...It's Rogers Park

Woody Bowman ran for State Representative in 1976 and his campaign literature stated that he had been a Rogers Park resident for 8 years. I thought that was an unwise thing for him to say.

I had lived in my neighborhood for 21 years and other people had been there even longer. I thought 8 years made Woody sound like he was too new to the area to represent everyone.

But there was a difference between our two portions of the district. In the 49th Ward (Rogers Park) , many folks - especially young people - had lived there for a short time and then moved away. Woody had stayed longer than many of them and had obviously chosen to make this neighborhood his home. The tenure of his residency was just right.

In the 50th Ward (West Rogers Park), where I lived, many people moved in when they were young, raised families there, and remained for many more years.

Woody’s vote was more likely to come from the 49th Ward (it did) and his campaign literature pitched to those voters.

Three years later, David Orr ran for 49th Ward Alderman. Since he was divorced and had no children, he displayed a picture of himself posing with his dog in the section of the brochure where candidates typically included family pics.

I thought that made him look silly, but many young people in the ward liked it. “Hey,” one said, “I’ve got a dog just like his.” It wouldn’t have worked in the 50th Ward but it did in the 49th.