My candidacy sits on a 3-legged stool of public school reform, public safety reform, and re-envisioning our central business district in a post-COVID world. What does this mean?

Education

Chicago Public Schools ("CPS") - we currently have about 25% of our CPS students reading at grade level, and about 10% of our students doing math at grade level, at an investment of about $30,000/student/year- significantly more than most private and parochial schools. Why can't we deliver a better educational product? Let's look at all options. Let's give students a voice in educator reviews- when I was in the CPS, I knew who the outstanding teachers and who those phoning it in were. Reading and financial literacy are must-haves for our kids. Where did our trade-education programs go? Let's re-emphasize these programs that lead to high-demand, well-paying jobs.

Public Safety

If we have educated kids, there will be demand for them in the workplace, and not on the street corner. We have about 1,000 vacant Chicago Police Department ("CPD") positions- let's fill them. Let's also call a crime a crime. We need to initiate a virtuous cycle of education, crime-deterrence and increased commercial activity in our city.

Re-envisioning our central business district post-COVID

 I think Lori Lightfoot had some good ideas here. We have experienced a structural shift away from traditional demand for office space in the central business district. We need to back-fill this by spurring residential demand for buildings that are now functionally obsolete. Transportational, transit and green-space linkages make our central business district a fantastic place to live. Increased residential occupancy will spur demand for retail space- people want to eat, drink and shop in their neighborhoods. This will create another virtuous cycle of reanimating the vacant retail corridors on Wabash Ave., State St., etc.

Immigration

We are a nation of immigrants, and Chicago was built on the backs of immigrants. Greek Town, Little Italy, China Town, the Ukrainian Village & Pilsen- what a rich city we live in! We should embrace and celebrate this cultural wealth. My family came from counties Mayo and Sligo in Ireland, and from Kiev, in what was then Russia- a fairly typical Chicago story. Whatever immigration policy we settle on has to be economically sustainable, meaning have a defined budget, and must involve a secure border, so that we know who’s coming into our country. Another question we must wrestle with is the thousands of immigrants who are applying traditionally and legally and have been patiently waiting as we accept torrents of undocumented people and draining public resources meant for other purposes. Mayor Johnson has allocated approximately $150 million for undocumented immigrants in Chicago’s 2024 budget, so over $12 million/month. We should understand how this budget will be funded and if it’s the highest and best use of all these funds. We need to be able to fund immigration without raising taxes and while admitting as many folks as we can, in an economically sustainable way, so that we can continue to do so well into the future. We should be compassionate, smart, and economically disciplined as we create a sustainable, bright future for existing and new Americans.