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

Right now, the greatest challenges facing our city are a public transit infrastructure that is badly in need of modernization and a lack of political will to defend the safety of pedestrians and bikers. We must improve the reliability and number of trains and buses running, especially at peak usage. CTA trackers must display an accurate schedule so that riders are able to rely on public transit to navigate across the city. An accurate and frequent schedule will also help increase public safety, as riders will not be left in the cold or waiting for long periods of time.

With respect to biker and pedestrian safety, we need to elect leaders who are unafraid to champion pedestrianization, traffic calming, and protected bike lanes. Rather than framing these investments as costly to local business, we should insist that pedestrian and biker safety improvements will make our streets more walkable, business corridors busier, and city live more desirable.

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 use a combination of all forms of transit, but I prefer walking and taking public transit. I also regularly bike to and from the lakefront. I would love to use transit to commute to work in Hyde Park, but the current CTA options aren’t reliable or efficient to warrant that choice. The drive is 35 minutes during off-peak hours and it takes nearly twice that amount of time on public transit. We must proactively invest in public transit options so that all of Chicago can move freely throughout the city without need for a car. For instance, I support the reopening of the closed Green line station at 63rd and Racine as well as ensuring that the extension of the Red Line to 130th Street is fully funded and completed promptly.

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

My boyfriend has been hit by a car while biking twice in the last three years. This experience has increased my commitment to prioritizing biker and pedestrian safety when we repave and rebuild our roads. Too many of our neighbors have been injured or worse while biking or walking.

We must invest in concrete pedestrian and bike improvements, including raised crosswalks, bump-outs, and pedestrian islands, particularly near our schools and senior centers. I also am a supporter of Bike Grid Now, to ensure that all bikers, like my boyfriend, are able to travel safely and without harm in protected bike lanes.

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?

We need walkable, safe sidewalks year-round. I support the Plow the Sidewalks campaign to start a pilot municipal program to remove ice and snow from the sidewalks and I would work to rapidly expand the program citywide.

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 construction of interstate highways has caused us to neglect our public transit infrastructure and has deepened our city’s racial divides. We need creative investment in public infrastructure to overcome these historic barriers.

Public transit and safe-bikways are essential to overcoming the segregation produced by interstate highways. We should increase bus transit options that cross interstate highways lines and build an expansive system of biker and pedestrian bridges to allow easy access.

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

Transportation emissions are the number one contributor to climate change in the United States and the number two cause, only behind building output, to greenhouse emissions in Chicago. Providing safe, reliable, and efficient public transit options are critical to reducing our impact.

Currently, it takes over an hour by bus or train to travel from Edgewater to neighborhoods to the west like Logan Square or Wicker Park. By car, the same trip is 75% faster—about 25 minutes long. This provides an incentive for commuters to drive as opposed to taking public transit, increasing our greenhouse emissions as a city. We can and must do better. Other major US cities have begun expanding bus rapid transit routes as a cost-efficient and reliable way to provide speedy service to more destinations. We need to do the same in Chicago.

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?

In general, I support proposals to enhance pedestrian and biker safety at the Northern Terminus by adding bump-outs, narrowing travel lanes, and re-timing traffic signals. The current North DuSable Lake Shore Drive Phase 1 study offers five possible alternative re-designs.

In order to promote public transit and make it more efficient, I believe any redesign must integrate a bus-only lane on the drive. We must ensure that all communities can access the lakefront safely, be it by foot or by bike, and enjoy all the natural beauty that our city has to offer.

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?

IDOT’s vetoing of CDOT proposals to add pedestrian safety features and bike lanes–against the wishes of local leaders and community members–must be met with aggressive persistence. This past year was one of the most dangerous for pedestrians on record in Chicago. If we do not guarantee safe travel on our sidewalks and streets, we hinder foot traffic and arrest our economic development.

I believe projects like the Broadway visioning–which reduces speeds on well trodden stretches of Broadway and installs pedestrian safety features–are critical to ensuring safety and building thriving business corridors. As Alderman, I will utilize MENU funds and work with state partners to install pedestrian safety features when we repave major streets. I am also committed to reviewing crosswalk safety near schools, religious institutions, and parks in our community to ensure that we are providing safe passage to every resident from the youngest to the oldest.

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?

The sale of our streets to a private firm was a colossal failure to act in the public interest by past public officials. I am committed to putting pressure on Chicago Parking Meters LLC to work with the city to allow the construction of protected bike lanes and public transit infrastructure. This mistaken deal cannot be put ahead of the safety of our pedestrians’ and bikers’ safety.

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?

The most effective method to reduce driver speed is to reduce the speed limit of our streets, especially off of our main thoroughfares. We must also effectively use traffic calming techniques like reducing speed limits, increasing the prevalence of signage, and building street infrastructure so that it slows the flow of traffic.

Additional new technology, including speed feedback signs, should be used and encouraged where it can also be an effective deterrent to speeding or distracted driving.

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 believe that the city can and should create fees and street regulations to discourage the use of heavy, more lethal personal vehicles. Studies have shown that not only do heavier vehicles damage our roads at disproportionate rates, but they also are more likely to harm or seriously injure pedestrians. I support increasing the registration fee for SUV’s and large trucks.

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

I support reforming our current approach to funding infrastructure improvement solely with MENU funds. Any program intended to cut our emissions must begin with a city wide plan to improve bike and pedestrian safety. That plan must allow for better coordination and equity than our current method of using ward MENU funds to improve infrastructure

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

As Alderman, I will work alongside community members to identify streets that can be pedestrianized. Research shows that pedestrianized streets increase foot traffic which promotes healthier business corridors as well as increasing public safety.

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

To provide the type of reliable service that Chicagoans need, CTA must address its staffing shortage head-on. To address reliability in the short-term, City Council needs to immediately begin to exercise more oversight of the CTA by holding officials accountable to maintaining the staffing levels necessary for reliable operation.

Unfortunately, for nearly a year, CTA President Dorval R. Carter, Jr. refused to attend City Council hearings. Such unacceptable refusal to be accountable to our city government suggests that city officials should find a replacement.

Part of improving the reliability of service is improving the benefits for bus drivers. Offering hazard pay is one way the CTA can attract new talent. We also need to ensure that the CTA is dedicating the necessary resources to improve the accuracy of the Bus Tracker feature.

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 will work to create an equitable carbon tax proposal, such as a congestion tax, to help fund RTA operations. I will also work to increase the vehicle registration fee for large cars, trucks, and SUV’s to generate additional income.

As much as possible, we must prioritize finding progressive revenue sources. I support creating a Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILOT) Program that asks multi-million dollar non-profits to pay a portion of the taxes that they would otherwise owe. Last year, the CTA signed contracts worth tens of millions of dollars to hire private security officers to monitor trains. I would push the CTA to end those programs and search for other creative ways to reduce inefficiencies in CTA spending.

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

am fully in support of creating a network of Bus Rapid Transit lines. We need to make public transit more efficient and reliable to reduce the reliance on cars for transportation.

Will you commit to securing the funding necessary to implement CTA's plan to become 100% accessible according to ADA standards? (yes/no)

Yes