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Maggie O'Keefe
Maggie O'Keefe ran for election to the Chicago City Council to represent Ward 40 in Illinois. O'Keefe lost in the general election on February 26, 2019.
O'Keefe completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2019. Click here to read the survey answers.
O'Keefe responded to Ballotpedia's unique candidate survey for 2019 Chicago candidates. The survey questions were developed with input from more than 100 Chicagoans in the months preceding the 2019 election. Here is one selected response:
"Transparency helps to keep special interests out of the policies and ordinances passed by City Council. When I am alderman, I plan on instituting participatory budgeting and asset mapping so that the voice of 40th Ward members is included in the process of growth development of our ward."
Click here to read O'Keefe's responses.
Elections
2019
See also: City elections in Chicago, Illinois (2019)
General runoff election
General runoff election for Chicago City Council Ward 40
André Vasquez defeated incumbent Patrick O'Connor in the general runoff election for Chicago City Council Ward 40 on April 2, 2019.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | André Vasquez (Nonpartisan)  | 53.9 | 7,509 |
 | Patrick O'Connor (Nonpartisan) | 46.1 | 6,431 | |
| Total votes: 13,940 | |||
| = 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. | ||||
General election
General election for Chicago City Council Ward 40
Incumbent Patrick O'Connor and André Vasquez advanced to a runoff. They defeated Dianne Daleiden, Maggie O'Keefe, and Ugo Okere in the general election for Chicago City Council Ward 40 on February 26, 2019.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Patrick O'Connor (Nonpartisan) | 33.3 | 4,446 |
| ✔ | | André Vasquez (Nonpartisan) | 20.1 | 2,683 |
 | Dianne Daleiden (Nonpartisan) | 17.2 | 2,296 | |
 | Maggie O'Keefe (Nonpartisan) | 15.4 | 2,058 | |
| Ugo Okere (Nonpartisan) | 14.0 | 1,870 | ||
| Total votes: 13,353 | |||
| = 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. | ||||
Campaign themes
2019
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Chicago 2019 Candidate Survey
Maggie O'Keefe completed Ballotpedia's Chicago candidates survey for 2019. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by O'Keefe'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?
School choice means having schools available to our kids, in every community, that provide excellent educational opportunities that meets students' holistic needs. Currently, while most high school students in Chicago receive an offer from a school they ranked in their top three selections, the application process remains complex and difficult to navigate which disadvantages some children--particularly those whose native language is not English. The GoCPS app does not currently include neighborhood high schools, and critics fear that the app could divert students from neighborhood schools and lead to further stigmatization and disinvestment of these schools. Top academic schools also are clustered in wealthier and whiter neighborhoods, and so fewer low income and black and brown students have access to them because attending often requires travel - sometimes extensively - to attend a top-rated school, putting additional burdens on those students. Neighborhood schools, which have faced disinvestment from CPS for decades, simply do not offer true choice to many lower-income and black and brown families in Chicago, and access needs to be more equitable across neighborhoods. Strong neighborhood schools, which offer arts, music, theatre, STEM, IB, AP, etc. and attend to the social emotional needs of students need to be available in every community, starting with the communities that have long been neglected. We do this by committing to the equitable funding of our public schools that is full so that our schools can be made whole. I support a moratorium on public school closures and a moratorium on charter school openings and expansions. We all want a great education for our kids. It's time that we invest in a sustainable funding plan that gets down to the root of the issue we are facing.
How would you address inequality within and between schools?
Strong schools are the pillars of strong communities, and we know that when we close the doors of our public schools we also close the doors on the community that congregated there. That cannot happen, and I fully support a moratorium on public school closures, as well as the effort to fund our public schools equitably by funding schools that are trapped in the downward spiral that our per-student funding model creates. Every child in our city has a right to a great education, no matter which neighborhood they live in and every student deserves a school staffed with a librarian, social worker, fully-funded arts program, and affordable and accessible after-school programming. We can get innovative to ensure that our principals aren’t fundraisers and our parents aren’t grant writers, and make certain that every child receives an equitable public education.
What are your proposals for supporting children before and after school? What would be your ideal afterschool programs?
Parents should not have to go to work worried about whether or not their child is going to receive the after-school attention that they need to succeed. Access to before and after school programs often depend on the operational hours at the school (parents of children at schools that begin at 7:00am may not need before school care, but parents with a 9:00am start time may). Currently, before and after school programming is determined by the school’s LSC, and is provided by many and differing after-school vendors, including the YMCA, Chicago Park District, and private vendors. While I believe that schools should have a choice in which programs best fit their community, I will support policies that ensure that every school implements some form of after school programming that includes a sliding scale payment option for low income families. I would also support guidelines to ensure that there is greater consistency across schools in after school programing, such as making sure all programs. For example, I believe every school should provide after-school program options until 6:00pm and they ought to provide healthy snacks for their kids.
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?
It’s no secret that there is a history of corruption in our city’s politics. In order to begin a new chapter in Chicago, one which earns and maintains the trust of the public, we need more than vague promises of ethics reform. For the city’s aldermen, I believe we need to institute rules and restrictions on the type of outside employment aldermen are permitted to hold. We also need to place rules and restrictions on the committees aldermen are allowed to oversee when and if there are biases present. I support the Inspector General having wider powers in the oversight of the contract process, and I also support legislation that would make the details of contracts awarded by the city more accessible to news organizations and the public.
How would you make the city’s policies more responsive to community input instead of donors or special interests?
Transparency helps to keep special interests out of the policies and ordinances passed by City Council. When I am alderman, I plan on instituting participatory budgeting and asset mapping so that the voice of 40th Ward members is included in the process of growth development of our ward.
What sort of proposals would help reduce police shootings and fatalities?
I support many of the provisions of the consent decree, such as limiting the use of tasers and choke holds. I support the focus on better mental health services for police officers, and I support additional police training on de-escalation tactics and crisis training for interacting with individuals undergoing mental health and other crises.
What ideas do you have to reduce the availability of illegal or unregistered guns in Chicago?
Violence is a symptom of disinvestment and disengagement from our local government. In too many of our communities, illegal guns have become more available and easily accessible than a fully-funded education, affordable after school programming, and job opportunities. City council must make it a priority to provide adequate resources for communities that are hit the hardest with violence, lack of jobs and disproportionate disinvestment of economic development if we want to begin to address the root causes of violence. We can prevent violence by implementing universal pre-k, funding our schools and after school programming, investing into communities that have been historically divested from, and by increasing job training and placement in green energy careers.
How will you help to rebuild trust in the police department and to encourage the community to work with police?
I support the effort to establish a publicly elected oversight board of our police, the finalization of the proposed consent decree, and the renegotiation of police contracts to eliminate the code of silence in CPD so that we can establish a more transparent reporting system that allows for proper and thorough investigation of misconduct. All of these measures need to be taken immediately to begin to restore public trust in our police and to repair the strained relationships between CPD and our communities across Chicago so that we can begin to work together. We need to close the loopholes in the Welcoming City Ordinance so that all of our communities, regardless of status, are able to contact police without fear of deportation or retaliation which will make our communities more safe. In the 40th Ward, I will connect our neighbors with energy and resources to create networks that will work with police on local crime. When our community is connected with a common goal, we are much more equipped to handle challenges in our neighborhoods. I have worked with constituents, businesses and nonprofits over the past year to create our 40th Ward Community Safety Plan (http://www.maggie2019.com/community-safety-network/), which works by identifying social networks already in our ward and connecting residents. We will create roles and responsibilities that will help neighbors work as a team to share information, gather data, and keep the alderman’s office involved and accountable to the community.
How would you address the displacement of people of color and long-term residents from their neighborhoods?
Chicago has the potential to be a city with housing that represents all incomes and people. However, due to decades of misrepresentation, lack of community input and contributions from major developers, we have seen the rise of single family homes and a shortage of multi-units that support affordable housing for all. This has led to a Chicago that is becoming less and less affordable to live, and which is becoming less and less diverse - and we are all feeling the effects. For our city to continue to grow as a place that truly welcomes all people, regardless of how much money they make or the color of their skin, this must change. I support the Development for All Ordinance which would eliminate in-lieu-of fees and require developers to include 30% affordable units on site. I would also work with the Progressive Caucus to create new policies that support a consistent supply of affordable family-sized units available to families.
How would you care for the most vulnerable Chicagoans?
Housing continues to be a major issue facing our city. I am a proponent of the Real Estate Transfer Tax to increase property taxes 1.2% on homes worth $1 million or more to help house thousands of people who are homeless, while also creating jobs. I will fight for workers rights, for paid parental leave, and fight for a $15 minimum wage. I will work for a community oversight board of our police and advocate to close the loopholes in the Welcoming Cities Ordinance. In general, I will work everyday knowing that when we raise the quality of life for the people who are the most vulnerable we are happier, healthier, and more elevated as a city.
How would you ensure that development benefits residents in their neighborhoods and not solely the developers and other interests?
How we revitalize community is by bringing us together to build upon what we already have rather than rebuild altogether. The way we do that is through community zoning and asset mapping. All proposals from developers will be made public to ward residents and we will hold town halls about proposed development with the community zoning board and developers so that the voice of the community can be brought back into the conversation of growth and development in our ward. We must have a map of our economic development “potholes,” meaning where our resources are lacking. And by doing that, it tells us what resources we already have. Or even better, what resources our next door neighbors have. To keep our shopping districts afloat will require an active alderman who works with community members, the chambers of commerce, small business owners and even developers who want to build community with the community instead of without.
How would you distribute revenue fairly between neighborhoods?
Our goal is to enact participatory budgeting starting in early 2020 to build community cohesion and public trust in how our infrastructure repairs and community spaces are being built upon. We will break up the ward into 4 sections and each quadrant can submit ideas and vote on them equally so each part of the ward has improvements, unless one large community improvement is decided upon. In order to inform potential developers about much-needed development, our office will institute asset mapping - this exercise with the community will help develop relationships between residents, local business and local government to identify the resources we have to request the resources we need. It’s time to put growth and development in the hands of community members.
How do you propose to resolve the city’s underfunded pension plan for city employees?
As I enter into City Council, working towards fully-funding our pensions will be a top priority. Cutting worker benefits, or creating a Chicago casino, is not going to solve the pension crisis. City Council members will need to get innovative and create additional revenue streams to fully fund our pension system while remaining accountable for the debts owed. I am 100% for legalizing marijuana (and taxing it accordingly) as soon as possible here in the state of Illinois - though it must come tied with conviction expungement, which is not only fair but will also create less stress on Chicago taxpayers and our overcrowded Cook County prison system. I also support the proposed LaSalle Street taxes. Industries and corporations should pay their share like the rest of us. Instead of continuing to balance our budgets on taxes and tickets aimed at low-income Chicagoans and small businesses, now is our chance to create a more equitable tax system in our city.
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?
The term “blight” has been over-and-misused to expand districts covered by this funding, especially in our downtown TIF districts. I support the proposed “Back to Basics” TIF reform ordinance put forth by the Progressive Caucus. It’s a great start to making a more sustainable and trustworthy system. We need to make this a more transparent process, informing homeowners that they live within TIF districts and how their property taxes are being spent is of utmost importance.
How would you assess the city's finances, and if your proposals would require new spending, how would you pay for them?
I believe that making sure we are able to make our pension obligations is an important issue that we will face city council. However, I do not believe that the city is necessarily "broke". We can make smarter decisions regarding our spending and raise revenue to pay for pensions, additional educational spending, and lead abatement.
Would you be in favor of freezing property taxes, at least for low-income households, so that people can stay where they are living?
I believe that families should be able to apply for a property tax freeze, and I would make that freeze based on family income and percent increases in property taxes. I strongly believe that families should not be forced from their homes, or the neighborhoods they have lived in simply because they can not afford rising property taxes. In the long term, when we ensure that the people who have helped build their community are able to stay in their community as it thrives, we stop the mass exodus from Chicago which in turn lessens the burden on taxpayers to pay our debts and obligations. When more people are able to stay in Chicago we all benefit from the added revenue a higher population produces for our local businesses and economy, and we remain diverse which is our biggest strength and our most important key to success as a city, and as people.
How will you address public health concerns such as contaminated drinking water, rat infestation, and lead poisoning?
We are in the middle of a public health crisis and our current mayoral administration’s first response was to bury public hearings. This is an example of how short-sighted our government has been in protecting our citizens’ health, and how we have failed to plan for a more environmentally sustainable city. This is a big concern of our community. Private home lead line replacement is a very expensive process and our city needs to prioritize the removal of service lines for those who can’t afford lead abatement, first. When I’m alderman, I will work with city council members to create an equitable response to this crisis and work to harness private and public grants and developer investments to assist and rebuild.
How would you make Chicago a cleaner city with less waste and pollution?
Building sustainable communities across the city of Chicago will take collaboration with our city council, our next mayor, Cook County and MWRD to instill green values within our legislative body. Chicago has an abysmal track record when it comes to recycling due to the privatization of the majority of our recycled waste. Recycling reform is key to reduce the waste our city creates by creating recycling districts broken up by location t for recycling to lessen noise pollution, reduce air pollution, decrease the amount of waste and recycling cost for all residents while generating revenue by mandating recycling in all buildings. The 40th Ward will become a pilot program for composting services. Partner with local composting businesses to roll out an optional program to residents and track the amount of waste reduced by participants and the local businesses. Finally, the reliance on dirty energy sources are not only terrible for the environment, but terrible for the health and wellness of Chicagoans. To truly work for the betterment of the people of Chicago, we must increase the quality of our public transportation system, pass ordinances for stricter regulations on polluters and provide significantly Harsher penalties on air and soil regulation repeat abusers.
What would be your first steps for improving the transit system in terms of affordability, accessibility, and safety?
I believe it is important to make Chicago a walkable, bikeable city for every resident, no matter their age, income or ability. Access to transportation is fundamental to economic justice for Chicago residents and as 40th Ward Alderman, I would institute participatory budgeting and asset mapping so that we can identify our infrastructure needs and residents can have more say in transportation decisions, establish discounted fare for low-income riders
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
2019 Elections
External links
Footnotes
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