11/7/00

Election day is a perfect time to get to know Chicago. The New Economy version of the town has a dull shine, apparently scrubbed free of the dirt and quirks for which it was notorious. At the polls, however, it's clear that present and past are rubbing asses and snickering.

I vote at Truman College in the 46th ward - Uptown.

Truman was built during the last days of Daley I's reign, when Uptown was the worst neighborhood on the North Side, in rep if not in fact. Daley tried redemption by hamfisted urban renewal, demolishing several blocks of homes for the college. Residents who were hesitant about leaving found their buildings tended to burn down, even though the fire station was less than block away.

The Truman campus is a very fugly municipal project. The buildings are huge boxes of exposed metal discolored by pollution and rain. According to legend, this was intentional - the designers used the natural reactions of metal and elements to represent Chicago's industrial heritage. A sub-legend says this is the most poetic rationalization by a low bid contractor on record. The resulting rust streaked walls look like God's Own Wino pissed on the college from on high.

Uptown had activist outposts both secular and religious in the 60's, and the college galvanized rabble and rousers into a loose organization of unusual tenacity. During Mayor Harold Washington's administration, they elected one of their own: Alderman Helen Shiller - unapologetic leftist, fiercely independent and bane of the Daleycrats. The Machine expends vast amounts of wealth and clout in the 46th, but Shiller kicks the ass of every contender. 46th ward radicals are lively, if diminished. Uptown has the highest concentration of scattered site and low income housing on the north side.

Gentrification moves slower, but it still moves. For years those with nowhere to go gathered on Truman's campus. Unemployed teens and homeless mental patients sat on the benches and walls, living ghosts of the former neighborhood. Tolerant at first, Truman has recently made security tougher, putting metal ridges on the walls and blocking a public plaza with a wrought iron fence that's always locked.

In this election urban class warfare had an unintended side effect. When I entered Truman's main building, I saw long lines outside the rooms for voting. It appeared to be a sign of enthusiasm, but this being Uptown it was not so simple.

Back In March, early Bush and Gore victories made the Illinois primary seem as vital as nipples for men. Except in the 46th ward, which had a tense battle for Democratic Committeeman. The position doesn't hold much power these days, but the Machine used it as a foothold in the ward. This year, however, Shiller backed a viable candidate - a well-respected, prominent gay lawyer (who is rumored to be a possible successor for Shiller). The machine picked Sandra Reed, who ran and lost against Shiller in a squeaker the year before. She's one of the few black politicos to back the original, unconstitutional, gang loitering law. It was a grudge match, and one nasty move was the voter challenge.

Election reform law allows groups to challenge the residency of "suspicious" voters. These are issued by mail. These mailings are notably unreliable, so challenges are frequently election day surprises. At the polling place, challenged voters must have two forms of ID, one with current address, or two ID and proof of address. Many voters don't carry such things around. In short, this reform can be turned into an effective form of voter intimidation.

In March, Sandra Reed supporters filed hundreds of challenges. They claimed to be facing an army of homeless voters, but oddly, all the challenges involved people registered by Shiller supporters.

Despite the apparent intensity, the 46th had a tiny turnout and Reed won (perhaps by a few discouraged votes). This meant many voters never learned they'd been challenged. Though a committeeman's job is to get out the vote, Reed wasn't too careful about fixing this little problem.

So I found myself squirming as one pissed off person after another was turned away. As this is the precinct where Shiller lives, the number was spitefully high. Many of these voters were new residents, who probably had no idea they'd been registered with pro-Helen reps in Helen's home precinct.

In the name of faster condo development, the Democratic Machine put in the fix only to possibly fuck themselves out of the big fix. It's a bizarre moment, typical of Chicago and Uptown. One guy said he'd never had such trouble voting. Welcome to the Wind, friend.

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