Jane Addams & The Ward Boss
Everyone in Chicago knows who Jane Addams is, right? Pioneering social change and social services activist. Founder of Hull House on Halsted Street. First female American recipient of a Nobel Prize (Peace, 1931). She also named and fought the Chicago Machine!
Ms. Addams had a running feud with her Alderman, the legendary 19th Ward Boss Johnny Powers! Read the account here.
She wrote about this feud in an essay she wrote in 1898 in Outlook, entitled "Why the Ward Boss Rules."
She laments the fact that the alderman is loved and retained for attending to the charitable needs of the votes - including distributing six tons of turkeys during Christmas.
She writes: "The question does, of course, occur to many minds, Where does the money come from with which to dramatize so successfully? The more primitive people accept the truthful statement of its sources without any shock to their moral sense. To their simple minds he gets it “from the rich,” and so long as he again gives it out to the poor, as a true Robin Hood, with open hand, they have no objections to offer. Their ethics are quite honestly those of the merry-making foresters. The next less primitive people of the vicinage are quite willing to admit that he leads “the gang” in the City Council, and sells out the city franchises; that he makes deals with the franchise-seeking companies; that he guarantees to steer dubious measures through the Council, for which he demands liberal pay; that he is, in short, a successful boodler."
She wrote about this feud in an essay she wrote in 1898 in Outlook, entitled "Why the Ward Boss Rules."
She laments the fact that the alderman is loved and retained for attending to the charitable needs of the votes - including distributing six tons of turkeys during Christmas.
She writes: "The question does, of course, occur to many minds, Where does the money come from with which to dramatize so successfully? The more primitive people accept the truthful statement of its sources without any shock to their moral sense. To their simple minds he gets it “from the rich,” and so long as he again gives it out to the poor, as a true Robin Hood, with open hand, they have no objections to offer. Their ethics are quite honestly those of the merry-making foresters. The next less primitive people of the vicinage are quite willing to admit that he leads “the gang” in the City Council, and sells out the city franchises; that he makes deals with the franchise-seeking companies; that he guarantees to steer dubious measures through the Council, for which he demands liberal pay; that he is, in short, a successful boodler."
On January 13, 2018 we did our 67th public TIF meeting for the 34th Ward.
In these meetings, which we call TIF Illuminations, we explain what Tax Increment Financing is and how it works. We focus on one ward at a time. on that afternoon we were on the far south side in the 34th Ward. We give our estimates of how much property tax dollars have been pulled from the ward by local TIFs. We reveal what projects in the ward have received TIF money and much more. We routinely research any campaign donations made by people who have received TIF subsidies and the local alderman. We discovered over $15,000 in campaign contributions made to Alderman Carrie Austin from owners, developers and key players in two major TIF-funded projects in her ward. See below...
In these meetings, which we call TIF Illuminations, we explain what Tax Increment Financing is and how it works. We focus on one ward at a time. on that afternoon we were on the far south side in the 34th Ward. We give our estimates of how much property tax dollars have been pulled from the ward by local TIFs. We reveal what projects in the ward have received TIF money and much more. We routinely research any campaign donations made by people who have received TIF subsidies and the local alderman. We discovered over $15,000 in campaign contributions made to Alderman Carrie Austin from owners, developers and key players in two major TIF-funded projects in her ward. See below...
So here's the connection - at the meeting on that Saturday, was Alderman Austin's Chief of Staff, Chester Wilson. Mr. Wilson vigorously defended the use of TIFs in the 34thWard. When we revealed the $15,000 in campaign contributions to the Alderman from the people involved in just TWO TIF projects he indignantly exclaimed, "She bought turkeys with that money!" Wow. From 1898 to 2018 - 120 years later and the way the ward bosses operate HAS NOT CHANGED. Alderman Austin was first appointed to office by Mayor Richard M. Daley to fill the term of her husband, Lemuel and, as Chair of the City Council's Committee on the Budget & Government Operations, is a senior boodler.