Glenview candidates ready to roll toward April 6
It wasn't as exciting as camping out at Flipside for Rolling Stones tickets in 1978, but candidates for the April 2021 Glenview municipal elections started up in earnest Dec. 14.
"Where else would you rather be on a Monday morning, right?" said board trustee candidate Cathy Wilson.
She said that somewhat jokingly, but not really. The feeling of her Glenview Next party is that its three trustee candidates would offer an alternative to the ticket offered by Unite Glenview. That party is headed by current board trustee Mike Jenny, who is running to succeed outgoing board President Jim Patterson.
"We're doing this to give the people of Glenview a choice in the election," said Wilson, wearing an American flag pin and a Ruth Bader Ginsburg face mask.
"And we also think it's important that issues that will impact Glenview in the future get discussed. You do that through a competitive campaign with good people on both sides each talking about their vision for Glenview," she said.
The rush to be first to arrive at Glenview Village Hall - won by Unite Glenview secretary Kay Laurie and her husband, Jeff - and lock in a name at the top of the April 6 ballot turned out not to be so essential.
Lisa Goodwin, Glenview executive assistant and deputy clerk, who recorded the candidates' petitions on this first day of filing, will conduct a lottery to determine ballot placement on Dec. 30, nine days after the filing deadline of 5 p.m. Dec. 21.
Still, with both slates present when the Community Room doors opened - Unite Glenview's Jenny and trustee candidates Gina DeBoni, Tim Doron and Adam Sidoti; and Glenview Next's Wilson, Paul Brancky and Sheri Latash - plus incumbent Glenview Public Library Board President Kathy Davis Vega and trustee Carol Schmitt, all will be in equal standing when the lottery takes place.
"It's not like camping out, like the old days of the line tickets," said the friendly Jenny.
Asked the importance of the competition, he said: "I think it's always important to have a catalyst for going out into the community and having the conversations that (people) would like you to have in terms of the issues that are important to them.
"We try to do that. As a city trustee I try to do that as often as I can in terms of interaction with the public. But the campaign, it's not always contested," Jenny said.
Citing the Cook County Clerk's office, Glenview Next provided information noting independents Vincent Spalo in 2017 and Ben Polony in 2019 ran unsuccessfully for trustee positions. Otherwise, the new party claimed candidates from Unite Glenview or a party named differently but forwarding candidates under its umbrella, had run unopposed since 2001 elections.
"I think it signifies that it's an opportunity for more people to get involved with their local government and to change the trajectory a little bit in terms of how village officials engage with residents," said Brancky, a technical consultant for a software company.
"How we communicate in Glenview is good, but it needs to be improved," said Latash, who brings a background in both teaching and waste management. "We need to have meaningful engagement with citizens and we have lots of ideas on how to improve communications within the village."
There has been - and over the next four months there will continue to be - plenty of opportunity for engagement.
"It's a culmination of everybody gathering signatures from residents across Glenview, from their friends, their neighbors," Unite Glenview chairwoman Kerry Cummings said of Monday's opening volley.
"It's just a great day to put that all together and forward so we're officially on the ballot and ready to hopefully serve."