Activist Toolkit

1. What motivates you to seek this office? What skills, experiences, and perspectives would you bring to the Village, and why would those contributions be valuable in the role of Oak Park Village President?

 I have lived in the community of Oak Park, Illinois since the age of 5 years old, when my parents sacrificed everything to move our family from the south side of Chicago into a community that they believed would provide me with greater safety, education, and opportunities.

Outside of my active duty military service, I have lived in Oak Park for nearly 30 years of my life and I truly love this community. I believe that true love comes with high expectations, accountability, honesty, as well as support. You expect the best out of what you love and that is what I expect from the community of Oak Park. Each and every community member deserves not to simply settle for what is ‘good enough,’ each community member deserves representatives that are doing everything in their power to create a community that is the best.

That is why I am running for office, because I want to utilize my skills, experiences, and perspectives to provide each community member with what years ago, my parents believed Oak Park could provide me with: safety, education, and opportunities.

In my role as an Oak Park teacher, community organizer, and nonprofit director, I have collaborated with wonderful stakeholders to build bridges between communities, support individuals, families, and small businesses in need, as well as change policies at multiple levels to ensure greater equity and sustainability in the Oak Park community.

The great Chairman Fred Hampton once said, “theory is cool, but theory without practice ain’t nothing.” Many can say what they will do once they obtain a title, but without a title, my lifelong work has reflected being in practice in support of improving the community that we all love. I will bring that same practice to the board table.

2. What are the three biggest challenges or opportunities you expect the Village of Oak Park to face in the coming years, and how would you work with your colleagues to address these challenges or realize these opportunities?

    The issues we face are interconnected and require interconnected solutions. I believe that representatives should be solution oriented with a proactive approach in presenting interconnected solutions.

When collaborating with community stakeholders to identify solutions, our work must be steeped in equitable community sustainability. The community of Oak Park must plan, build, and modify itself to promote equitable sustainability and we have the capability, as well as responsibility to do so.

Oak Park must focus on environmental and economic sustainability, infrastructure, social equity, and intergovernmental relations.

Sustainability is not simply about survival, as the ability to thrive must be a goal. As a representative, I must work collaboratively with others to manage Oak Park’s human, natural, and financial capital to not only meet current needs, but to ensure that adequate resources are available for future generations to thrive.

To realize our sustainable goals, as a representative, I promise as guided by the Institute For Sustainable Communities to focus on providing:

In Leadership

• Equal opportunity for all individuals to participate in and influence decisions that affect each of their lives.

• Streamlined, transparent, and equitable access to public information.

• Invested in and supported community commissions.

• An atmosphere of respect for diverse viewpoints, beliefs, and values.

• Encouragement of all ages, genders, sexual orientation, ethnicity, race, religion, and physical ability to become stakeholders based upon a shared vision of community progress.

• Sustainability work that does not compromise the sustainability of neighboring communities.

In Economy

• Investment in small business and entrepreneurship training to help prepare our workforce to thrive in the future.

• Maximization of local small business ownership.

• Reinvestment of resources in the local economy.

• A diverse and financially viable economic base.

• New sources of sustainable revenue streams.

• Intergovernmental collaboration in efforts to alleviate rising tax burdens.

In Environment

• Protection and enhancement of local and regional ecosystems and biological diversity.

• Conservation of water, land, energy, and nonrenewable resources, including maximum feasible reductions, recovery, and reuse and recycling of waste.

• Utilization of prevention strategies and appropriate technology to minimize pollution emissions.
  Satisfaction of basic human needs for clean air and water and nutritious uncontaminated food.

• Creative use of underutilized space in the community in support of business, housing, and safety needs.

In Social Well-Being

• Adaptability to changing circumstances and conditions.

• Protections and enhancement of public spaces and historic resources.

• Fostering a community spirit that creates a sense of belonging, a sense of place, and a sense of self-worth.

• Proactively and creatively reimagining community safety that supports community members and public safety workers.

• Adequate health services, safe and healthy housing, and high quality education for all members of the community.

• Holistic support of the aging population with comprehensive services to allow for aging in place.

• Ensuring that new development and updating of old development places focus on accessibility for all community members no matter their ability.

3. How will you balance competing interests, such as your own deeply-held values and opinions, input from village staff and fellow board members, and diverse views from the community? How would you describe your leadership style and your decision-making process generally?

True representation is extremely nuanced. While identity is extremely important in representing race, gender, sexual orientation, income, religion, as well as ability at the table, representation must also account for past & current experiences. A board not only must have a woman physically present at the table, a board must also have perspectives, policies, & ideologies present at the table with the purpose of empowering all women for example.

As a village trustee, I will be a representative advocating for not only my individual needs based on who I am & my experiences, but the collective needs of the community, based on the needs & experiences of all community members.

A good representative knows how to listen carefully to all sides, invests in educating the community on issues, to not only hear someone, but to learn from them & identify what it will take to ensure that they believe they & the stakeholders they represent are heard & have influence over the direction of our community.

I view myself as a microphone. I have the privilege & the power to utilize the position as a representative to amplify the voices of others, not to simply speak for myself.

In pushing to improve our community, stakeholders will not always be in agreement, but stakeholders should always feel heard & valued. While pushing for progress, it is important to make sure whatever decision is made, that decision is made based on the best quantitative and qualitative data available, from the most diverse sources.

4. What values would you bring to the budgeting process? What changes do you favor in the process by which the Village conducts its budgeting and fiscal planning?

 I have experienced financial struggle and know what it means to balance a budget on a knife’s edge. Like so many others, I want what is best for my community, while also being concerned about if my family will be able to afford to remain in my community.

As a trustee, I believe it is my direct responsibility to clearly communicate how resources are being allocated to achieve the collective goals of and meet the needs of the Oak Park community.

A budget is both a financial and policy-based collection of information that details what is important to the community of Oak Park, how the village board plans to allocate resources, and where the village of Oak Park will be in regards to goal and available resources next year.

Data is extremely important. Our budget must be developed utilizing numerous data inputs: stakeholder feedback, policy documents, intergovernmental collaboration, strategic initiatives, program evaluations, and other planning tools. Once developed, our budget must be presented to the community in the most transparent, streamlined, and detailed manner possible, as the village board has a responsibility to constituents to utilize village resources as efficiently & effectively as possible, while aiming to provide tax relief.

In working with the budget, representatives must ensure that they are:

• Communicating to citizens and other stakeholders what services they can expect with the tax dollars, fees and other revenues provided; demonstrating clearly how resources are allocated to achieve the results desired by the community; and translating policies set by the organization into action.

• Establishing a spending plan for not only the upcoming fiscal year but for the next five; offering a roadmap for carrying out policy objectives, ensuring decision-makers are making the best use of limited resources and providing for the long-term financial sustainability of the community.

• Establishing trust, transparency and accountability around the responsibility of “managing someone else’s money”.

• Offering a monitoring device to ensure compliance with the spending plan; articulating clearly “how much it costs” to deliver the services needed and desired by the community; and demonstrating how services are being delivered in the most effective and efficient way possible.

• A focus on intergovernmental collaboration across taxing bodies to ensure taxpayer support and relief are possible.

5. How will you balance the community's desire to reduce the property tax burden with the promotion of equity, diversity, and quality of life in the Village?

I think it is important to understand that our property tax burden starts at the state level. The state of Illinois relies much more heavily on local property taxes to fund our schools. Illinois ranks seventh in the nation for highest property taxes, while ranking 50th in the nation in the share of K-12 education revenues coming from the state.

I believe funding school primarily through property taxes is inequitable & has led to a burden that has caused millions to leave the state of Illinois at alarming rates, due to lack of affordability & underfunded schools. 

While we have great schools in the Oak Park community in comparison to other areas in the state, as Oak Parkers, we feel the same property tax burden that all Illinois residents feel. 

While the impact a village trustee can have regarding a state level tax burden is not to the level that can provide substantial tax relief, I believe it is the responsibility of a trustee to invest in intergovernmental work & collaboration with stakeholders  to identify ways to create property tax relief. 

The Oak Park Village is responsible for 17% of a resident’s property tax bill total. Property tax levies are applied to the equalized assessed value of a resident’s property. This past year, the levy was at 3% and 3% is still an increase. 

One aspect of local government to research is how our village government is structured & operates. If a top-heavy bureaucracy exists, restructuring can occur & wasted funds can be identified that could potentially lead to property tax relief. 

I believe a misconception exists that equity work always costs money. If the right individuals are elected & hired that have backgrounds steeped in equity, that immediately eliminates the need for consultants & time consuming initiatives in efforts to further educate based on equity. Oak Park is unaffordable for all community members, which disproportionately impacts our diverse populations. 

We must evaluate how money is allocated, what current programs exist, what programs are effective, what programs need to be modified, what programs need to expire, & what new programs need to be implemented, while simultaneously focusing on affordability.  

6. How do you define equity? Have recent discussions in the larger community informed or changed your thinking?

The basic definition of equity is “fairness and justice in the way people are treated.” True equity is hard to realize as based on an individual’s or board’s personal or collective experiences, who gets to define what fairness and justice looks like, impacts a community’s ability to realize greater equity. 

The real challenge in realizing greater equity in the community of Oak Park, is not what Oak Park is capable of doing, but are we as a community willing to do it? 

My work as a non for profit director is steeped in equity. As a community, community members live together and share a common interest in the health of our village and other community members. True equity seeks to address the underlying and systemic differences of opportunity and access to resources that exist in the community that we share. 

As community members, we must recognize that we are not all the same, some of our neighbors require more help than others. A community focused on equity, is a community that purposefully engages in the work that will lead to actions focused on helping those in greater need, uplifting each other, and basing our efforts on collective community solidarity. 

Equity is ultimately about the greater empowerment of those that have experienced systematic marginalization through the efforts and support of those who have greater power and privilege. 

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

Oak Park is a diverse, vibrant, and highly engaged community.  Oak Parkers are involved and invested in the community in a myriad of ways - from neighbors helping neighbors to formal participation on the many boards, committees and councils that support the broader infrastructure of the village.  

Unfortunately, active participation in key Village decision-making has become a one-way street.  Community members are too often either “in the know” or “out of the loop” with little space in between.  Major capital improvements, impactful policy decisions, and critical development moves are too often designed, deliberated upon and decided without meaningful community input or consideration.  Too often, crucial policy decisions are created in a vacuum and consensus is built behind closed doors, without consideration or formal input from the community at large. 

Oak Park boasts 20 citizen commissions that were created to be hubs of community involvement and participation.  In recent years we have sadly seen vacancies, resignations and a lack of regard for the work of these commissions at our Village Board table.  

It is time for Oak Park to develop and implement a standardized Community Engagement Process, based on models from other similarly situated communities and using best practices informed by decades of research.  By partnering with village staff, leveraging the Community Relations department, and establishing clear engagement thresholds and milestones, we can ensure that more of the diverse voices of our village are at the table as we chart the course for Oak Park’s future.  

Community engagement helps governments improve the efficiency, legitimacy and transparency of their decision making. By embracing and encouraging participation, it enables policy makers to make more informed decisions by engaging with, and carefully mapping out the needs, opinions and visions of local communities on issues that matter to them. Sometimes also referred to as “citizen participation” or “public participation”, community engagement is distinct in it’s requirement of intentional interaction with constituents and community-members.  

The Village of Oak Park needs a clear, thoughtful process that can be carried out without burden across village staff and volunteer commissions.  I will partner with various stakeholders to create criteria, thresholds and processes for establishing an issue or initiative as one that requires robust community engagement. Typical criteria are:  social/civil importance, investment level, or major zoning or development allowances.  

The International Association for Public Participation sets forth 7 Key Principles for Public Engagement: 

“These seven principles reflect the common beliefs and understandings of those working in the fields of public engagement, conflict resolution, and collaboration. In practice, people apply these and additional principles in many different ways. 

1. CAREFUL PLANNING AND PREPARATION Through adequate and inclusive planning, ensure that the design, organization, and convening of the process serve both a clearly defined purpose and the needs of the participants. 

2. INCLUSION AND DEMOGRAPHIC DIVERSITY Equitably incorporate diverse people, voices, ideas, and information to lay the groundwork for quality outcomes and democratic legitimacy. 

3. COLLABORATION AND SHARED PURPOSE Support and encourage participants, government and community institutions, and others to work together to advance the common good. 

4. OPENNESS AND LEARNING Help all involved listen to each other, explore new ideas unconstrained by predetermined outcomes, learn and apply information in ways that generate new options, and rigorously evaluate public engagement activities for effectiveness. 

5. TRANSPARENCY AND TRUST Be clear and open about the process, and provide a public record of the organizers, sponsors, outcomes, and range of views and ideas expressed. 

6. IMPACT AND ACTION Ensure each participatory effort has real potential to make a difference, and that participants are aware of that potential. 

7. SUSTAINED ENGAGEMENT AND PARTICIPATORY CULTURE Promote a culture of participation with programs and institutions that support ongoing quality public engagement.

8. How will you help smaller and locally-owned businesses survive and thrive in Oak Park, especially in the wake of the pandemic? Do you believe it is appropriate for the Village of Oak Park to provide incentives or supports specifically directed toward minority-owned businesses? Why or why not?

Oak Park, Il is a village that needs to bet on small businesses. The key to building and maintaining a strong community is developing a strong ecosystem of local businesses. Small businesses and entrepreneurs are the backbones of our cities. Working in collaboration with the Oak Park Chamber of Commerce and other community stakeholders, the village board must create a community that supports mom-and-pop establishments and startups, through focusing on an ecosystem of strong small business support. 

Oak Park needs a village board that provides holistic support for small businesses and entrepreneurs from loan counseling to translation, which helps a diverse set of businesses and ideas get off the ground, survive, and hopefully thrive from tech focused to brick-and-mortar retailers. 

One way to support small businesses and entrepreneurs is to identify how to effectively utilize available resources to provide opportunities for vendors and artists to develop their businesses while directly connecting with the public. Taking an abandoned and underutilized property and turning it into a market that also serves as an incubator for small businesses, is an example of how our community can creatively support business growth. Businesses that participate in this market, along with other businesses in the community can then simultaneously work with stakeholders to ensure businesses are receiving that level of support and training that helps them identify competitors, find expanding markets/niches, become grounded, and grow. 

By giving small businesses and individuals the space, resources, and opportunity to create and thrive, we engender a sense of shared investment between entrepreneurs and the communities they serve. Turn that vacant manufacturing plant into a flea and farmers market where small businesses can display their wares in pop-up-shops. Make sure your zoning laws allow for commercial activities in homes, and keep storefront rental space affordable.

From zoning regulations to tax policies, there are governmental structures that can be revamped to revitalize existing small businesses, and support the formation and growth of new ones.

One of the largest complaints from small businesses around the country is that their local government seems to set up regulations to purposefully trip them up. Often, it comes down to the fact that these regulations are difficult to understand. Small business owners are crunched for time and stretched thin, so finding ways to make codes easily digestible and accessible are paramount to small business success.

This can be overcome by providing all relevant codes and regulations in one place, including auxiliary educational materials to explain why these codes are needed, and holding roundtable discussions to better understand how local governments and small businesses can work together. 

Other ideas: 

• Set Aside Space for Local Businesses in New Development — Cities can require development projects to reserve a portion of their first-floor space for small storefronts and for locally owned businesses, either as a condition of permitting or through agreements in particular projects. 

• Adopt a Business Diversity Ordinance — A Business Diversity Ordinance can ensure that independent, neighborhood-serving businesses don’t get crowded out by chains. 

• Facilitate Adaptive Reuse of Vacant Buildings — Cities can establish an Adaptive Reuse Program to help local entrepreneurs turn vacant historic buildings into new businesses. 

• Reorient Economic Development Incentives — Economic development incentive programs disproportionately favor big companies. Instead of giving public dollars to big businesses, Oak Park should redirect these resources to foster local businesses.

• Open a Small Business Office – Oak Park should create a position within city government to guide business owners through local permitting requirements, and to serve as a liaison between small businesses and policymakers. 

• Give Preference to Local Businesses in Purchasing — Oak Park should establish a preference for locally owned business in city purchasing, and include clear definitions, goal-setting, and reporting to ensure that their purchasing doubles as economic development.

• Expand Access to Capital — Community banks supply a majority of small business loans. As their numbers have plummeted in the last decade, so too has lending to small businesses. To strengthen and expand these institutions, Oak Park should explore setting up a public partnership bank. Another helpful approach is to establish a one-stop, single-application portal for local entrepreneurs seeking loans and licenses.

9. Rental units comprise about 41% of Oak Park’s housing stock. In what ways should the Village better serve the needs of renters who reside in our community?

My parents started out as renters in the community of Oak Park and while serving active duty in the military, I was once a renter. While I am not a renter in the Oak Park community, from past personal experiences and current collaborations with renters of all backgrounds, I believe that Oak Park renters often feel invisible. Often in Oak Park, the paying of property taxes is utilized as leverage to determine who has a say and who should be considered stakeholders. When it comes to important neighborhood decisions and policies, renters often feel ignored or marginalized. 

There are certain stigmas and stereotypes attached to renting that lead some to believe that renters do not contribute as much to a community as owners do. Well, I am dedicated to helping to eliminate those stigmas and stereotypes, as I believe that renters contribute just as much if not more to the Oak Park community as home owners do, while also being impacted by the property tax burden. Renters care just as much about Oak Park streets, sidewalks, parks, businesses, schools, and taxes as anyone else and deserve to have an active seat at the table. 

The health of renters directly impacts the overall health of our community. In supporting renters, stakeholders must view interconnected solutions through an equitable and diverse lens. 

I believe that as a representative, I must collaboratively work with stakeholders to review Oak Park’s rental code to identify where inequities exist that lead to an unhealthy rental market. 

Overnight parking is a huge issue that disproportionately impacts renters, while also impacting homeowners. Lack of affordability (average rent in Oak Park is roughly $1,800.00) pet policies and building codes must also be analyzed to determine what changes can be made to better support the renter population. We must also work to streamline approaches and offer holistic solutions to ensure that renters are supported in our community. There should not be multiple steps and difficult processes for renters to access valuable information and resources. 

10. How will you collaborate with neighboring communities? Discuss a specific initiative you would wish to undertake. What benefits and challenges would you anticipate?

The health of one community directly impacts the health of other communities. In collaborating with neighboring communities, my work through community organizing and nonprofit has been in practice and not simply theory. We have worked to build bridges between Oak Park and communities like Austin and Maywood. I have actively helped to foster and maintain relationships with organizations like Best of Proviso Township and the Austin Family and Community Center, raising thousands in monetary donations and supplies to proactively support the health and sustainability of community efforts. 

It is important to recognize that communities like Oak Park often benefit from the lack of investment in our neighboring communities. While Austin and Maywood are food deserts, Oak Park has an abundance of grocery stores offering fresh produce. The bridges that we build between communities cannot simply have one way lanes coming into the community of Oak Park. We must recognize the richness that exists in our neighboring communities and build bridges that offer two way lanes. Just as Oak Park benefits from communities like Austin and Maywood, other communities need to benefit from Oak Park. 

We must enter into village covenants to ensure communities interact collaboratively in improving the health of each town. Everything from expanding our farmers market and small business support to include neighboring communities, to review sustainability policies to ensure that Oak Park’s efforts have a positive and collaborative impact at an intergovernmental and intercommunity level. 

11. How will you work with your colleagues to ensure that Oak Park remains economically and racially diverse? Give an example of an initiative you support that would have a significant positive impact on racial or economic diversity.

Oak Park, Il is not a village that is on an island. When discussing the realization of greater equity and diversity within our community, stakeholders must understand the importance of that realization coming with intergovernmental partnerships. 

As a community, we must recognize that the racial, gender, ability, and cultural inequities that exist at a national level are perpetuated by village governance. Collaborating with community stakeholders, the village of Oak Park must engage in data-informed approaches, which are key to understanding and addressing root causes to inequity, measuring the progress of new efforts, and producing innovative solutions that get results. 

Villages across the country are faced with tight budgets, which call for community leaders to place focus on understanding what programs are actually achieving better outcomes for residents. While placing equity at the forefront, leaders will have to make tough decisions that lead to the stop of some investments, keeping other investments, and possibly creating new investments to meet the community's needs. 

Making important decisions does not come solely from quantitative data. Data aren’t just hard numbers but also the stories and experiences of residents whose voices aren’t being heard. To get more of that qualitative data and factor it into decision making, city leaders need to overcome trust and language barriers, and find new tools for engaging and listening to populations who may not turn out in large numbers at council hearings or other traditional channels for public feedback.

It is imperative that the village of Oak Park works directly with our neighbors to the East and West, as the decisions Oak Park makes as a community, impacts surrounding communities. Oak Park simply cannot be in a position to take from neighboring communities, as mutually beneficial relationships leads to better living experiences for all. 

Similar to the covenant created between the River Forest community and Maywood, Oak Park must be vested in creating direct covenants with the Austin community and other surrounding communities that creates bridges, while simultaneously eliminating any pre-existing walls and barriers. 

Streamlining Support: 

15.8 % is the percentage of students within D97 who are eligible to receive free or reduced-price lunches, live in substitute care, or whose families receive public aid. Utilizing the most effective way possible to identify our most vulnerable residents, the village of Oak Park should enter into intergovernmental relationships that streamlines need and assistance. As a community, we cannot and should not place the burden of accessing need on those that need it. Our village should recognize the nuances that exist, which often create barriers for those in need to obtain it. 

There should be a streamlined, one-stop process for those in need to identify and access assistance at every level of government. Once a family is identified as needing assistance, an identification process with a focus on maintaining anonymity and respect should be created which opens all available resource doors within the community for that family to access if they are needed. 

12. What do you see as the most pressing issue relating to housing in Oak Park? What policies would you advocate to address this issue? Do you consider support for affordable housing to be a core function of our village government? Why or why not?

The major issue in the community of Oak Park as it relates to housing, is the lack of affordable housing that exists. Currently as it stands, developers who receive subsidies & are required to pay a one time fee into an ‘affordable housing,’ fund, does not equate to tangible affordable housing. 

Communities that are rich socio-economically, are communities that thrive. Oak Park must look beyond affordable housing & place focus on inclusionary housing, which requires developers to provide no less than 30% inclusive housing in their developments. This will help create diversity that is not segregated in our community as it currently exists. 

The current one time payment essentially enters into a ‘slush fund,’ that lacks transparency, making it difficult to track how that money is being spent. 

Inclusionary housing is one of the most promising strategies available to ensure that the benefits of development are shared widely. The Oak Park community will benefit, as inclusionary housing benefits homeowners & renters alike. 

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

Climate change will continue to impact the way people live, work, play, & worship. As community leaders, our primary responsibility is to help care for the citizens within our community. Government institutions lead in the decision made on land-use planning, construction codes, and prevention measures as it relates to development, infrastructure investment, & sustainability. 

Representatives must work with commissions (Environment & Energy Commission etc.) & all community stakeholders to become as informed as possible about climate change. We must mainstream climate change adaptation when working with researchers, policy makers, engineers, architects, & operators, while identifying programs that aim to reduce further greenhouse gas emissions, food insecurity, garbage collection, construction building codes, housing insecurity, inequitable land usage, & inequitable transportation, while increasing clean energy resources. 

Such work must be done at an intercommunity level, involving communities like Austin, as true environmental sustainability work must recognize how the decisions one community makes, impacts neighboring communities. 

14. In recent months there have been calls to defund the police or reimagine public safety in Oak Park. How do you define public safety? Would you begin from the premise that the Village's police budget should increase, decrease, or remain flat? Why?

True public safety goes far beyond simple police response. Public safety means ensuring communities, particularly those that have been systemically & historically marginalized have the resources to address the interconnected systemic issues that lead to a sense of unsafety. We cannot address public safety without addressing housing, food insecurity, transportation, healthcare, employment, & representation. 

When a community has real public safety, that community has the ability to empower all community members to actively participate in what public safety should look like, while minimizing the harms that often accompany the current model of policing. 

With a focus on intergovernmental & intercommunity efforts, representatives must partner with commissions, community stakeholders, health professionals, social service providers & the police to move from reactionary focused models that address the symptoms of crime, to proactive models that address the root cause issues that often lead to crime. 

Once this engagement is undertaken, then the community can work to answer the question of what the police budget should look like. 

15. What do you see as the most pressing issues relating to development in Oak Park, both residential and commercial? What policies would you advocate to address those issues? In which areas of Oak Park would you prioritize residential and commercial development?

Currently, development in Oak Park places small businesses, entrepreneurs, & community members last. True community development & planning involves community stakeholders, as intergovernmental & intercommunity efforts shape the future of the Oak Park community. 

Representatives must help  initiate community planning processes with other departments, agencies and community members to:  work collaboratively to identify long-range visions, goals & policies for a village that are socially, economically and environmentally sustainable.

When development planning, the values that must be at the forefront are:  equity,  environmental stewardship, community, economic opportunity and public safety.

Community plans must include analysis & data collection that leads to a coordinated set of strategies to improve physical aspects such as: inclusionary housing, transportation networks (pedestrian, bike, transit, freight, vehicle) and streetscapes, utilities & infrastructure (stormwater, green infrastructure, etc.), parks & open spaces, preservation of historic & cultural resources, zoning & land use regulations, & health, sustainability, as well as the environment.

Two ideas that could be included in such work while addressing the need of supporting small businesses & entrepreneurs:

• Facilitate Adaptive Reuse of Vacant Buildings — Cities can establish an Adaptive Reuse Program to help local entrepreneurs turn vacant historic buildings into new businesses. 

• Set Aside Space for Local Businesses in New Development — Cities can require development projects to reserve a portion of their first-floor space for small storefronts and for locally owned businesses, either as a condition of permitting or through agreements in particular projects. 

16. Following work done in Evanston, recent community discussions have focused on reparations for Black Oak Parkers, with particular interest in policy changes to help support Black home ownership. Are you supportive of reparations, in principle? Would a discussion on this issue be helpful to the Oak Park community? How should such a discussion proceed?

I am personally supportive of reparations in principle, but as a representative, I must answer to the entire community & not just myself. Investing in community outreach & education, which can then lead to polling/accessing what the larger community feels about reparations is key. 

When engaging the community on ideas that could be considered controversial or polarizing, it is paramount that the majority of the community, particularly those disproportionately impacted by the issue at hand, feel seen & heard. 

• Start off with a transparent community engagement & data collection 

• Map community priorities & identify all diverse community stakeholders that will serve as community assets, via outreach & education 

• Hold meetings in multiple modalities to ensure the greatest participation, while focusing on meeting people, particularly those marginalized where they are to help increase participation 

• Conduct a study to help determine how various plans would impact the community 

• Present findings to the community & allow ample time for representative feedback

• Make decisions based on that feedback, while continuously maintaining transparency & engagement with the community. 

17. Advisory referenda have appeared on the ballot in Oak Park over the past few years at the direction of the Village Board. Do you believe non-binding referenda such as these are a useful tool for governance or civic engagement? Why or why not?

A nonbinding referendum is a question that is included on a ballot during a town-wide vote. Voters are asked to answer the referendum, but the results are nonbinding.

I believe that nonbinding referendums can be a useful tool when the body of government responsible for the vote invests in educating the community on the nonbinding topic. When properly educated, such referendums can provide insight into how the community feels about a topic or proposed policy, providing stakeholders & decision makers with greater ability to modify, eliminate, or create new proposals that would better suit the needs of the community. 

Issues arise, when there is a failed investment in community education & a referendum is presented simply to ‘gas light,’ or further divide the community. 

18. Oak Park Trustees share responsibility for oversight of the Collaboration for Early Childhood. Do you support this example of intergovernmental cooperation? Are there other types of intergovernmental cooperation that you would support?

I 100% support representatives sharing in the responsibility for oversight of the Collaboration for Early Childhood. Investing in early childhood means funding proven programs and innovative strategies for children from birth to age 5 that: Strengthen families in their role as their child's first teacher.

Intergovernmental cooperation should be a focus in every decision made as such cooperation involves cooperative planning, development review, resource sharing, joint planning commissions, building inspection services, and more. Governmental bodies are more effective & produce greater results for the public, when they work together. 

• • • • •

[The above answers were supplied on 2/19/21.]