Activist Toolkit

1. What motivates you to seek this office? What skills, experiences, and perspectives would you bring, and why would those contributions be valuable in the office you are seeking?

What motivates me to seek re-election is the opportunity to be a voice for families from all walks of life. The 6th Ward is the melting pot of Berwyn and I appreciate the vibrant differences in its residents. I am proud of the families I serve and I enjoy being able to improve their quality of life in the manner that matters most to them.

My 20 plus years of experience in executive and project management, my BA in Urban Planning, and my experience in a single parent household taught me to always ask how can we improve how we do things, to remain fiscally conscious and responsible, negotiate for a win-win outcome, and to make hard decisions for the betterment of the majority. My seasoned experience has taught me to be a visionary and to include others “at the table.” I’ve learned to create scenario outcomes to assist with decision making and, more importantly, to consider others’ opinions before executing a decision.

2. When in the past have you had to balance competing interests? What process did you use? What did you learn?

I balance competing interests everyday, as a mom, as a grandmother, as a Realtor, as a graduate student, and as an Alderman. My process and philosophy is to ask lots of questions, research and review data, seek opinions of those directly impacted and in the frontlines, and to visualize the desired outcome before executing a decision or plan. I have learned, if there are no measurable goals, majority buy-in, checks and balances or accountability in your process, then your work is pointless and useless.

3. What does transparency in government mean to you? How would you put it into practice?

Transparency in government is clear lines of practices and communication that are easily accessible for anyone to obtain and understand. I believe that when transparency is practiced anyone is able to see, without doubt, how revenue is generated, what are the expenditures, what services are provided from the revenue, what procedures and policies exist, and why policies and procedures are implemented. All of this information should be in multiple forms of communications to serve the community, at large.

As an Alderman, I have encouraged the 6th Ward residents to express concerns, ask questions on how our city is working for them and share ideas on how we can improve. I have been instrumental in curating Town Hall and Coffee & Convo meetings, maintaining 6th Ward email lists to share important information such as: crime stats, City Council and COW agendas, policy changes, valuable resources and community events. When I am re-elected, I will increase my exposure to residents by implementing new conduits of communication such as texting, community focus groups, specific topic surveys so to increase transparency and participation from residents specifically in the city’s budget, operations and policies. Additionally, I will invite elected officials such as Cook County, State and Senate Representatives, and Congressmen to discuss how they are working for us to increase the viability of our City.

4. As more of our local discourse happens in social media, what is your view on how local elected officials should communicate with and respond to constituents? How will you engage with the breadth of the community, and not only those on social media?

I am not a proponent of social media as a conduit to hold conversations with constituents. I believe social media is detrimental to healthy conversation and conclusions. I believe elected officials should be accessible (within reason and clear boundaries) to participate in difficult and constructive conversations with their constituents.

As the 6th Ward Alderman, I have always made myself available via email, phone calls, texts, Facebook messenger and meetings to discuss resident’s concerns. I strongly believe that you must build a relationship before trust can exist, so residents will share their concerns. For this reason, I have made myself available through different lines of communication to meet individuals where they are comfortable. I believe it is important to create opportunities for residents to get to know their neighbors and me. I have curated events such as front yard meet-ups, gardening initiatives, ward clean-ups, summer bbqs, and participated in annual 6th ward block parties. I feel these events helped to build my presence in my Ward and neighbor-to-neighbor engagement.

This effort has proven to knit the community together by building trust between neighbors and with me as their representative. I am very proud of this accomplishment. My goal when re-elected is to increase resident involvement by ten percent and create a mechanism for neighbor-to-neighbor and ward-wide communication and engagement.

5. What barriers do you see for community members who wish to engage with Berwyn’s city government? How would you work to reduce or eliminate those barriers?

I see two barriers that community members currently experience, one is a language barrier and two, a lack of trust in government officials and staff. As the 6th Ward Alderman, I will advocate to improve our communications and create forums for residents to ask questions and share concerns in a constructive format without discourse.

6. What do you feel are the three biggest issues facing Berwyn, and how do you intend to address them? How will you prioritize among competing priorities?

In my first term, I have found that the three biggest issues we face as a city is: 1) transparency in communications regarding safety, city operations and services provided; 2) strategic fiscal budgeting, spending and forecasting; 3) and equity in policy decision making. I believe we must achieve these simultaneously as residents engage on different levels. We have citizens that are activated and ready to discuss our current state of affairs, those that are unsure how/where to share concerns and others that are unaware of what the city should be providing for them. The prioritizing of these issues will have to be consistently balanced as we approach different issues. This is why it is critical that we have checks and balances and more importantly, measurable goals to ensure we are heading in the right direction and on the path to reducing these barriers.

7. How do you define racial equity? Have recent events and discussions in the larger community informed or changed your thinking?

My definition of racial equity is when anyone regardless of color feels and is welcomed to the table and whose opinions and concerns are valued and considered. More importantly, when policies are implemented ensuring that no race is left behind or marginalized. Recent events and the discussions in the larger community have highlighted the importance of the work I have completed through the Ad-Hoc Diversity Commission and will advocate for community input on this matter and other related concerns.

8. How do you plan to solicit feedback from people who may be experiencing Berwyn in a different way than you? What barriers do you believe may exist in this process?

Since I have been elected I made it a point to meet residents where they are comfortable in order to build trust. I feel it is important for them to feel comfortable communicating with me. I solicit feedback from residents at every opportunity of engagement and listen to their shared ideas and questions. As a result, I utilize the following methods, email, text, FB messenger, phone calls and requested meetings to hear concerns and answer questions. My goal, when re-elected, is to increase my contact and reach to families with quarterly literature drops and by knocking on doors block-by-block.

I will also expand the formats of soliciting feedback such as surveys, virtual meetings, and small focus groups. The current barriers that exist is the non-existence of trust. It is often proven that speaking up or asking questions is not practiced or welcomed. However, through my various outreach, I have found that residents are more open to sharing their experiences, opinions and ideas when solicited and taken into consideration. This positive outcome is the reason why I will continue to create forums for residents to engage and build trust between constituents and myself as well as neighbor to neighbor.

9. Name an influential Berwyn community member. How did this person’s influence change Berwyn? As an elected official, what do you imagine your influence will be on the community?

As the first Latina Alderman in Berwyn I have strived to be a source of influence to young women of color by curating initiatives such Proclamating Young Latina Day, annually celebrating Young Latina Day, Sisterhood In Progress, Adelante Scholarship and mentoring Lincoln Middle School and Morton West High School students.

I believe I have been influential to the community by encouraging 6th Ward residents to engage in their community, become civically and neighborly involved, and get informed about what is happening in our city. I have done this through one-on-one conversations and group settings. I believe a community is as strong as its residents' involvement. I imagine my influence has empowered residents to engage and speak up on matters that concern them and to know there are no limits to what they can achieve collectively.

10. How do you plan to encourage the youth of Berwyn to interact and engage with Berwyn’s city government?

Since being elected, I have invested countless hours in our youth that attend D98 and D201 school districts. I have been a guest speaker at Lincoln Middle School and Morton West High School JSA to speak on why it’s important to be civically engaged and what it means to be an elected official in the City of Berwyn. I continually provide opportunities for MWHS students to be exposed to government interaction with elected officials by inviting them to present at Committee of the Whole, volunteer in community events, and maintaining a relationship with them after they graduate. In 2020, I concreted an agreement with LMHS (Lincoln Middle School) Principal, Ms. Thill, to implement a community engagement program for students to engage in their community. Unfortunately, the pandemic has delayed its launch but I am hopeful the program will launch in the near future.

11. Do you feel that Berwyn should do more to support housing affordability? If so, what specific policies would you support?

In 2019, I voiced my concern to City Council members that as the rehabilitation of rental units and the escalation of property values in our city continue gentrification is occurring and affordable housing needs to be addressed. I believe we need to evaluate and devise a mechanism for housing sales growth that will not marginalize families from moving into our city or force families to be uprooted and have to sell their homes. As I pursue my Masters in Urban Planning and Policy (MUPP) degree at UIC, I am learning about tools and resources that will assist the City with correcting our problem with affordable housing.

12. What impact can a municipality such as Berwyn have on climate change, and how will you prioritize that work among other issues?

Climate change is greater than our city, we are a small footprint of the damage that our environment sustains daily. But I believe, as a small urban City we can still take a leadership role in increasing how we inform residents on proper waste and recycling. Additionally, we must expand the recycling program to include commercial partners such as small business owners and commercial building owners (4 or more residential units). Additionally, we must enforce that non owner occupied properties adhere to the rules, if not, significantly fined until the problem is resolved. Within the city, we can improve energy efficiency in our city owned buildings, improve flooding in our alleys, and ensure all future infrastructure improvements are environmentally healthy and sustainable for our city. Of course, this goes without saying that this impacts our budget tremendously so community input is critical as the reallocation of funds (increase and decrease) will need to occur.

13. What actions would you take to address the continuing problem of Berwyn’s municipal debt?

I plan to educate residents more than ever that our finances are in dire need of restructuring. The current financial practices no longer work and cannot continue for the overall financial stability and vitality of our city. We must start constructive conversations with residents on how to increase revenue and decrease operating costs for our city while improving our infrastructure. It is critical we have difficult conversations such as consolidating governmental taxing bodies, redundant expenditures in overhead and operating costs, and the implementation of energy efficient reductions.

14. One of the most important responsibilities of the City Council is to pass a budget. How would you approach the development of Berwyn’s budget? Do you believe there has been sufficient transparency in the budgeting process in recent years?

As an Alderman, I am not directly involved in developing the budget but during the review period, I can inquire and recommend modifications that produce positive outcomes. I believe that we have made strides to improve transparency in our budgeting process but we have more work to do such as publishing the budget announcement in more local newspapers such as the Suburban Life, a notice mailed to all residents, and a robocall to invite residents to the public hearings.

15. Given the visible community efforts around the Black Lives Matter movement including the mural in the Berwyn Municipal Building parking lot, do you anticipate working for changes in policing policy or oversight moving forward? What specific changes would you support?

I believe that our police officers care for and serve our community and that poor leadership can taint and disenfranchise them. The Ad-Hoc Diversity Commission, that I chair, was instrumental in initiating change in the current policies and oversight. The specific changes that were recommended and implemented were on-line complaint filing versus visiting the police department, improving training modules, and increased training frequency. Subsequently, to the Ad-Hoc Diversity Commission recommendations the Berwyn Police Department recently implemented the Resolutions for Public/Police Relationship Principals. I will advocate that the Ad-Hoc Diversity commission is codified and will continue to work along with the police department on future charges such as body cameras, improved transparency and positive community engagement.

16. Many Berwyn residents have expressed confusion about the disparate roles of the City and the Township, particularly in the past year as the importance of the Health Department increased due to the pandemic. Do you believe action is necessary to increase public awareness of the various taxing bodies and their functions? What steps would you take?

Yes, I believe that all governing taxing bodies should have transparency in their services and communication mechanisms so residents can inquire and receive vital and updated information. All governing taxing bodies receive funds to provide a service to residents that should be accessible and transparent.

Since being elected I have invited guest speakers from the North Berwyn Park District, School District 98, City Department Directors, and more recently the Emergency Command Center and the Berwyn Health District. When re-elected, I will increase the frequency of invitations and survey residents as to which topics to bring to the table for discussion.

17. As an elected official, what lessons will you draw from the experience of the pandemic about the purpose and role of government?

My biggest take away from the pandemic is the City, State of Illinois, and the United States were not prepared to handle the pandemic. Moving forward, the city must prepare a crisis plan from learned lessons experienced through the pandemic by including community input and challenges to ensure we meet the greater needs of our families.

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[The above answers were supplied on 2/14/21.]