Activist Toolkit

[Nia Sanders has not submitted answers to the Activist Toolkit questionnaire.]

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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?

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

3. 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?

4. What do you feel are the three biggest issues facing Maywood, and how do you intend to address them? 

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

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

8. What do you see as the most pressing issue relating to housing in Maywood? 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?

9. In recent months there have been calls in many communities to defund the police or reimagine public safety. How do you define public safety? Do you begin from the premise that increased policing is the most effective response to increased crime, or would you propose other solutions?  

10. What do you believe has caused the recent swell in carjackings in the surrounding area? Do you see an appropriate law enforcement response to this situation?

11. Maywood does not currently have a mechanism for civilian police oversight. Is this something you would change? If so, what specific structures would you favor?

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

13. How would you evaluate the success of Maywood’s plans for Covid-19 mitigation at the Village? Do you feel the village has adequately protected its employees, and that there has been adequate transparency with respect to case tracking?  

14. How do you believe the Covid-19 pandemic has affected Maywood’s Village finances, and what policies do you favor going forward as part of the recovery? 

15. What values would you bring to the budgeting process? Do you have a plan for reforming the manner in which the Village conducts its budgeting and fiscal planning?

16.  Property taxes in Maywood are among the highest in Illinois. What is your plan for confronting this burden? 

17. How would you rate the Village’s lobbying and other political efforts to steer policy in Springfield? How can Maywood do better?

18. How will you engage the growing Latinx community in Maywood? What should the Village’s posture toward undocumented residents be?

19. What are your plans for addressing community concerns about water rates, including exorbitant shutoff fees and seemingly arbitrary charges some residents have been forced to pay?

20. What opportunities do you see for the Village to collaborate productively with other local taxing bodies? What could hinder those efforts? How would you improve relations between the Village and the Park District, in particular?