Chicago Decides: Ald. Monique Scott faces challenger Creative Scott in West Side's 24th Ward
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Early voting is already underway in Chicago's municipal elections, with voters deciding not only who will be the next mayor, but who will serve on the City Council in 14 wards where no candidate won a majority in the first round of voting in February.
In the 24th Ward on the West Side, Ald. Monique Scott is running for a full term in office after being appointed to replace her brother Michael, who left the City Council last summer to take a job with Cinespace Film Studio.
Small business owner Creative Scott (no relation) is running against Monique Scott in the runoff.
CBS 2's Marie Saavedra spoke to both candidates about the race.
Monique Scott said she doesn't feel there is any singular issue that is most important in the ward, which she said has not seen sufficient investments in the 51 years she's lived there.
"When you are in a community that has been disinvested in in 51 years, you have everything from 3,000 vacant lots that needs to be addressed, you have education disparity, you have health disparity, you have economic development. There are so many things, and you can't decouple one, because they all intertwine – and crime. So they all intertwine with one another," she said.
Creative Scott said he has dedicated his life to giving back to the community, and he wants to become aldermen to "bridge the gap" between police officers and young people and seniors who live in the ward.
"I also have a program that I created with the help of a few other individuals in the community. It's a gun safety program that I call GPS. That's guns, problems, and solutions," he said. "Right now, I have attorneys that will call me when youth have gun problems, and have been in and out of court. So I will get them a gun safety program."
You can watch the full interviews with both candidates above.