The end of an era for the last of the West Side ”plantation” wards will come March 18, when 10 black candidates will ask voters to choose one of them to be the 37th Ward`s first black alderman.
Incumbent Ald. Frank Damato, a Democratic regular, has been zoned out of the ward by a court-ordered reapportionment. Along with him goes most of what was left of the 37th Ward`s white ethnic population, leaving behind a black majority of more than 77 percent.
Mayor Harold Washington wants to see the contest limited to just two candidates. Last week the mayor endorsed businessman Percy Giles, who he would like to see face off with lawyer Ray Myles, who has the support of the ward`s regular Democratic organization.
Washington has accused the regular Democrats of encouraging some of the other candidates to run simply to confuse the contest and dilute Giles`
chances. The challengers counter that the mayor should have stayed out of the race.
Now the mayor and his allies are trying to convince ward voters that the choice is clearly one between a Washington loyalist and an opposition candidate.
The remaining candidates are trying to convince voters that the issue is not the partisan battles that have divided the Chicago City Council, but rather who is best qualified to represent the ward, who can best provide it with services and improve the quality of living and who has lived there the longest. The residency matter is likely to develop as the key issue between the front-runners.
All the candidates, even Myles, say they would support the mayor in the council except on issues that would shortchange the newly defined 37th Ward.
The area saw the arrival of Scandinavians and Germans in the late 19th Century, followed by Italians and Jews in the early 20th Century. Blacks have been present in the area since the 1880s. But large numbers of them did not move there until after World War II. It was then that the white politicians, who had for generations run the West and Northwest Sides, became concerned about maintaining their power.
For 17 years, Ald. Thomas Casey held control despite growing numbers of black residents. A 1970 remap gerrymandered the ward boundaries north into white neighborhoods. The ward was again redrawn in 1981, moving out more of the black population. This time, however, a federal judge intervened.
Casey died in 1982, and then-Mayor Jane Byrne appointed Damato to replace him. He inherited one of the Democratic organization`s strongest West Side wards with a legacy of good services and a team of precinct captains so effective they got Damato re-elected in 1983, when the ward`s population was more than 60 percent black.
The new remap gives the ward part of the mostly black 28th Ward to the east. A white ethnic neighborhood has been excised, and a small piece of the 29th Ward has been added to the southwest end. All this has given the new 37th Ward a shape like an interlocking piece in an angular jigsaw puzzle.
Several candidates say the remap also has given the ward more renters and more blighted areas, taking away the homeowners, factories and commercial areas north of North Avenue.
The changes have given the ward a more pronounced division between its northwest Austin area of sturdy, well-maintained homes and the hard-pressed communities in its eastern and southern parts where street services and neighborhood beautification are less a need than are jobs and housing renovation. Drugs, crime and education problems, however, bind all the ward`s disparate parts.
The mayor`s candidate, Giles, directs the 150-member Westside Business Improvement Association. He is housing committee chairman of the South Austin/ Madison Corp., a business and residential development organization, and for two years has been chairman of the Mayor`s Community Development Advisory Committee, overseeing use of community development block grants.
His only previous elective post was as an alternate delegate to the 1984 Democratic National Convention, but he has ties to Washington-bloc Aldermen Danny Davis (29th) and Ed Smith (28th). He says his goals are to improve housing, business, health and neighborhood services.
Giles, 34, had lived on the South Side since 1983 and moved back into the ward Dec. 1, prompting his opponents to label him a carpetbagger and to make that a campaign issue.
His major opponent is Myles, 35, a lawyer and former assistant state`s attorney who serves as legal adviser to local block clubs. He has been a 37th Ward precinct captain for seven years.
While Myles expresses some loyalty to the Democratic organization, he insists he cannot be described as a supporter of Ald. Edward Vrdolyak (10th), county Democratic chairman, and says he would support the mayor on certain issues.
Myles sees drugs as the root of most crime in the ward, and he vows to work for increased police protection and stronger schools. He also says he wants to maintain and improve the relatively high level of streets and sanitation services in the ward.
Among the other candidates are:
— Patrick Keen, 36, executive director of West Side Habitat for Humanity, a housing development group. He is a lifelong resident of the West Side and a PTA president with experience working with West Side youth as a government VISTA/YMCA worker and as a worker with the Young Life Campaign. In the late 1960s, he was coordinator of the Black Panther Party`s Breakfast for Children Program. He worked in Patrick Quinn`s successful 1983 campaign for the Cook County Board of (tax) Appeals, and Quinn`s Coalition for Political Honesty is backing him. Keen also has the support of several West Side ministers, including Rev. Milton Brunson of Christ Tabernacle Church.
— James Hammonds, 39, a 10-year ward resident and a lawyer with the city purchasing department. He was director of the Mid-Austin Steering Committee and has been active on other community boards. A former aide to U.S. Rep. Cardiss Collins (D., Ill.), he had Washington`s endorsement in an unsuccessful 1983 aldermanic race against Damato. Hammonds` candidacy petitions, however, are being challenged.
— Andre Foster, 30, a businessman and lifelong West Side resident who broke away from the Republican Party in 1982. He cut his political teeth working with his father, Curtis Foster, a Republican committeeman, and in 1977 at age 21 he ran unsuccessfully for state representative.
— Larry McCullum, 39, a 30-year ward resident who works as a tax audit technician and investigator with the city Revenue Department. He describes himself as an independent Democrat but until recently was an organization precinct captain. McCullum vows loyalty to his ward first and the mayor second, but he said he would never fight the mayor in the council.
Also in the race are John W. Davis, 51, an employee of the city Bureau of Rodent Control; Carter Jones, 55, a driver for 22 years with the city Bureau of Forestry; William A. Marshall, 50, an insurance adjuster and previously unsuccessful aldermanic candidate; and James Pruitt, 45, a shop owner.
Another Washington-Vrdolyak contest is in the works for the Democratic committeemen`s post, also being relinquished by Damato. The mayor has endorsed Johnny Johnson, a Farragut High School teacher. Tommy Simmons has Damato`s and the ward organization`s support.
