Don Gordon

List in order of importance the five most crucial/important issues facing the residents of the 49th ward.

1. Economic development to improve our commercial districts to bring new goods, services, and jobs to Rogers Park
2. Balanced housing development to preserve single family homes and boost quality affordable housing
3. The need for a professionally managed and responsive 49th Ward Community Service Office to serve residents
4. Addressing the need to prevent crime and increase public safety on our streets
5. Lakefront preservation and park improvements

What is your strategy for encouraging residential ownership while maintaining affordable housing?

Support Single Family Home and Condo Ownership: Encouraging ownership starts with helping to ensure that current owners can keep and maintain their homes without excessive tax burdens. As an alderman I will be an aggressive fiscal conservative on city government spending and waste. These usually translate into higher property taxes on homeowners - and new city fees that also hit everyone else! The Gordon 49th Ward Community Service Office will be an information resource for homeowners, especially seniors seeking to take advantage of city programs for home repair and maintenance. Finally, I will support a percentage increase in the requirement that new construction include accommodations for affordable homeownership.

Maintain The Current Rental Stock: Work with current rental property owners and managers to provide a one-stop resource as part of a responsive Community Service Office. I would create a resource desk that is staffed by individuals familiar with property management, apartment marketing, and financing options for multi-unit properties. The goal of this effort would be to stem the tide of sales and encourage property owners to not only keep their properties as rentals but to upgrade the infrastructure to maintain their buildings and keep good and affordable units available in the community. We need to support and encourage good property owners and managers and discourage the bad ones.

Encourage Developers To Create Rental Housing: Level the playing field for developers who want to purchase buildings to upgrade and renovate them to keep as good rental units rather than convert them to condos. It’s difficult to do this today given the cost of purchase, renovation and ownership. I would proactively work for government and private sector funding (including low interest loans, tax credits, subsidies, etc.) to provide a one-stop resource as part of a responsive Community Service Office. I would create a resource desk that is staffed by individuals familiar with these various programs so that developers who wish to convert or build good and affordable units in the community will have one place to go to get information on how to do this effectively and economically.

Seek Legislation To Increase Available Rental Units: Advocate for legislation in the City Council to once again allow for the building of coach houses and to reassess and simplify the myriad complexity of zoning for garden/in-law apartments. The intent in both cases would be to create more units of good and affordable housing stock in the community. I will also ask the Chicago City Council Housing and Real Estate Committee to hold hearings on a new licensing program for multifamily property owners in Chicago. The goal would be to establish a comprehensive licensing ordinance to govern rental housing and eliminate the lousy landlords who don't keep up their buildings or take responsibility for tenant screening. This effectively reduces the number of good and affordable units that residents would consider as available and directly impacts surrounding buildings and good landlords who then have a harder time renting their units.

What is your strategy for reducing crime in the 49th ward?

Target Ineffective And Poor Property Managers And Owners: I’ll work with the 24th District Commander and his staff to get a regularly updated list of buildings with the most calls ­ buildings where his officers are spending most of their time. In addition to fostering crime, by housing perpetrators and allowing illegal activity to run ramp on building grounds, they bring down property values and create a terrible image problem for the immediate neighborhood and the community at-large. At the same time I’d have my staff log complaints from citizens who call in to my office. We’ll keep a state of the art customer service system so that we can log these calls in a database to track this list.

I’ll then use the data to target these property owners and managers to correct the problems early. My first approach will be to call each one into my office to meet with me and concerned residents and explain to these owners the benefits of having the community, my office, and the City on their side. We’ll layout a plan to turn the building around and give them every possible opportunity to do that. However, they’ll be on a very short leash ­ reporting weekly to a task group as to their progress. If the progress stops, the hammer comes out. I’ll engage the resources of the City Inspectors’ Office and the State Attorney’s Office if necessary to make their life miserable until we get resolution. I have no intention of letting these kinds of problem buildings fester for months and years on end. There isn’t anything more devastating to a neighborhood than having a bad building fester as a cancer on that block ­ increasing both the reality and the perception of crime. The solution lies in proactively getting to these buildings early and then aggressive vigilance and follow-up, using as many tools as necessary to solve the problem.

Support Effective Policing And Reassess The Effectiveness Of CAPS: The very first thing I’ll do is use my office to help our CAPS beats to utilize technology to foster better two-way communication between the 24th District and our residents. I’ll provide resources for equipment and support to deploy web sites, email blasts and alerts, IM, chat rooms, wiki tools, real-time collaboration, whatever it takes to create an environment of discussion and feedback. This needs to go beyond the once-a-month, on-site meetings that the majority of people aren’t able to attend. CAPS will work better when we have better modes of communication. The next thing I’d do is co-sponsor with CAPS a series of community forums to explore new and creative solutions and changes to improve CAPS and then begin piloting them.

I will meet regularly with our 24th District Police Commander and his staff to keep assessed of what’s going on in our ward and to help identify new resources and tools for police staffing and crime fighting strategies. High on the list will be my work to encourage assignment of more uniformed officers to “walk the beat” instead of patrolling our ward from inside patrol cars. I’ll also ride the beat with officers and will regularly walk our neighborhoods with citizens in problem areas. I’ll be on the street and engaged first hand with crime in the community. I’ll be the “Beat Alderman” of the 49th Ward.

How would you go about attracting new business to the ward, especially on Morse and Howard streets?

FIRST 100 DAYS

Convene a series of working sessions with community business owners and successful entrepreneurs to create a Chamber of Commerce that is responsive to business development and accountable to our community. I will demand measurable standards and implementation plans to revitalize our retail districts.

Lead community residents in creating a visionary and realistic plan for economic development. This “Plan of Rogers Park” will incorporate elements of numerous plans, some already conceived but never implemented, and successful models from other communities throughout the city.

Collaborate with leaders from neighboring communities to learn from their business recruiting strategies. We will use a wide variety of ideas to create vibrant shopping destinations and fuel economic development with much-needed jobs and opportunities.

Seek assistance and advice from strategic business organizations such as the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce, Illinois Restaurant Association, Illinois Hotel and Lodging Association and the Illinois Retail Merchants Association, to help us develop plans that encourage locally owned businesses and bring in successful retailers from other communities.

FIRST 4 YEARS

Seek public and private funds’ partnerships to build new parking facilities that serve the long-neglected needs of our residents and business customers on Howard Street, Morse Avenue and Clark Street near the Metra stop. This will stimulate local business and attract patrons from outside the neighborhood and city.

Create a Traffic and Parking Task Group to recommend solutions on providing ample parking spaces along our commercial corridors (Howard, Morse, Clark, Jarvis and Sheridan) and assess neighborhood needs for parking on blocks adjacent to these retail districts.

Establish a Glenwood Arts District Advisory Board to recommend solutions for revitalizing the Glenwood Arts District. This group will evaluate infrastructure, streetscaping, work-live housing, development incentives, and zoning to create an arts, music and theatre district from Pratt to Touhy.

Work with our community organizations and businesses to promote Rogers Park as a destination community for the arts and entertainment that we have and develop a marketing program that will focus on drawing patrons from outside of the community to our retail districts.

Personally work with our Chamber of Commerce to recruit new businesses, sponsor regular business roundtables, promote small business development, create living-wage jobs for our residents, implement aggressive solutions to parking problems, and address other factors that impede retail development.

Evaluate how Tax Increment Finance (TIF) and Special Service Area (SSA) revenues are being collected and allocated. We need to guarantee that they benefit revitalization of our retail districts, contribute to balanced housing, fund our neighborhood schools, and stimulate the creation of jobs in the community.

Establish a TIF/SSA Advisory Board that truly represents residents from the entire community. This Board will meet regularly, report regularly to the community and be held accountable to ensure that TIF and SSA funds are used to meet the goals of the community.

Visit Rogers Park businesses on a regular basis to personally assess the condition and needs of our commercial districts. The 49th Ward Community Service Office will maintain staff to be responsive to our needs for retail growth and development.

Create a Business and Commerce Development Desk in our 49th Ward Community Service Office. This desk will be a one-stop site to leverage city government resources, support business development, review business permit applications, and access public and private investment support services.

Create multiple centers of entrepreneurship for small business development that will fuel job growth through training and internships. This will be a cooperative effort of the alderman’s staff, our Chamber of Commerce and other state and local agencies.

Develop a Local First program for Rogers Park, creating incentives for residents to shop locally, merchants to hire locally, and financial institutions to do business locally. Replicate the success of Jarvis Square and the strategy of how Dan Sullivan revitalized one of the worst crime corners in the community.

Rogers Park and Edgewater are often noted for being "diverse" neighborhoods and communities. This is often one of the main reasons many people choose to live here. What does this mean to you and how might you maintain this diversity?

My family and I celebrate the diversity of Rogers Park, where residents of every race, culture, religion, sexual orientation, and economic background live side-by-side. Our community is also blessed with large populations of senior citizens (who have lots of experience to share), students and youth of all ages, immigrants and naturalized citizens, and neighbors who speak a multitude of languages. This means that every day there are opportunities to learn something new.

An important action that demonstrates respect for and helps maintain diversity is to “model” it in our everyday life. That’s why I’m proud that our Citizens To Elect Don Gordon committee is a great volunteer team that reflects the rich diversity of our neighborhood.

I see our diversity as our strength, and it must be nurtured and cared for beyond what we do on a personal level. I will enlist the participation of our churches and community organizations to help promote education about the value of our diversity, and to address problems which exist around racial and economic diversity issues in our community ­ with everything from small roundtable discussions to large town hall meetings.

On a policy level it is clear that an important factor that presents a challenge to diversity is the cost and availability of rental housing in Rogers Park. Elsewhere in this document I address my plan to provide vigorous leadership to maintain and create effectively managed, affordable housing options for our neighbors.

Many of our CTA Red Line stations are quite old and in great need of repair. Would you make this one of your priorities and how would you go about it?

I would make transportation overall a priority in our ward. It is my intent to set up a Transportation Advisory Board that would discuss and recommend solutions for the problems that exist in our ward. This Board would also be an oversight committee for any projects underway (such as the Howard Station) or any future projects undertaken. The Morse “L” station is one such project for which I would champion in the City Council and with the RTA and our state representative, Harry Osterman. Since he sits on the state legislature committee for transportation he is an important resource for getting additional funding for the RTA, which in turn provides the need funds for capital improvements. The current “Moving Beyond Congestion” draft from the RTA shows that they are woefully under-funded for capital improvements and are actually diverting these needed funds to operating expenses. I would work with Representative Osterman to help in any way to champion our cause for renovating both the Morse and Jarvis stations.

However, I would also look at other public transportation issues in our community and ask that our newly created Transportation Advisory Board address. Some, but not all of these issues are:

• Improving the travel time on the Red Line from Rogers Park to downtown stations
• Reviewing the Metra schedule for additional scheduled stops at Lunt to and from downtown
• Investigate a shuttle service from the Metra station at peak hours
• Reassess CTA/RTA bus routes to improve connectivity to the Howard and Morse “L” stations
• Review the possibility of the Evanston Express once again stopping at either Loyola or Morse
• Review the Lunt Avenue bus schedule to make it more convenient to get to the industrial corridor in Lincolnwood and thus make it easier for Rogers Park residents to work there

What is your vision for our cherished lakefront and many parks?

I will make our parks and lakefront a top priority and I will work with the citizens of our community to promote public stewardship so that everyone can be a stakeholder in the "Greening of Rogers Park." I will be a champion of our lakefront to preserve and enhance our beaches, rebuild our piers and promote lakefront activities. Most importantly I will stand with the citizens of our community to deliver a strong message to City Hall that we will not tolerate an extension of Lake Shore Drive, landfills, or marinas on our shoreline because we recognize the beauty and value of our beaches and the possibilities that come from preserving them.

FIRST 100 DAYS

Convene a series of meetings with all of our park advisory council members and the local park supervisors, and park district’s North Region manager and staff to strategize immediate steps that can be taken to improve the condition of the parks and programs that serve our residents. Provide residents with reliable and up-to-date information and meeting schedules related to the parks and lakefront in Rogers Park through our aldermanic website. We’ll use the latest technology available to provide residents every opportunity to participate in dialogue on the issues.

Create a permanent Park and Lakefront Resident Advisory Council to advise on park and lakefront issues, seeking funding sources beyond the Park District, strengthening the Lakefront Protection Ordinance, expanding green space in our community, and preserving the unique character of our lakefront. This will include school principals and LSC members to facilitate a partnership between the parks and the schools.

Seek membership in the City Council’s Parks Committee in order to influence policy and strategy of the Chicago Park District, particularly where it concerns expansion of park space, capital improvements, and enhancing the programs available to our residents.

THE FIRST FOUR YEARS

Focus on lobbying for and securing of Chicago Park District capital budget funding for our community’s parks and beaches that is in line with what other communities receive. Personally attend all of the Chicago Park District annual budget meetings to advocate for increased funding to address the needs of the 49th Ward.

I will visit parks and field houses on a regular basis to personally assess the conditions and programs. My 49th Ward Community Service Center will also track and follow up on issues and suggestions called in by residents.

Convene a Special Task Group to make recommendations on providing ample space and sensible regulations to address the needs of the thousands of residents who own dogs in our community.

Restore the Junior Guard Program at Leone Park to the stature and viability that made it the premier program in the Chicago Park District.

Seek alternative sources of funding from state and federal agencies, organizations that provide funding for parks and bike paths, individual contributions, and fee-based initiatives.

Sponsor 49th Ward Park and Lakefront Planning Forums to identify and prioritize projects and devise an implementation plan, including a review of existing proposals such as those identified in the "Community Needs Assessment" produced by the Rogers Park Conservancy.

Collaborate with key locally based organizations such as Friends of the Park, Alliance for the Great Lakes, and Chicago Wilderness to develop an ongoing partnership and dialogue to benefit our community and inform these organizations of our needs.

Improve the quality of park maintenance and expand program services by meeting regularly with Chicago Park District management. I will be an accessible and active advocate for our advisory councils and park supervisors.

Work with our community organizations and businesses to create a strategy to promote Rogers Park as Chicago’s only beachfront neighborhood and coordinate with local groups to develop a marketing program that leverages this unique characteristic.

The 49th ward has no major medical facility. Do you think this problematic? If so how would you work to bring such a basic service to our community?

I believe this is an issue that needs to be addressed by our Cook County commissioner, Larry Suffredin. I will be more than happy to offer my assistance in any way to secure a facility in the Rogers Park area, though I don’t believe it necessarily has to be in the community. As long as it’s close ­ West Ridge or Edgewater ­ and easily accessible by public transportation, then I believe we will address the problem. However, I would strongly advocate that we address the issue of AIDS/HIV and the high level of infection here in Rogers Park compared to other communities. Any health facility must pay special attention to this issue.

 

 

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