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: Sharon E. Pincham
Ward: 6th
Current job: On leave of absence, Constituent Service Coo
Previous political experience: Elected-Local School Councils; Community Representative for Harlan Community Academy High School and Gillespie Technology Magnet Cluster Elementary School 2010-2020; Elected-President-West Chesterfield Community Association 2020 to present; Constituent Services Coordinator,17th State Senate District (presently on leave)
Education: Bachelors Degree, Chicago State University; Masters Certificate in Rehabilitation Facility Administration
Spouse’s occupation: Retired CPS Teacher
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.
My answer is 3 pronged:
Police assignment reallocation- Priority should be to place police personnel in the districts where crime is highest while further protecting the city’s financial core. The proposed neighborhood camera and car tracking reimbursement program and CPD registration should be immediately implemented city-wide. Continue to improve police practices to reduce the millions of dollars allocated each year for misconduct and wrongful conviction settlements to improve community support and trust for policing
Acelerate Public Safety Recruitment- We have to overcome the attrition of police officers retiring from CPD with new recruits prepared to serve in this capacity. I favor an expansion of the Public Safety Curriculum into all public high schools so students who wish to pursue this as a career may have early preparedness training for the CPD. After high school graduation in the Public Safety track students would be enrolled into a paid Police Cadet position while they complete the 2 years of post-secondary education required. They could serve within the Police Department in internal ministerial positions which would free more experienced officers to serve on our streets.
Financial and personnel resources must be expanded to maintain and actively support programs in the community that are designed to serve as deterrents to crime i.e violence interrupters and paid job/skill training programs. This includes supports for mental health programs and providing wrap around services.
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 CTA system has an extraordinary task on connecting the different parts of the city and nearby suburbs. This system provides convenient access to employment, shopping and social opportunities for Chicagoland residents. The Ventra system initiated in 2012 will be up for reconsideration in a couple of years. I believe the City Council should have an independent audit of our fee collection structure, its costs, benefits and drawbacks. To complement that study, a look at the cost of setting up a system much similar to Washington DC, where there is a Central command dedicated to the transit system and a transit police unit present throughout the system. This will complement police resources throughout the city while allowing redistribution of police personnel to other high crime areas.
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 reasons for the decline in enrollment over the past decade are several. First, disinvestment and urban renewal programs decimated some of the most populated areas of the South and West sides. Most large public housing projects, like Robert Taylor, were demolished. Meanwhile, CPS refocused from neighborhood schools while providing public funds to the charter school systems. When the Charter schools were initially introduced, the selling points was that these schools would be funded entirely by private resources such as private corporations and foundations. For many displaced residents the alternative to an inadequate CPS education was to seek housing and education in the suburbs of Chicago or leave the State. CPS must refocus its policy that successful outcomes is college acceptance and attendance. Most Americans have never attended college. For years CPS has failed to provide a meaningful curriculum for most students. I propose that CPS refocus and provide a 21st Century education that makes high school graduate students immediately employable in areas such as drone pilot certification, cyber security, traditional trades, dual enrollment nursing programs and public safety programs.
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.
This decades long problem requires a decades long solution. The most immediate step I want in the 6th Ward is reallocation of TIF funding to the 87th and Cottage TIF District to help revitalize the 79th Street, 87th Street and Cottage Grove Street corridors. I also favor enhancement on 95th Street from State Street to Cottage Grove and the Roseland /Michigan TIF District. Economic development using business incubators in these locations would be a major step toward reducing poverty and crime in these areas.
Do you support giving Chicagoans property tax relief? If yes, please explain how you would accomplish it. If no, please explain why not.
I absolutely favor giving Chicagoans property tax relief. The disparity in corporate property taxes and homeowner taxes must be corrected. An example of this disparity is Trump Tower. Trump Tower had its property tax assessment reduced by millions of dollars resulting in homeowners picking up the difference. Meanwhile, the Trump Corporation was criminally convicted of property tax and corporate tax fraud. I favor giving homeowners property tax relief until the corporate property tax disparity is resolved. As TIF benefits are realized, and property taxes increase, there should be funding set aside to address the assistance that may be required to allow homeowners property tax assistance to ensure that we are not displacing homeowners until the corporate property tax disparity is resolved.
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?
Yes. TIFs have been useful and very successful where they have been used like on the Near West Side and the Near South Side/South Loop. The problem is they have not always been used to support disinvested areas but rather for sweetheart deals such as the renovation of Willis Tower. I agree that TIFs should be refocused to the south and west sides of the city, and I am in favor of such reallocations.
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. Upgrading infrastructure is imperative and that includes lead pipe replacement. Perhaps the most feasible way would be along a grid system similar to that used by Streets and Sanitation for garbage removal. The majority of initial financing should come from the recent Federal Infrastructure Act.
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 welcome you to visit my website at www.sharonpincham.com and consider my background and decades of experience bringing resources to the community. I have State-wide administrative experience and decades working in cooperation with government and private entities. I have the shortest learning curve and the most relevant experience of all the candidates and am prepared to serve effectively starting on day one. I am familiar with the issues of my community and most experienced in the methods and means for addressing them.
What is the most pressing issue facing the people of your ward, and how would you address it?
The most pressing issues are the interrelated issues of crime and law enforcement, economic reinvestment and development and meaningful, funded 21st century educations.
Sum up why should voters elect you and not your opponent(s)? (Please limit this to policy and approach, not a biography recitation.)
I see the issues facing the community as multifaceted requiring a multifaceted interrelated solution. Piecemeal approaches have not and cannot work. The three-pronged approach to crime I outlined above: (1) redistribution of police to high crime areas while continuing to protect the city’s economic core, improving police practices to make policing more efficient to reduce the millions allocated for police misconduct and wrongful conviction settlements to improve community support for policing (2) providing a fast track through CPS to the CPD to reverse the attrition rate freeing experienced officers from ministerial positions and, (3) supporting law enforcement with crime prevention and mental health programs is interrelated to CPS providing a meaningful, employable 21st century curriculum and economic development through TIF reallocation and other state and federal funding sources including for infrastructure. This multifaceted approach requires the hands-on experience that I have.