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Rebecca Janowitz
Rebecca Janowitz ran for election to the Chicago City Council to represent Ward 43 in Illinois. Janowitz lost in the general election on February 28, 2023.
Elections
2023
See also: City elections in Chicago, Illinois (2023)
General runoff election
General runoff election for Chicago City Council Ward 43
Incumbent Timmy Knudsen defeated Brian Comer in the general runoff election for Chicago City Council Ward 43 on April 4, 2023.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | Timmy Knudsen (Nonpartisan) | 52.9 | 9,227 | |
| Brian Comer (Nonpartisan) | 47.1 | 8,199 | ||
| Total votes: 17,426 | |||
 = 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 43
The following candidates ran in the general election for Chicago City Council Ward 43 on February 28, 2023.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | Timmy Knudsen (Nonpartisan) | 26.8 | 3,950 | |
| ✔ | Brian Comer (Nonpartisan) | 24.1 | 3,543 | |
 | Rebecca Janowitz (Nonpartisan) | 19.8 | 2,917 | |
| Wendi Taylor Nations (Nonpartisan) | 13.5 | 1,984 | ||
| Steve Botsford (Nonpartisan) | 9.0 | 1,331 | ||
| Steven McClellan (Nonpartisan) | 6.7 | 990 | ||
| Total votes: 14,715 | |||
| = 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. | ||||
2019
See also: City elections in Chicago, Illinois (2019)
General runoff election
General runoff election for Chicago City Council Ward 43
Incumbent Michele Smith defeated Derek Lindblom in the general runoff election for Chicago City Council Ward 43 on April 2, 2019.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Michele Smith (Nonpartisan) | 53.6 | 7,435 |
 | Derek Lindblom (Nonpartisan) | 46.4 | 6,444 | |
| Total votes: 13,879 | |||
| = 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 43
The following candidates ran in the general election for Chicago City Council Ward 43 on February 26, 2019.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Michele Smith (Nonpartisan) | 39.0 | 5,486 |
| ✔ | | Derek Lindblom (Nonpartisan) | 27.8 | 3,913 |
 | Leslie Fox (Nonpartisan) | 13.4 | 1,892 | |
 | Jacob Ringer (Nonpartisan) | 12.6 | 1,776 | |
| Rebecca Janowitz (Nonpartisan) | 4.8 | 681 | |
| Steven McClellan (Nonpartisan) | 2.3 | 325 | ||
| Total votes: 14,073 | |||
| = 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
- Matthew Roney (Nonpartisan)
Campaign themes
2023
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Rebecca Janowitz did not complete Ballotpedia's 2023 Candidate Connection survey.
2019
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Chicago 2019 Candidate Survey
Rebecca Janowitz completed Ballotpedia's Chicago candidates survey for 2019. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Janowitz'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?
I support a moratorium on new charter schools, except for those serving special populations such as students who have been expelled from the public schools. We have to invest in schools with neighborhood enrollment areas. Schools in the 43rd ward serve a very diverse student body well because so many students from outside the ward attend local schools. I would encouragement public /private partnerships that focus on extending demanding curriculum and thoughtful administration to more schools. Parents across the city are seeking quality. Their concern for their children will be an asset for all of us if we provide the needed opportunities."
How would you address inequality within and between schools?
Inequality between schools should be addressed in two ways: the leadership of CPS must ensure that resources are shared fairly. In addition, we should encourage partnerships between different areas of the city to share information, best practices, and resources."
How can public schools better support their teachers and work more productively with the teachers’ union, parents, and the community?
CPS leadership should provide teachers with holistic support and increased opportunity for professional training and advancement. CPS should also work hard to bring in unions into the planning process. Finally, administrators need to recognize the strength that parents and community representatives can bring into public education, particularly across geographic lines. These strengths include professional skills, local knowledge, and cultural diversity that have proven to be invaluable to high performing public schools and their success."
What do you believe are the greatest needs of kids in school today? How would you prioritize these needs and address them?
Many children need help coping with the stress of economic uncertainty and other types of family stress. Many CPS pupils are dealing with the consequences of violent crime within their communities and their families. All of these needs are important. As Alderman, I would seek funds from a wide range of public and private resources to build and maintain the necessary institutions in combating these problems, such as local schools and violence prevention bodies."
What are your proposals for supporting children before and after school? What would be your ideal afterschool programs?
After school programs should serve the needs of working families. Properly managed they can also improve community safety by reducing justice involvement for vulnerable youth. Funding must be sought from every public and private source including neglected possibilities such as the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority. I look to Kwame Raul to help seek federal funds for victims of crime and violence support services and interventions for neglected populations such as young men and boys of color."
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?
Chicago has deep seated corruption. Pay to play can be reduced by giving the community a direct voice in zoning decisions. The Inspector General should have oversight of all aldermanic committees and activities. Election reform will limit contributions from developers, PACs and the super rich. I will ensure that the community is involved in development, large or small within the ward to maintain the human scale of the ward and maintain its architectural heritage. I have not and will not take money from any person or firm seeking a contract or approval from the city.
How would you make the city’s policies more responsive to community input instead of donors or special interests?
As I said before this begins with not taking money from special interests. I would also look to establishing the type of community conservation boards that have been used to formally gather community input into zoning and development decisions in other wards."
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?
I think the consent decree depends too heavily on new types of training. I think the reform of the police department rests on the engagement and hard of work of professional leadership committed to real reform."
What sort of proposals would help reduce police shootings and fatalities?
We need to support as well as monitor our police. Remember many officers grew up in our hardest hit neighborhoods. We must offer them holistic support while demanding a higher standard of conduct."
What ideas do you have to reduce the availability of illegal or unregistered guns in Chicago?
I look to Attorney General Kwame Raoul to sue the State of Indiana, which continues to allow thousands of illegal guns to flow into our city. At the same time we have to undertake the hard work of making our poorest, least dense neighborhoods safer. Residents in struggling neighborhoods carry guns because they are afraid. We have to demonstrate we can protect their lives and that they are not alone."
How will you help to rebuild trust in the police department and to encourage the community to work with police?
The steps outlined above together with real opportunity for dialogue and healing will start to build bridges of trust. Remember that people in high crime neighborhoods want to be safe and want to protect themselves and their families. Motivation for a better relationship between the police and the community is not lacking."
How would you address criminal justice issues such as prison reform and the reintegration of formerly incarcerated persons into city life?
I will continue to look to the State of Illinois to improve its practices in regard to sentencing and probation services. I have worked for more that a decade on behalf of returning residents and I know that city has an important role to play in reintegration."
How would you address the displacement of people of color and long-term residents from their neighborhoods?
By providing affordable housing in safe neighborhoods served by decent schools and shopping. Building code enforcement in Chicago is primarily used as a defacto tax on home owners and landlords in struggling neighborhoods. It should be used to maintain and extend our affordable housing stock by focusing on compliance not fines. We should promote development that fights displacement and crime with flourishing businesses and excellent schools. With planning that includes affordable housing units and access to safe public transportation, we can have communities that protect their current residents while also inviting new ones in.
How would you care for the most vulnerable Chicagoans?
Our most vulnerable residents include infants, the elderly, and those facing the challenges of mental illness and substance abuse. The city should focus on supporting the expansion of County Care, which has improved medical care, by looking for gaps in our system and making sure that residents know what care they are entitled to receive."
How would you ensure that development benefits residents in their neighborhoods and not solely the developers and other interests?
Again, we have to not only make sure that there are more public forums that give the neighborhood a voice, but also ensure that community input is respected."
How would you distribute revenue fairly between neighborhoods?
As Alderman, I would consider the needs of individual neighborhoods while also taking into account the needs of the whole city, and balancing them with an honest and fair method."
How do you propose to resolve the city’s underfunded pension plan for city employees?
I propose a three point plan that would increase the city’s ability to meet its pension obligations while providing good opportunities for current and future city workers. First, I would limit the TIF programs that have taken up so much money out of the overall budget process. Second, I advocate for a more efficient budget that directly addresses the needs of the community while eliminating unnecessary expenditure, including unproductive overtime. Third, I would support amending the constitution to create a statewide graduated income tax that would bring desperately needed funds to the 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?
I am generally opposed to TIFs. TIFs were originally created to help blighted neighborhoods throughout the city, and they were not very successful at that. However, now, they have completely moved away from their original intent, and their benefits now almost exclusively go to developers and corporations, and they provide no real gain for the neighborhoods they are created in."
How would you assess the city's finances, and if your proposals would require new spending, how would you pay for them?
We do not need to go private consulting firms and spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on assessments. There are numerous non-profit organizations scattered throughout Chicago with a brilliant staff of analysts who are happy to provide the city with an excellent detailed report and assessment of its finances for free. If elected, I will work to make sure that the city, instead of spending tax payer money on private contracts, instead turns to these organizations for a financial assessment."
Would you be in favor of freezing property taxes, at least for low-income households, so that people can stay where they are living?
Property tax freezes may help some low income residents in some circumstances. The tremendous loss of affordable housing has other important causes besides property tax."
How would you increase access to quality food and urgent care in all parts of the city?
I would support efforts to have more grocery stores in more communities. Cook County Health and Hospitals provides urgent and emergency care throughout Chicago. The city’s health department should focus on gaps in services and making sure that city’s needs are understood."
How will you address public health concerns such as contaminated drinking water, rat infestation, and lead poisoning?
Like all older cities, Chicago has lead in its privately owned lateral pipes. We can combat this by randomized testing of water quality, and to ensure that pediatricians are regularly testing children for lead in the water. Currently, the city provides free water testing kits to families, but this program has not been sufficiently publicized or incentivized. Many of the problems with occur when repair work disturbs the phosphate lining that the water filtration plant provides to the lateral pipes. We must do a much better job to inform residents of when repairs are going on, and inform them of what practical steps they can take to protect themselves and their families from potential dangers caused by repairs.
How would you make Chicago a cleaner city with less waste and pollution?
We would have a coordinated program of public education on reducing individual waste that is supported by how department of streets and sanitation actually operates. I also believe Chicago can be at the forefront of clean energy in the United States. We need to attract green energy companies to the city, while also promoting and creating a favorable environment for start-ups in that field. I propose the creation of a city-wide “Green Bank”, investing in clean-energy startup in Chicago. This will bring in much needed revenue to the city while also giving these new companies the venture capital funding they need."
What would be your first steps for improving the transit system in terms of affordability, accessibility, and safety?
We need to increase ridership in order to qualify for federal funds that help us improve safety and accessibility. We should adopt a more differentiated fare structure that responds to residents needs, which in turn would increase ridership."
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
Footnotes
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