Chicago 2019 Candidate Survey
How would you change Chicago?
In 2019, we met with Chicagoans to hear their questions for the city's candidates. The residents then voted on the questions to make it clear what topics mattered most to them. We created a special edition of our Candidate Connection survey with these questions through our partnership with the Robert R. McCormick Foundation, Interactivity Foundation, and City Bureau, as well as insights from more than a hundred diverse citizens living throughout Chicago’s wards.
The survey included questions about the issues affecting everyday life in Chicago. You can see the list of questions that were asked below.
Responses appeared on Ballotpedia.org and were featured in our social media and emails to subscribers. They were also provided upon request to any of our partner organizations to share with their own readers.
Click here to see the full list of survey responses!
Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit candidate survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked as such to the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org.
- Low-income families do not have the same choices, options, or alternatives when it comes to public school. How can this be addressed?
- How would you address inequality within and between schools?
- How can public schools better support their teachers and work more productively with the teachers’ union, parents, and the community?
- What do you believe are the greatest needs of kids in school today? How would you prioritize these needs and address them?
- Do you believe that there is corruption in Chicago politics, such as pay-to-play practices when the city awards bids? If so, how would you address it?
- How would you handle the “recurrence of unaddressed racially discriminatory conduct by officers” identified in the U.S. Justice Department’s investigative report of the Chicago PD published in 2017?
- What sort of proposals would help reduce police shootings and fatalities?
- What ideas do you have to reduce the availability of illegal or unregistered guns in Chicago?
- How will you help to rebuild trust in the police department and to encourage the community to work with police?
- How would you address criminal justice issues such as prison reform and the reintegration of formerly incarcerated persons into city life?
- How would you address the displacement of people of color and long-term residents from their neighborhoods?
- How would you care for the most vulnerable Chicagoans?
- How would you ensure that development benefits residents in their neighborhoods and not solely the developers and other interests?
- How would you distribute revenue fairly between neighborhoods?
- How do you propose to resolve the city’s underfunded pension plan for city employees?
- What’s your opinion on tax increment financing (a program that funds development using any additional property tax revenue that results from an increase in appraised property values)? What, if any, changes would you make to the use of TIF?
- How would you assess the city's finances, and if your proposals would require new spending, how would you pay for them?
- Would you be in favor of freezing property taxes, at least for low-income households, so that people can stay where they are living?
- How will you address public health concerns such as contaminated drinking water, rat infestation, and lead poisoning?
- How would you increase access to quality food and urgent care in all parts of the city?
- What would be your first steps for improving the transit system in terms of affordability, accessibility, and safety?
- What are your proposals for supporting children before and after school? What would be your ideal afterschool programs?
- How would you make the city’s policies more responsive to community input instead of donors or special interests?
- How would you make Chicago a cleaner city with less waste and pollution?
