CHICAGO — A grassroots community organizer and IT consultant announced his candidacy for 19th Ward alderman in the 2023 Chicago election. Beverly resident, Tim Noonan, plans to challenge the incumbent Matt O’Shea, who is running for his fourth term. The Chicago mayoral and city council election is Feb. 28, 2023.

“I wouldn’t have gotten involved if I didn’t think Matt was beatable,” Noonan said. “He’s representing only a small segment of the 19th Ward. He hasn’t paid attention to certain areas of 19th Ward, such as Morgan Park, east Beverly, and anything east of Western Avenue.”

Noonan says he talked to a lot of residents who are not happy with the status quo in the 19th Ward, which encompasses the Beverly, Mount Greenwood and Morgan Park neighborhoods. He accused O’Shea of only focusing his attention on a narrow segment of between Western and Kedzie Avenue.

Disappointed in the direction the 19th Ward has been heading, Noonan says he was inspired to take action by President Barack Obama’s farewell speech at McCormick Place:“If something needs fixing, then lace up your shoes and do some organizing. If you’re disappointed by your elected officials, grab a clipboard, get some signatures, and run for office yourself. Show up. Dive in. Stay at it.”

Noonan said too many poor decisions have been made regarding public safety, schools and business.

“Everything is bubbling up to public safety,” Noonan said. “O’Shea spent a $100,000 micro grant to hire a security firm, that went to four different security companies. He’s made short-term investments for short term solutions. That’s his trademark.”

As alderman, Noonan said he would get the community involved in participatory budgeting of aldermanic menu money. “Residents should be able to provide input into what that money should be used for.”

Mental health is one of the biggest issue facing the Chicago Police Department. Noonan says officers are not well liked walking into certain neighborhoods and situations. He supports stronger mental health programs for police, as well as hiring and training mental health professionals to assist on more sensitive calls.

“Contrary to a rumor planted by the incumbent alderman that I want to ‘defund the police,’ couldn’t be furthest from the truth,” Noonan said. “I would like to see reform in the way of redirecting police to become more community oriented, rather than the paramilitary structure that CPD has operated in for the past 20 years. It’s as if our police officers are being micromanaged on a front line battlefield and with no respite. I think that is where the stressors are coming for our police officers that is leading to low morale and depression.”

He says O’Shea’s controversial plan in 2016 to close a thriving local public school, Kellogg, and shuffling the schools that was eventually withdrawn due to community blowback, would have been “disastrous to our neighborhood, ward and the value of our homes.”

“The power of our students and local parents prevented this plan that the alderman had dreamed up,” Noonan said. “Local schools are the bedrock of our community and therefore have a direct reflection of the values of our homes.”

Noonan led the effort to secure over $3.2 million in improvements from Chicago Public Schools to Kellogg Elementary, a school with 91.4 percent minority enrollment, according to his campaign announcement. That money went toward making the building ADA compliant, by modifying bathrooms, adding ramps and redoing floors – the first updates to Kellogg since 1937. An elevator is planned for the future. He also fought against the closing of the National Teachers Academy, a low-income, high-performing elementary school, with a predominant minority enrollment.

When the pandemic hit, Noonan started the 19th Ward Mutual Aid group to address the needs of 19th Ward residents that were left behind. Noonan and neighbors reached out to food sources, to establish a food pantry at Morgan Park Presbyterian Church, no questions asked. The pantry fed nearly 20,000 people in over 60 weeks.

“There was a large gaping hole that was not being addressed,” Noonan said. “Many people were out of work. The community was desperate for help.”

Noonan is also fighting the ban on books and by ensuring marginalized people’s stories are told in local schools, starting with Art Spiegelman’s “Maus Project,” the most-banned book of 2022. The 19th Ward Mutual Aid Group, along with Jews of Beverly and Bookie’s bookstore, raised money to place the Pulitzer Prize-winning, graphic novel about the Holocaust in every public and private middle and high school library in the 19th Ward.

Noonan led the restoration of the Gold Star Memorial monument in Dan Ryan Woods at 87th Street and Western Avenue, and helped raise thousands of dollars for the Connor Lowery Live Life Large project through Queen of Hearts events hosted at a bar downtown.

“All these projects, I started with an idea and zero dollars,” Noonan said.

Noonan believes his community service and involvement makes him a strong and formidable candidate for 19th Ward alderman. He plans to partner with groups to get things done for the 19th Ward community, and will involve residents in his decision-making.

“I’m not beholden to any legacy political machine,” he said. “I see running for alderman as a culmination of the work that I have accomplished in the community.”

Noonan is a 25-year resident of Beverly with his wife, Laura, and has two sons, Terry, 20, an apprentice with Operating Engineers Local 150, Brian, 18, a student at Harold Washington City College, and a daughter, Norah, an eighth-grader at Kellogg Elementary School.

Learn more about Tim Noonan and his candidacy for 19th Ward alderman at Noonan19, Instagram and Facebook.