Earlier this week, 24 City Council members and I tried to convene a special City Council meeting to discuss placing the Bring Chicago Home proposal on the February 2023 ballot. Bring Chicago Home proposes to increase the city’s real estate transfer tax by 1.9 percent on properties that sell for over $1,000,000 – and only on properties that sell for over $1,000,000 – and use those funds to provide a permanent funding stream for affordable housing and homelessness prevention.   We needed just one more member of the City Council meeting to hold the meeting, but none came. At least nineContinue

Dear neighbors, First, I want to send my love and solidarity to all veterans in our community on this Veteran’s Day. We recognize your service, sacrifices, and resilience. We are committed to fighting for good lives for veterans and their families so they can have access to all their needs and what they deserve. **** This week, alongside the North River Commission (NRC) and the Albany Park Chamber of Commerce, we showed up to support some of our neighborhood businesses to ensure they thrive. To ensure businesses have what they need to expand we would like to share some eventsContinue

It’s November and we want to make sure that as you start thinking about buying gifts for your loved ones, keep in mind that there are endless possibilities right here in our ward. We will be offering a complete 33rd Ward holiday gift guide to support our neighborhood businesses and also ensure you get the most special and useful gifts to those you care about. We would love to include community voices as we update this guide. Please consider filling out this form if you are a small business owner in the 33rd Ward or if you'd like to recommendContinue

I often think about how lucky we are in the 33rd Ward to have such great school communities. One of the reasons our schools are so great is because of how much support they receive from our neighbors.  This fall, our schools have prepared events that go from spooky to healing, and we would love for you to be a part of it. Please read this newsletter carefully to learn of all the great things our schools are doing this season.  In This Week's Newsletter Quick Links  Request services33rd Ward CalendarChiStreetWork construction portalSenior ServicesReview Zoning ProposalsResources for Renters *Want moreContinue

In 2020 I introduced the Crisis Response and Care council order to create a mental health crisis response model to address mental health emergencies without police. The model also known as "Treatment Not Trauma" included re-opening the shuttered Public Mental Health Clinics run by the city. Through much organizing, we were able to get a small non-police response pilot. Although it is a step in the right direction, it's a very small program that needs to be expanded urgently. I have been visiting similar programs in other cities and they have been extremely successful and are being expanded as aContinue

Save the date for our upcoming Virtual Budget Town Hall on November 1st. More details coming soon! To watch previous city budget hearings, please click here.  **** Earlier this week our office hosted a public zoning meeting to review the proposal for 3219 N Elston Avenue. We are taking public comments and feedback on this proposal until the end of the day on Wednesday, October 26th in accordance with our Community Driven Zoning and Development policies. Follow this link to submit feedback. All public comments and feedback will be shared with the Alderwoman before  a final decision is made about whether to recommendContinue

As you may know, it's time to create the city budget for 2023. Our mayor has proposed a budget for next year, and in the following weeks City Council will discuss and vote on the proposed budget. Before City Council meets on this issue, we will host a virtual  Budget Townhall on November 1st with the 35th Ward Alderman, Carlos Ramirez, to hear neighbor feedback about the proposed budget. Please stay tuned to our Facebook and Twitter pages for more information. To watch previous city budget hearings, please click here.  **** Our office is accepting donations for the asylum seekersContinue

After carefully considering our community's needs, I decided to accept the aldermanic salary increase and use the money for critical work in our ward around restorative justice and addressing violence. As I explained before, the members of the city council receive salary increases based on inflation - a policy put in place by one of my predecessors. While I do not agree that I need a 10% salary increase this year, I do believe that our community and neighborhoods desperately need more resources after years of disinvestment. That is why I have decided to take the $12,542 increase and use theContinue

Earlier this week Chicago’s City Council passed the Bodily Autonomy Sanctuary City Ordinance! This ordinance will ensure that local law enforcement does not collaborate with outside law enforcements to criminalize people for seeking the medical care they need or people aiding others in access care. This ordinance was modeled after the Welcoming Cities Ordinance that has made Chicago a “sanctuary city” for undocumented residents, the ordinance also calls for expanding Chicago’s 311 nonemergency line to provide information and resources to people seeking access to abortion and gender-affirming care. For more information on this huge achievement, follow this link. Thank you toContinue

Dear Community, As you know the members of the city council receive salary increases based on inflation and they can increase or decrease depending on the index. These raises are automatic and we don’t vote for them, we get to decide if we take the raise or not. For context, aldermanic salaries are on average the same as a CPS school principal.As I tried to figure out a way to put the money to use in our ward, I was told by the budget department that we can’t separate a portion of our salary and use it for specific governmentContinue