The United Neighbors of the 35th Ward’s November 2023 meeting included updates from Cook County Commissioner Anthony J. Quezada and police district councilor David Orlikoff; report-backs from our committees and our Halloween Fundraiser; and extended time to process recent attacks on our progressive movement in City Hall.
Updates from Elected Officials
Cook County Commissioner Anthony J. Quezada
The newly passed Fiscal Year 2024 Budget for Cook County is balanced, with no cuts, and includes investments in the county’s first disaster fund and continued health care services for the migrant mission. The County is the lead health care provider for the migrant mission, and they’re committed to providing health care as a human right to everyone who seeks services.
The budget also includes amendments to hire dentists for the County’s oral health program and to add more labor investigators and labor outreach training coordinators to the Department of Human Rights and Ethics. The new positions will expand their capacity and help educate workers about their rights to file complaints.
Commissioner Quezada’s office also worked closely with criminal justice advocates to establish an argument for best practices on a first-responder model that proposes to send clinicians for non-violent emergency 911 calls. He also included an argument for drastically reducing the amount of money the County spends on electric monitoring, as data has shown it’s extremely invasive and negatively affects people’s lives in unnecessary ways.
Listen to Anthony’s 9-minute segment in Chi Sounds Like, “Anthony Joel Quezada: From Community Organizer to Cook County Commissioner,” here.
14th Police District Councillor David Orlikoff
The Police District Councils are part of the Empowering Communities for Public Safety (ECPS) ordinance that Alderperson Carlos Ramirez-Rosa played a big role in creating. Councillors work with the community to increase and improve Police Accountability, Restorative Justice, and Public Safety.
There are two Community Committees anyone can join. One is for police accountability, where members will be working on local issues with CPD as well as city-wide policy. The other committee is focused on restorative justice and ways to increase safety for everyone in the community outside of calling police.
Councillors have public meetings on the first Saturday of the month at 1pm. David would love to invite everyone to attend at least one meeting!
Join 14th Police District David Orlikoff’s mailing list here.
UN35 Committee Updates
- The Electoral Committee endorsed five candidates for petition season, and four are done collecting signatures — Will Guzzardi, Delia Ramírez, Graciela Guzmán, and Lillian Jiménez. UN35 played a very pivotal role in getting all of these candidates over the line. We’re making a final push to get Carlos Ramirez-Rosa the final signatures he needs, including canvassing by the CTA Belmont Blue Line stop and door canvassing the week after Thanksgiving.
- The Media Committee is creating processes to help document our work. If you are hosting or attending an event under the UN35 banner, get in touch with Jonathan Nagy or Connie Hernández to get information about what to document, and how.
- The Political Education Committee is recruiting new members! Reach out to Sandra Puebla or Marcela Reales Visbal if you’re interested in joining the committee.
Fundraising Report Back
The UN35 Halloween Fundraiser brought in about $4,000 — our highest grossing fundraiser to date!
Our fundraisers help us cover fixed monthly expenses. With more funding, we could do more community events, base building, and other amazing projects and ideas our team comes up with.
You can become a monthly donor or make a donation here.
Alderman Carlos Ramirez-Rosa Update
Alderman Carlos Ramirez-Rosa provided context and insights from his experience being the victim of misinformation attacks.
For more information about the controversy, check out this video from The TRiiBE and this Jacobin article. You can add your name to the list of progressive leaders who’ve signed a statement in support of Alderman Ramirez-Rosa here.