The Harvey World Herald
Politics

Alderman Marshun Tolbert announces 2023 mayoral run

“Our city has some serious challenges: crime, disinvestment, a need for jobs paying a live-able wage as inflation continues to rise,” said the 2nd Ward alderman, who is the first to formally announce a run to unseat Mayor Chris Clark.

A headshot of Ald. Marshun Tolbert. Courtesy of MARSHUN TOLBERT FOR CITY OF HARVEY MAYOR FACEBOOK PAGE
A headshot of Ald. Marshun Tolbert. Courtesy of MARSHUN TOLBERT FOR CITY OF HARVEY MAYOR FACEBOOK PAGE
author
By Amethyst J. Davis

One alderman is throwing his hat in the race to unseat Mayor Chris Clark.

Alderman Marshun Tolbert (2nd) officially announced his run for Harvey mayor in 2023 this week.

“Our city has some serious challenges: crime, disinvestment, a need for jobs paying a live-able wage as inflation continues to rise,” said Tolbert in a somber video reel announcing his candidacy.

Tolbert was elected in 2019 as the youngest alderperson in Harvey’s history after a previously unsuccessfully bout for Harvey Public Library Board trustee in 2017.

For some, this is old news, as talk swirled for months that the freshman alderman would toss his hat into the mayoral race.

Dixmoor treasurer and former Harvey Park District president Anthony McCaskill revealed he would run in December. McCaskill unsuccessfully ran against Clark in the 2019 race.

While Clark has not announced a re-election bid, he is expected to run for a second term.

As alderman of the 2nd Ward—home to the city’s major institutions like City Hall, Harvey Public Library, Park District headquarters, Post Office, 154th Street Metra Station, and Harvey Pace Bus Terminal—he has occasionally found himself in snappy exchanges with Mayor Chris Clark.

Most infamously, Ald. Tolbert, Tracy Key (4th), Dominique Randle-El (5th), and Tyrone Rogers (6th) sparred with Clark in June of 2019 over liquor establishment closures. The mayor introduced a measure, known as “the liquor ordinance,” that would require Harvey’s liquor-selling establishments, including strip clubs, to close at midnight.

Clark argued the measure appealed to complaints of violence associated with Harvey’s liquor stores and strip clubs. Community leaders hung signs in support of “the liquor ordinance” around the downtown area, still visible today.

The four aldermen contested the move would appear hostile to the businesses, noting their strong revenue-generating presence in the city’s business sector.

Months later, they attempted to put forth an ordinance that would allow liquor-selling businesses to operate after midnight, but were late submitting the proposed law to be considered as an agenda item. With an upcoming vote on infrastructure upgrades to street lights and pothole repairs, they used a procedural move to remove the items from the agenda, delaying that vote.

A file photo of a sign posted in 2019 in the downtown Harvey area in support of "the liquor ordinance," as shown October 17, 2021. HWH / Amethyst J. Davis
A file photo of a sign posted in 2019 in the downtown Harvey area in support of "the liquor ordinance," as shown October 17, 2021. HWH / Amethyst J. Davis

In the time since, Tolbert has voted in favor of ordinances that advance the Clark administration’s economic agenda, including infrastructure and transit-oriented development.

Tolbert voted against the controversial $17 million Harvey Lofts housing development, coming to Broadway Avenue, which was met with pushback from some residents who favor more businesses in the downtown area. Some even warned the development could attract more crime in the city’s once-flourishing business core. The City Council approved the development to move forward, expected to break ground later this year.

But, the young, charismatic alderman—who also holds employment at the Thornton Township at the food pantry on 153rd Street and Page Avenue and a campaign manager around Illinois filling judicial seats—has also faced criticism alongside other alderpersons that they are not active enough in Harvey.

While alderpersons throw block parties and backpack giveaways, those critical want to see aldermen do more to introduce legislation and move policy on City Council.

Tolbert has occasionally echoed residents' criticisms of both Clark and the Harvey Police Department over a revolving door of police leadership and lack of transparency and accountability.

“Our police department is in turmoil, and I think that's an issue,” Tolbert told CBS2 Chicago after so many officers called out sick that only one showed up for their shift last June.

He added that residents “deserve answers because they're paying really high property taxes, and the police protection they think is there is really not there.”

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author
Amethyst J. Davis@APurple_Reign

Founder

Amethyst J. Davis is responsible for spearheading the growth and development of the HWH, including outlining the editorial trajectory and content. She also produces “The Renaissance Letter,” our biweekly email newsletter, edits content, and fact-checks stories prior to publication Amethyst was an administrator at New York University before launching her journalism career. She is also a member of the Sounding Board, the community advisory board for Chicago Public Media, which includes WBEZ Chicago and the Chicago Sun-Times.

In 2022, Amethyst was a Casey Fellow with the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) Black News & Views, where she covered health and COVID-19 for the NABJ’s newly launched digital news service. She is a sought after speaker on community journalism and has given talks at institutions like DePaul University and the University of Kansas. Amethyst is a regular guest on City Cast Chicago.

She was invited by Harvard University to submit a 2023 Nieman Lab prediction, which taps the smartest in media and journalism nationwide to offer thoughts on the future of digital media. Under her leadership, the HWH has become one of the nation's most-watched hyperlocal newsrooms. The HWH has received national coverage in publications like Poynter, Harvard University's Nieman Lab, the National Press Journalism Club Institute, and Editor & Publisher.

Amethyst is a Brooks Middle School ('11) and Thornton Township High School alum (‘15) and holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from NYU (BA'19). She is an alumni of the Data and Policy Summer Scholar program at the University of Chicago.

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