What types of transportation do you use during an average week, and how has this shaped your view of transportation policy?

I walk, bike, and use transit throughout the week. I personally don’t own a car, and I love living in a city that has made it easy not to. The way I use transportation has shaped my view of how misguided transportation policy choices have been in the age of the automobile. It’s a broken set of values that prioritizes space and convenience for cars above space, convenience, and safety for people. Even in my well-resourced, transit-rich neighborhood, I've dealt with inadequate infrastructure that causes close calls while cycling, unreliable bus service that makes commutes unpredictable, and streets that prioritize car throughput over pedestrian safety. I love cities, and I think that the purpose of a city is to connect people, and transportation is one of the most important parts of connecting a city.

What are some transportation challenges in your district?

District 10 includes much of the northern lakefront, and a long stretch of neighborhoods West from Edgewater to the city limits, and some of Norwood Park. There are huge disparities within the district of how well served neighborhoods are by transit, and how safe and accessible sidewalks and bike infrastructure are. In some of the far Northwestern parts of the district, around the Cumberland or Harlem Blue Line Stations, sidewalks in neighborhoods may end without warning, and bike infrastructure is extremely scarce. For many with restricted mobility, it would be nearly impossible to take a direct route on sidewalks to a transit station like the Cumberland or Harlem Blue Line for example. District-wide, we need safer infrastructure to shorten crossing distances, protect paths for cyclists, raise crosswalks, and calm vehicle speeds. We also need higher-frequency transit service. Wait times for transfers add huge variability for trips, and more frequent service will reduce those wait times, making the system easier to use. In District 10 and across the whole city, snow on sidewalks poses a transportation and safety challenge. Roads are dozens of feet wide, and sidewalks are just a few feet wide. If we can plow the roads, we need to be plowing the sidewalks too. Lastly, Cook County has jurisdiction over much of Ashland and Western within district 10, both of which pose serious safety issues for any mode of transportation.

Cook County residents often find their local roadways fall under multiple different jurisdictions and standards. How do you view the County’s role in ensuring consistent, safe, and accessible transportation for constituents?

I believe in transportation policy that gives people multiple safe, accessible, and convenient ways to be connected to all of the places they work, shop, socialize, and live their lives. I will make the ethical choice to serve full-time as a County Commissioner, and that’s important to my future effectiveness on transportation policy. By serving full-time, I will have the capacity to act as a convener for the multiple levels of government that need to collaborate to fully realize the benefits of improvements to policy and infrastructure. I will push my colleagues in other levels of government to improve transit funding, implement complete streets and vision zero policies, implement BRT, and to coordinate improvements on projects that involve the jurisdiction of multiple levels of government. Many of Cook County’s smaller municipalities have small planning departments with low capacity to take on large projects. I will push the Cook County government to build in-house planning capacity so that smaller municipalities can benefit from its larger scale, as well as develop sample language for municipalities to adopt stronger transportation policies. Both of these measures will remove barriers for municipalities to develop better, safer, transportation systems. Fragmented jurisdictions shouldn't mean fragmented safety, and residents crossing municipal boundaries deserve the same level of protection everywhere in Cook County.

What can Cook County do to stabilize and expand access to bikeshare programs that span municipalities?

I use bikeshare programs myself. The experience of bikeshare users should be seamless as they cross municipal boundaries in Cook County. I will promote the geographical expansion of rideshare programs by offering incentives to municipalities to adopt bikeshare programs. We have seen rideshare implementation struggle in municipalities like Oak Park, so I plan to again bolster Cook County’s planning capacity to leverage that to support municipalities with implementation. I will also support the creation of new docks in existing networks, particularly within County right-of-way. For accessibility, I would like to see a unified system that lets riders pay for Divvy bikeshare, Forest Preserve bikeshare, and other systems all using the same platform. Bikeshare is a critical form of transportation, and I will introduce legislation to expand the Access Pilot Program to cover bikeshare, as well as other transit modes I’ll address in this questionnaire.

What role can the County play in bringing funding sources and revenue streams to county transportation projects?

I’m proposing to lower the tax burden on residents by collecting additional revenue from vacant land. This will be done by increasing the tax assessment level on vacant land, which is set by the Cook County board. That provides a great opportunity to direct additional revenue to transportation projects. We can make better use of existing funding by directing more funding to improvements that allow people to travel without using cars, thus lowering the amount of traffic and making road maintenance more affordable. My mission is to lower costs and improve quality of life across Cook County, and I’m going to use the full power of the office to do that. In addition to diligently fulfilling the formal responsibilities of my office, I will push my colleagues in other levels of government to make good policy, including progressive revenue. I will collaborate with the state to extend Cook County sales tax to corporate services, so that additional sales tax revenue can be raised in a way that is well-proven in other states. Cook County is in a position to cross-fund transportation improvements with other levels of government. For example, the MWRD has a vested interest in green spaces for drainage, which presents an opportunity for collaboration. This overlaps with good transportation policy, and Cook County could cross-fund bioswale curb bumpouts with the MWRD.

Cook County has a history of innovating access to public services, including public transit – such as the Fair Transit South Cook pilot. As commissioner, what are ways you envision the County innovating on transportation?

The Access Pilot Program (Formerly Fair Transit South Cook) is a great program for equity in transportation. I will introduce legislation and collaborate with the RTA to make it even better by expanding it to cover CTA, Pace, and Divvy bikeshare in addition to METRA. This will be especially important as departments shift during the upcoming transition to a unified transit system under state law. I will also promote the expansion of the pilot group to include seniors and students on top of the current pilot group of SNAP recipients. In Chicago and Cook County, we are behind cities that we have no business being behind when it comes to innovations like BRT. I will promote the implementation of BRT, especially on key county roads and highways. Accessibility is a critical part of our transportation system. One of the most accessibility-friendly approaches that Cook County can take is to maximize the remote availability of services. Accessing services in person can be difficult, whether due to accessibility, scheduling, or lately, the fear of being targeted by Federal troops when leaving home. Whenever possible, Cook County needs to offer services to be available remotely, including most court appearances.