- Credibility:
ENGLEWOOD — Ald. Stephanie Coleman cruised to her second term in office in Tuesday’s election.
With all precincts reporting, Coleman held 77.5 percent of the vote to challengers Carolynn Denise Crump’s 12.8 percent and Eddie Johnson’s 9.7 percent.
The 16th Ward includes parts of West Englewood, Englewood, Chicago Lawn, New City, Gage Park and Back of the Yards.
Carolynn and Johnson challenged Coleman’s effectiveness in curbing crime and boosting economic development in the community in their campaign efforts. Johnson also ran in the 2019 election.
During Coleman’s term, Whole Foods Market closed suddenly, six years after promising to bring healthy, fresh options to the community. Yellow Banana, a company that operates stores under the Save A Lot name signed the lease for the 832 W. 63rd Street building in December. It was later revealed the shuttered store would reopen as a Save A Lot, defying neighbors’ demands.
“Things haven’t changed,” and it’s time for “something new,” Johnson said in January.
Credit: Colin Boyle/Block Club ChicagoColeman became the youngest member of the council at age 30 with her 2019 victory in a runoff. She is the daughter of former 16th Ward Ald. Shirley Coleman and a lifelong Englewood resident.
In four years, Englewood welcomed a nearly $5 million grocery store piloted by the Go Green On Racine team, a $26 million senior housing development and a 4,000-square-foot retail space led by E.G. Woode. The South Side collective will soon open a $5.3 million restaurant hub on 63rd Street.
In the coming years, Englewood will soon see a 108-unit affordable housing development a $14 million culinary hub and a multimillion-dollar nature trail.
Moran Park, a century-old destination, will receive an updated field house and water features for kids this year, and efforts to reopen the 63rd and Racine Green Line station have received $2 million in funding. A referendum to reignite funding to reopen the train station also received overwhelming support Tuesday with 93 percent of residents backing the project.
Coleman also spearheaded the Englewood Music Festival in 2021 and brought it back for a second year in 2022.
“Eight months in office, the national global pandemic prevented a lot of the momentum that we were progressing towards, but it forced me to pivot and get wiser,” Coleman said in December. “If anything, it helped me to be a better leader. In the last three years of the pandemic. I think I have done the best job and given my best while still being an effective leader.”
In her next term as alderwoman, Coleman has said she will “welcome more families back into the community,” build back up the community’s “natural resources” and boost safety. The best way to bring progress is to “invest in people,” Coleman said in January.
Coleman will also work with the next Englewood grocer — now Yellow Banana — to guarantee the store can’t abandon the community like Whole Foods, she said in December.
“As a leader, the needs of my neighborhood are always first,” Coleman said in January. “Bringing investment is always first. The quality of life in my community is always my priority. What my community wants, requires and lacks are always my priorities.
Every morning I wake up thanking God for the opportunity to serve and be the voice for the 16th Ward. I work every day to make sure that our community is treated and gets the same opportunities as any other neighborhood in the city.”
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