In honor of my 10th year of living in Chicago as of this week I decided it was finally time to once and for all figure out exactly where i lived and who represents me at all levels of government. While its not the representation that is most important to me, it is a facet of being in this place I need to understand and engage with more constructively. This process was totally time-consuming but was a great education in local, regional and federal politics as well as ecologically. Here is that attempt:
I am a Human on Earth and represent myself here; a Citizen of the United States of America (represented by president Obama) in the Bioregion (According to the EPA) Level 1: Eastern Temperate Forests, Level 2: Central USA Plaines, Level 3: Central Corn Belt Plains, Level 4: The Chicago Lake Plain; in the Forest Service 222 Eastern Broadleaf Forest ( Continental) Province; in the “Chi-Pitts” or “Greatlakes Megaregion”; in the Chicago Watershed of the Lake Michigan Basin; Resident of Illinois Represented in the Senate by Dick Durbin and Mark Kirk, and at the State level by Governor Pat Quinn; in the Federal District #4 of Illinois served by US Representative Luis Gutierrez; in District #20 served by State Senator Iris Martinez; in District #39 served by State Representative Toni Berrios; in Cook County represented by President of the Board of Commissioners Toni Preckwinkle and in County District #8 by Commissioner Edwin Reyes; In the city of Chicago served by Mayor Richard M. Daley; in the “Community Area #22” of Logan Square; in the 34th precinct of the 26th Ward served by Alderman Roberto Maldonado; in Beat #1413 of the 14th District Police Station.
Sources:
- Chicagoans can Dial 311 for police precinct and beat info
- Chicago Ward lookup https://webapps.cityofchicago.org/StickerOnlineWeb/pageflows/wardLookUp/WardLookUpController.jpf
- Chicago Board of Elections 312 269 7900 for County info
- State representatives http://www.elections.illinois.gov/DistrictLocator/DistrictOfficialSearchByAddress.aspx
- Master government directory http://www.usa.gov/
- Eco/Bio Regions http://www.epa.gov/wed/pages/ecoregions.htm and http://www.fs.fed.us/land/ecosysmgmt/ and http://el.erdc.usace.army.mil/emrrp/emris/emrishelp2/220_hot_continental_division_baileys.htm and http://hubpages.com/hub/Partitioning-America-A-Bioregional-Approach and http://www.planetdrum.org
- Watershed http://cfpub.epa.gov/surf/locate/index.cfm and http://wiki.epa.gov/watershed2/index.php/Chicago_Area_Waterway_System
- Map of Megaregions http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:MapofEmergingUSMegaregions.png
Daniel Tucker 
