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 am running for Trustee because an Oak Park that listens to all of us, can best serve each of us. This has  been the place that I have called home for over 30 years and I chose to raise my family and start a  business here, in Oak Park. 

We are at a pivotal point in our village and cannot afford to have the divisiveness that currently sits at  the table. We need voices that can listen to all parties and bring about change for the better.  Throughout my career and personal life, I have championed equity and developed the tools necessary to add value at the board table. 

During my tenure at AT&T, I managed small business and mid-market client’s communication needs  while serving in resource groups focused on giving back to the community. For my service, I received  AT&T’s highest achievement – the Summit Award – twice and numerous other awards for customer  service and leadership. 

I believe that my communication skills, along with my focus on data analytics, technology, training,  management, and small business development will be valuable to helping the Village of Oak Park deal  with the challenges it faces as we emerge from the pandemic. 

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 challenges we face are:  

• COVID recovery – We must be creative in budgeting. Revenues are down and numerous  projects have been put on hold due to the pandemic. This challenge does, however,  offer unique opportunities. It is clearer than ever that we have to utilize the resources at  hand, including strengthening intergovernmental cooperation. It has also demonstrated  that we must work to diversify our tax base and develop new revenue sources that do  not weigh most heavily on low-income residents. 

• Equity – Equity is a lens through which the Village Board should view each of the issues  they consider, including affordable house, renters’ rights, and small business  development. To put that into practice, we must incorporate a Racial Equity Impact  Analysis into all our decision-making. I will discuss this more in Question 6. 

• Affordability – We need to make sure that Oak Park is affordable both to renters and  homeowners. We can diversify the tax base within Oak Park by both: recruiting and  supporting small businesses in Oak Park and supporting the development of two-flats,  three-flats, and accessory dwelling units. 

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?

I have spent my life being a part of teams, clubs and organizations that are bigger than me. If we are  going to succeed as a Village, our elected officials need to leave ego at the door. 

I pride myself on being a great listener and firmly believe that a leader must listen to all viewpoints before acting. By listening, I can adapt my leadership style to different situations and meet people  where they are. I will take the same approach as Trustee. I will listen first and, after hearing the input of  the community, work collaboratively with the Village Board and our commissions to meet the needs of  the community. That is why I am proposing that Oak Park establish a formal Community Engagement  Process for all major policy initiatives. You can read more about the proposed Community Engagement  Process at my website here.  

I believe the purpose of government is to serve the entire community. We cannot do that without  listening to our community – including our most vulnerable populations. 

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 believe that a budget is a moral document. It is a statement of the values of our community. As a  result, I will work to ensure that our budget reflects the values of our community. For example, because  we declare as a community that we believe in equity, we must apply a Racial Equity Impact Analysis to  our budget process and our budget priorities. 

I would also work to ensure that our budget process is more transparent and better communicated to  our residents. While the Village budget document is posted online each year, the process is unclear and  community involvement is not robust. The Village Board must work to incorporate more Community  Engagement into the budget-writing process and, once a budget is adopted, should do more to  communicate the Village budget priorities and challenges to residents.

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?

Property taxes and housing affordability directly impact equity, diversity, and quality of life in the  Village. These are not competing interests.  

The Village Board must work to ease the tax burden on residents by diversifying the tax base and  increasing revenues from sources other than property taxes. One of the fundamental problems facing  Oak Park is that many residents view their property taxes as a tuition bill. We must diversify our tax base  by encouraging young adults to move to Oak Park at a younger age and empty nesters to stay after their  children leave for college. Developing additional affordable housing is vital to achieving this – and vital  to promoting equity, diversity, and quality of life in Oak Park. 

In addition, we can increase non-property tax revenues by investing in local small businesses. If we can  continue to develop a thriving retail community, we can keep sales tax dollars of Oak Park residents in  Oak Park and begin to attract more sales taxes from our neighbors. This will not, of course, happen overnight, but it is vital if we are going to begin to ease the tax burden on residents. As above, this is not  in competition with achieving the goals of equity, diversity, and improved quality of life. Instead, but  recruiting and supporting minority and woman owned businesses, we will create a more vibrant  business community which will attract more resources to our community.

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

Equity is reaching out to and supporting those in the community that lack power, opportunity, and  resources. Traditionally this work starts with our Black and brown community, but also must lift our  LGBTQIA community, our seniors, people with disabilities and other under-represented and  marginalized communities. 

Equity work is often met with resistance and resentment by those in power, often out of the mistaken  belief that they are somehow victims of the process. Tough and long conversations lay ahead for the  Village, but with new leadership there is hope for real change. 

Our Village government, which once led the way on issues of equity has yet to adopt a racial equity  policy or any kind of comprehensive equity plan. I will work prioritize enacting a Racial and Social Justice  Policy that will provide a framework to develop goals, strategies, and plans to end racial disparities in  local government and provide equitable services to all residents. As part of that process, we will  implement a Racial Equity Impact Assessment Tool for public decision-making so that all significant  policy decisions are appropriately analyzed through an equity framework. 

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?

The Village Board should enact a robust Community Engagement Process and actively solicit community  feedback on key policy initiatives using all available platforms, including social media, email, telephone,  mail, and in-person. By breaking down barriers to communication and investing more of our community  in the decision-making process, the Village can begin to rebuild trust with the community.  

While there are institutional barriers to developing a formal Community Engagement Process, by being  open and transparent (and incorporating community feedback into the development of the Community Engagement Process), I believe that we can overcome those barriers and change the way Oak Park does  government. 

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 first step to helping small and locally-owned businesses is listening to them. The Village Board must  do more to reach out and involve our business community in decision making and then work collaboratively to come up with a innovative solutions. Possible approaches could include modernizing  infrastructure and ordinances to improve opportunities for small businesses to generate revenue using  online sales; supporting small in-person, COVID compliant events to help drive demand, and offering  financial support by expanding access to low-interest loans that small businesses can use to launch or re-launch as we emerge from COVID. In addition, the Village should be constantly working to identify  grant opportunities that it can apply for to support small businesses without relying on tax dollars. 

It is vital, given Oak Park’s unique history, that we work to recruit and retain minority owned businesses. As a Village, we pride ourselves on our focus on diversity and equity. We must demonstrate that  commitment by assisting minority-owned businesses to access the services offered by the Village.  

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?

Renters need to have a seat at the table with representation and a voice. This is an example of why it is  vital that we enact a formal Community Engagement Process for decision-making. Such a process would,  necessarily, elevate the concerns and priorities of renters to the board table. It is also an example of  how utilizing an equity framework is important.  

As but one example, there is no way that our current street parking policies would still be in effect if the  Village Board truly considered the needs of renters and analyzed these policies through an equity  framework. Current policy views renters, often some of our lowest income residents, as revenue  centers. This is a form of regressive taxation and is a terribly inequitable policy. As Trustee, I will work  collaboratively through the experts on our commissions – that is through the Community Engagement  Process – to generate solutions that are sustainable and equitable.  

We need to take this same approach to everything from updating the Village’s Inclusionary Zoning  Ordinance to our building code. 

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 would leverage relationships with the Austin community to begin to bridge our neighborhoods in a  manner similar to the work between River Forest and Maywood. There are some in our community who  wish that Austin Boulevard were a wall instead of a road. We must work to change those views. Austin is  a vibrant neighborhood with so much to offer to Oak Park residents. Similarly, Oak Park is a resource rich community with a long-standing reputation for equity work. By building lasting relationships and  partnerships with the Austin neighborhood we can improve the quality of life on both sides of Austin Boulevard.  

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.

Oak Park must engage in deep, serious conversations about where we stand currently with equity. We  must commit to holding equity front and center in our decision making.  

Enact a robust Community Engagement Process will assist in engaging in these difficult conversations at  the board table. You can read more about my Community Engagement Platform here.

Similarly, as discussed in Question 6, I will prioritize enacting a Racial and Social Justice Policy that  will provide a framework for ending racial disparities in local government and provide equitable services  to all residents. This needs to be implemented into policy so that it is more than just words in a  statement without accountability. 

Finally, we must take an intergovernmental approach as this is not something that only effects one  governing body.  

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?

Oak Park’s current Inclusionary Zoning Ordinance does not do enough. We must take action to develop  a model for sustainable affordable housing in Oak Park. In addition to enforcing the requirement for  developers to include affordable housing in their developments, Oak Park should take action to  encourage the development of two-flats, three-flats, and accessory dwelling units in our community. 

If we want to achieve any of our other policy goals, we must prioritize affordable housing. Without it,  current residents will continue to be priced out of the Village. 

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

I believe Oak Park – and municipalities like Oak Park – play a major role in the fight to stop climate  change. As a Village, we have done a decent job of keeping up with trends in sustainability, especially  when it comes to our fleet and solar utilization on government owned building. We need to continue to  utilize experts in our community through our commissions to identify areas for improvement and  actually implement their recommendations. In addition, I would prioritize having an energy efficiency  analysis done on our municipal buildings to identify steps to lower the Village’s carbon footprint to zero  as soon as possible. 

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?

Public safety is one core function of local government – it is the work of keeping residents, business owners, and visitors safe from harm.  

We need to gather more information before making budgeting decisions regarding the Oak Park Police  Department. This includes engaging in a robust Community Engagement Process and collecting further  data from the Oak Park Police. After receiving community input and more robust data, we will be in a  better position to truly evaluate the effectiveness of our current approach and determine how we can  move forward together as a community. 

We need to stop with the incendiary rhetoric around this process and start by recognizing that everyone  in Oak Park want to ensure the safety of our community. Given that shared goal, we can evaluate what  we can do to achieve it and whether the Oak Park Police Department budget should increase, decrease, or remain flat. 

It is difficult to make an informed analysis and decision without taking into account data and community  input that is not yet available. 

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?

The most pressing issues related to development in Oak Park are: 

• A lack of true community engagement. Too often the Village Board ignores the input of  commission and impacted residents.  

• A failure to use an equity lens when allowing development in oak Park. Instead of requiring  just 10 percent of a building to have affordable units, we should aim higher – 20 to 25  percent. If a developer wants to get out of building the required affordable housing, they  should be required to pay the market value of such housing as penalty instead of the  standard $100,000 in the current ordinance. That money would then be earmarked to  incentivize affordable, inclusionary housing development in Oak Park. 

Moving forward, the Village Board should focus on utilizing space on Madison Avenue and North Avenue  for continued mixed-use residential and commercial development. By focused on mixed use  development, we can continue to improve the business climate in these areas.  

Finally, I am in favor of prioritizing smaller developments over large luxury developments that price out diversity. This will allow us to better prioritize equity and sustainability.

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?

In principle, I am supportive of efforts like what we saw in Evanston. Any such proposal would need to  go through the Community Engagement Process so that all relevant stakeholders could have their voices  heard. The very reason Oak Park’s Fair Housing Ordinance was created was so that our neighborhoods  would become more integrated and diverse. It was one of Oak Park’s first steps towards the systemic  racism that has always faced those attempting to attain the American dream.  

This is an important conversation for Oak Park to have, but it will not be easy. 

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?

Advisory referenda can be a useful tool, but only in rare instances and only as the end stage of a robust and meaningful Community Engagement Process. You can read more about my Community Engagement Platform here.

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?

Yes, I support the Collaboration for Early Childhood. I believe that it can serve as a useful model for the  Village in determining other opportunities for intergovernmental cooperation. In particular, I would like  to see the Village working to collaborate with other local government bodies around climate initiatives.

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[The above answers were supplied on 2/19/21.]