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 was motivated to seek this office because I did not see myself or the perspective of the issues that impact me as a Black, disabled, hourly wage earner, and renter reflected at the village board table. I believe that local government should represent the community it serves. 

I grew up in Oak Park. My husband Anthony and I are raising four children in the village. We are well aware of the issues that face our village from parking to securing inclusionary housing for our family of six.

I plan to bring the perspective of middle-income families that are working hard to live and thrive in our village to the village board table. I represent the 41% of renters that choose that have chosen Oak Park as their home. 

I believe that representation matters. Our village board of trustees should be a fair representation of the diversity we claim to value in Oak Park.  

My perspective is valuable because it opens any blind spots the board may have when making decisions that impact a broader demographic of residents. Having renters and middle-income board members serve our community allows us to make decisions from an equitable lens.

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 three biggest opportunities I expect the village of Oak Park to address in the coming years is to increase inclusionary housing, by encouraging the development of two flat, three flat and accessory dwelling units. 

The village will have the opportunity to protect the rights of renters by holding land lords accountable for providing timely maintenance and repairs, decreasing rent gauging and cheating renters out of their security deposits. The village must also prioritize the voices of renters and move to ease parking restrictions in high density areas.

The village will also have the opportunity to control property taxes and rising rents by exercising restraint in spending and diversify its tax base. 

I would work with my colleagues and the community by collaborating with our existing commissions and utilizing an extensive community engagement process.

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?

As a leader I believe in practicing active listening to make informed decisions. I will consult with my colleagues and review data to make informed, data driven, decisions that are not one sided but inclusive and community centered.

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 am a mother of four I am the wife of a Catholic School teacher, we live our life on a strict budget. It is because of my budgeting skills that my family of six is able to remain in Oak Park. I support fiscal responsibility and making sound community-based decisions. 

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?

These things are not separate issues, we can do both simultaneously! Reducing property taxes is an equity issue when property taxes increase rent in Oak Park also increases that impacts small business owners as well. When we reduce the tax burden by diversifying our tax base and investing in small businesses, we create an affordable, inclusive, sustainable village that attracts residents and encourages small businesses owners to open new businesses and stay in our village.

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

Equity is simply “meeting the people where they are”. For me equity is the equivalent of fair. It is recognizing that we all have different needs and starting points, so when developing fair and equitable policies we do so with informed, strategic, data driven research to be sure that we are meeting the needs of as many people as possible.

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?

I plan to solicit feedback from people who may be experiencing Oak Park differently than I do by utilizing a strategic community engagement process. The barriers I may encounter is that no matter how inclusive your plan is there will be people that will not agree with me for reasons beyond my control… and that is their right to do, but I will always approach feedback with an open mind and accept it as an opportunity for growth.

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?

[The candidate did not answer this question.]

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?

As a renter I can say from experience that we need greater accountability from the village. When renters face disputes with landlords and or tenants we need a village advocate that is informed of the legal rights of renters in Illinois to help work through those disputes in a way that is just, equitable and safe.

Renters need to know that they will not be taken advantage of by rent gouging landlords. We need to be sure that our most vulnerable residents our seniors, middle-income, and disabled residents have access to safe, clean, well lit, units that are not over-run by mice and insects. 

Renters need affordable parking options and landlord that will not cheat renters out of their security deposits. 

Renters need to feel valued and included by our village. Block club parties have been a great way for neighbors to get to know each other however, renters on main streets such as Austin, Harlem, Roosevelt and North Avenue are not included in these neighborhood events. This sends the message of division to renters and especially the children of renters.

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

I believe that building bridges with neighboring communities only makes us stronger as a village. I am actively involved with building a Juneteenth Community Planning Committee to promote a collaborative effort with neighboring towns to have fun, inclusive and safe Juneteenth celebrations. I hope to join our neighbors in Forest Park as they have been leading Juneteenth activities for thirteen years.

The benefit of collaborating with neighbors far outweighs any challenges I could anticipate. Collaborating with neighbors on different initiatives strengthens our communities, increases equity and inclusion, and provides an opportunity to learn from each other and share resources with each other.

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.

I will work with my colleagues to ensure that Oak Park is racially and economically diverse making equitable decisions at the board table. If we involve the stakeholders of our village in the governance of our village by utilizing our commissions and actively engaging the community, we create a community in which everyone is invested in and feels welcome.

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 most pressing issue relating to housing in our village is affordability and the short supply of inclusionary housing. I would encourage the development of smaller accessible units for seniors and residents that are disabled. I do consider support for affordable housing to be a core function of our government we are a community of residents, if people are not able live and thrive in our village who then will we serve? 

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

Oak Park has an obligation to decrease its environmental footprint. I would encourage larger apartment buildings to opt into having recyclable garbage bins currently only smaller units have them. 

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?

I think I would define public safety in general terms as safeguarding the public from potential harm. I feel that the budget should remain flat until a new board is elected and the data is collected, measured, and discussed. 

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?

I think we’ve prioritized large developments over smaller developments in doing so missing the opportunity to assist residents with much needed inclusionary housing. I would prioritize smaller developments in residential areas to maintain diversity so that we are not pushing Black and brown residents towards the boarder streets such as Austin while welcoming luxury units in the downtown Oak Park area.

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 in favor of reparations, they are long overdue. A discussion on reparations would be helpful to the Oak Park 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?

I do not believe that these types of referenda are useful tools towards civic engagement. They accomplish little accept to create a buzz that usually results in little action if any. 

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 support this type of collaboration because assuming responsibility about things such as early childhood education is a community issue as well as an equity issue. I believe that it is best practice to provide for education and resources for our most vulnerable residents such as our children, seniors, and disabled and middle/low income families.