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: Oscar Sanchez
Ward: 10th
Current job: Southeast Environmental Task Force, Urban Planner
Previous political experience: Local School Council, Washington HS
Education: Harold Washington Community College
Spouse’s occupation: Senior Policy Analyst
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.
Poverty, policy priorities, lack of community investment are all drivers for crime. The city must implement policies to prioritize communities and that reduces poverty. We need a comprehensive approach that changes the focus of TIF to their original purpose and puts that money into the communities they were initially developed to target. I support the state measure to ban assault and other dangerous weapons, this along with addressing the root causes of poverty, would be important steps to combating violent crime.
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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.
Policies that prioritize access to mental health, housing, jobs and investment will reduce crime. Support and greater input from the transit union members who operate the trains and buses would go a long way toward understanding the issues facing CTA. Worker input has been shown and proven to improve services when they are sought and heeded.
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?
School enrollment declines partly in accordance with families departing Chicago because the cost of living in Chicago is prohibitive for many. The approach should not be about reversing enrollment decline, but rather we need to look at who we have in our public schools now and into the future and design educational and building use reform from a different perspective that supports the children and their families currently enrolled. Families are in an extraordinarily challenging economic and political environment and so we need to look at reducing class sizes, green schools and programs and curriculum that reflect the communities currently attending public schools. We need to look at repurposing closed and crumbling school buildings to create safe neighborhood programs that enhance the lives of the entire community. Competition with education dollars from charter schools also play a role in dwindling enrollment figures as well as encroach on public tax dollars that should go in to our public schools. Public education is not a commodity nor are our children. Our policies must reflect where we are now with reduced enrollment and come up with solutions to address those that do need public schools. The issue of dwindling public school enrollment is tied into the long standing policies of disinvestment, ignoring poverty, healthcare, including mental health and constantly pitting the real human needs of our families and children against policies that do very little to reduce harm, which includes families fleeing Chicago.
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.
Disinvestment from the south and west side correlates to the demise of industry and the need for workers and top notch public education/schools during the industrial period. Those needs no longer exist as we are in a post-industrial economy. The zoning policies and the intrusion of dirtier industries that do not increase opportunities of employment and training are what we are left with, along with warehouses that increases diesel traffic and harms the air we breath. The city must employ a longer visionary strategy that prioritizes the health of our communities while being mindful where and who we allow to operate in our communities. The city must commit to a green transformation that protects the lakes and rivers, the habitat of the many species but most importantly that prioritizes community. A green transformation would increase job opportunities, education and training, It would also reduce the amount of carbon emissions and the dangerous toxins/pollutants that come along with the dirtier industries now zoned for our communities. These issues cannot be solved overnight but with strong community input and participation along with a commitment from our city government, we could transform the south and westside of Chicago.
Do you support giving Chicagoans property tax relief? If yes, please explain how you would accomplish it. If no, please explain why not.
If the services the city provided from higher taxes were world class folks would not mind paying the level of taxes we pay. People are aware that working families shoulder the higher burden of taxation in this city. Corporations and developers get the tax breaks while creating an unstable economic environment for the workers of this city. So, yes, I do support property tax relief but it cannot be at the expense of further privatization of our public goods, or a reduction in the services and support our communities need.
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?
TIFs in their original purpose should have improved the economic conditions of those communities that were and continue to be “blighted.” And so since TIFs no longer serve their original purpose and have only enriched developers and corporations as well as being shrouded in secrecy they need to be radically reformed or abolished altogether.
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 City of Chicago currently has a timeline of 50 years to replace all the lead service lines based on state law which is far too long; we must continue to advocate for an improved federal Lead and Copper Rule and call for a 10-year timeline for lead service line replacement (LSLR) nationwide to accelerate replacements. As the city with the most lead lines, we have an opportunity to set a blueprint for how these lines are replaced to solve the lead-in-water issue equitably and efficiently; the City must invest adequate financial resources and staffing to address this issue with the urgency it deserves. To expedite the replacement of the lines, Chicago should implement similar practices to other cities that have completed full LSLR, including coordinated capital infrastructure planning among the Department of Transportation, Department of Planning and Development, and Department of Water Management (DWM), block-level replacements, and taking ownership of the full lead service lines to address the private vs. public bureaucracies of paying for the replacement. The city should improve access to resources like filters, testing, and information to mitigate harm, especially in at-risk populations and lead-burdened communities. DWM should also seek to coordinate with community-based organizations and health centers to support outreach, education, and information sharing to Chicago families to increase enrollment in the program. Establishing relationships with unions and trade schools to invest in a workforce to help address the lead issue will also be a vital part of expediting this process and providing opportunities to communities that have been overburdened by lead exposure and other environmental justice issues.
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.
Not answered.
What is the most pressing issue facing the people of your ward, and how would you address it?
The 10th ward, like so many other communities across the Rust Belt, faces economic, political, and social deterioration and destabilization. Therefore, we have issues of public safety, related to economic insecurity and housing insecurity. There is food and transit apartheid with very few public services to address the root of the issues. In order to address these issues we must create co-governance so community members have a decision in the items such as budgeting and zoning that impact their livelihood.
Co-governance and organizing are essential to building power and uniting our communities. We must look at increasing our opportunities to address local gun violence and health burdens, that will aid in furthering our resources with available funding.
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To create protections to prevent further disparities in our health as our communities have some of the highest rates of cancer and respiratory issues. I plan to introduce the first Cumulative Environmental Impacts Ordinance within my first 100 days in office to prioritize the health and well-being of our residents and end sacrifice zones. Alongside, re-establishing the Department of the Environment and implementing policies to shift us to a green economy with green jobs that pay liveable wages.
This is the key in addressing the lack of opportunities and with being ahead of the economic crisis of the depletion of Covid funds, with readily available funding, at the federal level, thriving communities grant, the state Climate equity jobs act, and the city chicago recovery plan to build a strong revolving economy.
Sum up why should voters elect you and not your opponent(s)? (Please limit this to policy and approach, not a biography recitation.)
My experiences reflect the real life issues many in my ward face; lack of opportunity, pollution, food dessert, access to public transportation, and so I am about building co-governance in order to build the power we need to impact the policies my community values and for which they are willing to fight.