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

Because of what I do for a living and where I live, I have to drive. When I lived in the city, I used public transportation, walked, and drove.

What are some transportation challenges in your district?

Poor walking, biking, and “last-mile” infrastructure, transit deserts, gaps in public transit service, freight/rail interference, and gaps in transit programs

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?

Cook County should play a much stronger role coordinating our transportation network. We don’t experience streets by jurisdiction. We experience them as places that make up the community around us. The County should ensure those streets meet consistent standards for safety and mobility.

The County should push all jurisdictions toward modern, people-centered street design using our planning and funding powers. That means prioritizing sidewalks, protected bike lanes, safe crossings, and traffic calming, especially in areas with high crash rates.

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

First, the County should coordinate regional planning so that bikeshare expansion is driven by where people actually travel, not by arbitrary jurisdictional boundaries. That means making sure municipalities adopt shared standards and maps so riders experience a single, coherent system.

Second, the County should push expansion to areas that private operators are less likely to serve, especially lower-income communities and suburbs with fewer mobility options. This could include grants for stations, support for e-bike fleets, and coordinated contracts that let multiple towns participate in one unified system.

Finally, the County should partner with transit agencies to integrate bikeshare into the broader transportation network with better station placement, safer connections, and low-cost or discounted memberships for residents who rely on it most.

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

Commissioners can play an important role in securing the resources needed for transportation projects. First, we can actively pursue state and federal grants by working with county staff to identify priority corridors and advocating with agencies like IDOT, CMAP, and the U.S. Department of Transportation. Commissioners can also help create stable local revenue streams by supporting budgets and policies that dedicate county dollars to sidewalks, bike lanes, transit access, and traffic calming. Predictable local funding helps unlock matching dollars from state and federal partners. Lastly, Commissioners can use their relationships with municipalities to build coalitions around shared projects. I have a strong relationship with nearly every mayor in my district, and I’ll be able to work with them to get local support for projects. When towns coordinate their plans and speak with one voice, the County has a stronger case for outside funding and can deliver larger, more connected improvements. I am currently on the Alsip- Bicycle & Pedestrian Plan Steering Committee.

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 Fair Transit South Cook pilot showed that the County can step in where traditional transit funding falls short, and I want to build on that. I want to expand partnerships with Metra and Pace to improve frequency, reduce fares in transit-dependent communities, and strengthen connections to job centers.

I also support using county resources to pilot new ideas such as on-demand microtransit in areas with limited service, safer first- and last-mile connections to transit stations, and coordinated bikeshare and e-bike programs that cross municipal boundaries. The County can also ensure that walking, biking, and transit are built into every project rather than added later. My goal is for Cook County to keep pushing for a transportation system that is safer, more reliable, more affordable, and designed around how people actually move in their daily lives.