Patrick Shine, Candidate for 44th Ward Alderman

Alderman may be a foreign concept to those moving to Chicago for the first time. This was not the case for Patrick Shine. Before moving to Chicago, he studied the 44th Ward while at the University of Central Florida. Specifically, he studied the 44th Ward’s former Alderman Dick Simpson who served two terms in the ’70s. Terms he wrote about explicitly in his book The Good Fight: Life Lessons from a Chicago Progressive. As Shine tells it, Simpson was, “One of the most incredible people that ever hit the City Council in Chicago.” Currently, Dick Simpson is a Professor of Political Science at the University of Illinois at Chicago

The knock on effect of Patrick’s research? To follow in Simpson’s footsteps in an attempt to recreate his vision to “turn the 44th ward into a pure democracy.” Shine uses examples such as the 44th Ward Assembly and his own iteration of a website for the 44th Ward. He promises to deliver this website, which sounds equal parts Reddit, Facebook, and Fantasy Democracy League for armchair politicians, 30-days after becoming Alderman. The primary goal of the website? Representation. Shine believes his website will help him communicate effectively with the residents of the 44th Ward. “They can vote, they can comment, they can do whatever they need to do so that we can keep that conversation going so I know what they’re thinking and that I don’t just guess and make my own determinations. We’ll have multiple town hall meetings a month. My job is to represent them.”

But the road to Shine’s Aldermanic candidacy didn’t just start in Florida. It started where more than a few political careers start: the bar. Shine’s origin story is not just limited to the exam to become a lawyer, which he passed. Rather, while waiting for the results of the exam, Shine took a part-time job as a bar supervisor at the tavern now known as Gallagher Way near Cubs Stadium. Shine, “Got to meet so many people in our neighborhood because it was a meeting place…listening to their gripes and concerns about the neighborhood and what they have not been talked to about with the government. And because I was an attorney, they felt that I was a venting ground for them,” while managing the bar. It was around this time that Shine began going to local meetings concerning the 44th Ward. To Shine’s surprise, “[Incumbent Tom] Tunney would go to some meetings. Mostly he did not go to the meetings. He would choose which meetings he went to. And I know he’s busy, but I was busy too, and I was able to go to every single community meeting. So, I got concerned.” Shine tried to become more involved within the Ward as a result but found his attempts rebuffed. Shine says he has even had difficulty speaking with the incumbent despite his attendance and willingness to help out. “Sorry, he’s busy. Sorry, he can’t do this,” was the common refrain Shine says. Shine says he was not terribly enthused to learn how the 44th Ward he studied in college had changed since Dick Simpson’s time.

Shine’s decision to run for 44th Ward Alderman has many roots. One major artery may stem from his heritage as a police officer’s son and one interaction with Chicago Police. Shine had called 911 after witnessing an altercation between a woman and her male companion whereupon the man left the woman to recover in the back of a van parked in the alley near his home. The woman, drunk from a full Chicago Cub’s game experience which had the pair kicked out before the 7th inning stretch, was also on medication and recovering from surgery. Shine, who was returning from a shift at Gallagher Way, called 911 to do a wellness check on the woman. Shine waited thirty minutes for the police to respond. During that time a cruiser passed him by before his second call finally achieved the intended wellness check. The police officer who responded to the call told Shine, “I’d have kicked the explicit out of her too. I’d have left her in the car as well.” This was not the type of interaction a police officer’s son expected from Chicago’s Police force. Shine admits that this interaction may not be representational of Chicago’s finest. When asked, Shine blames the interaction on the closure of the old Police station on Belmont, saying, “That is [the police] being stretched thin… [W]hen the Belmont station was destroyed and we no longer had patrolling police coming into the Belmont police station, that doubled the area that the 19th District has to patrol.”

The 19th District’s Newer Digs on Addison

Shine plans, wherein he feels empowered by the 44th ward, to advocate for a change in police strategy if elected Alderman. He argues that the City of Chicago should move toward community policing. When asked about the details of the strategy, Shine gives an example where the, “[P]olice park [their] patrol car and walk a block or two. Now you have three police officers. I say three because there’s a police car is there. No one knows where that police officer is… You have a free officer that you’re not paying on the payroll that is sitting there and then you have two other police officers walking.” An increase in police presence is something most candidates in the field can agree with, but Shine points out that this is not something the Alderman can control beyond a heavy lobbying effort. If elected to Alderman of the 44th Ward Shine plans to lobby the Mayor of Chicago and the Superintendent of Police, “It’s just a totally different police mentality that we need.”

Lobbying will be required to achieve some of Shine’s other visions for the City of Chicago, starting with Chicago Public School’s mayorally appointed school board. “[T]he mayor says… that an elected school board is not the best way to go… My counter-argument to that is that if they’re appointed, they’re only accountable to the mayor. And because there are so many contracts that go along with [school operations to] get access to our tax money, [the school board] get taxes to use. They need to be accountable to the public because if they’re not using the money in a way that is efficient and economical for the schools, our schools are suffering.” Shine used the donation made by Magic Johnson to Rahm Emmanuel’s campaign in relation to the SodexoMagic contract to explain why he opposes an appointed School board. Shine sees this as just one example of a pay-to-play system he feels is still present within Chicago politics.

Shine also wants to look into how Chicago is handling Tax Increment Financing (TIF) districts, specifically those in the 44th Ward, “In this area, Wrigleyville right along Clark street is a huge TIF district, but we don’t know what it’s going to. Is it going to the Cubs? If it is, why is it going to the Cubs? There are certain things that need to be given to public oversight. People need to know what’s going on.” From here Shine wants to advocate against the knock-on effects these districts have on the property values in the ward, “I’ve spoken to [residents] that have been retired and are 70 or 80 years old with their house paid off for decades. I’ve talked to so many that said they have for sale signs in their front yards and they have to move out of the county. They can’t afford to live here anymore because of property values or taxes.” While the 44th Ward has certainly seen an aesthetic improvement as a result of the districts, Shine is uncertain that will continue considering the funds from the TIF districts can go to developers who, “can go bankrupt. They can move to a different area once they’ve gotten this money and then there is nothing to regulate that. Now they’ve just basically taken our money and said ‘Have a nice day!’” During the course of the interview, Shine complains about how difficult it is to understand where money is being allocated to these developers, “As a candidate, I research this all the time, and it’s so convoluted. There’s no transparency, there’s no easy way for anyway for anyone to find it.”

Car2Go Service Screen Cap — Not Shown in the 44th Ward

Transparency is a big deal to Shine. He points to a specific instance concerning the technology startup Car2Go. Shine claims that, while attending local meetings, both James Cappleman and Tom Tunney, “looked into our eyes saying ‘44th Ward is off limits. Car2Go cannot park here.’” Shine believed them, but when has had, “two Car2Go’s parked on my block (Byron near Lakewood) for the past two months. They have not moved. They have sat there, they have taken up a parking spot. While it isn’t the hugest issue because the Cubs aren’t playing, if the Cubs were playing it would be a big deal.” Upon further review — see the screencap to the left — it appears that the service is not available within the ward, but this does not prevent Car2Go cars from taking parking spots within the ward itself. Shine acknowledges that there may have been reasons for the change after the promise, however, he was unable to get a comment from either alderman as to why the cars have shown up in the neighborhood.

But Shine is not shy in support of the current incumbent Tom Tunney’s achievements as an Alderman in the 44th Ward. Shine says he is, “[V]ery happy that Tom Tunney was the champion for the LGBT community… He’s got my vote on that, but there’s so much more to the 44th Ward than championing for the rights of the LGBT community.” As an Aldermanic candidate, Shine indicates he has felt boxed in as an openly gay man. “I’ve been told a few times, it’s kind of unnerving, ‘Ugh, you’re another gay candidate. Are you just gonna champion for Boystown?’ Another one I’ve gotten on social media is, ‘Does he know that there is more than just Boystown in Lakeview.’ It’s funny because I don’t frequent Boystown that often.”

The 44th Ward

Shine discussed the need to equally recognize the four different and distinct areas of the 44th Ward: Boystown, Wrigleyville, the Southport Corridor, and Lake Shore Drive. He points out that while these communities are all vibrant, he points to the frustration voiced within the Southport Corridor. While attending local community meetings, Shine has discovered, “The Southport Corridor can barely get street banners [near their shops] because the Menu Money isn’t there to do it and they were told if they wanted that done, each business owner is responsible to pay for the banners that are on the street signs in front of their business.”

Menu Money, the roughly $1.32 million dollars an Alderman gets to spend as they see fit, is another target. Specifically, Shine points to the repeated street repairs which have disrupted local businesses within the 44th Ward. “I can tell you three times Broadway has been dug up. Three times within two-three years. Why? Every time they dig up the road, they are like, “Oh, forgot this!” They forgot to make the bus-pads for the bus stops more stable so it doesn’t cave in…In doing that same thing, a lot of people on Broadway or Southport say that this has ruined their business. They’re closing down because during those times traffic was not allowed on the streets, people were not allowed to walk on the streets they didn’t get a lot of foot traffic. They lost a lot of revenue.” After arriving in Chicago, Shine recalls a conversation he and his husband got into with a local cab driver who welcomed them to the city by saying, “Welcome to Chicago, the city where there’s only two seasons: Winter and Construction.” Shine fears the 44th Ward may be turning into an area where “it’s just construction all the time.”

Shine is currently dead-set on proving he is a viable candidate for Alderman, “One of the hardest things that I’ve gone through is the fact that people seem to think that there is some precedent on what you need to be to be an alderman. In the statute, you really only need to have lived here for one year.” Shine believes that the popular requirements on social media, that a candidate has lived in the ward for multiple years, own a business, property, and maintain deep connections throughout the community aren’t required, but further aren’t even representational of the highly transient population of the 44th Ward. Shine argues, “Don’t you want someone who cares, regardless of whether they’ve lived here for years and years? I don’t care about connections, I care about the community. Connections are a double-edged sword.”

The connections Shine speaks of may be difficult to navigate if he gets elected. While Shine feels he developed a good relationship with the Cub’s front office while working at Gallagher Way, he does not see himself as the Cub’s Candidate. “The Cubs have gotten what they wanted. They will always get what they want. I will fight against that. I don’t think that the development [around Wrigley Field] needs to continue. This does not need to, as my community members say, this does not need to be Rickettsville. This needs to be the 44th Ward.”

What is my opinion? Patrick Shine is qualified to be Alderman and I wish him the best of luck during the campaign.