Interview Ald. Proco “Joe” Moreno

As Ward 1 Alderman, Proco “Joe” Moreno has instituted a text-messaging alert system for street sweeping, fought gang graffiti, and worked to clean up his ward, which includes parts of Wicker Park, Bucktown, Ukrainian Village, and Logan Square. That résumé’s not too shabby for the city’s youngest sitting alderman.

On top of all the typical alderman stuff, though, Moreno’s a huge music fan, loyal Pitchfork Music Festival attendee, and friend to venues like the Empty Bottle, even tweeting about the venue’s recent free Lightning Bolt show. The A.V. Club caught up with Moreno to talk about Minor Threat, Wicker Park, and whether he thinks he’s the “cool” alderman.

The A.V. Club: Do you really like Lightning Bolt?

Proco “Joe” Moreno: Why do you ask?

AVC: Well, you know—you’re an alderman, and all that.

PJM: I get it. I love them. I saw them at the Empty Bottle many years ago, but I did miss their free show. 

You know, I moved here 14 or 15 years ago, right out of college. I moved to Ukrainian Village and Wicker Park because I loved music so much. I wanted to be near the Empty Bottle. I’m a huge fan of indie music. I was a punk kid when punk music—well, it’s still good. That’s a huge aspect of my life and a huge interest in my life. I mean, right now I’m looking at the Minor Threat album I have in my office.

AVC: Did you ever see them?

PJM: I never saw them. I’m a little young, but I remember my musical epiphany. I was 10 years old, listening to some garbage with a friend, and his older brother came down. He was 16 or 17, and he made fun of us. He handed us an album and said, “This is what you should be listening to.” It was The Clash’s London Calling. I’ll always remember that moment where I got into good music and not the stuff in the mainstream at the time.

AVC: Do you still go the Empty Bottle?

PJM: One of my friends growing up, since fifth or sixth grade, is Pete Toalson, who books the Empty Bottle. We’re still very good friends.

I’ve been to every Pitchfork Festival. I can’t go to Reckless unless I have two hours minimum to dedicate. I was dating someone, and I’d say I wanted to go there, and she’d say, “I’ll see you in a couple of hours.”

AVC: Do you play guitar or anything?

PJM: Music is a total interest in that I think I can enjoy it. I can play a little guitar, but I’m much better at listening. 

Hey, do you know if Lightning Bolt played on the stage or in the crowd the other day? 

AVC: I don’t. All I heard was that it was insanely loud. 

PJM: The loudest show of my life was My Bloody Valentine. It was unbelievably loud. They played their reunion show at Aragon, which is not my favorite place to go, but it was unbelievable. I’m a huge fan. It’s an incredible show. 

AVC: What do you think of the whole City-cutting-back-on-festivals thing?

PJM: Here’s my thought on it. My thing is that—okay, I was talking to someone about having something like SXSW in Chicago, and this is what I would say about that: I love Chicago’s music, but there’s no scene. I think of a scene as Seattle or Athens, as something that comes and goes. Chicago is beyond that. Music is an entrenched part of the fabric.

In other cities it’s like hip-hop is in this corner of the city, indie is over here, punk is over here, jazz is over here—I’m a huge jazz fan. There are territories. But it’s much more combined in Chicago. It’s natural and mature, in the good sense. So we’re beyond a scene, and that’s an unbelievable thing.

I would like the City to do more. Of course I want that. But it’s not necessarily for the scene to survive and thrive.

I saw Mooney Suzuki at the Fireside Bowl with a couple hundred people max, about eight or nine years ago. That’s still happening. They’re back doing shows at the Fireside. That’s in my ward. So’s the Bottle. So’s the Double Door. It’s going to continue in Chicago, and the City has to recognize that.

I would hate to Lollapaloozize the music scene in Chicago because it’s so genuine and real. SXSW is great, but we have better music all over. I think if it’s an organic growth for people, like Pete from the Bottle and others, then great. If it’s City-dominated and top-down, I’m not too interested in that as a fan.

Have you heard who’s playing the Green Music Fest?

AVC: Yo La Tengo, right?

PJM: They’re my favorite band of all time. They’re headlining, and I’m going to get to introduce them.

AVC: Did you see their wheel show at Metro?

PJM: I liked a lot of it. The Seinfeld thing was funny for like two minutes, though. I think in retrospect it’s kind of funny, but if you were there, you were like, “Come on, Ira” [Kaplan, Yo La Tengo guitarist]. I’ve seen Yo La Tengo north of 25 times, easy.

AVC: It seems like there are more of those local fests popping up every year now.  

PJM: There are more music fests, definitely. The Metronome festival’s getting its legs over by the Congress Theatre. That’s in my ward as well. Those things, when people ask why we don’t have something like SXSW, I say, well, we have Pitchfork. I love that it’s in a unique spot. It’s not downtown. You can get to it by the El. They have a great bike program. I’d rather do that than corporatizing music in Chicago.

AVC: How are you working to boost the arts in your ward?

PJM: There’s still a dynamic art scene in the 1st Ward. Johalla Project is adopting the blue line on Damen, and they’re going to do some permanent artwork, which is fantastic. I’m working with artists to do more murals. There’s a new one on Milwaukee [Avenue] on the Walgreens, and the artist got paid, which is important to me.

The Polish Triangle—Ashland, Milwaukee, and Division—we’re working to do an art installation there. We want some temporary art and some permanent art in the Triangle. I want it to be an opening to the Wicker Park-East Village neighborhood. I want to have art on display and artists creating art there. I work very closely with the Chopin Theatre there. I’m doing more to bring them into Do Division and to encourage local art—not just to appreciate, but to buy. It’s a passion of mine. I went to college on an art scholarship. I was a great artist in high school, but in college I was very average. I want artists doing things at Wicker Park Fest and getting paid for it.

In terms of music, stupid ideas like the promoters ordinance need to be squashed on the city level. In terms of the promotion side, I want to let people know that you don’t have to go to Grant Park to see music. The Empty Bottle has a national, if not international, reputation. I want to make sure those institutions thrive. If they’re already doing great, fine. But if anyone were to threaten them, it’s my responsibility in the community. I mean, you get neighbors complaining about things, like they don’t want cigarette butts on the outside, and I don’t either. But do you realize what’s on this corner? Do you realize what you have here? There are international artists playing at the Congress. I just saw Girl Talk there a month ago. I love him.

People die about coming to Chicago. I bought too many Pitchfork tickets one year, and I put them on Craigslist with my cell phone number. I got calls from South America, Germany, and Spain. This is less than a week before the show.

I know I’m biased about Chicago’s music, but I grew up from a very early age listening to music no one else listened to. It’s a daily part of my life.

AVC: Now that Rhymefest is out, do you think you’re the coolest alderman?

PJM: I love Rhymefest. I started talking to him about Blue Collar when he was running, and he was surprised.

I don’t know. I think I’m a cool guy, I’ll give you that. But it’s just part of me, no matter whether I’m an Alderman or not. I’ve got the “music snob” label, though I haven’t gotten the new Sea And Cake record. I can’t wait to grab it. I’m not interested in TV. I don’t even really have one. I would prefer to be inspired by music.

AVC: Where do you stand on the whole issue of food trucks?

PJM: I think it’s the wave of the future. All cities are doing it. I’m an indie, DIY guy. I used to be straight edge. I think that the DIY thing is definitely a part of that culinary movement. I support it. I don’t want to be a cog in the restaurant industry, but I want to make sure indie owners aren’t taking away from their business.

Look at the Hollywood Grill. The owner built that over 25 or 30 years. It’s locally owned, then he’s scared that someone’s going to park a food truck across the street and sell omelets for $4.99. I don’t think food trucks can be unregulated. A Picante truck can’t park outside La Pasadita. There are brick and mortar local indies, and they don’t want Chipotle around. Chipotle could put a truck together tomorrow and throw money at it, but I don’t want them to take away from Pasadita or Picante.

AVC: So what are your goals for your new term as alderman?

PJM: Some aren’t very sexy. I want to go paperless, and that’s a huge task. I took this position a year ago, and before that, I got a fax maybe once a year. Now I get them daily. It’s ridiculous. We’re not contemporary. I want to go paperless in our office. 

I’m pushing an ordinance that’s going to be controversial. When you buy a City sticker, it’s the negligible price difference between a motorcycle and a Hummer. I want hybrids and scooters to pay a lot less, like $20, and then I want a Hummer to pay like $500. They take up more room on our streets. They’re harder on our streets. They’re harder on our environment. I own a scooter, and it’s not fair for big cars to pay the same amount or a very insignificant difference. A change would raise about $4 million in additional revenues and hopefully drive people to think twice when making their purchases. There would be exemptions for people like carpenters who need trucks and all that, too.

We have a text-messaging program now that tells people about street cleaning. We’re going to have a 1st Ward app for iPhone and Android that incorporates music, and where you can get information about ward services. I want to do everything electronically.

AVC: Do you think it’s easier to implement stuff like the texting and the app in your ward because it skews a little younger? Like, Wicker Park, Bucktown, Ukrainian Village, and so on.

PJM: We have five senior homes in the ward. Come to one of my ward nights and you’ll see just how diverse it is. We don’t have extreme poverty or extreme wealth. We’re still primarily Latino, but we have Ukrainians, Polish, black, white, everyone. We have newer, younger sub-30s and sub-40s people, but I’m also working on the Lathrop Homes, which is a CHA revitalization that we’re doing. We’re one of the most diverse wards.

AVC: Just looking at the ward map…

PJM: It’s crazy.

AVC: Exactly. Do you ever look at it and think, “How did this happen?”

PJM: We’re remapping this year. Every 10 years we must, legally, remap based on population. So we’re getting a new 1st Ward map. If I had my druthers I’d keep everyone I have, but I can’t add any more. It’s going to change and I hope to make it more congruent, and less like a backwards J. 

AVC: The text-messaging service is pretty neat.

PJM: The app is going to expand on that. I don’t want people to get too many texts, but they can sign up for ones about street sweeping, community alerts, police alerts, whatever. That’s what the app’s going to be. If there’s a street light out by you, enter the address, send it in, and you’re done.

We did a beta on it already and it was nice. I gave it to my friends to work out the kinks, but it’s launching very soon.