West Chicago wants to change media image--now, not later

By Jake Griffin, Daily Herald Staff Writer
Posted Thursday, April 29, 2004

Recent cases of mistaken identity and bad press are making West Chicago aldermen antsy to get started with a much-ballyhooed city image makeover campaign.

Weeks ago, a city council panel interviewed a Chicago public relations firm about the project, but the meeting ended with city officials less than impressed, some aldermen said.

Now, they're shopping for a new image consultant.

Meanwhile, city officials are again bristling at what they see as a negative characterization of West Chicago in the media.

This time, it's a story in the current issue of Chicago magazine about disgraced former George Ryan aide Scott Fawell, whose grandfather, Walter, served for a time as West Chicago's mayor.

The piece refers to the city as "a small community ... between Wheaton and St. Charles known for its gang problems and radioactive residue from a now-shuttered Kerr-McGee chemical plant site."

"We all know image is a problem," said Alderman Nick Dzierzanowski. "It's absolutely a now priority."

Dzierzanowski said he wrote the magazine to chide the staff for its dated description.

"What I find most damaging is the media's unwillingness to move past our past problems to what is a more realistic daily view of West Chicago," he said.

City leaders point to its booming population - it's DuPage County's fastest-growing town - as proof the city is becoming more popular not only for new residents, but businesses as well.

Local leaders also say the stigma of gang violence and thorium contamination, both of which have been nearly eradicated over the past 15 years, are hard to overcome.

"Those impressions are hard to change and that's one reason why we're looking at hiring a marketing group that could help put out a more current and accurate message of what's going on in West Chicago," Mayor Michael Fortner said.

Another recent news story about West Chicago has also brought up image concerns: In a landmark decision, a DuPage County judge banned reputed gang members from hanging out together after West Chicago filed suit in the first test of never-used 1993 civil law.

While it was a victory for the city, it also forever links it to the gang-loitering law. The suit was filed in 1999.

"I think it's a great tool for law enforcement in the state of Illinois and we are happy to be on the cutting edge of this suit and help resolve that particular problem in the mid-1990s," said Police Chief Gerald Mourning. "And remember ... the events connected to it are old news. The lawsuit was filed in response to incidents, that in some cases, occurred more than 10 years ago."

Compounding the uproar over the magazine piece was a flier promoting a recent event in Wheaton sponsored by the Chicago Off the Streets Club. The group touted itself as "an organization which provides children ... a refuge from the mean streets of West Chicago."

Director Ralph Campagna said the press release should have said Chicago's West Side, not West Chicago, adding: "We certainly do not mean to disparage West Chicago."

Fortner said that kind of mistake happens all the time because Chicago's West Side has a bad reputation.

"It's not the first time it's happened," the mayor said. "It's a regular point of confusion since we're not even close to the city's West Side."

Dzierzanowski said both incidents are examples of why aldermen need to do something sooner rather than later to fix the image problem.

"There's been a lot of talk throughout the years and no one's taken a step forward to try and solve this problem," he said. "Maybe the image consultant is a step in the right direction."

Linda Panozzo of West Chicago, a real estate broker associate with Century 21, said the city's image plays a large role in a person's decision to move their family or business to the city.

"It does upset me when people say they don't want anything to do with West Chicago," Panozzo said. "Sometimes I don't get them around that. They say they've heard bad things. But let's be honest, I don't think there's any city that's immune from gang problems. Wheaton has their share, Glendale Heights has them and, of course, Chicago."

West Chicago wouldn't be the first area town to hire an image consultant. Addison did so in the late 1990s and officials in that community swear by it.

The same firm did work in downstate Rantoul when a military base closed and businesses were struggling to stay afloat. An effort there helped stabilize a dwindling population and bring in some new businesses, Rantoul officials said.

The cost to hire a consultant for this type of work runs about $75,000 to $100,000 annually with contracts lasting about three years, West Chicago officials said.