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: Neftalie Gonzalez
Ward: 22nd
Current job: Transportation Security Administration Officer
Previous political experience: answer
Education: Loyola University
Spouse’s occupation: N/A
Sources of outside income: Transportation Security Administration
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 top priorities are jobs and reducing crime which go hand in hand. When people, especially young people have access to jobs in their neighborhood that pay a livable wage, they have a sense of pride in themselves and in their community. Instability and poverty breed crime, local jobs paying a livable wage provide stability and real income, both of which are powerful antidotes to crime. In the short term we need more police presence and a system that does more than catch and release.
I would propose measures that solve this issue from both ends, job training and job opportunities for Chicago residents; attracting middle class jobs to the city, not just corporate headquarters; hiring more police, and increasing the training required for the new recruits; proposing a mental health crisis team that works under EMS, not CPD, because mental health is a healthcare issue, not a law enforcement issue.
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 problems with the CTA start with CTA leadership. The city needs to look to other transit agencies that overcame serious issues and recruit leadership that is capable and experienced. Ridership is dwindling primarily due to crime and unreliability. Unreliability is solved with new leadership, increased funding, and increased hiring. Crime is solved by hiring more police and establishing a specially trained transit unit to deal with the issues and environment specific to public transit. I believe both armed police and unarmed security officers are both necessary and will perform different functions while working together to keep riders safe. The current plan of taking officers out of their district and temporarily assigning them to transit detail is not the solution. All that accomplishes is to decrease the number of police in the neighborhoods and puts inexperienced officers in a new environment that they have not received training for, and rotates them back out to be replaced with a new batch of inexperienced officers
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 dwindling of schools membership or enrollment which I believe is due to two main factors: violence and poor performance. Crime and violence don’t occur in a vacuum. Many of the students of CPS do not see a future for themselves and not everyone should need a college education to get a job. This relates back to my previous answer about crime and how to solve it. We need better economic opportunities for the working class and poor in this city. Knowing you can step into a job paying a livable wage after high school graduation would go a long way in preventing the hopelessness that breeds crime. In the short term we need a larger police presence in CPS to keep our children safe. We need a specially trained police detail so they can better serve and understand the young and at risk in in our schools and be a protector, and not an adversary. Bridging the gap between crime and poor performance is after school activities. Revitalizing Chicago Park District field houses to offer both academic and physical education opportunities to our youth during those hours when school is out, but parents are at work is important. The test scores and graduation rates at CPS are not acceptable and the blame of failing our children falls on all those involved. There needs to be an expectation that parents and teachers are both responsible for the education of our children. Open houses and meetings between teachers and parents need to be more common and accessible to working parents.
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.
Jobs and crime. Crime and Jobs. Why won’t businesses open in these areas? Crime. Why is there crime? No jobs. This is a self generating problem that cannot solve itself. Firstly the city needs to stop ignoring these communities and protect the people of these neighborhoods like it does other neighborhoods. A larger and better trained police force is needed so these underserved communities can enjoy safe streets the same as other neighborhoods in Chicago. Then the city needs to encourage businesses to open and hire people from the neighborhood. Another corporate headquarters downtown does nothing for these neighborhoods and the city needs to focus on bringing middle class job opportunities to working class and poor neighborhoods. This is the most realistic and feasible solution because it gets at the source of the problem.
Do you support giving Chicagoans property tax relief? If yes, please explain how you would accomplish it. If no, please explain why not.
No, I don’t support what is basically the city paying taxes with taxes. If so many residents of the city need property tax assistance then property taxes are too high and need to be lowered, why add an extra step. Lower property taxes on homeowners, problem solved.
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?
As they exist now, TIFs lacks transparency and have been used to subsidize development in non-blighted areas that don’t need it. In addition, TIF districts capture property taxes that would otherwise be split between schools, the city and special taxing districts such as the Chicago Park District. Around half of the property tax revenue collected by TIFs would otherwise go to CPS. Instead they are going to projects like Lincoln Yards to provide luxury housing in an already upscale area.
The TIF program needs to be overhauled and made transparent and made to benefit areas that need it, like the 22nd ward. Properly used, it could incentivize industry and other businesses to open in areas that need it. Lincoln Park doesn’t need tax payer money to build more luxury housing.
If funds are being diverted from things like schools and parks, they need to be put into things that benefit the city, the public, and the community. Using those funds to bring working class jobs that pay livable wages, who in turn agree to hire people from the area will do more good for the economic benefit for underserved areas than the current way they are distributed. Jobs that pay livable wages stabilize communities and reduce crime. That’s a real benefit to the city and the neighborhoods.
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 is aware of the problem with lead pipes and is not treating it as the serious public health risk that it is. Replacement of these pipes needs to be made a priority. Lead exposure has been linked to crime, learning disabilities, and other developmental delays. The city needs to partner with the state and federal government to obtain the funding, supplies, and workforce to solve this serious problem. The poisoning of the people of Chicago cannot be allowed to continue unabated.
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 never served on the city council, but my background makes me most qualified. I have organized, and headed a community organization that focuses on job opportunities for young people in my ward. Jobs reduce crime. That’s the theme running through my answers, my positions, and hopefully my soon to be public life if the people of the 22nd ward choose me as their next alderperson. My public service doesn’t end there, I take the safety of the public seriously and have devoted my career to it. First with being a Chicago police officer, and currently with being a Federal Transportation Security Officer. It’s time for me to do even more for the people and I see a great opportunity to be able to do that in the city council.
What is the most pressing issue facing the people of your ward, and how would you address it?
It is obvious the most important issue is crime. How do you solve crime long term? Jobs. How do you solve crime short term? Police.
My top priorities are jobs and reducing crime which go hand in hand. When people, especially young people have access to jobs in their neighborhood that pay a livable wage, they have a sense of pride in themselves and in their community. Instability and poverty breed crime, local jobs paying a livable wage provide stability and real income, both of which are powerful antidotes to crime. In the short term we need more police presence and a system that does more than catch and release.
Sum up why should voters elect you and not your opponent(s)? (Please limit this to policy and approach, not a biography recitation.)
Since 1986 the 22nd ward has been controlled by the same administration every single time the position has been handed down to a handpicked candidate who was part of the previous administration. Our current Alderman has attained more than $625,000 in campaign contributions in his first term alone. when a candidate takes campaign contributions that person is putting the ward or his position for sale, no one individual or corporation is going to give you money without expecting anything in return. This year has been a year where the corruption in city government has been exposed like never before and the reason most or all of the indicted politicians is for taking money. I believe that any candidate who makes promises to the voters, and turns around and accepts hundreds of thousands of dollars from special interests is more interested in doing the bidding of those who paid them and this isn’t a controversial opinion, voters know that campaign contributions are nothing more than legalized bribery. I do not solicit nor accept campaign contributions. That is why I am a better candidate then my opponent because I will represent the interest and concerns of the people of the 22nd ward, I’m not for sale.