Windy City Media Group Frontpage News

THE VOICE OF CHICAGO'S GAY, LESBIAN, BI, TRANS AND QUEER COMMUNITY SINCE 1985

home search facebook twitter join
Gay News Sponsor Windy City Times 2023-12-13
DOWNLOAD ISSUE
Donate

Sponsor
Sponsor
Sponsor

  WINDY CITY TIMES

ELECTIONS 2019, MAYOR. Paul Vallas on background, minimum wage, LGBT issues
by Carrie Maxwell, Windy City Times
2019-02-10

This article shared 3089 times since Sun Feb 10, 2019
facebook twitter pin it google +1 reddit email


Paul Vallas ran as a 2002 Democratic gubernatorial candidate and was the 2014 Lieutenant Governor candidate alongside then Democratic incumbent Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn. He previously served as the CEO of Chicago Public Schools ( CPS ), among other education leadership positions and spent time as a teacher after college.

In 1979, Vallas began working for the state legislature and for state Sen. Dawn Clarke Netsch for 12 years; during that time, he learned about budgeting, finance and public policy. He served as Chicago's budget director and revenue director during Mayor Richard M. Daley's tenure before becoming CPS's CEO.

Vallas is running against a number of candidates for mayor of Chicago. He has called on all mayoral candidates to release their tax returns and for any Ald. Ed Burke-backed candidates to withdraw from the race.

Windy City Times: With so many candidates running for mayor, what makes you more qualified to hold this office than the rest of people in the race?

Paul Vallas: No other candidate has the depth or scope of my management experience. I have managed 18 multi-billion-dollar budgets. As CEO of CPS, pursuit of equity framed my initiatives. I built 78 schools in poor neighborhoods, the vast majority of construction contracts were given to minority and women-owned businesses. I had the guts to challenge Rahm Emanuel and I am not part of the Chicago pay-to-play culture.

WCT: How will your previous role as Chicago Public Schools CEO inform how you approach education issues?

PV: CPS is shrinking again, having lost 70,000 students since my departure. CPS prospered during my tenure because we stabilized finances, brought leadership continuity to individual schools, transformed schools into education and community service centers and dramatically expanded high-quality school options within neighborhood schools. I will adopt this strategy to reverse the system's decline and improve schools.

WCT: Do you back an elected school board? Where do you stand on neighborhood schools versus charter schools?

PV: I believe Janice Jackson is well-qualified to be the head of CPS. I want a hybrid board that includes members elected from Local School Councils and appointed members. The mayor should have some direct appointed powers, because there needs to be experts on the board.

Charter and public schools should be funded equitably and held to the same standards.

WCT: What is your vision for the LGBT community?

PV: As Chicago's budget director and CPS CEO, I put domestic-partner benefits in all the city contracts. I supported marriage equality on record since 2001. My approach has always been to embrace and support the LGBT community and let my actions speak louder than my words as I fight for rights and services for all Chicagoans.

WCT: Would you advocate for mandatory LGBT-inclusive education in Chicago Public Schools starting in middle school regardless of what happens on the state level?

PV: Yes.

WCT: Are any of your campaign staffers/volunteers openly LGBT?

PV: Yes.

WCT: What is your position regarding funding for HIV/AIDS treatment and education?

PV: I will build my budget to give every area of the city access to the resources they need, including HIV/AIDS treatment and education.

WCT: How will you address the city's continued infrastructure problems? Blighted and underserved areas?

PV: I have a number of solutions, including: take full advantage of the Federal Opportunity Zone program to raise capital for Chicago's 133 opportunity zones, allocate one-third of TIF revenues to an investment fund to make capital and infrastructure investments in poor communities, invest cannabis and gambling revenues into a community-based social service infrastructure across the board, remove obstacles for landlords to convert unimproved space on their properties into garden units, create a Chicago Housing Trust to take the estimated 50,000 vacant properties and give them to community-based organizations and to provide vulnerable people with living space and services.

WCT: What is the ideal minimum wage for the city of Chicago?

PV: We should pay people a livable wage and make it gradual, so businesses do not leave. Some smaller businesses should be offered tax offsets so they can pay their employees more and not struggle as a result.

WCT: How would you address the budget shortfalls that do not include additional regressive taxation?

PV: I presented a comprehensive financial plan to solve Chicago's financial crisis, fully fund the pension system and permanently cap property taxes, fees and fines. My budget will allow for fully funded pensions without reduced benefits and no regressive taxation through revenue sourcing, a fair share state plan and city expenditure reductions of at least five percent.

WCT: What are your recommendations for better relationships between the police and citizens they serve, including people of color and the transgender community?

PV: I will restore beat integrity to ensure officers are in districts where they are familiar and are familiar with them, rebuild the supervisory infrastructure, provide redundant and comprehensive training, limit the merit promotion system, create a pipeline of first responders drawn from Chicago high school ROTC programs—which serve 10,000 students a year, 90 percent of whom are Black and Latino—to ensure first responders represent the community, open community health and wellness centers in each police district and work with the community, including the LGBTQ community. I will also increase number of officers, detectives and sergeants and increase redundant training.

WCT: What kind of relationship do you plan on having with the city council, Gov. Pritzker and state legislators?

PV: My 12 years spent working for the state legislature, most of those years for Dawn Clark Netsch, and my twelve years working as City Revenue Director, Budget Director and CPS CEO gave me the chance to foster good relationships with both the governor's office and the legislature. I am confident I will get what Chicago needs and deserves.

See vallasforallchicago.com/ .


This article shared 3089 times since Sun Feb 10, 2019
facebook twitter pin it google +1 reddit email

Out and Aging
Presented By

  ARTICLES YOU MIGHT LIKE

Gay News

Chicago's LGBTQ+ Advisory Council sets a new course 2024-03-18
- Chicago's LGBTQ+ Advisory Council held its first meeting of the calendar year on Feb. 28 at City Hall in the Loop under the leadership of the recently appointed chair Jin-Soo Huh. The LGBTQ+ Advisory Council is ...


Gay News

NATIONAL Missouri measure, HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, judge, Texas schools 2024-03-15
- In Missouri, a newly proposed law could charge teachers and counselors with a felony and require them to register as sex offenders if they're found guilty of supporting transgender students who are socially transitioning, CNN noted. ...


Gay News

PASSAGES: Former Chicago Commission on Human Relations chair Clarence Wood 2024-03-13
- LGBTQ ally and former Chicago Commission on Human Relations (CCHR) Chair and Commissioner Clarence N. Wood died March 5. He was 83. Wood was born April 14, 1940, in Alabama. While primarily raised in Alabama, Wood ...


Gay News

Longtime LGBTQ+-rights activist David Mixner dies at 77 2024-03-12
- On March 11, longtime LGBTQ+ and HIV/AIDS activist David Mixner—known for working on Bill Clinton's presidential campaign but then splitting from him over "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" (DADT)—died at age 77, The Advocate reported. ...


Gay News

LGBTQ+ Victory Fund remembers co-founder David Mixner 2024-03-12
--From a press release - Today, LGBTQ+ Victory Fund President & CEO Mayor Annise Parker released the following statement on the passing of LGBTQ+ civil rights activist and LGBTQ+ Victory Fund co-founder David Mixner: "Today, we lost David Mixner, a founding ...


Gay News

Florida settles 'Don't Say Gay' lawsuit 2024-03-11
- On March 11, the state of Florida settled a multi-year lawsuit against the so-called "Don't Say Gay" law, which limits how LGBTQ+ topics can be discussed and presented in schools, The Hill reported. The settlement agreement ...


Gay News

ELECTIONS 2024 Precious Brady-Davis says climate change is top issue as she runs to finish appointed MWRD term 2024-03-08
- Precious Brady-Davis, commissioner for the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District (MWRD), is one of several candidates running to fill three seats on the board in the March 19 election. Brady-Davis was appointed to the role last summer ...


Gay News

ELECTIONS 2024 MWRD's Marcelino Garcia discusses flooding, land use and LGBTQ+ inclusion 2024-03-08
- Marcelina Garcia, commissioner for the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District (MWRD), is one of several candidates in the running to fill three seats on the board in the March 19 election. Garcia, who chair's the MWRD's Finance ...


Gay News

NATIONAL Altercation, mpox research, Univ. of Fla., George Santos, tech battle 2024-03-08
- Video footage uploaded to Facebook showed an altercation between a state trooper and two prominent Philadelphia LGBTQ+ leaders, the Washington Blade reported, republishing an article from Philadelphia Gay News. Celena ...


Gay News

LPAC celebrates historic wins for LGBTQ+ candidates in Super Tuesday primaries 2024-03-06
- From a press release: Washington, DC—Today, LPAC,the nation's leading organization dedicated to electing LGBTQ+ women and nonbinary candidates to public office, proudly announces the outstanding victories of 67% of endorsed candidates ...


Gay News

Illinois's first openly gay elected official voices support for Cunningham 2024-03-05
- Judge Thomas Chiola, who served in the Illinois Circuit Court of Cook County from 1994-2009, has officially endorsed Justice Joy Cunningham for reelection to the Illinois Supreme Court. Chiola is the first gay man to be ...


Gay News

Sinema retiring from the U.S. Senate 2024-03-05
- Kyrsten Sinema—the bisexual U.S. senator from Arizona who recently switched from being a Democrat to an independent—announced that she will not run for re-election this year, ...


Gay News

WORLD Canadian politics, Australian murders, Finnish study, 'Anatomy' 2024-03-01
- Canadian conservatives are divided over an anti-trans policy that Alberta Premier Danielle Smith handed down in her province, The Guardian reported. The policy includes a ban on hormonal treatment, puberty ...


Gay News

Ghana parliament passes harsh anti-LGBTQ+ bill 2024-02-29
- On Feb. 28, Ghana's parliament unanimously passed a controversial anti-LGBTQ+ bill that has been condemned globally. The so-called Human Sexual Rights and Family Values Act, which was introduced in the parliament in 2021, not only criminalizes ...


Gay News

Anti-LGBTQ+ Republican McConnell to step down from leading U.S. Senate 2024-02-29
- U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) will step down from Senate leadership in November, having served in that capacity longer than any senator in history, The Advocate noted. McConnell has been a senator since 1985 and has ...


 


Copyright © 2024 Windy City Media Group. All rights reserved.
Reprint by permission only. PDFs for back issues are downloadable from
our online archives.

Return postage must accompany all manuscripts, drawings, and
photographs submitted if they are to be returned, and no
responsibility may be assumed for unsolicited materials.

All rights to letters, art and photos sent to Nightspots
(Chicago GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times (a Chicago
Gay and Lesbian News and Feature Publication) will be treated
as unconditionally assigned for publication purposes and as such,
subject to editing and comment. The opinions expressed by the
columnists, cartoonists, letter writers, and commentators are
their own and do not necessarily reflect the position of Nightspots
(Chicago GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times (a Chicago Gay,
Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender News and Feature Publication).

The appearance of a name, image or photo of a person or group in
Nightspots (Chicago GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times
(a Chicago Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender News and Feature
Publication) does not indicate the sexual orientation of such
individuals or groups. While we encourage readers to support the
advertisers who make this newspaper possible, Nightspots (Chicago
GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times (a Chicago Gay, Lesbian
News and Feature Publication) cannot accept responsibility for
any advertising claims or promotions.

 
 

TRENDINGBREAKINGPHOTOS







Sponsor


 



Donate


About WCMG      Contact Us      Online Front  Page      Windy City  Times      Nightspots
Identity      BLACKlines      En La Vida      Archives      Advanced Search     
Windy City Queercast      Queercast Archives     
Press  Releases      Join WCMG  Email List      Email Blast      Blogs     
Upcoming Events      Todays Events      Ongoing Events      Bar Guide      Community Groups      In Memoriam     
Privacy Policy     

Windy City Media Group publishes Windy City Times,
The Bi-Weekly Voice of the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Trans Community.
5315 N. Clark St. #192, Chicago, IL 60640-2113 • PH (773) 871-7610 • FAX (773) 871-7609.