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

One of our greatest transportation challenges is Chicago has one of the highest rates of congestion in the nation. Additionally, we have an eroding transportation infrastructure, from highways to streets, alleys, and public transportation venues.

The city has to devote more resources to improve the quality of our streets and sidewalks. The current conditions can cause injuries while walking or biking. Safety is a major concern, many people are choosing to steer away from using public transportation due to public safety concerns.

The city needs to devote more resources to the streets so they are more user friendly.

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?

On a daily basis, my family uses a car, we bike, and we use public transportation. The barrier to driving is major congestion. The barrier to biking is the streets are not all biker friendly. We do not have enough bicycle lanes. The bicycle lanes that we have, do not have concrete barriers between the cars/buses which leads to serious accidents. We have pot holes in the streets, which the city fails to adequately fix, and this can cause deadly bicycle accidents. As for public transportation, there are issues of public safety these days and that detours individuals from using public transportation on a daily basis. This in turn, increases congestion because we have more people driving on the roads.

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

My son rode his bike home from school and he was riding on the sidewalk, there were no pedestrians, and he had to ride on the street because the bumps were bad and he flew off his seat. While riding on the street, the drivers were not being courteous to the bike lanes (where they were available) and the cars were also speeding. As a parent, the idea of riding his bicycle instead of driving is a scarier method of transportation.

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 would support this because many do have to walk, bike or use public transportation. Regardless of age, the snow and ice make it unsafe for individuals to walk to school, to the train, the bus or to the grocery store. An individual can slip and fall at any age and the fall can cause major bodily harm.

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?

We would have to analyze the current locations of the interstate highways and figure out what type of new infrastructure would need to be implemented to overcome these divisions.

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

Transportation plays a major role for overall environmental health. The increased congestion causes more gas emissions. If individuals felt more comfortable riding their bicycle or using public transportation it would improve air quality by reducing the use of vehicles.

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 support an 8 lane Lake Shore Drive with barriers to protect cyclists and pedestrians. I support a dedicated bus lane. Lake Shore Drive needs to be able to have ample barriers to help the safety of pedestrians and cyclists from any potential accidents involving cars or buses.

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?

There has to be a partnership with state and local government to address the planning and the financial aspects of improving Chicago's transportation system.

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?

I do not support any additional privatization of Chicago's streets and alleys. The local government should control this and it should not be privatized.

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?

Further education for young drivers through our school system. As for the long time drivers, I believe paying for a ticket is not enough of a consequence to detour speeding or distracted driving. Implementing a required course after a certain amount of tickets would prevent many from continuing poor 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 believe reasonable regulation to ensure safety on our roads.

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

I am open to reviewing possible streams of revenue that can be dedicated to funding safe and universal pedestrian and bike infrastructure in Chicago.

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

I would be hesitant to implement pedestrian-only streets because this may cause a domino effect in harming our local businesses such as State Street. State Street was once a pedestrian-only street and it was devastating for the local businesses. We would have to truly analyze the effects before implementing such measures in our city.

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

We have to cover the route cause of why the CTA buses are not operating on schedule. We would have to work with CTA to try to find a solution that is logical and can be easily implemented.

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?

There has to be more fiscal accountability on the part of the agencies. The reduction of ridership on the CTA is due to the major concern of public safety. Once there are measures implemented to increase public safety there could be an increase in ridership. The increase ridership will increase the revenue for CTA.

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

We would have to review the effects of the infrastructure to our streets. The biggest concern now is crime. If the crime on our streets and on our public transportation lines are eliminated and people feel protected many more would rely on public transportation. This would decrease congestion and help improve CTA's scheduling obstacles.

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

Yes