Four times during her term, Mayor Lori Lightfoot has invited applications for aldermanic seats that opened due to a resignation. A committee interviewed them before she interviewed finalists and made the decision. She appointed four relative moderates, in terms of Chicago politics—two with family connections to the ward, three women of color, two Millennials, one gay man. They call themselves the Newbie Caucus.
All of them said that Lightfoot was dealt an extremely challenging hand by fate and faced additional difficulties due to her race. None of them were willing to endorse Lightfoot during the interviews.
“I am laser-focused on the six opponents that I have,” Alderperson Nicole Lee (11th) said.
“I’m focusing on my race,” said Alderperson Anabel Abarca (12th).
“I am only concerned with my election,” said Alderperson Monique Scott (24th).
“I’m staying totally focused on my own race,” Alderperson Timmy Knudsen (43rd) said. “It’s important because I have not been elected. So why am I endorsing anybody?”
The 11th Ward office, 3659 S. Halsted St., is also Cook County commissioner John P. Daley’s (D-11th) office and the ward Democratic organization’s office. It’s stacked with Daley family memorabilia.
The ward’s local organization is helping Nicole Lee out with her campaign. It’s the first one in a very different 11th Ward that now includes all of Chinatown. Bridgeport has long undergone demographic changes, thanks to Asian migration from the north and Latinos from the southwest side, and the ward is now majority-Asian.
Lee’s grandparents immigrated to the United States. Her mother owned a Chinatown beauty shop. Her father, Gene Lee, founded Chinatown’s Chicago Dragons Athletic Association and was former Mayor Richard M. Daley’s envoy to the Chinese American community, a conduit for Chinatown residents to City Hall.
In 2014, Gene Lee pled guilty to embezzlement and tax fraud charges; federal prosecutors said he stole money from a community group, spent it on personal uses, and didn’t pay taxes.
“I’m very proud of my father. I’m very proud of all his contributions,” Alderperson Lee said. “He’s a human being. He’s paid for his mistakes at this point. He owned them. He’s taken responsibility, and we live in a country where you’re allowed to do that.”
11th Ward alderperson Nicole Lee Provided
Knudsen practiced corporate law, working for venture capital companies and establishing a boutique law firm at 30 before leaving upon his appointment. Being his own boss and an entrepreneur of sorts made him organizationally and goal-focused, which has affected his approach to public service.
“I wanted to push technology and innovation within government because I feel like government hasn’t done much of that,” he said. “Constituent services is the big one here, right? A good alderman is a constituent service provider. So we talked to a few government technology firms. We’re going to be doing an overhaul of how our ward treats constituent services.”
He’s planning an investment that will give him 311 requests, who made them, and what they’ve requested in the past every morning when he comes into work. Currently, he would have to have his ward supervisor pull them one by one. The goal is to treat constituents more like customers.
“My goal for this ward is to really set the standard. ‘This really works in 43; everyone should be doing it,’” Knudsen said.
That tech focus leads into his response to public safety, which he identifies as the ward’s top issue. He said he would support bringing back a CPD unit for the CTA, but locally, he wants to install more traffic cameras.
“It’s a deterrent. It puts eyes on the ward,” he said. “It’s not about if I view it that way; it’s what the experts are telling me.”
“The license plate readers on Lake Shore have really stopped and caught a lot of carjackings,” he said. “But those cameras are really expensive. We can afford the stationary cameras; when it comes to license plate readers, we partnered with Senator Feigenholtz (D-6th), because they’re like $250,000 a pop, whereas the ones in the neighborhood are like $25,000. And we have several more coming up.”
Lincoln Park residents, given their general affluence, are not committing a great deal of street crimes. Knudsen said he supports Lightfoot’s Invest South/West neighborhood initiative and said there should be a corresponding focus on “how we can afford a good CPD and support our police, focus on the mental health issues, and really boost morale.” That includes staffing, he said.
Knudsen said there is a lack of affordable housing in the ward and supports efforts like 20 percent unit set-asides for income-eligible people in developments over rent control.
“We need these affordable units for people who work here to live here. In the 43rd Ward, it truly is the young nurses and teachers. We need the teachers in Lincoln Park High School to be able to live here,” he said. “The 43rd Ward has people who want to invest here. Even with the vacant storefronts we have, the rents are being held very high. I am trying to look at ways with the chamber to chip away at that.”
South Asian people have been organizing in Chicago for years—now, two are running for alderperson in the February 28 election.
His position is nuanced, and it’s informed by family experience
Career politicians are stepping down, and there’s now an opportunity for new—and possibly progressive—Black leaders to take the reins.