The Chainlink

It's Get Out The Vote weekend and I need your help

Hey friends! Walk Bike Transit needs some volunteers to knock on doors or make direct contact calls for a couple of candidates this weekend, Monday and Tuesday leading up to the primary. We might not have to funds to push our bike demands directly but we can vote with our feet this weekend.

The two state representative districts that I need help in are the 14th and 39th districts.

I'll be pounding the pavement all weekend for Will Guzzardi, who's running to unseat Toni Berrios in the Logan Square, Avondale, Irving Park, Hermosa and Belmont-Cragin area. He is a motivated young candidate who bike commutes and is deeply concerned about active transportation and public transit issues in his area. Check out his site for more info: http://www.willguzzardi.com/

If you can't be physically present to assist with Will's GOTV campaign, they have a "virtual phone bank" option so if you have an hour or two this weekend to make some calls, you can be trained in 15 minutes.

Another great race for the bikey community is Kelly Cassidy's campaign in Andersonville, Rogers Park and Edgewater. Kelly is an incredibly progressive representative who's working to bring all of the red line stations in her district up to ADA compliance within two years. She's a strong proponent for protected bike lanes and complete streets initiatives. Check out more about her here: http://citizensforcassidy.com/kellycassidy/

Kelly's big push day is Saturday and they are accepting volunteers from 10am on through the evening hours. If you have a couple hours to donate to hoofing it around the neighborhood, it would make a huge difference. There is also the need for volunteers on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. They are also accepting phone bankers both at their office and from your own home.

Let me know if you're able to help at all and rally your friends to volunteer and vote this coming Tuesday. 

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Permalink Reply by David on March 14, 2012 at 7:03pm

Is there some specific reason Walk Bike Transit is gunning for Toni Berrios?  Was there some specific transit vote that put her high on the target list for WBT? 

That's a real question, not a rhetorical one.  I don't know much about her, but my impression was that she has been extremely supportive of transit funding.   Since Chicagoland has a ton of extremely anti-walk/bike representatives, it just seems strange to me that Berrios is one of your primary targets, so I feel like there must be some story there I don't know. 

Permalink Reply by Duppie on March 14, 2012 at 8:47pm

Kelly Cassidy certainly says the right things. What is not to like?

Well a lot of what she says is politically motivated. Look at her statement about making CTA stations ADA compliant. Sounds good right? But the CTA just started planning for their RPM project, the long overdue Red line modernization estimated to cost $1.2B which would include rebuilding the station and making them ADA compliant. Do we really want to spend many millions on something that we don't know yet whether it will fit in the long term plans? I'd call that fiscally irresponsible.

But don't worry: that is not going to happen. She just makes that statement because she knows that Paula Basta resonates well with Seniors (a primary target for ADA projects). Once the elections are over, this project will never again be heard of.

Protected bike lanes? Yeah, of course I want protected bike lanes! But what is Kelly going to do about it, beyond voicing her support? Most of these decisions are made at the local level (as they should be). And I hope that the state of Illinois first brings their own house in order before doling out more money that they don't have.

I could mention her co-sponsoring the Religious Freedom and Marriage Fairness Act. But don't kid yourself. That is Greg Harris' bill, not hers. She just latched on because Paula Basta has a good report with gays and lesbians.

Don't get me wrong. I think she is an good candidate. But so is Paula Baste. And for the first time in over a decade there is a competitive election in Edgewater with a strong challenger. And I refuse to vote for Kelly Cassidy, just because the democratic establishment tells me to do so. I want to send a strong signal to future candidates for office that as long as you are a strong candidate, you stand a chance on the Northside of Chicago, even if you are not the Democratic machine candidate.

My vote goes to Paula Basta.

Permalink Reply by Ash L. on March 15, 2012 at 9:48am

We're not gunning for Toni. Will is a more progressive candidate for all around transportation issues. He's been vocal about his desire to push IDOT to move progress transportation projects along and said at an event a couple of weeks ago that projects slated for this coming construction season and 2013 that were phased before the complete streets ordinance went into affect should address these concerns before breaking ground to ensure they are following the guidelines as much as possible. We believe he's more willing to fight for pedestrian, transit and bicycling issues than his opponent.

I personally feel that Toni has had 10 years to make positive changes in our district but I haven't seen much of anything happen. She has never led charge on a bill or co-sponsored anything valuable. She rubber stamped a pretty suspicious corporate tax bill recently and it seems to me her interests are more in line with the machine money that backs her than with her constituents. The residents on my block like to joke that they don't realize she's our rep until the week before elections when suddenly she's knocking at your door. I'm sure that's true of many reps but I feel confident that Will will serve the interests of these neighborhoods at a more local level.

Permalink Reply by David on March 15, 2012 at 11:04am

I'm confused, is it "we" or "I"?   Is Walk Bike Transit officially endorsing a primary challenge to her, or is this just your personal preference and something you're personally doing? Or is WBT so informal that there's no real difference (I don't know a lot about you guys, but the website makes you look pretty connected, though it's probably out of date a bit)?

On a personal level, it makes sense for people to work and vote for the candidate they prefer.   That's a good thing.  On a PAC level, I think it's pretty self-destructive for a supposedly pro-transit PAC to go out of their way to make an enemy out of a leading member of the transit committee.   

And I'd say a primary challenge endorsement along with a public call for volunteers to unseat an incumbent  is by definition "gunning for somebody".  It just is. 


Ash L. said:

We're not gunning for Toni. Will is a more progressive candidate for all around transportation issues. He's been vocal about his desire to push IDOT to move progress transportation projects along and said at an event a couple of weeks ago that projects slated for this coming construction season and 2013 that were phased before the complete streets ordinance went into affect should address these concerns before breaking ground to ensure they are following the guidelines as much as possible. We believe he's more willing to fight for pedestrian, transit and bicycling issues than his opponent.

I personally feel that Toni has had 10 years to make positive changes in our district but I haven't seen much of anything happen. She has never led charge on a bill or co-sponsored anything valuable. She rubber stamped a pretty suspicious corporate tax bill recently and it seems to me her interests are more in line with the machine money that backs her than with her constituents. The residents on my block like to joke that they don't realize she's our rep until the week before elections when suddenly she's knocking at your door. I'm sure that's true of many reps but I feel confident that Will will serve the interests of these neighborhoods at a more local level.

Permalink Reply by Ash L. on March 15, 2012 at 11:16am

Sorry to seem flippant, I tried to separate the paragraphs to differentiate my personal politics from WBTs reasons for support. I'm treating this Chainlink post much more casually than I would if I were door knocking because I know so many folks on here but I should have kept my personal politics out of the discussion. 


Permalink Reply by David on March 15, 2012 at 12:34pm

I don't think you're flippant, and I think bringing in your personal politics is fine.  I'm just trying to understand.  Is Walk Bike Transit officially opposing Toni Berrios or not? 

Permalink Reply by Andrew on March 15, 2012 at 12:42pm

If the topic is what Toni Berrios has done for her district, flippancy is probably required.  No apology needed.

Ash L. said:

Sorry to seem flippant, I tried to separate the paragraphs to differentiate my personal politics from WBTs reasons for support. I'm treating this Chainlink post much more casually than I would if I were door knocking because I know so many folks on here but I should have kept my personal politics out of the discussion. 


Permalink Reply by Far'arned Retrogrumpalunkus #63 on March 15, 2012 at 12:45pm

If the topic is what Toni Berrios has done for her district then it will be a VERY SHORT discussion. 

Permalink Reply by Carter O'Brien on March 15, 2012 at 1:04pm

If Toni Berrios has done anything substantial as far as leadership for biking and pedestrian conditions in the 39th district it's been lost on this long-time resident.  Any improvements we've seen are local, and IDOT has been far less than progressive as far as making bike-friendly changes on roads under their jurisdiction.

Frankly, one is on solid ground opposing her simply on grounds of nepotism.  She serves the Madigan-led status quo first, constituents second. 



David said:

I don't think you're flippant, and I think bringing in your personal politics is fine.  I'm just trying to understand.  Is Walk Bike Transit officially opposing Toni Berrios or not? 

Permalink Reply by Gene Tenner on March 15, 2012 at 3:24pm

Ash,

Thanks for posting this. Kelly Cassidy's campaign manager is a good friend. As I did in the James Cappleman for 46th Ward Alderman election campaign, I will load up my trike's rack with a yard sign tower and join the rally at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday and then loop the district north up Broadway-Sheridan and then back south down Clark. Wanna join me?

Gene

Permalink Reply by Julie Aberman (Hochstadter) on March 20, 2012 at 4:11pm

Permalink Reply by Tony Adams on March 20, 2012 at 4:44pm

On my commute this morning I encountered Joe Trutin, who is running for State Rep in the 2nd District (Bridgeport, McKinley Park and parts of Pilsen). VOTE FOR HIM if he is on your ballot. He actually cares about the neighborhood and is an all around stand up guy. His Issues page does not mention bikes specifically, but he is quite pro Transit and Clean Energy, so that is close enough for me (for now).

http://www.joe4illinois.com/

2. He reported that turnout was extremely low. This is no surprise of course, but it means that each vote carries more weight. 

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