2023 Chicago Election Voter Guide

Candidate Q&A

Why are you running?

I am running for alderwoman to bring a vision of a thriving 12th ward to reality. For too long, city leadership has disinvested in our Southwest Side communities. I will bring investments our communities rightly deserve, while bringing in community stakeholders to have a voice in key decisions that affect our livelihood. I was born and raised in Brighton Park. I have 14 years of professional experience and a lifetime of lived experience in the community to seek solutions to increase public safety. I’m the right candidate to bring solutions to our communities, and it’s time we invest in ourselves.

What does this office do well, and what needs fixing?

The 12th ward office has had a good record of taking care of our senior citizens in the neighborhood. I intend to continue doing so as well as improve city services to all residents of the 12th ward. Our southwest side communities love their neighborhoods and want to see them well taken care of. They also want to be involved in the key decision making that affects our livelihoods and environment. It is unacceptable, for example, that the MAT Asphalt plant was allowed to reside in McKinley Park without any input from the neighbors who it so greatly affects. The 12th ward office must do a better job of involving the community through participatory budgeting, a community driven zoning process, and a way to transparently track their city service requests. I commit to bringing transparency and accountability to the 12th ward and including our residents in decisions that affect their daily lives.

What is the most pressing issue facing your constituents and how do you plan on addressing it?

Like many other wards, one of the most pressing issues facing the residents of the 12th ward is Public Safety. As someone who lost my brother to gun violence, I will prioritize making our communities safe for all. My short term goals to address public safety in our communities is to establish better working relationships between CAPS, District Coordinating Officers (DCO’s), and the soon-to-be elected Empowering Communities for Public Safety (ECPS) council representatives. I have many years’ experience working with CAPS and DCO’s and would ensure that our available infrastructure addresses issues appropriately and equitably.

In the long term, we must have a holistic approach to public safety. I will advocate to provide resources, as a prevention measure, to those struggling so that their needs are met and they are not forced to wander in the streets and in dangerous situations. We must commit to making major investments in social services and mental health resources. Our city must provide people with the education and employment opportunities that allow them to be economically stable. When people have a stable job and have housing and food insecurity — they are on a path to prosperity. We should yearn to have as many of our residents in that path as possible. I will also advocate for greater investment in violence prevention and intervention programs, jobs training and safe public transit.

Other issues I hear at the doors are the issue of government transparency and the lack of protection of our environment. We must also establish community driven zoning processes to discuss the kinds of industry that are coming to the ward. We cannot allow another MAT Asphalt plan incident to occur. We must establish a Department of Environment that is fully funded and has the proper personnel to hold manufacturing companies accountable to the EPA standards.

What specific steps would you take to ensure your office is accessible and responsive to your constituents?

Transparency and accessibility to the 12th ward office will be one of my main priorities as alderwoman. We have seen successful community collaboration in other parts of the city that can and should be replicated in the 12th ward. Specifically, I will introduce a participatory budgeting process to the ward, which will seek to include constituents’ feedback in how our ward dollars are allocated. I also commit to implementing a community driven zoning process that requires community voices to be heard and factored into zoning decisions that affect everyone in the ward. I will also organize a monthly ward night and quarterly town-halls to update community residents and solicit input.

Additionally, I believe ensuring city services are effectively delivered is the most basic responsibility of the aldermanic office. I will ensure staff have a system in place that effectively intakes and tracks constituents’ needs. I will build on my existing relationships with residents and businesses to ensure there is effective and consistent communication on the needs in their neighborhood. And most of all, I will make sure we are consistent, reliable and accessible and that every request is responded to in a timely manner and equitably across the ward. This includes making sure we have bilingual staff that can communicate with constituents in Spanish and Mandarin/Cantonese and who have the cultural competency needed to provide good service.

Do you believe in the tradition of aldermanic prerogative, which gives each City Council member the final say on issues in their ward?

Aldermanic prerogative has long been used as a tool for pay-to-play politics by corrupt alders to bolster their own campaign funds and taking care of the needs of special interests, while taxpayers are left picking up the tab every time through increased property taxes and diminished city services.

I want to create community zoning processes to ensure the community always has a seat at the table. The community will be kept abreast of what is happening every step of the way and I am committed to expanding the ways in which the community requests information about a particular project/city owned land. I plan to be fully transparent by creating an online portal that allows users to request information and meetings, and download documents that are published to my website.

Should the $1.9 billion budget for the Chicago Police Department increase, stay the same or decrease?

Our budget needs to reflect the needs of our City. Every year, the CPD budget increases its portion of our overall budget, yet crime and violence rates do not improve. It’s time for the City to invest in a more holistic approach to reducing crime and violence in our communities. We need to invest in fully funded schools, after school resources, tutors, culturally competent educational curriculum rooted in restorative justice practices, a nurse for every school, hire more social workers and reopen mental health sites. We should invest in preventative strategies by appropriating resources for youth programming, building more green space, and year-round youth job employment. We must invest in good-paying union jobs and programs to train our city’s residents to successfully enter the workforce and become financially independent. The City must invest in proven solutions that deal with the root causes of violence. We should reevaluate all department programs and review ways in which we can use police personnel more effectively and implement a more specialized civilian work force in non-essential officer functions as supported by data. Our police officers cannot and should not be expected to take on the role of mental health clinicians. We must explore innovative pilot programs to respond to mental health crises that increase the use of teams of trained clinicians, paramedics, and police which reduce the need for use of force policies that often lead to unwanted outcomes and increase the City’s financial liability. The City Council is tasked with responsible financial stewardship and part of that should include an annual independent and transparent fiscal audit — available online — that thoroughly reviews every line item in the department’s budget before reallocating any resources to evidence based crime reduction strategies.

Should the city raise the Real Estate Transfer Tax on properties sold for more than $1 million to fund programs to help unhoused Chicagoans?

The City of Chicago should raise the Real Estate Transfer Tax on property sold for more than $1 millions to fund programs for the unhoused.One hundred percent of the residential properties in the 12th Ward are valued under $1 million. Their property tax bill would not increase one penny as a result of the transfer tax. This proposal is clearly in the best interest of the residents of the 12th Ward and would help to begin to create government programs that are sustainable and sensible solutions while also being humane and compassionate. Our previous alderman did not vote for the Real Estate Transfer Tax, while I would have voted in favor of this practical solution while looking out for the best interests of every resident of the 12th Ward. 

Should the city open and operate mental health clinics to provide free care to Chicagoans?

Yes. The mental health of our communities has been neglected for too long and we must invest in equitable and accessible resources for our working class communities. Providing mental health support as well as fighting other systemic inequities will help our communities thrive, reduce crime and homelessness.

How should Chicago build the 120,000 homes it needs for low- and moderate-income Chicagoans?

We can get more low-and moderate-income housing built by the City Council, requiring the Chicago Housing Authority (CHA) to build a certain amount of units every year. The CHA has had over $250M at its disposal to build housing and has chosen not to build the needed housing and instead has chosen to sell and swap CHA owned land to private developers that use a loop-hole to pay fines instead of building the required housing.

I would support a proposal to appropriate monies to pay small-contractors, minority and women owned contractors to rehab multi-family houses locally that can be converted to affordable housing for low-and moderate-income Chicagoans with rent-to-own options as well.

What do you see as potential solutions to address the number of shootings in Chicago?

As stated before, public safety is one of the main concerns of our neighbors in the 12th ward and of my own campaign. My experience as an anti-violence advocate over the past 14 years has shown me the effectiveness of investing in our communities through fully funded schools, access to mental health services, adult education opportunities, affordable housing, and good jobs. Investing resources in our communities gives our neighbors opportunities to thrive and not seek out dangerous means of survival.

These investments will help to curb violence in the long term. An immediate solution to address violence in our city would be to establish better working relationships between CAPS, District Coordinating Officers (DCO’s), and the soon-to-be elected Empowering Communities for Public Safety (ECPS) council representatives. We must build relationships with those in our community who are hurting from systemic disinvestment as well as those suffering from painful losses in their communities.

Should MAT Asphalt continue to operate in McKinley Park, despite its record as a source of pollution?

No. The MAT Asphalt plant was brought into our community in the 12th ward under the previous alderman’s leadership without any process for community input. Since then, there have been hundreds of complaints from local residents, and our communities have been denied affordable housing, citing the health concerns from the MAT Asphalt plant. MAT Asphalt is across the street from McKinley Park, popular for children, families and neighbors to enjoy our city’s green spaces. However, our health is put at risk with a big corporate polluter such as MAT Asphalt just feet away from our parks and homes.