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Winnebago County Board member Polly Berg remembered by family and friends
LISTEN TO CHRIS BOWMAN INTERVIEW POLLY
BERG ON HER MOTION TO STOP WORK AT THE DITZLERS' PROPERTY UNTIL
THE COURT CASE IS SETTLED.... part 1.... part 2.... part 3
Answering questions about a proposed sanitary sewer project in
February 2001 for homes in the neighborhood surrounding the
Northwest Community Center.
By PAT MILHIZER, Rockford Register Star February 7, 2005
ROCKFORD -- Whether it was a concern about the city's northwest
side, activists lobbying for a cleaner environment or a
Republican trying to find out where Democrats stood on issues
before the Winnebago County Board, Polly Berg always offered an
open ear.
"She had people all over the city who would call her for
help. They weren't calling their own County Board members. They
weren't calling their aldermen. They called her, and she would
help every one of them. She never said no," said Theresa
Knauf, one of Berg's seven children.
Berg, a Democratic County Board member who was active in local
politics since the 1970s, died unexpectedly Saturday in her
Garfield Avenue home. She might have suffered a heart attack.
Besides providing a voice for Rockford's northwest side in her 12
years on the board, Berg, 76, promoted environmental issues more
than any other board member.
As a candidate for office in 1988, she requested that the county
start recycling all the used paper in the courthouse and
administration building. She helped lead efforts to nix leaf
burning in unincorporated parts of the county, an issue that
lingered for years until the board banned it in 2003.
As recently as last month, her nature campaign continued when she
asked the county to study using a geothermal system as a more
environmentally friendly and cost-effective way to heat and cool
the new jail, which is expected to open in 2007.
Berg also received attention in 1998 when she called on local
governments to clean up a clogged ditch that was blamed for
flooding in a 9-square-block area near Auburn High School.
"She was a voice where sometimes there wasn't a voice,"
said Harlem Township Supervisor Doug Aurand, a Democratic
stalwart who served with Berg as a board member and as county
treasurer.
"She was certainly an advocate for her district and, more
importantly, minority and women's rights," Aurand said.
"I'll remember her as one of the first women to really get
involved in politics in this area."
First woman
Berg was the first female appointed to the Winnebago County
Zoning Board of Appeals in 1983, when the committee that advises
the County Board on zoning issues was 40 years old.
But her venture into the male-dominated world of local politics
started several years before that.
Berg unsuccessfully ran for Rockford alderman in the 3rd Ward in
1975 and 1977, and a newspaper article about the 1975 race said
she was "running one of the most vigorous aldermanic
campaigns of the winter with an army of workers combing the
ward."
Some of that included deploying her daughter's Brownie troop to
pass out campaign literature door to door.
"Back then, nobody had money to do mailings," daughter,
Kathy Berg, recalled.
Berg was known for helping many Democrats with their campaigns
and served as a mayoral aide for former Mayor Robert McGaw and as
a legislative and media aide for former state Sen. Joyce
Holmberg.
She also kept busy with the Northwest Community Center, Rockford
YWCA, Rockford YouthBuild, the League of Women Voters and
Catholic Charities Auxiliary.
Berg first was elected to the County Board in 1990, a year before
her husband, Gerald, a Rockford Fire Department captain, suffered
a fatal heart attack.
After winning re-election to her 7th District County Board seat
last November, Berg was a bit miffed when Democrats voted to
strip her title as Democratic caucus chairwoman, the
second-in-command symbolic leader of the nine Democrats.
Berg relished the role, once chastising this reporter for not
including the title next to her name in a newspaper story. She
blamed the loss of the chairmanship on her willingness to work
with Republicans.
"You have to play both sides of the fence to get anything
done," Berg lamented while leaving the County Board chambers
last year.
West High School alum
Majority Leader Tim Simms responded last month by suggesting that
Berg jump ship and join the GOP. The suggestion came in an
unrelated instance in which new Democratic Caucus Chairman Phil
Johnson formally offered Republican board member Mary Ann Aiello
an opportunity to join the Democrats.
"We'll take Polly," Simms leaned back and shouted from
his seat Jan. 27, Berg's last meeting. But she declined Simms'
proposal.
"I always teased her and said you got to come over the party
line," said County Board member Chris Johnson, R-4.
"She was never mean, never tried to cut you off, never did
the cursing exit. That in of itself, is pretty unique."
Berg was born in Champaign and moved to Rockford in 1940. She
graduated from West High School in 1945 and attended the
University of Illinois and Rockford College.
A former newspaper reporter and freelance writer, Berg had her
fair share of quirks.
She occasionally referred to herself in the third person when
speaking about her stance on an issue. When she had news tips or
story ideas, she liked to call a select group of reporters and
leave a message that "Mrs. Blake" had called.
"That was just her little fun way of just enjoying the game
of it all," daughter Theresa said. "The voice of the
west side is going to become quieter now that she's not with us.
The west side needs somebody to step up to the plate and replace
her voice."
"Anything for the west side, she was for it," said
Jim Peterson, director of Northwest Community Center, where Berg
was a board member.
"She cared very much about environmental issues,"
Peterson said. "She was always making sure that anything
that was going on across the community was accessible to those
who lived on the west side, too."
Berg won re-election to her District 7 seat on the County Board
in November, capturing 64 percent of the vote.
Minority Leader Jim Hughes said he will miss his right hand on
the County Board.
"Polly was a one-person show," Hughes said. "That
lady will never be replaced. You can't replace somebody like that
and wouldn't want to."
Checking a sign on Perryville Road in Rockford in July. The sign is one of 15 designating no-mow areas to preserve natural prairie wildflowers and grasses.
Community mourns loss of County
Board member Polly Berg (Feb. 9, 1928 - Feb. 5, 2005)
Posing with some native wildflowers that grow along the roadsides
she sought to save from mowing and spraying by the county. (Photo
by friend and fellow wildlife activist Sylvia Doyle)
A compilation of remembrances from friends, from The Rock River Times - February 9, 2005
The sudden death of County Board member Polly Berg will have a profound impact on our entire community. She will always be remembered for her impeccable service, accessibility, and respect for her constituents. Her influence in the Rockford area transcended political party lines and geographic boundaries. Her responsibilities—which she willingly assumed—went further than the job description.
Prior to her 12 years’ service on the County Board, she was employed for a few years at CETA, the federal jobs training program, during the early 1980s. During that time, she worked under Lou Tangorra at the Youth Employment Service division. She did promotion for youth and adult job training and employment. Sue Molyneaux, a former planning director under CETA who now works for Rock River Training Corporation, CETA’s successor, remembers Berg. “She was always concerned about people and helping our disadvantaged youth and adults,” said Molyneaux. “We will miss her a lot in the community.”
While employed there, Polly started an independent community newspaper, The Rockford News Report, of which she was editor and publisher. It ran on a semi-monthly basis for a couple years. The first issue, dated Oct. 1, 1981, reflected some of her enthusiasm for environmental issues and community activism. It included a “Meet your legislators” series, an article on “Who says downtown is dead?”, a feature on Rep. E.J. “Zeke” Giorgi, and an article on a Rockford falconer, Jack Oar, who tried to protect endangered species. When Copy Editor Susan Johnson, who also worked with Berg at CETA, found the old newspaper, she noted that Polly had recently sent a letter to columnist Dr. Robert Hedeen, expressing appreciation for his article about the peregrine falcon. Polly made reference to an earlier article about Jack Oar that she had sent to Illinois Wildlife—possibly the same article.
On the County Board, Polly had an outstanding record of voting to support environmental issues, and was instrumental in organizing the Pesticide Task Force, educating the public on the adoption of integrated pest management policies that minimize the use of hazardous chemicals. She worked for many years to convince the County Board to enforce a roadside habitat management policy aimed at preserving wildlife in the right-of-way along county roads, and posting areas where native species can survive without being mowed or sprayed. Using only natural roadside wildflowers, Polly’s floral arrangements won numerous awards at the Winnebago County Fair.
Polly was extremely concerned about the important issue of continuing erosion along the Rock River, and opposed IDOT’s destruction of trees and prairie habitat in the Illinois Route 70 project. She visited the Ditzler family, who lost part of their land to a Winnebago County quick-take highway project. She also worked hard toward establishing an ordinance against open burning. A friend who wishes to remain anonymous said, “She was independent-minded and was sometimes snubbed by members of her own party, including Doug ‘Quick-Take’ Scott.”
Pete MacKay worked with her on the County Board, and as
Rockford Township Highway Commissioner, he agreed to severely
limit spraying on Rockford Township right-of-ways because of
public health considerations, and to limit mowing to no farther
than the bottom of the ditch in order to preserve the habitat.
“Polly was a dear friend of mine for years,” MacKay
recalled, “and although we had some disagreements, we had
more agreements than disagreements. It is unlikely that a more
dedicated representative of the people will be elected in her
district for years to come, if ever.”
Prominent people turn out for
Polly Berg’s funeral
By MARK BONNE, Rockford Register Star February 11, 2005
Family, friends and fellow political leaders buried Winnebago
County Board member Polly Berg in a grand ceremony on what would
have been her 77th birthday Ash Wednesday.
Bishop Thomas G. Doran and Bishop Emeritus Arthur J. O’Neill
attended the Catholic Mass that lasted nearly 90 minutes. Both
sat behind the altar, Doran in the seldom-used episcopal chair,
once called the bishop’s throne.
A four-deputy sheriff’s honor guard led Berg’s casket,
draped in a cream-colored pall bearing a magenta cross, in and
out of St. Peter’s Cathedral on Berg’s beloved
northwest side of Rockford.
The mother of seven, who blazed trails for women in politics and
provided a strong voice for the environment and rights of the
community’s less affluent west end, died unexpectedly
Saturday in her home in the Garfield Historic District. Active in
the Democratic Party beginning in the early 1970s, she once
worked as a reporter for the Rockford Morning Star.
As many as 250 mourners included political figures from both
sides of the aisle: Mayor Doug Scott, Sheriff Dick Meyers,
Coroner Sue Fiduccia and State’s Attorney Paul Logli.
WTVO-17 news anchor Steve Stadelman paid his respects. Ald. Doug
Mark, a Republican who’s among the parish cantors, led the
congregation in a half dozen hymns and delivered a moving solo of
“Ave Maria.”
The only eulogy came from daughter Theresa Knauf, who spoke of
how Berg corrected the kids’ grammar religiously, filled the
attic with their old Halloween costumes and school papers and
“was the only mom to let us do a Chinese fire drill when we
stopped at a light.”
Monsignor William Schwartz, who gave the sermon, afterward called
Doran’s presence “very unusual.” The high honor,
he said, reflects Berg’s role a “very active Catholic
layperson.” She volunteered for Catholic Charities, wrote
for the Catholic Observer and may have been the first woman ever
to read scripture at the St. Peter’s altar.
Much has been said and written this week about Berg’s
willingness to speak out on unpopular issues and help others,
even if they weren’t voters she represented. That’s
true. But one of her endearing qualities was that she had a bit
of the devil in her, too.
The first article I wrote here after joining the staff when
Rockford Magazine closed in 1996 involved Berg sounding off over
the Rockford Park District’s removal of a 25-year-old
toboggan run from Page Park.
I remember her mulling whether to wear her down parka or a fur
for a photograph on the hill where the chute once stood. She
shrewdly went the Pat Nixon route and left the fur at home.
Over a two-year period in the late 1990s, I wrote eight stories
on Berg’s efforts to call attention to a clogged drainage
ditch that flooded a 9-square-block area near Auburn High School.
Berg railed against bureaucratic fingerpointing that had left the
problem unresolved for years.
She made enough noise that then-Winnebago County Board Chairman
Kris Cohn put together a cleanup team that hauled away an
abandoned Oldsmobile Cutlass and 40 truckloads of debris. I
don’t think it will come as much of a shock to those who
knew her well that part of Polly’s motivation was that she
enjoyed being a thorn in Cohn’s side.
In 1999, Berg persuaded me to write an article on a question of
political etiquette. Former Sheriff Don Gasparini’s wildly
popular Wild Game Dinner had been retooled into the Family
Tradition Fund-raiser to benefit the political till of son Marc
Gasparini, the Winnebago County Circuit Court clerk and —
gasp! — a Republican.
What, Berg asked, was a good Democrat, who didn’t want to
quit attending the annual bash, to do?
“I won’t spend money for a Republican,” she said.
Berg ended up dining on roast venison after the elder Gasparini
gave her a complimentary pass into the $30-a-plate event.
County Board member was pioneering,
innovative
Editorial from the Rockford Register Star
You couldn't exactly accuse Polly Berg of taking the easy
causes.
Some elected officials are in it for the glory. Or the power. Or
the connections that might pay off, one way or another.
But Berg, a Winnebago County Board member who died over the
weekend, was at her core a public servant who wanted to be
helpful.
Why else would she embrace issues such as clearing out a dirty
drainage ditch on the northwest side? Passing a leaf burning ban
in the county? Mandatory recycling of used paper in the
courthouse, years before recycling became popular?
Even for a public official who was happy to wear the label
"quirky," this was quirky: Berg was pushing the idea of
using a geothermal system to heat and cool the new county jail.
The system would cost a lot on the front end, but would save a
ton of money down the road.
In her 12 years on the County Board, Berg had become a fixture.
People forgot she fought a lot of battles to be there. She was
the first female on the county Zoning Board of Appeals. She used
her daughter's Brownie troop to pass out campaign literature in
an unsuccessful run for Rockford alderman in 1975.
No one would use their troop that way today -- the Scout motto,
"to help people at all times" does have its exceptions,
after all. But Polly Berg's strategies evolved with the times.
She knew how to get attention to her issues and get them done.
We didn't always agree with Berg. In 1998 she was instrumental in
getting a drainage ditch near Auburn High School cleared, a ditch
chronically clogged with fallen trees, brush and trash such as
tires, wooden crates and hunks of concrete. Even an occasional
mattress or sofa would be pulled from the mire.
But we chastised Berg for saying that she met with a tangle of
red tape in solving the problem. Fact was, the former County
Board chairman said Berg never talked to her.
Overall, the key to Berg's effectiveness was her bipartisanship
-- she was so unpredictable, she kept both parties on their toes.
Minority Leader Jim Hughes said Berg was a one-woman show that
will never be replaced. We would agree -- and we, too, will miss
her.
Berg always helped, cared
I will remember Polly Berg for her dedication to her family and
to her community. I had the privilege of serving with Polly on
the County Board for more than 10 years. In that time she and I
became friends, and oftentimes allies for the same causes even as
our political philosophies differed. Although she was a leader in
her party, that took second position to her desire to get the job
done. She was tireless and worked for all county residents, not
just her neighbors. Her daughter, Theresa, said it best:
"She had people all over the city who would call her for
help. She never said no." That was Polly, always helping,
always caring. When I would ask her about one of her children she
lit up and told me all the latest news and if given the chance
would go on for hours about them.
Polly's dedication is her legacy and a lesson to anyone who
desires to serve their community. I'll miss her ribbing me in
trying to convince me to join her party and me giving it right
back to her to join mine. She would just give me that smile and
turn the subject to an issue that she was trying to get done,
always working. I'll miss her good-natured hugs after the board
meetings and her energy that never waned.
-- Bob Kinnison, Winnebago County Board
True servant of freedom
With the passing of Polly Berg, Winnebago County has lost a true
servant of freedom.
With effective political protocol, Polly could advocate a
worthwhile cause to any audience even if they had an alternative
agenda. I hope that anyone who may have an excited notion about a
Republican FINALLY filling her vacant seat respects the sincere
essence of her democratic momentum that has helped maintain that
freedom of debate. I pray that we can carry on her legacy and
speak out for peace and justice for all.
-- Sally Hawk, Winnebago County resident
campaign button
Prairie Dedicated to Polly
The Winnebago County Board and the League of Women Voters of
Greater Rockford, along with Polly's family, hosted the
dedication ceremony at the Winnebago County Forest Preserve
District Headquarters. The tall grass prairie restoration at the
forest preserve site will be officially named the Berg Tall Grass
Prairie in the memory of Polly's many years of service to
Winnebago County, and to her dedication to environmental
interests. A memorial bench and plaque were also unveiled.
Polly Remembered again from the Rockford Register Star 1-22-06
Polly Berg served on the Winnebago County Board for 12 years
and was still representing District 7 when she died Feb. 5 at age
76. Once a reporter for the Rockford Morning Star, Polly
continued to write for the Catholic Observer after she left the
daily newspaper. Her political work through the years included
the campaigns of Sheriff Donald Gasparini, State Sen. Joyce
Holmberg and State Rep. Chuck Jefferson. She also worked in Mayor
Robert McGaw’s administration. She was a founder of the
Garfield Avenue Historic District and enjoyed serving her
community and working on environmental issues.
