Bernard "Berny" L. Stone (November 24, 1927 – December 22, 2014) was alderman of the 50th Ward of the City of Chicago, Illinois from 1973 to 2011.

The 50th Ward encompasses part of Chicago's far North Side and includes the West Ridge and Peterson Park neighborhoods.

[3] Though he was a Democrat for most of his life, Stone briefly followed Alderman Edward Vrdolyak to the Republican Party, and unsuccessfully ran against Carol Moseley Braun for Cook County Recorder of Deeds in 1988.

Stone was an employee in the office of Cook County Sheriff Richard Elrod and the vice president of the 50th Ward Regular Democratic Organization, which endorsed him for alderman.

[21][22] In the run-off election on July 3, 1973, Stone defeated Berland 12,882 to 10,958, with a turnout of about 53%, winning the 50th Ward for Democrats for the first time since 1955.

On October 29, 1987, Stone announced he had joined the Republican Party and expressed his intention to run for Recorder.

[27] In 1988, Stone ran as a Republican against African-American Democratic Illinois State Representative Carol Moseley Braun for Cook County Recorder of Deeds.

[30] Richard M. Daley defeated Sawyer in the Democratic primary and Republican nominee Edward Vrdolyak in the general election to become mayor.

[31] Although resident and corporate relations between Chicago and neighboring suburb Evanston are generally cordial and co-operative,[32] Stone was a protagonist in perhaps the most significant altercation in recent decades.

[33] A city contractor installed a $150,000, 2.5 feet (0.76 m) high, three-block-long, continuous steel guardrail down the middle of Howard Street, from Kedzie Avenue to California Avenue, blocking vehicles from crossing between Evanston and Chicago, to protect residents from the vehicular traffic expected at a proposed shopping center on the Evanston side of Howard Street that was projected to open in 1995.

A Cook County Circuit Court judge denied Evanston's request for a restraining order to halt the erection of the barrier, which became known in the media as "Berny's Wall".

[1][6][34][35][36] The Chicago Tribune editorialized calling Stone "silly" and the guardrail a "senseless idea...just an insipid ploy by a useless alderman who has too much time on his hands and too much of the taxpayers' money at his disposal".

On June 1, 1993, the Evanston City Council voted to refuse to contribute funds, to continue their lawsuit, and to defer modifications to the site plan until the barrier was dismantled.

[43] The Chicago Tribune editorialized calling the barrier "a petty, indulgent waste of money at the people's expense".

[46] A photograph of Stone asleep in Council Chambers, during a hearing on an ordinance restricting the use of a cell phone while operating an automobile, ran on the front page of the Chicago Sun-Times in January 2004.

[47] "Some aldermen have a tendency while they're thinking to close their eyes and that may register with their constituency as not paying attention or, perhaps, even sleeping during the session", Stone later explained.

[50][51] On September 4, 2007, speaking from the floor of Council Chambers during a meeting of the Buildings Committee, Stone warned fellow aldermen of an ongoing investigation into absentee balloting.

Anish Eapen, a precinct captain and a ward superintendent with the city's Streets and Sanitation Department, was charged with "official misconduct, absentee ballot fraud, and mutilation of election materials".

[53][54] Eapen allegedly partnered with Armando Ramos, an unemployed student, who was also charged with absentee ballot fraud and mutilation of election materials.

Stone accused the state attorney's office of acting at the behest of the area's U.S. Representative, Jan Schakowsky.

On October 8, 2009, Streets and Sanitation Department Commissioner Tom Byrne found Eapen a job tracking equipment.

Stone called the case "a witch hunt", said that Ramos and Eapen were "political prisoners", and compared their crimes to "spitting on the sidewalk".

[6][70] In 2008, Illinois State Senator Ira Silverstein defeated Stone in the voting for the 50th Ward Democratic committeeman, an unpaid party post.

[79] In 2017 a 1.8 acre greenspace along the North Shore Channel just south of Devon Avenue in the 50th ward was dedicated Berny Stone Park.

[7] In 2003, Stone's son, Jay, unsuccessfully challenged incumbent 32nd Ward Alderman Theodore Matlak.