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

I use a mix of transportation, but most days I’m on foot with my toddler, walking to parks, the grocery store, and around our neighborhood. My son loves riding CTA buses and trains, so we take transit often, both for errands and to explore the city. I also bike regularly for both transportation and recreation (as a triathlete). My everyday transportation use has shown me how much we need safer crossings, more reliable buses, protected bike lanes, and transit access that works for everyone, especially families, seniors, and people with disabilities.

What are some transportation challenges in your district?

In the 12th District, we face a lot of the same transportation challenges that folks all over Chicago face: bus service is often slow and unreliable because of congestion on our streets and the absence of dedicated lanes; major intersections and corridors pose real dangers for seniors, transit riders, and families walking with small children; bike lanes are inconsistent, unprotected or not plowed; and we have accessibility gaps. On top of that, dangerous driving behavior (I can’t even begin to talk about how bad this has become!) like speeding and entirely ignoring crosswalks and stop signs has made walking and biking feel unsafe and stressful. We want to walk, roll, and take transit, and need the streets and infrastructure to make that consistently safer and easier.

The Illinois Department of Transportation (“IDOT”) plays a significant role in transportation throughout the state, in Chicago, and Cook County. What is your opinion on their role with the Chicago Department of Transportation, Cook County Department of Transportation and Highways, local communities, and the impact that has?

IIDOT has a huge impact on Chicago’s streets, but too often it prioritizes moving cars quickly instead of making transit and biking reliable options. I believe IDOT needs to be on the same page as CDOT and Cook County, working toward the goals Chicagoans actually care about: fewer traffic deaths, faster and more dependable buses, protected bike lanes, accessible sidewalks and stations, and streets that reflect our climate goals. And the General Assembly should hold IDOT to those expectations.

How do you view the Illinois General Assembly’s role in setting IDOT’s priorities for public transit, passenger rail, and strengthening accessibility in transportation?

The General Assembly has a major role in shaping how IDOT operates, because legislators define what the agency must measure, prioritize, and fund. We should be steering IDOT toward modern mobility by requiring equitable and climate-aligned funding formulas, transit and safety first performance metrics, and making accessibility and ADA compliance a priority. IDOT has to move beyond a car-dominant approach and invest in reliable transit, protected bike infrastructure, safer crossings, and designs that work for every resident.

States like Colorado, Minnesota, Virginia have passed legislation that has shifted their transportation infrastructure spending towards projects that prioritize safety, transit and cycling, and greenhouse gas mitigation. What’s your position on Illinois’ current transportation infrastructure spending, and if you could change anything, what would it be?

Illinois continues to spend disproportionately on highway expansion even though decades of evidence show that widening roads rarely relieves congestion, worsens emissions, and increases safety risks for people walking and biking. We need to rebalance our transportation investments toward projects that actually improve mobility and quality of life. I support shifting state spending to prioritize transit, walking, and biking infrastructure; requiring carbon-reduction, safety, and equity scoring for major projects; and scrutinizing any capacity-expanding highway proposals to ensure they don’t undermine climate goals or community safety. State dollars should strengthen CTA, Metra, and Pace reliability, build out protected bike networks and accessible sidewalks, and advance corridor projects that make our streets safer and more usable for everyone.

This fall, the Illinois General Assembly passed a historic investment in transit operations – as well as significant governance reforms in the establishment of the Northern Illinois Transit Authority. How do you view the Assembly’s role in ensuring both the short- and long-term success of this legislation?

The invest, reforms, and establishment of the Northern Illinois Transit Authority is a once-in-a-generation chance to stabilize and modernize our transit system, and the General Assembly has a central role in making sure it succeeds in both the short and long term. That means securing stable and predictable operating funding, implementing governance reforms that strengthen transparency and rider responsiveness, and ensuring that future capital investments prioritize accessibility, speed, and reliability across CTA, Metra, and Pace. The Assembly must also require climate-aligned planning and hold agencies accountable for delivering improvements that riders can see and feel.

What is your position on investing to expand passenger rail service in Illinois, including the development of high-speed rail?

Illinois should absolutely expand passenger rail. Fast, frequent rail service reduces emissions, eases congestion, and strengthens economic connections across the region. I support increasing Amtrak frequencies, pursuing federal partnerships to build high-speed and higher-speed rail, and modernizing stations so they’re fully ADA-accessible. We need clear climate, equity, and economic goals for this, but if done correctly, it can be essential to connecting people to opportunity and driving economic growth here in our state.

Federal funding for Illinois transportation projects – such as the Red Line Extension and Red-Purple Modernization projects – has come under threat from the Trump administration. How can legislators shore up funding for critical infrastructure projects under a hostile federal climate?

To safeguard transformative projects like the Red Line Extension in an unpredictable federal environment, the General Assembly must build durable state-level support. That includes creating reliable state backstops if federal dollars stall, adopting transportation-aligned progressive revenue options, such as congestion pricing with equity protections, luxury-vehicle registration fees, or assessments on large private parking facilities, and leveraging state bonding tied to climate and mobility goals. The Red Line Extension is a LONG overdue civil rights and economic investment for the South Side, and Illinois should ensure it moves forward regardless of federal headwinds.