As Lori Lightfoot gears up to take over as Chicago’s mayor in May, many in the city’s tech and startup community are anxiously waiting to see how she addresses their growing industry.
Rahm Emanuel is leaving the post with the reputation of being a cheerleader for Chicago tech and the city’s business community in general. He has played an important role in corporations moving their headquarters downtown, and has made his way to numerous ribbon cuttings at local startup offices and incubators.
Now the question lurking in tech leaders’ minds is if they will see this same kind of commitment from Lightfoot. While campaigning, Lightfoot spent much of her time addressing how she would approach the city’s other issues, like police-community relations and economic inequality among neighborhoods, but she's been mum on what exactly her tech agenda might look like. However, as part of her plan to stimulate economic growth in underserved neighborhoods, she has said that would include more startup incubators and access to WiFi.
She also hasn't endorsed Elon Musk’s $1 billion plan to build an underground transit system from downtown to O’Hare Airport, a project that Emanuel helped launch and promote. She said the high-speed transit system being built without public funds is “a fiction,” and did not include it in her transportation plan for the city.
Beyond Musk’s project, many other high-tech transportation initiatives will be up for debate when Lightfoot takes office. In March, the city released a transportation task force report that addresses dockless scooters and autonomous vehicles. The report also calls for Emanuel's successor to establish a chief mobility officer to focus on the issues.
To gauge how Chicago’s tech community is responding to Lightfoot’s election and what they hope to see from her when she takes office, Chicago Inno gathered opinions from several of the city's high-profile techies.
See their responses in their own words below. (Answers have been edited for length and clarity.)
“She’s inheriting an economy that’s even more diverse than what Rahm inherited and tech is about 10 percent of it. We are a major part of the economy that she’s inheriting. One of the big opportunities that we have in the city of Chicago is very core to her platform, which is to shrink the inequity gap between those that have and those that don’t, and I think tech broadly can play a big role there.” —Betsy Ziegler, CEO of 1871
“We can't wait to see what Mayor Lightfoot does. Tech leaders need to step up to help her build on the positive things that Mayor Emanuel started. We have to develop the solutions together—solutions and policies that will create world-class tech companies, grow our local economy, educate our students and ensure safe communities.” —Pete Wilkins, managing director at Hyde Park Angels
“Lightfoot has indicated a desire to expand incubators and accelerators into Chicago’s neighborhoods. If we broaden those to include skill development and education, particularly in tech, the outcome can be larger than the small business growth Lightfoot has promoted.” —Julia Kanouse, CEO of the Illinois Technology Association
"Chicago’s tech landscape has grown by leaps and bounds, and companies like Google have certainly taken notice of the talent here. I’m looking forward to seeing how Mayor-Elect Lightfoot continues that upward trajectory, and I’m particularly excited that she’s commented on the need to ensure that people from all neighborhoods and backgrounds are included in the city’s tech and innovation boom." —Karen Sauder, vice president and site lead for Google Chicago
“I hope she does something about the cloud tax. It's a burden to tech companies and no other city has anything else like it. [And] it would make life more convenient if we had scooters like Bird and Lime. I hope the city can find a way to allow them.” —Sean Harper, CEO of Kin Insurance
"We hope incoming mayor Lori Lightfoot shows a willingness to continue to support the tech community by launching improvements to Chicago's livability, like initiatives to improve public transportation and bike lanes, which help us recruit developers and other global talent." —Edward Woodford, co-founder and CEO of Seed CX
"Mayor Lightfoot's platform can help the Chicago tech community become more diverse, specifically when it comes to people of color, which we are in dire need of. The Chicago tech community demographics look nothing like Chicago’s demographics and this needs to change. It will take some time, but the solution starts with education, which is a strong focus for our mayor. I think the Chicago tech community will be excited to help Mayor Lightfoot bring more diversity to our community. She just has to ask." —Tim Handorf, co-founder and president of G2.com
