The Issues
The Issues
Access to your city government- I will respond to the needs & concerns of residents and businesses.
The staff in my office are trained and prepared to answer questions you have in a professional manner. Whether you contact my office in person, by phone or by email, we will respond to your concerns in a timely manner. If you do not hear back from the city within a timely manner,please reach out to us again and we will work on the issue or find a way to solve the problem if we can. We will keep you informed of new developments,projects and programs taking place in your neighborhood. Please feel free to reach out to us. Sign up for our frequent e-newsletter with info on city services, legislation I propose, and links to neighborhood events.
Budgets, Jobs and Your Money - Let's have a long term plan
Why have a voted against recent budgets? You can read my more detailed explanation here but we have serious financial issues that must be addressed and are being largely ignored. Privatizing public assets paid for by our tax dollars is not an answer. Spending tax dollars for this generation, while ignoring looming deficits and future needs is fiscally irresponsible. We must have a plan devised now to end the decade long run of deficit spending, halt privatization of our assets, address financial issues including pension balloons that are ready to burst, and the lack of any real reserves in our city budgets.
Having a long term urban plan for our city will help determine where we can and should focus our efforts for economic development and job growth. Working with local organizations like Chicago LEED Council and the Chicago Jobs Council, we have saved jobs at businesses like Republic Windows and thought of new ways to create more jobs. While Chicago's lost some of its luster in the old manufacturing market, there are ways we can attract alternative technology companies to Chicago by implementing a new range of ideas and urban planning to draw them in.
There are enough experts in the city and the U.S.to find the solutions we need to fix the problems that corruption and waste has created.
Skyrocketing Property Taxes and TIFS- I support a temporary cap on property tax assessments.
But we have to do more than this temporary fix. But homeowners are not the only people suffering in this archaic system. Business owners see their taxes fluctuating and rising to the point where too many are forced out of businesses. If the system we have in place today is not scrapped quickly and replaced with something else- perhaps acquisition based. Leaders from the city,county and state must sit down now to devise a new system that is fair for every Chicagoan, not just those who have ties to special interests. Government corruption and waste is a direct cause of higher property taxes. I will continue to demand accountability for taxes captured by the TIFS (Tax Increment Financing Districts) that now number of 160 in the city and eat up large portions of taxes meant for schools, parks and city infrastructure. TIF zones freeze taxes to schools and park districts and that has shifted the city's funding burden onto homeowners
Balanced & Responsible Development - Residents will be my top priority. I do not accept donations from developers.
I will hold developers and builders accountable for the work they do in our ward. I will work with residents and neighborhood groups to ensure that new developments are of the highest quality and fit the community. I will ask developers to work closely with neighboring homeowners throughout the process and respect the fact that they are all neighbors in the process. All zoning and development applicants must go through the 32nd Ward zoning process, which is above and beyond what the City Zoning Department and City Council Zoning Committee requires. All applicants are required to read and completely fill out the 32nd Ward development guidelines before any meeting. This should be the norm across the city. For background on why this is needed, please read the Neighborhoodsfor Sale series in the Chicago Tribune.
Corruption & Waste - I will fight to end political corruption.
I will do this by voting to enforce the Shakman Decree and implementing a ban on ward employees gathering signatures or politicking on city time. I will introduce legislation that holds city department heads accountable for the budgets they prepare and the money they spend and ask for accounting of dollars they decide to spend on behalf of taxpayers. I advocated for legislation to have cameras placed in the Chicago City Council so that the people of this city can see what aldermen do on their behalf. I have co-sponsored legislation to have the IG investigate Aldermen, a measure that did not pass. I believe it is important to speak out about the waste or crimes committed with public funds, whether it is the Hired Truck Scandal, Billion dollar blunders like the parking meters deal, cost overruns, and waste within department budgets. They're your tax dollars and someone needs to treat it that way.
Transparency and Openness - One answer to fighting corruption
The TIF Transparency website ordinance that I co-sponsored is a foot in the door, but we have a long way to go to improve public access to documents and decisions made by our local government that affect each taxpayer.I envision a city that utilizes available technologies to provide timely information about all aspects spending and decision-making at the municipal level. Providing a uniform system for recording and broadcasting city council committee meetings, and all mayoral meetings is an example but supporting Open Government principles is a must. An example of open government that we can use is as easy as www.everyblock.com.
Crime - The Chicago Police Serve and Protect, but they can't do it alone.
In the past couple years, I've been attending as many of the police beat meetings as possible throughout the ward. We have brought in many neighborhood volunteers to help facilitate those meetings and create a new,stronger relationship between our police officers and the community. At the city council level, we need to be committed to providing Chicago Police with the tools they need to provide law and order. That is hard to do in tough times, but making sure they have appropriate numbers on the street is a start. Estimates of our undermanned police force range from 600 to 2000officers that the city is short. It is unacceptable to decry the lack of law and order when leadership continually undermines the department while not providing civic leaders and the public with a definitive answer to the problems. We need to determine what our overall needs are for today and the future, and discuss what our needs will be 5, 10 and 20 years from now. At the back end of their job, we need to provide all first responders with assurances that their pension funds are actually funded, and that the severely underfunded pension issues are fixed today.
Education - Education is the foundation of our community.
I am committed to supporting the Chicago Public Schools in our ward and throughout the city. I will work with educators and the community to find ways to support our schools and our children with funding and programs. I will lobby state and local leaders to close the funding gap in order to provide our children with the highest quality education. We meet regularly with school administrators, parents, and students to discuss their needs. I will also support efforts by local leaders who want more accountability for TIF spending where it concerns education funding.
While working with our local elementary schools, both public and private, I will continue to work with parents, teachers and administrators to improve our high school options in the area. After going through two CPS closure processes in our ward in the past couple years, I think we need to sit down with the community as a whole to comprehensively review CPS policies. Our efforts to boost those schools through parent and neighborhood participation has been a success and we can only do better. We are working with area parents, administrators and elected officials on improving options for high school as well, realizing that the options must improve as children move to a higher level of education.
Violence in the Chicago Public school system is an issue that needs focus now before any more kids are put in harms way or die. The students in the Mikva Challenge are just a small number of kids who I have listened to and worked with, and they have the answer to these problems, so let’s listen.
Recycling - We all want a recycling program that works.
I will demand that the 32nd Ward be a part of the new"source-separated" recycling program that will replace the ineffective Blue Bag program. Virtually every major city in the United States has a proven program for source-separated recycling and it is time our city implemented this in a city-wide grid program. Recycling can take on many forms, and we need to educate our kids, and adults too, on the benefits of recycling. I am also working on an ordinance to reduce the number of foam containers in our school system,while preferring an outright ban.
Budget cuts for recycling does not make sense and actually costs the city more in the long run. A comprehensive overhaul of our waste pickup system would benefit everyone.
Transportation and the CTA- I will demand accountability from CTA management and transportation agencies.
While most CTA dollars are not subsidized by the City of Chicago, we need to keep our eyes on how the system is operated and how city dollars are spent. We will continue to work with our federal and state legislators to bring funding to our ward to fix our aging transportation infrastructure. We are presently working with Metra to move in the direction of improving aging viaducts, bridges and support systems that traverse the city. I will continue to support programs such as Moving Beyond Congestion, and organizations that support other means of transportation, especially cycling and carpooling. We are dedicating funds to improve our bike lanes in the ward, and I support plans to improve and increase the number of bike lanes available for the growing number of cyclists in our city.