BERNARD SCHOENBURG
THE STATE JOURNAL-REGISTER
Excerpt:
Candidates for Ward 7 alderman clashed Monday over a community cleanup and city residency rules at a forum that featured a total of seven candidates for city offices.
Joe McMenamin, one of three candidates in Ward 7, used a closing statement at the end of the two-hour event sponsored by the MacArthur Boulevard Business Association to tout the need for a city residency rule and his leadership in cleaning up the former Kmart property along MacArthur.
McMenamin lamented that the city council ended the residency rule a decade ago.
“We’ve had 600 middle-class families leave our city,” McMenamin said. “It’s sad.” He also noted that Chicago mayor-elect Rahm Emanuel recently said city workers there should live inside city limits.
McMenamin said he thinks his corralling of volunteers to clean up and paint the old Kmart site enhanced his chances in the April 5 election.
“Mike and John,” McMenamin said, “you’re probably going to have a hard time getting votes out of those areas because those homeowners west of Kmart really do appreciate a cleaned-up Kmart.”
Joe McMenamin for Ward 7 