WICKER PARK — Three candidates are seeking the Shakespeare (14th) police district council seats. The district includes parts of Wicker Park, Bucktown, Logan Square and Humboldt Park.
Credit: Kirk Williamson for the Chicago ReaderDavid Orlikoff
A grassroots organizer, Orlikoff was the #DefundCPD outreach lead for the 35th Ward, and has advocated to reduce CPD’s budget by 75 percent and reinvest in communities. United Neighbors of the 35th Ward and Northside Democracy for America have endorsed.
“I started seriously organizing for democratization of power and resources with Occupy Chicago during college in 2011,” Orlikoff says. “I helped bring together local National Nurses United and Iraq Veterans Against the War to form a campaign to fully staff mismanaged veterans hospitals where administrators awarded themselves bonuses for cutting medical personnel. I helped organize a meeting between Women’s Nobel Peace Laureates Jody Williams and Shirin Ebadi and local organizers, along with a written statement in support from Nobel Laureate Mairead Maguire. I helped organize a direct action workshop by Lisa Fithian, and aided in early activities for the Movement for Black Lives.”
“I have been active with the Coalition Against Corporate Higher Education, and Occupy Columbia, the Tax Integrity and Fairness (TIF) Alliance, Occupy the SouthSide, the Chicago Light Brigade, Free Howard Morgan Campaign, the campaign for Chicago Torture Justice Memorials, Chicago Teachers Solidarity Campaign against school closings, the Mental Health Movement to keep clinics open, the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression for an elected Civilian Police Accountability Council, the Elected Representative School Board.
“Most significantly, I was the DefundCPD Outreach Lead for the 35th Ward, where we got over 2,500 petition signatures and 71 group endorsements to reduce CPD’s budget by 75 percent and reinvest in solutions that provide the care our communities need.”
 Activist or organizer |  Supports more police accountability |  Political endorsement |
Candidate questionnaire responses:
- Do you have experience as an activist or community organizer? Yes
- Do you have experience interacting with CPD? Yes
- Do you have experience working or interacting with government? Yes
- Should the city hire more police officers? No
- Is CPD adequately funded? Yes: funding should be reduced.
- CPD reform: The police should be defunded or abolished.
- Mental health crises: Police should not be involved in mental health crisis calls at all.
What do you consider the primary role of a police district councilor to be?
- Establishing civilian control of the police department
Why are you running for Police District Council?
I’m a grassroots organizer from Chicago who moved to the northwest side ten years ago. Eighty-seven percent of Chicago voted to Defund CPD in [Mayor Lightfoot’s] budget survey. That makes sense, given how Chicago spends among the most per capita of any US or global city on police — almost half our total budget. It’s not a question of bad apples but a system that allows them to abuse their position. Police should not be above the law or the people. There isn’t a single person who should be trusted to use their power and authority to police themselves. And there isn’t a single politician you should trust saying police are the solution to all our problems. That’s the convenient lie of corruption. I decided to run when I discovered we didn’t have enough candidates, knowing I couldn’t squander this opportunity to increase safety, accountability, and democracy.
We deserve Treatment, Not Trauma, lives free from racist unconstitutional gang databases, and police held fully accountable with automatic systemic auditing and serious criminal punishments for false statements, tampering with evidence, abuse of rights, and brutality. We need to defund CPD as almost 90 percent of the city demanded, and spend that money on the care that compassionately and efficiently addresses our needs and actually solves crimes in ways police never can. Showing up after harm has occurred with a monopoly on state violence cannot solve or prevent crime, let alone make us safe. When police are on scene as in school shootings, they do nothing, while killing innocent people when they hold all the power. Instead of wasting $60,000 a year on jailing somebody desperate, we could spent $6,000 on Housing First with over a 90 percent success rate ending homelessness.
Christopher Laurent
A legal assistant, Laurent says he “works directly with city officials and their legal counsel.” His goal as a council member will be “to provide the support and accountability to the police force.” The Libertarian Party of Chicago has endorsed.
Political endorsement |
Candidate questionnaire responses:
- Do you have experience as an activist or community organizer? No
- Do you have experience interacting with CPD? No
- Do you have experience working or interacting with government? Yes
- Should the city hire more police officers? Yes
- Is CPD adequately funded? Yes: funding should stay about the same.
- CPD reform: The police are doing a good job, and need more resources.
- Mental health crises: Police should accompany healthcare workers to mental health crises.
What do you consider the primary role of a police district councilor to be?
- Communicating with the department on behalf of the community
Why are you running for Police District Council?
I care about the community and I aim to provide the support and accountability to the Police force.
Ashley Vargas (write-in)
A write-in candidate, Vargas has worked for the past year as a field organizer in progressive political campaigns and voter engagement and mobilization, as well as with the Logan Square Neighborhood Association on affordable housing. United Neighbors of the 35th Ward has endorsed.
“I have experience working on successful grassroots progressive campaigns, voter engagement and mobilization for the last year,” Vargas says. “I also worked with Logan Square Neighborhood Association during the summertime, being home from college, organizing for affordable housing in the neighborhood.”
United Neighbors of the 35th Ward has endorsed.
Activist or organizer | Supports more police accountability | Political endorsement |
Candidate questionnaire responses:
- Do you have experience as an activist or community organizer? Yes
- Do you have experience interacting with CPD? No
- Do you have experience working or interacting with government? No
- Should the city hire more police officers? No
- Is CPD adequately funded? Yes: funding should be reduced.
- CPD reform: The police should be defunded or abolished.
- Mental health crises: Police should not be involved in mental health crisis calls at all.
What do you consider the primary role of a police district councilor to be?
- Communicating with the department on behalf of the community
- Establishing civilian control of the police department
- Other: “Listening to people’s stories, getting those people involved and educating the public on policies and budget.”
Why are you running for Police District Council?
I was asked to run by people in my community, since only white men planned to run and historically police brutality has affected marginalized communities. I plan to be a source of safety who people can share their stories with and a source of building a strong coalition of people who want to see change with the city budget and police policies. I come from a family who has suffered at the hands of police and plan to do my best at unionizing the constituents to see a change city-wide.
