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 '11: 46TH WARD--MICHAEL CARROLL
Special to the Online Edition of Windy City Times
by Joseph Erbentraut
2011-02-16

This article shared 4047 times since Wed Feb 16, 2011
facebook twitter google +1 reddit email


Considering that public safety is perhaps the No. 1 issue consistently emerging as a headline-grabber in the race for 46th Ward Alderman, it should come as no surprise that a seven-year officer with the Chicago Police Department, Michael Carroll, has emerged as a strong contender for the post. In a recent conversation with the Windy City Times, Carroll spoke about his campaign.

Windy City Times: What motivated you to join this race?

Michael Carroll: I entered the race because I love my neighborhood. I love my community and I'm unhappy when I see things not going well. I've always been involved. After college, I did a lot of public service and I was a police officer, which I also think of as public service. I think this is the next step for me in serving my community.

In college, I did a lot of volunteering with Habitat for Humanity and I worked abroad after college, was in the Peace Corps and went to Morocco. After that, I lived and worked with the poor in an AIDS hospice and orphanage in Bangkok, Thailand. When I first moved into Uptown, I didn't get involved. I knew politics but I wasn't really involved [with it]. I spent my time being involved with neighborhood groups and volunteering at the food pantry at my church. I just got to know more and more and I felt that with my background, my knowledge and my experience fighting crime and on schooling, I'd be a good fit to be the voice of our community.

WCT: What are your biggest priorities should you be elected alderman?

MC: My first priority is public safety and stopping crime. When [Chicago Police Department Superintendent] Jody Weis was on TV saying crime is down citywide, that's great, but it's not in my neighborhood and that's terrible. No one here deserves that. It doesn't matter where a person is from, what culture they come from or how much money they make, everyone wants the same exact thing. That has no bearing on their right to safe streets.

The next step of that would be job development and we'll be opening businesses on the Wilson, Broadway and Sheridan corridors. How are these empty storefronts good for our community? I think one of the biggest things preventing shopkeepers from coming is the crime, so if I can put a handle on that, I'll let the business owners know Uptown is open for business and I'd do whatever it takes to ensure that your business does well. I want the Wilson Red Line stop to be a hub for business, a destination.

My third biggest priority would be infrastructure, which is parceled with the first two. Our three stops of the Red Line—Sheridan, Wilson and Lawrence—are in terrible condition, the worst of which is Wilson. It should be a better place crime-wise and services-wise. Another thing that needs to be changed immediately is that it's not ADA compliant -- none of ours are. We're missing a golden opportunity here that will bring in more tax revenue to the city to pay the bills, hire more cops and have better schools.

WCT: How do you respond to those who say your police background lacks the direct political experience an alderman should have?

MC: I think they should look at my whole background because I'm not Mike the cop; I'm Mike the public servant. I finished my master's degree at Northwestern on public policy and did my masters thesis about crime prevention and how to keep these people from committing crime, which goes into the schools and the vast importance of these juveniles staying in school and addressing the biggest issues I see with schools: truancy.

WCT: There have been some complaints in the last year of harassment of LGBT people at the hands of the Chicago Police Department, such as Officer Richard Fiorito. How do you seek to increase police presence in the ward without alienating LGBT residents?

MC: Being a police officer, I hate hearing stories about police officers doing things they shouldn't be doing. It makes me very, very unhappy because it gives me a bad name. To that end, the police have to be concerned with every community and this is one thing they can't pass up because if they do they aren't doing their job. Talking about certain officers, such as Fiorito, I know about the issue. I was on the CAPS beat and the District Advisory Committee for some time and a group came into the meeting to express their displeasure with that officer ... That incident was a vocal incident and I haven't heard about it recently. I think that [the investigation] will continue until it is soundly resolved.

WCT: Why do you hope to have the support of LGBT voters in the ward?

MC: To have their support would be them saying they believe I can be their voice in City Hall. It's really important to me that everybody not only thinks but knows that they are part of this community and that they belong. ... There's a phrase I often heard as a police officer coming on the job that I learned: "It's not my father's department." You think about all these things that happened in the late '60s with the police after Dr. King was murdered, Bobby Kennedy was murdered and then the DNC in '68. Those were some pretty heavy things that happened and scarred our department and it's been how many years since then? And now there's John Burge. I mean, shoot, that was some 20 years ago and he's still in the news giving us a black eye when this guy hasn't been an officer in forever.

I have the background, the knowledge and the constitution to deal with these terrible things we've been dealing with and I want to make sure you and this community don't have to deal with that anymore. If it's the bullying, kids shouldn't have to deal with it. If it's the overall abuse, it shouldn't happen that way and I'll do everything in my power to ensure that never happens.

See www.carroll46.com .


This article shared 4047 times since Wed Feb 16, 2011
facebook twitter google +1 reddit email

Out and Aging
Presented By

  ARTICLES YOU MIGHT LIKE

Gay News

LGBTQ+ candidates Marcelino Garcia, Precious Brady Davis win primary elections to keep MWRD seats 2024-03-21
- Marcelino Garcia and Precious Brady-Davis, the two openly LGBTQ+ incumbents in the race to keep their seats on the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District (MWRD), won their primary elections and will move on to the general this ...


Gay News

Small LGBTQ+ candidate pool nevertheless scores some important victories March 19 2024-03-20
- Relatively few openly LGBTQ+ candidates were running in the March 19 Illinois Primary Election. But there were some significant contests in play at the local, state and federal levels. Openly gay Ald. Ray Lopez (15th Ward) ...


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

ELECTIONS 2024 Mike Simmons discusses LGBTQ+ health disparities, child tax credit 2024-02-27
- State Senator Mike Simmons is running unopposed in the March 19 election. Simmons began representing the 7th District after the former state senator, Heather Steans, retired. He's lived in the area his entire life. ...


Gay News

ELECTIONS 2024 Raymond Lopez talks congressional run, Chuy Garcia, migrant crisis 2024-02-26
- Chicago Ald. Raymond Lopez has been a member of City Council since 2015, representing the 15th Ward and making history as one of the city's first LGBTQ+ Latine alderman. Now, he is setting his sights on ...


Gay News

ELECTIONS 2024 Kelly Cassidy discusses reproductive health, LGBTQ+ rights ahead of March primary 2024-02-26
- By Kayleigh Padar State Rep. Kelly Cassidy, running unopposed in the March 19 primary election so as to continue representing the 14th District, was first elected in 2011. During her tenure in Springfield, she has ...


Gay News

Bring Chicago Home Campaign releases open endorsement letter from 100+ faith leaders 2024-02-19
--From a press release - CHICAGO — With just over a month before the March 19th primary election, prominent Chicago faith leaders will today release a letter—signed by over 100 religious leaders—endorsing the Bring Chicago Home campaign to restructure the Real ...


Gay News

Democrat flips seat once held by George Santos 2024-02-14
- On Feb. 13 in New York, Democrat Tom Suozzi won a special election to succeed the U.S. congressional seat formerly held by openly gay Republican George Santos, who was recently ousted. According to NBC News, Suozzi's ...


Gay News

Equality Illinois makes 77 pro-equality, pro-family endorsements for 2024 primary election 2024-02-13
--From a press release - CHICAGO - Equality Illinois, the state's civil rights organization for LGBTQ+ Illinoisans, on Tuesday announced state legislative and county-level endorsements for the primary election on Tuesday, March 19, 2024. "Equality ...


Gay News

WORLD Taiwan MP, lesbian couple, India items, Ghana assault, Nepal 2024-02-09
- Huang Jie said her election to Taiwan's parliament as the island's first openly gay MP represents progress, according to the Hong Kong Free Press. "I hope (my election) will bring courage to many people as I've ...


Gay News

ELECTIONS 2024 Judge Ed Underhill talks experience, newest campaign 2024-02-05
- Last June, longtime attorney Ed Underhill assumed the role of Cook County judge, becoming one of the few LGBTQ+ people to be in one of those positions. (He's in the LGBTQ+ group The Alliance of Illinois ...


Gay News

Equality Illinois endorses in two key primary election races 2024-01-24
--From a press release - Equality Illinois endorses in two key primary election races for state representative: Dr. Michael Crawford in Illinois House District 31 and Lisa J. Davis in Illinois House District 32. Dr. Crawford and Ms. Davis have demonstrated ...


Gay News

Rainbow Wave: 238 LGBTQ+ candidates win public office in 2023, all time high for an odd year election 2023-11-14
--From a press release - Washington, DC — 238 out LGBTQ+ candidates have won elections in 2023, as of 3 p.m. ET, surpassing the record 185 who won in 2021 — the last odd-year election. LGBTQ+ Victory Fund is awaiting final ...


Gay News

NATIONAL Election results, campus items, Puerto Rican icons, healthcare suit 2023-11-10
- Historic developments took place during the Nov. 7 elections that happened in some states. LGBTQ+ Victory Fund candidate Rue Landau won an at-large seat on the Philadelphia City Council—making her the first out LGBTQ+ candidate to ...


 


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.