Meet Alderman Ed Smith...

This west side alderman was mentioned on The Capitol Fax Blog believe it or not. He is considered a rising star in the state of Illinois and is rumored to be looking at a county wide office in the future. Of course his listing is preferaced with the fact that he is much older than most of those other individuals on the list.

On Sunday however he was the latest alderman featured in Rich Kogan's continuing series on Chicago's alderman. Believe it or not I forgot all about it until I decided to check my post in which I linked to articles of two other aldermen. I intend to be there for the next edition.

Alderman Ed Smith has been around a while. He represents, according to the article, "one of the city's harshest and bleakest, a place of high unemployment, high crime, a thriving illegal drug business and all the troubles that come with that." He represents a J-shaped 28th ward on Chicago's west side.

This article states that he has has open air offices in troubled areas. Also he really like the use of the cameras the city has been installing in certain trouble spots. He goes so far as to state that he needs more of those.

Also you may know Ald. Smith from the debate over the smoking ban. The article states that he just used this issue to heighten his profile to run for a higher office in the future. This is what the Alderman said to that...

"I will tell you this: I don't want to die an alderman. But my work is not done here," he said. "What does my future hold? I leave the future to circumstance and to the people."

The article ends with Ed Smith talking about going back to his native Mississippi to bury one of his brothers...

"I'm burying a brother," he said. "Now there are only two of us left."

Oh yeah looking at his website, I really had no idea was an HBCU graduate. He went to Alcorn State University.