On January 2, I braved the howling winds and trekked through mounds of snow to Alderman Ameya Pawar’s north-side office.
It was music to my ears. I fell head over heels in love with his candidacy, as though it were a movie by the Coen brothers.
I chided him for the Tea Party remark. To his credit, he didn’t hurl F-bombs at me—at least not when I was listening. Instead, he asked if we could meet. And so I found myself sitting in his office.
He said he was just being pragmatic. “I want to be a legislator—I want to pass things, instead of just criticizing.”
Pawar went on to explain how most outsiders—such as people who write for the Reader—have no idea just how hard it is to pass something in this council.
But when he introduced the proposal, in December 2012, Alderman Patrick O’Connor—the mayor’s council floor leader—immediately proposed that it be sent to the aviation committee.
