By Bob Seidenberg
Former 8th Ward Alderman Ann Rainey formally announced Tuesday night her intention to run for mayor in next spring’s special election, laying out in the no-holds barred language she is known for why her leadership is needed at what she called a “critical time” for the city.
Surrounded by supporters in the rooftop bar area at downtown’s Five & Dime restaurant, Rainey, a dominant voice in Evanston municipal affairs for nearly more than 30 years, said of the people who have so far expressed interest in running — “some of them are very smart people, I think I am the most qualified person to step in to an administration that needs to be cared for those two years (left in current mayor Daniel Biss’s term after the election).
Her intention is to serve the two year’s left in Mayor Daniel Biss’s term, after the next spring’s election, she said.
Focus on placing the city back on course
”My service in those two years is not going to be political,” she said. “It’s not going to be about how I feel about affordable housing. It’s not going to be about how I feel about zoning. It’s not going to be how I feel whether or not Connections for the Homeless should buy the Margarita Inn.”
Rather, “it’s going to be about empowering the City Council to do the job that they’ve been elected to do,” said Rainey, 83. “It’s about a mayor who supposed to oversee the Council and not the city staff. The city staff…they’re the experts — not the mayor. The mayor should not be attending staff meetings. He should not be directing the staff. The mayor should be directing the council.
”I have never seen a Council that needs more direction than the Council we currently have,’’ she said to applause. “They’re very nice people, but you don’t look to your mayor to see how you should vote. And there are times on this Council when people actually deferred to the mayor on how you should vote.”
City’s failure to hire professional city manager a missed opportunity
The current city manager, Luke Stowe, “is one of the nicest guys you can have,” she said. “But he is not a city manager. He is an I.T. expert. There are professional city managers all over this country. The city of Evanston had an opportunity to hire several of them, wonderful applicants. They [the applicants] turned down the city. Why? All we can say is maybe they took a look at the city. Because when you’re an applicant for a high-priced job like that, all you have to do is click on Google and take a look at City Council meetings, take a look at all the documents that are on the city website, you know whether or not you want to come to that city.”
”We have a mayor who decided he was going to be a strong mayor and have a weak manager…and that’s the situation we’re in. We do not have a well-run city. We are entitled to a well-run city and that’s what I’m going to make sure we have.
”I don’t know if were we’re going to have 20,000 more affordable housing units,” she said, “but I can guarantee you we’re going to have a well-run city. And I believe if you have a well-run city and a strong City Council and a very happy, high morale staff you’re going to have as much affordable housing as you can get. Because what we have right now is a staff not up to par, you have vacant spaces in some departments, you have over staffing in other departments. That’s going to change.”
Currently, legal rulings on procedural questions at meetings take too long, she said. “I’ve been on the Council for so many years where you get an answer on the Council floor. (Now) you’ve got to wait for another meeting to get an answer.”
Rainey fell just short being elected mayor in 1993. She returned to the Council. after a brief hiatus, and worked closely with Lorraine H. Morton, the candidate who defeated her. She was known for her preparation, delving into the thick meeting packets, and bringing out salient details into debate of issues.
”I have served under five city managers, three interim city managers, four mayors, 44 different CAPS city council members,” she told the gathering.
None of the candidates who have emerged so far have her experience, she said. “I’m telling you I will do the best job,” she said, vowing to hand over a well-run city to the mayor elected to a regular four-year term in 2029.
At the announcement event, Virginia Mann, a longtime Evanston resident long active on city issues, said Rainey’s vow to serve two years was an attractive feature of her candidacy.
”We’ve had a mayor who’s been running for another election…Ann Rainey has vowed to run for a two-year term, not to use it as stepping stone to another term as mayor, not to use it as a stepping stone for another elected office,” she said.
”She’s going to be solely focused on the needs of the people of Evanston, of making Evanston’s government work for us again. I think that’s critical and it’s a great opportunity.”