Toni Preckwinkle, the Hyde Park alderman who Clare Fentress profiled in our pages earlier this winter, has handily won the Democratic primary for the highest office in Cook County government, and with it, probably, the office itself. More at the Tribune.
(photo by Sam Bowman)
Toni Preckwinkle, the 4th Ward alderman we profiled in this week’s feature, may not be ahead in the polls, but she’s winning the hearts of newspapers right and left in her campaign for the Democratic nomination for Cook County Board President. The Tribune and the Sun-Times both enthusiastically endorsed her earlier this week, and the Austin Weekly News, a West Side community newspaper, added its voice to the Preckwinkle chorus last night. The Illinois chapter of the Sierra Club also endorsed her last week. Add in the endorsement from Daley fan Phil Krone at the Chicago Daily Observer and the fact that Mayor Daley’s brother’s law firm donated $1,500 to Preckwinkle’s campaign, and it looks like everyone’s lining up behind the Hyde Park alderman. We’ll see if the voters follow suit on February 2.
This week’s cover story is a must-read: a profile of Alderman Toni Preckwinkle (4th), Hyde Park’s independent alderman and a candidate for Cook County Board President. Also in this issue: Gloria Henderson opens a popcorn shop under the Metra tracks in Hyde Park after years of setbacks. Abundance Bakery on 47th Street offers a wealth of baked goods. Experimental music collective the Exponential plays at the Chicago Art Department in Pilsen this Saturday night. John Paro, a student at the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine, has recorded an album, “Med School Rock,” to help medical students learn their material. And Katherine de Shazer is teaching a weekend class at St. Mary of Perpetual Help on Byzantine Russian icon painting.
In 2001, the Bronzeville Merchants Association (BMA) began a project to erect ten obelisks around Bronzeville with bronze plaques explaining the neighborhood’s history. Today the first two of those obelisks were unveiled at the northeast and southeast corners of 35th and State. Each triangular obelisk weighs four thousand pounds, stands six feet tall, and includes several Egyptian hieroglyphic characters that, according to historian Timuel Black, spell out “Bronzeville.”
Aldermen Preckwinkle and Dowell, at left, look on as State Rep. Burns reads from the obelisk's plaque.
The ceremony included remarks by aldermen Toni Preckwinkle (4th), Robert Fioretti (2nd), and Pat Dowell (3rd), as well as State Rep. Will Burns (D-Chicago), former State Rep. Elga Jeffries, Black, and BMA president Esther Barnett. The BMA hopes to install two more obelisks at 35th and King next spring, and the remaining six after that in a circle around the neighborhood.