Page 5 - June2020 FOP Magazine

CHICAGO LODGE 7
Official Magazine
President’s Report
FRATERNAL ORDER OF POLICE CHICAGO LODGE #7
EXECUTIVE BOARD
JOHN CATANZARA
President
Michael Mette
First Vice President
Daniel D. Gorman
Second Vice President
Fernando Flores
Third Vice President
Greg Bella
Recording Secretary
Jim Jakstavich
Financial Secretary
Dennis McGuire
Treasurer
Kevin Graham
Immediate Past President
Sergeants-at-Arms
Nenad Markovich Frank Quinn III Daniel Sheehan
Trustees
Harold Brown John Capparelli Frank J. DiMaria David DiSanti Mark P. Donahue Nick Duckhorn Patrick Duckhorn Tom Fitzpatrick David Goetz
Ken Hauser Tom Lonergan Brock Merck Steve Olsen Monica Ortiz Dan Quaid Ron Shogren Daniel G. Trevino
Field Representatives
Andrew Cantore Rob Noceda
Ready to serve, ready to speak up
In my mind, we’re going to have the contract settled within one year.
If you know me – or if you’ve heard about me or read about me – you wouldn’t expect my report to begin with anything less than a bold statement. We’re not fussing around. This administration is going to be all about bringing a clear, concerted and committed voice to Lodge 7 and giving our members impeccable service.
Our 2020 Vision team has been chomping at the bit. I think we are absolutely determined to provide a better form of customer service. One of the major func- tions of the Lodge is to provide service, so let me say this loud and clear: We are here for the members; they are not here for us.
Sure, we are dealing with some of that political stuff every administration faces going for- ward. And even though we had a good feeling about getting into office with the way our Vision team did in the general election, we have been stuck in the mud a bit with the runoff election being delayed due to the pandemic.
Now it’s time to put on the big-boy boots and get to work. I appreciate the support of the members who voted for me. But there is a large number who didn’t vote for me, and we are going to work very hard to convince those people that the way we want to go is the right way.
The most obvious direction is to give the Lodge a voice. My résumé is what it is. Some peo- ple look at it negatively. But I feel like I fall under the moniker of “the right guy at the right time.” We have been getting pushed around by Emanuel and now Lightfoot for too long. They have seen Lodge 7 as not willing to push back. That’s not the case anymore. You have someone who is not afraid to push back. My only concern is to speak up and defend the members.
I never quite understood the dynamic of the past. We’d call a press conference or make a statement to the media, and it would be the same rehearsed line over and over. That doesn’t make for good copy. My name and my reputation will make for good copy. As long as the me- dia is fair, we are going to work with them to get our message out.
It’s going to be a different dynamic. I am actually the right guy at the right time with the right team. Our 2020 Vision is built on younger and older members, women and men, patrol officers, detectives and those from specialized units. We are striving for a mix of perspectives from across the spectrum of membership. We are going to attack the issues coming head on, stuff that has not been addressed properly in the past.
We are the biggest FOP lodge in the country, and we have to start operating that way. We are becoming more technologically reliant, so we are going to work on improving our systems and finally revamping the Chicago FOP app. Everything we do will be to make Lodge 7 more user-friendly.
I think everybody will agree that we need to change. If we don’t change, we will become ob- solete. The way you escape becoming obsolete is by getting back to being a competitive team full of good ideas. It doesn’t always have to be my idea. If there is a better idea, let’s figure out if it’s a feasible way to go, and then go do it.
An important aspect of our new dynamic is the support team we have at Lodge 7. They are a big part of making Lodge 7 user-friendly, and I have seen from my first day here that they are more than capable of meeting that challenge.
We are all pulling in the same direction, and I don’t think anybody would disagree that has
JOHN CATANZARA
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CHICAGO LODGE 7 ■ JUNE 2020 5