[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 73 (Wednesday, May 25, 2011)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E956]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




      ALDERMAN MARY ANN SMITH--A REMARKABLE RECORD OF ACHIEVEMENT

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                       HON. JANICE D. SCHAKOWSKY

                              of illinois

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, May 25, 2011

  Ms. SCHAKOWSKY. Mr. Speaker, I would like to honor Alderman Mary Ann 
Smith, who represented Chicago's wonderful 48th Ward for 21 years 
before her retirement this May. Alderman Smith has dedicated over 30 
years of her life to public service.
  As Alderman, she was especially active in public safety, community-
directed development, transit and walkability, lakefront planning, 
animal rights, health care, seniors' issues, affordable housing and 
public sector accountability. Her recent groundbreaking advocacy to 
combat Medicare and Medicaid fraud and the exploitation of the mentally 
ill has helped make nursing homes and our communities safer.
  Alderman Smith was chair of the City Council Committee on Chicago 
Parks where she worked to restructure the Chicago Park District and its 
management, improve programming, secure the parks and increase access 
to recreation for all Chicagoans with an emphasis on teenagers and 
youth. She was also a member of the City Council Committees on Traffic 
Control and Safety, Buildings, Rules and Ethics, Budget, Finance, 
Historical Landmark Preservation, License and Consumer Protection and 
the Mayoral Task Forces on Lake Michigan and on Transportation. She 
served on the city's Advisory Council on Chicago ``Green'' development 
and as a commissioner of both the Northeastern Illinois Plan Commission 
and the Chicago Plan Commission.
  Mary Ann is extremely proud of the diversity of the 48th Ward. She 
worked to integrate immigrant groups into the mainstream business, 
financial and social structure of the neighborhood. An early supporter 
of the Human Rights Ordinance, she interacted closely with advocacy 
groups to protect the rights of all people. She served as vice chair of 
the Illinois Citizens for Better Care, a group which advocates for 
nursing home residents' rights and was founder of the Committee Against 
Nursing Home Election Fraud.
  Internationally recognized as a leader on building livable 
communities and protecting the environment, particularly around 
Chicago's lakefront, Alderman Smith represented the city of Chicago on 
the International Council on Local Environmental Initiatives. She 
served as vice-chair of the City Council Subcommittee on the Chicago 
Lakefront, as a vice-chair of the Lake Michigan Federation (now the 
Alliance for the Great Lakes), and was a founding member of PCB's Gone. 
Her leadership on environmental issues earned her a United Nations 
Environment Programme Award for Citizen Action to Protect the Global 
Environment and a fellowship from the German Marshall Fund of the 
United States to study urban planning in several European cities. 
Alderman Smith's commitment to employ new alternative energy and flood 
control technologies in the 48th Ward includes the installation of the 
nation's first water-permeable alley in 2001 and the creation of rain 
gardens.
  Her work on public safety and transportation in the community include 
unsnarling long-standing traffic and transportation problems. She was 
instrumental in helping to organize the state's first city/suburban 
traffic and transportation and in obtaining funding for a project to 
improve pedestrian safety and neighborhood walkability.
  Alderman Smith is a passionate advocate against cruelty to animals, 
and, in response to information about the cruel treatment of elephants 
by trainers, she introduced legislation that would outlaw the use of 
disciplinary methods that inflict pain and/or cause injury to the 
animal.
  I have had the pleasure of sharing an office with Alderman Smith 
since 1999, and our offices have collaborated closely on issues and 
projects including environmental concerns, animal rights, community 
safety, nursing homes and seniors, education, and youth. I consider her 
a treasured friend and wish her fulfillment and success as she embarks 
in a new direction.
  Mary Ann and her husband Ronald, a professor at John Marshall Law 
School who recently served as chairman of the American Bar Association 
Criminal Justice Section, have lived in the Edgewater and Uptown 
communities for more than 30 years. They have two sons, Michael, a 
software engineer in Portland, Oregon, and Matthew, a clinical 
psychologist who also lives in the 48th Ward, and many beloved pets.

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