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: Roushaunda Williams
Ward: 46th
Current job: I am a union bartender at the Palmer House Hilton. I have worked there for over 20 years.
Previous political experience: I have served as a Vice President of the Executive Board of the Illinois AFL-CIO since 2018.
Education: Western Illinois University, Bachelor’s of Science in Social Work, Minor in Law Enforcement
Spouse’s occupation: N/A
Sources of outside income: I receive $1200 per year from the Illinois AFL-CIO for my service on the Executive Board.
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.
I believe to make progress in addressing violent crime, we need to ensure our police officers and our communities know the basics of both law enforcement and social work.
We need to have a holistic view of public safety. This includes creating a path for those from our most vulnerable communities, especially our youth, to have real careers through high-quality job training and registered apprenticeship programs. This also includes investing in mental health services. We must ensure accountability for police officers, pursue avenues to repair the relationship between the police and communities of color, and ensure the newly elected civilian oversight board has the necessary resources to do their work.
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.
Everyone who rides the CTA and works for the CTA deserves to feel safe. Riders should be able to count on our public transportation to get them safely to and from work, school, doctor’s appointments and more. We must ensure that our transit system is properly staffed so that service runs smoothly, and that resources are equitably distributed across all our neighborhoods. We need to make sure CTA employees who are on the frontlines have the resources they need to be safe on the job. I think we could learn a lot about how to improve the system from the frontline bus drivers, train conductors, and station attendants who do the work every day. In fact, meaningful involvement of these Chicagoans in reforming and running the system is essential.
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?
First, we need to understand that these enrollment declines are happening in many large school districts and result from demographic and gentrification changes in American cities. That said, we must ensure the children of CPS receive the resources they need to succeed. This includes ensuring that our public-school classrooms, teachers, and staff are appropriately resourced. We also need to make sure that parents of CPS students can succeed in Chicago. We need to ensure that parents can get and keep decent jobs that allow them to keep up with the cost of living in Chicago and provide for their families. We must address public safety issues so that parents feel safe raising their children in our neighborhoods and sending them to our public schools.
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.
We should encourage the creation of high-quality, permanent jobs on the South and West sides for residents of those communities. We should hold developments that seek public subsidies accountable for the quality of post-construction jobs they create for the communities in which they seek to build. We should also ensure publicly subsidized developments on the South and West side to invest in high-quality job training and registered apprenticeship programs. By pairing the creation of high-quality jobs with high-quality job training, we can provide youth and individuals from traditionally disinvested communities with a pathway to success. My union’s Chicago Hospitality Institute’s Culinary Apprenticeship program is primarily comprised of African American and Latino students. Our Culinary Apprenticeship provides students with a free, 8-week intensive culinary training program followed by on-the job training in a high-quality hospitality job. Many of the culinary apprentices had no previous culinary experience but are now working in some of Chicago’s top hospitality venues. Imagine if there were partnerships between developments on the South and West sides and registered apprenticeship programs. We could create a pipeline for youth and unemployed and underemployed individuals to have a real career in their own neighborhood. Imagine the sense of pride a young person would have as they walk to work in their community, having completed their apprenticeship with the skills they need to succeed. That young person would have hope for their future, knowing they are making a great wage and have the healthcare they need. I think this is both realistic and would be transformative for our city.
Do you support giving Chicagoans property tax relief? If yes, please explain how you would accomplish it. If no, please explain why not.
We need to ensure that our most vulnerable communities can become homeowners and maintain their homes in Chicago’s neighborhoods. We must ensure that our city services, public schools, and public employee pensions are appropriately funded, and we must think creatively about how to support low-income homeowners who have seen their property tax bills rise. Too often when we think about “affordability” we only think about price and cost. Supporting the creation and retention of high-quality jobs that allow people to make enough to keep up with property tax increases and other cost of living increases is also critical.
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?
TIF can be an important resource to stimulate growth in blighted areas. TIF, like any public subsidy, should be used responsibly and promote development that has an overall net positive impact on the construction workers and permanent workers, the surrounding community, and the city as a whole. Having a fair process to evaluate what projects merit TIF is critical. It should include a robust community process that involves community stakeholders to ensure we evaluate projects that are seeking TIF in a way that considers all potential impacts of the project, including the creation of high-quality, safe jobs for construction workers and permanent workers.
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?
I can’t count the number of times I have read or watched news reports that correlate the incidence of diabetes in poor people with their over consumption of unhealthy food… including sugary drinks like soda. I suppose that blaming people for their health issues somehow relieves everyone else from sharing in that blame. Where do we hide from the insidious nature of lead in drinking water? We tell kids to drink water. We tell them not to drink soda. But then we expose them to danger and damage from the invisible lead in the water our cities pipe into their homes. All Chicagoans deserve safe drinking water. We should work closely with our state and federal legislators to advocate for additional financial resources to expedite the efforts. We should support our City’s efforts to hire the necessary workers to do the hard work of replacing the lines. We should also consider ways to expand outreach efforts to encourage low-income residents to apply for lead service line replacements funded by the city and streamline the application process. We should learn from other cities who have undertaken similar efforts. We should stop pretending we don’t see.
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.
My background in social work and law enforcement, along with my experience as an organizer with my union, provides me with an understanding of what it takes for communities to be safe and sound.
I began my career as a social worker for children and senior citizens. I adopted a little boy who needed a home. To support both of my sons, I went to work as a union bartender.
I have been a leader in my union for over 20 years and am an active member of my sorority Zeta Phi Beta. I have worked to end sexual assault against hotel housekeepers and represented women in the United States when the first International Treaty against sexual harassment was approved in Geneva, Switzerland. I led my coworkers out on strike and won year-round health care.
During the pandemic, I was laid off and almost lost my housing in Uptown because I couldn’t afford the rent. With my union, we passed legislation to get hotel workers their jobs back after the COVID-19 shutdowns. I was part of the pandemic relief committee delivering food cards to workers who were hungry, helped folks navigate unemployment and worked on a peer-to-peer vaccine education program.
In 2020, I canvassed to defeat Trump in Florida and led a team to take back the Senate in Georgia.
What is the most pressing issue facing the people of your ward, and how would you address it?
I believe that people in my ward and across our city want to feel safe and sound in their community. We can only address this if we understand the basics of law enforcement and social work. We need to address the various building blocks that allow a person to feel secure and to flourish, including housing, mental health services, high-quality jobs, and health care access.
Sum up why should voters elect you and not your opponent(s)? (Please limit this to policy and approach, not a biography recitation.)
I have spent the last two decades bringing people together to win what at times seemed impossible – safety, security and hope. I will work just as hard as Alderwoman to make sure 46th Ward residents and the people of Chicago are safe and sound.