Tom O'Donnell, who ran for 47th Ward Alderman in 2011, has been named in a defamation lawsuit by Northcenter Chamber Exec. Dir. Garrett FitzGerald. Credit: Brad Bretz

The Northcenter Chamber of Commerce and its executive director, Garrett FitzGerald, have filed two seperate lawsuits this month – one against former Chamber president Robert Engel and one against former 47th Ward Aldermanic candidate Tom O’Donnell – charging defamation and tortious interference.

The two suits are not connected: the one against Engel has been filed by the Chamber while the suit against O’Donnell has been filed by FitzGerald and Tim Gibbons. Yet both accuse fellow neighbors of attempting to tear down FitzGerald’s and the neighborhood business organization’s reputations. As Gibbons is a commander in the Chicago Fire Department and the owner of Tim’s Snowplowing, these are no small matters for two men who work in the insular world of city contracts and neighborhood businesses. Copies of both lawsuits are attached at the bottom of this article.

Because the lawsuits are between neighbors who have known and worked with each other for decades, they are a messy business involving tangled interpersonal relationships.

The Chamber’s suit against Engel alleges that the former president has systematically attempted to sully its reputation in an effort to strip the Chamber of the management contract for the lucrative Special Services Area #38 as well as to halt the creation of a new non-profit organization, the Northwest Community Corporation, which would create and manage new special service areas in Chicago. In particular, the suit references a press release and op-ed Engel provided this publication in February as part of his attack on the Northcenter Chamber.

When contacted, Engel declined to comment for this article.

In the lawsuit filed by FitzGerald and Gibbons, the pair charge that O’Donnell authored and mailed four anonymous letters to city and state officials, as well as local politicians, in an effort to keep FitzGerald from an appointment to the Illinois Civil Service Commission, and to prevent Gibbons from obtaining further promotions in the Fire Department, as well as strip his company’s snowplowing contracts from the many special service areas with which he does business.

Center Square Journal did not receive the anonymous letters, but has confirmed they were distributed to numerous local officials. This publication has made it a policy not to print anonymous, unconfirmed communications.

Because his case is pending, FitzGerald would not speak on the record, but appointed a spokesman, Andrew Sharp, who said that FitzGerald’s attorney has proof the letters were authored and sent by O’Donnell.

“We do have evidence and it will all come out in the trial. We’re confident we’re going to win at the trial,” said Sharp.

Garrett FitzGerald at the Northcenter Chamber office in 2010. Credit: Mike Fourcher.

For his part, O’Donnell denied knowledge of the anonymous letters and does not understand why FitzGerald and Gibbons would sue him.

“I don’t know what this is about. It’s beyond the pale to me,” O’Donnell told Center Square Journal.

O’Donnell and FitzGerald were once close allies, as they both campaigned for former Ald. Eugene Schulter (47th) and knocked on doors together to gather votes for their ward organization. After O’Donnell’s aldermanic loss in 2011, FitzGerald remained head of the Northcenter Chamber, a position to which Schulter named him where he was appointed executive director in 2006.

Under FitzGerald, the Chamber has tripled its membership and increased its revenue 14 times, according to Chamber records provided by FitzGerald. Much of that success depends on a strong relationship with the sitting alderman, now Ameya Pawar. Sources close to the situation suggest that O’Donnell and other Schulter loyalists might be upset with the strong working relationship FitzGerald has developed with Pawar.

In response to the alleged anonymous letters, FitzGerald and Gibbons’ suit demands $50,000 in compensation, but their spokesman, Andrew Sharp pointed to another target. O’Donnell is employed as an “Assistant to Sheriff” with a $115,430 annual salary in the Cook County Sheriff’s department. FitzGerald and Gibbon’s lawsuit implies that the pair are aiming as much for O’Donnell’s county job as financial compensation.

“The end for Tom O’Donnell is very near,” said Sharp. “You’re talking about somebody who recently lost his aldermanic election and the RCC.” O’Donnell is President of the Ravenswood Community Council (RCC), exposed by Center Square Journal last year for severe financial mismanagement and not fulfilling city contracts while employing political cronies.

The suit against O’Donnell also casts a potentially wider net, as it names John Does #1 through #4 and then names a number of other 47th Ward political figures as Respondents-in-discovery: Chris Schikles, executive director of the RCC; Bill Helm, former 47th Ward Democratic Organization president; Peter D’Augustino, RCC board member; Mark Dillon, a member of the SSA #38 board; and Lisa Wang, a former girlfriend of Bill Helm. All could potentially be named later as defendants in the suit.

Contacted last week, Helm said he had no knowledge of the letters and added that he has only tried to help FitzGerald and Gibbons. “I’ve helped [FitzGerald] all through his career…I had nothing to do with it,” said Helm.

Correction: Former Ald. Schulter did not name FitzGerald to the Chamber position. He was selected by an independent board of directors. We regret the error.

North Center Complaint File Stamped

FitzGerald-Gibbons v O’Donnell

Until it closed last year, the Ravenswood Community Council shared this space with The Ravenswood Chamber of Commerce office at 1756 W. Wilson Ave. Credit: Mike Fourcher

The Ravenswood Community Council (RCC) will receive almost $140,000 less in City of Chicago funding than last year after the city voted not to fund four of the five city delegate agency contracts for which the organization applied, rating it “not qualified” to execute some contracts and “less qualified” to receive others.

In November, Center Square Journal published an article accusing the non-profit community council of using political connections to continue to receive city contracts despite the fact that a 2009 Department of Housing and Economic Development delegate agency application committee voted unanimously to discontinue city funding to the organization.

Furthermore, an investigation into RCC’s 2010 and 2011 city contracts revealed that the council had done little to reform and instead continued to operate in the very manner that spurred the initial negative vote: by providing services redundant to other local chambers of commerce, by offering vague contract measurements and by operating with almost total reliance on city funding, all while under the management of a board of directors and staff stacked with politically-connected operatives of former alderman and current 47th Ward Democratic Committeeman Eugene Schulter.

Three of the contracts for which RCC was recently denied funding were programs that the organization had previously administered, yet in the city application evaluation for each of these contracts the reviewer noted that RCC was either flat out unqualified to receive the contract or was unable to demonstrate previous qualified experience in the given field.

For all but one of the past nine years, RCC has received an Intensive Case Advocacy and Support Assistance for At-Risk Seniors contract through the Department of Family and Support Services in an amount between $10,000 and $15,000. But, somehow, despite RCC’s longtime experience, the reviewer of the council’s application evaluation for the 2012 contract determined that RCC staff did not have adequate resources to sufficiently execute the contract, “did not appear to have a strong history with assisting self neglect, at risk seniors”, appeared to have “little enthusiasm” and instead “[mimicked] traditional care coordination”.

Similar criticisms were found in RCC’s recent application evaluations for both Local Industrial Retention Initiative (LIRI) and Commercial Support Services (CSS) contracts.

RCC has received both of these contracts in each of the past two years through the Department of Housing and Economic Development, and in 2011, these two contracts totaled over $106,000. Yet, once again, city reviewers found the “applicant did not sufficiently demonstrate qualified experience” for either contract.

In fact, though 2012 is the first year in over a decade that the community council will have no city delegate contracts aimed at assisting local businesses, it was only in this year’s applications that concern by city reviewers that RCC’s “board of directors does not have enough business members to adequately address business concerns”, a criticism also voiced in the 2009 review, lead to such contracts not being awarded.

Chris Shickles, executive director of the Ravenswood Community Council, said he did not know why the city had denied four of RCC’s contract applications, but said that citywide budget cutbacks might be to blame.

“We haven’t received any justification for that,” Shickles said. “The city’s big thing is transparency in information, but we haven’t gotten anything about that even though we’ve requested it. There are several different rounds of recommendation, and on the first round, that is what they had informed us. Just kind of a blanket letter. From what we can tell, it’s budget cuts. Everybody who received money from that pot was cut.”

Susan Massel, spokesperson for the Department of Housing and Economic Development, confirmed that in city’s 2012 budget, delegate agency contracts were cut citywide by more than 10 percent.

However, Massel also said other agencies had assumed services in that area that had been previously provided by RCC. According to Massel, the area’s Commercial Support Services contracts were given to the Lincoln Square Chamber of Commerce and Uptown-based Business Partners, and the region’s Local Industrial Retention Initiative contracts were awarded to NORBIC and the Local Economic and Employment Development (LEED) Council.

At the time of publication, Chicago’s Department of Family and Support Services had not responded to phone calls inquiring whether the area’s Intensive Case Advocacy and Support Assistance for At-Risk Seniors contract had been awarded to another agency or if it had been altogether cut.

Ald. Ameya Pawar (47th Ward), who, after the publication of Center Square Journal’s November article, said his office would investigate allegations of cronyism and city contract mismanagement against RCC, recently said he did not have a hand in determining whether or not the community council would receive funding.

Pawar said he had spoken with members of RCC, told them he valued them as a community organization, but that if they were having issues, the city would either work with them to fix those problems or find an organization better suited to providing city delegate services.

Pawar also said that the problems of vague city contract measurements and inconsistent reporting were citywide issues that needed to be addressed on a larger scale.

“What you don’t want to end up doing is just taking it out on one organization,” Pawar said. “What you want to be able to do is to fix the problem, so that if there are problems with the reporting or accountability, that we fix the system going forward. We just want to make sure that there are programmatic evaluations in addition to financial evaluations of how dollars are spent…We’re having a conversation with the Department of Housing and Economic Development about putting better controls in place.”

Shickles said he did not know whether the reduction in contracts and city funding meant that RCC would have to reduce staff size. Additionally, he said he was unsure what would happen to RCC employee Dan Stefanski, the childhood friend of convicted former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich whose sole responsibility was to administer the community council’s 2011 LIRI contract, and who was linked to organized crime figures by a 2005 Chicago Sun-Times article.

The Ravenswood Community Council was approved funding to administer a 2012 Small Accessible Repairs for Seniors (SARFS) contract from the Department of Housing and Economic Development in the amount of $40,000, a full $22,000 less than they received for that contract last year.

The council will also continue to administer Special Service Are #31, an economic development tax district funded through a property tax levy, which had a 2011 budget of $368,035. RCC lists sidewalk snow removal, landscaping, sidewalk sweeping and glass etching removal as some of its SSA projects.

The Office of the Mayor also chose not to fund a new request from RCC to administer a home modification contract for nearly $300,000.

The RCC recently elected a new board of directors, and though the board’s makeup has undergone some changes, some still have strong ties to Schulter, including Executive Director Tom O’Donnell, (former president of the 47th Ward Democratic Party), Bill Helm (current president of the 47th Ward Democratic Party) and Rosemary Schulter (Eugene Shulter’s wife).

RCC 2011 CSS Evaluation

RCC 2011 LIRI Evaluation

The Ravenswood Community Council shared this space with The Ravenswood Chamber of Commerce until it closed last year. It now has the office to itself. Credit: Mike Fourcher

A local non-profit created to provide social services continues to receive city contracts despite a 2009 city review that calls the group unfit for funding and former board member testimony that paints the agency as politically motivated. The group, which received over $500,000 in city and property tax funding in 2011, is largely directed by operatives of 47th Ward Democratic Committeeman Eugene Schulter and recently hired a politically-connected staffer with alleged connections to organized crime.

In 2009, during a Department of Community Development delegate agency application evaluation procedure, the committee charged with assessing the Ravenswood Community Council (RCC) unanimously voted to discontinue city funding to the organization. The committee concluded that RCC used the majority of city contract funding for administrative expenses, did not provide sufficient evidence demonstrating the need for the proposed programs in the Ravenswood area, and provided services determined to be redundant to both other local chambers of commerce and even the community council’s own Special Service Area #31 contract.

“Schulter was involved, because he didn’t want an independent community organization,” Benjamin said. “It was a way to have a community group that wasn’t independent. And he could stuff it with his people…It was a main reason they were getting [funding], I believe…My impression was that a lot of that was because we were able to get them politically.”

“We really lost our community constituency,” she continued. “The folks on the board were all Schulter people.”The RCC is a north side nonprofit founded in 1957, according to its website, “to fight problems of crime and blight.” It serves an area from Addison Street to Bryn Mawr Avenue and from Clark Street to the Chicago River, comprising the Lincoln Square, North Center and Ravenswood neighborhoods.”

Former 47th Ward Ald. Eugene Schulter did not return phone calls for comment by publication.

Since Benjamin left the board, little has changed in RCC’s makeup.Four of the seven Schulter-tied board members there during her stay are still in place, the organization’s executive director remains the same and board president Tom O’Donnell, now entering his tenth year in the position, was endorsed last winter by Schulter during a losing bid to succeed him as the ward’s alderman.

O’Donnell, board 1st Vice President Helm and the organization executive director, Chris Shickles, all denied any knowledge of the disparaging 2009 evaluation, although each independently admitted that RCC went through difficult financial straits around 2007, they blamed organizational problems on a past bad executive director who had mishandled finances.

“This community council has taken a lot of hard work,” Helm said, “because it was basically in ruins back by around 2007. The former director ran it into the ground, and we had to actually pick it up from its bootstraps and do fundraising and hold the line on spending. We’ve actually made it into what it is today, and it is a viable group now.”Susan Massel, spokesperson for the Chicago Department of Housing and Economic Development, the office which initiated the 2009 review, said that it is “not completely unusual” for funding to continue to a delegate agency after a negative assessment, and that the city might attempt to work with the organization rather than simply sever ties. All conclusions from department evaluations of delegate agencies act as recommendations to the Chicago City Council, which makes the final decision on funding.

Massell also refused to answer questions about how the city attempts to control delegate agency contract performance measurements or administrative costs, saying she would only speak “holistically” on the subject of RCC, delegate agency contracts and the 2009 evaluation.

Since the review occurred in 2009, the committee analyzed contract fulfillment for 2008 and before. However, Ravenswood Community Council’s 2009 and 2010 monthly invoices and reports for city delegate contracts, obtained by Center Square Journal through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, reveal that many of the traits which the city disapproved of in the unfavorable assessments have continued since then.

Then-Ald. Eugene Schulter (center) and Tom O'Donnell (right) officially open the new play lot at Welles Park. Credit: Teresa Fourcher.

Redundant Services

In the 2009 evaluation, the Ravenswood Community Council received the lowest possible “less qualified” mark in the assessment of whether there was an “absence of other organizations providing similar services within the outlined retail district, service area, or citywide services.”

This rating was given, in part, because the evaluation committee deemed that at that time the community council was replicating many of the services provided by the nearby Ravenswood Chamber of Commerce.

Since then, the Ravenswood Chamber of Commerce has closed and the community council has assumed some of its business-geared contracts, including a Supportive Services for Commercial Area Development contract which seeks to improve the local retail business environment. Hence, its services have become somewhat less redundant.

However, the 2009 review also listed the Northcenter, Lincoln Bend and Lincoln Square chambers of commerce as local organizations to which the community council provided repetitive services.

Additionally, the evaluation found that the community council’s “summary of staff job responsibilities” were in large part a duplication of the services required in executing the organization’s Special Service Area #31 contract.Again, Ravenswood Community Council’s 2009 and 2010 monthly invoices and reports showed that this has not changed.

In the 2010 Local Industrial Retention Initiative (LIRI) constituent relationship log, one of the main progress reports for a contract aimed at bringing small businesses to the Ravenswood industrial corridor, 50 of the 65 contact summaries listed services which could be seen as redundant to Special Service Area #31 responsibilities, including façade improvement, glass etching removal, business advertising and sidewalk repairs.

The monthly reports also reveal that the community council has recorded a single act of assistance as work for multiple contracts.

In an October 2010 LIRI monthly report, the community council wrote that it had it had spoken with Paul Link of LaSalle Street Development Company, Inc. about “site clean-up/parking issues during winter months” and then “assisted in executing snowplowing contract with local vendor”. Earlier that same year, the organization also reported a discussion over “site clean-up/parking issues during winter months” with Paul Link as its sole January and February constituent contact toward executing its CSS contract.

The work may also have fallen under the community council’s responsibilities as part of administering its Special Service Area #31 contract, as snow removal duties fall under both public way maintenance and parking accessibility.

High Administrative Costs

High administrative costs persisted in both the community council’s 2009 and 2010 Small Accessible Repairs for Seniors (SARFS) contracts–aimed to help neighborhood senior citizens remain living independently through limited home improvements–where more than half of city funding went toward administration instead of construction costs.

And while it is not uncommon to spend nearly half of SARFS funding on administrative costs–several other city delegate agencies were found to set aside a similar portion for the administration of other SARFS contracts during the same time period–other organizations have executed the contract with more efficiency.

In 2011, the Voice of the People in Uptown, Inc. received a SARFS contract for $57,000 for work on 20 homes, 36.5 percent of which was budgeted for administrative costs. The agency also provided an “other share” portion–supplemental funding provided by the contract administrator–of $38,805 total, $13,100 of which has been budgeted to go toward paying for construction services or buying project materials.

Conversely, when the Ravenswood Community Council executed the 2009 SARFS exact same amount of money and work, 50.4 percent was budgeted for administrative costs, and of the $20,500 “other share”, only $2,500 was budgeted to go toward construction costs.

Additionally, through two separate FOIA requests for 2009 SARFS monthly invoices, Center Square Journal found documentation for work on only 13 homes, though payment details on the City of Chicago website revealed that over $16,000 in spending was unaccounted for in those statements. However, in the agency’s 2010 SARFS monthly invoices, all of the contract spending is accounted for, but documentation was found detailing work on only 18 homes.What’s more, according to RCC Executive Director Chris Shickles, it seems that the amount of work necessary to administer the SARFS contract was minimal.

Shickles told Center Square Journal that to administer the contract he would contact the nearby Chicago Department of Aging senior space, the Levy Regional Center, ask them to gather 200 or so senior citizens for a meeting, give an hour-long presentation, contact names off a signup sheet, check to ensure that the seniors met program requirements, pass the work off to a local contractor whom the community council hired for all SARFS contracts and then reimburse the contractor when the city made payment. In 2009, for that work, Shickles requested $18,400 toward his salary, $2,308 toward his fringe benefits and $8,000 toward office expenses.

Ravenswood Community Council received a new SARFS contract in 2011, this time for $62,000 with 48 percent budgeted toward administration.Nancy Benjamin, a former Ravenswood Community Council board member, said it was common for RCC to spend the majority of their funding on administrative costs while doing minimal work.

“I believe they spent everything on administration,” Benjamin said. “I’m not sure what else they do. They run an SSA [Special Service Area #31] but I’m not sure they do much more than call a contractor to power wash a sidewalk.”

Vague Contract Measurements

The city can’t manage what it can’t measure.Outside of the community council’s SARFS contract, where progress can be assessed by the number of homes the agency has retrofitted or repaired, most of the group’s other contracts lack clear measurement standards, often making it difficult to determine the quality and amount of the work the organization has done.

For instance, an April 17 report for RCC’s 2009 Technical Assistance to Business Groups contract, a program designed to “improve the Ravenswood retail business environment”, measured the success of a small business development and training session by the “[number] of jobs impacted.” Assistance with “parking issues” is listed as impacting four jobs, help with “signage issues” as impacting two jobs and “site selection” as impacting 64 jobs.

A workshop report from the same document measured a March 26 Small Business Improvement Fund workshop sponsored by the Ravenswood Community Council with 52 attendees as having 20 “projected number of jobs created/retained” due to the event.

“For a lot of these issues,” Shickles said, “we’re assuming you’re assisting almost all [of the employees] unless it’s assistance to a specific department…You take a company and ask how many people work there.”

Shickles said something like a new parking lot or a new website would affect all employees.

The community council’s LIRI contract reports are even harder to judge, as almost all reports are simply spreadsheet entries reporting conversations and meetings with no other proof offered.

Additionally, though some LIRI report entries describe RCC helping local businesses with the permit process for signage or trying to gain information about the availability of broadband internet access in the area, many of the constituent logs’ 65 entries describe simpler tasks, such as introducing the community council to local business, adding businesses to the community council’s database and attempting to convince local businesses to join the agency’s Business League, a proposition that would cost the business $150.

Shickles said that it was important to get businesses to join RCC’s Business League because the agency was picking up Ravenswood Chamber of Commerce business-oriented contracts, but still had fewer business members than a typical chamber of commerce.

But Schickels also said that part of the blame for poor reporting fell on the City of Chicago, as it approved program measurement criteria.“That’s a city issue,” Shickles said. “I know in the past year or two the city has tightened up their reporting methods. It increases administrative costs because I’m doing more reporting… I feel like we’ve done well as far as reporting and showing the city we’re doing a good job and that we’re remaining relevant in the area.”

He said that if increased reporting were required, administrative costs might increase due to the extra time that would be needed to fill out additional paperwork.The city currently audits delegate agencies’ financial records but has little or no systems in place to assess the quantity or quality of work executed toward contract fulfillment.

Reliant on City Funding

A nonprofit heavily reliant on city funding brings almost no other money into the neighborhood other than that which the city is willing to provide and would be unable to support itself otherwise.

When judging the Ravenswood Community Council’s past fiscal performance, the 2009 evaluation committee wrote that the organization had a “heavy reliance on city funding” and the agency continues to rely almost solely on city dollars.

According to the organization’s 2009 tax returns, the most recent year for which the community council’s tax records were publicly available, the council brought in $123,706 from “program service revenue including government fees and contracts” but only $8,566 from “contributions, gifts, grants and similar amounts received”.

In comparison, the nearby Northcenter Chamber of Commerce lists $45,143 in “contributions and grants” and $47,406 “program service revenue” on its 2009 return.Shickles said that the group currently plans one or two fundraisers a year that bring in $5,000 to $10,000 each. If so, there is no financial evidence of such fundraisers in recent years.

On the other hand, in 2011, the community council will receive over $178,000 in city delegate agency funding and an additional $368,000 toward administering the Special Service Area #31 contract.“

That’s our life source,” Helm said, “dealing with the City of Chicago on different contracts.”RCC also receives minimal funding from membership fees. In 2009, the agency claimed only $875 in “membership dues and assessments”, though according to a membership list submitted October 1, 2009 to the Department of Housing and Economic Development tallied 144 members. At the current membership dues, RCC should have brought in at least $2,880 from membership dues that year. This leaves the unanswered question of what happened to those dues, or if the membership list is actually real.

Political Ties

47th Ward Democratic Organization President Bill Helm speaking at a fundraiser for then-Ald. Eugene Schulter. Credit: Samantha Abernethy.

Former executive board members Nancy Benjamin and Martha Cameron both accused the Ravenswood Community Council of being a politically-motivated organization with ties to former 47th Ward Alderman and current 47th Ward Democratic Committeeman Eugene Schulter.“

It used to be full of business people,” said Cameron, who quit in 2006 after serving three years. “It slowly turned over into a political organization… It was Tom O’Donnell, Bill Helm and [recently resigned Treasurer] Tom Fencl. The three of them were like drinking buddies. They’d always arrive and leave together. ”

Current board members with political ties to Schulter include O’Donnell, the former president of the 47th Ward Democratic Party, Helm, the current president of the 47th Ward Democratic Party and Marty Casey, who was 47th Ward Streets and Sanitation Superintendent under Schulter. Casey is now the 43rd Ward Superintendent.

The organization currently employs politically connected individuals, as well.

Sheila Pacione, current commercial support services program manager at RCC, was a former staffer in Schulter’s ward office.

Daniel E. Stefanski, the current program manager for the community council’s LIRI contract, was a childhood friend of convicted former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich.

Stefanski also has a checkered past. In 2006, he was fired from a top position in the Illinois Department of Transportation when it was discovered that he had been arrested for drunk driving.

In addition, a 2005 Chicago Sun-Times article reported that informants told Teamster Union anti-corruption investigators that Stefanski once worked as a bookie, had ties to reputed organized crime figures and maintained close ties to a controversial political fundraising group called the Coalition for Better Government. In the same article, Stefanski denied these accusations.

Cameron said that she never quite knew the motivation behind the board’s political nature, but called the organization “possibly crooked” and implied that she suspected the organization’s money might have been going someplace other than where it should have gone.

“We had one board meeting where a bunch of business people quit,” Cameron said. “One of them turned to me and said you realize a board member will have some culpability if there’s an investigation of this.”

Regardless of what is really happening, neither one places the blame on current executive director Chris Shickles.“He’s a competent guy,” Benjamin said. “The problem is RCC hasn’t done anything for so long, there’s no incentive to do anything. And there’s no constituency.”

Cameron likened Shickles to a figurehead.“I didn’t think that he was any kind of savvy operator,” Cameron said. “He was just a guy to put out an email newsletter.”

Future

It will not be known whether the Ravenswood Community Council will continue to receive funding as a city delegate agency in 2012 until the Chicago City Council passes an official FY2012 budget, scheduled to be voted on during the November 16 session.

O’Donnell, Helm and Shickles all insist that RCC has turned a corner from a few years back.“This was a situation that was very bleak until people stepped up and took on a lot of responsibility,” Helm said.O’Donnell said that his number one goal was helping the neighborhood.

“I think we serve the community well,” O’Donnell said. “I think we’ve done a lot of good over the years. I wouldn’t be involved if we didn’t. I’m committed to the community and I’m committed to this organization, so that’s why I’m there.”

And Shickles said that he is excited to see the organization bringing in new employees, seeking out more contracts and attracting new business members.

Current 47th Ward Ald. Ameya Pawar refused to comment for this article.

Mike Fourcher contributed to this report. This article was edited for typos and grammatical errors on November 12, 2011.

RCC-DHED ReviewRCC 2009 Tax Return

• Poor Taste Chicago took a tour of Lincoln Square.

• House Beautiful is coming to Chicago and Ravenswood to give away free chairs.

• Potter and Potter Auctions ( located at 3729 N. Ravenswood Ave) will be auctioning some very important lithographs from the heyday of Magic.

• Will Rahm’s Ravenswood home tenant be moving soon?

• Sola (located at 3868 N, Lincoln Ave) is keeping it’s delicious food in the neighborhood.

• Is the fighting 47^th dead?

• Our area is home to many woman who love to play videogames, including Fruzsina Eordogh our website neighbor at Albany Park Post.

• Center Square Journal editor Samantha Abernethy participated in an online chat on Chicagoist to discuss the 47th ward election.

• Ameya Pawar, a fresh new face in Chicago politics.

• Ameya Pawar, First Indian American elected to Chicago’s City Council.

• Major Overhaul of Chicago City Council After Election.

• Pawar’s surprise win in the 47th ward.

• In 47th ward, a long shot outsider relishes his victory.

• Pawar Basks In Glow of 47th Ward Win.

Ameya Pawar turned the locker room of Timber Lanes into campaign headquarters. Here, Chicago News Cooperative reporter Hunter Clauss interviews the alderman-elect. Photo by Samantha Abernethy.

The election in the 47th ward produced the biggest shocker of the 2011 municipal elections.

After Rahm Emanuel handily won the mayoral throne, Chicago media turned its eyes on 30-year-old Ameya Pawar, 47th ward alderman-elect.

When Ald. Gene Schulter announced in January that he wouldn’t run again, it created the first open election in the ward in 36 years. Still, as Schulter’s endorsed candidate, Tom O’Donnell was largely expected to either win the seat or lead the pack to a runoff.

When election numbers came in, even Pawar was surprised. Media scrambled to find him, and the Pawar campaign threw together an open press event at Timber Lanes, 1851 W. Irving Park.

The regular Tuesday night bowling crowd was suddenly surrounded by news cameras and Pawar supporters awaiting his arrival.

“In the last four weeks, we went from a small four-person organization to hundreds of you,” Pawar said as he thanked supporters election night.

Although election papers were filed in November, all four campaigns didn’t kick it into high gear until the final four weeks, after Schulter announced he would not run. O’Donnell hadn’t even hired a campaign manager.

But Pawar started his campaign 15 months ago, when he first decided to take on Schulter. His slow and steady approach held strong against O’Donnell’s campaign, which had the money and big name supporters including Schulter, Emanuel and Forrest Claypool.

O’Donnell quickly covered the ward in yard signs and campaign mailings in the final weeks. Pawar enjoyed a quick fundraising surge after the January 26 candidates forum at Coonley Elementary. It was the only campaign event attended by all four candidates. O’Donnell opted out of the rest.

The other two candidates, Matt Reichel and Tom Jacks, also tried to keep O’Donnell’s momentum down. In forums Reichel, Jacks and Pawar treated O’Donnell as an incumbent, calling him Schulter’s “anointed successor.”

At Timber Lanes Tuesday, 15-year-old Jacob Meeks, Pawar’s wise-beyond-his-years field organizer, said he had also been interning with Emanuel’s campaign, but quit so he could help Pawar make the push in the final weeks.

While a bowling alley is not an ideal location for a media scrum, Pawar says Timber Lanes is where it started, and owners Bob and Karen Kuhns encouraged him in the early days of his campaign.

A week ago, Center Square Journal could call up Pawar whenever we wanted to find out what was going on in the campaign and come election night, we were one of few news outlets who knew anything about him.

When we sat down with Pawar Wednesday, it was between an interview with the New York Times and an appearance on WTTW’s “Chicago Tonight.”

“Name an outlet, and I’ve spoken to them,” said Pawar.

He returned to the bowling alley Wednesday and held interviews in the locker room. By mid-afternoon, his voice was starting to grow hoarse.

“I’m a pretty low-key person, so it’s kind of surreal,” he said of the media attention.

He also had his first phone conversation with mayor-elect Emanuel earlier that day, who he had never met.

“He just said that he wants to help me be the best alderman I can be and that he looks forward to working with me and I look forward to working with Rahm Emanuel,” said Pawar.

Pawar will be a young, fresh face in the City Council—so was Schulter, who was 26 when he first took the reins in the 47th ward. But Pawar is also the first alderman of Asian descent.

Pawar is the son of Indian immigrants and grew up in Des Plaines. He moved to the 47th ward four years ago, where just five percent of the population is Asian.

“As a legislator, while I may not represent the Indian community or the Pakistani community or the Asian community directly, … my door is open to them. That’s what an alderman is supposed to do,” he said. “I can be an advocate for the Asian-American community.”

Pawar says the victory was humbling. He thanked his parents, saying “I stand on their shoulders.”

The real campaign may be over, but you might still see Pawar knocking on doors in the coming weeks. After his narrow, unexpected victory, Pawar says he will continue his campaign to reach those who didn’t cast their vote for him.

“I have to work with everyone. I represent everyone now,” he said Wednesday. “And so the election is over, but I’ve got to build a relationship with the people that didn’t vote for me.”

In the coming months Pawar wants to start putting together his ward council, something he spoke of often in his campaign. He plans to build a group of community leaders to guide his decision-making and make 47th ward politics more transparent.

He’ll also start networking with his new colleagues in the City Council, but he doesn’t think of it in terms of “making alliances.”

“It’s not about creating a North Side caucus and a South Side caucus. While it’s important to have some sort of alignment, balkanizing the city is not going to any good,” he said. “We need to start acting like one city.”

Alderman-elect Ameya Pawar was swarmed by media when he entered Timber Lanes, 1851 W. Irving Park, after winning the election. Photo by Samantha Abernethy.

Ameya Pawar, 30, will be the first Asian-American alderman in the Chicago City Council. He pulled just over 50 percent of the vote, avoiding a runoff election. Candidate Tom O’Donnell conceded late election night.

Updated at 4 p.m. with additional comment from Tom Jacks.

The campaign for 47th ward candidate Ameya Pawar says campaign signs and banners have been removed from private and commercial properties.

The video above—as well as several others—shows a man removing Pawar signs. It was taken by a security camera outside West Lakeview Liquors at 2156 W. Addison.

Pawar’s campaign spokesman Sam Yanover said campaign signs started disappearing from lawns and windows February 13. He said in some situations, the signs were replaced with signs for candidate Tom O’Donnell.

O’Donnell’s campaign manager Daniel McDonald declined to comment when contacted by phone Monday night.

Yanover says the signs had been placed on the property by the owners. Removal of campaign signs from private property is illegal, but since the signs cost little, police investigation and/or enforcement is unlikely. Signs placed on public property can be removed by anyone at anytime.

To see all of the videos taken by the security cameras, visit Center Square Journal‘s YouTube channel.

Candidates Matt Reichel and Tom Jacks both said they have not removed any signs. Reichel said several of his signs have disappeared. As for lawn signs, he says “it’s hard to tell if it’s the weather or just kids being funny.”

But some signs have also disappeared from the windows of businesses. Reichel said a business owner told him someone walked into the store, took down Reichel’s campaign sign and left.

“Somebody walked in and just took it off the window. That’s something I’d like to get on camera,” he said.

Jacks doesn’t have many campaign signs, but he checked on them early Tuesday morning and said they are still in place.

“I think these tactics, they are the old Chicago way,” said Jacks, “and hopefully today the voters choose some change in the 47th ward.”

**After telling CSJ this morning that his signs were still in place, Jacks heard from a volunteer that some of his signs near Sulzer Library had been taken down. He also said he got word that there have been poll watchers dropping hints to voters to vote for Mr. O’Donnell.

The candidates, from left to right: Tom Jacks, Matt Reichel and Ameya Pawar. Candidate Tom O'Donnell had a previous engagement. Photo by Stacy Jeziorowski.

Center Square Journal and Inside Publications hosted a forum for the 47th ward aldermanic candidates at DANK Haus Tuesday evening.

Three of four of the candidates for 47th ward aldermen answered questions from moderator Mick Dumke, political reporter for Chicago News Cooperative.

Tom Jacks, Ameya Pawar and Matt Reichel attended. Tom O’Donnell says he had a previous engagement.

The room was packed by the time the event started. We estimate close to 300 people attended. About 20 students from Northwestern University’s journalism project were on hand to document the event, too.

Each candidate delivered 2-minute opening and closing statements. In between, Dumke kept the mood light. Candidates discussed school, crime and budget issues, among many others.

The absence of O’Donnell was palpable. Candidates took the opportunity to call him the “machine candidate” and Ald. Gene Schulter’s “anointed successor”.

His decision to forgo appearances at forums could hurt him, but also could help him. At the last 47th ward candidates forum January 26 at Coonley Elementary, O’Donnell didn’t make the best impression, reading his responses from a sheet of paper.

There is another candidates forum tonight at 7 p.m. at Lake View High School, sponsored by Graceland West Community Association. Jacks, Pawar and Reichel will be attending. GWCA said O’Donnell told them he has a previous engagement.

A full recap of the issues and audio from the event will come shortly.

The forum, which will be limited to 90 minutes, will be moderated by Mick Dumke of the Chicago News Cooperative.

All four candidates have also completed questionnaires for the Center Square Journal.