<body><div><figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=2xns4F_1GzjXaip00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=2xns4F_1GzjXaip00" width="1280" height="883" ></figure>Northwest Side challengers and incumbents in aldermanic races in next year’s Feb. 23 municipal election hit the ground running just as the mid-terms wrapped up last week. At a meeting of the Old Irving Park Association on Nov. 4, candidates in the 45th, 39th and 30th wards echoed their campaigns and voiced concerns about neighborhood issues.“We do not get ward services as a personal favor from the alderman,” S Gronkiewicz-Doran told residents at Saint John’s Episcopal Church, 3857 N. Kostner Ave. “That’s our services. We paid for them, and everybody deserves them, whether the alderperson likes you or not.”Gronkiewicz-Doran and Leah Cunningham Pouw are challenging incumbent James Gardiner in the 45th Ward as he seeks a third term. Alderperson Ruth Cruz faces Judy Velez in the 30th Ward. Alderman Samantha Nugent is running unopposed in the 39th Ward. Portions of each ward are in Old Irving Park.Gardiner, a former special education teacher who has been on leave from the Chicago Fire Department since taking office, made his case for another term in part on the changes at Six Corners. He said $560 million in new developments had brought union jobs and permanent jobs. He said new businesses coming include Pita Inn, Wells Fargo and Burlington. He focused on services his office offers such as tree-trimming and snow-shoveling.“All things that you wanted when I knocked on your door in 2018,” Gardiner said. “All things that I delivered, right?”Gronkiewicz-Doran, an attorney and community organizer who serves on the Schurz High School Local School Council, said they would restore participatory budgeting in the 45th Ward, giving residents a vote on how to spend some of the ward’s infrastructure money. They said Gardiner had promised to keep the program going and hadn’t. They also called for a zoning process led by residents.Pouw, a policy researcher at the University of Illinois School of Social Work who has served on Wildwood’s school and park councils, said residents wanted safer streets on the way to school and fair treatment wherever they live in the ward.“People want to be treated fairly across the ward, from Old Irving Park to Independence Park all the way through Jefferson up to Wildwood and Edgebrook,” Pouw said. Pouw also said she wants business districts with places people can visit with their children or grandparents, or on their own.Gardiner raised $63,612 in contributions and had $93,102 on-hand Sept. 30, according to third-quarter 2026 reports filed with the Illinois State Board of Elections. Gronkiewicz-Doran raised $9,803 and had $10,054 on hand. Pouw raised $14,502 and had $53,061 on hand.In the 30th Ward, Velez referred to pothole repairs, rat baiting and sidewalk repairs to contest how well the city was serving residents. Velez, a small-business owner who said she worked her way from restaurant host to food and beverage director, cited what she called a ward service report card. She said it ranked the 30th Ward 41st out of 50 in pothole repairs, 36th in rat baiting and 47th in sidewalk repairs. She did not name the report’s source.Velez questioned how the ward spends the $1.5 million it receives each year for infrastructure. “And we have to ask, how and where are those tax dollars being utilized?” Velez said. “Are they being distributed equitably across the 30th Ward?”Cruz, who is seeking a second term, described how residents can weigh in on ward decisions through participatory budgeting, a community committee that reviews zoning proposals and a youth council. “Our youth deserves to be part of the decision making,” Cruz said.She said the ward is investing in traffic safety measures for pedestrians, cyclists and drivers. She also mentioned partnering with neighbors on community cleanups and ongoing efforts to address pigeon feces under viaducts.Cruz thanked residents who helped immigrant communities during federal immigration enforcement providing food, patrolling schools and referring people for legal assistance. Gronkiewicz-Doran, who described conducting watch efforts of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement with the Northwest Side Rapid Response Team, echoed her thanks.Cruz raised $72,699 in contributions during the third quarter and had $120,607 on hand Sept. 30. Velez raised $8,715 and had $6,013 on hand.Nugent, who is also seeking a third term in the 39th Ward, said she and fellow alderpersons had been asking “the really tough questions” about Mayor Brandon Johnson’s proposed 2027 budget. She, along with Cruz and Gardiner, voted in support of using the city’s $75 million payment from the parking meter concession transfer for an extra pension contribution in 2026, not in 2027, as the mayor proposed in his budget. Nugent called it “an example of us not kicking the can down the road.”Nugent raised $57,300 in contributions during the third quarter and had $335,591 on hand Sept. 30.In the part of OIP she represents, Nugent said she advocated for a $25,000 mural at Belding School which residents had wanted. She said she was supporting Belding’s plans to expand its International Baccalaureate program, mentioned new speed bumps on the 4200 block of West Cullom Avenue and tree trimming.</div></body>

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Northwest Side challengers and incumbents in aldermanic races in next year’s Feb. 23 municipal election hit the ground running just as the mid-terms wrapped up last week. At a meeting of the Old Irving Park Association on Nov. 4, candidates in the 45th, 39th and 30th wards echoed their campaigns and voiced concerns about neighborhood issues.

NW Side aldermanic races already heating up

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Northwest Side challengers and incumbents in aldermanic races in next year’s Feb. 23 municipal election hit the ground running just as the mid-terms wrappe

NW Side aldermanic races already heating up

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