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

My relationship with transportation has changed throughout my life, and every chapter has shaped my understanding of what a safe and accessible system should be.

When I was a child and my mom had just left my dad, we relied entirely on public transportation, especially the bus. I remember sitting next to her, happy just to share those rides, watching the city through the windows as we rebuilt our lives. When she eventually purchased a car, it felt like a new level of stability, but I never forgot how essential and life-changing transit was for us in those years.

When I first started high school, taking public transportation alone became a major emotional moment for my mom. She worried about my safety, whether my shoes would stay dry through the winter slush, and whether unreliable service would cause me to be late. Those worries taught me that reliability and safety are not abstract ideas. They shape how families function and how young people access opportunity.

In college I relied entirely on buses and trains again. I did not learn to drive until much later in life, so public transit was my pathway to work, school and community. I appreciated how mobile the city allowed me to be, but I also experienced the limitations of a system that makes travel outside Chicago slow and difficult. This taught me the importance of regional connectivity for equity and economic mobility.

Today, during an average week, I drive, I walk, I use shared ride services and I walk my dogs throughout District 1. I regularly visit families, check in at community events and support newcomer households. Walking my neighborhood gives me a close view of missing curb ramps, narrow sidewalks and dangerous intersections. Sometimes I see my own students waiting for the bus in freezing weather because their families rely on transit the same way mine once did.

Transportation is also part of my family’s daily life. My brother used to make deliveries on his bike across the Southwest Side. My partner often uses skating as a primary mode of travel. These experiences remind me that our streets must work for everyone: walkers, cyclists, skaters, drivers, transit riders, delivery workers and families.

All of these moments shape my belief that transportation must be safe, accessible, reliable and designed for the full spectrum of our community’s needs.

What are some transportation challenges in your district?

District 1 faces some of the highest crash concentrations in all of Chicago. According to the City of Chicago’s official Traffic Crashes dataset at https://data.cityofchicago.org, the map of crashes across Archer Heights, Brighton Park, Gage Park, West Lawn and Chicago Lawn is densely covered in orange markers, especially along Archer Avenue, Western Boulevard, Kedzie Avenue, 63rd Street and 59th Street. These patterns confirm what residents have been saying for years. These are some of the most dangerous corridors in the city.

In Archer Heights and Brighton Park the Archer and Pulaski intersection is a major danger zone for Curie High School students. In Gage Park and West Lawn the intersections of 63rd and Kedzie and 59th and Western have some of the highest crash frequencies on the South and Southwest Sides. Families walking to Nightingale Elementary, Gage Park High School, Carson Elementary and Edwards Elementary navigate unsafe crossings daily.

Along Western between 49th and 52nd seniors cross to reach housing buildings, pharmacies, grocery stores and the Archer Heights Library without adequate protection. Heavy truck traffic from Pulaski, Cicero and nearby rail corridors spills into residential streets where children walk to school or to local parks like Gage Park, McKinley Park and Senka Park.

Residents from the 14th Ward and the portions of the 15th, 16th, 22nd, 23rd and 11th Wards that make up District 1 repeatedly raise the same concerns: speeding vehicles, dangerous cut through traffic and large trucks using neighborhood streets as shortcuts. Our community deserves infrastructure that allows families to use their streets safely.

Illinois' District 1 needs representation in Springfield that is going to show up every day, stay until the job is completed and fight to ensure residents’ voices are being heard, not corporate dollars.

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?

IDOT, CDOT and the Cook County Department of Transportation and Highways each bring important expertise and capacity to our transportation system. When these agencies collaborate closely, align their planning and coordinate their funding, communities like Archer Heights, Gage Park, Chicago Lawn and Brighton Park experience tangible benefits.

Strong collaboration means that state-level data and long-range planning align with city-level implementation and county-level regional strategies. It also means uplifting the voices of residents who walk across high-risk intersections every day and rely on buses along 63rd, Archer, Kedzie and Western. When all levels of government work together, high crash areas receive the timely, equitable improvements they deserve.

Deepened partnership between these agencies is a win for everyone, especially the families in District 1 who need safer, more reliable transportation options.

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 responsibility to ensure that IDOT’s priorities reflect the lived realities of working families. In District 1 students cross dangerous corridors to reach schools like Curie, Edwards, Carson, Nightingale and Gage Park High School. Newcomer families and parents pushing strollers walk along sidewalks that are cracked, uneven or missing altogether. Seniors rely on accessible bus routes and smooth sidewalks to reach pharmacies, grocery stores and medical care.

The General Assembly should set priorities that:

• strengthen transit reliability,

• expand paratransit capacity,

• redesign dangerous intersections and corridors,

• ensure ADA-compliant sidewalks and curb ramps, and

• incorporate community voice into every stage of planning.

Transportation is not just about how we move. It is about whether families can access work, education, healthcare and community life with safety and dignity.

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?

States like Colorado, Minnesota and Virginia have passed legislation that fundamentally reshapes transportation spending. Colorado’s HB22-1022 requires transportation investments to reduce greenhouse gases by prioritizing transit, pedestrian improvements and bike networks. Minnesota’s Infrastructure Investment Package directs billions toward transit expansion, safe routes to school, climate resilience and traffic calming. Virginia’s Smart Scale Program ranks projects by safety and congestion reduction rather than by default highway expansion.

Illinois has taken important steps with Rebuild Illinois, but high crash districts like ours need more targeted investments in safety, transit reliability and environmental health.

The major state projects underway already bring direct benefits to District 1.

• The CREATE GS9 grade separation at Archer reduces idling and traffic delays, lowering air pollution for children in Archer Heights and Brighton Park where asthma rates are high.

• The CREATE P2 Rock Island Connection reduces freight congestion that often spills onto surface streets in Gage Park, Chicago Lawn and West Lawn and improves Metra reliability for workers.

These projects matter because they reduce environmental burdens and make our streets safer for students walking to Curie High School, Edwards Elementary, Carson Elementary, Stevenson Elementary, Nightingale Elementary and Gage Park High School.

I also support redesigning Western Boulevard between Bross and 33rd, improving safety at Archer and Pulaski, reducing noise and vibration for residents living near rail corridors, addressing aircraft noise near Midway, advancing IMAN’s Go Green on Racine to reopen the Racine Green Line stop and expanding safe routes to school across the district.

A transportation budget rooted in safety, equity and climate resilience is essential for our district’s long-term health and opportunity.

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?

Investing in transit is investing directly in families and communities. Reliable and frequent service on routes like 63rd, Archer, Kedzie and Western determines whether people can reach childcare, school, work, college and healthcare with dignity. When transit works, seniors can travel independently, teenagers can reach after-school programs safely and workers can commute without fear of missed shifts or unreliable schedules.

The General Assembly must ensure that operating dollars remain stable, transparent and aligned with rider needs. Long-term success requires predictable funding for service improvements, strong oversight, and support for the transit workers who keep the system running. When transit thrives, economic mobility increases and entire neighborhoods benefit.

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

I strongly support expanding passenger rail including high speed rail because improving one mode of transportation strengthens all others. Rail expansion creates cleaner air, more reliable regional travel and new opportunities for families across the state.

High speed and expanded passenger rail would:

• give downstate families faster access to Chicago’s hospitals, universities and job centers,

• give Chicago residents easier access to jobs and educational pathways across Illinois,

• reduce truck congestion on highways that run through neighborhoods like Archer Heights and Gage Park,

• cut carbon emissions and improve air quality,

• create thousands of good union jobs, and

• make statewide travel more predictable and affordable.

Because no transportation mode exists in isolation, expanding reliable rail service also reduces the need for large parking lots and garages. This frees space for housing, parks and community infrastructure in cities across Illinois.

For District 1, which sits between major freight corridors and heavy truck routes, expanding rail is an investment in safety, health and long-term community prosperity.

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?

Illinois can safeguard transportation investment by securing reliable state revenue sources that are not dependent on federal politics.

• Digital advertising tax: Ensures that large technology companies benefiting from Illinois users contribute to the infrastructure that supports their economic activity.

• Closing corporate loopholes: Prevents large corporations with complex tax structures from avoiding their responsibility to fund public infrastructure that workers and customers depend on.

• Wealth gains tax: Ensures that billionaires contribute meaningfully to the public systems that sustain statewide economic growth.

• Millionaire’s tax: Provides revenue tied to ability to pay so that working families are not burdened.

• Revisiting a Fair Tax model: With stronger protections and transparent allocation, Illinois can create a stable revenue system that supports long-term transit and infrastructure investment.

Protecting funding is not only a matter of revenue. It is also about accountability. Illinois must ensure that elected officials act in the interest of the people they serve and not in the interest of corporate donors. This includes supporting candidates and leaders who refuse corporate money, who center community needs and who fight for equitable, people-focused transportation systems.

These measures help protect projects like the Red Line Extension, the Red Purple Modernization, CREATE freight improvements and statewide rail upgrades so Illinois continues building safe, modern and accessible transportation systems for all.