Roscoe View Journal – Inside Publications

47th Ward Aldermanic Candidates Survey

Survey deadlines were 11:59 p.m., January 20, 2011. A complete list of surveys can be found at
www.centersquarejournal.com/47thwardcandidates

Candidate: Tom Jacks

Candidate Birthdate: 07/31/1986

Home Address:
4853 N. Wolcott #3A, Chicago, IL, 60640

Campaign Phone Number:

708-955-2864

Campaign Contact:
tom@casajacks.com

4853 N. Wolcott #3A, Chicago, IL, 60640

votetomjacks@gmail.com
www.votetomjacks.com

Campaign Manager: Tom Jacks

Marital Status: Single

Spouse: N/A

Your Occupation: Policy and Research Consultant

Education: Candidate for Masters in Public Policy and Administration at Northwestern

University, Bachelors in Political Science and Economics from Loyola University Chicago

Please list civic, professional, fraternal or other types of organizations to which you belong.
None

Have you held elective or appointive political office or have you been employed by any
branch of government?
Interned for two Illinois State Representatives

Please list jobs or contracts you, members of your immediate family or business partners
have had with government.
Currently employed by Global Philanthropy Partnership, who does environmental consulting
work for the City of Chicago

Tom Jacks – Page 1 of 5

What, in your view, is an alderman’s job?
I believe it is the Alderman's responsibility to focus on what should be his only interest group:
his ward. This is why I have committed to not taking any contributions from anybody in order to
avoid having my attention diverted to interest groups. The Alderman's purpose is not only to
represent his ward at City Council, but also to go out of his way to engage residents within his
ward. I am determined to reach out to residents via community and neighborhood organizations,
door-to-door check-ins, and conversing in public places. Furthermore, I will provide residents
with the information necessary for them to understand what the Alderman’s office makes
decisions on and how they can influence these decisions. Currently, zoning is one area where I
have heard concerns from residents because the Alderman has a large influence in these
decisions, yet the residents feel little power in influencing these decisions and see little
transparency in how these decisions are made. I will ensure that residents are able to have a voice
in this and other important processes and that the decision-making process is transparent. The
more residents are involved in these decisions, the better off the community will be.

If elected, what would be your immediate priorities for your ward?

I believe TIF reform is long overdue and will fight for reform at City Council to ensure improved
TIF districts in the ward through greater transparency and accountability. I support making TIFs
more accountable by itemizing project goals, including TIF oversight in the budget process, and
examining the distribution of surpluses. I will also support a moratorium on TIFs until reform is
completed. TIFs use taxpayer money and the taxpayers deserve to know how their money is
being spent and to have a voice in spending decisions.
I will also strive to increase community engagement and provide residents with the information
necessary for them to understand what the Alderman’s office makes decisions on and how they
can influence these decisions. I want to ensure that residents are able to have a voice and that the
decision-making process is transparent.

If elected, what would be your immediate priorities for the city?

The budget needs to be addressed and aldermen need to show the public that they are committed
to reducing the city’s expenses by first reducing their own expense accounts. One common
practice among aldermen is to lease a vehicle and sometimes hire a driver, which is charged to
their expense account. Instead, the aldermen should consider taking the CTA. This, along with
other unnecessary benefits, needs to be eliminated in order to demonstrate that the aldermen are
making cuts within their own office before cutting city services.
As Alderman, I will support increasing fines on activities that hurt society. For example, the
possession of illegal weapons is one area where I believe fines should be increased. The benefits
are twofold: the increased fine would deter the possession of illegal weapons, which should not
be happening in the first place, and this could partially offset a future increase in taxes on law-
abiding residents. If elected, I will be a strong supporter of the arts because this is one area that
has the potential to bring significant revenues to the city. Music festivals, theater performances,
and movie productions are all activities that create jobs, while attracting people from outside the
city to spend money within the city. Furthermore, these activities contribute to Chicago’s top-tier
cultural image around the globe.
Regarding spending cuts, I will first look at reducing inefficiencies within city services. The
ward-based garbage collection system is one area that should be changed to a grid-based system,
which would save money while maintaining the same level of service. Additionally, some city

Tom Jacks – Page 2 of 5

services may need to be completely overhauled, such as garbage and recycling collection.
According to an Inspector General’s report, there could be savings in excess of $100 million if
these services are privatized. Due to the state of the budget, this recommendation deserves to be
considered.

Should Tax Increment Financing districts be eliminated? Why?

I believe that TIF reform is long overdue and should be a priority for the next administration,
which will certainly involve reevaluating individual TIFs and potentially eliminating some of
them. TIFs can be a great mechanism to promote economic development, but the fact that
millions of dollars of TIF funds are spend outside their individual districts each year illustrates
the need for reform.
As Alderman, I will support making TIFs more accountable by itemizing project goals, including
TIF oversight in the budget process, and examining the distribution of surpluses. In addition, a
moratorium on TIFs should be considered, especially until reform is completed.
Transparency and accountability is necessary for TIFs to remain an effective economic
development tool. TIFs use taxpayer money and the taxpayers deserve to know how their money
is being spent and to have a voice in spending decisions. If I am elected Alderman, I will fight
for TIF reform.

In what way can the City Council improve its oversight responsibility for government?
The City Council can increase its oversight responsibility by reading legislation and contracts
before it votes to approve them. The parking lease proved that there needs to be greater
transparency in the process and aldermen should reach out to their constituents when long-lasting
implications are at stake. In addition, all city contracts should have greater transparency by
providing residents with information on which organizations are receiving contracts and why.
Furthermore, privatization should not be viewed as a one-time income, but can be useful when
the private sector can demonstrate efficiencies and the government can save money, without
residents experiencing a reduction in city services. I will consider privatization, but only under a
transparent process with a clear definition of where funds generated from the contract are to be
allocated.

Would you hire family members for staff or a city government job? Explain your answer.
No, I believe nepotism and the practice of anointing your successor is partially responsible for
the current need for a budget overhaul and ethics reform. In the 47th Ward, Alderman Schulter is
trying to anoint his own successor in Tom O’Donnell, who has colluded with the Alderman and
even circulated petitions to help him get on the ballot in the current race. I am strongly opposed
to these practices, especially because aldermen have a poor track record, with roughly one
alderman having been indicted every year over the past thirty years, on average.
I have made the decision to not raise any campaign funds because I do not want to be beholden
to the same interest groups of Chicago politics. If elected, I will continue this policy and pay for
any campaigning out of my own pocket. I believe the Alderman makes more than enough money
in salary and should not have a separate campaign fund, especially when those funds are likely to
divert his attention away from what should be his only interest group: his ward.
I strongly support making the aldermanic offices more transparent, particularly with respect to
their expense accounts. I feel that all expenses greater than a minimum, such as $100, should be

Tom Jacks – Page 3 of 5

reported and publicly available. In addition, all city contracts should be open and publicly
available.
Improving transparency would be a good first step, but it should follow with enforcement. I will
support expanding the authority of the Inspector General to allow his office to inspect the
aldermen because they should be subject to investigation, just like the city departments. The
aldermen are supposed to be public servants and should never be above the law. By improving
transparency and enforcement, I believe the ethical standards of city government would see
change in the right direction.

Would you support a property tax increase? Explain.

In light of the recent state income tax hike and increased property taxes due to recent
assessments, I have no desire to raise property taxes and add to the unfair burden the residents
are experiencing. The city needs to balance its budget without raising taxes, which will
unfortunately involve tough decisions that will cause some people to lose their jobs or some city
services to be scaled back. Nevertheless, this is the only option that I believe is fair to the
residents because any further tax increase is likely to force people to leave the city, due to
financial pressures.

City and teacher pensions are underfunded and city revenues are down. Do you support
moving worker pensions from defined benefit to defined contribution plans?
The pension systems need to be addressed and will involve hard decisions that will certainly
make employees unhappy. In order to be as fair as possible to current employees, I will first
focus changes on new employees, but current workers will have to experience some changes to
their benefits because the unfunded liability is too large to be fixed without addressing them.
The public sector pension system should be more in line with that of the private sector. The
private sector has changed the retirement age and pension calculations. These and other changes
should absolutely be considered because there needs to be a reasonable limit to how high the
percentage of your salary your pension can be, in addition to a reasonable age when you can
begin to collect your pension.

What do you see as the best fate and future for the NW corner of Lawrence and Western?
I believe that this area has a lot of potential through beautification, coupled with an increase in
accessibility to encourage more pedestrian traffic, in order to benefit the area. I envision not just
this area, but all along Lawrence becoming more pedestrian-friendly and bike-friendly with
expanded sidewalks and bike lane expansions. However, I would only push for these changes
after many community meetings to determine whether this is what the community wants.

What sort of development would you prefer to see on the old Ravenswood Hospital site?
What steps would you take to make it happen?
This site is very transit-friendly and is a prime location for transit-oriented development. One
option that I would support is creating office space for startup companies, including high tech,
research and development, and other professional areas, which would attract professional people
and create high-paying jobs in the ward. The community would benefit because these workers
would spend money in the area and it would help to diversify the set of jobs in the ward. I would
definitely consider other ideas at community meetings.

Tom Jacks – Page 4 of 5

While the 47th Ward is one of the fastest gentrifying neighborhoods in the city, many
families decline to send their kids to neighborhood public schools. What can be done to
attract local parents to local schools?
We need creative solutions to solve education problems at the ward level because it is a citywide
problem. As Alderman, I will reach out and work with businesses and higher education
institutions in order to foster an adopt-a-school program, where all students would have access to
mentoring. This would create many benefits, with all students receiving extra attention,
businesses having a strong supply of future workers, and the community realizing a greater
interconnectedness.

Tom Jacks – Page 5 of 5