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

Chicago has yet to achieve a truly comprehensive multimodal system and remains overly car-dependent. Over 70% of households in Chicago own cars, compared to just 45% in New York City. Our personal vehicles contribute significantly to greenhouse gas emissions, unsafe streets, and unreliable transit times. We have also inherited a regional transportation network of highways that prioritize commuters traveling by personal vehicles. In addition, as many of us have experienced, CTA continues to suffer from the deleterious effects of the pandemic in the form of declining ridership and labor shortages, which has made the system less usable to many Chicagoans. As a city and a region, we need to dramatically invest in public transportation to better incentivize people to take buses and trains rather than drive their cars. We need to improve train and bus frequency, better align bus and train schedules, and ultimately expand our public transit network.

In the 48th Ward, I believe that building public plazas and walkable thoroughfares throughout the ward will help create more people-friendly spaces for pedestrians, cyclists, families with strollers, seniors, and people with disabilities. Thoughtfully building more car-free spaces will better prioritize community well-being. Continued expansion of bike lanes will enable better cycling usage throughout the ward, while the completion of the Red-Purple Line Modernization Project will bring much needed improvements to the Red and Purple lines across the North Side

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 primary and preferred modes of transportation are biking, walking, and taking public transportation. I’ve been a dedicated cyclist since 2006, biking both for leisure and to work. I currently also drive a car that my partner owns. As a flight attendant stationed out of Midway, her job is really far for someone who regularly works in the early morning when the Orange Line isn’t running or is unreliable. We walk or take transit in our neighborhood. For longer trips to the South or West sides of Chicago, as well as to visit our families in Michigan and Indiana, car travel is simpler and more time efficient.

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

The need for protected bike lanes wasn’t a high priority for me until following a return to in-person work in the summer of 2021. I’d been in accidents on my bike before but I’d never felt truly unsafe sharing the road with cars. In the summer of 2021, as I returned to in-person work at my job in Wicker Park, I felt the least safe I ever had biking in Chicago. The increase in cars and delivery trucks made biking a more perilous (and less enjoyable) activity than it had been before. I’ve had enough close calls in the past few years that have helped me understand that we need a city-wide network of high-quality 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?

I support a municipalized snow removal program and, if elected, will work to implement a pilot program. Sidewalks, like our roads, are public spaces. If we clear and clean our roads, we should ensure the same level of service and access for our sidewalks. As a member of the 48th Ward Neighbors for Justice, I’ve worked with our members on a mutual aid snow removal project each of the past two winters and we’ve learned that Chicago’s current approach leaves so many people behind, affecting seniors, disabled people, families with strollers and young children, as well as all commuters who deserve access to the public way following snow storms.

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 need to replace our highways and reintegrate the urban fabric of our city. While seen as useful at the time and still crucial transportation arteries, the social and economic divisions that our highways created have become more apparent. I look forward to supporting efforts to sustainably reinvest in communities across Chicago, but especially Black communities that have been negatively impacted by highway-based segregation. In particular, I look forward to working with my future colleagues to obtain highway removal funds from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act) to enact crucial projects to better reconnect our city and bolster neighborhoods negatively impacted by highways.

We also can and should invest in green gathering spaces, bus rapid transit, and experiment with new multi-model options for traveling safely and efficiently. However, because the priorities of municipal, state, and federal governments often present barriers to implementing these initiatives, we can look at short term solutions that limit our need for massive, polluting highways. This includes electrifying our bus network and adding priority bus lanes to all interstate highways, reconstituting old train lines/stations and expanding train lines to under-served parts of the city, fully investing in equitable transit oriented development so that train and bus stations can become gathering locations for communities to congregate together. We can also move from some of our hub and spoke modes of transportation and experiment with new forms of re-organizing transit routes.

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

Transportation plays a huge role in Chicago’s environmental health and emissions profile. 24% of Chicago’s GHG emissions are from transportation. Transportation also generates a large portion of local particulate emissions which most heavily impacts those in proximity to high levels of vehicular traffic. By decarbonizing our transportation networks, we can reduce our contribution to climate change, improve the air quality for Chicago residents, and ultimately reduce the costs of transportation for everyone. I look forward to working to improve our public transit system, electrify all vehicles used within city limits, and expand micro mobility access and usage. These efforts will simultaneously provide the type of multimodal system Chicagoans deserve while also serving to steward of our urban environment.

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?

As stated in question #5, I’d like to see all of our highways replaced in favor of a better integrated urban fabric but that is especially true for DLSD. Our lakefront should be a beautiful, bucolic public space where neighbors from around Chicago can gather year-round for leisure and fellowship. In terms of IDOT’s redesign proposals, I would support The Exchange which would convert one car line in both directions to a dedicated transit line, without the possibility of a priority lane that could only be accessed by those who can afford it. One of the most frequent complaints from transit riders is how inefficient the CTA can be. We need to prioritize transit by creating new bus-only lanes that will speed up our buses thereby incentivizing people to take the bus and limit their personal vehicle use. Additionally, I support the Last Four Miles Plan, which would add almost 500 acres of new parks and beaches to our lakefront. In the 48th Ward, this would build more climate resilient and flood prevention infrastructure that benefits residents of our highrise buildings. And the plan would introduce new access points for pedestrians, cyclists, and wheelchair users to utilize our public lakefront.

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?

Often, the jurisdictional overlap between IDOT roads and CDOT sidewalks and infrastructure presents a significant barrier to better street design. This jurisdictional overlap adds additional layers, and sometimes complications, to many street and transit projects. This is especially true on Ridge Avenue, an IDOT road that sees many dangerous traffic accidents each year. I’m grateful that a memorandum of understanding was recently signed between the two agencies to better streamline the approval and implementation of safer road design. I will continue to work with my colleagues in the ILGA to better assess and improve our roads, as well as fully implement the Broadway re-design that Alderman Harry Osterman has worked to approve.

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 parking meter deal is likely the most horrendous deal made in Chicago’s history. Mayor Daley massively undersold our pricing meters for a fraction of their true value while stripping the city of the ability to fully control its own streets. To date, the owners of our parking meters have already made more than $1.6 billion on the deal, compared to the $1.1 billion they paid for it with decades left to go on the deal. Unfortunately, the contract, as written, leaves the city with limited avenues for improvement. However, I intend to support any and all efforts to renegotiate, restrict, or ideally end the concession agreement. Mayor Emanuel was able to successfully renegotiate some of the terms of the deal, and I hope to pursue a similar course of action in the future. Furthermore, I plan to stand in opposition to any similar privatization of crucial public assets, so that the city is not saddled with yet another albatross that undermines our ability to control and improve the public way.

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?

I believe that better road infrastructure is required to reduce driver speed and maintain safer streets. I support measures like curb cuts and bump outs to help improve visibility for drivers, lane shifts like we have on Elmdale, expanding the rotaries that we have on Glenwood to the Kenmore/Winthrop corridor, and more lane reductions on busy thoroughfares. We especially need these measures on Ridge and Broadway, which are dangerous highways that cut through the 48th Ward.

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?

Recent vehicle safety research has been clear that larger vehicles are more dangerous to pedestrians, cyclists, and other motorists. They have reduced visibility, are harder to slow, and cause significantly more damage in accidents. In line with the city’s commitment to Vision Zero, which I support, we must expand our regulation on the size and weight of vehicles to ensure the safety of Chicagoans and end road fatalities. I would be in support of restricting vehicles over a certain weight or size class from specific roadways or variable vehicle registration charges based on size and weight, as was recently introduced in Washington, DC.

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

I would support establishing a dedicated funding stream to support pedestrians and cyclists, especially looking at a Loop congestion fee to help fund those efforts. I would also support a regular budgetary line item in support of pedestrian and bike infrastructure under the Department of Transportation.

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

I’m fully in support of creating pedestrian-only spaces, public parks, and walkable thoroughfares throughout the 48th Ward to increase community well-being and make our neighborhood safer for pedestrians, disabled people, families with strollers and all. I would like to pilot car-free zones on Clark Street in Andersonville from Foster to Catalpa, on Argyle from Sheridan to Broadway, and Bryn Mawr from Sheridan to Broadway as well.

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

The first and most urgent problem to solve is the lack of staffing which has reduced the number of buses operating since the pandemic. In our competitive labor market, this will likely require boosting driver pay and benefits, which I support. I also support expanding the already announced programs of CTA’s Meeting the Moment post-pandemic plan, namely paying for applicants to earn commercial driver licenses and expanding recruitment outreach efforts. As the staffing problem eases, I also look forward to supporting efforts to expand signal priority, add new bus-only lanes, and ultimately expand (and electrify) the bus fleet to eventually reach citywide bus frequency of every 5-7 minutes.

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 am hopeful that the leftover American Rescue Plan funding along with additional funds from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law will be able to at least partially close the gap. I also believe that, if we fully implement the various systemic improvements our transit systems require, ridership recovery will help restore these agencies to a stronger fiscal position. However, CTA, Metra, and Pace are crucial to our city’s functioning, so if necessary, I am prepared to lobby the State of Illinois for further supporting funds, support a city-level extension of funds, or other revenue measures like a Loop congestion fee or development of CTA/Metra/Pace owned properties to help close the gap. I will also encourage the agencies to find operational efficiencies that maintain or improve the level of service while reducing costs.

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

I fully support establishing a network of BRT lines in Chicago. I know that many in the 48th Ward would be particularly excited about a BRT line on Ashland, especially one that extends between Irving Park and Devon Avenue.

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

Yes