Jack Markowski & Pat Sharkey

Edgewater is fortunate to have this amazing couple with their community organizing skills. Jack, the urban planner, spearheaded the revival of Kenmore and Winthrop; Pat, the environmental lawyer activist, organized and led a persistent legal battle to vote Granville dry.

Jack was hired by the Edgewater Community Council to lead Operation Winthrop Kenmore. He soon became Executive Director of ECC, enlisting over $50 million in rehab investments and dramatically turning around the troubled “corridor”, the linchpin to Edgewater’s revival. He later became Chicago Commissioner of Housing, and has a successful career.

Pat Sharkey became involved in many block club activities and took on the challenge of closing recalcitrant liquor stores feeding decay in her neighborhood. Pat’s organizing energy and legal acumen spurred on the community to wage this successful battle.

Jack Markowski

“The Edgewater Community Council was the place where
community activists who wanted a vehicle through which they
could work to make the community better”

Pat Sharkey

(after final vote-dry legal battle) “I was watching the street
every day after that… the guys in the big hoodies selling drugs,
the prostitutes were gone almost overnight… it changed that
block dramatically and immediately.”

Click here for a short video.