HYDE PARK — Anne Marie Miles announced on Tuesday night that she will run for 5th Ward alderman challenging incumbent Leslie Hairston.
“I just don’t think the current alderman is the right person for the job,” Miles said. “There is a sense of her as a divider.”
Miles ran against Hairston in 2011 and finished with 21 percent of the vote compared to Hairston’s 62 percent in a four-way race.
But since then the ward’s boundaries shifted to include more Hyde Parkers along the lake and Miles said she thinks Hairston’s reputation has weakened in the last three years.
“Last time, I decided to run in August,” Miles said. “I don’t think I had enough time to plan the campaign.”
Miles, a former elder law attorney, was critical of Hairston’s ability to come through on promises of city services from a participatory budgeting project earlier this year.
She said she would be a more collaborative with other lakefront alderman and would work to address issues that she said remain unsolved like the loss of Dominick’s and other businesses in South Shore.
Miles said she would revive the 5th Ward alderman’s traditional role in the City Council.
“The 5th Ward alderman represents the conscience of the city,” Miles said. “I don’t think Leslie has lived up to that.”
Miles still puts her law experience to use as a volunteer at Cabrini Green Legal Aid and the Illinois State Appellate Defender’s Office and runs a dog clothing business in South Shore.
She has lived in Hyde Park since 1999 and all of her three children, Piper, Michael and Marrissa, attended school in the ward.
Her husband, Emil Coccaro, is the chairman of the department of psychiatry and behavioral neuroscience at the University of Chicago, which could be a deterrent to some voters in Hyde Park, where the alderman is often a broker in disputes between the community and university.
“As a lawyer, it’s really clear to me where my responsibilities are,” Miles said. “The 5th Ward is the entity I would be representing.”
Hairston said she was not surprised that Miles was entering the race and batted away the criticisms.
“I have been the independent voice of the 5th Ward and I’m proud of my record,” Hairston said.
Candidates for alderman will begin circulating petitions on Aug. 26 to get the 473 signatures they will need to get on the ballot for the Feb. 24 election.
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