings, and the many years of blighted retail in the ward. Some critics also charge that "she's keeping Uptown a slum by making it hard for developers to put up their projects." (The 46th ward is sharply divided between wealthy residents who live along Lake Michigan
and poorer residents who live west of Sheridan Road
.) The columnist Mike Royko
once charged that "Shiller's main motive was that she was building a political power base which included as many winos as she could drag to the voting booth." She has not, however, been indicted for voting irregularities. She has been accused of "using the Wilson Yard project to cram the area with poor people to maintain her political base." The neighborhood of Uptown is home to two R.E.S.T. shelters, one Salvation Army shelter, one Salvation Army day center for the homeless, four Cornerstone shelters, a transitional shelter program from Inspiration Cafe, a transitional housing program located at 1207 W. Leland for active drug users with mental illness from Heartland Alliance, another transitional housing program located at 1325 W. Wilson from Heartland Alliance, four nursing homes for people with mental illness, and numerous large SRO buildings, many of them for people living with mental illness. When looking at the number of social services in the ward, its rate is approximately 5 times higher than what is found in other wards. In 2000, a CURL study cited that 18% of the housing in Uptown is subsidized. Other wards average around 5% of their housing as subsidized.
Shiller served on eight committees: Budget and Government Operations; Buildings; Committees, Rules and Ethics; Finance; Health; Housing and Real Estate; Human Relations; and License and Consumer Protection.
On August 2, 2010 Shiller announced she would not run for re-election in 2011.
, and with Shiller a leader of the 46th Ward Community Service Center (later the Uptown Community Service Center) and an editor of Keep Strong magazine, and with Shiller and Coleman an editor of All-Chicago City News. Zalkin passed on February 23, 1998 at the age of 49 due to complications from multiple sclerosis
.
Shiller and Zalkin have one son, Brendan Shiller. Brendan Shiller attended Joseph Stockton Elementary School, a Chicago Public School, and Whitney Young Magnet High School, a highly selective-enrollment Chicago public magnet high school and academic center located in Chicago's Near West Side. While attending Truman College, Brendan Shiller was managing editor of All-Chicago City News. After Truman, Brendan went to Howard University in Washington, D.C. For two years starting in February, 1997 Brendan Shiller edited StreetWise
, a street newspaper
sold by people without homes or those at-risk for homelessness in Chicago
. In 2003, Brendan graduated from John Marshall Law School
. Brendan Shiller cashed in the 37th Annual World Series of Poker
No-Limit Texas Hold'em World Championship Event, the $10,000 buy-in "Main Event," held in April, 2006 at the Rio Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas
, Nevada, USA, finishing 873rd of 8,769 entries. He currently works as a lawyer defending criminals and suing police officers.
Helen Shiller and her long-time staff member Maggie Marystone were interviewed in separate chapters in Hope Dies Last, a collection of oral histories by Pulitzer Prize
-winning author and Uptown resident Studs Terkel
.
Chicago City Council
The Chicago City Council is the legislative branch of the government of the City of Chicago in Illinois. It consists of 50 aldermen elected from 50 wards to serve four-year terms...
, where she represented the 46th ward from 1987 to 2011.
Early life
Shiller was born in 1947 and raised on Long IslandLong Island
Long Island is an island located in the southeast part of the U.S. state of New York, just east of Manhattan. Stretching northeast into the Atlantic Ocean, Long Island contains four counties, two of which are boroughs of New York City , and two of which are mainly suburban...
in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
. Shiller she grew up in a middle-class family. Shiller's parents were home owners. Shiller's father, Morris, was a self-employed chemist
Chemist
A chemist is a scientist trained in the study of chemistry. Chemists study the composition of matter and its properties such as density and acidity. Chemists carefully describe the properties they study in terms of quantities, with detail on the level of molecules and their component atoms...
. Her father "perfected fake suede
Suede
Suede is a type of leather with a napped finish, commonly used for jackets, shoes, shirts, purses, furniture and other items. The term comes from the French "gants de Suède", which literally means "gloves of Sweden"....
." Morris Shiller emigrated to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
from Latvia
Latvia
Latvia , officially the Republic of Latvia , is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by Estonia , to the south by Lithuania , to the east by the Russian Federation , to the southeast by Belarus and shares maritime borders to the west with Sweden...
. Morris Shiller lost every member of his family in the Holocaust, with the exception of a brother who didn't turn up until 20 years after World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
ended.
Education
Shiller earned her high school diploma in 1965 from Woodstock County School in VermontVermont
Vermont is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state ranks 43rd in land area, , and 45th in total area. Its population according to the 2010 census, 630,337, is the second smallest in the country, larger only than Wyoming. It is the only New England...
, the same progressive boarding school that Pete Seeger
Pete Seeger
Peter "Pete" Seeger is an American folk singer and was an iconic figure in the mid-twentieth century American folk music revival. A fixture on nationwide radio in the 1940s, he also had a string of hit records during the early 1950s as a member of The Weavers, most notably their recording of Lead...
's children attended. Shiller graduated with a degree in history from the University of Wisconsin–Madison
University of Wisconsin–Madison
The University of Wisconsin–Madison is a public research university located in Madison, Wisconsin, United States. Founded in 1848, UW–Madison is the flagship campus of the University of Wisconsin System. It became a land-grant institution in 1866...
, where she was active in the anti-Vietnam war
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
movement. In 2005, Shiller graduated from DePaul University
DePaul University
DePaul University is a private institution of higher education and research in Chicago, Illinois. Founded by the Vincentians in 1898, the university takes its name from the 17th century French priest Saint Vincent de Paul...
's School for New Learning Master's Program, where her focus was public policy.
Early career
Shiller moved to Chicago's Uptown neighborhoodUptown, Chicago
Uptown is one of Chicago’s 77 community areas. Uptown has well defined boundaries. They are: Foster on the north; Lake Michigan on the east; Montrose , and Irving Park on the south; Ravenswood , and Clark on the west. Uptown borders three community areas and Lake Michigan...
in 1972 or 1976 with her husband Marc Zalkin and her infant son, Brendan. Shiller lived on N Malden Street in Uptown. Shiller drove a cab and worked as a waitress and free lance photographer, and jumped into radical
Political radicalism
The term political radicalism denotes political principles focused on altering social structures through revolutionary means and changing value systems in fundamental ways...
politics. With one of Chicago's most controversial political organizers, Walter "Slim" Coleman, Shiller helped organize the Intercommunal Survival Committee, a sort of white support arm of the Black Panther Party
Black Panther Party
The Black Panther Party wasan African-American revolutionary leftist organization. It was active in the United States from 1966 until 1982....
. The committee evolved into the Heart of Uptown Coalition, a political and social service organization then steeped in the rhetoric of Marxism
Marxism
Marxism is an economic and sociopolitical worldview and method of socioeconomic inquiry that centers upon a materialist interpretation of history, a dialectical view of social change, and an analysis and critique of the development of capitalism. Marxism was pioneered in the early to mid 19th...
. In the coalition, "comrades" were expected to organize "cadres" and maintain - in Shiller's words back then - the "frame of mind" of revolutionaries. The Uptown Coalition provided an array of programs geared toward providing essential services for the poor, including medical clinics for pregnant women, mothers and young children; a legal aid clinic, food pantries and distributing clothes and meals to the poor. Shiller and her allies have labored for decades to preserve Uptown
Uptown, Chicago
Uptown is one of Chicago’s 77 community areas. Uptown has well defined boundaries. They are: Foster on the north; Lake Michigan on the east; Montrose , and Irving Park on the south; Ravenswood , and Clark on the west. Uptown borders three community areas and Lake Michigan...
as the last North Side lakefront neighborhood south of Rogers Park
Rogers Park, Chicago
Rogers Park is one of the 77 Chicago community areas on the far north side of Chicago, Illinois, and is also the name of the Chicago neighborhood that constitutes most of the community area...
that is home to significant numbers of poor folks.
Shiller supported Michael Bakalis
Michael Bakalis
Michael J. Bakalis is an American academic and politician. He was the Democratic nominee for Governor of Illinois in 1978, losing to incumbent Republican governor James R. Thompson....
in his 1978 primary challenge to Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
Governor
Governor
A governor is a governing official, usually the executive of a non-sovereign level of government, ranking under the head of state...
James R. Thompson
James R. Thompson
James Robert Thompson, Jr. , also known as Big Jim Thompson, was the 37th and longest serving Governor of the US state of Illinois...
, attacking Thompson for "making deals with the Chicago machine" and for being unsympathetic to the urban poor.
Shiller helped open an extension of Shimer College
Shimer College
Shimer College is a very small, private, undergraduate liberal arts college in Chicago, Illinois, in the United States. Founded by Frances Wood Shimer in 1853 in the frontier town of Mt. Carroll, Illinois, it was a women's school for most of its first century. It joined with the University of...
at 4833 N Broadway in the Fall of 1978.
Shiller took on Illinois' dentists when in 1978 the Uptown Peoples Community Services Center joined consumers groups in a federal lawsuit which attempted to break up the dentists' monopoly on fitting dentures.
From 1981 to 1987, Shiller was President and CEO of Justice Graphics, Inc. a print shop, a small business of which Shiller and Coleman were two of five owners.
Shiller recalled in 2003:
I was as student in the sixties, engaged in the civil rights movement, anti-Vietnam War protests. I'd come from New York to attend the University of Wisconsin. It was an exciting time. A lot of active students wound up in different cities and communities as organizers. I chose Racine, WisconsinRacine, WisconsinRacine is a city in and the county seat of Racine County, Wisconsin, United States. According to 2008 U.S. Census Bureau estimates, the city had a population of 82,196...
. I spent three years there. We had developed a legal clinic and we had a whole health program, but the city was too small. I had, of course, heard about Uptown in Chicago, and the challenges. So I wound up here in 1976. I waited tables. I did photography, took pictures for attorneys. Ultimately we started our own print shop in order to print our own newspapers and magazines.
First campaign for alderman (1978)
A special election was called for May 16, 1978 in the 46th Ward when Alderman Chris Cohen, first elected in 1971, was re-elected in 1975 but retired in mid-term to head the Chicago regional office of the United States Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. On March 6, 1978 Ralph Axelrod, chief administrative assistant to Cook CountyCook County, Illinois
Cook County is a county in the U.S. state of Illinois, with its county seat in Chicago. It is the second most populous county in the United States after Los Angeles County. The county has 5,194,675 residents, which is 40.5 percent of all Illinois residents. Cook County's population is larger than...
Sheriff
Sheriff
A sheriff is in principle a legal official with responsibility for a county. In practice, the specific combination of legal, political, and ceremonial duties of a sheriff varies greatly from country to country....
Richard Elrod, and ward committeeman since 1973, slated himself for alderman.
At the time, Shiller was 30 years old and the editor of Keep Strong, a leftist magazine. Shiller's first attempt at elected office was to join a multi-way challenge to Axelrod. Shiller had much of the support that ex-street gang
Gang
A gang is a group of people who, through the organization, formation, and establishment of an assemblage, share a common identity. In current usage it typically denotes a criminal organization or else a criminal affiliation. In early usage, the word gang referred to a group of workmen...
leader Jose "Cha Cha" Jimenez had in Jimenez' unsuccessful challenge to incumbent Alderman Cohen in the 1975 elections. Shiller's base of support was the center of the ward, an area of poverty
Poverty
Poverty is the lack of a certain amount of material possessions or money. Absolute poverty or destitution is inability to afford basic human needs, which commonly includes clean and fresh water, nutrition, health care, education, clothing and shelter. About 1.7 billion people are estimated to live...
where families lived crowded together in large and mostly rundown apartment buildings between Broadway and Clark Street. Shiller promised to work to keep the poor of Uptown from being displaced by real estate developers who were reportedly planning to develop the area for middle and upper class living.
Independents including Aldermen Dick Simpson (44th), Martin Oberman (43rd), and Ross Lathrop (5th), and former alderman and mayoral candidate William Singer (43rd), endorsed Angela Turley, founder of the Organization of the Northeast (ONE), a community group. Turley was also unanimously endorsed by the 46th Ward Citizens Search Committee, a group of 50 ward residents who interviewed 10 candidates. A three-way race for alderman of the 46 ward remained between Axelrod, Shiller, and former television news reporter Michael Horowitz, after Turley and another candidate Carl Lezak, a former priest and former director of the American Civil Liberties Union
American Civil Liberties Union
The American Civil Liberties Union is a U.S. non-profit organization whose stated mission is "to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States." It works through litigation, legislation, and...
(ACLU), were stricken from the ballot by the Chicago Board of Elections Commissioners, Turley for failure to file an economic interest statement.
Shiller charged that the regular Democratic organization used unfair campaign practices against her, challenging about 100 of the 400 new voters she helped register, removing her campaign posters, and "machine workers" telling store owners to remove her signs. The Chicago Tribune
Chicago Tribune
The Chicago Tribune is a major daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, and the flagship publication of the Tribune Company. Formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" , it remains the most read daily newspaper of the Chicago metropolitan area and the Great Lakes region and is...
endorsed Axelrod, noting Shiller "runs primarily as a champion of the poor." Lezak ran as a write-in candidate in an attempt to draw enough votes off Axelrod to force a run-off. Axelrod defeated Shiller receiving 5,575 votes or 54.5% to Shiller's 3,475 votes. Lezak received nine votes and ended up spending election night in jail as a result of an altercation in a polling place with a Democratic precinct captain over an alleged election law violation.
"I ran for alderman of this [46th] ward in 1978. I was terrified. I was very shy, afraid to speak to more than five people at a time," Shiller recalled in 2003.
Second campaign for alderman (1979)
Shiller and Turley challenged Axelrod in 1979. An extra alarm fire early on Friday, February 9, 1979, weeks before the election, caused extensive damage to the building containing Shiller's campaign headquarters and left 15 homeless. The Chicago TribuneChicago Tribune
The Chicago Tribune is a major daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, and the flagship publication of the Tribune Company. Formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" , it remains the most read daily newspaper of the Chicago metropolitan area and the Great Lakes region and is...
endorsed Axelrod. No candidate received a majority of the vote in the three-way race in February, 1979, resulting in a run-off between Shiller (6,852 votes; 46%) and Axelrod (6,088 votes; 40%). The Chicago Tribune
Chicago Tribune
The Chicago Tribune is a major daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, and the flagship publication of the Tribune Company. Formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" , it remains the most read daily newspaper of the Chicago metropolitan area and the Great Lakes region and is...
and Turley endorsed Axelrod in the run-off. The Chicago Tribune
Chicago Tribune
The Chicago Tribune is a major daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, and the flagship publication of the Tribune Company. Formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" , it remains the most read daily newspaper of the Chicago metropolitan area and the Great Lakes region and is...
wrote that "Ms. Shiller's program shares many elements with that of the Black Panthers
Black Panther Party
The Black Panther Party wasan African-American revolutionary leftist organization. It was active in the United States from 1966 until 1982....
and appears to be based on hopes of an eventual "revolution" [not defined]." Turley described Axelrod as "the lesser of two evils in the race now." Axelrod challenged 1,060 voter registrations on the ward's rolls, and 931 of the challenges were upheld by the Chicago Board of Elections Commissioners. Axelrod enlisted 40 volunteer attorneys and 200 off-duty policemen to challenge ghost voting in a project he called "Operation Safeguard." Axelrod defeated Shiller in the run-off by 247 votes.
Shiller recalled in 2003:
I won the primary, but not with fifty-one percent of the vote. We had a runoff and I lost by two hundred votes - to a machine candidate. We were bringing fresh ideas, but we were not experienced in fighting the machine on election day. I swore I'd never run for alderman again. There was so much racial baiting that it was terrifying. I was called names. ... My posters had black paint all over them with racial epithets. It was very disturbing.
Third campaign for alderman (1987)
In the 1983 municipal elections Shiller was employed by Harold WashingtonHarold Washington
Harold Lee Washington was an American lawyer and politician who became the first African-American Mayor of Chicago, serving from 1983 until his death in 1987.- Early years and military service :...
's campaign as the campaign organizer for the 46th Ward in Washington's successful first campaign for Mayor
Mayor
In many countries, a Mayor is the highest ranking officer in the municipal government of a town or a large urban city....
of Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
. Shiller, operator of a print shop, Justice Graphics Inc., published the heartily pro-Washington All-Chicago City News, a 40,000 circulation left-wing, bilingual, biweekly newspaper edited by Shiller and Walter "Slim" Coleman. Coleman formed a plan to register 100,000 new voters for Washington by canvassing public aid offices and became a close advisor to candidate and Mayor Harold Washington. Justice Graphics printed the campaign literature for Washington's first mayoral campaign.
Alderman Axelrod quit the City Council to take a job in the sheriff's office just before the 1983 election. Community activist Charlotte Newfeld and Jerome Orbach went to a run-off, which Orbach won by 66 votes.
"Harold [Washington] was mayor, and he was harping on me to run for alderman," Shiller recalled in 2003. Shiller, Nancy Kaszak, and Gerald Pechenuk challenged pro-Vrdolyak
Edward Vrdolyak
Edward Robert Vrdolyak is a noted Chicago lawyer and politician and a convicted felon. He was a powerful longtime Chicago Alderman and also head of the Cook County Democratic Party before running unsuccessfully for Mayor of Chicago as a Republican...
incumbent Alderman Jerome Orbach in 1987. Kaszak was a lawyer, a former vice president of the Chicago Council of Lawyers, a Mayor Harold Washington
Harold Washington
Harold Lee Washington was an American lawyer and politician who became the first African-American Mayor of Chicago, serving from 1983 until his death in 1987.- Early years and military service :...
appointee to the Commission on Chicago Landmarks
Commission on Chicago Landmarks
The Commission on Chicago Landmarks, established in 1968 by a Chicago City Ordinance, is composed of nine members appointed by the Mayor and the Chicago City Council. It is responsible for presenting recommendations of individual buildings, sites, objects, or entire districts to be designated as...
, a leader of the Lakeview
Lakeview, Chicago
Lake View, or Lakeview, is one of the 77 community area of the Chicago, Illinois, located in the city's North Side. It is bordered by West Diversey Parkway on the south, West Irving Park Road on the north, North Ravenswood Avenue on the west, and the shore of Lake Michigan on the east...
Citizens' Council, and president of Citizens United for Baseball in Sunshine (CUBS), which opposed night baseball at Wrigley Field
Wrigley Field
Wrigley Field is a baseball stadium in Chicago, Illinois, United States that has served as the home ballpark of the Chicago Cubs since 1916. It was built in 1914 as Weeghman Park for the Chicago Federal League baseball team, the Chicago Whales...
. Newfeld, Orbach's challenger from 1983, co-chaired Kaszak's campaign. Pechenuk was a consultant for Lyndon H. LaRouche Jr. for 12 years, and was treasurer of LaRouche-supported Sheila Jones's mayoral campaign. Shiller challenged Pechenuk's nominating petitions.
Shiller got Chicago Transit Authority
Chicago Transit Authority
Chicago Transit Authority, also known as CTA, is the operator of mass transit within the City of Chicago, Illinois and some of its surrounding suburbs....
(CTA) bus driver John Paczkowski suspended after Paczkowski asked a Shiller campaign worker to refrain from holding up the bus to distribute Shiller flyers. Working the bus stop at 4250 N Marine Drive with Shiller was the architect husband of CTA Board member Natalia Delgado. Shiller complained to Delgado, and Delgado complained to CTA management.
Shiller was one of 18 incumbent aldermen and 5 challengers endorsed by Mayor Harold Washington
Harold Washington
Harold Lee Washington was an American lawyer and politician who became the first African-American Mayor of Chicago, serving from 1983 until his death in 1987.- Early years and military service :...
. Washington appeared at a rally for himself and Shiller at which Shiller announced her candidacy. The Chicago Sun-Times
Chicago Sun-Times
The Chicago Sun-Times is an American daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois. It is the flagship paper of the Sun-Times Media Group.-History:The Chicago Sun-Times is the oldest continuously published daily newspaper in the city...
endorsed Kaszak, as did the Independent Voters of Illinois-Independent Precinct Organization
Independent Voters of Illinois-Independent Precinct Organization
The Independent Voters of Illinois-Independent Precinct Organization is an independent, not-for-profit, Illinois political organization. Often referred to by its acronym, IVI-IPO, has roots dating to 1944, when the Independent Voters of Illinois was founded. In 1979 the IVI merged with the...
(IVI-IPO), the National Organization of Women (NOW), the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees
American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees
The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees is the second- or third-largest labor union in the United States and one of the fastest-growing, representing over 1.4 million employees, primarily in local and state government and in the health care industry. AFSCME is part of the...
(AFSCME), former 46th Ward aldermanic candidate Charlotte Newfeld, and former aldermen William Singer and Dick Simpson. The Chicago Tribune
Chicago Tribune
The Chicago Tribune is a major daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, and the flagship publication of the Tribune Company. Formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" , it remains the most read daily newspaper of the Chicago metropolitan area and the Great Lakes region and is...
endorsed Orbach.
Shiller charged that Orbach catered to developers, displacing people in the wake of rehabilitation that priced housing out of the reach of many, and said she wanted community zoning
Zoning
Zoning is a device of land use planning used by local governments in most developed countries. The word is derived from the practice of designating permitted uses of land based on mapped zones which separate one set of land uses from another...
boards, with their decisions binding on the alderman. Shiller charged that most of Orbach's campaign war chest had come from developers and regular Democrats outside the ward.
No candidate received a majority of the vote in the four-way race in February, 1987, resulting in a run-off between Orbach (40%) and Shiller (38%). Kaszak endorsed Shiller, although many of Kaszak's followers supported Orbach. No alderman tried harder than Orbach to portray himself on both sides of the political fence. Orbach attempted to stage a public conversion to a pro-Washington position. Some prominent independents, such as retiring Ald. Marion Volini (48th), state Rep. Ellis Levin and state Sen. William Marovitz, endorsed Orbach, as did the Chicago Sun-Times
Chicago Sun-Times
The Chicago Sun-Times is an American daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois. It is the flagship paper of the Sun-Times Media Group.-History:The Chicago Sun-Times is the oldest continuously published daily newspaper in the city...
and Chicago Tribune
Chicago Tribune
The Chicago Tribune is a major daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, and the flagship publication of the Tribune Company. Formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" , it remains the most read daily newspaper of the Chicago metropolitan area and the Great Lakes region and is...
.
"His [Orbach's] relationship to large real estate developers is very important. He's become more of an advocate for people outside of the ward than for people here," Shiller charged.
Some of Orbach's allies spread the absurd rumor, aimed at Jewish voters, that Shiller would use the power of City Hall to try to transform Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
into a Palestinian state. Shiller's forces called Orbach a racist, an accusation that had no substantiation, considering the large number of blacks who had backed Orbach in his early campaigns.
Shiller recalled in 2003:
The machine alderman who won in 1983 [Orbach] had a chief of staff who was engaging in racial organizing. There were white gangs up here. One of them he helped organize into a consciously racially white-power gang. They hooked up with both the KlanKu Klux KlanKu Klux Klan, often abbreviated KKK and informally known as the Klan, is the name of three distinct past and present far-right organizations in the United States, which have advocated extremist reactionary currents such as white supremacy, white nationalism, and anti-immigration, historically...
and the Nazi Party.
In the months leading up to the election, Shiller supporter Bob Parnell, head of the Center for Street People, 4455 N. Broadway, and the Heart of Uptown Coalition registered to vote 80 homeless people using the Center's address, and on election day fed them a meal at a local church and helped them vote. Jesus People USA
Jesus People USA
Jesus People USA is a Christian intentional community in Uptown, on the North Side of Chicago, Illinois. It was founded in 1972, coming out of Jesus People Milwaukee in the Jesus Movement, and is the largest of the few remaining communes from that movement...
, a 500-member commune/business/charity/religious group with many members living in the ward, had supported Orbach throughout his career, but suddenly switched to Shiller before the run-off. Jesus People spokesman Dennis Cadieux explained "We think Jerry Orbach is a lovely man, but he doesn't have what it takes to stand up to the development...If things keep going there will be massive displacement. People will be thrown out of their homes. We decided that Helen Shiller would do the most to prevent displacement." Orbach supporters charged that a City official had offered City contracts to the Jesus People's construction firm if Shiller were elected. On Tuesday, April 7, 1987 Shiller defeated Orbach by 498 votes, 9,751 to 9,253.
Failed attempt to cancel funding for Uptown Chicago Commission
In Shiller's first budget cycle, in November, 1987, Shiller recommended to the Committee on the Budget of the City Council that the City cancel a federal grant for a community group in Uptown that was a rival of her own group. The action came while the Budget Committee was approving the distribution of $95.1 million in federal spending for community projects, as part of the Community Development Block GrantCommunity Development Block Grant
The Community Development Block Grant , one of the longest-running programs of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, funds local community development activities such as affordable housing, anti-poverty programs, and infrastructure development...
package. Shiller requested that the committee deny the Uptown Chicago Commission (UCC) its entire grant of $20,000, which would have been used to pay the salary of a staff person to help residents, including senior citizens, get money for home improvements. Shiller conceded the 32-year-old Uptown Chicago Commission had criticized her in the past. The Uptown Chicago Commission had long been at loggerheads with the Heart of Uptown Coalition, of which Shiller was co-chairman with Walter "Slim" Coleman. Ald. Kathy Osterman
Kathy Osterman
Kathy Osterman , was a Chicago politician who was born Kathleen Mary Lonergan in the Bronx. Entering politics as a block club president who had been social director of Lawrence House, a facility for disabled persons, Osterman in 1981 became a community relations director for then-State's Attorney...
(48th), part of whose ward is also served by the Uptown Chicago Commission, asked the Budget Committee to award the group the $20,000 as recommended by Mayor Harold Washington in his community block grant recommendations. The Uptown Chicago Commission's application had already been reviewed and approved at three levels in the city bureaucracy. Shiller accused the Uptown Chicago Commission of helping developers displace low-income Uptown residents. After heated debate, the Budget Committee voted 9-5 in favor of Shiller's amendment to remove the entire grant for the Uptown organization.
After the death of Mayor Washington, Shiller was a supporter of Ald. Timothy C. Evans
Timothy C. Evans
Timothy C. Evans is the Chief Judge of the Cook County Circuit Court. He is the first black Chief Judge of the Cook County Circuit Court and a graduate of the John Marshall Law School in Chicago. He was first elected to the bench in 1992....
(4th), who was defeated by Ald. Eugene Sawyer
Eugene Sawyer
Eugene Sawyer was an American businessman and politician who served as Mayor of Chicago, Illinois as a member of the Democratic Party. He was the second African American to serve as mayor of Chicago....
(6th) for Mayor. Weeks later, at the first City Council meeting under Mayor Eugene Sawyer, the funding for the Uptown Chicago Commission was restored. Shiller said restoring the grant to the Uptown Chicago Commission would affect the 48th Ward, but not her ward. "I was not going to have them operating in the 46th," Shiller said. Shiller said she reached an agreement to keep the Uptown Chicago Commission out of her ward several days before Washington's death. "Mayor Sawyer had nothing to do with this," Shiller claimed. "He had recommended no changes."
Failed attempt to force City into consent decree in Truman College low-income housing suit
As early as 1966 Uptown was among the possible sites proposed for a northeast-side commuter campus in the City Colleges of ChicagoCity Colleges of Chicago
The City Colleges of Chicago is a system of seven community colleges which provide learning opportunities for Chicago residents at the schools or online, and also members of the US military through the Navy Campus to enhance their knowledge and skills. Student enrollment was 115,000 in 2007...
community college
Community college
A community college is a type of educational institution. The term can have different meanings in different countries.-Australia:Community colleges carry on the tradition of adult education, which was established in Australia around mid 19th century when evening classes were held to help adults...
district. (Other sites considered included other sites adjacent to north side Chicago Transit Authority
Chicago Transit Authority
Chicago Transit Authority, also known as CTA, is the operator of mass transit within the City of Chicago, Illinois and some of its surrounding suburbs....
(CTA) stations, a former hospital on the lakefront, the site of the former Riverview Park and the Edgewater Golf Course in the West Rogers Park neighborhood, currently Warren Park). The Uptown site west of the Wilson Chicago Transit Authority
Chicago Transit Authority
Chicago Transit Authority, also known as CTA, is the operator of mass transit within the City of Chicago, Illinois and some of its surrounding suburbs....
(CTA) station was opposed by those concerned for the displacement of low income residents, largely blacks, southern whites and American Indians
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
. The project was mired in heated controversy for decades. Avery v Pierce, a federal lawsuit filed in 1975, claimed that the demolition for the construction of Harry S Truman College
Harry S Truman College
Harry S Truman College, popularly called Truman College and formerly called Mayfair College, is a city college of Chicago, Illinois in the United States. Located at 1145 West Wilson Avenue in the Uptown neighborhood, the school was named in honor of U.S...
in Uptown resulted in the loss of about 3,000 low-income housing units and alleging that city and Chicago Housing Authority
Chicago Housing Authority
The Chicago Housing Authority is a municipal corporation established by the State of Illinois in 1937 with jurisdiction for the administrative oversight of public housing within the City of Chicago...
(CHA) funds were misspent developing Truman College. Plaintiffs were represented by Shiller's former campaign manager, attorney James P. Chapman of the Uptown Peoples Law Center.
In 1985 Randall H. Langer, a young developer active in apartment rehabilitation in the neighborhood, aided the creation of a local historic district
Historic district
A historic district or heritage district is a section of a city which contains older buildings considered valuable for historical or architectural reasons. In some countries, historic districts receive legal protection from development....
, the Sheridan Park Historic District, which foes said was of dubious historical value. They charged the district was created merely to facilitate gentrification
Gentrification
Gentrification and urban gentrification refer to the changes that result when wealthier people acquire or rent property in low income and working class communities. Urban gentrification is associated with movement. Consequent to gentrification, the average income increases and average family size...
, which would force out low-income people. Nineteen tax delinquent properties in Uptown were offered for sale by auction by Cook County
Cook County, Illinois
Cook County is a county in the U.S. state of Illinois, with its county seat in Chicago. It is the second most populous county in the United States after Los Angeles County. The county has 5,194,675 residents, which is 40.5 percent of all Illinois residents. Cook County's population is larger than...
in Fall, 1987. Langer deposited an irrevocable minimum cash bid of $114,000 on the vacant lots with the County Treasurer.
Since 1983 Cook County had a program which allowed local governments to obtain tax delinquent property for almost nothing during the county's tax delinquent property scavenger sale. To obtain a property, the local government must have a specific plan for developing it. On October 28, 1987, Shiller heatedly urged the Tax Delinquency Subcommittee of the Cook County Board to accept a no-cash bid for the 19 tax-delinquent parcels in Uptown. A decision was deferred. County Commissioner Rosemarie Love requested the delay on grounds the Washington administration had not spelled out its plan for the properties. Subcommittee chairman County Commissioner Richard Siebel said the County's no-cash sales program was "designed to place property back on the tax rolls as quickly as possible - not for land-banking. It's not appropriate for us to pass this until the city tells us, parcel by parcel, what they intend to do and how they plan to pay for it." County Commissioner Harold Tyrrell added, "Properties we gave to the city 12 years ago are still war zones. I don't want the same thing to happen here." County Commissioner Chuck Bernardini, a Chicago Democrat, pointed out that the City already owned 7,000 tax-delinquent lots.
Pulitzer Prize
Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City...
-winning commentator Mike Royko
Mike Royko
Michael "Mike" Royko was a newspaper columnist in Chicago, who won the 1972 Pulitzer Prize for commentary...
wrote in the Chicago Tribune
Chicago Tribune
The Chicago Tribune is a major daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, and the flagship publication of the Tribune Company. Formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" , it remains the most read daily newspaper of the Chicago metropolitan area and the Great Lakes region and is...
:
One of the most depressing sections of Chicago is the Uptown area on the North Side. Shabby apartment buildings, vacant stores, wino bars, littered vacant lots, junkies, muggers, and career down-and-outers. It also has a new alderman, Helen Shiller, and she has a vision of what that seedy old neighborhood should be in the future. And apparently her vision is that Uptown should remain a seedy old neighborhood.
In City Council, Shiller attempted to head off the judge's decision in Avery v Pierce by proposing an ordinance that directed the city to settle and accept a consent decree
Consent decree
A consent decree is a final, binding judicial decree or judgment memorializing a voluntary agreement between parties to a suit in return for withdrawal of a criminal charge or an end to a civil litigation...
. The consent decree would have put most vacant parcels in Uptown into a land bank for future affordable housing, administered by a community development corporation
Community Development Corporation
Community Development Corporation is a broad term referring to not-for-profit organizations incorporated to provide programs, offer services and engage in other activities that promote and support community development. CDCs usually serve a geographic location such as a neighborhood or a town....
, funded by the City with $100,000 over two years. The consent decree also would have established a "desirable" goal of 3,000 low-income units there. On November 16, 1987, the Committee on Finance of the Chicago City Council, chaired at the time by Shiller ally Ald. Timothy Evans, voted 21 to 2 to recommend to the full City Council that the City Council direct the city to execute the consent decree. Shiller gloated during committee hearings that, with Mayor Harold Washington's backing, the decree could not be stopped. The proposal was on the brink of passage when Washington died. Weeks later, on December 9, 1987, at the first regular business meeting of the City Council of the post-Washington era, Washington foes brought the proposal out of committee with the express intention of killing it. Ald. Bernard Stone
Bernard Stone
Bernard "Berny" L. Stone was alderman of the 50th Ward of the City of Chicago, Illinois. The 50th ward encompasses part of Chicago's far North Side and includes the West Ridge, West Rogers Park and Peterson Park neighborhoods....
(50th), who joined Alderman Osterman in blocking the agreement, told the Council he was opposed because Shiller's "arrogance prevailed and that arrogance has to be answered on this floor." The consent decree was rejected by the Council 29-17.
Shiller's proposal was criticized in a series of editorials. The Chicago Tribune
Chicago Tribune
The Chicago Tribune is a major daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, and the flagship publication of the Tribune Company. Formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" , it remains the most read daily newspaper of the Chicago metropolitan area and the Great Lakes region and is...
called the proposal "silly," editorializing:
It would have enabled her [Shiller] to strangle commercial development in her Uptown ward and keep it poor. ... It was a flagrantly bad idea and deserved its defeat. It would have put Helen Shiller and her sidekick, Slim Coleman, in charge of a "community development corporationCommunity Development CorporationCommunity Development Corporation is a broad term referring to not-for-profit organizations incorporated to provide programs, offer services and engage in other activities that promote and support community development. CDCs usually serve a geographic location such as a neighborhood or a town....
" whose avowed purpose would be to block private investment in the 46th Ward and use all available space for low-cost housing. This would consolidate their own power by ensuring a constituency of poor and dependent voters.
In 2003 Shiller explained the editorials:
When I first became alderman, there was a developer up here who felt very threatened by me. He hired a publicist to really go after me. Any time I talked about development without displacement, they would ream me. They went to the press and got some of the most vicious editorials published.
Not only did the desired properties not go to the affordable housing advocates, but many went to one of the local players Shiller and allies disliked most. On December 3, 1987 16 of the parcels were sold to private bidders at Cook County's annual scavenger sale. Langer and partnerships Langer controlled bought 13 of the parcels.
Other first term events
Shiller backed a group of 50 to 75 people including more than 40 homeless people and six children who erected a "tent city" from doors and wood on a vacant lot at 4425 N. Malden to illustrate the plight of the homeless. On Friday, October 14, 1989 Shiller was among five arrested when police, called by the owner, evicted about 100 protesters from the lot. Shiller was charged with trespassing and released. Shiller spent "about two minutes" in jail, and charges were dropped.In 1989, Shiller sponsored a resolution creating a sub-committee on Domestic Violence. Since that resolution, the Chicago Police Department invested in a computerized domestic violence incident tracking system and the city now funds domestic violence counselling centers and programs for supervised visitations.
First re-election campaign (1991)
In 1991, Shiller supported Danny K. DavisDanny K. Davis
For other persons named Danny Davis, please see Daniel Davis .Daniel K. Davis is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 1997. He is a member of the Democratic Party.-Early life, education and career:...
in Davis' unsuccessful primary challenge to Daley. Daley supported Shiller's challenger, Michael Quigley. Shiller won with 53% of the vote in a runoff election, amid charges that Quigley was a carpetbagger
Carpetbagger
Carpetbaggers was a pejorative term Southerners gave to Northerners who moved to the South during the Reconstruction era, between 1865 and 1877....
.
Third re-election campaign (1999)
In 1999, Sandra Reed, a black high school English teacher, opposed Shiller. Shiller won with 55 percent of the vote in a runoff.Fourth term (1999–2003)
Shiller was inducted into the Chicago Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame as a “Friend of the Community” in 2000.In the 2001 redistricting of Chicago wards, Daley had hoped to redraw the map so as to deprive Shiller of her most committed supporters in the 2003 city council elections. However, this backfired when none of the (pro-Daley) aldermen in wards surrounding the 46th wanted to contend with "her" supporters. Shiller and Daley, however, reached an understanding: the mayor supported her in the 2003 elections and also pushed forward development of Wilson Yards, a vacant lot in her district into a Target store
Target Corporation
Target Corporation, doing business as Target, is an American retailing company headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is the second-largest discount retailer in the United States, behind Walmart. The company is ranked at number 33 on the Fortune 500 and is a component of the Standard & Poor's...
and affordable housing. Shiller has consistently voted with the mayor ever since. In 2004, Daley gave her control over the Wilson Yard Tax Increment Financing District
Tax increment financing
Tax Increment Financing, or TIF, is a public financing method which has been used as a subsidy for redevelopment and community improvement projects in many countries including the United States for more than 50 years...
and the $26.5 million it generated.
Fourth re-election campaign (2003)
Shiller's alliance with Daley paid off and she defeated Reed again in 2003, this time with 58% of the vote.Fifth re-election campaign (2007)
In 2007, still allied with Daley, she narrowly defeated James CapplemanJames Cappleman
James Cappleman is an American licensed clinical social worker and politician. On April 5, 2011, Cappleman was elected to the Chicago City Council, representing the 46th Ward...
, a social worker and community activist, with 53% of the vote. The alliance with Shiller benefited Daley in the election also, as he won 79% of the vote in the 46th ward, running ahead of the 72% he received citywide.
Shiller has been described as "committed to liberal causes" appropriate for the lakefront district she represents. She worked for the passing for the human rights ordinance, recycling programs and city responsibility for public health and safety in the Chicago Public Schools. She initiated an anti-apartheid ordinance in 1990 and added a budget amendment to triple to city's AIDS budget in 1992. She co-sponsored the domestic partners ordinance which extends benefits for unmarried couples.
Shiller has recently worked with the Department of Housing to develop the Planned Purchase Assistance Program, which provides opportunities for home ownership to working families.
Criticism of Shiller in the 2007 election was largely focused on the lack of communication to ward residents, failure to obtain ongoing input from residents for zoning changes in the ward, her lack of involvement in CAPS meetings, and the many years of blighted retail in the ward. Some critics also charge that "she's keeping Uptown a slum by making it hard for developers to put up their projects." (The 46th ward is sharply divided between wealthy residents who live along Lake Michigan
Lake Michigan
Lake Michigan is one of the five Great Lakes of North America and the only one located entirely within the United States. It is the second largest of the Great Lakes by volume and the third largest by surface area, after Lake Superior and Lake Huron...
and poorer residents who live west of Sheridan Road
Sheridan Road
Sheridan Road is a major north-south thoroughfare that leads from Diversey Parkway in Chicago, Illinois, north to the Illinois-Wisconsin border and beyond to Racine. Throughout most of its run, it is the easternmost north-south through street, closest to Lake Michigan...
.) The columnist Mike Royko
Mike Royko
Michael "Mike" Royko was a newspaper columnist in Chicago, who won the 1972 Pulitzer Prize for commentary...
once charged that "Shiller's main motive was that she was building a political power base which included as many winos as she could drag to the voting booth." She has not, however, been indicted for voting irregularities. She has been accused of "using the Wilson Yard project to cram the area with poor people to maintain her political base." The neighborhood of Uptown is home to two R.E.S.T. shelters, one Salvation Army shelter, one Salvation Army day center for the homeless, four Cornerstone shelters, a transitional shelter program from Inspiration Cafe, a transitional housing program located at 1207 W. Leland for active drug users with mental illness from Heartland Alliance, another transitional housing program located at 1325 W. Wilson from Heartland Alliance, four nursing homes for people with mental illness, and numerous large SRO buildings, many of them for people living with mental illness. When looking at the number of social services in the ward, its rate is approximately 5 times higher than what is found in other wards. In 2000, a CURL study cited that 18% of the housing in Uptown is subsidized. Other wards average around 5% of their housing as subsidized.
Sixth term (2007–2011)
In 2009, Shiller was criticized by Uptown residents for her perceived lack of engagement to address recent crime in the neighborhood (including a string of violent robberies in nearby Lakeview that attracted the attention of the Chicago Tribune, Sun-Times, and local TV news).Shiller served on eight committees: Budget and Government Operations; Buildings; Committees, Rules and Ethics; Finance; Health; Housing and Real Estate; Human Relations; and License and Consumer Protection.
On August 2, 2010 Shiller announced she would not run for re-election in 2011.
Personal life
Shiller separated from her husband Mark Zalkin, one of the Mayor Harold Washington's assistant press secretariesPress secretary
A press secretary or press officer is a senior advisor who provides advice on how to deal with the news media and, using news management techniques, helps their employer to maintain a positive public image and avoid negative media coverage....
, and with Shiller a leader of the 46th Ward Community Service Center (later the Uptown Community Service Center) and an editor of Keep Strong magazine, and with Shiller and Coleman an editor of All-Chicago City News. Zalkin passed on February 23, 1998 at the age of 49 due to complications from multiple sclerosis
Multiple sclerosis
Multiple sclerosis is an inflammatory disease in which the fatty myelin sheaths around the axons of the brain and spinal cord are damaged, leading to demyelination and scarring as well as a broad spectrum of signs and symptoms...
.
Shiller and Zalkin have one son, Brendan Shiller. Brendan Shiller attended Joseph Stockton Elementary School, a Chicago Public School, and Whitney Young Magnet High School, a highly selective-enrollment Chicago public magnet high school and academic center located in Chicago's Near West Side. While attending Truman College, Brendan Shiller was managing editor of All-Chicago City News. After Truman, Brendan went to Howard University in Washington, D.C. For two years starting in February, 1997 Brendan Shiller edited StreetWise
StreetWise
StreetWise is a street newspaper sold by people without homes or those at-risk for homelessness in Chicago. Topics covered in the paper vary depending on what is happening in Chicago at the time...
, a street newspaper
Street newspaper
Street newspapers are newspapers or magazines sold by homeless or poor individuals and produced mainly to support these populations. Most such newspapers primarily provide coverage about homelessness and poverty-related issues, and seek to strengthen social networks within homeless communities...
sold by people without homes or those at-risk for homelessness in Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
. In 2003, Brendan graduated from John Marshall Law School
John Marshall Law School (Chicago)
The John Marshall Law School is a law school in Chicago, Illinois, that was founded in 1899 and accredited by the American Bar Association in 1941. The school was named for the influential nineteenth century U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Marshall....
. Brendan Shiller cashed in the 37th Annual World Series of Poker
World Series of Poker
The World Series of Poker is a world-renowned series of poker tournaments held annually in Las Vegas and, since 2005, sponsored by Harrah's Entertainment...
No-Limit Texas Hold'em World Championship Event, the $10,000 buy-in "Main Event," held in April, 2006 at the Rio Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas
Las Vegas, Nevada
Las Vegas is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and is also the county seat of Clark County, Nevada. Las Vegas is an internationally renowned major resort city for gambling, shopping, and fine dining. The city bills itself as The Entertainment Capital of the World, and is famous...
, Nevada, USA, finishing 873rd of 8,769 entries. He currently works as a lawyer defending criminals and suing police officers.
Helen Shiller and her long-time staff member Maggie Marystone were interviewed in separate chapters in Hope Dies Last, a collection of oral histories by Pulitzer Prize
Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City...
-winning author and Uptown resident Studs Terkel
Studs Terkel
Louis "Studs" Terkel was an American author, historian, actor, and broadcaster. He received the Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction in 1985 for The Good War, and is best remembered for his oral histories of common Americans, and for hosting a long-running radio show in Chicago.-Early...
.