Bringing Jobs to Our Community

Too many commercial spaces in our community sit vacant, depriving our neighborhoods decent jobs. We can change this. Molly has a concrete plan to revive our commercial districts, bringing jobs to our neighborhoods.

A Business Liaison in the Alderman’s Office

An aldermanic staffer in Molly’s office will work as a liaison to existing business and as a recruiter to new businesses. To encourage existing businesses to hire more people, and to attract new jobs to the community, we need a person who can help businesses navigate the city bureaucracy and who will actively recruit outside businesses to our community. It’s a simple step Molly will take to revitalize our commercial spaces, create jobs in our neighborhoods, and help move our community forward.

A Regional Entertainment Capital

Molly will promote Uptown as an entertainment center of Chicago and the Midwest. We have some of the best music clubs and small theatres clustered right here in our community, and yet, almost nothing is done to promote that. Entertainment is a multi-billion-dollar industry that employs people at all levels of education and experience.

We should promote Uptown and its diverse music and film heritage in a way that encourages further development the entire industry, in our community. There is no reason why Uptown shouldn’t be home to numerous recording studios, independent labels, storefront theatres, and event promoters, along with the diverse jobs those businesses bring.

A Community Master Plan to Help Us Move Forward

Finally, Molly will work with the community to create a master plan for future development and improvement throughout all our neighborhoods. Master plans have proven to be hugely valuable tools in identifying community assets and opportunities, and for providing a guiding vision to move communities forward.

The first step in creating such a plan will be to talk to other aldermen who have gone through the process. Then, Molly will organize a committee of representatives from block clubs, business groups, social service providers, and property management companies to discuss what our community needs and how we can move our community forward.

It is up to the community what will be in the plan. It would include a guiding vision for future residential and business development, and it would address issues regarding transportation, parks, community service organizations, and schools. But Molly knows that the best ideas flow from the grassroots, not from the top down. Molly will seek intensive community input into the plan to bring more jobs to our community.

Responsible TIF Spending

Molly is committed to creating a transparent, accountable, and efficient Tax Increment Financing process. She is skeptical that our community needs this diversion of tax dollars to fund private development. However, if the community is going to use TIF money for development, Molly wants every single dollar to generate decent jobs for our neighborhoods. She wants to make sure that we are creating as many jobs as possible with as little TIF investment as possible. And any spending of TIF funds must move through an open process where everyone in our community has a voice in how we move forward.