Courtesy Raynetta Greenleaf
Raynetta Greenleaf was born and raised in Auburn Gresham and attended John W. Cook elementary school and Simeon Career Academy. She works as a patient care facilitator at Rush University Medical Center, and is the founder of an organization called Greenleaf Motivation Inc., geared towards engaging youth and preventing violence in her neighborhood.
Katie Hill
I met up with Troy Hernandez at his house in Pilsen during the polar vortex in late January. He’s been rehabbing it for the past few years, and workers filed in and out as we sat near a wood burning stove in the living room.
Jasmine Mithani
Chicago’s political history sometimes reads more like a House of Cards script than it does a civics lesson. Terms like “Chicago-style” politics and “the machine” have become ubiquitous nationwide to evoke corruption, quid-pro-quo arrangements, and nepotism. Of course “the machine” is not actually a machine—it is a shorthand for the relationships and strictly enforced loyalties that allowed the Democratic Party to consolidate power in Chicago over the course of the twentieth century. While the machine enjoyed its heyday under the father-son duo of Mayors Richard J. and Richard M. Daley, many of today’s elected officials remain beholden to this power structure or employ its tactics: rewarding supporters with contracts and city jobs, intimidating dissenters, and backing legislation which will line their own pockets.
Finn Jubak
Part II of a special joint report of the Weekly and the Hyde Park Herald
L-R: Alex Acevedo, Byron Sigcho-Lopez, Troy Hernandez, Hilario Dominguez, Aida Flores (Katie Hill)
Six months ago, 25th Ward Alderman Danny Solis’s grip on power was starting to feel a little shaky. After serving in City Council for twenty-two years, aligning himself closely with Mayor Richard M. Daley and then Rahm Emanuel, criticism of Solis was reaching a fever pitch. While longterm ward residents faced increased property taxes and skyrocketing rates of displacement, Solis greenlit new developments marketed toward young white professionals. Community organizations were fueling a swell of anti-gentrification activism, with Solis cast as the central, money-grubbing villain. And candidates were lining up to run against him in 2019, with five challengers ending up on the ballot.
Tyler Nickell
Ellen Hao
It’s an unusual election year for the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago (MWRD). Normally, every two years, three of the nine seats on the district’s board of commissioners go up for election. Each seat has a six-year term. The idea is to stagger board turnover, so that from election year to election year, two-thirds of the board remains consistent.
Ellen Hao