In her second time running against incumbent Leslie Hairston, attorney and small business owner Anne Marie Miles talks to Windy City Times about social justice, economic growth and education.
Windy City Times: What distinguishes your campaign from Hairston's?
Anne Marie Miles: The big difference between Leslie and I is that I have a proactive vision of the future of the 5th Ward.
There are different neighborhoods in the ward: in Hyde Park, there's a concern about overdevelopment, because we have to be careful to balance community needs with economic growth. We have to make sure that affordable housing becomes a priority. In the South Shore area, one of our biggest community concerns is the lack of a grocery store. I have been working with different grocers who are telling me that they will consider coming into the old Dominick's or nearby if the conditions are right. Currently, my opponent does not have any plans for a grocery store. In fact, when the owners of the plaza brought her a letter of intent from a grocer, she was like, "Well, I don't really like this grocer," and she nixed the deal.
My major focus as alderman would be on Stony Island, which should be a business mecca. We have 40,000 to 60,000 cars a day on Stony; the Starbucks on 71st is the highest-grossing Starbucks in the Chicagoland area; the Save-A-Lot on 73rd is the highest-grossing Save-A-Lot in Chicago. Instead of having more abandoned buildings and vacant lots, we really have to put an emphasis on building off of Stony. And she hasn't done that.
WCT: What do you think are the causes of the crime rate in Chicago?
Anne Marie Miles: One of the causes is the lack of opportunity for people who have criminal records. When I ran last time, I talked to a number of young people who did something stupid, got arrested, the prosecutor came to them with a deal that if they pleaded guilty to felony this or felony that, the prosecutor would give them time served and the case would be over. Since many of them couldn't afford bonds, they would think they were making the right decision … they would take the plea and thereby just ruin their lives. I became so upset about this that I volunteered for Cabrini Green Legal Aid and, at the Union League Club, I convinced a committee that we should write a brochure about the collateral consequences of pleading guilty to a felony entitled, "Before You Decide: A Criminal Record Can Follow You Forever." We had it translated to Spanish, too, and gave it community organizations that serve populations of at-risk youth.
We also need a social-justice metric by which we evaluate all prosecutors, because there is more emphasis on a high felony conviction rate than them really representing the best interests of "We the People." I'm sure you've read Michelle Alexander's book, The New Jim Crow, talking about how we have a whole group of our citizens who've just been brought into the criminal justice system in ways that my children would not be, and they just never get out of it.
WCT: What are your thoughts on the recent increase in the city's minimum wage?
Anne Marie Miles: I think it's a very good thing.
WCT: That was easy.
Anne Marie Miles: Occasionally, you'll get a short answer. [Laughs]
WCT: All three of your children have attended school in the 5th Ward. What are your views on the Chicago Public Schools in your ward?
Anne Marie Miles: They certainly need improvement. There are programs that can augment educationI personally have funded some of those programs. At Kozminski [Community Academy], I paid for a "My First Media" presentation to the early grades to teach them how to critically evaluate the media that they are being subjected to constantly.
Overall, the 5th Ward is really unique. We have the highest number of Nobel laureates and gang leaders of any kind of governmental unit in the country. I'm going to have a conference of Nobel Laureates and gang leaders and say, "We have problems here, what do you think we should do?" When I told my husband thishe's the chairman of psychiatry at the University of Chicagohe said, "And you know, the Nobel laureates are going to be surprised at how smart the gang leaders are." Maybe together we can all work on it. An evaluation of what works and doesn't work is very important.
The one thing that we do know is that when children miss a certain number of days in a school year, that they are more likely to fall behind and not be able to catch up. I'm going to create an absentee hotline and have the schools call my office when a child has missed a certain number of days. My office [staff] will call the family and find out what it is that the family needs in order to be able to get the child to school, sometimes that's an alarm clock or clean clothes, sometimes that's working out a deal to ride with another family member because there's a young child in the home that the parent doesn't want to expose to the cold. And while I understand that I will not be able to help every child, I figure if I help 10 children a year stay in school, at the end of my first term, that's 40 kids, and that means something. And it also changes the dynamic in the 5th Ward, it becomes neighborhood information that the Alderman's office is available to help you.
WCT: Do you have any experience in regards to LGBT-related issues?
Anne Marie Miles: In the 1980s, when New York State changed its rules about advance directives, I drafted some of the first documents used by the Gay Men's Health Crisis. I've hired gay men, lesbians … I'm certainly familiar, comfortable and supportive of [the LGBT] community.
WCT: Do you favor marriage equality?
Anne Marie Miles: I do. You may not believe this but, truly, I've been saying since the 1970s that [gay] people should be allowed to get married.
WCT: Do you believe that LGBT individuals have the right to adopt children if they are qualified?
Anne Marie Miles: I do.
WCT: What is your position on abortion as it pertains to the law?
Anne Marie Miles: I am in favor of women making decisions regarding what is best for them and their personal circumstances.
Visit www.annemariemiles.com/ .
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