Chicago - Every successful Chicago alderman will tell you: in order to stay successful and continue to be elected, you have to effectively respond to the complaints of the people you serve.
There are 50 Chicago aldermen in 50 Chicago wards elected to answer your concerns. But who among these 50 are returning their constituent phone calls promptly and efficiently, and who's not?
"Lights that are out and fire hydrants that are on," said Alderman Ricardo Munoz, explaining some of the types of complaints that he receives at his office. Alderman George Cardenas said his constituents call him often about graffiti, Alderman Walter Burnett said they call him about abandoned buildings, and Alderman Pat Dowell said vacant lots are a real concern in her ward for her residents.
"Any concerns, big or small, we are here to serve," said Alderman Brain Doherty.
But, there are a lot of requests. Alderman Anthony Beale said that his office takes between 80 to 90 calls a day. Alderman Freddrenna Lyle said she receives 300 constituent complaints a week. And Ald. Burnett claims his office has answered more than 3,000 constituent concerns in the past three months.
Pleasing all of the people all of the time though, can be difficult. Take, for example Ellen Fiedelholtz, Stan Hollenbeck, and Peter Donalek, three constituents of ward 46, where Alderman Helen Shiller has presided for 23 years. It's a ward made up of very different neighborhoods, with very different people.
"You have to meet the needs of everyone who live here," said Ellen, commenting on Alderman Shiller's job and the complexity of ward 46.
"She has to balance between the people who are affluent and the people who have very little," added Peter. "It's a tough job and I think she's doing a very good job."
Getting through to the Alderman may take some time. "I call and I call again," said Ellen. "I have to continually call up and talk about that area on Broadway that is a little seedy. I think there needs to be more uniformity in the way the calls are taken and responded to so residents know they're being heard by their alderman."
"I think Helen falls into that category of you either love her, or you hate her," commented Stan about Alderman Helen Shiller.
In response, Shiller said, "You'll get a response. You may or may not like it, or you may think we should find some other way to do it, but we'll do the best to figure out what we can do."
These concerns got FOX Chicago News thinking: how responsive are all 50 Chicago Aldermen to their constituents' most common complaints? So, over the course of the last two months a team of callers made 150 after-hours phone calls--three calls made to every aldermanic ward office in the city. Messages were left specifically for the aldermen about concerns related to potholes, garbage, and rats. The callers left a return phone number and asked for a return call in each of their messages.
Only 14 wards had staff members respond in a timely and helpful fashion to all three of the voice mail messages. Included in that list are the offices of Joe Moore, Mary Ann Smith, Margaret Laurino, Vi Daley, Brendan Reilly on the north side, Pat Dowell in the 3rd ward, Ricardo Munoz in the 22nd ward, and Daniel Solis in the 25th ward. Also, the southwest offices of Frank Olivo, Toni Foulkes and Lona Lane, and the far south offices of Howard Brookins, John Pope and Anthony Beale.
"We document everything," said Alderman Ricardo Munoz on how he keeps his calls from constituents in order.
Alderman Daniel Solis was happy with his results. "Basically you're evaluating my staff and confirming I did a good job selecting them," he said.
"It was definitely a sneaky test," said Alderman Anthony Beale on consideration of the investigation. But he praised his staff for living up to his expectations and he even framed the copy of the letter FOX sent to him announcing the results.
Staffers from 21 wards returned two of our three calls, and most of their bosses weren't pleased.
"You're not going to be an alderman long if you don't take care of your constituent complaints," said Alderman Brian Doherty.
Alderman Freddrenna Lyle said, "Had you been a real constituent, I would be apologizing profusely."
"Believe me, I will take it up with the person who is responsible," said Alderman Toni Preckwinkle after she received her results from FOX Chicago.
As for Alderman Helen Shiller, whose staff also answered two of three calls, she said, "I freak out if something like this falls through the cracks because to me, that's really important."
12 offices answered just one of three calls, including Alderman Bernard Stone's 50th ward, even though he has a system for keeping track of constituent calls. "We keep record of where all the calls come in and we can't find any record of any of these calls!" he said. "So, that's why it's hard to believe that with all of these double checks -- it's just hard to believe that we missed these."
Three offices, including ward one, vacated by Manny
EmailThis
Print this story
View Story on a Single Page
