Activist Toolkit

1. What motivates you to seek this office? What skills, experiences, and perspectives would you bring to the Board of Trustees, and why would those contributions be valuable to the Village of River Forest?

I seek the common good for all River Forest residents. I see myself as a bridge-builder across opposing viewpoints. I believe we must find solutions by building bridges of understanding. 

• As a current Traffic and Safety Commissioner and former Flood Control Committee member, and having lived in River Forest for 23 years, I understand the value of finding ways to improve our village, finding points of commonality and promoting the spirit of River Forest. 

• With my long experience in community advocacy, I feel compelled to bring my unique background and skills to bear for the benefit of our village. 

• As an immigrant, who grew up under apartheid rule in South Africa, I’ve learned the value of reaching deeper to find solutions, of standing up for my fellow citizens, and of deeply respecting the humanity of every person I meet. These qualities help create growth at the Board table. 

• My experience in the community will help us make wise decisions based on our shared values as well as stretching in innovative directions. 

• My experience teaching in the arts will be a valuable asset as we navigate the difficult issues the Board must decide, carefully balancing the needs of the community.

2. What steps will you take to improve and expand community engagement with the Village and the Board? What is your view on how to involve residents in the decision making process in our Village?

I advocate for a broad-based representation and deep participation by and for all River Forest residents. I plan to engage with all demographic groups in our village and all geographic groups within our village. I plan to engage the 30% of our residents who live in multi-family housing and those who live along the edges and in the southern parts of River Forest by reaching out to them personally. Historically, those areas have had less to no representation on the Board. I would like to extend a welcoming hand and listening ear to ensure our decisions are equitable, fair and responsible to and for every resident. 

As an educator, I have a special place in my heart for our young people and students. I would reach out to them to engage them in civic life, community arts, and appreciation for their contributions. I would actively invite engagement from those groups we hear less often, like our youth, our elders, and our differently-abled citizens. 

I will improve our online presence and processes to enable continuing remote public comment, and streamline how written and spoken comments are entered into the record. This would improve transparency and communication.

3. Give an example of a time when you worked to understand a situation or view different from your own. What helped you to move through that process? What hindered you as you moved through the process?

My mediating ability was vividly on display one day.  In a public meeting, a fellow official used his long-standing membership in an organization to reinforce his entrenchment in his position when a group of residents, who were all women, made a plea to our group, which was all men. I could see that the women were treated unsympathetically. All of my fellow officials sided with the man in the entrenched position. After listening carefully, I was able to amplify the voices of the women who were being talked over. I pointed out that the women were making valuable points. Conversely, I pointed out the privilege we held as men in that room, as organization members, and that we were not listening. It seemed like before I spoke, none of the men realized that there was a solution. The women presented a solution. I used my power to amplify the voices of those who were less powerful. It can be hard to encourage people to move from entrenched positions, but I find that in a situation like this, if I listen first and address power differentials in the room, I am able to sometimes sway decisions in an equitable direction.

4. Who or what is your role model for your approach to governing?

Nelson Mandela influenced my governing strategy in three remarkable ways: 

• First, the principle of ubuntu, which identifies our common humanity as the highest good.  In negotiation, avoid a winner-takes-all triumph.  This strategy diminishes the humanity of the loser.  If you cannot persuade to win agreement from your opponent, you always find the good in your opponent’s perspective.

• Second, always disagree with your opponent without becoming disagreeable.  Losing itutu (translated as “coolness”) is regarded as losing one’s humanity.  

• Third, as the son of a chieftain, Mandela developed the custom of chiefs; never speak until everyone has laid out their arguments.  Synthesizing the best of all arguments, the wisdom of a win-win strategy—affirming the common humanity of all opponents—brings joy to heated and passionate deliberations.  

This is how I implemented community advocacy in River Forest.  River Forest residents have known me to state my case forcefully and passionately.  I learned from Mandela’s perspective: don’t hate persons who differ with you.  Interrogated and threatened with imprisonment by a South African official for standing on principles of vision, integrity, and advocacy, I’ll fight for the common good of all, even if consequences are dire.  I bring Mandela’s strategies to serve River Forest.

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

Vision. Integrity. Advocacy. The key to my platform is addressing our main concerns of infrastructure, fiscal responsibility, and environmental sustainability in our land-locked village.  We have to balance the needs of our citizens when there are competing priorities. My long-term vision is to address flood management, hazardous materials prevention, and modernizing our zoning codes. This will allow our village to adapt more readily to climate change and financial constraints without negatively impacting our residents. As a Village Trustee, I will work to maintain our tradition of putting the needs of residents first, keeping our operations lean, while making our choices with integrity. I will do that by making sure everyone has a voice in our community, by transparent decision-making processes.  We have to balance the needs of the whole community with that of affected groups in areas like flooding, equity, and aging in place, in a clear way that provides solutions.  Simultaneously, we must promote transparency of the process in reaching those solutions.

6. How would you characterize appropriate oversight of the Village Administrator by the Board? Given that River Forest will soon have a new Village Administrator, what challenges or opportunities do you expect the Board to face in its oversight role?

Leadership is power with people, rather than power over people.  Therefore, the Administrator, working to serve the Board and the residents, brings professional skills, insights, and consultative judgments for the common good of the Village.  Fiscal responsibility, long-range planning, and interpersonal relations are both challenges and opportunities for the incoming Village Administrator.  In transitioning from a long-term administrator, we lose institutional knowledge, making retention of institutional knowledge a task of heightened importance for this Board. My long experience and institutional knowledge in the village—having worked with three administrators--will benefit us all as we hire and help our new administrator navigate the learning curve. A careful Board will be able to share power with the new administrator and guide them in their role while appreciating their expertise. After all, the Board must value the new Village Administrator’s role as the lynchpin in administering the village. 

7. What do you believe has been the most significant action taken by the Board in recent years, and why? Do you believe the Board acted appropriately?

One of the things that brings me the greatest pride is being a part of the River Forest/Maywood Twin Village Covenant.  I relish the exciting opportunity to deepen our relationship in mutually beneficial ways. Our collaboration with Oak Park has been longstanding, and I would like to see our relationship with Maywood and other neighbors reach the same level of prominence. Collaboration agreements with Police and Fire departments already exist and can be deepened as we address flooding along the Des Plaines River and hazardous materials transportation together. I would like to use these relationships to leverage collective buying power, collaborative agreements, and find creative ways to bring value to River Forest through win-win partnerships with our neighbors.  I think collaboration with our neighbors can be leveraged in our village on many levels and we will all benefit by sharing our knowledge and skills as well as bargaining power. 

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

Racial equity exists when the dominant ethnic group treats a non-dominant ethnic group in the same manner as the first group.  There is an increasing openness in the Village to examine racial equity among the residents. For me, racial equity has never been an abstract concept. I grew up in apartheid South Africa, son of a black father who taught me to always reach beyond the status quo and despite those circumstances we could not change, to build bridges rather than burn them. For me, the real enemy is not my fellow human, it is hate. If my father and the great Nelson Mandela can build those bridges under the circumstances they faced, what can I do but follow in their footsteps? “No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than it’s opposite” –Nelson Mandela.

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

Difficult face-to-face conversations are welcome.  As a veteran mediator, listening, affirming the humanity of others you disagree with, and always avoiding your own defensiveness, should always be entered with a posture of grace.  I am a proponent of non-violence.  Therefore, I have to emulate that philosophy.  I plan to be easy to approach and responsive to those who contact me and to make special efforts to reach out to those who may not always agree with me. My background means that I know how to approach conflict with bridge building and can help to find solutions that satisfy both sides. Access and desire are two barriers that can exist in these communications. I will work to expand pathways of access and make sure that our residents are aware of them. I will also work to make sure that people feel listened to and heard when they speak with me. I plan to reach out to residents personally to connect with them on issues that matter to them, to invite them into conversation.

10. What is your position on the extent to which the Village includes or should include accessibility features? Please address both physical structures and virtual/information processes.

River Forest has been working towards creating greater accessibility. As a Traffic and Safety Commissioner, I have regularly worked to examine the utility of the village to differently-abled persons. Part of that work included a parking study and a safe walking routes study in the village as well as addressing individual concerns when they arose. I would work to make sure developments in our village address accessibility in their planning phases and maintain passable sidewalks and walkways, as well as working to improve winter passability and assist seniors with snow clearance. To assure equity in our village we should continue to improve the accessible features in our physical landscape and work together to improve the ease of access for village services online. I would advocate for an audit of our village website and online presence to assure that we are compliant with Web Content and Accessibility Guideline and to move beyond requirements to include best practices for accessibility.

11. How can the Village encourage and support locally-owned businesses in River Forest?

I would incentivize support for locally-owned businesses by building a proactive relationship with the Chamber of Commerce, strategically solicit businesses that complement current locally-owned businesses, and develop the long-range planning tools for new Village Arts initiatives. I would work to make development in the village attractive to new businesses and work to expand nascent tourism endeavors beyond architecture tours. I plan to robustly support River Forest businesses directly and through much needed updates to the zoning code that support development as well as offering locations to bring businesses to River Forest’s commercial corridors. I will make myself available to business owners with concerns and actively reach out to our business owning community. I will support initiatives like the recent changes to the zoning code easing restrictions on home baking operations. 

12. The Village Board passed an Affordable Housing Plan last June, which included a number of specific actions to be considered by village commissions. What is your stance on affordable housing in River Forest, and which, if any, of those actions would you push forward?

As a member of one of our townhome communities, I know how much vibrancy multiple housing residents bring to our village. We want to make space for teachers, nurses, firefighters, police and paramedics to live in our village. Affordable housing would serve to further deepen their connection to the village. Affordable housing is also a key strategy to allow for aging in place. As the pandemic has shown us, we need to get creative with our housing. The place I would start is with a thorough modernization of the zoning code. This will help current homeowners and businesses alike by standardizing our operations and reducing the need for variances from the code. After the code is modernized, I would strongly support rigorously abiding by it and allowing density bonuses on new multi-family developments that included affordable housing. This strategy would (i) allow our developers to profit while (ii) maintaining the character of our village and (iii) increasing our affordable housing stock. I would advocate tracking affordable housing and being aware when developments would potentially reduce the affordable housing stock of the village so that conversations can be had about how we maintain affordable housing while supporting development in our landlocked village.

13. What impact can a municipality such as River Forest have on climate change, and how will you prioritize that work among other issues? [For incumbents: What actions have you taken in office with respect to climate change?]

Climate change and sustainability are non-negotiable perspectives if we are to leave a legacy for generations to come.  I have seen the unusual rainfall patterns affect the Des Plaines River water levels during my 23 years living in the Village. Therefore, it is essential for us to develop long-term disaster prevention planning.  Examples for advance planning include flooding and potential Metra Rail hazardous material environmental dangers.  As a former Flood Control Committee member, I helped to develop the plan currently in place, I know the history and have personal experience with one of our biggest climatological threats to the village. The flood plan is undergoing revision and I have exactly the experience to ensure the process is robust and addresses the growing threat of flooding in our village. As a candidate, this is one of the most important planks in my platform. In addition to addressing flooding and hazardous materials, I plan to support green initiatives in the village through cooperation with other taxing bodies to beautify the village in sustainable ways, like perhaps having our students create murals along more of the concrete train barriers.

14. What are your plans for collaborating with our neighboring communities? What specific steps would you take in relation to the recent Twin Village Covenant with Maywood?

See number 7 above. I would continue to expand the Twin Village Covenant and support the proposed consultant and working group in their efforts to come to the table together to find win-win solutions. I would incentivize collaboration with local service organizations like the Elks and Rotary Clubs to create a 5-year long-range plan of Education Testing Preparation Services that would serve neighboring communities. I would work within the structures of both villages to find peer partnerships to address issues common to both villages, like handling disposal of hazardous materials and connecting the service arms of the villages to act as sounding boards for one another for questions and processes. Maywood may have ideas River Forest has not explored and River Forest may have ideas Maywood has not explored. I will advocate finding opportunities to come together as a larger community, like a shared Juneteenth celebration and highlighting historic Maywood figures in River Forest as well as Maywood. I will be an active collaborator with the Dominican TRHT [Truth, Racial Healing & Transformation] Center and Maywood. There is rich opportunity to be explored for our communities, in buying power, as I shared in no 7, and in history and culture, sports shared experience. 

15. Do you think River Forest’s TIF Districts have been a good and effective use of taxpayer funds? What material benefits have the North Avenue and Madison TIFs had? Should they be continued?

In principle, TIF funding is long-range funding for commercial returns on investment. This 23-year strategy is not designed to raise property taxes or lower property values. Since the TIF funding was approved only about four years ago, the projections of return on the investment are all we have to go by; not enough time has passed with the TIF Districts in place to thoroughly evaluate their long-term impact. I believe, first and foremost in listening to residents. It remains to be seen what impact the pandemic and economic conditions will have on Madison St. and North Avenue TIF districts. We can see from the development along the Elmwood Park side of North Avenue, restaurants and dining locations are creating a restaurant row. Working with residents and the North Avenue District can help us understand the best ways to utilize that TIF to benefit residents while maintaining the village qualities we all appreciate. A TIF is a powerful tool, but ultimately, we should be responsive to the needs of the community and frequently check in to make sure we are meeting those needs.

16. What are your ideas for new partnerships with other taxing bodies within River Forest?

When our taxing bodies work together, they can accomplish wonderful things. As an artist and an educator, my goals include continuing to beautify the village and to highlight arts and sports within River Forest, working with the township, schools, park district and library to share in that work. I would love the opportunity to establish an arts organization in River Forest. I would like to incentivize partners and seek out grant funding to sponsor community arts programs like youth arts competitions, sponsored murals and generally enhance River Forest’s visual culture. As we are again able to gather, I would like to add opportunities for public music or perhaps even theatre, as we see in Austin Gardens in Oak Park. 

We also have a long history as a center for sports, and as a soccer dad, I would like to deepen our relationship with our sports culture. I would again like to partner with our youth, schools and colleges to work together to make River Forest a center for the arts and sports. I would like to work with the township on their plans for the River Forest Community Center to bolster their plans for the future of the community center. 

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[The above answers were supplied on 2/18/21.]