43rd Ward Candidate

All five candidates for Alderman were invited. While this date worked on Alderman Daley’s schedule in early January, she had two conflicts and informed LAC through a letter on Friday, February 9 that she would not be attending. The ground rules agreed upon by the planning team did not allow for written statements or presentations by representatives. The notes below represent the responses of the candidates present at the forum.

Prepared Question	Tim Egan	Rachel Goodstein	Michele Smith	Peter Zelchenko
Tell us a story of a situation where you took a leadership stand that was unpopular. What did you learn from that experience that will help you as Alderman of the 43^rd ward? You have two minutes to respond.
Please respond yes or no as to whether you think enough is being done in the 43rd ward to support and provide for the homeless. Then please give us a two-minute answer to this question: What do you envision as the ward's role in the City's Plan to End Homelessness, and how do you plan to engage the community to participate?	No. Lincoln Park has good programs, homeless need more access to treatment programs	No. Need to think creatively to deal with homelessness, in and outside of community	Yes. She would have settled shelter dispute quickly. Need to end homelessness through prevention, treatment and permanent housing	No. Would have granted shelter special use permit immediately. Need more money citywide to deal with homeless issue
Do you support amending the 2007 City Budget and allocating $3 million to return para transit fares to the mainline service price of $1.75? Please respond with a Yes or No.	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Do you support a living wage law that would require mega-retailers like Wal-Mart to pay workers a living wage of at least $10 an hour with basic health benefits? What would you do to encourage large retailers to offer a living wage for the working families of Chicago? You have 1 minute to respond, and please start with a yes or no.	Yes. Need to legislate provision of healthcare	Yes. Maybe offer incentives to corporations. Costco offers a living wage and healthcare, so it’s possible	Yes. Better for businesses b/c other businesses don’t have to subsidize those who don’t provide living wage and healthcare	Yes. Need to improve wage situation in city
Will you work with tenants of the 43rd ward to ensure that Commonwealth Apartments and other buildings like it remain affordable and how will you do it? You have 1 minute to respond, and please start with a yes or no.	Yes. Everyone needs to be able to live in the City	Yes. Would work for more state money and work with HUD for preservation	Yes. Would advocate with neighbors and help owners overcome obstacles to keep housing for young working people and elderly	Yes. Need more affordable housing in Lincoln Park, need to increase funding for Low Income Housing Trust Fund, tax incentives, etc

Prepared Question	Tim Egan	Rachel Goodstein	Michele Smith	Peter Zelchenko
Mayor Daley’s current affordable housing proposal calls for a 10% set aside for certain developments. These set asides would be targeted to people at 100% or less of the Area Median Income or AMI, which is about $75,000 per year for a family of four. We are calling for two amendments to this proposal. The first calls for the percentage to be increased to 15% for city land purchases and planned developments, and 20% for properties given density increases or when zoning is switched from non-residential to residential. The second allows the set asides for families at 80% or less of the AMI. Do you support the mayor's proposal with those two amendments? Please respond with a yes or no.	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
You have 1 minute to respond to this questions. Would you as alderman institute a ward wide affordable housing set aside that is stronger than the Mayor’s proposal? If yes, please describe that policy. If no, what would you do to encourage the development of more affordable housing in the community? You have 1 minute to respond, and please start with a yes or no.	Would tie in lieu of fee to square footage of unit to generate more funding	She would support at least 20% set aside. She would have a “State of the Ward” discussion about affordable housing. Have developers put money in fund for affordable housing	Would call for set asides when density increases	Would institute 20% across the board affordable to 80% AMI
The City of Chicago could commit more local resources to dealing with the affordable housing crises in Chicago. As 43^rd ward alderman would you play a leadership role in securing $250 million a year in city funding for creation and preservation of affordable housing? Please respond with a yes or no.	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Would you, as alderman of the 43^rd ward, ensure that the re-development of Children’s Memorial is balanced, offering a variety of retail opportunities, and housing that is affordable to people at all income levels, including low income and working class households? How would you do that?	Yes. Supports mixed use, fair and transparent process, expects Children’s to be involved in plan	Yes. Would want traffic studies, ward wide assessment, transparent process. Expects mixed use residential, retail, maybe a hotel.	Yes. Should be a model for new urbanism, inclusive process, does not want high density, high rise development.	Yes. Would revive ward assembly. Would want to see affordable housing, more public services, parking.