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Ald. Burns Leads in 4th Ward

By Sam Cholke | February 24, 2015 4:56am | Updated on February 24, 2015 8:57pm
 Election day went smoothly on the south lakefront except in one polling place where a judge was removed for being unruly and a school where heat when out.
Election day went smoothly on the south lakefront except in one polling place where a judge was removed for being unruly and a school where heat when out.
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DNAinfo/Angela Myers

HYDE PARK — In wards along the south lakefront, incumbents and challengers are wrestling over who can be the most progressive and transparent while striking the right balance of economic development.

4th Ward

Incumbent Will Burns was riding high in the 4th Ward as polls closed and precincts started reporting.

With 68 percent of precincts reporting, Burns was leading against his two opponents with 55 percent of the vote.

Election day largely smoothly in the ward except in one precinct.

Election Judge Mildred Williams was removed from Judge Slater Apartments, 740 E. 43rd St., for "disrupting voting process with loud and unruly behavior, telling investigator she would not work, threatening a complaining witness and using racial slurs against investigator's supervisor," according to the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners.

 Voters will head to the polls in the 4th, 5th, 20th and 7th wards on Tuesday along the south lakefront.
Voters will head to the polls in the 4th, 5th, 20th and 7th wards on Tuesday along the south lakefront.
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Brian Kersey/Getty Images

In the 4th Ward, Ald. Will Burns championed projects he says he helped bring to the ward that covers the south lakefront from the Museum Campus to Hyde Park, such as a new Mariano’s grocery store in Bronzeville and an arts and recreation center for Ellis Park, while he pushed for a higher minimum wage.

Business owner Norman Bolden has criticized Burns for allegedly striking these deals behind closed doors and has promised he could deliver the same results while giving voters more say in the decisions being made.

Tracey Bey, a mortgage broker, has said she would shift more taxpayer support to safety and education and away from new business development in Hyde Park.

5th Ward

Ald. Leslie Hairston looked likely to avoid a runoff as polls closed.

Hairston had captured 52 percent of the vote with 65 percent of precincts reporting, but contendor Anne Marie Miles was making inroads. She had already bested her results for her 2011 run against Hairston and with 20 percent of the vote could pose a real challenger.

Voter turnout was moderate in the ward as polling place workes anticipated a second rush after people left work.

At the Carolan Apartments, 5480 S. Cornell Ave., 210 of the 600 registered voters for the precint had voted. Poll workers said they expected to get around 300 voters, which would put the election on par with turnout for the November gubernatorial election.

Candidates roved the ward all day, occassionally crossing paths at polling places.

Kenwood resident Kurt Summers, who is running unopposed for city treasurer, bumped into 5th Ward candidate Anne Marie Miles while voting at Regents Park, 5050 S. Lake Shore Drive, according to the Hyde Park Herald. The two candidates talked elections.

Summers said he was supporting Hairston when pressed by Miles for his vote, according to the Herald.

In the 5th Ward, Ald. Leslie Hairston is fending off five challengers who claim they can better walk the line of criticizing the mayor while still getting cooperation from City Hall.

Anne Marie Miles, a Hyde Park lawyer, claims she can wrest more concessions for the community from big players in Hyde Park like the University of Chicago and MAC Properties.

Robin Boyd Clark is pushing for more support in the ward to go to South Shore businesses in the way that has boosted commercial development in Hyde Park in recent years.

Jocelyn Hare, a U. of C. postgrad fellow, promised a technocratic progressivism driven by public policy best practices and action plans built on surveys of community members.

Attorney Tiffany Brooks has pushed safety in South Shore with a focus on better community relations with the police and a focus on job initiatives in South Shore.

Jedidiah Brown of the Young Leaders Alliance promised to start closing the gap in economic opportunities between Hyde Park and South Shore.

20th Ward

The 20th Ward, which includes large swaths of Woodlawn, is sandwiched between the Hyde Park and South Shore sections of the 5th Ward. Candidates are vying over who can better protect residents from being displaced by the development of Hyde Park, which is slowly creeping south through Woodlawn toward South Shore.

Ald. Willie Cochran takes credit for bringing institutions like MetroSquash and the Hyde Park Day School to Woodlawn as the neighborhood becomes more attractive to groups moving south from Hyde Park.

Civil engineer Kevin Bailey claims Cochran is not doing enough to protect the existing residents from possible threats of rising housing prices and gentrification as new institutions move in.

The Rev. Andre Smith has said that Cochran has not pushed hard enough to improve education options and safety in the neighborhood to make sure that youths can thrive there.

Willie Ray Jr., a lifelong resident of Woodlawn, has predicted that Woodlawn will be taken over by yuppies if the alderman’s office does not do more to protect the neighborhood’s historic greystones.

Morgan Park baseball coach Ernest Radcliffe is pushing for more education options in the ward for students, such as an academic resource center for gifted students.

7th Ward

Natashia Holme's camp was quietly optimistic as polls closed and the first results started coming in. Voters looked likely to send the 7th Ward into a runoff, but the contendors was not quite clear.

Holmes seemed posed to jump into the runoff, but her opponent was not yet clear.

Keiana Barrett, once a contedor in early polls, looked likely to be bested by Gregory Mitchell with 71 percent of precincts reporting.

There were few problems reported across the 46 precincts of the 7th Ward.

Voters at St. Mary Magdelene, 8435 S. Saginaw Ave., had to vote without heat. No other problems were reported in the ward.

The 7th Ward has been the most contentious, with 15 candidates originally vying for the alderman’s office, until petition challenges whittled the field to eight.

Natashia Holmes, who was appointed to the office by Mayor Rahm Emanuel after Sandi Jackson stepped down, looked likely to face a runoff election, despite financial support from the mayor and his backers.

Keiana Barrett, Jackson’s former chief of staff, has an aggressive campaign that other candidates have claimed went over the line.

LaShonda Curry had her own message of bringing participatory budgeting to the ward overshadowed by the shenanigans of a political saboteur in the ward who sent her office a fake letter claiming the campaign was being investigated for forgery.

Flora “Flo” Digby, the former finance director of La Rabida Children’s Hospital, has tried to capture voters’ attention with a pledge to boost education and jobs in the ward that spans South Shore, Calumet Heights and South Chicago.

Gregory Mitchell is promoting ideas to better use technology to reduce crime in the ward while pushing banks to do more to keep foreclosed properties in better shape.

Retired police sergeant Joseph Moseley II has said preventing criminals from getting guns is one of the main ways he plans to reduce neighborhood crime.

Margie Reid is banking on business owners in the ward and wants to get more of the commercial properties owned and operated by people living on the South Side.

Bernie Riley said she thinks the 7th Ward needs to be revived, and creating new centers for entertainment in the ward will draw in people and economic development.

The aldermanic election is Tuesday, and polls close at 7 p.m.

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