Daniel La Spata
2019 - Present
2027
6
Daniel La Spata is a member of the Chicago City Council in Illinois, representing Ward 1. He assumed office on May 20, 2019. His current term ends on May 17, 2027.
La Spata ran for re-election to the Chicago City Council to represent Ward 1 in Illinois. He won in the general election on February 28, 2023.
Elections
2023
See also: City elections in Chicago, Illinois (2023)
General election
General election for Chicago City Council Ward 1
Incumbent Daniel La Spata defeated Sam Royko, Stephen Schneider, and Joe Moreno in the general election for Chicago City Council Ward 1 on February 28, 2023.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Daniel La Spata (Nonpartisan) | 50.1 | 7,339 |
 | Sam Royko (Nonpartisan) | 23.4 | 3,432 | |
 | Stephen Schneider (Nonpartisan)  | 19.6 | 2,877 | |
 | Joe Moreno (Nonpartisan) | 6.8 | 999 | |
| Total votes: 14,647 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
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2019
See also: City elections in Chicago, Illinois (2019)
General election
General election for Chicago City Council Ward 1
Daniel La Spata defeated incumbent Joe Moreno in the general election for Chicago City Council Ward 1 on February 26, 2019.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Daniel La Spata (Nonpartisan) | 61.2 | 7,326 |
| Joe Moreno (Nonpartisan) | 38.7 | 4,635 | |
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.0 | 3 | ||
| Total votes: 11,964 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- Trevor Joseph Grant (Nonpartisan)
- Justin Tucker (Nonpartisan)
Campaign themes
2023
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Daniel La Spata did not complete Ballotpedia's 2023 Candidate Connection survey.
2019
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Chicago 2019 Candidate Survey
Daniel La Spata completed Ballotpedia's Chicago candidates survey for 2019. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by La Spata's responses.
Low-income families do not have the same choices, options, or alternatives when it comes to public school. How can this be addressed?
While all families deserve equal access to productive and supporting public schools, many of our neighborhood schools have been disinvested in, causing many low-income families to want to send their children elsewhere. However, all schools throughout Chicago need to be fully funded so that parents are not pitted against each other for the best options/alternatives possible. Also, additional outreach to parents in low-income areas about their options will help decrease the information gap around school types and alternatives.
How would you address inequality within and between schools?
It is not right that a child in one part of the ward has a radically different experience than a child in another part of the ward; a similar observation could be made across the city. To address inequality, we need a multi-tier approach that addresses the inequalities in school funding, representation on the school board and school closures. I will push to reduce our state’s dependency on local property taxes for schools (which currently decreases the amount of money for schools in low-income areas), vote for the institution of an elected school board (increasing representation from all parts of Chicago’s schools) and call for a halt on school closures.
How can public schools better support their teachers and work more productively with the teachers’ union, parents, and the community?
Public schools need to provide the context and support for their teachers to address children’s growth in and outside of the classroom. Ideally the alderman serves as a collaborator and organizer between these various stakeholders to help them understand and work toward their common interests.
What do you believe are the greatest needs of kids in school today? How would you prioritize these needs and address them?
Children need and deserve learning environments that incubate safety, growth and exploration of ideas. I believe that this requires giving all children, regardless of where they live, equal access to a “good” education, a counselor, and food. This type of environment can only be created and sustained when schools are given the funding, structure and training they need.
What are your proposals for supporting children before and after school? What would be your ideal afterschool programs?
I want to ensure that all of our schools have the funding they need to have free breakfast for students who need it in the morning and enriching after school activities for parents who need the extra time after school. I propose having a variety of activities after school where children have an engaging and safe place to be.
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?
Yes, corruption runs rampant in Chicago politics between bids, developer money, and aldermanic power being unchecked. I hope to address this through instituting democratic processes within my ward regarding zoning, ward and TIF money, that allow residents to participate in ward decisions.
How would you make the city’s policies more responsive to community input instead of donors or special interests?
I believe we need to increase the transparency of both citywide and ward business so that residents proactively know what is going in their community and have means toward impacting it. For me, this means supporting the Fair Elections Ordinance (which would decrease small campaigns’ reliance on special interest and would increase the diversity of candidates), instituting community-led zoning, and participatory budgeting in the 1st ward so that all residents and communities feel their voices are being heard and reflected in critical decisions and allocation of resources. We also plan to create issue committees for public participation on critical issues facing the ward and the city, including housing, education, and safety.
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?
While the report was a step in analyzing racially discriminatory conduct, it did not amount to tangible changes toward equity. I believe that instituting a Chicago Police Accountability Council would help provide governmental and civilian oversight of the police. Additionally, eliminating the gang database and changing the culture of silence would help our police stay accountable to our community.
What sort of proposals would help reduce police shootings and fatalities?
No lives should be lost to gun violence. We need to have stricter gun laws that decrease the number of guns on the street and we also need to decrease reliance on guns as a means of self-defense. I believe shifting our laws and practices away from guns can be an initial step in decreasing the amount of police and civilian shootings and fatalities. I also believe deeply in direct civilian oversight over the police department and will advocate for the CPAC ordinance to be reintroduced and passed.
What ideas do you have to reduce the availability of illegal or unregistered guns in Chicago?
I believe that we need to treat gun violence as a public health crisis, and need to address it as such. That not only means ensuring we have stricter gun laws (designed to reducing trafficking without needlessly increasing the prison population), but also radically invest in the communities most plagued by gun violence through reinvesting in our schools, infrastructure, year-round youth jobs, and, most critically, social services. That also includes public healthcare services like emergency health care and trauma centers.
How will you help to rebuild trust in the police department and to encourage the community to work with police?
Rebuilding trust takes time, opportunity and intentional work. In order to bring communities and police departments together to have a mutually beneficial relationship, we need to decrease the amount of discriminatory practices by the police, increase civilian oversight vis a vis a Civilian Police Accountability Council and have regular opportunities/events where local police and residents can come together to discuss both issues and shared hopes.
How would you address criminal justice issues such as prison reform and the reintegration of formerly incarcerated persons into city life?
The current criminal justice system provides a number of impediments for those suspected of a crime, individuals currently or formerly incarcerated. For instance, the current cash bail system holds individuals not yet convicted of a crime in a jail cell unless they can pay for their bail. Since many individuals cannot afford this amount, they are stuck away from their jobs and families while they await trial. Ending cash bail would be one opportunity to allow people to be productive citizens before trial and decrease the prison population. To support individuals currently in prison, I would support a state-wide parole system that would incentivize individuals in prison bettering their lives to have a chance at decreased sentencing. While progressive ordinances and laws will help individuals in reintegrating, I would want my office to serve as a liaison in connecting individuals with the job, housing and community resources they need as well.
How would you address the displacement of people of color and long-term residents from their neighborhoods?
Given the rate at which displacement has and continues to occur, our communities need strategies that address how different forms of displacement affect people in various ways. I would address displacement for homeowners by creating property tax abatements or freezes for long term homeowners, would institute rent control to help vulnerable tenants and approve the 606 Preservation Area Ordinance to decrease the amount of demolitions and thus displacement of long term residents and our people of color. Additionally, I want to make land trusts and community benefits agreements more accessible tools for decreasing displacement.
How would you care for the most vulnerable Chicagoans?
In every ordinance, we need to pursue equity and a preferential option for the poor. Currently, the driver of the city’s policy decisions is economic and corporate growth, with benefit to underserved and communities of color being an afterthought. We need to make sure the thriving of marginalized communities comes to the forefront in all policy and development decisions.
How would you ensure that development benefits residents in their neighborhoods and not solely the developers and other interests?
I will be instituting community-led zoning and participatory budgeting processes in my ward to ensure that development that affects the community, comes from the community. I am not taking campaign contributions from developers so I can be a neutral arbiter of development in the 1st Ward.
How would you distribute revenue fairly between neighborhoods?
I would support measures to create transparent transparency and democratic decision making around TIF funds will help improve more equal funding and economic development throughout the city. Additionally, I would analyze the Small Business Improvement Fund, the CPS budget, and the city budget through a racial and economic equality lens to ensure neighborhoods are fairly funded.
How do you propose to resolve the city’s underfunded pension plan for city employees?
I believe progressive revenue sources like legalizing/taxing marijuana, a commuter tax, expanding the sales tax to services like consulting, and real estate transfer tax could all be utilized to fully fund our pension plan.
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?
While TIF’s were originally created to increase economic development, they have become corporate handouts in already gentrifying areas. My goal for the 1st ward’s TIF districts (Fullerton/Milwaukee; Humboldt Park, Diversey/Chicago River, etc.) would be to work with the community and neighboring aldermen on both greater transparency and a democratic participatory budgeting process to ensure that projects invested in through the TIF reflect the community’s priorities. Overall, I would work to ensure greater scrutiny and a heightened standard of review for new TIFs as well as the purposes they are used for to avoid continued tax dollar giveaways to corporate interests with no meaningful public benefit. Citywide, when a TIF has served its defined purposes within the area, I would push for either a surplus of unrestricted funds or the early closure of the TIF.
How would you assess the city's finances, and if your proposals would require new spending, how would you pay for them?
I believe the city needs to move away from its reliance on residents tax dollars and needs to move toward more progressive sources of revenue that require large corporations to pay more.
Would you be in favor of freezing property taxes, at least for low-income households, so that people can stay where they are living?
Yes, I believe that the pace of property taxes increases in our ward has increased displacement, especially for low-income residents. Additionally, I would be hesitant to vote for higher property taxes when the wealthiest and corporations haven’t been paying their fair share.
How would you increase access to quality food and urgent care in all parts of the city?
Every community deserves access to a local, affordable, healthy food and safe environments. However, rising costs of healthy food and health insurance has caused people to sacrifice. I would continue the use of WIC at farmers markets and increase advocacy around this program to ensure that all people have access to health food. Additionally, I’d like to find ways to coordinate distribution from healthy restaurants to local food pantries/shelter. As for urgent care, I believe our ward office needs to publicize both sliding scale and subsidized healthcare so that individuals can get the healthcare they need, without fear of the costs it will need without worrying the costs it will cause them later.
How will you address public health concerns such as contaminated drinking water, rat infestation, and lead poisoning?
I want to push for comprehensive testing of lead levels in water across the city, and publish the results regularly on both a city and community area level- in places where everyone can access it like schools, libraries and community centers. In order to actually decrease the causes of this public health crisis, we can boost the levels of corrosion-resisting coating on pipes, publicly fund the replacement of service lines for all public and create robust subsidies for low- and middle-income property owners to have their lines replaced, particularly when adjacent water mains are also being replaced.
How would you make Chicago a cleaner city with less waste and pollution?
Right now, many Chicagoans have lost faith within our city’s recycling service. I would like to see the recycling system revamped to have clear guidelines for all people and have recycling bins mandated at all residential buildings, rather than the buy-in that currently exists.
What would be your first steps for improving the transit system in terms of affordability, accessibility, and safety?
Public transit is a cost and environmentally efficient way for people to get where they need to be. I support bystander awareness training for all CTA employees and sexual harassment campaigns to make the CTA safer. I would push to increase the amount of accessible train platforms and as well as a reduced fare program for low-income individuals. In addition, I would push for more reliable and frequent service for the ward’s bus lines and promoting a Complete Streets design that can promote their priority access to roadways.
Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.
See also
2023 Elections
External links
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Officeholder Chicago City Council Ward 1 |
Personal |
Footnotes
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Joe Moreno |
Chicago City Council Ward 1 2019-Present |
Succeeded by - |
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