- List in order of importance the five most crucial/important issues facing the residents of the 49th ward.
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Ranking issues in Rogers Park is challenging because our community needs to tackle all of these to achieve lasting progress. But here goes:
- Displacement and loss of diversity
- Crime
- Development of a Comprehensive Business Development Plan
- Poverty Remediation, which includes education, health care, and employment.
- Community Health
- What is your strategy for encouraging residential ownership while
maintaining affordable housing?
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The landmark Lakeside CDC report has detailed the large-scale displacement of minority families as condo developers cherry pick lucrative opportunities from Rogers Park’s housing stock. Also, rental stock in older buildings has been allowed to decay and continues to be a hazard.
To move forward, I cannot accept contributions from developers because I believe that the Alderman’s office must represent the working people of this community. Taking hundreds of thousands of dollars from one business group appears to favor one interest over others who do not have the ability to pay.
Ownership is good, and it must include a buying pool that is racially balanced. If any community in America can meet this challenge, it is Rogers Park. Also, renters make up a substantial portion of our community, and must be protected from displacement if Rogers Park is to continue attracting people who are committed to the arts, are students and others for whom owning a home is not practical.
Finally, a comprehensive plan has to be developed to guide our future housing choices. Assembling this plan will be a critical first step in ensuring economic and racial diversity. What is certain and indispensable is leadership and my commitment to a diverse and essentially fair system.
- What is your strategy for reducing crime in the 49th ward?
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Much of our crime stems from poverty related issues. Effective policy decisions that deal with long term quality of life issues are absolutely necessary for any successful crime prevention program.
- Rogers Park’s CAPS program needs to be returned to the problem solving format outlined by the Chicago Police Department. Bringing back the five step process and training people in its use will help find answers to specific problems and allow us to follow up on results.
- A Boys and Girls Club of America needs to be built in Rogers Park. Boys and Girls Clubs are proven support systems for at- risk children and build self-esteem, hope, and connection within communities. Offering proactive alternatives to children before they become involved with gangs will be one of my biggest anti-crime priorities.
- I also wish to hold town hall meetings a couple of times a year to hear resident’s views of our progress.
- How would you go about attracting new business to the ward, especially on Morse and Howard streets?
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My RP 2012 Plan, in conjunction with aggressive poverty remediation strategies will design and implement the comprehensive business revival this neighborhood has been waiting for. (The whole plan is explained on my website, www.jimgrp.com)
RP 2012 consists of five simple steps in which we survey the ward, determine what we lack, and go out and actively recruit desired businesses. For this to work the environment has to be such that business can thrive, which is another reason it is important to have safe places for young people to hang out other than street corners.
There is no question that Rogers Park residents shop elsewhere. The key to ramping up local resources is to express Rogers Park’s small town sense of intimacy through business that reflects the character of our diverse neighborhood. This is a truly unique and attractive community. When our business districts fully reflect those qualities and feel safe, people from other neighborhoods will want to join us in shopping here.
- 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?
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One measure of our diverse community is how we define success. Simply seeing clusters of people of different ethnicities at the beach in the summer doesn’t mean that all of Rogers Park has overcome barriers to education, housing, and employment accomplishment. Things like public schools that wealthy residents refuse to send their children to tell us we have much to do here.
For a sustainable, interconnected space to exist, we have to listen carefully. Whether the issue is crime, business development, or housing, each economic and racial group must seek answers together in order to include the entire community in our future.
In no area is committed local leadership more important than this, and I will honor that by actively seeking the input of us all.
- 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?
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The CTA’s 2007 budget is short 110 million dollars. The CTA is relying upon State of Illinois funds to balance its budget and has threatened 30% in unspecified service cuts if these funds are not provided.
These issues are relevant when considering upgrades of dilapidated CTA stations. Although the incumbent insists that the Howard El Project is somehow his doing, nothing could be further from the truth. These projects get done as the CTA prioritizes and can afford them. In the coming years State-mandated pension funding obligations will be very challenging for CTA to meet, and the first likely casualty will be capital improvements.
Jarvis and Lunt Avenue stations both need rebuilding. Until the CTA has funds for this, I will push to at least re- paint stations and viaducts in a manner that is appropriate for the greatest arts community in Chicago. Also, it makes sense to explore an overnight guard for Jarvis to keep the station from continuing to be used as a bathroom. (Jarvis was recently cited in the Redeye for its urine smell and pools of mysterious liquids, something we are all too familiar with.)
The bottom line on CTA stations is that we should do what we can locally until the money is there for major improvements.
- What is your vision for our cherished lakefront and many parks?
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My vision for the lakefront is to ultimately see it land marked as the unique urban beach structure it is.
Harbors, like the one I blew the whistle on a couple years ago are a rightly unpopular idea.
A solid management plan for the Sheridan Road Throughway is our best defense against downtown proposals for alternatives that might compromise the beaches. An actual Lakeshore Drive Extension would be prohibitively expensive, and can be further deterred by efficient traffic flow on Sheridan Road.
Other important things include better maintenance and programs, duties that are handled by the park district. I will insist on a few basic improvements each year and get things done at a steady pace.
- 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?
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A major medical facility such as a hospital is not practical. However, better access to current facilities is of critical importance. For example, trauma cases are currently routed to Illinois Masonic Hospital, which is ten to fifteen minutes farther than St. Francis Hospital, depending on traffic conditions. In a serious trauma case, those minutes can be fatal and I will use my office to work to see this deplorable situation changed.
What is needed at the aldermanic level is a genuine commitment to meet the needs of the uninsured, who number about 20,000 in Rogers Park. This means working poor families, earning too much to qualify for Medicaid making regular visits to doctors as often as people in wealthier neighborhoods.
To this end, I started the Neighbors for a Healthy Rogers Park (NHRP, whose website is www.healthyrp.org), which obtained funding for a Needs Assessment that exposed an extraordinarily unhealthy community. Much of this has been ignored by not studying the need and pretending it doesn’t exist. That must change.
The coalition of groups and elected officials NHRP assembled spent ten months developing a proposal to build a Heartland Health International facility in Rogers Park. I am grateful to say that this grant has been applied for. Due to our extreme need it is a strong application with a very high likelihood of being approved by the Department of Human Services.
Developing adequate community health resources, combined with better access to Cook County specialist services is the best way to begin working on local health issues.
My ideas are explained in greater detail on my website, www.jimgrp.com.
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