24th District Council Agenda

Veronica I. Arreola – Chair

Arreola founded the 50th Ward Action Network and worked with The People’s Lobby during the 2019 municipal elections. She is running in a slate with EdVetté Jones and Marilyn Pagán-Banks; the slate’s campaign website calls district councils “the most progressive community-led police accountability device in the country.” Alderpersons Andre Vasquez (40th Ward) and Maria Hadden (49th Ward), state representative Kelly M. Cassidy (14th District), the ONE People’s Campaign, Network 49, and United Working Families 50th Ward have endorsed the three-candidate slate.

• Is CPD adequately funded? No answer

• CPD reform: No answer

What do you consider the primary role of a police district councilor to be?

Communicating with the department on behalf of the community

Why are you running for Police District Council?

As an educator and parent, I clearly see how the over-investment in policing has resulted in an under-investment in the community. I believe this under-investment results in more crime and violence. This cycle needs to be broken by new ideas and these ideas should come from the community, especially from those who have been harmed by current policing strategies.

Marilyn Pagan-Banks – Nominating Committee

The director of the nonprofit A Just Harvest and a founding member of the Coalition to End Money Bond, Pagán-Banks says, “If we want a safe community, then all must have enough to eat, earn a livable wage, access meds if needed, and have a place to truly rest. If we want a beautiful community, then all must know dignity and respect, have a clear sense of belonging and be truly seen.”

She is running in a slate with EdVetté Jones and Veronica Arreola; the slate’s campaign website calls district councils “the most progressive community-led police accountability device in the country.” Alderpersons Andre Vasquez (40th Ward) and Maria Hadden (49th Ward), state representative Kelly M. Cassidy (14th District), the ONE People’s Campaign, Network 49, and United Working Families 50th Ward have endorsed the three-candidate slate.

• Is CPD adequately funded? No answer

• CPD reform: No answer

What do you consider the primary role of a police district councilor to be?

Establishing civilian control of the police department

Communicating with the department on behalf of the community

Supporting Treatment Not Trauma-type work to support healing and economic development programming, and less on the carceral system.

Why are you running for Police District Council?

I am running for district council because I believe the most transformative, innovative, and generative solutions to community safety (i.e., well-being and thriving for all), can and will only come from the community itself. I want to be a part of creating brave spaces for this creative work to happen.

Edvette W. Jones – Community Engagement

Atrustee of the United Church of Rogers Park, Jones works with the Circles and Ciphers Youth Organization and previously was a youth advocate for Methodist Youth Services, where he frequently interacted with the Department of Children and Family Services, probation and parole officers. He helped draft the ECPS ordinance and says “public safety is a joint venture.”

He is running in a slate with Veronica Arreola and Marilyn Pagán-Banks; the slate’s campaign website calls district councils “the most progressive community-led police accountability device in the country.” Alderpersons Andre Vasquez (40th Ward) and Maria Hadden (49th Ward), state representative Kelly M. Cassidy (14th District), the ONE People’s Campaign, Network 49, and United Working Families 50th Ward have endorsed the three-candidate slate.

• Is CPD adequately funded? Yes: funding should be reduced.

• CPD reform: The police need significant reform

What do you consider the primary role of a police district councilor to be?

Communicating with the department on behalf of the community

Why are you running for Police District Council?

I feel that for many years our communities have been misinformed on the role of the police. Police have the authority to protect the community, not to control the community. That is the job of the community, and my number reason for running: to bring the community together and recognizing our strengths to overcome the adversities that divides us.

I am also running on behalf of years of misconduct by CPD with little to no accountability, too many young Black and Latino men killed by police, the lack of oversight by the city, loopholes in the policies. budgets and spending that the community has no say so over also, the lack of positive influences and interactions by police in our communities. The community must be in the know, and the community must be involved. Public safety is a joint venture.

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