As I bicycled to the 'L' after attending last Monday's [checks notes] round ten of the dueling rallies against and for the Archer Safe Streets project, it occurred to me that I had an unpublished interview from one of the December events. During my video conversation with opponent Claudia Zuno, a photography studio owner, I asked her about the rumor I'd heard that she was planning on running for alder against local representative Ald. Julia Ramirez (12th).
Ramirez, a progressive, had signed off on the Chicago Department of Transportation's proposal for traffic safety initiatives on Archer and Kedzie avenue in the Brighton Park neighborhood. These projects are controversial because they involve converting a mixed-traffic lane and some parking spaces to make room for turn lanes, pedestrian facilities, bus boarding islands, and protected bike lanes. But ultimately they will make these corridors safer and more efficient.
(If you've been following Streetsblog's coverage of this issue, feel free to skip this next section, but I feel the following topic calls for some drum-beating.)
The folks who want to "Make Archer Great Again"
There's a lot of right-leaning political intrigue going on behind the support for the protesters. (They've usually been outnumbered at the weekly gatherings by fans of the still-under-construction street remix, who are almost all Southwest Siders.) The first anti-Archer protest was promoted by the pro-charter school lobbying organization Urban Center, which was founded by perennial candidate Paul "More of a Republican Than a Democrat" Vallas.
Urban Center is currently run by Juan Rangel, who was previously CEO of UNO Charter Schools but resigned in disgrace in conjunction with the feds fining him $10,000 for alleged fiscal misconduct. After the 2024 presidential election, Rangel wrote an op-ed for the Tribune entitled, "How Latinos found their voice in Donald Trump."
UC donated tens of thousands of dollars to pro-charter school candidate Eva Villobos' unsuccessful 2024 campaign to be a CPS board member. She's one of the co-organizers of the weekly demonstrations.
One more MAGA-friendly player in the Archer drama is Ald. Ray Lopez (15th). Earlier this month, he dropped in to a Pedestrian and Traffic Safety Committee meeting to rail against the 12th Ward project, as well as CDOT's Complete Streets program in general. Someone (not SBC) recently posted fliers on Archer featuring this photo of Lopez at a closed-door meeting about immigration enforcement in Chicago in November 2024. The alder posed with far-right activist and Proud Boys associate Terry Newsome, who hosted the event, and border czar Tom Homan. The flier read "Archer Guardians Love ICE."
Prior to the dueling Archer rallies on December 15, an insider told me it appeared Urban Center would supporting Claudia Zuno to run against Ald. Ramirez in the February 2027 election. I spoke with Zuno as she protested on the avenue and eventually asked her about what I'd heard. (Note that we had a much longer discussion of the pros and cons of the Safe Streets initiative, but I disclosed to her that if I ran this interview, it would focus on the political issue.) The transcripts located below the videos have been edited for clarity and brevity.
John Greenfield: How's it going?
Claudia Zuno: good, thank you.
JG: John Greenfield from Streetsblog. [At this point I had heard that there were political hopefuls involved in the rally, but I wasn't yet aware she was Claudia Zuno.] Are you running for office?
CZ: No I'm not.
JG: Have you run for office in the past?
CZ: No.
JG: Do you have anything to do with Urban Center?
CZ: I know people from the Urban Center.
Zuno definitely knew people from the Urban Center by then. On the press release the group put out for the December 8 Archer protest, held the week before our conversation, she was listed as a contact and quoted calling out Ald. Ramirez.
When she I asked Zuno what she does for a living, she mentioned her family business, and then I realized who she was.
You might notice that Zuno and I pronounced Julia Ramirez's first name differently. The alder later told me that while she prefers the Spanish pronunciation, with an "H" sounds, saying it with the "J" sound used in English is OK with her as well.
JG: I've heard you're running for alder.
CZ: I have not announced a run for anything. I am living in Brighton Park over 25 years. I have [told] Ald. Julia Ramirez this is not the right thing to do for our neighborhood.
JG: I've been told that that Urban Center is backing you for running for alder against Ramirez.
CZ: Right now I'm just talking about this. Now Urban Center can say... Urban Center told you this?
JG: Urban Center hasn't answered my request for comment.
CZ: Well then who told you that Urban Center said it?
JG: It was... I don't think they want their name released but...
CZ: Oh, OK. [Laughs.]
JG: It's not proven. But you tell me. You say that was a lie – Urban Center is not backing you for running for alder?
CZ: No one's backing me for anything, because I have not announced for anything. So there's nothing to be backed about. If I announce to do anything, you will be one of my first people to talk. You know what? That's not a bad idea. There's a lot of people who can run for alderman. There's a lot of people who have a voice here. And anything is possible.
JG: Because the question is, is Urban Center... It's understandable that some people are upset about the redesign of the street, especially if they didn't hear about it in advance.
CZ: None of us did.
[According to CDOT, over 500 residents provided community input on the planning process for the Archer and Kedzie projects, which included two public meetings.]
JG: So the question is, is Urban Center harnessing the anger people have over this project and turning into a political issue? I mean there are people holding signs that say, "Hey Hey, Ho Ho, Julia [Has] Gotta Go."
CZ: I don't know who those people are.
What do the Archer Safe Streets boosters think of Zuno's Campaign?
As Streetsblog readers know, on Monday, February 16, Zuno officially announced her candidacy at a launch party. This website send a reporter to cover it, but after the organizers learned he was with SBC, a team member escorted him out of the venue.
A Block Club Chicago writer was allowed to stay. "“When I become your 12th Ward alderwoman, the first thing I’ll do is remove these concrete barriers," Zuno told attendees, according to that publication.
I dropped by the Archer rallies last Monday, February 23. As usual, the supporters outnumbered the anti-folks.
I checked in with lifelong Brighton Park resident Gil Campos and Gage Park local Alfredo Villadares Jr. for their takes on the political situation.
John Greenfield: What do you think about Claudia Zuno's announcement that she's running for alder?
Gil Campos: I don't see why she's announcing it so early. Usually they wait until August or October. But I think they're just trying to get on like... Everybody is passing out these signs, "2 Lanes, Not 1". They know the small shops are kind of angry about the bike lanes. So they're probably trying to get on that bandwagon.
First of all, her first thing is she says she's running for safety, and then she's also saying that the first thing she's going to do is take out the bicycle lanes. So I don't understand that part... But there's people that do want the bike lanes. There's people that I talk in the neighborhood who are happy about it.
JG: What do you think about Claudia Zuno running for alder?
Alfredo Villadares Jr.: I'm pretty neutral about the fact that she's running for alder. I just don't like the fact that she's trying to use a safety project like a crutch to generate a following for her run. Yeah, that's what I don't like about it. But her, herself, it doesn't matter. That's what America is – we're about politics and free elections.
Read CDOT's FAQ about the Archer / Kedzie traffic safety projects here.
Materials about Archer Avenue can be found here.
Materials about Kedzie Avenue can be found here.
Read Streetsblog Chicago's writeup of Round 1 here.
Check out our article about Round 2 here.
Read SBC's coverage of Round 3 here.
Check our post about Round 5 here.
Take a look at our assessment of Round 6 here.
Read SBC's post about Round 7 here.
Take a gander at our article about Round 8 here.
Peruse out writeup of Round 9 here.
On November 12, SBC launched our 2026 fund drive to raise $50K through ad sales and donations. That will complete next year's budget, at a time when it's tough to find grant money. Big thanks to all the readers who have chipped in so far to help keep this site rolling all next year! Currently, we're at $22,392 with $27,608 to go, ideally by the end of March.
If you value our livable streets reporting and advocacy, please consider making a tax-exempt gift here. If you can afford a contribution of $100 or more, think of that as a subscription. That will help keep the site paywall-free for people on tighter budgets, as well as decision-makers. Thanks for your support!
– John Greenfield, editor
