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: Rossana Rodríguez-Sánchez
Ward: 33rd
Current job: Alderperson, City of Chicago
Previous political experience: Current Alderperson of the 33rd Ward
Education: University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras 2003, BA in Education / Theater, 2003; University of Manchester UK, Master Degree, Applied and Social Theatre, 2007; Currently studying for a Master Degree in Social Work at Northeastern Illinois University
Spouse’s occupation: Architect
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.
In my first four years, I have worked to research, introduce, and advocate for innovative public safety approaches. I am the chief sponsor of the Treatment Not Trauma Ordinance, which is based on models in Portland and Denver, and seeks to reopen the shuttered mental health centers and establish a non-police emergency response line to dispatch a trained social worker and EMT in instances of mental health emergencies. I am also a lead sponsor of establishing an Office of Gun Violence Prevention that would be tasked with further research and development of innovative and community driven strategies for preventive crime and providing care to communities.
We desperately need new approaches. We must stop expecting the Chicago Police Department to address all the issues brought about by decades of disinvestment and exacerbated by the effects of the pandemic. City Council must pass the Bring Chicago Home ordinance to combat homelessness. City Council must pass the Treatment Not Trauma ordinance to reopen seven of the closed Department of Public Health mental health clinics, increase the staffing in the city mental health centers, run a non-police crisis response program out of the clinics, establish neighborhood teams to operate in communities outside of crisis incidents, and operate at least two of the mental health clinics as walk-in clinics able to provide services 24 hours a day. City Council must pass the Peace Book ordinance in order to replace the Community Safety Coordination Center with an Office of Neighborhood Safety. City Council must pass the ordinance which establishes the Office of Gun Violence Prevention.
The city must admit that drug addiction is a public health issue rather than a criminal issue and provide safe spaces for drug use and publicly-funded, government-run drug rehabilitation. The city must admit that mass incarceration causes destabilization, which increases rather than decreases crime. Acknowledging that, the city must implement programs which, as much as possible, deal with people who commit crime without imprisoning them.
Generally, crime is the result of desperation, and desperation is a byproduct of poverty. Whatever their role is, the Chicago Police Department is not, and will never be, a tool for fighting poverty and the desperation which stems from it.
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.
As Alderwoman, I called for hearing into the CTA schedules and ghost buses. It is unconscionable that the CTA did not ensure that staffing levels would keep pace with need during the pandemic. Having service lag, and then lying about it, due to under-staffing is a betrayal of public trust. The CTA must increase pay, benefits, and hiring bonuses to whatever level is necessary to ensure reliable service.
In order to increase equity throughout Chicago, the CTA must address public transportation deserts which exist largely on the south and west sides of the city.
The city and state should also add progressive revenue streams which allow the CTA to offer free ridership to all Chicagoans. Until that becomes possible, the city, state, and CTA should explore all available options to incentivize public transit use over the use of automobile travel as much as possible.
The CTA is not equipped to address violent crime and that should not be an expectation the public has of that agency. The city should provide resources to address safety issues on public transportation as well as issues resulting from homelessness and drug use, in line with the efforts outlined in my response above.
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?
CPS should first and foremost abandon the student-based budget formula. If a school sees enrollment lower due to a lack of resources, currently the school would have its resources further reduced. That creates an inescapable cycle of declining resources and declining enrollment.
CPS should acknowledge that the requests that led to the 2019 CTU strike were valid and necessary to ensure quality public education. CPS must have a librarian at every school. CPS must have sufficient nurses at every school. The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated the years of disinvestment in our schools. CPS needs to follow recommended staffing levels for social workers, counselors and psychologists. Our students and their families are in desperate need of schools that have intentional systems of care and support.
CPS should also reverse the neoliberal trend of privatization. Outsourcing in-school services such as cleaning and meal service has reduced the quality of service. Schools are rarely sufficiently cleaned, and the majority of our students rely on CPS for meals, which are rarely nutritious. CPS should cancel all of its contracts with outside vendors and have those positions filled by city, union workers.
CPS should also reduce reliance on standardized testing and put more emphasis on learning modules which encourage student growth and community participation. CPS should be following the federal and state requirements for required standardized testing, and not pressure schools and teachers for additional testing. Teachers and schools are constantly being asked to share excessive testing and “progress monitoring” data. Instead, CPS should follow what the research says about teaching and learning. They should also encourage student and community participation in curriculum that reflects the language and cultures of our diverse student population. In addition, CPS needs to follow Special Education laws and make sure to prioritize staffing for both Special Education and Bilingual Education.
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.
I believe in both evidence-based solutions to the problems facing our city and real community engagement and participation. Our policy approaches should provide the resources that struggling Chicagoans are lacking and residents on the South and West side should be involved in identifying both problems and solutions. There is no shortage of potential solutions that have the backing of community organizations and leaders. Among them, we need investments in housing, jobs, schools and education, childcare, and violence prevention.
The city should pass a Green New Deal for Chicago and focus on hiring and training people from the South and West side to implement the various projects we undertake to reduce pollution and carbon emissions. Unemployment for young Black men on the South Side is above 40 percent. Bold steps like a GND for Chicago offer the city the opportunity to invest in jobs for people living in disinvested areas, while also undertaking much needed infrastructure improvements.
The disinvestment in the South and West can be traced back to the CPS school closings in 2010 that disproportionately affected this area of Chicago. In order to reverse this trend, we should also look into reopening some of the schools which were closed under Rahm Emanuel on the South and West side. The Chicago Teachers Union had long lobbied for increasing the amount of Sustainable Community Schools, where schools would partner with local community organizations to increase programming for not only students after schools, but also provide training for their families and community members. CPS should move away from the student-based budgeting system and fully resource its schools.
Every UBI pilot program I am aware of has shown that simply providing direct financial assistance to those living in poverty has resulted in significant positive impact for both the households receiving assistance and their neighborhoods. I am confident that the city’s current UBI pilot will show the same results and we should take that seriously. The arguments against UBIs are that it is giving people money for nothing, but pilots have shown that UBIs actually save money in the long run by reducing the amount that must be spent providing services and by increasing revenues.
We also need new and innovative approaches to public safety and need to pass the Treatment Not Trauma ordinance and prioritize opening public mental health clinics on the South and West side, pass the Peace Book Ordinance to demonstrate a real commitment to violence prevention, and establish an Office of Gun Violence Prevention.
Overall, we need to shift our thinking about policy proposals like the ones outlined here and stop asking “How can we afford to do these things?” and instead start asking, “How can we afford not to?”
Do you support giving Chicagoans property tax relief? If yes, please explain how you would accomplish it. If no, please explain why not.
I support giving property tax relief to homeowners. There are a lot of ways the city could increase progressive revenue streams in order to reduce reliance on property taxes. City elected officials could work with state officials to overturn the ban on a municipal income tax. Since the Fair Tax amendment failed, a municipal income tax would have to be a flat tax, but the city could exempt residents making below a specific threshold, such as $125k/yr. City elected officials could work with state officials to close the loophole Mike Madigan wrote into law which allowed for law firms like his and Ed Burke’s to engage in naked corruption in appealing corporate property taxes. The city could implement a real-estate transfer tax on properties valued over $1 million. The city could implement a financial transaction tax. The city could re-implement a payroll tax. The city could implement a head tax on people employed in Chicago who live outside the city. The city could implement a tax on vacant residential properties. The city could implement a tax on luxury rental housing. The city has never lacked available options for progressive revenue; it has lacked the political will to implement them.
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 some TIF funding has gone to positive and useful purposes, the projects they have supported could have been funded without TIFs. I feel the problems, including the lack of transparency and the city’s overuse of TIF as a development tool, outweigh the benefits and that TIFs should be abolished entirely.
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 replacing lead service lines must be expedited. As with progressive revenue streams, the city has not lacked the ability to replace lines more efficiently; it has lacked the political will. The city of Newark was replacing more lead lines PER DAY than Chicago has ever replaced in any given year.
I refuse to believe that Chicago is incapable of doing something at least as well as Newark, New Jersey.
As with anything else which is so important, the teams replacing the lead lines should be government-employed union workers.
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 a community approach to governing and deeply believe that it is the role of government to provide care and services for our communities.
I also wanted to change the office’s image away from its past under nearly 50 years of control by a political machine family. During my first term, I established new programs to promote civic participation, transparency, and neighborhood-level democracy; I worked with constituent volunteers and community organizations to implement a 33rd Ward Participatory Budgeting (PB) process and a Community Driven Zoning & Development (CDZD) process. The PB process allows ward residents to propose and vote on projects to be funded by our annual menu funds. Through this process, we have funded school improvements, over 5 miles of bike lanes, community gardens, and a food pantry. The CDZD process gives neighborhood groups and residents a voice in zoning decisions. Through this process, I have brought an affordable housing development to the ward in order to slow the pace of gentrification. The development will begin accepting applications on Saturday, January 21st.
I have used my office to connect ward residents with available services and to respond to the numerous crises which have happened since 2019. I have used my office as a warming center during dangerous cold weather. I have used my office to accept donations for people affected by home fires and the asylum seekers who have been bussed to Chicago from Texas. During the pandemic I helped to coordinate a food pantry which was operated by Brave Space Alliance.
I also believe that Alders have a responsibility to serve as independent legislators, not rubber stamps for a mayor. I have introduced and championed ordinances which would benefit Chicagoans and reverse the decades-long political trends which have gutted our city services.
I drafted and introduced the Treatment Not Trauma ordinance. I was a lead sponsor of the ordinance which closed loopholes in the Welcoming City ordinance making Chicago a true sanctuary city for immigrants.
After the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, I drafted and introduced the Bodily Autonomy ordinance, which made Chicago a sanctuary city for those seeking and providing reproductive and gender-affirming care. I am a lead sponsor on the fight to create an Office of Gun Violence Prevention.
What is the most pressing issue facing the people of your ward, and how would you address it?
The most pressing issue facing the people of my ward is public safety. In the 33rd Ward, as in many places in the city, this includes the ability to be safe through having access to good, affordable housing, to be free from violence, and to have the health care and resources needed to be safe in a pandemic.
I will continue to fight for new approaches to public safety and violence prevention, to pass Treatment Not Trauma—which 93% of 33rd Ward voters called for in a nonbinding referendum last November—and bring the Office of Gun Violence Prevention to Chicago. I will continue to attract affordable housing developments to the ward. I will continue to fight for city budgets that prioritize providing services and care to the residents of the city and my ward. And, I will continue to do this work by involving the people who live in the 33rd Ward through our Participatory Budgeting and Community Driven Zoning and Development projects so that everyone has a say in making the 33rd Ward a safe and community-centered place to live.
Sum up why should voters elect you and not your opponent(s)? (Please limit this to policy and approach, not a biography recitation.)
One of my opponents was chosen to run and is backed by Dick Mell and the same political machine we defeated in 2019. As a Chief of Staff for 12th Ward Alderman Cardenas, my opponent argued in favor of bringing the MAT asphalt plant to a residential area, skipping key community meetings in the process. This candidate would not have made the ballot without help from nearly two dozen current county employees working under clerk Iris Martinez, as the Tribune has reported. Their election would represent a return to political corruption and an alderperson who serves as a rubber stamp for the Mayor.
My other opponent works in finance and is a landlord who owns 19 rental properties. Their interests are contrary to the interests of working Chicagoans. One of his platform points he is strongly emphasizing is something I’m already the lead sponsor on in City Council, that being the Office of Gun Violence Prevention.
Neither of my opponents has a track record of work in the ward or strong relationships with local community organizations or groups in the ward.
In contrast, I have worked to increase community involvement and participation in my office and to bring evidence-based and community-backed approaches to both ward services and legislation.