What I Am Fighting For

Development That Delivers For Residents

The 27th Ward is in the middle of one of the biggest development booms in Chicago - the $7 billion 1901 Project around the United Center, the new Bally's casino in River West, and Fulton Market's continued ascendance as the city's most coveted luxury address. But ride the Madison bus across this ward and you'll pass neighborhoods full of families who have been here for generations, who have watched luxury apartment buildings and corporate headquarters rise in the West Loop, and who are still waiting for any of it to show up on their block.

Growth isn't the problem. Who benefits from it is. Tax breaks for billionaire developers come fast. Affordable housing and real jobs for the people already here get pushed to "later phases" which, in this ward, too often means never.

I'm not anti-development. I am pro-resident. Here's what that means in practice:

• Tie every developer tax break to binding community benefits.If a developer wants a property tax incentive from the city, the affordable housing, local hiring, and minority contracting commitments come in Phase 1, not Phase 7. I'll require these commitments to be written into legally binding community benefits agreements before any zoning approval or tax incentive receives my support.
• Connect residents and small businesses to the wealth this ward is generating.Major development brings money, jobs, and contracts, but too often that wealth flows to firms and workers from outside the ward. I'll establish a ward-level small business navigator to connect local businesses to city financing programs, grant opportunities, and contracting requirements. I'll also work with every major developer to ensure that apprenticeship and union opportunities created by new construction are actively recruited from 27th Ward residents.
• Use the alderman's zoning power on the record, not behind closed doors.I'll work with each neighborhood to publish clear, community informed public criteria for what gets approved. Too often this discretion benefits campaign donors and those who are friendly with politicians. I seek to end this type of corruption.
• Make it faster and cheaper to build affordable housing.Chicago's building code and permitting process makes it uniquely expensive to build - from outdated elevator and stairway mandates to requirements like granite countertops on affordable units. I'll push to cut the red tape that drives up costs without sacrificing quality.
• Publish monthly Tax Incremental Financing (TIF) transparency reports.This ward sits inside multiple TIF districts, yet residents have no easy way to know how that money is being spent or who is benefiting. I'll publish monthly public reports on every TIF dollar collected and spent in the 27th Ward, with community input into how future dollars are prioritized. No more back-room deals.
• Bring real grocery access back to the west side.Parts of this ward have gone years without a functioning grocery store. I'll require fresh food retail as a binding condition of community benefits agreements on major ward developments, use available public financing to offset costs for grocers willing to open in underserved blocks, and work with the city to make vacant city-owned land available at reduced cost to grocery operators and community food cooperatives.
• Finish the job on the Green Line.The Damen stop took seven years and ran 60% over budget and it was built where developers needed it, not where residents wanted it.^[1] Western is the second highest-volume bus corridor in the city^[2] and has $400 million in TIF funds already available. I'll make it a day-one priority.
• Treat climate change as the West Side emergency it has already become.Climate change is no longer a future threat, it's a West Side reality. In 2023, a storm dumped 8 to 9 inches of rain over the West Side in a single day, flooding tens of thousands of homes.^[3] This July 4th, the Deep Tunnel reservoir system reached unprecedented capacity.^[4] On a 90-degree day, the urban heat island effect makes West Side blocks feel 8 degrees hotter than surrounding areas, driving up energy costs and heat-related illness.^[5] While the city just invested $12 million in underground stormwater storage in the 28th, 29th, and 37th wards to combat flooding, the 27th Ward was not included in that investment.^[6] I'll fight for our place in the next phase of West Side climate infrastructure as binding conditions of every major development approved in this ward. Climate change isn't coming to the West Side. It's already here.