[Peace] Re: today's elections - resources and opinions

Tue Apr 1 14:36:53 CST 2003

Regarding the School Board race in Urbana:

Carol George DOESN'T meet residency requirements. You have to live in the
subdistrict for one year. She lives in Rantoul and has a kid in school in
Rantoul (even though she has claimed to have a kid in King). Her previous
landlord in Urbana says she lived there for 90 days. Now the house is
unoccupied. What is there to contest? If she lives in the subdistrict, what is
her address? This has nothing to do with what the school board might want or
not want. The school board did not make these rules and I don't know of anyone
on the school board who has any reason to have it in for her.

Fortunately, we do have a choice. There are 2 write-in candidates for school
board in that subdistrict: Jerry Moreland and Alan Douglas. One of them will be
elected to school board when Carol George is found ineligible to serve. At
least people should vote for one of them and have some voice in who will
represent them instead of throwing a vote away on someone who won't be able to
serve. 

Jerry Moreland has been active with United Citizens and Neighbors and the King
PTA and he was a strong voice for expanding King. Alan Douglas ran against me 2
elections ago and is also commited to equity. Both candidates are African
American and have kids that either currently attend King school or attended
King and are now at the middle school. I'm leaning towards voting for Jerry
Moreland.

This has nothing to do with whether I support Carol George. I wish that she
were eligible to serve. But she's not. So we should elect someone who is
eligible instead of just pointing fingers at the school district.

-Laura Haber
soon to be former School Board member

--- Danielle Chynoweth <chyn at ojctech.com> wrote:
> Dear Friends,
> 
> Local elections are TODAY Tuesday, April 1st.  Polls are open 6 AM to 7 
> PM. Please take the time to vote.  
> 
> There are a number of important elections today - 2 contested School Board 
> elections in Urbana, 8 folks running for 4 seats on Champaign School 
> Board, and 6 running for 3 seats on Champaign City Council, and 2 
> Champaign Park Commissioners seats are open with 3 running. 
> 
> Since people often approach me in the final days before an election asking 
> for my position on the candidates, I've compiled a list of voter resources 
> and statements on who I would vote for in contested races in C-U.  In 
> general, this list reflects my assessment of who are the most progressive 
> candidates on the issues.  For this election I consider racial equity, 
> government openness and accountability, living wage, and fair housing as 
> the top issues.  
> 
> RESOURCES
> Print a sample ballot, find your polling place, and view your voter 
> registration information:
> http://www.champaigncountyclerk.com/registrationstatus.asp
> 
> Candidate responses to NOW's questionnaire and some discussion:
> http://che.ojctech.com/~chyn/public/elections/  --> download from here
> 
> UI League of Women Voters candidate info (student/campus focused): 
> http://www2.uiuc.edu/ro/LWV/april2003.htm
> 
> 
> CANDIDATES
> Urbana School Board: 
> ---------------------------
> I strongly support COPE CUMPSTON in sub-district 4 which includes most of 
> the Historic neighborhoods in East and West Urbana.  Cope is a progressive 
> activist and civil rights leader.  Cope supports racial equity, better 
> community and government relations with the school district, and 
> neighborhood preservation in the face of campus expansion.  Whereas 
> current School Board leadership has pushed for punitive solutions to 
> complex problems, Cope supports understanding the roots of the problem and 
> bringing all parties to the table to find solutions.  She is a strong 
> leader with a gentle, inclusive leadership style. To read more about Cope, 
> go to: www.copeforschools.org.
> 
> CAROL GEORGE, who is running unopposed in the mostly African-American, 
> King neighborhood sub-district, is a strong progressive voice for racial 
> equity, multicultural curriculum, and democratization of district 
> decisions.  I interviewed her for an hour on WEFT and was impressed with 
> her ideas, passion, and vision. After the elections, the School District 
> plans to challenge Carol George who is running unopposed in the King 
> School sub-district.  The District claims she does not meet residency 
> requirements.  Carol insists she does and intends to fight the district in 
> the courts.  
> 
> 
> Champaign City Council: (3 seats)
> -------------------------------------------
> KEN URBAN
> Professor at Parkland, Union Member
> Top issues: Living Wage, Domestic Partner Benefits, Affordable Housing, 
> City Recycling, the Arts
> 
> GERALDO ROSALES
> Director, La Casa Cultural Latina, Champaign Human Relations Commission 
> and Police/Community Task Force, Board Member of Arts Alliance
> Top Issues: Diversity, even economic growth throughout the city, 
> supporting democracy on the neighborhood level, fairness in housing 
> policies.
> 
> 
> Champaign School Board: (4 seats)
> ------------------------------------------
> MARGIE SKIRVIN
> Served one term as School Board member, on Illinois PTA State Board of 
> Managers
> Margie is a long time advocate of openness and transparency.  She strongly 
> opposed the trend on the School Board to limit public participation.  She 
> is a strong advocate for equity and fairness.
> 
> NATHANIEL BANKS
> Asst Dean of students, UI; worked on Charter School Initiative
> Nathaniel is a thoughtful candidate with a strong commitment and promising 
> set of ideas to raise the  achievements levels of and level the playing 
> field for African American youth.
> 
> Please view last Sunday's News Gazette, March 30th, A-3 for extensive 
> responses from School Board candidates. 
> 
> 
> - Danielle
> 
> -- 
> | Danielle Chynoweth
> |
> | Art Director * OJC Technologies * ojctech.com
> | City Council Member * Urbana City Council * city.urbana.il.us
> 
> 

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