4 Takeaways From the Aldermanic Debate

The Jan. 8 aldermanic debate brought several key issues facing the race in Logan Square to the forefront at Norwegian Luther Memorial Church (2614 N. Kedzie Ave.). Hosted by Logan Square Preservation, the forum had a packed attendance and engaged residents who listened to the candidates speak. If you are still unsure of who’s running against who, this debate will clear that up.

Candidates

• 32nd Ward: Alderman Scott Waguespack (unchallenged for re-election)
• 1st Ward: Alderman “Proco” Joe Moreno and challenger Daniel La Spata
• 35th Ward: Alderman Carlos Ramirez-Rosa and challenger Amanda Yu Dieterich

The debate centered around affordable housing, education, police presence and safety, transporation and ways to keep our community engaged and connected. Here are some takeways from each issue and each candidate.

Affordable housing

Everyone agreed that we need more affordable housing options in the community, which was a reoccurring theme of the debate and one residents know all too well. Making it more difficult—or easier—for developers to start new projects comes down to zoning changes

Waguespack said the process for rezoning is important but has stayed the same for many years. His sliver of Logan Square has seen multiple developments rise up in the last couple of years. He said all but one community groups have agreed to rezoning areas of the neighborhood and that LSNA, LSP and his website have listings of current sites in the process.

“We work as closely as we can with the LSP to make sure we are getting the right project,” Waguespack said.

Carlos-Rosa said he wants to continue to halt developers who have incentives to demolish buildings and stop them from building high-leved projects.

“One of the things we pursued together as a community was downzoning to create a disincentive to not build along Milwaukee,” Carlos-Rosa said. “Unfortunately, the chair of the zoning committee blocked that in support of the powerful developers. That is why I am so excited about the changes coming to City Hall, because we are going to accomplish a lot.”

Carlos-Rosa announced a victory for the recently rezoned building that will become Logan’s first boutique hotel: “We will move forward with the boutique hotel. … the developer signed on to pay a living wage of $17 [to all the workers],” he said.

Dieterich also hammered affordable housing and that the issue isn’t only plaguing Logan Square. She stressed strengthening community partnerships and better using our tax dollars will give the issue more importance.

“Our population is moving out because the city is not affordable,” Dieterich said.

For the 1st Ward debate, Moreno and La Spata, who have been known to attack each other during this campaign, it was less cordial. Moreno touted his record of rezoning permits supported and checked by many active groups in West Town, Logan Square and Wicker Park, showing his authority and history overseeing the Ward.

“People that have [worked with] affordable housing way before you got to this neighborhood—those are the people I am going to rely on,” Moreno said, which earned him rings and applause from the audience.

La Spata noted Logan Square’s high numbers of demolition and said the 1st Ward has seen a loss of housing that needs to stop.

“[We] lost 800 units of two-flat rental housing since 2011 in this ward,” La Spata said. “We cannot afford to keep going in this direction.”

Transportation

With more developments comes more congestion in traffic, on the CTA and on the sidewalk. The candidates discussed this issue but did not lay out concrete plans to diminish congestion; talk was more or less just on the issue.

Dieterich said we need to think about housing that is transit-friendly before we downzone all of Mliwaukee Avenue and that many families rely on public transit to move around.

La Spata talked at length about protecting rideshare employees and how they affect the local economy. He said he want to make sure drivers are protected.

“We are moving towards this gig economy in Chicago, where workers are pitted against each other,” he said. “People are working more time, lower wages and less benefits, which is unsustainable economically.”

Safety

Easy access and safety on the streets, especially as they become more congested, was a talking point for La Spata, Dieterich and Wauguespack.

La Spata said reliability and accessibility for elderly and disabled residents is a priority of his and noted that the Active Transportation Alliance has fresh data from its report card on bus usage in the 1st Ward. According to Active Trans, the #66, #49 and #52 buses were highest in ridership. The ward saw higher ridership than in the 32nd Ward and 35th Ward with over 19,000 weekly riders. He wants these numbers to keep growing.

Wauguespack applauded organizations like LNSA, LSP, Active Trans and CDOT’s work Western and Logan and said the upcoming budget will have money set aside to improve bike lanes, crosswalks and traffic at the intersection.

Education

Carlos-Rosa and Dieterich hammered the affordable housing issue with access to education. Making sure families can afford to live in the place where their kids go to school—and vice versa—needs to be a top priority for the community, one Dieterich said hits close to home because she sees it in her son’s school. More funding to local schools, more efforts from parents and community partnering are needed to make sure CPS gives local students access to a strong education, she said.

Both agreed more resources are needed. Carlos-Rosa said class sizes, school programs and buildings are not well-equipped with the need. But they can change if resources and money are allocated better. New legislation can accomplish that, he said.

“We can fully fund our public schools if we tax the rich.,” he said. “We actually have space for after-school programs, art programs, for the types of things our students need and deserve.”