1993 - The First Revolution

[Dancing Queen]

Boys and girls - a history lesson

 In reading through the posting on Klingenberg, it got me thinking back to 1993, when Berwyn experienced its first revolution and also got me to thinking about why that revolution did not sustain itself and some comparisons to 2005.

 In 1991-1992, Berwyn was getting a lot of press about being the next "it" place - the next Oak Park, the next Evanston.  Articles in Chicago Magazine and the Chicago Tribune highlighted Berwyn as being the next hot spot.

 In 1993, two political revolutions occured - one on the District 201 school board and one in city hall. On the District 201 School Board, Alan Klingenberg was exposed as a thief and a liar. Local residents led by Mary Karasek and a group of students at Morton West, took up arms against the school board and Klingenberg.  Klingenberg was dismissed and later convicted and Kowzlowski and another board member resigned.  In November, 1993, a reform slate of candidates from Berwyn was elected to the board, overrunning the normally strong Cicero vote and in 1995 Berwyn resident Margaret Kelly was elected school board president over the incumbent from Cicero.

 The other revolution in 1993 took place in the Mayor's office.  Tom Shaughnessy used his political muscle to take over the Mayor's chair from Lanzilotti, who had had his own problems on some issues. At the time, Shaughnessy was viewed as someone who would change city hall.  A bunch of fresh new faces were elected to the City Council, young guys like Mike O'Connor in the first ward and Joe Keating in the 8th ward.

 Everyone thought Berwyn was on its way to becoming another Oak Park. There was fresh blood in City Council and on the school boards and a "reformer" as Mayor.

 So, then, why did the revolution fail?  Well, for one thing, one of Shaughnessy's first acts was to create the new position of Director of Public Safety over the Police and Fire Department and appoint his friend Frank Marzullo to a 6 figure salary in that position.  Even though Shaughnessy tried to do some good reform things in his first few years (the Community Relations Ordinance comes to mind), it began to look like Shaughnessy was no different than Lanzilotti - paying off his friends with contracts and positions in City Hall.

 On the City Council, Michael O'Connor became the "Joel Erickson" of the City Council, always questioning the mayor's appointments and the questionable spending that was going on. Keating became the defender of the Mayor on the floor - getting along and going along, even defending things that were obivous to an objective observer could not be defended.

 So what happened?  Why did the revolution of 1993 fail?  Why could it not continue as people thought it would continue?  

 And, are there any similarities between the revolution of 1993 and the revolution to 2005?  Will this revolution fail as well?  Have we been duped once again?

Just some things to think about.  As someone once said, people who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.

[pkd50]

Are you suggesting that O'C is becoming Shaugnessey, and Weiner is  becomin Keating, and the rest of the new are becoming the old?

[shrugger]

thanks DQ ...

although I am sure that some would question your interpretation of history (but that's what history is all about, right?), as a newcomer to Berwyn I appreciate such little "lessons." it helps put the current events into a little better context.

and it reinforces my view that, while "revolution" is often a joyous and exciting thing, there is no substitute for the daily work and attention that goes into accomplishing goals. to use (or probably abuse) a football analogy that I've seen elsewhere on this forum, while the big plays are often what get the attention at the end of the day, it is the unsexy dedication to blocking and tackling on every down that is essential to winning the game. that is, DO sweat the small stuff.  

BTW, does Joe Keating (former Alderman) = Joe Keating (current D201 Board member) ?

[OakParkSpartan]

Keating 1993 == Keating 201 == Keating CRB from what I can tell.

[Dancing Queen]

Are you suggesting that O'C is becoming Shaugnessey, and Weiner is  becomin Keating, and the rest of the new are becoming the old?

 I'm not really trying to compare anyone with anyone.  Even comparing the OC with Erickson is a bit much... The OC never turned City Council meetings into a bi-weekly circus (well, at least not most of the time). A more apt comparison might be comparing the OC of the mid to late 90s to Nona today.

 But the same things were said about the OC that are said of Erickson and Phelan today - that O'Connor was being disloyal to Shaughnessy and Marzullo, that O'Connor would have never been elected without them, that O'Connor should just follow the wise and sage advice given to him by Shaughnessy and just vote the way Marzullo tells him to vote.

  As for Joe Keating, it is the same Joe Keating who is on the District 201 board and the same Joe Keating who is Human Relations Commissioner.  Back in 1993, he was viewed as an up-and-comer and it was often said he was heir-apparent to Tom Shaughnessy - that when Shaughnessy retired, Keating would become the mayor. I don't think Keating had the fire in the belly to become mayor.  

 But, it did get me to thinking about loyalty and the handcuffs that loyalty brings with it.  Sometimes people are afraid to speak up because of that loyalty and no one has the guts to say the emperor has no clothes on.

 Shrugger is right about the revolution.  People forgot how to block and tackle. We got lazy and forgot our anger and let the old pols take up right where they left off.  People like Mary Karasek rested on her laurels for 12 years, expecting people to remember what she did in 1993; forgetting that a lot of new people have moved into Berwyn since 1993 and don't even know what Mary did.

  So, the revolution of 1993 fizzled out.  Or did it?  Sometimes I wonder if the revolution just went underground for 12 years, only to re-surface like a bubbling volcano in 2005. Maybe that is what revolutions are - volcanoes that erupt every few years and then fizzle out.   And,  maybe the two fresh young faces that were elected in 1993 will lead us to the promised land and we just don't know it yet.

All I know is this - the anger in the 2005 election matched the anger in the 1993 elections.  I hope that we can harness that and keep it going rather than let it fizzle out again.

[Bru67]

Interesting post.  I think most would agree that 1993-04 was not the Golden Age of Berwyn.  I think what stopped Berwyn from becoming the next "it" thing was the schools.  As has been pointed out, the young professionals who came here during that era simply left once their kids hit school age.  And you have to give credit where it's due.  Other cities and Chicago neighborhoods simply upstaged us and did a much better job marketing themselves to the upper middle class (e.g. Forest Park, Oak Park, Beverly and Galewood).  

Will the Second Revolution be a repeat of the First Revolution?  Well...

Against

1) The old schoolers are dying off and/or moving and with them the old mentality.  

2) Because of the real estate boom, there are fewer attractive alternatives for younger professionals.  Before 2001 or so, Oak Park and great communities with good schools like Elmhurst, Naperville, Downers Grove, etc. were still somewhat affordable.  You wouldn't have the best house on the block but you could get something nice on an average middle class household income if you looked.  

Now, unless you want to bury yourself financially, forget those areas unless you have a 150k+ household income.  So you would either seriously downgrade or go to the "Corn Belt" (Mokena, Oswego, Lockport Yorkville and DeKalb) and move into a tract home.  Some will take the latter route but not as many as before.  I think they'll be more inclined to stand and fight or come in and take a chance, especially if there is an appearance of reform.  

3) This administration is most certainly more reform-minded than the '93 body.  I think it understands that the city has to make substantial changes in order to move forward.  Realizing that v. basking in the glow of being annointed the "next it thing" will make a huge difference in how it moves forward.  

4) Commercial development.  Many communities are now oversaturated with national and regional retail.  Commercial rents in those communities reflect that.  Berwyn is somewhat of an untapped market -- and one bordered by wealthy communities.  Retailers thus find Berwyn interesting because it's low cost and the area's underserved.  That interest is increasing and unless we really screw it up, we will get some quality national chains here.  You're already seeing it.  The BDC is also much more focused and proactive than it was in 1993.  

For

1) The schools.  They're probably even worse than in '93.  The recent passion for this issue is heartening but this should have started years ago.  Until the schools get to a much higher level, we're always going to lose good people who simply will sell their bungalow for $250k and buy a ready-built tract home on the Back 40 for the same price to avoid private school tuition.  I love my pile of bricks but if I have to chose between it and my kid, guess who's winning?  I'd live in a cardboard box and drive 2 hours per day for my child.  Wouldn't you?

2) The rental market is terrible and the real estate market is such that condo conversions make sense for larger building but not smaller ones.  And we have plenty of smaller ones.  That means we're  going to be dealing with a large rental stock and its not-so-stellar on the whole customers -- who seem to decline in overall quality every year -- for the forseeable future.  A few bad apples can spoil the whole bunch, as the saying goes.  

3) Other communities.  We're coming around but other competitors like Westchester and Brookfield are already there and their housing values and positive word of mouth is outpacing us.  Even humble Stickney is starting to get tear downs.  This means: a) they get the more affluent residents and not us;  and, b) the more affluent residents displace the less affluent ones and, well, they have to go somewhere.  Not a good thing.      

To avoid a repeat, the keys for us are, in order: 1) schools; 2) business development;  and, 3) diversity maintenance.  One of the best thing about Berwyn is its diversity and we really need to work to market the community to different types of people so we keep that.  The danger in any community generally and Chicagoland in particular is segregation.  Once you are perceived as a certain kind of neighborhood, it gets increasingly difficult to break out of the mold.  I predict we will not have a repeat.  

[Berwyn Patsy]

The problem with any administration (could even be the school administration) past, present or future is always the intention of telling the public how things will change and honesty will prevail, no more corruption and blah,blah, blah!  It always seems to look good at the start, and then the Power, control and greed take over. In the case of Berwyn Administrators they may try to fall back into the same ole same ole, but because of us it is going to be harder to slip back to bad ways. I am confident that our city will go forward, starting with the schools!

[Ted]

  I think there are 3 reasons why nothing happened after 1993:

1) Non-dynamic mayor - Tom Shaughnessy was not a dynamic person and he did not actively try to move Berwyn forward.  I think he saw himself as a caretaker for the Berwyn that was, not a driver of the Berwyn that could be.  I think if a younger, more pro-active, more dynamic mayor had been elected in 1993, things would be different today.

2) Schools - The image of the schools drove people away. Young DINKS or couples with young kids who loved living here in Berwyn moved because they wanted a better quality education for their kids and Berwyn schools did not have a good image.

3) Englewood - I think the politicians in the early to mid 1990s were more concerned about Berwyn NOT becoming another Englewood than they were about it becoming another Oak Park.  Their greatest fear was people leaving in droves and housing prices going down because of the rising Hispanic population.

Take Care
 Ted

[berwynguy]

I was looking at the "who's online" page and saw someone reading this thread.  (I usually find interesting old threads from way back that way). 

So what happened to the possibility of a "revolution" in 2006?  Any other "revolutions" on the horizon?  Are we better off then we were in 2006 in the areas mentioned in this thread: crime, schools, economic development/businesses, real estate (condo conversions, values, "gentrification"), etc.?  Just curious what some of your thoughts are almost seven years later.