Additional Coverage from WTTW News
- Survey: Bob Fioretti on the IssuesFeb. 8, 2019
- Bob Fioretti Focuses on Taxes, Pensions in 2nd Bid for Chicago MayorDec. 26, 2018
About the Candidate
Name: Bob Fioretti
Family: Wife Nikki
Occupation: Civil rights attorney
Political Experience: Two terms as 2nd Ward Alderman, two terms as 2nd Ward Democratic Committeeman.
Website: bobforchicago.com
Candidate Statement
I’m Bob Fioretti and I’m running for Mayor for the same reasons I ran for Alderman. Those problems of crime, education and budgeting remain with us. In many ways they are worse. Chicago can’t afford a new Mayor from the insider class. We need to fundamentally change the way Chicago operates.
When I’m Mayor, we’ll cut the City Council in half, and have term limits for every elected official in Chicago. I’ll hold town hall meetings in every ward to hear directly from you, not the special interests.
Does anyone in any part of the city feel safer than they did ten years ago?
I’ll hire more police officers, invest in good jobs and excellent schools for every neighborhood, re‐open the shuttered mental health clinics, and create our own crime lab to reduce the backlog of unsolved cases.
Does anyone feel better about our schools after the fiasco of mass school closings?
I’ll treat every school equally, no matter what part of the city they are in. It’s shameful that schools on the south and west sides aren’t funded the same as those in the downtown area and north side.
Does anyone feel confident that our budget and pension obligations will be met without more property tax increases?
As Mayor, there’ll be no property tax increase during my term. Go to bobforchicago.com to see my plan. It’s time we started inviting people into Chicago, instead of taxing them out.
I am proud to have been elected and re-elected alderman by the residents of one of the most diverse wards in the City of Chicago. Working together, we strengthened neighborhoods and made communities safer by investing in schools and infrastructure and creating jobs and a sense of hopefulness for our collective future. I look forward to continuing that work together as your next mayor. I’m Bob Fioretti and I’m asking for your vote for Mayor. Thank you.
Candidate Q&A
What is your vision for this office?
I seek to drastically change the way the City of Chicago treats its residents. A few of my ideas to change Chicago are to reduce the City Council by half, term limits for every Chicago elected official and independent fair maps for the new wards after the next Census. I would institute multi-year budgeting so residents and businesses can plan for the future and town-hall style budget hearings across the city. During my term, I would also hold town hall meetings in each of the wards so I could hear directly from residents and not be insulated in the bubble that is the Fifth floor of City Hall.
What is the most pressing issue facing constituents, and how can you help address it?
In the short term, Chicago’s epidemic of violent crime has residents in every part of the city of edge. My program, much of which I have been advocating for the past decade since my first day in the City Council, is to hire the correct number of police officers and detectives, re-open the mental health clinic, re-invest in our neighborhoods to ensure good jobs, and excellent schools are not limited to the downtown area, and to open our very own Chicago crime lab to drastically reduce our backlog of unsolved crimes, will go a long way to making Chicagoans everywhere safer.
In the long term, we need to meet our pension obligations without sticking it to property owners-again. Legalizing marijuana and sports betting, a new Chicago casino, aggressively appealing egregious property tax assessments of downtown skyscrapers, and allowing Chicagoans to participate in video poker as most of the rest of the state does now are all a piece of the puzzle. Backstopping this is the $1.4-$1.7 billion in unused TIF money that has already been paid by Chicago taxpayers to be used to make up any shortfall.
Bob Fioretti on the Issues
Ethics
- What type of ban on outside employment for aldermen do you support? A full ban
- What kind of mayoral term limits do you support? Two terms
- What kind of aldermanic term limits do you support? Two terms
- Should aldermen control zoning in their wards? No
- Who should make zoning and licensing decisions? The administrative branch
- Do you support a ban on Chicago politicians’ family members getting city jobs? Yes
Education
- What kind of school board do you support? Hybrid school board
- Are you in support of teachers getting raises in their next contract? It depends
- Do you support a longer school day? No
- Do you support full-day kindergarten? Yes
- What type of charter school changes would you like to see? I think the current number is about right
Pensions
- Do you support raising property taxes to help close the pension gap? No
- Do you support hikes in any other taxes/fees to help close the pension gap? No
- Do you support pension obligation bonds to help close the pension gap? No
- Do you support a change to the Illinois Constitution to end 3-percent compounded cost of living adjustments (COLAs)? No
- Do you support taxing marijuana sales to fund city pensions? Yes
- Do you support a city casino to fund city pensions? Yes
Crime
- Do you support building a new police and fire academy? No
- Would you hire more police officers and detectives? Yes
- Do you support raising property, real estate, or sales taxes to help hire more police officers? No
- Do you support tougher sentences for illegal possession of weapons? Yes
- Do you support tougher sentences for failure to report lost or stolen weapons? Yes
Transportation
- Do you support building more bus rapid transit lanes? Yes
- Do you support the use of Tax Increment Financing (TIFs) to fund transit upgrades? Yes
Finance
- What action will you take on TIFs? Use TIFs only in blighted areas
- What tax or taxes would you support raising to help fund city government? (Check all that apply) Other
