Alderman Manny Flores unseated incumbent Alderman Jesse Granato in a tight election in 2003.

Since then, he has represented the 1st Ward, which includes parts of Wicker Park, Bucktown, Logan Square and West Town. The ward is changing rapidly, and is one of the city's main battlegrounds on preservation and growth issues.

The Daily News recently sat down with Flores to talk about his work as alderman.

Q: How do you balance community development with maintaining local architecture?

A: One of the first things in terms of managing development is having an understanding of what the values of the community are through community engagement.

Listening to people and developing a sense of what direction we think we should be going are all critical. In addition to that, on practical level, you take a look at what is permissible under the zoning code and what is permissible under codes that regulate development overall and not just look at the zoning laws, but also landmarking.

So what we've done specifically in the ward is not only reach out and develop master plans with neighborhood organizations but also we've used the City Code to try to achieve our visions. For instance in East Village and Wicker Park right now, we've designated two landmark districts to preserve certain areas of those neighborhoods in perpetuity so that we are not only maintaining the architecture, but also establishing a guideline in terms of the type of human scale development that we'd like to see.

Q: Why did you want to be an alderman?

A: I believe in public service. I was a political science major in college. And I was a congressional aid for Congressman Luis Gutierrez.

I also went on to law school where I received my degree at George Washington University and thereafter became a prosecutor with the Cook County State Attorney's office.

From a personal perspective, I think public service is an honorable profession. I think that all of us on some level have responsibility to get involved with our communities--to get involved ... and to try to make a positive contribution. For me it was maybe taking it a step further.

Q: How as the housing market collapse affected the first ward?

A: Prices have gone down. You have also seen it has taken longer for people to sell their property, whether it is a home or a condominium.

We actually see the rental market doing a little better, which is a positive on some level, because you need to have not just home ownership opportunities but also rental opportunities for younger people and folks who like the area, but who may not be in a position to buy yet. It's still expensive, notwithstanding some of the lower prices that people are asking for their property.

We have seen an increase in foreclosures, but not at the rate that you've seen in other communities. So, by and large, we're fortunate that we have a lot of positive things taking place in our communities.

Our schools, commerce, parks infrastructure, libraries, grocery stores -- those are things that make people want to live in the community. So long as those institutions also strong, we are in a better position to weather the storm that we're in right now, facing this challenge with this sagging real estate market.

Q: How is the recycling program going?

A: It's doing great. We've seen the recycling participation rate more than triple from the time when we were using just the blue bag. So that's a real positive.

However my goal is to get us close to 100 percent participation. We're still a ways from that percentage ... It's not just about recycling, but it's also about evaluating what your habits are in the house and how you are using natural resources and energy, your water consumption, what kinds of light bulbs you use. Are you over consuming or are you using public transportation when you can use it?

Q: What are your goals for your current term?

A: I want to make the ward the greenest ward in the city. We've initiated a master green plan -- a "green print" of sorts.

We're looking at not just the recycling program or the car sharing program or promoting or the use of public transportation ... we've implemented a new mandate in the ward where if you are going to get a zoning change for brand new construction you have to participate in the Green Homes for Chicago Program.

Another exciting program that I've been working on is the Green Exchange, which is the first of its kind green business center located at Diversey and Maplewood. It's the reuse of a 250,000 square-foot facility that used to be a manufacturing plant.

Instead of converting that to a bunch of condominiums, we're looking at how we can reuse that building and do something exciting -- something outside of the box. We have a for-profit developer that I am helping to create a for-profit green business incubator. So that's how we can look at commerce and make it greener and more sustainable, not simply just look at it as an economic development initiative for our community. And working with the schools to make them greener is also a comprehensive plan.

Q: How do you feel about the perception that aldermen are willing to overlook zoning problems in exchange for campaign contributions?

A: I think that there is a misconception. There was an article written about me in terms of the 1st Ward being one of the places that had the most zoning change.

But what that article failed to report was that the community was deciding how those issues were going to be decided. I do not act alone and independently of what the community is looking for in terms of development.

Whether someone makes a contribution to my campaign or not does not allow them to do whatever they want to do.

I keep the political contributions separate from my service work. And I'm very proud of that. Those are the rules I've imposed on myself and I'm very proud to say that our development is shaped by and for the community as a guiding principle.

Q: What do you think you've accomplished so far?

A: We've accomplished many things. The Green Exchange, the separate recycling, the improvement of the parks -- we've improved five parks during my tenure as alderman. Infrastructure improvements have been made.

If you were to ask me what has been the most significant accomplishment, it would be the development of a sense of community and empowerment for the people.

Everyday folks have an opportunity to engage in the process, to contact me and to communicate with me.

Q: What's your favorite part about being an alderman?

A: Getting to work with so many people on very wide, very broad variety of issues, and then being able to see the change and being able to see the result of the work.

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