Knudsen: Our residents, families, businesses and neighborhood groups have made it clear: making our communities safer is the top priority.

That’s why when I took office my team made public safety our top priority. We took immediate steps to help address the issue in the short term:

This is a problem that also requires long-term solutions. That’s why we:

With a new mayor and a new police superintendent on the way, we also have an opportunity to restore true community policing in the 43rd Ward. I have a comprehensive plan that gets more officers back in our communities, empowers local police commanders to tailor their strategies to our neighborhoods, and helps address the staffing shortfalls in CPD. You can read that full plan at https://www.knudsenfor43.com/issues.

Comer: Public Safety measures. Everything circles back to the residents, business owners, and employees of the 43rd feeling safe living and working in our community. This is at the crux of everything. This spurs business development, higher traffic on public transportation routes and more people coming into our community to frequent our restaurants and shops.

Knudsen: Over the last six months, I have been honored to lean on the expertise of so many business owners as I advocated for our community in City Hall. I’ve held infrastructure menu walks through commercial corridors in our ward and convened business leaders with citywide officials to highlight the needs of our local business community. I consult with your leadership and that of the Chicagoland Chamber, our neighborhood associations, citywide and statewide organizations representing buildings, hotels and restaurants on a regular basis to inform my work in the ward and in City Council. As someone who comes from the private sector — particularly as someone who’s helped entrepreneurs grow their businesses — I see our local business owners as partners and I share their mindset when it comes to the issues facing our city. I engage directly with 43rd Ward businesses and commit to remaining accessible and responsive to their needs, as well as pushing a pro-business agenda in City Council.

Comer: I look forward to reviewing proposed legislative ideas presented through the Chamber, while also engaging business owners at your upcoming forums. As Alderman, my #1 job is to engage our entire community. I represent both the business owners and residents of the ward. Any time there is legislation in front of City Council addressing business matters, the first people I will be speaking to are the business owners and Lincoln Park Chamber to hear their opinions on the matter. I am their lead advocate in the city. This includes also assisting owners and the Chamber expressing their voice with Cook County and State of Illinois government bodies as well.

Knudsen: As stated above, we’ve made public safety our top focus. And my comprehensive plan to restore community policing can be viewed https://www.knudsenfor43.com/issues.

More specifically, I believe beat integrity is an important part of protecting our local businesses. We need more officers on our streets, working a local beat and building hyperlocal knowledge of our neighborhoods to understand crime patterns and where they occur. Experienced beat officers are able to better identify vacant or under construction homes and businesses that are targets for theft and criminal activity, and also have a better sense of where problems commonly occur.

My office is a member of the Cook County State's Attorney’s Community Justice Center Steering Committee. This Committee brings together business leaders (such as the LPCC), police leaders, and county leaders to discuss prominent public safety priorities and build a coalition to collaborate on cases of repeat offenders and other recurrent crime issues. Through this program, my office will collaborate with the Chamber to host business safety walks in retail corridors to help introduce officers to business and show a physical police presence in the Ward.

Comer: My plan for public safety is the main reason that the Chicago Tribune has endorsed me twice as the best candidate for this job.

Knudsen: I’m proud to have worked with the Lincoln Park Chamber of Commerce to promote businesses, provide services, and help fill vacant storefronts. I have also embraced the old school technique of calling local landlords directly. Particularly in high traffic corridors, there is a domino effect of new businesses filling storefront after storefront. Whether it’s through new incentives or by closing tax loopholes that keep perfectly good commercial spaces vacant, we must ensure local business owners have a friendly environment to start and grow their small businesses. In the coming months, we are excited to announce new businesses in longtime vacant storefronts such as the intersection of Lincoln and Dickens.

Comer: The city must do more to encourage small business so they thrive, not just survive. I would work towards placing new small businesses on a discounted licensing and permitting fee schedule for the first five years. This allows them to spend more of their capital on building their business and customer/client base. At five years, they have surpassed the 1-3 year mark where small businesses fail. They are now a business with a track record of success and then they can begin paying the full freight. Lighted storefronts call the police when necessary, empty ones do not. Most importantly, this creates new realized tax revenue for the city. Millions of dollars that do not exist now will be there to offset having property owners, both business and residential, to continually have to deal with property tax increase discussions.

Chicago also must make it easier for businesses to move through the maze of opening their storefronts. I want to bring back a “Business Express” that formerly existed. A one stop shop with real people staffing it to help business dreamers move towards filing all of their paperwork. This service must also include language assistance for those owners for which English is a second language. And finally, the city must be placed on a timer to complete any inspections that are required. Business owners should not be waiting months and months for a 10-minute walk through.

Knudsen: As Alderman, I view myself as a pragmatist who prioritizes fiscal stability. I want to ensure our city is paying bills on time, passing balanced budgets, and ensuring our pensions are stable. In my first few months in office, I helped block an increase in the Real Estate Transfer Tax and advocated against raising property taxes in the city budget. We can’t rely on homeowners every time the city has revenue needs. My goal is to keep the cost of living - which includes taxes - low for families and businesses, especially amid inflation.

Our city has a lot of fat in the annual budget. We allocate funds towards positions in every department that never get filled. I believe we need to review the budget more regularly instead of just once a year.

Comer: Part of my solution to this issue I addressed in question four. Additionally, I want to see the city start the inverse of the of the former corporate head tax. I want Chicago to have a corporate head incentive. This will encourage companies to bring people back into the office and those incentives can be passed along to the property owner who have been faced with mortgage payments that are not supported by tenant filled triple-net leases. The building owners are getting squeezed and we need to provide them with some relief.

We also must make the budget more transparent and remove inefficiencies that exist. Folks have been saying this for a long time, but now it’s time that we actually do something about it. Chicago’s budget is our public money, business owners and residents should truly know how it is being spent.

Knudsen: Public safety. We need residents to feel safe in their neighborhoods and visitors and tourists to feel comfortable patronizing our 43rd Ward businesses. Our ward has so many amenities – a beautiful lakefront, cultural institutions, quality schools, world-class restaurants – that draw in people from all over the country and the world. They need to feel safe here.

More broadly, I believe that we need to halt the “domino effect” that occurs when storefronts become vacant. I’ve outlined some of my strategies above.

Citywide, crime is also a major issue. To get at the root causes, I supported more funding to invest in communities on the South and West Sides that have long been neglected. I also voted for $100 million in anti-violence funding. My comprehensive plan for community policing is tailored to our 43rd Ward, but much of what I propose can also help make neighborhoods across our city safer.

Comer: Our public safety issue is the biggest. People are not feeling safe walking our streets and coming into the neighborhood as much as they used to. If not addressed, it will continue to deteriorate our image on a global scale. People will continue to leave the city, causing those of us who remain to pay much higher taxes and fees to keep our city services. The capital investment markets have spoken loudly in the last several years and Chicago is not on their high priority list for investment. We used to be. We can get back there but it means restoring the sense of safety with the public. This effects both businesses and residents equally.

Knudsen: I support efforts by business leaders to cut red tape on some of the preliminary hoops that businesses must jump through to get to opening day. For example, the reforms implemented in 2020 to provide streamlined support to businesses in getting necessary licenses to open. Further efforts to speed up inspections need to be addressed to build on these necessary reforms.

Comer: I addressed this in question four. My entire plan centers around making it a one-stop shop for business owners to file, pay reduced fees to start their businesses and for the city to be placed on a timer to get their administrative ducks in a row. If they don’t, then the business can open and the city must play catch up. In regards to inconsistent inspections, I will work with my fellow alders to make certain that a full review of the inspection process – schedule, need for inspection, etc. is reviewed. If the results deem them more inspectors are needed to be timelier for business owners, I will work to invest in increasing their staff. If the review reveals that the rate of inspection of particular businesses is not truly necessary, then we will address it and lessen the burden on the business owners of going through needless inspections. We must be svelte, purpose driven and focused on supporting our businesses throughout the city.

Knudsen: As stated above, we’ve made public safety our top focus. And my comprehensive plan to restore community policing can be viewed at https://www.knudsenfor43.com/issues.

I built relationships with local police commanders to help identify these patterns and be a liaison between CPD and our business community. My office also regularly publishes information and methods to improve the safety of businesses and their patrons. For example, one of my first newsletters centered on tips and tricks to protect your business and personal belongings from burglaries and robberies. I also hosted a Conversation with the Commanders event that brought the community together to have an open discussion with our local police leaders. I will continue to do this to further relationships and connect our community with the necessary resources.

Comer: In these scenarios, community policing and increased beat officer presence is the best answer. It goes back to restoring trust in our sense of safety in the community. When there are recognized beat officers walking and patrolling the same streets regularly, those targeting illegal activities will be thwarted from attempting in those areas. Through community policing, the local beat officers who patrol the neighborhood can build a unique plan for safety, communication and engagement with the local businesses to better protect that particular area.