RICHARD M. DALEY
MAYOR
OFFICE OF THE MAYOR
CITY OF CHICAGO
May 4, 201
TO THE HONORABLE, THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF CHICAGO
Ladies and Gentlemen:
Shiller.
transmit herewith a resolution regarding our departing friend and colleague, Alderman
Your favorable consideration of this resolution will be appreciated.
Very truly yours,
RESOLUTION
WHEREAS, Our friend and colleague, Alderman Helen Shiller, will be retiring after 24 years of dedicated service to the people of the 46th Ward and the City of Chicago; and
WHEREAS, Throughout her career as Alderman, Helen Shiller has struggled to improve the quality of life for her constituents and for all City residents, by fighting to improve the availability of affordable housing and by strongly supporting passage of the City's Human Rights Ordinance, by supporting and improving City recycling programs, by co-sponsoring the domestic partners ordinance which extends benefits for unmarried couples, and by playing an important leadership role in addressing many other issues of great concern to her constituents; and
WHEREAS, Alderman Shiller grew up on Long Island, New York, and received her high school diploma from Woodstock Country School in Vermont in 1965; and
WHEREAS, Helen Shiller received a Bachelor's degree in history from the University of Wisconsin at Madison in 1969 and, much later in her career, she graduated in 2005 from DePaul University's School for New Learning's Master's Program, where her focus was on public policy; and
WHEREAS, After graduating from the University of Wisconsin, Helen Shiller spent three years as a community activist in Racine, Wisconsin, and then moved to Chicago's Uptown neighborhood in 1976, where she first worked as a waitress, and as a freelance photographer and editor-reporter for several local publications; and
WHEREAS, As she continued to engage in community activism, Helen Shiller was President and CEO of Justice Graphics, Inc. from 1981 to 1987; in addition, from 1979 to 1981, she was the Executive Organizer for the Employment Action Coalition, and, in 1983 and 1984, she worked on Mayor Harold Washington's Political Education Project; and
WHEREAS, In 1983, Helen Shiller was employed by Harold Washington's campaign as the campaign organizer for the 46th Ward in his successful first campaign for Mayor of Chicago, and she herself ran for Alderman that year and lost by only 247 votes in her very first political campaign; and
WHEREAS, She was first elected Alderman of Chicago's 46th Ward in 1987 and was reelected to that office in five subsequent elections; and
WHEREAS, During her terms in office, Alderman Shiller worked not only on large political issues, but also to rehabilitate all of her ward's parks and play lots, to streamline the sewer rebate process for senior citizens, to provide for the installation of CTA shelters near high rise apartment buildings with large senior populations, to help create a parking ticket payment plan for all Chicago residents, and to pass ordinances helping to make City government more transparent; and <
WHEREAS, The residents of the 46th Ward and the citizens of the City of Chicago owe Alderman Shiller a large debt of gratitude for her many years of outstanding public service; now, therefore,
BE IT RESOLVED, That we, the Mayor and Members of the City Council of the City of Chicago, assembled this fourth day of May, 2011, do hereby commend Alderman Helen Shiller for her outstanding career as Alderman of the 46th Ward, and that we offer to her our best wishes for the future; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be presented to Alderman Helen Shiller as a sign of our deep respect and good wishes.