47th Ward Alderman Gene Schulter
- September 2004He's served under seven mayors. He's been a founding member of community groups on the North Side. He's been an activist determined to see Chicago's neighborhoods reach their full potential since the 1960s. 47th Ward Alderman Gene Schulter has certainly seen a lot of changes since he took office in 1975. But one thing that hasn't changed over the years is his commitment to the critical issues that make urban neighborhoods pleasant and productive places where people want to live and do business.
Quality of life issues were what drew Gene Schulter to politics. He was born in the 47th Ward neighborhood now known as Roscoe Village, then considered just another part of western Lake View. Gene's parents were farmers who migrated to Chicago from Wisconsin in the 1930s and rented an apartment in the area. When Gene was in his early 20s, he and his family grew concerned with what was happening to their neighborhood. Real estate speculators were buying up properties, boarding them up and allowing them to fall into disrepair. Meanwhile, insurance companies refused to give policies to residents and banks denied loans to people who wanted to buy property in the area—a practice known as redlining for the symbolic "red line" drawn around "undesirable" urban neighborhoods on the map.
Gene knew that this practice was unfair to the thousands of renters who had no hopes of getting a loan to buy a home. Meanwhile, there was no initiative to redevelop the many vacant homes that had gone to foreclosure and that were rapidly becoming a danger to the community. So he joined forces with some of his neighbors and friends to try and make a change. "We met as a community and tried to figure out a strategy to go after the absentee landlords who were ripping off the residents," recalls Gene. "I had a sense of what renters had to put up with because my own family rented. I realized that we're all in this together and that we had to do something." He got involved with a couple local groups, including B.L.U.E. (Building Lake View's Urban Environment), the Lake View Citizens Council and Concerned Citizens for a Better Lake View. Members from these groups began to take steps like going to housing court to testify against problem landlords and protesting outside local banks that wouldn't issue loans. "As a group we had three major goals to save our neighborhood," explains Gene. "First, we needed to go after the speculators who weren't investing in the community. Then we needed to deal with the redlining problem on the insurance and mortgage side. Finally, we decided that we needed to come up with a neighborhood identity."
That was the birth of Roscoe Village. Named for its defining east-west street, its wide sidewalks were lined with meat markets, diners, small grocery stores, a bakery, a candy shop and the Roscoe Theater. Local bars welcomed neighbors for Friday night fish frys. The Europa House was a German restaurant that became the focal point for many community meetings. Gene and his neighbors felt that creating a Roscoe Village identity would help build pride among residents while attracting the interest of people who might invest in the area or visit its businesses.
While Gene and his neighbors were fighting for the quality of life in their neighborhood, they were dealt another blow. Due to serious financial shortages, the CTA announced that it wanted to demolish the Ravenswood Line. While residents pleaded with the city to save their primary mode of transportation, the CTA closed the Paulina Station—the one station that Roscoe Villagers depended on to get downtown. "There was such an uproar from the neighborhood that they had to open it up again," recalls Rosemary Schulter, Gene's wife of 25 years who also grew up in the 47th Ward. "Those of us who had a vision for the neighborhood knew what an impact closing the Ravenswood Line would have," says Gene.
Inspired by working with his neighbors to make a change, Gene decided that he wanted to take his goals to the next level and run for office. At 26, he launched a grassroots campaign as a Democrat against the incumbent John Hoellen, Alderman of the 47th Ward. The ward had been a Republican stronghold for years, with John Hoellen and his father holding political control back to back for 15 years. "A friend of mine had a vacant storefront that he let me use as my headquarters in Roscoe Village," recalls Gene. "We developed our own silkscreen operation there and made about 10,000 window posters ourselves." Gene felt so strongly that the neighborhood needed a change that he refinanced his house to fund the campaign.
Rosemary was an accountant at the time who met Gene through a mutual friend. Shortly after they met, he hired her as his assistant campaign manager. She worked out of his second Lincoln Avenue office in the storefront that's now the Niedersachsen Club located at 4548 North Lincoln Avenue. "We were both from the neighborhood," explains Rosemary. "He came from the south end and I was from the north end." Rosemary's family has lived in the ward for more than 100 years; her family's home was one of the first built in the area and still stands. After the campaign, Gene and Rosemary began dating. They eventually married in February of 1979, "during the worst snowstorm in Chicago's history," says Gene.
Against the odds, Gene won the race for the 47th Ward in 1975. It didn't take long for him to be exposed to the ways of politics. In a publicity stunt to strengthen his chances of winning, Alderman John Hoellen had run for mayor against Richard J. Daley at the same time he was vying with Gene for the 47th Ward Alderman position. Daley defeated Hoellen, but died in office less than a year into his term. To fill the void, the City Council elected Michael Bilandic to serve as acting mayor. A few years later, he was defeated by Jane Byrne in the 1979 election, largely due to the perception that the city had mishandled its snow removal duties during Chicago's worst snowstorm.
Amidst these political changes, Gene set out on his task to improve the infrastructure of the 47th Ward and to redevelop Lincoln Square. "We worked with urban planners to create a design for the area," explains Gene. "Everyone thought we were crazy for doing it, but the city eventually listened to our recommendations." The plan called for the reconfiguration of Lincoln Avenue, diverting traffic between Lawrence and Leland to make the area more pedestrian friendly. New signs marked the area as Lincoln Square. Giddings Plaza was added so that neighbors could enjoy festivals and music in public meeting spaces. Just as all the construction work was completed, tragedy struck. A fire destroyed a restaurant and a store right in the center of the block. "After the fire, we got out there and physically washed down the sidewalks and plazas," recalls Gene. "We were determined to make our plan to beautify the area work."
Once the neighborhood's infrastructure was in place, the next part of the plan was to help market the area. Gene brought the lessons he had learned from the success of Roscoe Village to Lincoln Square. To increase the appeal of the neighborhood, Gene wanted to make use of the special event areas built during the reconstruction. He knew it was important to bring people together for social events, so he worked with local merchants to start an Oktoberfest. "The first Oktoberfest was held right in the middle of Lincoln Avenue," explains Rosemary. "The goal was to bring the German American organizations back to the city to celebrate. They had stopped coming to the area when Riverview Park had closed." The tradition of an Oktoberfest in Lincoln Square carries on today, with the added bonus of a major parade that has been relocated from downtown to celebrate the neighborhood's German-American heritage. "Rarely does a parade of this scope where families can see floats and marching bands travel through a neighborhood," says Gene.
Visit Giddings Plaza on a sunny Sunday afternoon, or stroll past Lincoln Avenue's many independent businesses like The Chopping Block, Costello's, the Old Town School of Folk Music or The Book Cellar and you'll experience Alderman Schulter's vision as it has come to pass. His work to create a pedestrian-oriented environment in Lincoln Square now welcomes both entrepreneurs and shoppers alike. Gene is always looking for new businesses that are a good fit for the neighborhood, and often provides assistance to entrepreneurs who want to open a business in the ward. "You can't point to one thing that makes a good neighborhood," says Gene. "It has to do with quality of life, which comes from building a sustainable community with not only a beautiful residential component, but also a strong commercial and industrial component." Although things are going very well in the 47th Ward, Gene's work is never done. He frequently applies his knowledge to help aldermen of other Wards throughout the city that are experiencing their own renaissance.
"People are typically suspect of change," explains Gene. "My job is to bring people together and alleviate their fears." At the same time, Gene's dedication to smart, careful change has protected the 47th Ward from some of the jarring and uprooting transformations that other North Side neighborhoods have experienced. Eighteen years ago, Alderman Schulter downzoned every side street in the ward to prevent developers from replacing single family homes with massive condo buildings that drastically increase population density. Today, developers can only rebuild the same type of structure they take down. Ironically, it's this very fact that has made Lincoln Square and other 47th ward neighborhoods so attractive to real estate buyers. When a new development comes in, Gene and his staff work on addressing the issues that come from an increase in population, such as parking problems and overcrowding at local schools. Gene also has instituted an affordable housing plan so that seniors, families and lower income residents of the ward have somewhere to live. All developers who build in the 47th Ward must set aside a percentage of their units as affordable housing.
Alderman Schulter's dedication to the neighborhood has never wavered, and he still is a resident after all these years. He and his wife, Rosemary, raised two children here. Philip is a college graduate who is currently enrolled in the Chicago Police Academy. Monica is a student at UIC studying communications and is fluent in German, which she has studied for a number of years. "We felt that we could offer her more of the great culture of this German neighborhood if she studied the language," says Rosemary. In their free time, Gene and Rosemary enjoy gardening and watching the birds from their backyard. "That's our peace and serenity," says Gene. They also love to travel to other cities and small towns, though it's hard for Gene to stop working. "We enjoy exploring other towns to bring back ideas for our ward," he says.
After being re-elected to his seventh term in 2003, Alderman Schulter is still going strong. He accomplishes his goals for the ward with the assistance of a dedicated staff, some of whom have worked with him for years. Dan Luna is Alderman Schulter's Chief of Staff. Karl Ericson, who is in charge of the committee on licensing, has been on the staff for 23 years. "No big heads need apply," says Gene. "We work as a team and we're all equal members of that team." In last year's election, Alderman Schulter successfully ran for the Democratic Committeeman of the Ward. "Our goal is to reach out to the young people in the ward and to encourage people to participate in their government," says Gene. "When it comes to politics, I believe in addition, not subtraction. We can all benefit from more people becoming involved in making a difference."
If you live, work or do business in the 47th Ward and you are in need of assistance or you would like to be a local volunteer, contact Alderman Gene Schulter's office at 773.348.8400. You can also visit the 47th Ward website at www.ward47.org for neighborhood information.
47th Ward Alderman Gene Schulter
4237 North Lincoln Avenue
Chicago, IL 60618
773.348.8400
www.ward47.com
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