Alderman, 38th Ward: Tom Caravette
Jan 11, 2011
Updated: January 20, 2011 4:28PM
Birth date: 08-11-1967
Political affiliation: Independant
Neighborhood: Portage Park
Occupation/Firm name: Real Estate Broker
Marital status: Married
Campaign HQ address: 4223 N. Austin ave
Campaign website: www.caravette38.com
What is your campaign budget?
80,000
What are your top priorities for the City of Chicago?
Top priorities for the city of Chicago;
To work towards stopping corruption, by limiting the amount of terms any person can serve as Alderman.
That all Alderman are required to be on the job FULL time with no other employement or business attachments.
To cap the pay increase of the Alderman to the lowest level of city employee raises.
To thourghly investigate the problems with the current pension system and to develop a solution that will last for generations..not decades.
To work with the new ALderman and Mayor with a plan to bring a totally new industry to the city that would utilize TIFs correctly and in so doing, create litterally thousands of good paying jobs city wide.
This plan will boost small businesses and allow for the creation of dozens of medium sized businesses that will occupy the millions of square feet of empty and vacant wharehouse spaces across the city.
What are your top priorities for your ward?
The 38th ward is filled with a large number of single family houses that have been illegally or legally converted to multi unit dwellings. In some cases more than three units in one house. This is not only dangerous but also a considerable tax burden, in that the majority of these properties are not paying tax bills that reflect 2-4 units but rather a single family and all are tapping city services as a multiunit building would. I will step up the task of identifying these properties and work with the current owners to make certain that there are no safety issues and that the property is brought into compliance with building code and tax classification.
I hear complaints from many people over the last year that the ward lacks basic services and responsiveness from the previous Alderman and his staff. I will correct this issue by the simple fact that I will be fully staffed and will be a FULL TIME Alderman that will be available and accessible to the residents. The elected position of Alderman has some how become a hobby or part time job. This will end with me and I will ask that the city council adopt the same for all current and newly entering Alderman.
Currently there are close to 40 or more vacant store fronts throughout the ward, I will work with local groups to determine what is specifically needed to fill in those voids and bring good tenants and good businesses to our community. There are many things that can be done by the property owners and the community to attract small business owners to the area, but there has to be leadership and direction for all the groups to follow in our common goals.
The city is in serious financial trouble and can't afford the level of service it currently provides. For 2011, Mayor Daley, with City Council backing, balanced the budget without raising taxes or fees, relying instead on some cost-saving measures and one-time fixes, including using proceeds from leasing the city's parking meters. Do you support this approach? What should be done differently going forward?
Please be specific about your plans to reshape government: what services and departments would you scale back or cut? Can you identify new revenue sources? How can the City reduce personnel costs? What kind of concessions should the City seek from the unions?
No response
The city's four employee pension funds have been called a "ticking time bomb," with Mayor Daley's pension commission predicting that the four funds will run out of money in 20 years. "There is no low- or no-cost solution to this problem," the commission wrote in a report earlier this year. "Deferring action is not a viable option." What is your plan for bringing the pension funds to solvency?
I can not state with absolute certainty what the problems are or what the solution is. I can say that this issue should have been look at and worked on seriously by all the past Alderman and city officials, instead of being kicked down the road for someone else to deal with. It will be very unpopular for any elected official to deal with this problem head on and not worry about the back lash from the unions and city employees.
It is a major reason for me to get involved in the Aldermanic race. This problem will be on my front burners from day one and I will work with every other elected Alderman who feels the same way, to do my job and find a permanent solution with out dragging down the entire city and with out letting the system collapse.
I am not in favor of finding new revenue sources and slating the income strictly to the growing pension problem.
Money and revenue will need to be made apart of the solution as well as cut backs of both current and past pension holders. The city will need to find a way to fully live up to its end of the agreements.
Does Chicago need 50 aldermen? If not, what's a better number? What City Council committees could be combined? What other ways can the City Council save money?
I don't think it is a matter of if we need 50 alderman, but rather that we start with 50 alderman who are all FULL time on the job.
When the redistricting starts in the next year it should be considered to block out the city map and avoid the gerrimandering of the ward to suit a particular incumbents profile. If a candidate is a man or woman of the people there should be no reason to try and seperate the ward based on race and income. Politicians talk of non prejudice and non segregation, but then they draw the ward maps in just that way, promoting continued seperation based on race, class and income.
The city council could save money by asking for suffecient time to look over leases to sell city assets at less than a quarter of their worth.
Chicago was designed as a weak mayor, strong council form of government yet Mayor Daley wields considerable power over the City Council. What measures would you recommend to strengthen the council? On which issues should the mayor lead? On which should the council lead?
This is difficult to answer.
I see the mayor as having the vision and plan for which way the city should be modeled and moved.
I see the council as either agreeing or disagreeing based on the voice of the constiuents and acting accordingly.
The shorter ties a councilmen has with the mayor and vise versa, the less likely we will have so much rolling over for the mayors and his or her plans and attempts at more power.
The Mayor leads in the overall scheme of the city as a whole and the ALderman lead in the details of how this plan will fit in with the wards they represent.
The city's tax-increment financing program has been criticized on several fronts, including the proliferation of districts, how money is diverted from schools and other basic city services, how TIF funding decisions are made and for an overall lack of transparency. How would you improve the TIF program? Does the TIF law need to be changed in any way?
TIF needs to be transparent and available for all to see on a day to day basis.
If a Tif district covers part of a ward..that particular Alderman should display for easy viewing to his or her constituents what the TIF is for, who is looking to utilize the funds and what if any plans the Alderman has to try to use the same funds.
The TIF law might be changed to consider returning some or all the money back to the community where it came and to other areas that are in much greater need, if not used for TIF porposes with in a defined number of years.
Mayor Daley has focused on privatizing city assets. Are there any other assets the City Council should consider privatizing? If so, would you make any changes to the way privatization deals are negotiated and passed through the City Council?
I do not forsee the privatization of city assets or services at this time, but when the time does come and the idea is brought forward, I intend to see to it that all my constituents have the same opportunity to see the actual proposal and I will give my owe personal take on the idea to share and open for discussion with the people who live in my ward.
The idea that the council could have sold the rights to the parking meter long past the lifetime of anyone able to read it is absolutely obsure and in my opinion reckless, unethical and just out right irresponsible.
I am a NO vote on any proposal that I do not have adequate time to read and research.
The Chicago Police Department is understaffed, with no lasting budget solution in sight. Given the current staffing levels, what changes would you recommend to use resources more efficiently? Do you support realigning beats in a way that moves police from lower crime areas to higher crime neighborhoods? What should happen to the diminished CAPS program?
No response
The next mayor will choose a new CEO for the Chicago Public Schools. Do you think the CEO needs to have education experience? Should the new mayor continue the Renaissance 2010 program of shutting down failing schools and creating new ones? Should the new mayor continue Ron Huberman's "culture of calm" effort, which aims to improve the culture of the toughest schools and provides mentors and extra support for kids at greatest risk of being shot? What should CPS do to improve neighborhood schools that are struggling to educate the large numbers of students left behind, the students that don't make it into test-based, charters or other specialized schools?
No response
Do you support one or more casinos for Chicago? If so, where would you like to see casinos located?
I support the idea of a proposed casino or 2 in the city of chicago, possibly near or at the older McCormick show space.
I am strongly opposed to allowing casino and gambling machines in the neighborhoods resturants and bars. This is a bad way to increase revenues, by gathering money back from the same community we are setup to serve. The casino and gaming will best serve the city residents as a more centralized location with l oppotunity for neighborhood loss and corruption. I understand that a casino will bring over or abouts one billion dollars to the city. This money will do well up grading schools, libraries, parks, keep a hold down on city service fees and taxes, as well as allow the city funds to get out of the debt problems it is facing.
Aldermen have considerable influence over TIF, zoning and other decisions, both large and small, related to development and services in their ward. Do aldermen have too much influence?
No, I do not believe they do when it comes to TIF and zoning in the ward they represent.
This is why they are there. This is what they are supposed to be doing. Insuring that what the TIF funds, development and zoning changes that are being proposed are in fact for the benefit for the ward and the community. Large supermarket stores are not the right solution for every ward, it is up to that Alderman representative, with the strong support of the people to make the decisions based on transparent facts and solid benifits to the community. Most wards have open meetings and groups that spend a great deal of time reviewing zoning changes. This is an excellent way for the ALderman to hear the voices of the constituents.
If elected alderman, do you plan to maintain an outside job? Would you pledge not to hold any job that represents a conflict of interest, including those that involve spending public dollars?
NO.
I will not hold any job position. I believe any outside employment would be a conflict of interest and time need to do the elected position effectively.
I am asking other candidates and every voter in the city, to make the pledge with me that they will not support any candidate that is not a FULL time alderman.
Would you accept campaign contributions or gifts from your employees? Would you pledge not to hire relatives on your staff?
No, I would not be taking money from my employees, as basically I will not have them.
No, I will not be hiring my family...even though they have been the best supporters from the beginning of my campaign and have helped me out tremendously to get to this point.
Does the City need to change the way it hands out contracts? Should aldermen reclaim oversight of City contracts? If so, contracts above what dollar amount?
Any contract over 50,000 should be looked at and reviewed by some level of the council.
Every dollar in revenue should be carefully considered before it is spent.
Do you support an inspector general just for the City Council? Would you support giving the city's existing inspector general power to investigate aldermen and their staffs, including subpoena power?
Yes.
Should there be new limits on who can lobby City Hall officials, including aldermen? Should former City Hall employees be prohibited from doing business with the city after their departure? If so, for how long?
No response
What's the best book ever written about Chicago? Why?
No response
Please list your educational background
Northern Illinois University, Bachelor of Science in Political Science.
Please list civic, professional, fraternal or other organizations to which you belong
No response
Have you held elective or appointive political office or been employed by any branch of government?
None
Please list jobs or contracts you, members of your immediate family or business partners have had with government
None
Name your five biggest campaign contributors and the amount they contributed
Myself, $500
Mother, $450
Sisters, $150
Please paste a brief biography here
Tom Caravette has been a Ward resident for most of his life. He was born on August 11, 1967 in Chicago to Lucille and Peter Caravette.
He is the tenth child of 14 sisters and brothers.
Tom's parents instilled in him a solid foundation of community participation: boy scouts, church activities, paper routes, senior assistance, meals for shut-ins, and the occasional mowing of lawns for those who were unable. Tom attended St. Ferdinand's Grammar school and graduated from St. Patrick's High School in 1985.
He went on to graduate from Northern Illinois University with a degree in Political Science.
For over 14 years Tom has been a small business owner in real estate. Through this work experience, he has acquired a wide knowledge of neighborhood trends as well as a good understanding of the needs of small business owners.
For over 13 years mostly before his own children were born, Tom is a volunteer, sponsor and coach for little league baseball and football at Portage Park. He understands the importance of being involved at every level, which is essential for a strong community.
A life long resident of Chicago's 38th ward, Tom and his wife, Laura, of 10 years, live with their three children who attend the local public school.
Tom and his family are die-hard Cubs fans.
