What do you believe are the greatest transportation challenges facing the City of Chicago right now?

I believe that Chicago should better serve those who rely on commuting in ways other than driving. I believe at least 25% of Chicagoans prefer not to drive, and the city has let them down in recent years by failing to maintain the CTA or address critical pedestrian and cyclist infrastructure issues. We need to make our streets safer for everyone and make it easier to get around our great city without being behind the wheel of a car.

During my first term, I’ve worked with the CTA to build a substation in Wicker Park that will improve current in the tracks, allowing for newer, faster, and more frequent trains. We’ve made infrastructure investments to improve service as well, including bus-only lanes on Chicago and Western Ave, and the soon-to-come rehabilitation of the California Blue Line station. Programs like these are necessary to modernize the CTA fleet and infrastructure. My constituents tell me that their trust in the CTA is tied toits reliability, and the best thing we can do to improve ridership is to improve our quality of service. We should support ongoing hiring efforts and ensure that operator compensation and benefits are top-tier for cities across the country.

Do you or members of your family regularly use sidewalks, bike, take transit, drive, or a combination of any/all to get around? Does this correspond with your preferred/ideal modes of getting around? If not, what barriers do you and your family face in using your preferred mode of transportation?

Yes, I am a regular bike commuter whenever possible. This includes my daily commute to my aldermanic office and I believe I am the only Alderman who regularly bikes to City Hall. As an avid cyclist, I understand the dangers and challenges of those who rely on biking as their main mode of transportation. I’m committed to improving our biking infrastructure both within the 1st Ward and beyond. As Alderman, I’ve been proud to create miles of protected bike lanes, including at the notoriously dangerous intersection of Logan Boulevard and Western Avenue. In my next term, I plan to continue the work of creating more protected bike lanes, as bike and pedestrian safety will continue to be a top priority for my office.

Can you share a personal experience that changed your opinion about a transportation related policy matter?

I was personally involved in crashes in 2011 and 2013, where the drivers hit me as I was biking and kept on driving. When you are lying there on the asphalt, you realize that drivers are not going to look out for you. I knew taking political action was the only way we are going to build a city that is truly safe for cyclists. Before I was Alderman, Milwaukee Ave was the most dangerous street for cyclists in the city. We still have a lot of work to do, but I was able to implement protected bike lanes on Milwaukee Avenue, parts of Western Avenue, and Logan Square Boulevard. Milwaukee Avenue has seen a 56% reduction in crashes - based on improvements I championed and implemented - according to Block Club Chicago’s reporting.  

I wish more than anything that I could live in a city where I could feel comfortable biking with my four month-old daughter strapped to me, but due to the lack of protected bike lanes, greenways, and public safety infrastructure around the city, I am not in a position where I feel comfortable to do so. Not yet. I’m motivated to continue to lead on this issue in the city council so that every Chicagoan can feel safe biking, whether alone or with their families.

Chicago is a snowy city, and even one stretch of uncleared sidewalk can make it impassable – particularly for folks with disabilities, the elderly, and parents with young children. What is your position on implementing a universal city-wide sidewalk snow/ice removal service?

I believe that city-wide snow and ice removal services aren’t just the right thing to do, they’re an opportunity for efficiency and to rebuild trust in local government. Snow and ice removal is an economy of scale problem, and individual citizens - especially the elderly and people with disabilities - often aren’t well-equipped to handle their own snow and ice removal. Indeed, many residents pay for snow and ice removal services themselves because it’s just so much work to manage personally. I believe the City of Chicago should be providing safe streets and sidewalks by taking on this burden as a matter of both public safety and efficiency. I fully support the Plow The Sidewalks campaign.

It is now widely recognized and understood that interstate highways were used to physically divide urban communities from one another – often along racial and class lines. How do you propose we overcome these divisions to restore the urban fabric of Chicago and reconnect our segregated neighborhoods?

The damage done by years of redlining and neighborhood division does not have any easy solution, but we can overcome it by working actively to promote safe and equitable transportation across neighborhoods. By ensuring that we invest in affordable housing (ideally near public transit), safe streets, and broader commuting options, we can work to rebuild our bonds across and within our communities. 

I will also work with CDOT to implement a city-wide bike grid to seamlessly connect our 77 beautiful communities.  

What role do you believe transportation plays in Chicago’s collective greenhouse gas emissions, climate responsibility, and overall environmental health?

Transportation is an important part of any city’s sustainability policies. As Alderman, I have helped design city-wide policies including the most funding for sustainable projects that Chicago has ever passed as part of our federal COVID relief funds. We need to do more to improve our efforts on this front, including building a fleet of electric buses, augmenting our CTA service to replace more drivers with electric transit riders, and ensure that anyone who wants to use more sustainable means of transit is able to do so. In the 1st Ward, I continue to fight for more protected bike lanes, and I’ve worked with the CTA to start the process of getting a new substation constructed in Wicker Park that will improve Blue Line service and reliability.

What is your position on the Illinois Department of Transportation’s current proposals for rebuilding North DuSable Lake Shore Drive? Do you believe the proposed designs will reduce congestion, improve transit access and make pedestrians and cyclists safer? How do you think the current proposals will impact access to the lakefront?

I need to do more research on the specific proposals and their environmental and congestion impact reports before I can give a full answer. I will say however, that I support the following aspects of any North DuSable Lake Shore Drive redevelopment.  

- Support extending Chicago’s shoreline and protecting eroding beaches in the city

-Re-wilding of lakefront areas (bringing back native plant/animal species) similar to what has occurred on Northerly Island 

-Increase funding for the Mayor’s Office of People with Disabilities to bolster inspection/enforcement of ADA accessibility to the lakefront 

-Create fully protected bike lanes (with metal barriers) at entrances to the lakefront -Regular cleaning and maintenance of lakefront tunnels 

-Expand CDOT’s ‘5,000 Free Bikes’ pilot program to encourage bike use/micro-mobility and reduce car traffic 

For context, I was the Friends of the Park representative for “Redefine the Drive” meetings in 2018. I think the most important thing we can do on this project is to create dedicated space for buses and carpool lanes - and, to whatever extent we can, encourage a complete streets ethos. Additionally, we must make sure to reduce and minimize the loss of public land. It is vital to ensure that any redesign of DuSable LSD does not create an elimination or reduction of public land in Lincoln Park or the greater lakefront area. 

What barriers do you believe the Illinois Department of Transportation presents to Chicago pursuing better safe streets design standards and transit investments? How do you plan to work with City Council, the Governor, and State legislators to overcome these barriers?

The biggest barrier that IDOT has historically presented is their unwillingness to engage with local community leaders, activists, and organizers about necessary construction and improvements. I am optimistic about their recent announcement regarding Chicago infrastructure, and I look forward to holding them to their word. I have been a vocal advocate for additional transit investment in the 1st Ward and across the city, and I plan to continue that work in my next term.

The 99-year parking meter deal enacted by former Mayor Richard M. Daley has been a barrier to enacting safe street designs by privatizing large portions of Chicago’s streets. What is your plan to address this?

Of course I am in favor of us trying to find a way out of this horrendous parking meter deal, but anyone running for office who promises such a thing is not being honest or is at best misinformed. Privatized streets may be beyond the control of city council, but we can work within our means and around those who would stand against us. Private protectionism is an obstacle, but it isn’t the end of the conversation.

Studies show us that speed and distracted driving kill. What do you think are the most effective ways to reduce driver speed and increase safe driving behavior?

As noted by the prompt, we need to keep our drivers’ attention by ensuring that clear signage and traffic controls are regularly posted along driving routes. I’ve worked with community leaders and transportation experts to help achieve our Vision Zero plan for reducing traffic crashes that cause death and serious injury, and I believe that evidence-based and proactive approaches to infrastructure design are an important part of increasing safe driving behavior.

What is your position on the City passing ordinances that attempt to regulate the size, weight, and/or safety features of personal and private vehicles?

I would need to learn more about these ordinances to fully understand if this is within the city of Chicago’s jurisdiction but I am very open to having this conversation.

What is your position on establishing a dedicated funding stream for safe and universal pedestrian and bike infrastructure in Chicago?

I absolutely would support such a funding stream.

What is your position on creating select pedestrian-only streets?

I believe that pedestrian-only streets are a great opportunity to revitalize our communities and am supportive of such projects. 

We want to create infrastructure that prioritizes pedestrians and cycles and we have some exciting projects in the works in the 1st Ward that I am looking forward to building on in my second term.

What policy solutions would you implement to ensure CTA buses operate on schedule, frequently, and quickly?

First and foremost, we need to hire more CTA drivers. Additionally, I support implementing a GPS tracking system for CTA buses - which we used to have - instead of our current schedule system. The schedule system has proven to be unreliable, and accurate tracking technology is both feasible and affordable. Our citizens trust the CTA to help them live their busy lives, and we owe them reliable and rapid transit. Our dreams for Chicago’s transit should be aspirational, not just fixing patchwork issues as our fleets deteriorate.

Considering the role the CTA, Metra, and Pace play in providing public transportation within the city, what are your plans to address the impending fiscal cliff – a deficit of over $700 million – that the agencies will be facing in 2025?

I have been a strong proponent of healthy budgeting, and I have even helped to ensure that the City had a budget surplus in some areas. I believe we should use these surplus dollars to support and revitalize our public transit systems. Chicagoans deserve healthier, more vibrant transit options. 

Chicago must do more now to ensure that we can meet our financial and moral obligations to fund the services that we depend upon. However, we cannot continue to do so on the backs of working class residents with fines and fees that further a regressive and punitive funding structure. Chicago will need substantial new revenue sources. This may include re-instituting the corporate head tax, emissions/congestion tax, a payment in lieu of (or PILOT program) for revenue from our billion dollar non-profits, a progressive Real Estate Transfer Tax and more. Chicago should also consider working with Springfield on initiatives including expanding the Local Government Distributive Fund, a municipal income tax similar to most other large cities nationally and across the Midwest, and sales tax modernization to capture revenue from how our economy functions. We also must utilize these revenue streams in equitable and transparent means. This is why I was a consistent critique of the Mayor's opaque utilization of our CARES Act funding and worked with many CFL members on the Chicago Rescue Plan to direct our ARPA funds toward working families and struggling communities. 

As Alderman, I also introduced a resolution pressing Lyft and CDOT to answer questions about Divvy’s pricing model changes, and to re-introduce an equitable pricing model to reduce prices for those in underserved areas of Chicago.

What is your position on establishing a network of Bus Rapid Transit lines in Chicago?

I would support such a proposal and believe it would be an excellent addition to our rail options for cross-city travel.

Will you commit to securing the funding necessary to implement CTA's plan to become 100% accessible according to ADA standards?c

Yes.