Letter to the Editor: Affordable Housing and the Upcoming Election

The following Letter to the Editor was submitted by Winnetka Resident Kristin Ziv.

Is Affordable Housing Rising from the Dead in this Election?

The election of Winnetka Village President should turn on questions of storm water management and revitalizing the business districts. But the presence of insurgent candidate Chris Rintz focuses the election again on the question of Affordable Housing. This is ironic. Rintz insists that Affordable Housing is beside the point and even argues that those who raise the question of his past support for it are being uncivil.

Yet there seems to be no reason for Rintz’s candidacy other than Affordable Housing. He does not explain any deficiencies in the Caucus-slated candidate Gene Greable, and he offers no distinction between his policy proposals and Greable’s. So why is Rintz running? He says he was drafted by interested parties:
“Enough people that I respect have asked me to continue on so I guess that’s why people should vote for me,” Rintz said. (The Winnetka Current, March 27, 2013)

We are forced to ask what these parties want that Gene Greable doesn’t offer. Rintz’s petition to place his name on the April 9 ballot contains names allied with Affordable Housing, according to The Chicago Tribune on Dec. 31, 2012.

“Jen McQuet and Nancy Pred, two co-founders of a pro-affordable housing group called Winnetka is Neighborly, were among those listed as circulating Rintz’spetitions during the signature-gathering campaign. Another circulator was Becky Hurley, who chaired the village’s Plan Commission which spent five years studying affordable housing before making recommendations to the Village Council in December 2010,” the Tribune reported.

Mr. Rintz’s supporters and his background point to a candidacy whose reason for being is… Affordable Housing.

Chris Rintz voted for Affordable Housing as a village trustee. He chastised trustees who didn’t. And on Dec. 6, 2011, when village trustees adopted a resolution to halt debate on Affordable Housing, Rintz stated, “Maybe a new council and new leadership will have the appetite to pick it up.” (TribLocal, Dec.12, 2011)

One of Rintz’s leading campaign platforms is to bring civility back to Village Council meetings. But it is Affordable Housing that raises temperatures at village meetings. Mr. Rintz is part of the problem.He threw some video-recorded public tirades when things didn’t go his way on Affordable Housing inDecember 2011. He concluded angrily, “Once in a while I’m looking for a good fight, okay?”

He felt the need to issue a public apology following a meltdown at a Sept. 6, 2011 village council meeting. “While I fully stand by my message, the manner that it was delivered was regrettable and unacceptable.”

It’s difficult to predict how people will conduct themselves in public office, but past conduct, public statements and people who support a candidate give pretty good clues.