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

The greatest transportation challenges facing Chicago right now are the lack of quality and reliable CTA routes for the working-class people who use public transportation as their main mode of transport. Especially since the pandemic, issues of violent crime, ghost buses and trains, and longer wait times have reduced ridership and made it harder and harder to build public trust in these important forms of transportation. Instead of divesting and putting money into security forces to CTA, we should be investing in expanding public transportation so that it is more accessible to those who need it and those who would choose to use it if its services were expanded and improved.

Incentivizing ridership

Taking measures to increase and restore ridership helps to address issues of crime on CTA buses and trains as it provides security by way of passive monitoring which in turn deters crime. One measure that we can take to do that would benefit the common good in multiple respects is to make the CTA free for CPS students. Given the success of the “First Day, Free Rides” campaign, making the CTA free for all students can improve long-term mass transit use as well as encourage school attendance. In addition to CTA students, I would extend this offer for free ridership to seniors as well who often face difficulty navigating our city and isolation.

Reinstating unarmed conductors on CTA trains

The position of unarmed conductors was eliminated in 1998 as a cost-cutting move by the CTA and should be reinstated. In other metropolitan areas of the city, unarmed conductors have been proven to be very effective in increasing not just rider and driver safety but also their sense of safety.

Passing the Bring Chicago Home ordinance

The rise of the number of people experiencing homelessness in the city has seen an increased number of unhoused Chicagoans turning to trains and buses for shelter. The Bring Chicago Home ordinance’s proposal to restructure the Real Estate Transfer Tax on properties over $1 million as a means of providing affordable housing for the unhoused should be passed in City Council, and if elected, I promise to make every effort to advance this in City Council.

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?

My mother was able to do everything she needed by utilizing the bus. Growing up in a working-class family we relied on good, reliable, efficient public transportation to go to work, school and access the wider city. This gave me an early insight into the importance of public transportation and how much of a lifeline it is for so many families in this city. I also deeply enjoy biking and consider myself an avid cyclist, and when I lived in areas with more accessible public transport I preferred to take the train as opposed to driving- an activity which causes me a great deal of stress. Living in West Ridge and working at North Grand High School, I rode my bike every day with weather that allowed it to commute to and from work. I want to fight for a Chicago with far more abundant and accessible public transportation, secure and expanded bike lanes and measures to protect pedestrians so that all Chicagoans can experience what I did growing up and so that we all can pursue transport options which are better for the environment, safer for our residents and which allow us to share space with one another and connect with people across our great city.

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

The first time I saw somebody get doored, I remember feeling a number of emotions. I was angry at the reckless and uncareful driver. I was afraid because as a cyclist myself I too know the precarity which comes from sharing the road with vehicles which can and do end lives. Finally, I was motivated to ensure policy decisions that affect the safety of our streets are made by those who have witnessed the real and tragic consequences of a built infrastructure that does not prioritise human needs- especially when those people are children, the elderly, the disabled, cyclists, pedestrians and public transportation users.

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 fully support implementing a universal city-wide sidewalk snow and ice removal service. It really is long overdue. We have already started fighting for cleared sidewalks in our ward. The current alderman does not have a snow removal team, so seeing the need for those in our community our campaign organized and started a snow removal team of 10 volunteers to serve community members by shovelling their residence and public bus stops. Although many wards take this on piecemeal, this needs to be a citywide initiative so that everyone can move around out city safely.

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 must re-examine our public transportation network so that neighborhood public transit connections exist between our neighborhoods that were physically and deliberately segregated. In our efforts to create Bus Rapid Transit Lines and a fully electric CTA, we should also examine how we can forge physical connections between our neighborhoods as an initial attempt to ameliorate the damage done to our city by practices like these designed to keep our communities apart. One such way would be an outer rail that would actually serve and connect communities.

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

It has a crucial role in Chicago’s collective greenhouse gas emissions, climate responsibility, and overall environmental health. To name one example, diesel pollution is expected to kill 340 people in the Chicagoland area next year and cost more than $3.7 billion in hidden health costs, yet CTA plans to order another 500 diesel buses in the next three years, representing close to a third of their fleet. I fully support a policy for CTA to purchase only electric buses starting in 2025 and for the entire bus fleet to be fully electric by 2035.

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?

The infrastructure of Lake Shore Drive is aged and I do think that it is in need of thoughtful rebuilding. I am in favor of proposals to create an extra line for buses, and even the idea of creating Rapid Transit Lines for this lane. We should have elevated, safe and protected bike lanes all along the new Lakeshore Drive to further encourage commuting by way of cycling, which will liberate the path along the Lakefront for recreational use.

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?

Given that some roads in the City of Chicago are state roads, maintained by IDOT, any efforts to ensure our streets are more cyclist and pedestrian friendly can not come from the city council alone. I would work diligently with the state representative and state senators who represent Chicago to push for a shared vision in Chicago and Springfield for streets that serve the needs of all our residents, not just those who drive. That would mean pushing for BRT on state-maintained roads, protected bike lanes on state-maintained roads and collaborating with state officials to ensure that the same standard of safe streets that we apply to our CDOT-maintained roads are applied to those run by IDOT.

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?

This deal was directly against the interest of residents of the city and took away our ability to invest in greener transportation and keeps us stuck in the past rather than allowing us to move towards a transport system in Chicago that works for all of us. First, we need to open an Office of Parking Management that could reimagine how we manuever this deal, including options to end it early and ways to move forward even if we remain stuck in it. Chicagoans deserve to have a supported transportation system that is green and serves our needs. Even car users' funds, whether they are tourists or residents, should be money that Chicagoans can use to invest in our futures, not in private interests. We are open to creative legal avenues to challenge this in court.

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?

This is an important and clear issue that needs to be addressed through understanding what makes our communities safe. A child was killed in the 50th ward on the residential street in front of his home by a speeding, distracted driver. It took the current alderman years to put in the speed bump that the residents were asking for as a result of this tragedy. Some effective measures to help reduce speeding in our city is to add stop signs and residential speed bumps in areas that are impacted by these issues. We also need to have clear and unobstructed signage for all pedestrian, yield and stop signs. Having an alderman who is in contact with CDOT and proactive in conducting traffic studies makes our residents safer.

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 fully support the City passing these ordinances.

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

I fully support this.

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

I fully support creating select pedestrian-only streets.

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

Similar to my first answer, by increasing ridership among CPS students and seniors, by providing free bus passes, the CTA would be flushed with new and consistent riders that would improve the transit all across the city. We also need to hire more union conductors and CTA workers to address shortages and prepare for the increased ridership with the student and senior passes.

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?

We need to provide funding through progressive revenue solutions like a LaSalle Street Tax (a small tax on financial transactions at the Chicago Board of Trade), a Corporate Head Tax (a monthly fee paid by large corporations for every employee), and a payment in lieu of taxes (PILOT) program where institutions that benefit from downtown property exemptions pay their fair share.

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

I fully support this as elaborated upon in question 5.

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

Yes