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: Daniel La Spata
Ward: 1st
Current job: Alderman of the 1st ward
Previous political experience: None
Education: UIC
Spouse’s occupation: Not answered
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.
We ask our police officers to do too much on their own. Reducing crime both immediately and in the long term requires a holistic approach. As Alderman, I’ve championed both data-driven initiatives to prevent crimes before they occur and supported projects like the first ever mental health responder pilot in Chicago. Expanding this pilot citywide will take thousands of calls off of officers’ plates.
Our work to civilian-ize music and noise complaint responses should do the same. My work also focuses on supporting programs proven to reduce crime by helping to resolve the root problems underlying why people turn to it in the first place, including voting to invest in violence prevention initiatives and domestic violence response and prevention programs. For these programs to be successful, though, alders need to foster more collaboration and communication between their local districts and those doing violence prevention work.
We also need to actually get funding out the door that has already been allocated for those doing evidence-based violence reduction work, like READI and CRED. Taken together, all of these investments can create the conditions for a safe and healthy Chicago while supporting the accountable policing that is needed when those conditions break down.
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.
During my tenure, I have worked with the CTA to build a substation in Wicker Park that will improve current in the tracks, allowing for newer, faster, and more frequent trains. We’ve made infrastructure investments to improve service as well, including bus only lanes on Chicago and Western Ave, and the soon-to-come rehabilitation of the California Blue Line station. Programs like these are necessary to modernize the CTA fleet and infrastructure. My constituents tell me that their trust in the CTA is tied to its reliability, and the best thing we can do to improve ridership is to improve our quality of service. We should support ongoing hiring efforts and ensure that operator compensation and benefits are top-tier for cities across the country.
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?
The way to solve our public school process is to invest in public education, not to turn to privatization. Everyone deserves a high-quality education regardless of their ability to pay, and a strong education system is how we build strong communities. I believe in the importance of investing in our children and our future, and I believe CPS should be responsive to community feedback about how its schools can better serve families and communities. Perception can be slow to catch up to reality, so alders need to do everything they can to restore faith and relationship with our public schools, which we’ve done by co-locating many of our events at CPS schools.
A large challenge tangential to CPS has been the displacement of thousands of families who have been pushed out by unaffordable housing. Creating new affordable housing with family-sized units close to our schools has been an important zoning goal for the First Ward as we work to stabilize our school populations.
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.
Access to capital is dooming the city’s efforts to invest in South and West side communities and rising interest rates will only make it harder. The city can copy the state’s Linked Deposits program to make low interest loans grounded in our deposits to support our economic and community development initiatives and ensure that Federal Reserve interest rate increases don’t grind the economy in these communities to a halt.
Do you support giving Chicagoans property tax relief? If yes, please explain how you would accomplish it. If no, please explain why not.
Property tax abatements are a useful policy tool to create good incentives for landowners. I support the use of tax relief as a recognition of property owners’ contributions to the public good, like as a way to help smooth the costs of rent stabilization in a volatile market. Similarly, property tax relief for Chicagoans who are struggling is a simple way the City can offer its support in times of trouble. I am committed to the long-term growth and success of our city and its residents, and I believe property tax relief is an important tool to use in supporting those goals.
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?
I am supportive of the TIF program and its use to improve city infrastructure, especially when used to improve housing affordability. I supported TIF for the development of the Lucy Parsons Apartments in Logan Square and for a pending RDA for the mixed use Congress Theater Development.
TIF is essentially a rigid economic development tool though and one that will be going increasingly extinct as dozens of TIF expire over the coming years. The city will need more flexible and less geographically based tools as we move forward, with the bond-funded Chicago Recovery Grants potentially showing a path we could take.
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 pace of replacement should be expedited. There are no simple answers to solving this problem, but it is an important example of how long-term issues arise when we don’t take action in response to problems when we learn about them. We need to be proactive not just about righting the wrongs of these service lines that are overdue for replacement, but we need to apply the same caution and concern to supporting all of our infrastructure issues. Upgrades and replacements now will save the City money in the long term, but more importantly, they’ll improve the health, wellness, and everyday lives of Chicagoans throughout the city.
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.
Even before I ran, I had been involved in community development efforts for a dozen years and pursued a Masters degree in Urban Planning and Public Policy, which I am about to complete. I’ve taken every day of the last four years to learn my ward, its relationships, organizations, needs, and struggles. Every day has helped me become a more effective and informed legislator. My opponents have done none of this work and are at best interested in 10% of the work of this office – moreover, they only have the experience to perform less than that. My only opponent with any experience, the former alderman, has only proved that he cannot handle the power of this office responsibly.
What is the most pressing issue facing the people of your ward, and how would you address it?
I believe the most pressing issues facing the First Ward are housing affordability, public safety, and increasing trust and public accountability. As Alderman, I made it a top priority to preserve and expand affordability in our neighborhoods, modernize our approach to public safety by investing in data-driven initiatives to prevent crimes before they occur and finally re-establish trust with communities – which requires structural reform to prevent the type political corruption we have seen historically in the First Ward.
Sum up why should voters elect you and not your opponent(s)? (Please limit this to policy and approach, not a biography recitation.)
I know what it takes to build a better First Ward, and I’ve achieved many of my goals during my short tenure. Some of my proudest accomplishments include establishing participatory budgeting (allowing First Ward residents to decide how to spend over $1 million in ward infrastructure funds). I created the most transparent community-driven zoning process ever in the First Ward by publishing all applications online, hosting community input sessions for every development, and formally asking community groups for input as a default. Lastly, I worked to establish the first ever mental health first responder pilot program in Chicago.
My opponents have misplaced priorities about what would help our community. I am committed to building a First Ward Office that is equitable, inclusive, and transparent. We’re just getting started, and we want everyone to be part of our community conversations so that we can all grow and thrive.