(WBBM NEWSRADIO) – The man who considers himself an unofficial member of the Chicago City Council is keeping busy with one of his other jobs.
“I'm known as the 51st alderman of the city of Chicago," George Blakemore said on a sunny day this week near Dearborn and North.
Blakemore, who is in his 80s, has been a regular at City Council meetings for years.
"I wear many hats," he says. "I'm a community activist, and I'm also a gadfly! Some people say I'm a gadfly. That's like a little nuisance to City Hall, because sometimes I make them accountable."
On this day, Mr.Blakemore, who was wearing his signature, colorful garb, was selling his hand-painted umbrellas.
"I am an artist, and I painted all these hand-painted umbrellas and I also painted these canvases."
He was having a special, selling the umbrellas for $40, instead of the usual $50. He quickly found a customer in a young woman named Angelina. She bought two.
"I think it's really cool because he hand-paints and it's acrylic,” she said. “I go to raves and different EDM (Electric Dance Music) festivals and stuff, and I felt this would be a nice little thing when it's hot outside, and support small businesses, you know?"
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