Located at 4816 N. Broadway St., the Uptown was built in 1925 by architects Rapp and Rapp, who also designed the Chicago Theater and Cadillac Palace Theater.  The Uptown was designated a Chicago landmark in 1991.

Jerry Mickelson, of Jam Productions Ltd., bought the theater in 2008 for $3.2 million. Mickelson owns several well-known Chicago music venues, including the Rivera, The Vic, and the Park West.

Before Mickelson, the theater had been in and out of foreclosure since 1994. Prior to that, through the late ’80s and mid-’90s, the Uptown was owned by Lou Wolf, a slumlord and convicted arsonist who was dubbed “Chicago’s worst landlord” in 1989 by Chicago Magazine.

Mickelson was contacted multiple times with questions regarding the Uptown’s funding issues, but would only comment via e-mail.

“I have been trying to fit all the pieces of the funding puzzle together to renovate the Uptown Theater and am making some progress, but it is a very long road that requires an incredible amount of due diligence,” Mickelson said.

Ald. Mary Ann Smith (48^th Ward) has been alderman of the 48^th Ward since 1989, just eight years after the Uptown closed its doors.

Doug Fraser, Smith’s chief of staff, said the theater’s renovation has long been a ward priority, but that the theater’s size is not ideal for most investor’s business models.

“It’s a tough nut to crack. It’s a big theater, it’s historical,” Fraser said.  “The perception is that this should be an entertainment district and the Uptown should be the anchor.”

Fraser said he foresees the theater being a huge benefit to the neighborhood, but the right combination of private funds and city money just hasn’t happened.

“No one will ever build anything like that again, so you can’t let it go. You just have to keep banging away at it until it eventually happens and that’s our approach,” he said.

John Holden, the former president of the Uptown Historical Society, said the alderman has dragged her feet when it comes to restoring the Uptown.

“Mary Ann, shame on her, it’s been in her ward, she’s been alderman 20 years. I know she’s always talked about wanting to get something going with the theater and nothing’s ever happened on her watch,” Holden said.

Holden said vast sections of the complex need repainting and extensive plasterwork needs to be redone both in the lobby and the auditorium. He also said the Uptown’s lobby used to be used for events and suggested that a restoration of the lobby would be a temporary way to get some use out of the theater.

“I’ve long contended to anyone that would listen that, you know, you could probably do something with the lobby and turn it into a fantastic banquet facility or something like that and maybe moth-ball the auditorium for some time,” Holden said.

Larry Wilker, president of TheatreDreams, has helped restore multiple large theaters, including the Playhouse Square Theater, the “world’s largest theater restoration project,” in Cleveland, Ohio.

Restoration on the Uptown is estimated at $40 million. Wilker said that is a gross underestimation.

“Oh, they’re way off,” he said. “You might do a partial renovation for 40 [million] but if you’re talking about restoring it to the way it looked the day it opened, with all the modern technology, I think you’re closer to $100 million,” he said.

In his experience with theater renovation, Wilker said typically a organization with connections to the theater takes responsibility for raising a combination of state, city and private funds to get the theater restored.

Wilker said the process usually happens this way because theater restoration is a tough investment sell.

“These things are not done as a for-profit venture because they’re not economic. You can’t make back $100 million, no matter what you’re doing there,” Wilker said.

Andy Pierce, a founding member of Friends of the Uptown, a volunteer advocacy organization, said he thinks corporate sponsorship, combined with privately raised funding, is the key to restoring the Uptown.

“You’ve got an owner who may have one or more corporate sponsors and or backers, and if it wants to, it can be the Nokia Uptown Theater or the Schwinn Bicycle Uptown Theater,” Pierce said.

But Wilker said corporations don’t typically sponsor theaters.

“The kind of dollars that are given to stadiums for sponsorship never happen to theaters because the stadiums have television coverage and the theaters don’t,” he said. While ample funding for the theater has yet to be secured, public interest is still high.

Andy Pierce noted that the Uptown Theater’s Facebook page currently has 7,612 members.

“Try and find another non-operating public theater that has over 7,000 friends on Facebook,” Piece said.

By comparison, The Chicago Theater, an operational theater, has 7,970 members on Facebook.

And John Holden said he still anticipates the day when he’ll be back enjoying a show at the Uptown.

“The environment for doing something at the Uptown is as good as it’s ever going to get,” he said. “Those of us who love the neighborhood and love old theaters are really holding out all hope that someday something comes together, but it’s been a long waiting game.”

The report found that in 2009, food banks provided emergency food to 1.4 million Illinois residents, which is one out of 10 men, women and children in the state.

Common Pantry is a food pantry located

in the 47^th Ward in the basement of Epiphany United Church of Christ at 3744 N. Damen Ave.

Scott Best, the executive director at Common Pantry, said he has noticed more families attending the pantry in the last year.

“The one big thing that I’ve seen is it’s more common now to see a family of four,

for example, rather than just a single guy or a single person,” Best said. “Both kids under 5 and seniors over 65 have each increased about 10 percent in the last year.”

Common Pantry’s records show that an average of 309 client families were served per month in 2010, a 20 percent increase from the number of families served in 2008.

The Feeding Illinois report would concur with Best. The report interviewed 1,929 clients at food pantries, kitchens and shelters across Illinois. It concluded that 42 percent of those receiving food from a shelter were under 18 and 9 percent were children under 5 years old.

The national average for children until 18 who receive assistance with food is only slightly lower, at 39.6 percent.

Tracy Smith, the state director for Feeding Illinois, said many Illinois food banks that she has spoken with have experienced a 50-percent client increase over the last year.

“They’re definitely seeing a new face of hunger. They’re seeing people who are middle class and who are unemployed — who were previously supporters of the food bank and are now coming to them for services,” she said.

Epiphany United Church of Christ also provides a complimentary meal every Wednesday, which Common Pantry patrons are welcome to attend.

Julie Hobert, who has volunteered at the meal for eight years, said she has seen more kids coming to the meal and the pantry in the last year. The increase has been so noticeable, she said, that the church recently started an arts and crafts time for kids on Wednesday nights.

Some Common Pantry patrons, who did not want their full names used, also said they have noticed more single moms and kids attending the pantry.

Paul, a 30-year-old who attends the dinner provided by the church about three times a month, said he observes more men attending the dinner, but he has seen more women shopping at the pantry.

Charles, a 35-year-old who comes to the pantry once a month, said he has noticed an increase in the single mothers with toddlers who visit the pantry.

Wendy Vasquez, the executive director of Ravenswood Community Services, another food pantry in the 47^th Ward, said between 2008 and 2009, the pantry experienced a 112 percent increase in patrons.

“We had been seeing participation in our pantry just skyrocket and the food depository actually contacted us and said, ‘We know that your area in the city is an area of great, unmet need.’”

So in October 2009, Vasquez said the Greater Chicago Food Depository helped them start a once-a-month food drive in the parking lot of Ravenswood School. The drive specifically targets larger families with children.

“We specifically promote it through the public schools in the neighborhood and so that one does tend to be mostly families with younger kids,” Vasquez said.

O’Donnell has been president of the Ravenswood Community Council for 10 years and a resident of the ward for 25 years. He has also been an active member of the 47^th Ward Democratic Organization.

The 47th Ward

“I was also president of the Welles Park Advisory Council, and I’ve been very active, so I feel comfortable fulfilling my public service and running for alderman,” O’Donnell said.

Ameya Pawar, an independent running for 47^th Ward alderman, said he was certain Ald. Schulter was aware of O’Donnell’s decision to run.

“Without a doubt. Nothing in this ward happens without explicit permission of the powers that be,” he said.

Both Schulter and O’Donnell’s names were on the petition filing list. Attorney and political columnist Russ Stewart said he interprets O’Donnell as a backup candidate in case Schulter decides not to run again.

“This is Schulter’s guy. This is one of his longtime allies and he wouldn’t be running unless Gene was fully aware of it,” Stewart said. “And he filed at the last possible moment, so there has to be some subterfuge.”

Stewart said he thinks this is an indication that Schulter will not seek re-election.

“There is probably going to be some movement of Schulter, perhaps to the [Cook County] Board of Review or some other major office,” he said.

O’Donnell said he had not spoken to Schulter about his decision to run.

Rob Rawls, a spokesman for Ald. Schulter, would say only that “Alderman Schulter has confidence that after the 2011 municipal elections he will still be alderman of the 47^th Ward.”

Rawls refused to comment on whether the alderman was aware of O’Donnell’s decision to run.

Ameya Pawar and Matt Reichl and Tom Jacks, the other three candidates vying for 47^th Ward alderman, filed their petitions on Nov. 22, the last day candidates were allowed to file. O’Donnell filed at 2:48 p.m. on Monday, just meeting the 5 p.m. deadline.

Matt Reichl, a Green party candidate who was just recently defeated by 5^th District Rep. Mike Quigley (D-Il), said he waited to file until the last day in order to give Schulter’s campaign less time to come up with a challenge.

Candidates can challenge each other’s petition signatures if they think the signatures are not valid or were obtained improperly.

“We expect more than likely we’ll have a challenge and we are prepared for it,” Reichl said.

Ameya Pawar is an independent who is also on the board of directors at Common Pantry, a food pantry in the 47^th Ward.

Sam Yanover, Pawar’s campaign manager, said the campaign has not run into any troubles with filing petitions so far and Yanover was confident that Pawar’s petition drive had yielded more than enough signatures to make the ballot.

“If they try to challenge us just for the heck of it, just to see if they can knock us off or try to drain all of our funds, the actual Board of Elections can come after that person or organization because that’s actually illegal,” Yanover said.

Angry about meters. Photo by Rossaroni

Two candidates challenging Gene Schulter for 47^th Ward alderman cited the city’s privatization of the parking meters as a leading factor in their decision to run for alderman.

Both Ameya Pawar, a 30-year-old independent, and Matt Reichl, a 29-year-old who is seeking endorsement from the Green party, said the privatization of the meters was a mistake; Reichl said he would actually attempt to reverse the private deal.

With the deadline for petition filling for the 2011 municipal elections coming up this Monday, both candidates are campaigning door-to-door to get a sense of the issues in the 47^th Ward, which includes the Lincoln Square, Ravenswood and North Center neighborhoods.

Pawar, who is on the board of directors at Common Pantry, a food pantry in the 47^th Ward, said he wants to initiate campaign finance reform.

If elected, he said he will not serve more than two terms as alderman and he plans to cut his annual salary from $100,000 to $60,000. He also said he will not seek endorsements or donations from political groups.

“It’s unfortunate that the size of one’s campaign account becomes a deterrent for good public policy or public discussion. To me, that is emblematic of Chicago politics,” Pawar said.

He said one of his first priorities would be to create more transparency for residents of the 47^th Ward. He has already set up a free app, available through iTunes, called Chicago Works. The app allows Chicago residents to report problems and provide direct feedback to their aldermen.

Pawar also wants set up a ward council, which is a committee made up of community members who meet regularly with the alderman and discuss the issues facing the ward as well as reviewing city legislation. The 47^th Ward currently does not have a ward council.

Dick Simpson, who was alderman of the 44^th Ward from 1971 to 1979, had a ward council during his time as alderman. He said a ward council can provide direct feedback from the community, but that many aldermen don’t have one because it can be time-consuming to set up and because the aldermen don’t necessarily want to feel bound to honor the council’s decisions.

“It’s a way of getting a consensus and an agreement in the community that makes it much easier for the alderman to vote the will of the community,” he said. “More aldermen don’t have it because they don’t want to be hemmed in, as they think of it.”

Schulter said he believes transparency is important as well. Currently, the 47^th Ward’s website has a weekly newsletter and a link to a ward Facebook page.

Reichl, who recently lost to Rep. Mike Quigley for the 5^th District congressional seat, said his priorities if elected include updating Chicago’s transit system and shutting down TIF districts.

“What we’ve found is that TIF funds are basically toxic slush funds for the machine to obtain all sorts of power,” Reichl said.

Reichl said he will find alternative ways to generate city revenue without tapping into residents’ property taxes. He suggested a pollution tax for commuters coming into the city and a financial transaction tax, which would affect money traded in stocks.

In his 35 years as alderman, Schulter said he has brought many businesses into the 47^th Ward. He facilitated the Old Town School of Folk Music’s move into the ward in the mid-90s and  just recently announced plans for a $14 million privately funded renovation of the shopping center at Roscoe Street and Western Avenue.

Schulter said he works closely with the chambers of commerce and with the Retail 47 Committee, a 47^th Ward committee that works with commercial businesses in the ward, to keep bringing those businesses in.

“We’re dealing with some really hard economic times right now, but economic development is really very important to us,” Schulter said.

The city budget proposal currently includes a $3.4 million dollar proposal to cut Chamber of Commerce funding. The 47^th Ward would lose $200,000 in funding as a result. Schulter said he would not approve the budget with those proposed cuts included.

But Pawar said he worries that Schulter is not coming up with alternative solutions to budget problems like these.

“My reaction was, ‘Well that’s great. We need to protect small businesses, we need to make sure they can survive,’” Pawar said. “But you’re going to vote no on a $6.1 billion budget over $200,000 in cuts?”

Pawar recommended cutting waste out of other areas in the budget “so that you never even have to talk about cutting funding to the chambers of commerce.”

But Patricia Martinelli, executive director for the Ravenswood Chamber of Commerce, said Schulter has been very helpful to the small businesses in the ward, especially when the city budget cuts were initially proposed.

“He is a fighter for the chambers, because if we had lost the funding we would have closed our doors,” she said.

With all 197 precincts reporting, Suffredin, a Democrat, won nearly 68 percent of the vote. LaFianza took 27 percent and Milkowski garnered about 6 percent.

Suffredin said in his upcoming term he wants to make it clearer how long trustees on an independent health board can serve. He said he also expects Cook County Board President-elect Toni Preckwinkle to push for increased budget transparency.

“I expect Toni Preckwinkle, when she presents her first budget, that there will be a lot more materials available and people will be able to really understand how this budget was put together,” he said.

The controversial 2008 sales tax increase proposed by outgoing Board President Todd Stroger has been another issue for Suffredin. While he originally voted for the sales tax, he said he now wants to repeal the remaining half-cent of the increase.

“I voted for it so that I could get the independent health board and try and stabilize the government and take the place where the biggest $287 million shortfall had been generated by Todd Stroger’s incompetence,” he said. “It was never intended to be permanent.”

But LaFianza argued that it was inappropriate for Suffredin to vote for the increase regardless of whether his support was linked to the creation of the new health board.

“There just was no need for that tax increase, under any circumstances,” she said. “That kind of reform should not have been tied to a tax increase.”

LaFianza said she was uncertain the repeal of the remaining tax increase would be a priority for Suffredin.

“That’s up to him and Toni Preckwinkle. Based on their track record, there’s no guarantee they will,” she said.

Preckwinkle has already said she doesn’t foresee a repeal of the sales tax increase in her first year of office, citing a Civic Federation report that places Cook County’s budget deficit at $285 million.

The report recommends repealing the remainder of the sales tax. If the tax is repealed in 2011, the report predicts the budget deficit will approach $300 million.

Aside from the sales tax issue, Suffredin said he would continue attempting to secure health care for undocumented immigrants. He said obtaining federal funding is key to that reform.

“It’s going to have to be federal dollars because there is absolutely no way local government can afford to provide the health care for this large a group,” he said.

When asked how he thought Cook County residents would react to aiding undocumented immigrants using federal money, Suffredin said he does not expect it to be a popular decision.

“I think I have a duty to point out that this is a problem. Right now within the community there are large numbers of undocumented people and they’re saying to each other, ‘The only place we can go to get health care is county,’” he said. “I know it’s unpopular and I know this is going to be something that’s difficult to put together.”

Suffredin said the number of people seeking health care from Cook County has increased 8 percent in the last several months.

Dr. Quentin Young, a Cook County health expert, said that statewide in 2009 there were 1.9 million people without health insurance, up 250,000 from 2008.

He said it’s hard to say exactly what percentage undocumented immigrants contribute to those without health care.

“It’s not too precise. It’s thought to be 20 percent of the uninsured. It is difficult because undocumented immigrants tend to conceal their status,” Young said.

Under Daley’s plan, which was announced Oct. 13 at a special City Council meeting, $120 million will be borrowed from the parking meter lease funds, leaving $76 million remaining in that account. In addition, Daley said no funds would be used from the Skyway reserve account to balance the budget.

Daley also proposed declaring a $180 million TIF surplus, which, in addition to providing the city $38 million toward balancing the budget, would also give $90 million to the struggling Chicago Public School system.

“The fact is TIFs work,” Daley said.

Ald. Brendan Reilly (42^nd) agreed with the TIF surplus proposal, citing the assistance it would provide to CPS.

“It’s declaring a surplus and then basically sending that increment, those tax dollars back to the original tax bodies. Fifty percent of the money from TIF would go to the Chicago public schools,” he said. “So declaring a TIF surplus actually does a tremendous bit of help to Chicago public schools while also helping the city stabilize its budget.”

In order to balance their own 2011 budget, CPS will have to reduce after-school programs and decrease funding for magnet programs. CPS will also be unable to restore the 1,000-plus central office and citywide jobs cut since February 2009.

CPS spokesman Bobby Otter said $90 million would be significant for CPS, but he would not speculate further as to how the money will be spent if it is approved.

Reilly also emphasized that TIF funds are generally used to subsidize development plots in neighborhoods, and, since private development has been slow, those funds should be put to other uses.

“No one’s developing. So that increment’s sitting there and these funds aren’t used. There are no plans.  So in the short term, we should surplus an extra year or two the majority of our balance,” he said.  “Those funds replenish every year and within 18 to 24 months we’ll get that money back. During these very difficult times, we shouldn’t be letting a billion dollars sit in TIF funds.”

Rachel Weber, a professor of Urban Planning and Development at University of Illinois at Chicago, cited the city’s lack of regulation and transparency when it comes to TIF policy.

“This area of allocation is one of the least regulated and least transparent, so the city has a lot of discretion in how it uses those funds and you know, the determination as to whether those funds are indeed surplus,” she said.

Weber said the mayor’s plan to declare a TIF surplus makes sense as a temporary solution to the budget deficit.

“In this case, where I think there’s sort of growing hostility to the city’s TIF program and certainly a serious budget crisis and deficits on the part of the city, that it looks like a relatively painless way to fill that budget gap to some degree,” she said.

Ald. Robert Fioretti (2^nd) did not share Reilly’s enthusiasm for Daley’s budget plan.

“It’s a budget that gets by. It borrows heavily on the future. Next year will be a very difficult budget that faces the city,” said Fioretti, a mayoral candidate.

The City Council has until Dec. 31 to vote on the proposed budget.

At a debate held in Glencoe last Thursday, illegal immigration was a topic over which Dold and Democratic candidate Dan Seals disagreed.

“As much as it’s about who’s working in our country, it’s also very much about national security,” Dold said. “Let’s not forget we are in the midst of a war on terror, that there are people out there who do not like us because of the freedoms we enjoy.”

Democratic candidate Dan Seals said he also thinks that securing the Mexican border is critical, but unlike Dold, who favors building a fence along the border, Seals supports increased border patrols.

Seals also said that Dold had not addressed the issue of undocumented immigrants who are currently living in the United States.

“A lot of people say, let’s pull them out of their beds and ship them off somehow. I don’t know how you can do that. How much would you spend to do that?” he said.

Seals vowed to crack down on companies and businesses that hire undocumented immigrants. His plan for reform would also have undocumented immigrants pay a fee for being in the country illegally, undergo a criminal background check, and be able to  demonstrate financial independence.

When asked about his political stance on the Dream Act, legislation that would allow undocumented immigrants who came to the United States as children to remain in the U.S. conditionally, Dold said he thought it was a step in the right direction.

“I would like to see come changes made. I’d like to see it going from two years to three years. I’d like to see the military and AmeriCorps or something else like that and then allow them to go into education after that,” Dold said.

Currently the Dream Act requires only two years completion of college or two years of military service in order to be eligible for conditional permanent residency.

Seals spokeswoman Aviva Gibbs said while Seals supports the tenets of the Dream Act, he believes the Comprehensive Immigration Reform for America’s Security and Prosperity Act (CIR ASAP) is the first step for undocumented immigrants seeking citizenship.

The Dream Act legislation is actually a part of the CIR ASAP bill; however, instead of being offered only to minors, CIR would extend conditional residency to all eligible undocumented immigrants.

Dold’s views on immigration mirror those of Republican Rep. Mark Kirk, who voted for the Secure Fence Act, legislation that increased border surveillance and required fencing and additional barriers to be installed along the Mexican border. Kirk has represented Illinois’ 10^th District for the past decade.

A recent nationwide poll by Quinnipiac University asked 1,905 registered voters for their opinions on immigration reform. The question asked, “Do you think immigration reform should primarily move in the direction of integrating illegal immigrants into American society, or in the direction of stricter enforcement of laws against illegal immigration?”

Only 24 percent were in favor of integration; 68 percent said they favored stricter enforcement of existing immigration laws.

Bond said in a phone interview recently that while most schools without libraries do have a “books section” in the classroom, they do not have access to a librarian.

While having librarians in all the schools would be beneficial to teachers and would help to balance their workload, the school system’s current financial restraints would not allow for it, she said.

“There are so many constraints right now with budget cutbacks,” she said. “We’re doing pretty good to even have a teacher available to monitor and to be in the classroom and multi-task.”

Currently, Bond said, students do generally have access to computer labs and online technology, but it is their teacher, and not a designated aide or librarian, who monitors and assists the students online.

In one of the more prominent battles currently being waged against CPS, parents and residents at Whittier School in Pilsen continue to protest by refusing to leave a building on school property that they want converted into a library. On Oct. 7, the city council ordered CPS to halt demolition of the field house. The protesters had been appealing to CEO Ron Huberman with no results.

Ald. Patrick J. O’Connor (40^th) said if necessary, Chicago public libraries would suffice in place of a school library.

“It wasn’t designed that all schools had to have huge libraries because we actually have a library system that is located geographically to serve a lot of schools,” he said.  “So I’m not sure that whether or not there is a library in the building is an indication of whether the building is a good educational center or not.”

He went on to say that having a library was not necessarily key to the success of a school.

“I think the real issue is if they’re going to be looking at school improvements as we have been in the past, you put what they need … It might not be a library they need. They might need a lunch room; they might need an activity center,” O’Connor said.

But Gail Bush, director of the Center for Teaching Through Children’s Books, said libraries are crucial in schools.

She said the way students obtain and sift through knowledge has changed dramatically compared to when O’Connor was in grade school.

“When he was a student, he had to answer the question. Now the students have to question the answer,” she said. “Sources he used were vetted … now sources are vetted by students.”

Bush said this is where younger students need the most help: expanding their research skills, both online and off, developing appropriate online behavior, and determining the credibility of a source. These are all valuable skills that Bush said teachers just don’t have time to focus on.

“In many ways the librarian has become the technological instructor,” she said. “Teachers can no longer close their door and think they can teach students everything. That door has to be open to the librarians whose job is more critical than ever.”

In November 2009, the Illinois attorney general’s office conducted a Cyber Safety Survey of nearly 4,200 Illinois youth from 3^rd to 12^th grades, in an attempt to better understand what communication technology they use and how they use it.

The results indicated that students were an average of 12 years old when they started their first MySpace/Facebook page and an average of 11 when they received their first cell phone. Nearly one-third said they had Internet access on their cell phones.

Beginning with the 2009‑2010 school year, the Illinois School Code states that “a school district must incorporate into the school curriculum a component on Internet safety to be taught at least once each school year to students in grades 3 through 12.”

But Bush said teachers are overwhelmed as it is, and this additional Internet safety teaching will be difficult to accomplish without the assistance of a librarian.

“They (teachers) already have the curriculum they need to cover, so who’s going to do it? It’s not going to be fully developed if you don’t have a school librarian helping to implement it,” she said.

Women’s Media Center, Women’s Campaign Forum and Political Parity have partnered to develop the project, “Name it. Change it.”  All three organizations are chaired by women who have run for elected office and say they have experienced sexism firsthand.

Siobhan “Sam” Bennett, a 2008 congressional candidate and president/CEO of Women’s Campaign Forum, said when she was running for mayor in Allentown, Pa., in 2001, she experienced “breathtaking, breathtaking misogyny from my own hometown.”

At Bennett’s first political forum while running for mayor, her opening remarks were interrupted by the Democratic Club president at the time who asked what her measurements were. Even more shocking, she said, was the fact that the newspaper reporter covering the story failed to mention the comment.

The project, which is being funded by a grant from the Embrey Family Foundation, is not only working with the media to maintain balanced attitudes toward women in the political world, but has also done research that suggests the depiction of women in the media might prevent women from seeking elected office.

“Women are looking at how women candidates are being handled by the media, and it is a direct deterrent to their running,” said Kerry Healey, former lieutenant governor of Massachusetts and one of the partners of the project. “These things frighten other women from doing these things where they could be judged publicly.”

The website for “Name It. Change it.” also features a pledge that journalists and members of the media are encouraged to take. The pledge includes a vow to “treat all subjects with respect, regardless of gender, and to create an overall media culture in which sexism and misogyny have no place.”

Gloria Steinem, a feminist activist and Women’s Media Center co-founder and board member, released this statement on equality Tuesday:

“The most workable definition of equality for journalists is reversibility. Don’t mention her young children unless you would also mention his … or say she’s shrill or attractive unless the same adjectives would be applied to a man. … Equality allows accuracy.”

Delmarie Cobb, a Chicago political consultant who’s worked for 5^th Ward Ald. Leslie Hairston and a strong supporter of Hillary Clinton’s 2008 presidential campaign, said there’s still a lot of gender bias in the media.

“Some of the phrases reporters were using to talk about Clinton – we often joked that ‘bitch’ was the new ‘black,’” she said. “As an African-American, if someone had said to me that the media could treat a white woman worse than an African-American woman, I wouldn’t have believed it.”

She said there are often differences in the way male and female candidates’ races are handled by the media.

“In 1988, when I was the traveling press secretary for Jesse Jackson, there was not one story that told him to drop out of the race,” she said. “Hillary Clinton was winning, and the media was telling her to drop out.”

Ultimately, she said the media has a responsibility to fairness and to cover people equally.

State Rep. Lisa M. Dugan, a Democrat from the 79^th District, said she agrees the media doesn’t always balance its reporting when it comes to male and female candidates.

“I still think there is an imbalance when [the media] looks at a candidate,” she said, noting that the media will often focus extensively on female candidates’ clothing and hair, but will not do the same for the suit a male candidate might be wearing.

Despite these imbalances, she said political candidates should be cautious when taking on the media.

“I’ve dealt with enough media. I don’t take it as an insult. I don’t know why anyone would care what the heck we’re wearing, but I don’t let those things bother me,” she said. “Pick your battles. If it’s insulting or untrue, take them on.”

“In the end, the things that matter are the things that are important to the people of the state,” she said.