The Wednesday Journal sent questionnaires to each person running for public office in 2025. The Journal’s questions are in bold and the candidate’s responses are below.
Political experience
I am a first time candidate. My political background is in advocacy and organizing.
Community experience
I have been the lead of our local Oak Park-Austin Area Moms Demand Action group for the past 8 years. I’m active as a parent volunteer at Hatch Elementary School activities, as well as in the mutual aid efforts supporting our new neighbors.
In light of recent incidents of gun violence in Oak Park, how do you plan to prevent gun violence and promote safety?
I will build on my record of gun violence prevention work by insisting on a public health response to this crisis. As a mom, I will never accept that we have allowed gun violence to be the leading cause of death for children in this country. I refuse to be desensitized and accept it as normal. The IPLAN identifies gun violence as one of the Village’s 4 strategic priorities, yet many of the strategies were not implemented. As such, I am committed to our public education campaigns, supporting survivors and those most at risk of exposure to gun violence, and to engaging regionally with broader policy efforts. We must address root causes, and do so collaboratively across municipal agencies and neighboring communities, as gun violence doesn’t begin and end at our borders.
Have the combined levies of Oak Park taxing bodies pushed taxpayers to a point of property tax saturation? What should the response of the village board be to control property tax levels?
Oak Park should be an affordable place to live for anyone-no matter what you look like or where you come from. High taxes remain a barrier to the racial and economic diversity that we value. While the Village Board doesn’t levy the greatest contribution to the overall taxes paid by residents, it does have leverage when it comes to reforms that can make the property tax system more fair, and can help create revenue through sales taxes to help offset demand on property taxes. This is where I’d like to focus our efforts as strong local businesses bring stability to our community. And what the Board can and absolutely must commit to is the responsible stewardship of our public funds.
How will you promote affordable housing development and aid those experiencing homelessness in Oak Park?
For our community to thrive, we must ensure safe, stable housing for all. But in Oak Park, 2 out of 5 renters struggle to pay their rent and older residents are the most housing cost burdened. Shortage in affordable housing has contributed to both our Black population loss and to the alarming rise in homelessness. Specific actions the board can take include updating our Inclusionary Housing Ordinance to require 20% of new units to be affordable, increase in-lieu-of fees to support non-profit developments like the 2 coming on Madison and Roosevelt, and establish density bonuses to incentivize developers to include the required affordable units. When everyone has access to housing options that they can afford, our entire community benefits in health, economic, and public safety returns.
What are your thoughts on the proposed Village Hall remodel?
Local government and municipal services must be accessible for all. Currently, Village Hall is not adequately accommodating to all of our community, inhibiting equitable participation in government. The building’s deficiencies have been neglected long enough that the next Board cannot defer renovations of the Police Department. Because this construction will inevitably disrupt all of Village Hall, I understand why we are coordinating a larger renovation project. Without seeing the full results from community input surveys, I find the scope of the proposed remodel project to be too big, and too expensive. I would encourage us to rethink long-term community needs of the space, tax levy implications and potential partnerships with other agencies to make the remodel a more modest investment.
How will you help Oak Park reach its sustainability goals and are the current goals too ambitious?
We all deserve to live in a healthy community with safe air to breathe, and clean water to drink. Climate change threatens the bright future we wish for our families. Rather than change our goals to make them easier to meet, we must commit to the timely implementation of the Climate Ready plan with the urgency that this crisis demands. It’s likewise essential to commit to the Vision Zero plan-developing safe, healthy, equitable mobility infrastructure that will allow more of us to walk and bike, thereby less reliant on cars. I will ensure that we prioritize solutions in partnership with the members of our community most adversely impacted by climate change, so that we are taking good care of our environment, and each other.
Please add final thoughts not covered in this questionnaire. These responses may appear online.
It is more important than ever that Oak Park protects our people, policies, and progress. I recognize that many in our village are scared. It is urgent that we leverage our local economic and political power to protect our community against a federal government that means us harm. Elected leaders must challenge fascism and provide material support to people who are facing material harm, defend our sanctuary and welcoming village policies, protect our health department, and remain steadfast in our commitment to taking action to sustain our planet. We will hold each other up, while simultaneously envisioning and building the safe, healthy, thriving community that all of us deserve.
