About Me

See Phil's Position Statements on a wide range of issues in "Bernstein Television"

Dear 48th Ward Citizens:

It is clearly time to end the decades of business as usual in the 48th Ward. It is time to send the ingrained politicians, the political class and the elitist insiders in this ward a message: your time is over. You have done enough damage to the ward, which you have regarded as your personal playground.The 48th ward now reverts back to its 62,000+ citizens, each and every one of them.

When elected Alderman, I will bring fresh air into the ward: professional decision making & management using basic economic and environmental principles and business practices designed to enhance the business community, the vibrancy of business and housing, and of course the resultant livability in the 48th.

No longer will decisions, and influence be had by a handful real estate developers and insiders whose primary objective is to enhance their standing and business at the expense of others. No longer will these insiders and zealots be in a position to say what is best for you: YOU will get your own say when I am alderman. I WILL OPEN MY OFFICES TO HEAR THE VIEWS OF EACH AND EVERY ONE OF YOU, NOT THROUGH SOME 3RD PARTY SPOKESPERSON.

I will forcefully advocate for our ward interests in City Hall. I will insure that our fair share of resources go to the Ward; that city budgets and assets be actively and professionally managed; that new taxes not be considered; that spending and budgets be tied to current tax collections and revenue; that city assets remain the property of the city, not sold to some insider business, hurting us all for decades and decades to come.

And most of all, I will be an independent voice, NOT a YES MAN in the City Council. Imagine the financial footing Chicago would be on if the City Council were made up of 50 independent thinkers, not 50 toadies? We would be the envy of the United States!

I will bring this ward to the status it so richly deserves: a beautiful lakefront community that should have vibrant and unique businesses, be free of crime, and whose worth is multiple times what exists at present.

We will make the 48th Ward what it should have been decades ago, before the insiders, zealots and professional politicians, and the pedigreed legacy political class took it over.

Enough of the current way of doing business. That way is bankrupt. People throughout the state of Illinois are coming to this realization. I know that the people of Edgewater are intelligent enough to come to this conclusion as well.

Together, we will make the 48th Ward the premier ward in the city, a model for good governance and decision making; a model for professional and independent representation in City Hall, and we'll do it the right way.

Sincerely,

Philip Bernstein

We need your help to defeat the political insiders in the 48th Ward

At Last: A Candidate with the Credentials for the job

My extensive background, when contrasted to the other candidates, gives me the tools to manage, to evaluate, and to problem solve in a way the others cannot match.

I have extensive (over 30 years) experience working with local, state and federal agencies and programs offered by all these entities that can materially benefit the 48th Ward.

As a manager of major large scale public works projects, totaling in the billions of $$ (including the Chicago Shoreline reconstruction project, and the TARP flood control plan), I understand inter-governmental project relationships and funding sources.

As a small business owner for 2 decades, I understand the needs and issues confronting small business and how the various city offices can hinder, but COULD BENEFIT the creation and viability of small business.

As a finance and economics major with undergraduate and graduate degrees, I alone have the tools for the job. I have demonstrated performance of the type needed in this ward. My opponents have demonstrated the ability to put forth platitudes, assuming the voters possess no intelligence. In their job performance, they can offer no concrete measureable accomplishments. They are professional politicans, nothing more.

The 48th Ward needs an Alderman with technical skills; with proven management skills who understands business; with the ability to make decisions based on rational, objective evaluations. The ward needs an individual who can evaluate the needs of the community and, with the limited financial and personnel resources available allocate and prioritize those needs to produce investments in infrastructure that yield the highest returns to the community.

The 48th Ward doesn't need yet another legacy politician with no decision making skills, whose decisions are based on the inputs of a small group of developers and block clubs who represent really no one but themselves. The ward doesn't need yet another annoited legacy politician who will jump to the tune of the entrenched political party and act as one of their minions. Look what this approach to governing has done for us. Look at the state of Illinois. Look at the city of Chicago. Look at what the insider political class has done for us, or rather done to us.

Isn't it time for a change? Isn't it time for improvement in the 48th Ward? Isn't it time for real government in the city of Chicago?

Resume:

BA, Economics, University of Utah

M.Ph., Economics, University of Utah

Chief of Planning, Army Corps of Engineers: management and direction of such notable projects as Chgo Shoreline Reconstruction and Deep Tunnel

Owner of 2 small businesses since 1993; both thriving.

Resident of Edgewater since 1972

Debate me on the issues Mr. Osterman

A Candidate Beholden to No Insiders: Only the 62,000 people of the Ward

I have no political capital to put at risk. I don't hang with the insider politicos of this ward or city hall. I don't associate with the ingrained real estate developers, and agents that seem to populate every block group, community group and chamber of commerce, and are on the boards of all of them simultaneously.

I have taken ZERO funding from anyone for this campaign, and I don't intend to. Look at the elite insiders who gladly donate to my opponents.

I will not, during my term, be beholden to the insiders; to the elitists who know what's best for you and me; to those who presume to speak for the group, when they really speak for themselves.

As Alderman, I will operate in a professional manner: the way the job is supposed to be run.

And I will hold those responsible for providing the ward services accountable for doing so in the best manner possible. Unlike what we experience today.

The Chicago City Council needs an Alderman with independence, who does what is best for his Ward and for his city. I will not be afraid to oppose the city administration, when support for it does appreciable damage to the city and the ward. A case in point: the parking meter fiasco, that the city council rubber stamped without any legitimate review.

At last, you will have an alderman that has your best interests as his primary focus, NOT the best interests of the political class. You will have an alderman who is not looking at the job as his or her lifeline to an exhorbitant salary for the rest of his or her lifetime.

You will have an alderman who is actually qualified for the job. Not an alderman who has no qualifications for the job, but possesses the political pedigree and backslapping technique to be the alderman of choice for the insider elites. It is time for a new way of doing business.

bernsteinfor48@gmail.com

Philip Bernstein for 48th Ward Alderman

A Thinker - A Leader - An Independent - Giving the Ward Back to All of Its Residents