Quandra Speights
Quandra Speights ran for election to the Chicago City Council to represent Ward 20 in Illinois. Speights lost in the general election on February 26, 2019.
Speights completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2019. Click here to read the survey answers.
Speights responded to Ballotpedia's unique candidate survey for 2019 Chicago candidates. The survey questions were developed with input from more than 100 Chicagoans in the months preceding the 2019 election. Here is one selected response:
"I would create committees in all of the neighborhoods that represent my Ward and empower their voices in my policy initiatives."
Click here to read more of Speights' responses.
Biography
Quandra Speights earned a juris doctorate from Valparaiso University. Her career experience includes working as an attorney. Speights is associated with the Cook County Bar Association and the NAACP.[1]
Campaign themes
Ballotpedia biographical submission form
The candidate completed Ballotpedia's biographical information submission form:
| " | What is your political philosophy?
Represent the people and empower them in the decision making process[2] |
” |
| —Quandra Speight[1] | ||
Elections
2019
See also: City elections in Chicago, Illinois (2019)
General runoff election
General runoff election for Chicago City Council Ward 20
Jeanette Taylor defeated Nicole Johnson in the general runoff election for Chicago City Council Ward 20 on April 2, 2019.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Jeanette Taylor (Nonpartisan) | 59.7 | 4,557 |
 | Nicole Johnson (Nonpartisan)  | 40.3 | 3,075 | |
| Total votes: 7,632 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
General election
General election for Chicago City Council Ward 20
The following candidates ran in the general election for Chicago City Council Ward 20 on February 26, 2019.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Jeanette Taylor (Nonpartisan) | 28.8 | 2,154 |
| ✔ | | Nicole Johnson (Nonpartisan) | 22.0 | 1,644 |
 | Kevin Bailey (Nonpartisan) | 16.2 | 1,211 | |
| Maya Hodari (Nonpartisan) | 9.4 | 701 | |
 | Andre Smith (Nonpartisan) | 8.0 | 600 | |
| Anthony Driver Jr. (Nonpartisan) | 6.5 | 486 | |
| Jennifer Maddox (Nonpartisan) | 6.1 | 460 | |
| Quandra Speights (Nonpartisan) | 2.1 | 157 | |
| Dernard Newell (Nonpartisan) | 0.9 | 71 | |
| Total votes: 7,484 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- Clifton Pierce (Nonpartisan)
- Cassius Rudolph (Nonpartisan)
- Matthew Johnson (Nonpartisan)
- Sheila Scott (Nonpartisan)
- Charles Hilliard (Nonpartisan)
- Kimetha Hill (Nonpartisan)
Campaign themes
2019
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Chicago 2019 Candidate Survey
Quandra Speights completed Ballotpedia's Chicago candidates survey for 2019. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Speights' responses.
Low-income families do not have the same choices, options, or alternatives when it comes to public school. How can this be addressed?
In Chicago, our public school system is crumbling mainly because we suffer from tremendous socioeconomic disparities. We need to ensure that excellence is offered and achieved at every school (elementary and high school). We can achieve this goal if in our system, we address the following: 1. creating a new system that provides for low-income families to attend tier 1 rated citywide schools at a greater rate. 2. investing in more academic programs that raise the expectations and results of low-income students in lower performing neighborhood schools. 3. mandate from CPS that if student performance and achievement does not increase/improve at lower rated neighborhood schools where low-income students are prevalent, then the entire school district suffers financially in the reduction of state funding that provides the primary source of revenue for CPS. If we tie performance to funding, then we may be sure to dramatically improve the academic results of this group of students.
How would you address inequality within and between schools?
I would address within the schools by redesigning the requirements for entry into higher performing schools that creates the gap between the students. Furthermore, the vision behind CPS infrastructure and capital planning must also change and create a new paradigm that calls for a 1:1 ratio of school investment. For each new school constructed, expanded or improved on the northside, a new one must be created on the south or west side. This ratio also would apply to programs, extracurricular activities, in-school classroom improvements.
How can public schools better support their teachers and work more productively with the teachers’ union, parents, and the community?
I do not believe that is an issue at this time. I see the coordination between those stakeholders as sufficient.
What do you believe are the greatest needs of kids in school today? How would you prioritize these needs and address them?
The greatest need for kids is the opportunity not afforded all of our children in the System to have access to a high quality of excellent education. It does not exist in all of our schools and that must change.
What are your proposals for supporting children before and after school? What would be your ideal afterschool programs?
Schools need to be open longer, be community anchors and allow the community to utilize them during off-hours.
Do you believe that there is corruption in Chicago politics, such as pay-to-play practices when the city awards bids? If so, how would you address it?
Yes, there is corruption in politics. I would introduce a number of Ordinances aimed at stopping corrupt behavior, reducing outside influences and ensuring that an independent Inspector General has the ability to investigate all elected and appointed members of the City Council.... including the Mayor.
How would you make the city’s policies more responsive to community input instead of donors or special interests?
I would create committees in all of the neighborhoods that represent my Ward and empower their voices in my policy initiatives.
How would you handle the “recurrence of unaddressed racially discriminatory conduct by officers” identified in the U.S. Justice Department’s investigative report of the Chicago PD published in 2017?
I stand in support of the Consent Decree and will work with the Chicago Police Department to ensure that all of the recommendations are implemented fully. I also will work with the Police Department to introduce a new era of policing that does not undermine communities of color and that new community sensitive training applications are exercised in the neighborhoods. We must seek to do better and be more sensitive and responsive to racial issues confronting our citizens.
What sort of proposals would help reduce police shootings and fatalities?
Improved training and incorporating the recommendations of the consent decree into the utilization plan of CPD is a start.
What ideas do you have to reduce the availability of illegal or unregistered guns in Chicago?
We have to do a much better job of closing the loopholes that allow for gun show owners to sell guns to unregistered buyers.
How will you help to rebuild trust in the police department and to encourage the community to work with police?
By ushering in a new era of community policing. We need officers to be involved more, have officers be more relatable to community and have that vision implemented from the top down.
How would you address criminal justice issues such as prison reform and the reintegration of formerly incarcerated persons into city life?
I would work with the Cook County State's Attorney's office, Cook County Sheriff's Office and judicial system on overhauling the system and post release results so that we have improved outcomes.
How would you address the displacement of people of color and long-term residents from their neighborhoods?
I am in favor of the retention of housing for residents of communities facing rapid gentrification. I would also seek to work within the structure of existing programs that create affordable housing opportunities and expand them greatly to capture a wider pool of people facing the rising costs of housing. With the high number of vacant city-owned parcels, we are in a unique opportune moment where we have the ability to foster a development boom of housing at or near the area mean income in many of the neighborhoods facing this crisis with the construction of new residential units. This is something we have to be strategic and purposeful in achieving.
How would you care for the most vulnerable Chicagoans?
We need to offer better housing options for the homeless; better food desert solutions for those without access to quality food and restore mental health so that those suffering from clinical illnesses have centers that can serve them.
How would you ensure that development benefits residents in their neighborhoods and not solely the developers and other interests?
Currently, economic development in Chicago is primarily developer driven with little to no planning by the City's department of planning. We have to reverse this approach and make more urban planning decisions in neighborhoods that have not seen significant and transformative investment in decades, resulting in the blight that exists today in those communities. I will work to change that paradigm around and lead efforts to bring resources, interest and development that benefits the Ward locally.
How would you distribute revenue fairly between neighborhoods?
In my Ward, I would support participatory budgeting which gives a voice to and empowers residents in the appropriation of discretionary funding at the control of the Alderman.
How do you propose to resolve the city’s underfunded pension plan for city employees?
It is imperative that we examine any/all sensible revenue generating proposals while also looking at responsible ways to make the $10B City budget more efficient.
What’s your opinion on tax increment financing (a program that funds development using any additional property tax revenue that results from an increase in appraised property values)? What, if any, changes would you make to the use of TIF?
TIF is the primary resource for incentivizing development in Chicago. Many neighborhoods.... including mine in the 20th Ward need TIF to encourage investment. I would sunset TIF Districts that have not seen or utilized TIF for 5 years and return those tax dollars to the taxing bodies.
How would you assess the city's finances, and if your proposals would require new spending, how would you pay for them?
We need to examine where the budget can be more efficient. That is the first thing I would look at once in office.
Would you be in favor of freezing property taxes, at least for low-income households, so that people can stay where they are living?
Yes, I am in favor of considering that proposal. Freezing taxes for underperforming properties is a sound policy proposal that protects our residents and property owners in a down economy and/or one such as Chicago, which is experiencing an exodus of people causing a market reaction where property tax increases are necessary to fund the budget.
How would you increase access to quality food and urgent care in all parts of the city?
End the food desert crisis by incentivizing food operators to locate in neighborhoods where the lack of quality foods exist.
How will you address public health concerns such as contaminated drinking water, rat infestation, and lead poisoning?
The City needs to do better here. I will work with the following departments and agencies to ensure that water quality is the best: Department of Public Health, Department of Water Management, Department of Streets and Sanitation and the Water Reclamation District.
How would you make Chicago a cleaner city with less waste and pollution?
I would re-examine how we can improve the Department of Streets and Sanitation, including potentially changing the street grid garbage pickup plan.
What would be your first steps for improving the transit system in terms of affordability, accessibility, and safety?
The Congress will be debating a $1T infrastructure plan during this session. Chicago needs more than a fair share to address our crumbling, yet under construction system. While some of the rail lines have been improved recently, there are still many high cost improvements remaining which cannot be paid for with City funding. That must come from a spending bill from Congress. As Alderman, I will work directly with our Congressional Delegation to inform them of the importance of improvements in my Ward and offer to work with them to achieve this objective.
Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.
See also
2019 Elections
External links
Footnotes
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