Chicago City Wire

Northwest Side GOP Club Vice President Ammie Kessem recalls that her early encounters with former Chicago Ald. John Arena made quite an impression on her.

“Many years ago, I truly tried to have a decent and respectful conversation with this man, but his demeanor was one that left me baffled,” Kessem told Chicago City Wire. “He has a terrible attitude with anyone who happens to disagree with him. I tried very hard to find some sort of common ground with him, but this tactic appeared to make him respond with even more disdain for my position. I even bumped fists with him over Chance the Rapper donating over $1 million dollars to Chicago Public Schools, hoping he would come out of whatever ignorant attitude he had toward me. Unfortunately, he looked at me as if I had 10 heads.”

Given that experience, Kessem, now running for 41st Ward Committeeman, says she was not the least bit surprised to hear that Arena was recently accused of turning up at a community meeting and publicly going after the man who unseated him.

Chicago Department of Planning and Development Deputy Commissioner John Arena

“It’s par for the course for him,” said Kessem, adding that Arena and new 45th Ward Ald. Jim Gardiner were among a group of community members that recently gathered to discuss a $200 million development proposal for the old Sears site at Six Corners. Several of those in attendance told the Chicago Sun-Times that instead of sticking to the topic of discussion, Arena spent much of the evening soliciting signatures for Ellen Hill, who is running against Gardiner for Democratic committeeman, and passing out scripted talking points.

At one point during the meeting, according to the Sun-Times report, Arena directed a middle-finger salute toward Gardiner as both were seated in the front rows.

“He has zero social skills and I cannot begin to wrap my head around why Mayor Lightfoot thought it would be a good idea to hire him,” Kessem said of the $130,000-a-year post Arena holds as a deputy commissioner in Chicago's Department of Planning and Development. “I highly doubt [the mayor] will even reprimand him for using his position to attack a sitting alderman who has shown a great deal of respect for his community.”

Meanwhile, Gardiner has expressed concern over how he can be expected to effectively work on projects in his community like the Six Corners development plan when Arena is so openly working against him from such a key position. Kessem says she shares the same concerns.

“My hope is that the inspector general will investigate [Arena's] inappropriate behavior, but I won’t hold my breath because I’ve only been asking the IG to do this for years,” Kessem said.  

Through a city spokesperson, Arena has denied all the allegations stemming from the meeting.