Graffiti Blasters is a program to eliminate graffiti, street art and gang-related vandalism in Chicago, Illinois. The program is structured as a privately owned business based in the city government. It uses soluble abrasives [1] (baking soda combined with high pressure water) [2] and paints matching the city's official color scheme to erase all varieties of graffiti.
Mayor Richard M. Daley started the initiative in 1993. Since then it has run at a cost of about $4 million a year, [3] rising to $7.8 million in 2008 [4] and $9 million in 2010 [5] The scheme promises free cleanup within 24 hours of a phone call to 3-1-1. Prior to the program's inception, the city considered itself responsible for removing graffiti if it was on city property, but private property owners had to shoulder the cleanup costs for graffiti on their own property.
In May 2009, on the instructions of Alderman Jim Balcer, Graffiti Blasters painted over a commissioned mural by artist Gabriel Villa on private property without the permission of the artist or property owner. A spokesman with the ACLU of Illinois said Balcer acted illegally, saying "He was elected to be an alderman. He was not elected to be the art critic of the ward." [6]
Graffiti is art that is written, painted or drawn on a wall or other surface, usually without permission and within public view. Graffiti ranges from simple written words to elaborate wall paintings, and has existed since ancient times, with examples dating back to ancient Egypt, ancient Greece, and the Roman Empire.
Richard Michael Daley is an American politician who served as the 54th mayor of Chicago, Illinois, from 1989 to 2011. Daley was elected mayor in 1989 and was reelected five times until declining to run for a seventh term. At 22 years, his was the longest tenure in Chicago mayoral history, surpassing the 21-year stay of his father, Richard J. Daley.
Edward Robert Vrdolyak, also known as "Fast Eddie", is a former American politician and lawyer. He was a longtime Chicago alderman and the head of the Cook County Democratic Party until 1987 when he ran unsuccessfully for Mayor of Chicago on the Illinois Solidarity Party ticket. He subsequently ran again in 1989 on the Republican Party ticket. He was a prominent opponent of Harold Washington and the de facto leader of the so-called "Vrdolyak 29" that opposed and blocked many of Washington's measures.
Dorothy Jean Tillman is an American politician, civil rights activist and former Chicago, Illinois alderman. Tillman served as the alderman of the city's 3rd Ward from 1985 until 2007. A member of the Democratic Party, representing part of the city's South Side in the Chicago City Council. As an Alderman, Tillman was a strong advocate of reparations for slavery. In April 2007, Tillman was defeated in a runoff election by challenger Pat Dowell. Tillman defeated Dowell in 2003. Prior to her career as an alderman, Tillman was active in the Civil Rights Movement, working for Martin Luther King Jr.'s Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) as an activist. Tillman was known for wearing large hats and has cultivated this image as her trademark.
Helen Shiller is a former Alderman of the 46th ward in Chicago, Illinois. Shiller is also a published author, having written a 500 page book on her politics and activism in Chicago from 1971 to 2011. Shiller served in the Chicago City Council for six four-year terms, from 1987 to 2011. Shiller was elected to the City Council on her third attempt, as Harold Washington, Chicago's first black Mayor, was re-elected to his second term, and her election as alderman helped close the Council Wars era in Chicago government. Shiller has been described as "a reformer unafraid totake on the boys in power." A less flattering description is that she is "committed to liberal causes and destroying all within her path". Among her most significant impacts on Chicago were her advocacy for diverse, inclusive, affordable housing and helping craft Chicago's response to the HIV/AIDS crisis. Her commitment to fostering community development without displacement often brought Shiller into contention with some constituencies, real estate developers, and editorial boards. Shiller's oral history was collected by Pulitzer Prize-winning author and Uptown resident Studs Terkel in his 2003 book, Hope Dies Last. As she details in her own book, among her policy victories as a City Council member was: getting human rights legislation passed, having Chicago implement anti-apartheid legislation, creating a City Council Subcommittee on Domestic Violence, and building a unique mix-used development.
James A. Balcer is a former alderman of the 11th Ward of the City of Chicago. A member of the Democratic Party, he was appointed to the Chicago City Council by Mayor Richard M. Daley in 1997. In May 2015, he was succeeded by former Metropolitan Water Reclamation District Commissioner, Patrick Daley Thompson.
John Pope is a former alderman of the 10th Ward of the City of Chicago. He was first elected in 1999 and served four terms, the last of which ended in 2015 when he lost an election to Alderman Susan Sadlowski Garza in 2015.
Edward Michael Burke is an American politician who is the alderman of Chicago's 14th ward. A member of the Democratic Party, he was first elected to the Chicago City Council in 1969, and represents part of the city's Southwest Side. Chair of Council's Committee on Finance, Burke has been called Chicago's "most powerful alderman" by the Chicago Sun-Times. Burke was named one of the "100 Most Powerful Chicagoans" by Chicago Magazine, describing him as "[o]ne of the last of the old-school Chicago Machine pols."
Latasha R. Thomas is an American politician and former alderman of the 17th Ward of the City of Chicago, Illinois, United States. Thomas was appointed to the position of alderman by Mayor Richard M. Daley in 2000, subsequently elected outright in a 2001 special election, and was re-elected in 2003, 2007, and 2011. During her tenure as alderman, Thomas worked to get many of the schools within her ward renovated. In the fall of 2014 Thomas announced that she would not seek re-election in 2015 as alderman, following the announcement that a former employee would run in her place.
Arenda Troutman was the Democratic alderman of the 20th Ward in Chicago. She was appointed to her position by Mayor Richard M. Daley in 1990, to fill a vacancy after the death of Alderman Ernest Jones. Troutman was the 16th woman to serve as a Chicago alderman. Despite her arrest and indictment on bribery charges, Troutman ran for alderman in 2007; she lost.
William Joseph Panebianco Banks was alderman of the 36th ward in Chicago from 1983 to 2009.
The Hired Truck Program was a scandal-plagued program in the city of Chicago that involved hiring private trucks to do city work. It was overhauled in 2004 after an investigation by the Chicago Sun-Times revealed that some participating companies were being paid for doing little or no work, had mob connections, or were tied to city employees. Truck owners also paid bribes in order to get into the program.
Roberto Maldonado is the alderman of the 26th Ward of the City of Chicago, Illinois.
Sandra Lee Jackson is an American politician. She was elected to the Chicago City Council as an alderman of the 7th ward of the City of Chicago in the 2007 municipal elections held on February 27, 2007. She succeeded Darcel A. Beavers who had been appointed by Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley after the 2006 November elections to succeed her father William Beavers, Jackson's rival, as alderman of the 7th Ward. Jackson resigned from Chicago City Council, effective January 15, 2013. On February 20, 2013, Jackson pleaded guilty to one count of filing false tax returns, and on August 14, 2013 was sentenced to one year in prison.
Toni Lynn Preckwinkle is an American politician and the current County Board President in Cook County, Illinois, United States. She was first elected as President of the Cook County Board of Commissioners, the executive branch of Cook County government, in November 2010 and became the first woman elected to this position.
Gabriel Villa, is a Chicago-based artist and muralist. Villa arrived in Chicago in the late 1990s. Observations of his neighborhood had a profound visual and conceptual impact on the evolution of his work. Subjects such as public housing, surveillance, the marginalized, gang culture, family, religion and most recently gentrification/displacement all begin to morph and weave into broader ideas.
The Park Grill is the only full-service restaurant included in the multibillion-dollar Millennium Park project in Chicago, Illinois. Its outdoor seating area is the largest al fresco dining area in Chicago. It has placed among the leaders in citywide best-of competitions for best burger and is widely praised for its views.
Gery J. Chico is an American politician, Chicago lawyer, public official and former Democratic primary candidate for United States Senate.
The 2015 Chicago aldermanic elections happened on February 24, 2015, to elect the 50 Aldermen that represent Chicago in the City Council. The elections were non-partisan and if no candidate received an absolute majority, a runoff would be held between the top two finishers on April 7, 2015.
The 11th Ward is one of the 50 aldermanic wards with representation in the City Council of Chicago, Illinois. It is broken into 38 election precincts. Five Mayors of Chicago have come from this ward: Edward Joseph Kelly, Martin H. Kennelly, Richard J. Daley, Michael A. Bilandic and Richard M. Daley. The current alderman for the 11th ward is Nicole Lee.
