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player ready...To inform voters and to help the baiduhai Editorial Board make endorsements, the board posed a series of questions to the candidates running for alderman. See their answers below. See how other candidates answered here.
Name: Isaac Freilich Jones
Ward: 48th
Current job: Occupation: Public Interest Attorney and Assistant Illinois Attorney General Employer: Office of the Illinois Attorney General
Previous political experience: N/A
Education: Harvard Law School, JD, 2016 University of Chicago, Bachelors in Mathematics, 2009
Spouse’s occupation: N/A
Sources of outside income: None
The rise in violent crime remains a top priority for City Hall. Homicides, shootings and carjackings are all unacceptably high. Tell us how city government can be innovative in combating crime, and explain what measures you would propose if elected.
Public safety is an area of acute public concern in the 48th Ward and throughout the City. As alderperson, I will advocate for a three-part public safety strategy:
First, we must address the root causes of violence by investing in jobs, education, economic development, trauma recovery, mental health services, and strong communities. And because we live in one interconnected City, we must ensure that those investments happen City-wide, and particularly in communities on the South and West sides which have experienced decades of systemic disinvestment and inequity.
Second, we must ensure that our built environment in the 48th Ward (and throughout the City) is designed to preserve and foster safety. That means, for example, ensuring that every underpass is well-lit at night, that our streetlamps illuminate sidewalks (and not just the center of the street), and that CTA stations and bus stops are designed and operated with safety in mind.
Third, we must move away from discredited, militarized models of policing and return to a model that focuses on community-based foot patrol officers whose names and faces local residents know, and who understand the communities and neighborhoods in which they work.
The CTA, one of the nation’s largest transit systems, remains a troubled agency grappling with issues ranging from violent crime and ghost buses and trains, to flagging ridership. Give us your thoughts on what specific measures CTA should take to make train and bus service safer, more reliable and more equitable for Chicagoans.
The health of our mass transit system is of crucial importance to Chicago, and of particular importance to the 48th Ward—according to the U.S. Census Bureau, more than 40% of workers in the 48th Ward community (including me) use transit to get to work, and many more than that use transit regularly to visit friends, travel, or go shopping. Unfortunately, the CTA has experienced significant challenges in recent years. As alderperson, I will fight to ensure the CTA:
Eliminates ghost buses and trains by posting reliable arrival/departure times * Recruits and retains an adequate workforce, which can only be achieved providing fair wages, a safe work environment and adequate benefits
Prioritizes cleanliness and a positive rider experience, thereby encouraging increased ridership and improving the financial viability of the CTA
Improves safety by increasing patrols, improving coordination between CTA and CPD, and making sure that all cameras in CTA vehicles and facilities are operational
Ten years ago, enrollment at Chicago Public Schools was 403,000 students. In September, enrollment stood at 322,000 students. Enrollment at CPS has dropped for 11 consecutive years. What specific measures should CPS undertake to reverse the trend of ever-dwindling enrollment?
While much of the CPS enrollment decline over the last decade can be attributed to factors outside of CPS’s control (such out-migration and declining birth rates), more can and must be done to reverse the trend of ever-dwindling enrollment. The City and CPS should therefore undertake at least the following measures to reverse enrollment declines:
Expand pre-K enrollment, with a focus on full-day programs. Pre-K enrollment has been an area of success for CPS. Given the popularity of full day pre-K in recent years, CPS should aggressively expand the availability of full day early childhood education to every area of the City, with the goal of providing universal, full-day pre-K as soon as possible.
Retain early childhood learners and their families. CPS can gradually increase its enrollment figures by working to retain the increasing number of children who will enroll in full-day pre-K in the coming years, thereby increasing the pipeline of children and families who could choose to stay with CPS in elementary school, middle school, and high school.
Fight the rising cost of living and cost of housing. In many areas of the City, including the 48th Ward, there is a significant deficit in family-sized housing units that are affordable for working parents. In fact, less than 18% of all housing units in Edgewater (the community area that makes up the bulk of the 48th Ward) have three or more bedrooms, less than half the rate of Chicago overall. This family housing deficit has made it impossible for many families to stay in our community, thereby pushing families out of the City, and reducing enrollment numbers in neighborhood schools.
Commit to visibly supporting neighborhood schools. When CPS appears to withdraw support from a local school, parents understandably begin to look for other options for their own children, creating a vicious cycle of under-investment and under-enrollment. To break this cycle, CPS should visibly commit to supporting local schools.
Actively support teachers, school paraprofessionals and school staff personnel, and provide resources for education to guarantee the adequate functioning of schools.
Disinvestment on the South and West sides is a decades-long problem with myriad causes. Give us at least one innovative idea that you believe could play a role in reversing South and West side disinvestment, and explain why the idea is realistic and feasible.
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Chicago has an obligation to do everything possible to reverse decades of disinvestment on the South and West sides. To make this vision a reality, Chicago should:
Combine anti-displacement programming with efforts to attract investment. Too many community revitalization efforts emphasize attracting investment, without proactively implementing anti-displacement efforts to ensure that local communities are not uprooted. However, revitalization efforts can only succeed if local communities are shown that their interests are protected and prioritized. That is why anti-displacement programs should be implemented at the outset of investment efforts, and not as an afterthought. This approach is feasible, and realistic because it achieves improved results through an adjustment in the order in which investment initiatives are typically implemented, but does not require new programing or efforts that would not have been implemented at some point.
Commit to equitable service delivery. It is no secret that service delivery across the City is not equal. For example, a 2022 Tribune investigation found that City tree planting favored wealthier, whiter areas of Chicago, and under-planted in many majority Black neighborhoods. The City must make a sustained commitment to equitable public service delivery as part of any effort to reverse disinvestment and systemic inequities. This approach re-allocates the efforts that would otherwise be made, without requiring an increase in funding or taxation, which makes it both feasible and realistic.
Do you support giving Chicagoans property tax relief? If yes, please explain how you would accomplish it. If no, please explain why not.
I support giving Chicagoans property tax relief by stopping the rapid rise in property taxes, and prioritizing predictability in tax bills. Recently, technical challenges that have delayed the delivery of bills, and many taxpayers have experienced large swings in the amount of property taxes owed year-to-year. It is now time for Chicago to prioritize predictability and stability when it comes to property taxes.
Give us your take on the city’s use of tax increment financing districts. Do you feel they have been useful, or do you feel that the problems associated with them outweigh their usefulness? What if any reforms would you want to apply to the city’s usage of TIFs?
The TIF program has a long and problematic history in Chicago. While the TIF program was intended to support public infrastructure and services by facilitating investment in areas where it might not otherwise have occurred, too often TIF dollars have gone to pad the profits of developers and private enterprises in areas where investment could have occurred without TIF subsidies. The TIF program should therefore be reformed to ensure that TIF dollars fund public infrastructure and resources, and future TIF proposals should be subject to rigorous scrutiny to ensure that TIF funds are used appropriately, and not misspent. In addition, the City should allow existing TIF districts to terminate once they have achieved their original purpose, even if that occurs prior to the originally-enacted lifespan of the TIF.
Lead in drinking water is a major health concern for the city. It is estimated that in Chicago there are roughly 400,000 homes and small apartment buildings with lead service lines. So far, the city has replaced less than 300 lead service lines. Do you feel the pace of lead service line replacement should be expedited, and if yes, what is the best, most feasible way to accomplish that?
The current pace of lead pipe replacement is unacceptable and must be expedited. Chicago should learn from the example of cities such as Newark, New Jersey, which executed a comprehensive lead pipe replacement effort in only two years. Building on this experience, Chicago should: (a) enact legislation that eliminates the coordination challenges created by “split ownership” of lead pipelines between public entities and individual property owners; (b) explore the issuance of bonds to fund a centralized lead-pipe replacement; and (c) proactively replace lead pipes whenever other work is occurring that involves digging into and accessing areas in which lead pipes are installed.
If you are an incumbent, please explain what is it about your service on the City Council that makes you most qualified for the job. If you have never served on the council, please explain what is it about your background that makes you most qualified.
My experience and background have put me in a position to deliver results from my first day as 48th Ward Alderperson:
As an Assistant Illinois Attorney General and public interest attorney, I have taken a leading role in defending the public interest on behalf of the people of Illinois. For example, I have worked to keep Illinois safe, keeping firearms off our streets by litigating against NRA-affiliates who seek to eliminate gun control laws. I have also investigated fraud and misconduct by recipients of government funds. The State of Illinois has trusted me to take some of its hardest cases, and as alderperson I will bring that proven record of leadership and success to protecting the interests of the 48th Ward.
As Board President and volunteer at the Howard Area Community Center, I led a 100-employee nonprofit providing more than $5 million dollars in services per year on Chicago’s Far North Side. I know what it takes to lead a large, complex organization, how to successfully fight for funding for essential programming, and how to build coalitions of government agencies, businesses, and community members.
As an attorney in private practice, I have provided pro bono legal services, including to people seeking asylum, a survivor of human trafficking, a nonprofit that became a victim of fraud, incarcerated persons seeking to protect their constitutional rights, and many more. I will bring that same sense of fairness and justice to my work as alderperson; I will go to bat for everyone in the community, not only those with connections.
As a consultant at O-H Community Partners, a small mission-driven consultancy, I helped organize community engagement efforts that gave local Chicago residents a voice in planning and development processes, and helped manage a network of job training nonprofit organizations that collectively placed hundreds of people in good jobs. I have a proven record of running successful community engagement and community visioning processes relating to zoning and land use, and would bring that deep experience to my work as 48th Ward alderperson.
As a volunteer at Care for Real, a local food pantry in the 48th Ward, I learned first-hand that while we have an amazing and caring community, too many neighbors are being left behind. I am running for office to fight for every neighbor in our Ward, so that our entire community can benefit from everything our neighborhood has to offer.
What is the most pressing issue facing the people of your ward, and how would you address it?
Public safety is an issue of acute concern to residents and small business owners in the 48th Ward. As Alderperson, I would address this concern as described in my response to Question 18, above.
Sum up why should voters elect you and not your opponent(s)? (Please limit this to policy and approach, not a biography recitation.)
I am the only independent, progressive candidate for 48th Ward Alderperson with (a) deep roots in our community; (b) a concrete, public and community-centered platform for how we can come together to address the most pressing issues facing our Ward; and (c) a history of public service, including as a volunteer, a public interest attorney and Assistant Illinois Attorney General, and nonprofit leader.