Our Vision

Cicero Residents United are deeply familiar with the problems our community faces. We believe that those closest to the problem are those closest to the solutions. Below is our ten-point plan to dramatically increase the quality of life in Cicero. We have a vision for a new Cicero where all residents can thrive.

Transparency and Civic Engagement

Town of Cicero agencies and boards are typically inaccessible for community members to navigate who then face needless barriers to essential town services, resources, and opportunities. We aim to remove as many of these barriers as possible to encourage transparency and civic engagement so residents can more easily make their voices heard and have a say in decisions that affect their lives.

Action 1: Board meeting overhaul.
- Conduct board and committee meetings in the evening with Spanish interpretation and translated documents available. Livestream meetings and utilize online tools like Legistar or Boardbook to make agendas, minutes, and all supporting documents available for public review.
Action 2: Access to your resources
- Decisions regarding how resources and opportunities should be allocated be made with data-informed equity.
- Vital information is shared via newsletters, social media, phone calls, text messages, and targeted outreach done via door-to-door communication and information sessions.
Action 3: Community voices on town committees and boards
- Residents will be appointed to town committees via an open application process and selected based on expertise.

Environmental Justice

Everyone who lives in Cicero can smell the fumes, whether it's from major polluters like the Koppers plant or diesel exhaust from trucks. Hot summers heat up this air making going outside often unbearable. Cicero has some of the poorest air quality in the State, damaging our family’s health and safety. And it’s not just our air. With nearly 15,000 lead service lines, our water has elevated levels of lead and annual summer floods wreak havoc in our homes. With climate change already here and only worsening, Cicero must do more to protect its residents from environmental hazards and ensure that our families can thrive.

Action 1: The water we drink
- Apply for the maximum amount of federal infrastructure funding to replace lead service lines equitably.
Action 2: The air we breath
- The Town of Cicero should impose fines on major polluters that damage our health like Koppers.
- Pass an ordinance requiring any industry that wants to apply for EPA permits to pass an inspection by public health experts.
Action 3: The land we live on
- Apply for EPA grants to clean up underground gas tanks that seep pollutants into our soil and water that our children play in and drink from.
- Expand Cicero’s green space to better absorb rain water and prevent flooding by planting and maintaining trees, transforming vacant town-owned lots and properties into parks and gardens, and funding more green alleys and permeable parking lots.

Finances

Cicero residents pay high property taxes. Where does our money go? Larry Dominick has done nothing to earn our trust regarding his use of our tax dollars. Cicero has the resources to meet residents' needs, from eliminating wasteful spending on no-bid public contracts, using available TIF funding on our community rather than on corporate developments like Amazon, and more aggressively pursuing funding opportunities from the county, state, and federal government. It’s time for residents to know where our money is going.

Action 1: Forensic audit
- Hire an auditor to conduct a full-scale audit of the Town of Cicero’s financial records and transactions to identify wasteful spending, potential fraud, misconduct, or other irregularities.
Action 2: Budget overhaul
- Increase community engagement around the budget-making process by making draft budgets available online for review prior to the vote. Organize public hearings and surveys to solicit input from residents on their priorities and make public spending equitable.
- Implement a participatory budgeting process for community members to directly have control over how certain funds are spent.
Action 3: Aggressively pursue additional funding from Federal/State/County
- Leverage other government funding to bridge the shortage of projects, needs, and services.
Action 4: TIF reform
- Catch up on state-required reports on how TIF funding is being spent and make them available to the public.
- Reprioritize TIF spending away from large developments that do nothing for our community and redirect it to small businesses, green spaces, parks, and other projects to benefit Cicero residents, not corporations.
Action 5: Understanding Property Taxes
- Provide bilingual educational workshop series on property taxes, appeals, and breakdowns of the various government entities.

VIOLENCE PREVENTION

Eliminating violence in a community is a complex and multifaceted challenge that requires a comprehensive, collaborative approach. It involves addressing the root causes of violence, implementing preventive measures, promoting community engagement, and ensuring effective law enforcement. Cicero residents often worry for their safety, but the current administration has kept our neighbors in the dark regarding what is happening in our community and has no comprehensive plan to address violence. Our platform aims to bring in community members to help create solutions that prevent violence rather than just brushing it under the rug.

Action 1: Root Cause of Violence
- Provide regular trauma-informed training community-wide to support the cause of violence in every community. See economic development: Economic disparities fuel community violence.
- Regular reporting and transparency around police stops, arrests, ticketing, shots fired, and more.
Action 2: Treatment, not Trauma
- Ensure that mental health services are accessible and affordable. Addressing mental health issues can prevent violence by providing individuals with the support they need before they reach a crisis point.
- Use non-CPD civilian employees to respond to non-violent calls
Action 3: Bringing everyone to the table
- Expand the Police and Fire Commission to include community residents as board members and hold regular public meetings for all stakeholders to work collaboratively to address public safety issues in our community.

Economic Development

Action 1: Grow existing local businesses
- Creating a supportive environment, offering resources, and reducing barriers to help small businesses thrive.
- Create a local business directory to promote our small businesses and organize regular events similar to Taste of Cermak.
Action 2: Support new local businesses, fill empty storefronts
- Survey all empty retail storefronts on major streets such as Cermak, Laramie, 35th, 26th, Central, 14th, and 16th, and develop relationships with property owners to negotiate short-term leases.
- Host regular workshops for local entrepreneurs to navigate the process of applying for new business licenses and permits, and connect them with property owners.
- Offer grants to small businesses to encourage local economic activity.
Action 3: Workforce development
- Skill Enhancement, career pathways, partnerships and employers, support services, and inclusive opportunities will drive economic growth and enhance the overall prosperity of Cicero.

Urban Planning

Parking is hard to find. There’s too much traffic. There are not enough public parks or bike lanes. Why are there so many vacant lots and properties? Why does it seem that the only new construction being built are warehouses and random fast food chains by Walmart? Cicero needs to be more intentional about how we plan for our future. Currently, this responsibility is left to a private consultant with political ties to the town, rather than trained professionals. It’s time for Cicero residents to have more of a say in what our town should look like.

Action 1: Department of Economic Development and Planning
- Create a Department of Economic Development and Planning that is led by an urban planner and is responsible for overseeing the sustainable growth of the Town of Cicero via zoning and land use policies, historic preservation, business and real estate development, walkable neighborhoods, and other community improvements. This department should focus on projects that will improve the quality of life for Cicero residents.

Invest in Our Health

Cicero residents are at heightened risk of poor health, due to a combination of factors such as proximity to industrial polluters, poverty, immigration status, and more. For example, a 2022 MacNeal Hospital study found that Cicero residents had higher rates of mental health issues and had some of the highest opioid overdose deaths in suburban Cook County. Our plan aims to invest in our health by increasing funding to the Cicero Health Department to expand services and resources to improve the overall health and well-being of Cicero residents.

Action 1: Let’s get healthy
- Host regular healthy lifestyle programs and workshops at the Community Center to educate residents about prevalent health conditions and diseases impacting the community. These sessions will focus on providing practical strategies for lifestyle modifications to enhance overall well-being and support a healthier, stronger life. By offering accessible education, we equip residents with the knowledge and tools they need to make positive changes, enhancing their quality of life and that of their families. Cicero
Action 2: Bring the clinic to you
- Operate a mobile health clinic that can meet people where they are and who are unable to travel to the Health Center.
Action 3: Community farmer’s market
- Open a farmers market in the Health Center parking lot where residents can sell produce grown from their home gardens.
Action 4: Expand rehab and mental health services
- Provide drug, alcohol, and gambling rehab and abuse services
- Expand mental health treatment.
- Launch a safe needle exchange program.
Action 5: Connecting residents to insurance
- According to the 2022 American Community Survey (ACS) adopted by the US Census Bureau, 17% of Cicero’s population does not have health insurance coverage. Several barriers can prevent Cicero residents from obtaining health insurance, including high costs, employment status, lack of awareness of available programs, language and literacy challenges, immigration status, and the complexity of the enrollment process. By investing in Cicero's health department, our goal is to expand the workforce and provide onsite social workers, who can assist community members with applying for state health insurance programs or enrolling in private coverage - services we currently lack.
Action 6: Build community gardens
- Build community gardens and safe public spaces such as parks, green spaces, and more.

Constituent Services (investing in all ages)

Action 1: Age in place with grace
- Our 55 and Better program will enhance the existing benefits our town offers and expand them further. By creating a comprehensive support system, we aim to ensure that all residents enjoy an exceptional quality of life.
Action 2: Invest in the Future
- Our youth will inherit the future of our town, so we are committed to providing them with the necessary resources and support from all governing bodies. Our goal is to ensure they are well-prepared to compete successfully in the global market.
Action 3: Report repairs
- Create a web form and phone number for Cicero residents to report to public works things in need of repair such as sidewalks, roads, sewers that need to be rodded, and more. Regularly report response times for requests and work to decrease response times.
Action 4: Best Customer Service
- Our approach to customer service is centered on inclusivity and excellence. We are dedicated to creating a welcoming environment where everyone feels valued and respected. By prioritizing clear communication, empathy, and personalized support, we ensure that each interaction is positive and effective. Our goal is to provide exceptional service that meets the diverse needs of our customers and exceeds their expectations.

Reflecting Our Cultures

Cicero is a diverse community home to immigrants from across Latin America and other parts of the world. Our community also has to contend with a history of anti-Black racism where residents rioted and attacked Black people for trying to move into Cicero since 1951 with Harvey Clark Jr and his family tried to move into the neighborhood. It’s time for our local government to reflect on the diversity of our community to better meet our needs and not remain stuck in the past.

Action 1: Promote Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
- Establish a DEI committee to establish specific measurable goals and integrate into the Town’s strategic plan. Create internal policies that promote diversity, equity, inclusion such as training and education on cultural competence for all town employees and equitable hiring practices like creating an online job board for town jobs rather than word of mouth.
Action 2: Prioritize Black and brown contractors
- Increase the number of Cicero-based minority-owned and women-owned businesses on the list of town-approved contractors and vendors utilized.
Action 3: Preserve and learn our history
- Create memorials, murals, and plaques that preserve key historical moments in Cicero regarding racial justice such as the home of Harvey Clark Jr, civil rights marches, and the murder of Jerome Huey. Organize regular teach-ins and walking tours for local youth to these sites.
- Arts and Culture
  - Pass an ordinance to allow cultural murals
  - Create more Art Galleries and Exhibition Halls
  - Make the Chamber of Commerce more community facing.
Action 4: Restrict cooperation between local police and ICE
- Adopt an ordinance that restricts cooperation between the Town of Cicero and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to protect long term and new immigrants regardless of status. Host know-your-rights trainings with residents and town employees. Work with federal representatives to support work permits for all.

Park District

Our parks are in shambles. Splash pads don’t work. Benches are broken. No shade. Rusty playground equipment. A no-show executive director. No website. No online registration for programs. and only 5 recreation programs in the last 10+ years. You cannot pay for programs with a credit card. No north side residents on the board. All board members reside near Manor Park. It’s time for a change.

Action 1: Draft a strategic plan
- The park district is in desperate need of a vision. Our goal is to push for a strategic plan, a comprehensive master plan, capital improvement plan, sustainability plan, park master plan, ADA transition plans, and performance measures. None of these have been completed in park district history.

Action 2: Apply for grant funding
- Our parks lose out on hundreds of thousands of dollars of potential funding each year due to not applying for all available grants. This funding could go towards making much needed upgrades in our parks and recreation programs so Cicero can become a much better place for our families.

Action 3: Sustainable infrastructure upgrades
- Upgrade our parks to include things such as solar panels for facilities, rainwater cisterns, LED lighting, EV charging stations, bioswales, rain gardens, and more.