Interview with Ald. Matthew Martin
City Environment Department and Affordable Housing Top “To Do” List
Alderperson Matthew Martin of the 47th Ward told League member Elona Vaisnys during our March 3 Zoom interview that he has two priorities for the remainder of his first term: further expanding affordable housing and re-establishing a City Environment Department to help tackle climate change.
A few highlights:
Ald. Martin would like to see the City Council’s committees and their staffs spend more time on policy work and oversight of the city’s departments. He explained that it is not uncommon for the staffs of committees to work on other things for the committee chairs, so they are not able to focus full-time on the work of the committees.
The alder believes the city clearly has not done enough to deal with gun violence, but he is pleased that the city is now expanding support for violence prevention groups, helping to scale up the local efforts that have proved effective. He is also hopeful that the new police district committees and the new police oversight board can help engage communities to work with the police. He also pointed to summer youth employment programs important for helping young people gain job skills and then permanent jobs in the future.
Ald. Martin supports ranked choice voting, though he recognizes the need for voters to be fully educated before it is implemented.
We can get a good view of the northside 47th Ward by riding the Brown Line, which bisects the ward. While mainly residential, the ward has several busy commercial districts (such as Lincoln Square), as well as the remains of the Ravenswood industrial corridor, though much of that is being repurposed.