33rd Ward – 2024 Year in Review

The Alderman’s Office serves as a liaison between city departments such as the Department of Water, the Department of Streets and Sanitation, the Department of Transportation, and more. Our office inputs and manages a number of requests through 311 each year that result in the general maintenance of the infrastructure in our ward. 

Our work is driven by the belief that community care starts with responsive services. From graffiti removal to rodent abatement, we worked hand-in-hand with City departments this year to meet the needs of residents, ensuring their voices were heard and their concerns addressed.

We’re proud of the nearly 1,000 rodent abatements, 1,500+ graffiti removals, and other critical services completed this year. Moving forward, we will explore additional data sources, such as 311, to deepen our understanding of where services are needed most and how we can be even more responsive to our neighbors.

Below is a list of some of our more common service requests from the past year:

• Rodent Abatement: 978 requests
• Tree Trimming Requests:
  The ward offices no longer have direct access to tree trimming requests, though we receive these requests very often. The Bureau of Forestry is no longer receiving individual tree trimming requests and has shifted to a grid-based maintenance schedule similar to the street sweeping schedule. You can view the map here. Each grid segment can take between three weeks and two months to complete. Tree trimming personnel will be in the ward weekly, weather permitting. Similar to street sweeping notifications, trees will be posted with signage in advance of tree trimming.
• Tree Planting Requests: 18
• Yard Waste Pick-up: 973
• Pothole Patching: 330
• Sewer Cleaning Inspections: 84
• Garbage Cart Replacements: 719
• Graffiti Removal: 1,579
• Street Light Out Complaints: 360
• Street Sweeping Updates:
  Our ward superintendent worked to increase the number of passes of street sweeping through the regular sweeping season by designing a more efficient sweeping map and schedule. Additionally, as the snow has not yet started this year, the sweepers are able to make additional passes of streets while weather permits.

In addition to working alongside city departments to care for the ward and provide routine services, our office connects with local organizations and the offices of other elected officials that serve the 33rd Ward to expand our neighbors’ access to additional resources.

We believe that community care is participatory and requires active listening to our community’s needs. From property tax appeals that bring financial relief to residents, to Narcan distribution as a harm reduction strategy for businesses, we have prioritized building relationships and uplifting the voices of our community.

Each request we manage—be it for a disabled parking sign or a block party application—is part of our commitment to making the 33rd Ward a place where everyone feels cared for and valued.

Below is a summary of the types of work our office engaged in through the year, with quantities of services provided where applicable:

• Bi-weekly Ward Night: To the best of our ability, the ward office maintains a Ward Night every other week either at the 33rd Ward Office or elsewhere in the community to provide neighbors an opportunity to meet directly with the alderwoman to address pressing concerns that cannot be resolved directly with our ward office team.
• Individual Property Tax Appeals Cases: Approximately 40
  Our 33rd Ward Team has received training to process individual property tax appeal applications when a neighbor walks in and needs help.
• Property Tax Appeal Events: 4
  Our 33rd Ward Team has partnered with our local County Commissioners and the County Board of Appeals to host tax appeal events in the ward and at the 33rd ward office.
• Senior Benefits Sign Up: 12
• Block Party Applications: 55
• Garage, Yard, and Apartment Sale Permits: 44
• Letter of Exception for Residential Permit Parking: 175
• Disabled Parking Sign Applications: 26
• Liquor Moratorium Lifts: 3
• Routine Parking and Infrastructure Ordinance Requests such as Residential Permit Parking Requests, Disability Permit Parking, Alley Access, and Building Signage: 50
• Speed Hump Installation: 5 street,  1 alley
• Shredding Events: 1

Like all of our work in the 33rd Ward Office, our approach to infrastructure and development projects in the ward prioritizes community engagement and direct participation. We proudly work to connect our neighborhood schools to funding that will improve the learning experience of our students, teachers, and school staff, while providing high quality gathering spaces for our school communities. Below is a list of some of the ways our ward office has provided funding directly to community partners through the year, as well as ways we engage our neighbors in conversations about how to spend our 33rd Ward Office’s discretionary funds of $1million each year:

Money allocated by the Ward Office directly:

• TIF Money Distributed
• Grants: Neighborhood Development grants
• Special Service Area #60: North River Commission serves as the service provider for the Albany Park & Irving Park Special Service Area (SSA #60) and supports local businesses and their customers.
  • Our office is proud to continue to maintain an SSA in our ward. Special Service Areas are local tax districts that fund expanded services and programs through a localized property tax levy within contiguous areas. The enhanced services and programs are in addition to those currently provided through the City. The City contracts with local non-profits, called Service Providers (such as North River Commission), to manage SSAs. Mayorally-appointed SSA Commissioners for each SSA district oversee and recommend the annual services, budget and Service Provider Agency to the City.

Major Development Projects completed this year:

• Maria Elena Sifuentes Apartments
• Roosevelt High School Turf Field

Additional Projects Funded by PB or through the 33rd Ward Office:

• Kimball Curbside Study: in Partnership with North River Commission
• Kedzie Public Gathering Space: breaking ground
• Von Linne Field: funding secured and new playground finished. 
• Patrick Henry Playground: Funding secured
• Horner Park Basketball Lights: funding secured and lights installed
• New Street Lights: funding secured for new lights on Monticello between Wilson and Lawrence
• School Zone Pedestrian Safety Projects: at the Hibbard Elementary and Edison Gifted campus

Participatory Budgeting
In the 33rd Ward, the Participatory Budgeting program began in September 2019 with the guidance and collaboration of the UIC Great Cities Institute. Last year, we joined seven other wards engaging in the Participatory Budgeting process to allow residents to decide how their Alderman will allocate their annual “Aldermanic Menu Funds”. Menu funds are the only funds that Aldermen have for infrastructure improvements including all streets, alley, and sidewalk resurfacing.

What is Participatory Budgeting?
PB is a democratic process by which community members decide how to spend part of a public budget. PB is a civic engagement initiative aiming to increase transparency and participation in our communities with greatest needs. Residents work together to generate ideas about infrastructure improvements they’d like to see in the 33rd Ward, then vote on which project they wish to see receive funding. You can read more about 33rd Ward PB by clicking here.

2024 Participatory Budgeting Work
Our Participatory Budgeting committee meets each week with the Roosevelt High School Civics Class. These young people form the backbone of our Participatory Budgeting project. Through this volunteer work, the civics students learn about how money is spent in their communities and have the opportunity to learn more about how our city government works. 

At the end of this year we began our PB process for 2025. We are currently in the process of finalizing the ballot for our neighbors to consider in the coming year. In addition to our weekly meetings with young people, we have added this year a monthly meeting with the broader community. We have heard that it is hard from some people to attend our weekly meetings, so we’ve created this additional option at a later time for our neighbors to help create the PB ballot for 2025. 

2024 Participatory Budgeting Vote:

• 1600 votes collected
• Educational Presentations to 8th grade students at Patrick Henry, APMA, Cleveland, and Haugan schools.
• Winning projects at: Cleveland and Patrick Henry schools
• 30 students with the RHS Changemakers Club, alongside community residents engaged in a bilingual weekly committee process to develop the ballot

2025 Participatory Budgeting Committee:

• Surveyed the ward, reviewed past project submissions that did not win, and organized new project proposals from the community
• Developing the 2025 Ballot
• 30 students with the RHS Changemakers Club, alongside community residents engaged in a bilingual weekly committee process to develop the ballot
• Monthly All-Community meetings at a later time to accommodate more neighbors

Community Driven Zoning and Development (CDZD)

Zoning decisions shape the future of our community, which is why we are committed to a participatory process that centers residents’ voices. This year, we held two community meetings, engaged over 500 neighbors, and approved zoning projects that added 37 new dwelling units and three commercial spaces, fostering equitable development that reflects community priorities. We have also participated in housing-related policy proposals and supported ordinances to provide more affordable housing and slow displacement. You can learn more about our legislative work below. 

Zoning Announcements: 

• Community Engagement: 500 neighbors through 2 meetings
• Maintained Online Zoning Project Review and Engagement Website
• Added Dwelling Units: 37
• Added Commercial Units: 3
• Equitable Transit-Oriented Development: 1 Grant received for “The Workshop”

The 33rd Ward Office works to connect our local businesses to our neighbors and to the resources available through the city, the local Albany Park Chamber of Commerce, and the local Special Service Area (SSA) Provider, North River Commission. We understand the vital role that small businesses play in our local economy, such as providing opportunities for neighbors to come together. Below is a list of some of the ways we regularly engaged with our local business community throughout the year:

• Business Canvassing: 108 businesses reached
  Our 33rd Ward Office canvasses businesses throughout the neighborhood to connect them to resources.
  • Window Sign Campaign: This year, the 33rd Ward Office developed window signs for local businesses to hang in their windows or to keep by the register to help connect neighbors to the ward office.
  • Narcan Distribution: Our local businesses regularly maintain first aid kits that can be used for guests in the store, but also in case of emergency for neighbors that need assistance in front of their business. We are proud to help connect local businesses with Narcan to keep in their first aid kits.
  • Connecting Businesses to Services and Grants: There are a number of programs available to local businesses through the city, including Neighborhood Development Grants and funding available through our local TIF districts. Our 33rd Ward Office regularly provides these updates in our weekly newsletter and engages impacted business directly to share this information.
• Vendor Voices
  • Our 33rd Ward Office started an interview program to collect the stories of local vendors to help neighbors meet their local business owners.
• Monthly Business Highlights
  • Our 33rd Ward Office created this program to highlight local business each month according to a helpful theme, for example: Cool Treats for the Summer, or Back to School.
• Business Openings and Ribbon Cuttings:
  • Movement on Montrose
  • Restoried Bookstore
  • Green Spaces Plant Shop
• 33rd Ward Holiday Business Crawl

• Participatory Budgeting Committee
• Community Driven Zoning and Development Committee
• Sage Brigade – the 33rd Ward Seniors Program:
  • Monthly Meetings: to sign up for benefits, learn together, and be in community
  • Sage Brigade Food Distribution Program: Assisted delivering groceries from Irving Park Food Pantry to 20+ local seniors at least once per month since February 2024.
• 33rd Ward Safety Collaborative:
  Public safety comes from care and community, not punishment or fear. By bringing together residents, local organizations, and leaders, we come up with multiple ways to address the root causes of harm and insecurity while centering the voices of those most impacted.
  
  Through violence prevention, harm reduction, and mental health support, we’re creating a model of safety that prioritizes connection and trust. This work is about building a community where everyone can thrive, knowing that safety is something we create together. When we care for one another, we make our neighborhoods stronger, safer, and more resilient.
  • Monthly Meetings: to bring together several local organizations to strategize and discuss safety concerns, plan events and other outreach or collaboration opportunities. 
  • The Safety Collaborative Helped Produce:
    • How to Help Fair
    • Game Nights in local schools
    • Pop Up Skate Parks
    • December “Community Circle”
  • Planning quick-response and outreach capabilities 
• Organizing Volunteers to help their neighbors most in need
  • Clean and Greens: 4
  • Snow Shoveling Volunteer Program: Fall/Winter
  • Yard Work Volunteer Program: Spring/Summer
  • Maintain a volunteer list for other community events
• Partnership with our local schools and the Roosevelt High School “Changemakers Club”:
  Partnering with local schools and civic engagement projects is essential to building a  more connected community. Schools are not just places of learning, they are hubs where young people and their families come together, creating opportunities to foster a sense of shared wellbeing in our neighborhoods. We want young people to see themselves as active participants in shaping their community
• Mutual Aid and connecting neighbors to resources:
  Routine checks of the ward to connect unhoused neighbors to resources, opening our office as a warming center for people in need to wait for resources
• Hosting interns: 9
  The internship program in our office is an extension of our commitment to community engagement. Interns bring fresh energy, diverse perspectives, and expand our ability to serve the community effectively.  Interns engage directly with critical initiatives, from supporting residents with service requests to contributing to the development of transformative policies

• Spring Townhall: Clean Water, Sustainability, and the Water Department
• Fall Townhall: Affordable, Safe, and Healthy Housing 
• How to Help Fair: This was a safety-focused event with participation of many local organizations and attended by approx 50 community members. We provided food, a TCSC pop-up skate park, made art, and participated in sound therapies. Organizations tabled with resources & other activities, and we hosted workshops like: Stop the Bleed, How To Support A Survivor, and learned how to connect with RINCON. This was an event planned by the 33rd Ward Safety Collaborative.
• Health Fair and Vaccination Events: 2
• Healing village: This event was planned in partnership with the Roosevelt High School Changemakers Club and the school’s Restorative Justice program. Approximately 50 neighbors joined our Healing Village.
  
  Healing Villages are Restorative Justice circles that center community-building as violence prevention. They bring our communities the opportunity to receive a mental health screening by a licensed clinical social worker and opportunities to engage in collective practices of physical and mental health. We began hosting Healing Villages in our community in partnership with the Collaborative for Community Wellness as a way to demonstrate to our community part of the vision for the Treatment Not Trauma program. The work reflects our commitment to expanding care and connecting our communities with policies that affect them directly. 
• Progressive Post-Election Debrief at Roosevelt High School
• Horner Park Lights Park District Advisory Council meeting: A community meeting with over 80 neighbors and presentations from young people in the community that gathered 500 signatures in support of installing lights before coming to the meeting
• Treatment Not Trauma Listening Session at Roosevelt High School
• Clean and Affordable Buildings Public Informational Presentations: 2
• Back to School Block Party with Israel’s Gifts of Hope
• Back to School Pop Up in partnership with Concordia Place
• Back to School Event at Wilson/Kedzie Mcdonalds
• Back to School Event at Von Linne Elementary
• Back to School Event at Hibbard Elementary
• Halloween Decoration Contest
• Halloween Pumpkin Painting Events: at Bateman, Hibbard and Cleveland
• Partnership with North River Commission to plan safety workshops to local businesses
• Holiday Crawl: in partnership with Albany Park Chamber of Commerce and North River Commission

The alderwoman is not only responsible for the care and maintenance of the 33rd Ward, but also serves as a legislator for the city. The alderwoman’s approach to her legislative responsibilities closely matches her approach to connecting neighbors to resources in the ward. Through active listening and engagement with neighbors in the ward and Chicagoans across the city, she introduces and supports policies that uplift the needs of the most vulnerable people in our communities. This policy work often requires a great deal of creativity, pushing our staff and our stakeholders to think creatively to pull together results. 

Our office’s policy priorities continue to be focused on public health, community safety and violence prevention, affordable housing and addressing homelessness, and uplifting the needs of the most vulnerable people in our communities such as immigrants and the transgender community.  

At the start of this term, the alderwoman was appointed to chair the City Council Committee on Health and Human Relations, a committee which oversees policies related to the Department of Public Health, the Commission on Human Relations, the Department of Family and Support Services, and approves appointments to various boards and commissions. 

We are proud to share so many successes from this year, with the major initiatives led by our office in partnership with community organizations from the 33rd Ward and across Chicago:

• Bodily Autonomy Ordinance: This ordinance was passed in 2022, and still is in the process of implementation, impacting many of the policies and procedures that have come after it. The Bodily Autonomy Ordinance serves to protect people seeking abortion and gender-affirming in Chicago care since the Supreme Court overturned Roe V. Wade. 
• Ceasefire Resolution: Chicago is home to the largest Palestinian population in the United States. After the events of October 7, 2023, the alderwoman introduced a ceasefire resolution to City Council, calling on our elected officials to make efforts to demand that President Biden negotiate a ceasefire, the release of hostages, and the delivery of humanitarian aid into the region. The resolution passed and was adopted. 
• Mental Health Service Expansion (MHSE) Working Group Ordinance: Between October 2023 and May of 2024, the alderwoman, through her position as Chair of the City Council Committee on Health and Human Relations, participated on the Steering Committee of the Mayor’s working group to expand public mental health services and the CARE emergency public health response program. The working group convened several city departments, the budget office, and hundreds of community members in a series of meetings to develop a report for the expansion of the city’s public health clinic network and the CARE program through the remainder of Mayor Johnson’s administration.
  • Opening Public Health Centers with Mental Health Services: the Pilsen Clinic, the Roseland Clinic, and the layering of mental health services into public libraries
  • The CARE Program Expansion: new CARE teams established with more budgeted for the new year, shifting the CARE pilot program to a permanent program housed entirely within the Department of Public Health.
• Resolution to Call for a Subject Matter Hearing Regarding Algorithmic Rent Software: Software of this nature is under federal investigation for price-fixing, causing rising rents and forcing vacancies to raise rents. This resolution allows City Council to call in experts to learn more. 
• Transgender Day of Remembrance Resolution: For the first time, Chicago recognized Transgender Day of Remembrance with an honorary resolution. Our office brought together trans-led organizations and allied organizations to a press conference on November 20, in partnership with Mayor Johnson, to call the public and elected officials to action around the epidemic of murder of members of the transgender community. The resolution establishes Transgender Day of Remembrance as an officially recognized part of the city’s calendar. 
• Northwest Side Housing Preservation Ordinance: This ordinance passed through City Council to establish a pilot program to reduce displacement through housing shortages in communities on the Northwest Side. Our office is working to expand the pilot area to include portions of the 33rd Ward. 
• Accessible Dwelling Unit Program: Our office is working to expand the pilot area to include the entirety of the 33rd Ward. 
• Committee on Health Meeting Highlights:
  Our committee meetings are often procedural, and committees move policies related to a wide variety of issues. The following is a select list of some of the topics we engaged in through the year: 
  • Meeting the New Commissioner of the Department of Health
  • Labor Peace Agreement Ordinance
  • Opioid Crisis Subject Matter Hearing followed by citywide training for all aldermanic staff that increased the distribution of narcan to ward offices across the city, while providing tools to ward offices to reduce the number of opioid overdoses this year through the summer surge
  • Lead Abatement and Treatment programs training for all aldermanic staff 
  • Subject Matter Hearing on the Commission on Human Relations Annual Hate Crimes Report
• Resolution to Call for a Series of Anti-Hate Subject Matter Hearings in Partnership with the Commission on Human Relations
• “Public Health and Safety Amendment” to the 2025 Budget Recommendations
• Healthy Homes Ordinance: This ordinance is being drafted alongside community 
• stakeholders to establish a proactive rental inspections program. This will build on existing city programs. 
• Clean and Affordable Buildings Ordinance: Our office is actively supporting this ordinance though it is stalled in Council with lack of support for passage.  
• Peacebook: Our office is actively supporting this series of policy initiatives focused on employing young people as “peacekeepers” and developing an application for young people to get connected to resources. 
• Transfemicide Prevention Working Group Ordinance: This working group will be established to convene the Commission on Human Relations, the Police Department and community stakeholders to develop and adopt best practices for preventing the murder of transgender people and for solving murder cases should they occur.