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Tuesday, May 22, 2012
Runoff likely in District 5
by Jon Mortimer, published on June 22, 2010 at 9:19 PM
Storyline: City Politics
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Jay Schenirer leads the District 5 race for a seat on the City Council with 47.29 percent of the vote, but he has yet to lock in victory, according the the county election results website.
A candidate needs 50 percent of the vote plus one to be declared the winner for City Council races.
Assistant City Clerk Stephanie Mizuno said she thinks that although there are still ballots left to process, it is unlikely that they will give Schenirer the votes he needs to avoid a Nov. 2 runoff election.
Mizuno reports that the city has seen the incoming ballots distributed in a way that is reinforcing the current percentages.
"Proportionately we haven't seen that much change," Mizuno said.
She further added that the amount of votes Schenirer would need to claim a victory "would be a big percentage to jump."
Schenirer is anticipating a runoff election between he and Patrick Kennedy, and is planning on staying the course of his campaign operations thus far. He said the residents of District 5 can expect "more of the same."
"I spent the last 16 months knocking on the doors of residents," he said. "I'm just going to keep doing that."
There are three main issues Schenirer said he will continue to emphasize: job creation, supporting the youth, and supporting the neighborhoods in the district boundaries.
Kennedy is planning a strategy shift for the Nov. 2 runoff.
"In this election it was an opportunity to introduce myself and talk about the things I've accomplished," Kennedy said. "I plan to address my opponent's record and give the voters an idea of where we're different."
Kennedy claims that most of Schenirer's support in this election was from Schenirer's neighborhood. He hopes to boost the voter turnout for the runoff, claiming that a higher turnout will help swing the election in his favor.
"If we get the other neighborhoods to come out this November, I think we'll have a different result."
The issues that Kennedy plans on emphasizing are the strong mayor initiative, Curtis Park Village, job creation and fiscal accountability in the city government.
Photos taken by Staff Reporter Kathleen Haley.
Kathleen Haley contributed to this report.
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Schenirer is from Curtis Park, where Kennedy claims the majority of his votes are from.
Very Sad, neither candidate will represent Oak Park - they will represent their friends and their wallets.
But then again, maybe Oak Park deserves what it gets... The lack of activism in this community simply astounds me.
Unfortunately your claims about lack of activism in the neighborhood is falling on deaf ears. I can name a dozen individuals and groups who are leading a unified charge to change this negative perception that you and other continue to express about our inspired neighborhood. It may not look like much to those living outside of Oak Park, but there are great things happening right now including a new Saturday Farmers Market, new businesses, and millions of dollars in investment.
I urge you to meet with me and other Oak Park activist , we'd be ecstatic to show you the progress we've made and what's in the works.
This negative (and inaccurate) perception of Oak Park has to stop!
Having Schenirer and Kennedy as the only choices for City Council is proof of my assertions.
The district had by far the lowest turn out of voters. Statisticlly, very few African American voters went to the polls.
Jay is another typical parasite who has volunteered only to get into public office, not to better his community.
There are two kinds of people in our society scare me the most, even more than criminals....those who really really want to be cops, and those who really really want to be politicans - Both want the legitmized ability and power to control others.
It's hard to tell because the zoom feature wasn't working for me, but it looks like Schenirer won a majority in all areas of District 5.
The zoom feature works here and it will show you more specifically where Schenirer and Kennedy have their respective supporter groups. It looks like Kennedy did lead in some areas.