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?

At a young age, my parents instilled in me the importance of giving back to your community. Having lived in Berwyn for over 60 years, having been a small business owner for over 30 years, and having served in public office for over two decades (first as 7th ward alderman and then as mayor), I am able to bring three different perspectives to my job as Mayor.

What I pride myself in is surrounding myself with qualified individuals who are able to make sure that our Berwyn residents receive quality services. I personally have also continued to evolve as a Mayor and as an individual. I’ve realized how important it is to listen to the different perspectives of all of our residents, and how important it is to try to mold Berwyn into a City that helps everyone feel welcome. Many times, I’ve had to make the hard decisions that haven’t always been popular (i.e., creating a Welcoming City, adopting Cook County’s Minimum Wage Ordinance, assisting with the installation of a Black Lives Matter mural at City Hall), but everything I’ve done is attributed to what I believe to be best for the City of Berwyn as a whole.

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

Having been raised by a union carpenter, I learned the importance of unions as they speak up for the rights of workers in regard to working hours/wages/training/ working conditions/ benefits. I’ve come to associate union companies as companies that respect the rights of their workers and produce quality services/products as their members receive the proper schooling/training.

As the head of a City, I’m constantly asked every budget season to make continual monetary cuts, but at the same time not lower the standard services expected by our residents. I’ve seen many municipalities begin outsourcing or attempting to outsource many of their services, and years later see the quality of services reduced.

When I first became Mayor, the City of Berwyn’s ambulance services were outsourced with a private company. There were concerns from the fire department at that time (whose budget covered the ambulance service costs) regarding not only the quality of the services, but also the expense associated with it. The fire union addressed my administration in that it wanted to get rid of the private ambulance service and bring it in-house. It would make sure that all new hires were not only certified as firefighters but also as paramedics. They prepared a presentation for council at that time showing the pros/cons which took in consideration the costs and the quality of services.

I along with the aldermen at that time had to figure out if we would invest in our fire department or look for a less expensive private ambulance service. In the end, we brought these services in-house. While where we could have probably saved a quick buck in the short term, not only in the long run have we been able to save over one million dollars (from the time we brought services in-house until today), we were also able to create a fire department that is recognized as one of the best in the Chicago suburbs. Our fire personnel are highly certified paramedics/firefighters. As they have received the support of our city, they continue to go above and beyond in giving back in ways that save the city money. When renovations are needed at the firehouse, rather than contract out, our fire personnel do much of the labor themselves. Some of our firefighters have also become certified to fix the fire engines themselves and save the city thousands of dollars each year. In addition, their union gives back to the community supporting local not-for profits, schools and doing an annual coat drive for the youth in Berwyn.

I’ve learned through the process that it is important to look at the larger picture, and that a quick financial fix isn’t always the best. In the example I gave, the City as a whole has benefitted and built better relationships with its employees.

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

Transparency in government to me means that a resident can go onto our City’s website and access everything that they need to see how the City functions. Just as any corporation, our website allows access to our annual audits, budgets, salary/benefit reports, meeting agendas and minutes, department directory, and forms associated with our different departments. Due to COVID, all of our public meetings are available on both Facebook and YouTube; I plan to continue this practice to accommodate residents who are not able to make the meetings in person. I have also increased communication to residents through social media; for the past year, we have done our best to make sure that we make our online communications bilingual (Spanish/English) as our Latinx population has grown. In addition, I have always had an open door policy of my office. Due to COVID, I encourage residents to schedule an appointment so that I can address any concerns they may have.

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?

As previously mentioned, over the past two years, the City of Berwyn has been able to grow its followers on social media by putting forth useful information related to City services/events that residents can utilize. We have encouraged our alderpersons to share this information with their residents. With the large amounts of “fake” news, it is important that residents are able to identify the City of Berwyn as the one credible source for news and updates. We will also continue to offer our social posts in both English/Spanish to reach more residents.

For those not on social media, the City sends out monthly senior newsletters with the water bills, quarterly neighborhood newsletters, and sends out emergency notification phone calls to residents with important updates. We also partner with the BDC in sending out an annual community guide that includes city department information, information on city services, and also a yearly city event guide.

At the beginning of the pandemic, the City did a mailer to all residents with important city updates related to COVID-19. Our senior services calls upon our seniors to do well being checks as we haven’t been able to host our monthly senior lunches; at these lunches, we update the seniors with new developments / programming / services that they can take advantage of. Also, at the beginning of COVID-19, as we were limiting for safety reasons persons entering the building, we installed an outdoor informational kiosk at City Hall that provides the most utilized forms/applications from the various departments within City Hall.

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?

The largest barrier that I’ve seen for community members in engaging with city government is their reliance of community social media pages rather than reaching out directly to the City itself. They can do this by reaching out to their alderpersons, department heads, me as a Mayor, or even by using the City’s Facebook Messenger. I have always had an open door policy, and invite residents to visit and share their concerns. Even through COVID, I’ve had my office door open (I just request appointments.)

I believe by having our public meetings accessible through Facebook/YouTube has assisted in demystifying how the City functions. I will encourage our alderpersons to host ward meetings which residents can view/participate remotely.

Also, within our most recent draft budget, we have included a budget to begin the process of recreating our City’s website and looking at furthering our communication efforts. Staff will be working on a survey to receive feedback from residents to find out what they are looking for from the city’s website. My plan is to have the new website ready for the beginning of 2022

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?

My main priority throughout my time as Mayor is making sure that I am able to continue to provide quality services (good roads, clean accessible water, sewer services, consistent waste and recycling, quality housing, accessible recreation services to residents of all ages, a diverse range of businesses that are certified and licensed for our residents to patronize, and excellent emergency services) to our residents while being fiscally responsible. I believe that I have done this up to now and if reelected, will maintain this as my first priority.

COVID-19 has hit the City of Berwyn as well as the rest of the world, and will take us years to recover. As Mayor of the City of Berwyn, I do not have control of the Berwyn Health Department or Berwyn Schools, but I have done my best to share all updates from the Cook County Health Department and Governor’s Office via social media, the City website, and the City’s emergency notification system and through public service announcements. We have collaborated with other agencies (IDPH, CCDPH, Housing Forward, Berwyn Health Department) to provide COVID testing sites to the City of Berwyn, housing assistance to residents, and will continue sharing all COVID vaccine information from the State and County on our website and social media.

Beyond the health factor related to COVID-19, the City of Berwyn’s businesses have felt the repercussions of having to shut down and after reopening having to comply with mitigation measures. My second priority for 2021 is to help our business community recover from COVID-19. Some businesses have closed for good, but the City will continue working with the Berwyn Development Corporation (BDC) to provide the remaining businesses with the resources to come back stronger than ever. During COVID-19, the City collaborated with the BDC in assisting businesses to apply for and receive over $7 million worth of financial relief from the federal, state and county governments. We will also continue to market the City of Berwyn to new businesses; the lower our vacancy rate in our commercial corridors, means more job/shopping opportunities for our residents, and higher sales tax dollars to help cover services provided to the residents of Berwyn.

The third biggest issue that I see is a rise in crime. 2020 brought forth an increase in carjackings and riots to Chicago which have spread to the surrounding suburbs including Berwyn. Our police department through collaboration with neighboring municipalities, and our public works and fire department were able to keep the City of Berwyn, including its businesses and residents, safe during the June civil unrest. This is incredible as our neighbors of Cicero and North Riverside had substantial property damage and even loss of life. Our police force will continue to collaborate with the residents in staying vigilant and investigating crime including carjackings. Our police department over the last few years has allowed residents to register their home security cameras with the police department to be utilized for investigations. Partnerships like this help make the community safer. As far as how public safety falls within my priorities, it falls hand in hand with my first priority of maintaining quality services.

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

Racial equity within the City of Berwyn to me means that residents of all skin colors can participate and prosper within our City. I have started to lay the foundation for this, but racial equity is not something that can happen overnight. Addressing racial equity has become a focus as I have been observing how the topic has become prevalent at not only the national level, but also at the local level. I will give a few examples of what I’ve been able to do so far; I would like to note that these examples are only the beginning of what I have planned if the voters decide to elect me for one more term.

Services: In the last census, the numbers showed that the City of Berwyn’s population changed to show that those of Latinx heritage had now become the majority. Due to the larger population of Spanish speakers within Berwyn, the City has prioritized hiring persons that are bilingual – predominantly those who speak Spanish. This includes all of the employees within the Mayoral and City Administrator’s offices being bilingual. We have also begun to create bilingual forms for our Building Department (one of our most widely utilized departments) and to create bilingual signage and social media communications. Our City website also has a feature to select a language in which to view the content.

Hiring: In addition to seeking candidates that are Spanish speaking within City Hall, the library, and recreation department, I have recently increased the number of persons within the Fire and Police Commission to allow for more diversity. This commission, now made up of an equal amount of persons from different ethnic backgrounds (Black, Latinx, and Caucasian) are responsible for the hiring of our largest departments. One of their goals is to broaden the pool of persons eligible to become firefighters and police officers to encompass those of more diverse backgrounds that represent the makeup of our population in Berwyn. They took the first step recently with including lateral hires to our police department. They will also continue working with our local community colleges in creating programs that can lead up to the certifications/qualifications to become firefighters and police officers.

Policies: In the past year, our nation has started to relook at community policing. Berwyn is no different. Our police administration after having undergone a comprehensive staffing study in 2019, reviewing the Statement of Principles set forth by the United States Conference of Mayors Working Group on Police Reform and Racial Justice, reviewing the United States Conference of Mayors Report on Police Reform and Racial Justice, and reviewing the U.S. Department of Justice President’s Commission on Law Enforcement and the Administration of Justice report have begun to make changes to policies and services to make them more equitable to all residents in our City. These changes will be released in the coming months, but are expected to take a couple years to implement. The first step to these changes is the adoption of policing principles that are based off of criminal justice policies put forth by the NAACP Illinois State Conference and the Illinois Association of Chiefs of Police. These principles were presented at City Council on February 9, 2021 and will be posted at both City Hall, Berwyn Police Department, the City’s website and social media. Also mentioned at the same council meeting was a newly revised Use of Force Policy that has been submitted to the Illinois Association of Chiefs of Police (Illinois’ accredited agency by the DOJ) for review.

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?

Soliciting feedback from the residents has always been a challenge. In 2020, we partnered with the BDC in reaching out to our residents by way of a Community Survey. This unbiased survey allowed us to hear from residents on what they liked/disliked about Berwyn, areas of concern, and what they considered to be priorities. The City shared this information with the local park and school districts. This information has been used by the City as we look at which programs/services should be rolled out and where we need to invest more energy/time/money.

The one target group that the survey didn’t reach was the Latinx population in Berwyn. In order to begin a relationship with this sector of the community, the City has partnered with non-for-profit Erie Neighborhood House. We first partnered with them with the Census, and are now providing them with a Berwyn satellite office they can use to assist our residents in matching them with needed social services. We hope to grow on this partnership so that we can reach more Spanish speaking residents in Berwyn.

As previously mentioned, the City is looking at revamping our website/app to better communicate with our residents. We hope to include a way to not only submit requests (currently available on our app), but also to track the requests. We will conducting a survey this year seeking resident feedback on what they want from the website/app.

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?

My influential Berwyn community member was my mother Alba. When my father passed in 1981, my mother was hired as the City Collector. She renovated the collections department, and many of her advancements are still in place today. In addition, she was active in all community organizations in the City, especially the Berwyn Development Corporation. She was an integral member of their board and in every event, seminar, or the like that they hosted. She suffered a stroke at one of our Route 66 events, but even from her permanent hospital bed, she continually inquires about what is happening in the City.

It’s her influence that made me consider running for office in Berwyn and to lead this City through a recession and now through this pandemic.

As an elected official, I hope to leave a legacy of a leader who was able to change with Berwyn, moving it forward economically, and also moving it forward with policies and practices that serve everyone in the community not leaving anyone behind.

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

My office has been working with the Junior State of America students at Morton West over the last two years. One of our most recent collaborations with them was holding a peaceful rally at the high school during the month of June 2020 speaking on the topic of social injustice. We followed up with them and they submitted a Juneteenth proclamation for the City of Berwyn. We will continue working with them as they take the helm with a Juneteenth celebration in 2022. We hope for this to be a continuing relationship with the youth within Berwyn.

Also, as my office created live Facebook announcements during the beginning of COVID, my office collaborated with the students at Morton West in creating a Facebook Live Informational Session with questions and answers related to how high schoolers were dealing with the changes in their lives resulting from the COVID-19 epidemic. It was important for us to provide a platform in which these youth could share on how they felt and were dealing with the stress related to COVID-19.

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

In regards to affordable housing, the residents that I’ve heard from most are our seniors. As they get older, and can’t afford to maintain their homes, they want to continue in Berwyn which they call home, but have problems finding affordable senior housing. Through the BDC, we were able to work with a developer to convert the old Berwyn Hotel at 3137 into affordable housing. We worked with the new management company to give preference to our seniors within Berwyn. What was once a dilapidated building with many code violations was transformed into a newly renovated affordable apartment building. The BDC continues to scout building sites to market to developers interested in building senior housing.

I’ve heard from residents that having an affordable housing stock is important. I’ve had my staff do an assessment of our housing market, and compared to what HUD considers fair market rent for Berwyn, the majority of our apartments are affordable and tend to be under fair market value. Also looking at the 2019 median household income in Berwyn ($62,758), the 2019 median home value of $230,975 and the 2019 average monthly rent of $1,219 falls within what is considered affordable by HUD. I understand that our residents do need to earn a living wage, and that is why I was in favor of having Berwyn opt into the Cook County’s minimum wage ordinance. I will continue to monitor the data as numbers come in for 2020, as I want to make sure that our residents are not displaced due to not having adequate 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 very real, and I have always been a proponent of taking care of our planet as it will be inherited by our youth. A few ways that the City has done its share to “go green” are as follows:

a. The City has been undergoing for quite a few years the transition to LED lights for our street light fixtures.

b. The City is collaborating with ComEd to change out the alley lights to LED.

c. When we renewed our contract with Waste Management, we maintained recycling services (many municipalities are cutting this as the cost has risen). We also expanded our recycling services to include the At Your Door Program which includes pick up of electronics, light bulbs, batteries, paint, and hard to dispose of items. In 2020, Waste Management recycled 93.86% of the items picked up in this program.

d. When purchasing furnaces/ac for city facilities, we make sure to get energy efficient products.

e. All of the light fixtures within the city’s facilities have been replaced with energy efficient LED lights.

f. The City has installed four electric car charging stations: two at the municipal parking lot located at 3320 Grove Ave and two more at 7003 Ogden Ave.

g. The City of Berwyn has maintained its status of “Tree City USA”. We annually plant new trees at the requests of residents. We have also done a tree inventory and do regular maintenance.

h. The City has redone its zoning ordinance making it mandatory for new development to include stormwater management. The City will be including stormwater management within its newest streetscape project in the Depot (starting this year) with inclusion of permeable pavers, silva cells, and native plantings. The combination of the three will alleviate our sewers from being overwhelmed with stormwater.

i. The City has also included stormwater management with the inclusion of permeable pavers in our alleys. We have submitted to the MWRD for grant monies to continue this project to new alleys. Our engineering department has done a survey of all of our alleys and has done soil samples to find out which alleys would be best fitted for permeable pavers.

j. The City of Berwyn will be sharing via social media recommendations to residents on using native plantings that can assist with not only beautifying their homes, but also managing stormwaters to prevent flooding in homes/yards.

k. The City partners annually with the park districts/school districts in their Earth Day events.

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

The City’s ability to balance its budget in recent years and encounter better than expected operating results has led to an actual $6 million reduction in non-pension bonded debt. In 2009, City faced an enormous debt burden where the required interest payments would have resulted substantial losses in the General Fund thus impacting the City’s ability to fund vital City Services. The City’s administration moved quickly to restructure the debt at more affordable debt service payments thus preventing a major tax increase to fund the required payments.

The City also faced a mandatory state pension funding requirement for close to $150 million in unfunded pension liabilities. Again, the City acted quickly and embarked on a Police and Fire pension funding program which resulted in the Fire and Police pension being 60-70% funded respectively.

The City will continue to work harder to take advantage of opportunities to repay its debt, achieve lower interest cost on existing debt, and balance the general fund budget without impacting essential City Services.

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?

We should continue building upon our progress made in the Budget process developed and refined over the past few years. The City has taken a proactive approach by starting the budget process during the summer months of the prior year with the assistance of City management and elected officials.

For example, the 2021 Budget process began last July with internal meetings with City Department heads along with public budget and finance committee meetings. At the request of the City’s Budget and Finance Committee, the department managers drafted a budget from their respective departments not only for 2021 but also forward years 2022-2024.

There is more than sufficient transparency in the budget process in recent years where committee budget meeting are presented via City of Berwyn Live on Facebook and the City’s Website. Also, the Finance Director and Financial advisor have been presenting the Budget documents and supporting reports during the Committee of the Whole Meetings which are also live streamed and open for public viewing and listening.

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?

As previously mentioned, I have always strived to make all residents feel welcome and represented within the City of Berwyn. When the Black Lives mural was first presented to my office, it was presented as a political piece. City policy does not allow the use of municipal resources to be used for politics. The community members then in turn reached out to me in support of this mural. I took it upon myself to contact the Berwyn Public Arts Initiative who was spearheading the project to meet and find a way to make this doable. I suggested that rather than make a political mural, we change it to be a humanitarian mural as this really was about showing respect to the contributions of blacks in the City of Berwyn. I am in support of change that brings representation and a voice to a resident in Berwyn that hasn’t been able to be heard before.

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?

I have heard from residents that they do not understand the difference between the Township/Health Department and the City. I’ve always simplified it in that the Township/Health Department is responsible for the social/health services available to residents whereas the City is responsible for public safety, streets/sanitation, business licensing, recreation, building related issues, and senior services. The City does its best in maintaining an up to date website describing our services, and also sharing frequently on our social media sites. I would encourage the Township and Health Department to update their website and to communicate more on social media.

At the start of the COVID-19 epidemic, the City received concerns from residents that we weren’t giving updates and guidance to them. Although, the health departments in other neighboring communities made COVID-19 updates to residents a priority, our health department did not take the initiative to communicate updates to the residents. I could not stand idly by, so I worked with our Emergency Management Coordinator to create a COVID-19 Unified Command Team to address the questions posed by residents and to share all of the information put forth by the Cook County Department of Public Health (CCDPH) and the Illinois Department of Health (IDPH) and the Governor’s Office. We created a COVID section on our website sharing links to credible agencies/resources, we regularly updated our social media, I addressed residents live through Facebook/YouTube, we utilized our emergency notification system to reach out to residents, and we brought in medical experts to answer health concerns from residents. We also assisted and helped organize the first COVID testing site and have continued to offer free COVID testing to residents. We are in constant communication with the CCDPH in regard to vaccine distribution. As soon as we have updates, we share them immediately. I’m happy to share that since the beginning of the pandemic, there is a new president of the Berwyn Health Department that we stay in contact with to bring a unified message to our residents.

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

As an elected official, I’ve learned that especially during a crisis/pandemic, it is vital to maintain constant communications with residents. It is important to step up to the plate when others falter, and to surround yourself with a knowledgeable and competent team. This is exactly what I’ve strived to do throughout the pandemic and during the civil unrest of June 2020. I’m happy to say that the City of Berwyn was as prepared as one could be, as for years, I made sure that we had an Emergency Management Team that created an emergency operation plan and had set up National Incident Management System (NIMS) training for our employees including myself. My administration will continue to prepare for the unexpected disaster/event so that we can keep our community safe.

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[The above answers were supplied on 2/12/21.]