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Dear neighbors,
Many thanks to the hundreds of you who responded to our 1st Ward budget survey as well as the dozens who attended the NW Side Budget Town Hall at Goethe Elementary this past weekend. Your feedback has been very helpful for me in thinking through the budget and I want to share some of those thoughts here.
There are a lot of positives to be found in the proposed 2026 budget including:
- Strengthening the Department of the Environment and expanding the powers of the Chief Sustainability Officer.
- Maintaining staffing in key departments for housing, planning, and small business development.
- Adding 25 parking enforcement aides to reduce theĀ burden on police officers.
- Most of all, maintaining ARPA-funded public safety investments, including community violence intervention and youth jobs, ensures we continue reducing violence in the city.
These are undeniable wins for the city. At the same time, there many matters that I need to see addressed before we vote on the budget. Some of them include:
- With more than one in ten homicides linked to domestic violence, we cannot afford cuts to domestic and gender-based violence services. Iāll be submitting a budget amendment to restore this funding.
- Cutting in half funding for library books hurts both our libraries and our democracy. I'm working hard to address that.Ā
- Chicagoans have made it clear that we should follow state statute and municipal code and direct automated speed enforcement (speed camera) revenue toward traffic safety and not just the Corporate Fund. Iām pursuing greater transparency around this.
- Any doubt that not making our full advanced pension payments would result in a credit downgrade was resolved last week. I'm working on an ordinance to address this matter moving forward.
- Finally, a 12-month hiring freeze, however intentioned, will hurt the city's ability to maintain safe and sanitary neighborhoods. I'm continuing to address with budget leadership how to accomplish the spirit of this measure without crippling essential services.
That's a lot. Thanks for making it all the way through! If you'd likeĀ some additional detail, check out our latest budget blog.Ā There are great values at the core of this budget and I believe they align with the values of the ward. The challenge is to make sure the budget as a whole fulfills those values. Stay tuned for more updates in the coming weeks.
Sincerely,
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