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: Warren Williams
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Ward: 30th
Current job: Communications Director at The People’s Lobby
Previous political experience: I have volunteered for various progressive electoral campaigns, including races for City Council, Cook County Board, Congress, and President. I also founded the independent political organization, 30th United.
Education: I have volunteered for various progressive electoral campaigns, including races for City Council, Cook County Board, Congress, and President. I also founded the independent political organization, 30th United.
Spouse’s occupation: Not answered
Sources of outside income: N/A
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 a real concern of mine and my community, with the Vera Lounge shooting, and a neighbor’s friend being attacked down the street from my home weighing heavy on our minds. I will support preventative public safety measures that address the root of the problem. We need solutions to prevent the trauma inflicted on our communities, and I believe public safety solutions must include true community investment. This means fully funding CPS and after-school and summer programs for youth, improvements to infrastructure, funding mental health services and social services, and the creation of good jobs. As a young Black man that grew up in Chicago, after school programs are what kept me safe, busy, and supported. My background in film blossomed from after-school programs where I not only found art, but was also modestly paid for my work. Our communities are safest when they have access to the services and support that are needed to live full lives. This is why we need innovative public safety measures like Treatment Not Trauma. We cannot solely rely on our police department to solve every problem, and I am committed to fighting for holistic solutions.
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.
We know that when CTA ridership is low, investment goes down and violence goes up. We need to get riders on the trains again and that requires more funding to ensure trains and buses have proper staff, run frequently and on time, and it needs to be cleaner and safer trips. I support universal public transit, making our CTA free to ride. I also would explore the reinstatement of unarmed transit ambassadors and conductors on the CTA to address safety for workers and commuters.
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?
As a product of CPS, it pains and angers me that public schools are only two-thirds funded. Neighbors often share that they feel as though they are unable to send their children to our neighborhood schools due to limited programming and fear of violence. It is also an issue of displacement, with families moving out of the city in search of affordable housing and schools with more robust funding and programming. As an alderperson, I will work to fully fund and staff our public schools to ensure adequate and safe ratios of students to teachers, nurses, and counselors. I look to address these funding issues by working with teachers, staff, students, and families to fight for progressive revenue streams to fully fund our public schools, as well as working towards a city budget that prioritizes and invests in Chicago’s youth.
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.
The disinvestment on the South and West sides is intentional in its racist and classist devaluation of the quality of life, health, and safety of Black and Brown working class Chicagoans. I believe in investing in daily infrastructure and services, needs as well as in good jobs and training programs. On the state level, the win of the Climate and Equitable Jobs Act has been an exciting investment in equitable job creation, and we need significant movement on the city level as well to create good, public jobs and training programs. I also support cumulative impact ordinance to protect communities and ensure there are no more sacrifice zones in which Black, Brown, and working class folks bear the brunt of the effects of pollution.
Do you support giving Chicagoans property tax relief? If yes, please explain how you would accomplish it. If no, please explain why not.
Yes, I support giving Chicagoans property tax relief to ensure that poor and working class people are not continually forced out of our city. Chicago must explore ways to raise revenue without taxing working class people, while also ensuring that our social services are fully funded and our debts are paid. I support exploring progressive revenue sources that ensure that the wealthy pay their fair share, such as the La Salle Street tax, Chicago graduated income tax, real estate transfer tax, and taxes on luxury residential rental properties.
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?
While I believe that TIFs have been useful as a form of investment in some places, I am in favor of TIF reforms. I believe that there is a need for greater transparency to ensure corporate interests are not prioritized over public benefit. I also believe there is a need for a democratic process for TIFs to be phased out or abolished, and an inclusion of community benefit agreements with any TIF extensions. Real investment is needed in the 30th Ward, which includes six different TIF districts. Within the 30th Ward there is a need for investment in creating and maintaining affordable housing, and improving public buildings and infrastructure like schools, libraries, parks, and sidewalks.
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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?
Yes, clean drinking water is a basic necessity and replacing lead service line pipes needs to be a top priority for the city. It is unacceptable that the city has only replaced less than 300 lead service lines, and investment in this project should be prioritized. More immediately, federal infrastructure funds should be utilized to create good, union jobs to make sure our water is clean and safe to drink through the replacement of lead service lines. Looking to the near future, Chicago needs a solid Department of Environment with teeth that works towards ensuring our water and air is clean, holding polluters accountable, establishing clean energy sources, and defending environmental justice communities. I also strongly support the proposed Water For All ordinance that will ensure that all Chicagoans have access to clean and affordable water.
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.
I have been a community organizer, organizing on the ground with my community and multiple organizations, as well as with our ward’s independent political organization, 30th United, for years. In that time, we’ve stopped predatory developers from kicking working class people out of their homes, done community clean ups in the ward to make sure our streets are clean, and worked with and supported local electeds. One of the things we have done that I am most proud of is that we made over 500 phone calls to seniors during the start of the pandemic to do neighbor-to-neighbor check ins and help people with access to the vaccine and other important services and support. I have done all of this work with my community by my side, and I will lead as an alderperson with that same energy and commitment to community. Through my years of community organizing, I have found that we all share the same hopes for the future. I am committed to fighting for this shared vision of community and togetherness, and will continue to listen, learn, and lead side by side with my neighbors. This commitment to compassionate justice is what I want to bring to City Council.
What is the most pressing issue facing the people of your ward, and how would you address it?
The neighborhoods of the 30th ward are diverse, and so are the needs and issues affecting our neighbors. Ultimately, the most pressing issues that I hear on the doors are related to affordability and being heard by local government. I will address this by running a transparent and accessible ward office, and by fighting for affordable and accessible housing, transit, healthcare, and education.
Sum up why should voters elect you and not your opponent(s)? (Please limit this to policy and approach, not a biography recitation.)
With so many years of disinvestment from our community, greatly due to poor leadership, we must move away from the machine politics that got us here in the first place. I am running for office because my community that I have been organizing for years asked me to, and because I am committed to building with them. I have a clear vision for what true public safety in our community could be, and how we can take action on climate together while investing in environmental justice. I believe in rebuilding the rainbow coalition, and bringing neighbors together of all ages, races, religions, and backgrounds.