RESOLUTION
WHEREAS, The Members of this Chamber are proud to congratulate our friend and colleague, Alderman Joe Moore, on his twenty-eight years of dedicated and outstanding service to the people of the 49th Ward and the City of Chicago; and
WHEREAS, Born in Chicago in 1958, Alderman Moore was raised in Oak Lawn and Evanston, Illinois. After graduating in 1976 from Evanston Township High School, Alderman Moore earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1980 from Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois, and a Juris Doctor degree in 1984 from DePaul University College of Law. From 1984 to 1991, he worked as an attorney in the City of Chicago's Department of Law, first in the Department's Appeals Division, where he argued cases before the Illinois Appellate Court, Illinois Supreme Court, and U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, and later in the Department's Affirmative Litigation Division, where he worked to recover millions of dollars on behalf of City taxpayers; and
WHEREAS, First elected as Alderman ofthe 49th Ward in 1991, Alderman Moore was re-elected by his constituents to six additional consecutive terms in office; and
WHEREAS, Throughout his illustrious career on Chicago's City Council, Alderman Moore was a fervent advocate for political reform, political transparency and democratic governance; and
WHEREAS, Alderman Moore was a pioneer in the effort to bring community policing to Chicago. Under his leadership, the 49th Ward was selected as one of the first areas of the City to host a community policing pilot project, which, over a twenty-year period, resulted in a 54% reduction in serious crime there; and
WHEREAS, An outspoken and nationally renowned progressive voice for policies in support of working people, including a higher minimum wage and paid sick leave, Alderman Moore sponsored the 2006 Chicago Big Box Ordinance, which required large retail stores to pay their employees a wage sufficient to keep a family of four out of poverty. The Ordinance was a precursor to Chicago's Minimum Wage Ordinance, which guarantees all workers in Chicago a wage of at least $ 13 an hour indexed to inflation; and
WHEREAS, In 2009, Alderman Moore became the first elected official to bring participatory budgeting to the United States. An innovative budget allocation procedure that allows constituents to decide, through direct vote in a participatory budgeting election, how discretionary budgeted capital will be spent to improve the local community, this budgeting model has been adopted by eight of Alderman Moore's City Council colleagues, and is now being used in 16 other cities, including New York City, Seattle, Boston and San Francisco; and
WHEREAS, A champion of affordable housing in one of the Nation's most diverse and vibrant communities, Alderman Moore recently presided over the groundbreaking of the Clark-Estes Apartments at the southwest corner of Clark Street and Estes Avenue, a project that will bring 54 new affordable housing units to the 49th Ward, as well as additional retail space; and
WHEREAS, A strong believer in community outreach and local celebrations, Alderman Moore created several annual events in the 49th Ward to bring residents together, including the Rogers Park Back-to-School Picnic; 49th Ward Annual Spring Clean-Up and Taste of Rogers Park; 49th Ward Job Fair and Employment Resource Fair; 49th Ward Bike Ride; 49th Ward Second Chance and Juvenile Expungement Summit; 49th Ward Community Pet Day; and dozens of Satellite Service Office tours at different locations throughout the Ward, where constituents can ask questions and express concerns about their community; and
WHEREAS, Alderman Moore served with distinction on many Chicago City Council committees, including most recently as Chairman of the Committee on Housing and Real Estate, and as a member of the Committee on Committees, Rules and Ethics; Committee on Education and Child Development; Committee on Finance; Committee on Health and Environmental Protection; Committee on Human Relations; and Committee on Special Events, Cultural Affairs and Recreation; now, therefore,
BE IT RESOLVED, That we, the Mayor and Members ofthe City Council ofthe City of Chicago, assembled this tenth day of April, 2019, do hereby extend to Alderman Joe Moore our deepest gratitude and thanks for his many years of exceptional service to the people of Chicago, and our best wishes for continued success in all of his future endeavors; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be presented to Alderman Joe Moore as a token of our appreciation and esteem.