The following questions were crafted at a City Bureau event with the Reader to reflect the concerns of participants, who came from diverse neighborhoods in the city. Candidates Gery Chico, La Shawn Ford, John Kozlar, Neal Sales-Griffin, and Toni Preckwinkle were also invited to participate but did not respond. Full responses are listed in alphabetical order by last name. For the trimmed answers featured in print, click here [PDF].
Too many of us don’t feel safe, and too many of us tell ourselves there is nothing we can do, and that is wrong. There’s plenty we can do, including better community policing. We’ve seen strategies work in other large cities in America, and we can create a safer Chicago.
Garry McCarthy: What makes me feel safe in all of these categories is the confidence that I am surrounded by a well-trained, disciplined, and community-oriented police force. A police force of officers who are respected and are respectful of residents of every neighborhood in the city of Chicago. This fosters the kind of understanding and cooperation that leads to lower crime and violence, especially in underserved communities that have been overlooked and marginalized for far too long. When I’m elected mayor, we will make public safety a top priority.
Describe what you consider to be the best example of affordable housing in your neighborhood. What will you do to replicate that success?
- Increasing the affordable housing percentage mandate for developers;
- Increasing affordable housing stock for family-size units;
- Eliminating the developer “opt out for a fee” provision;
- Eliminating aldermanic prerogative specific to affordable housing placement; affordable housing should be citywide, not ward specific;
- Increasing and expanding the real estate transfer tax to include economic development uses;
- Lifting the rent control ban; and
- Instituting a collaborative holistic model that tethers homelessness mitigation, substance abuse counseling, mental health services, and veterans’ services to housing.
Jerry Joyce: The Beverly/Morgan Park area where I live has strong housing values, which is one of the community’s strongest assets. We are fortunate to have an outstanding community-based alliance of civic and business groups known as the Beverly Area Planning Association. I have been a longtime supporter of this not-for profit organization. They do important work when it comes to housing in our community by monitoring foreclosures and providing resources and information to homeowners facing foreclosure.
In addition, I will seek to amend the Affordable Requirements Ordinance in four ways. First, the amended ordinance will increase the number of affordable units required to be built by housing developers from 25 percent to 50 percent. Using the example above, under the amended ordinance, the developer of a ten-unit building would be required to build five affordable units, instead of 2.5. Second, one-half of the affordable units built will have to be located in the new, market-rate development. Third, affordable units that are not located in the new, market-rate development must be built within one mile of the development, instead of two miles. Finally, the affordable units that are built must include units large enough to accommodate families.
Bob Fioretti: As for the tickets themselves, people who violate parking regulations should pay them. What’s unfair is the excessive penalty for late payment. Some people don’t have the money to pay a $100 ticket right away, yet penalties are compounding, in some cases making it impossible for the violator ever to pay, and then they have their car confiscated over a parking ticket. My plan for late payment (30-plus days after adjudication) is a onetime penalty of 10 percent of the face value of the ticket, plus half percent per month interest. Under this plan, if someone is two months late with a $60 ticket, the debt would be $66.60. Stronger medicine might be needed for persistent scofflaws, but for a regular person with one or two tickets, that’s fair.
Jerry Joyce: I would conduct a complete analysis of the city’s vehicle ticketing systems to explore this matter and make any required changes moving forward. Lori Lightfoot: It is unacceptable that our ticketing system is having such a devastating impact on low-income people and people of color. To identify and address racial disparities, I will direct that an audit be conducted into potential bias in ticketing. Additionally, right now people who owe money to the city aren’t allowed to work for the city or as taxi or ride-hail drivers. I would end this policy for people whose outstanding payments are below a certain threshold, and would work to stop the suspension of drivers’ licenses for nonmoving violations.Garry McCarthy: This comes down to a person’s ability to pay. In those cases where the loss of a driver’s license could mean the loss of a job, a home, or a family’s well-being, I would advocate for payment in the form of an appropriate and verifiable [term of] community service. I will ensure that a person is not penalized into poverty. We’ll start by making sure there is a payment plan system that takes into account that person’s ability to pay based on their financial situation. We will work with Chicago residents, not against them.
Bob Fioretti: As you know, Chicago has a problem with lead in the service lines that led from the mains to individual homes and businesses. Lead was allowed in Chicago until 1985. This is one area where I am in favor of bonding, because this is a problem that must be addressed right away, and it must be at the expense of the water system as a whole, not individual property owners.
Jerry Joyce: We have known about the lead problem since before 1966. Most cities in the U.S. discontinued the use of lead in the mid-1960s; however, Chicago continued until the federal government issued a mandate in 1985.
