Depending on who you talk to, 46th Ward alderman James Cappleman is either a cold, deceitful hater of the poor who’s destroyed much of Uptown’s affordable housing stock or a friendly, responsive neighborhood booster who’s made Uptown a better place to live.
Far from being a firebrand retail politician, Cappleman has a soft-spoken manner. He grew up on the Gulf of Mexico, near Houston, and has a silky voice with the slightest twinge of a southern accent. He came to Chicago in the 80s as a friar with the Franciscans—the mendicant Catholic order dedicated to serving the poor. He eventually left monastic life, came out of the closet, forged a career in social work, and opened a homeless shelter for men dying of AIDS. He described himself at the time as a “pretty far-left-wing feminist,” and came to know Uptown first as a case manager with what is now Heartland Alliance. In 1999, Cappleman and his husband, Richard Thale, a court advocate for the 19th police district, settled in the neighborhood.
“There was a lawsuit filed about the viaduct, that people had to leave,” he said, referring to the last big showdown between the city and Uptown’s homeless, when the Lawrence and Wilson viaducts needed to be repaired and the sidewalks narrowed to make way for new bike paths. “There was a federal judge that ordered them to leave. And they criticized me because I wouldn’t tell the police to ignore a federal court order.”
Just a couple of doors down from Cappleman’s campaign office, Erika Wozniak Francis, 36, is organizing a run lubricated by union support and her minor celebrity as a cohost of The Girl Talk live show at the Hideout. A fifth-grade teacher at a northwest- side elementary school and a frequent critic of the city’s TIF deals, Wozniak Francis has out-fundraised the other challengers and is supported by Congressman Jesus “Chuy” Garcia, David Orr, and other progressives.
Lalonde seems to have a hard time smiling, although she’s got an encyclopedic knowledge of granular issues in the ward. She’s involved in a long list of local organizations: a block club, a local park board, the women’s shelter Sarah’s Circle. “It was through my involvement that I started to understand that our alderman’s office wasn’t hearing everyone’s voice equally,” she said.
Kreindler, who works with the youth leadership nonprofit Public Allies, is measured—and honest if he doesn’t know the answer to a question. He has the soothing manner of a guy who probably doesn’t mind changing diapers and likely wears Tevas in the summer. He’s also campaigning to make sure East Lakeview—where a third of the ward’s residents live—isn’t an afterthought.
