Austin’s new alderman offers thoughts on the future


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Our partners at the Austin Weekly News talked with Ald-elect. Chris Taliaferro, who won the April 7th runoff to represent the 29th Ward.

He told the Wednesday Journal he plans to use his leadership abilities as a police officer and his friendships to make the ward a safer and better place to live.

Taliaferro, a divorce lawyer and married father of three, plans to join the Chicago City Council’s progress caucus, which often votes against the wishes of Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who just won a second four-year term.

“I certainly believe in their political ideas and their desire for social justice and equality and their strong desire to put the needs of their community first,” Taliaferro told the Wednesday Journal.

The caucus’ fight to strengthen the city’s public schools, rather than continuing school closures and sending resources to charter schools, particularly resonates with him.

Referring to it as the “privatization of our school system. We need to put forth a strong effort before we give up (on public schools),” he told Wednesday Journal reporter Timothy Inklebarger.

Taliaferro, who defeated five-year Ald. Deborah Graham, who will be sworn in along with the city’s 49 other alderman next month.

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