Former Hyde Park Herald Editor Running For Alderman

CHICAGO, IL - A community activist and former journalist is among the first to announce their candidacy in the 2019 citywide aldermanic elections. Gabriel Piemonte, former editor of the Hyde Park Herald and one who is running a campaign on the basis of the need for greater transparency, will seek to unseat incumbent 5th Ward Alderman Leslie Hairston in the 2019 election according to multiple news reports.

Piemonte made his candidacy official with an announcement on Monday outside a vacant storefront near 71st and Merrill, the Herald reports. The City Council hopeful is a Boston native whose lived on the South Side for the past 18 years, at one point serving as editor of the Herald.

Attempting to unseat the five-term incumbent Hairston, Piemonte criticized the incumbent's handling of transparency in the planning of the Obama Presidential Center. He talked about his goals and why he is running in an hour-long interview with the Chicago Maroon. He mentioned Hairston's refusal to sign a Community Benefits Agreement that would ensure the center's construction would have a minimal effect on local residents.

Piemonte has made several FOIA requests to city departments regarding the OPC, many of which have been denied. He said he's considering litigation against some of those city departments, according to the Maroon.

In addition to his former role as a writer and editor for the Herald, Piemonte also has local connections as the founder of Woodlawn Visions and Voices, co-founder of the South Side Community Federal Credit union and as an advocate for public housing residents.

He is the first person to challenge Hairston in the 2019 election.

“For too long in the Fifth Ward, residents have felt marginalized by Ald. Leslie Hairston,” Piemonte is quoted as saying in the report from the Herald. “Our residents cannot get a phone call returned, but out-of-state investors can close roads and have acres of property turned over to them for a pittance? It is a shame and it has to stop.”

Photo by Emma Dyer

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