I have lived in Platt Park for 10 years. I’m running for office because I’ve seen our district go in a direction opposite of what I first saw in this neighborhood when deciding to raise a family here. In a very short time span, my wife saw someone run from our backyard to the alley, my daughter’s bike was stolen, our cars were rummaged through and we received delivery of a water filter from the city.
Based on conversations with voters, the top issues District 7 faces are crime and homelessness. We could do a better job of addressing non-violent crime by not downplaying theft, graffiti and drug use in our parks. For crime, the goal is to make sure we have an appropriate amount of police presence relative to the amount of crime. There will be support for our law enforcement in terms of morale and budget. It would be great to make reporting crime via 3-1-1 to be as easy and responsive as posting it to social media. Doing so will help us get a better handle of how much crime exists in our district and advocating for appropriate resources to address it.
Regarding homelessness, I would support enforcement of the camping ban while bringing together nonprofit agencies within the district and city alongside nonprofit mental health organizations to see if there are any synergies for rehabilitation versus simply providing a place to sleep. These synergies can be in the form of outcomes to measure or training for staff.
The community will be encouraged by maintaining strong relationships with the Registered Neighborhood Organizations, the heartbeat of each neighborhood. We will explore making members of the RNOs part-time paid staff of the city council district budget. We will engage the district to bid on city budget expenditures before considering vendors outside the district. Lasty, we would conduct hyperlocal polls using social media to keep a finger on the pulse of the district on an ongoing basis.
Website: arthurmay.com
Contact: email@arthurmay.com