This story was reported and published in collaboration with WBEZ, the Chicago Sun-Times, and Block Club Chicago, a nonprofit newsroom covering Chicago’s diverse neighborhoods. Stay informed with Chalkbeat Chicago’s newsletter, WBEZ and the Sun-Times’ education newsletter, and Block Club Chicago’s newsletters.
Juan Ignacio Gonzalez, a veteran Chicago Police Department detective and local coffee shop owner, is running uncontested to represent District 8b, a long, narrow swath that stretches from the Loop all the way southwest to Chicago Lawn.
Earlier this summer, the state election authority kicked incumbent and Mayor Brandon Johnson appointee Cydney Wallace off the ballot due to challenges to her petition signatures, leaving Gonzalez as the lone candidate.
Gonzalez, a Back of the Yards resident, said he was motivated to run for school board after hearing from parents who were concerned about students being used as “political pawns” on May Day. The Chicago Teachers Union and Chicago Public Schools reached an agreement to keep schools open on May 1 while allowing civic actions after some back-and-forth over whether to call off school for demonstrations.
“Parents were speaking about some of the challenges and low academic standards we’re facing … and those are issues that I agree with,” he said. “I feel like in my community, there’s no voice for individuals that oftentimes cannot vote or aren’t part of the political system. I was asked to consider it, I looked at the layout, and felt I can help kids in the community.”
Gonzalez has served on Chicago’s police force since 1999. In that time, members of the public have filed 25 allegations of misconduct against him, all of which were deemed unfounded, according to public records compiled by the Civic Police Data Project, or CPDP.
In 2013, then-21-year-old Hernan Barron accused Gonzalez of pinning him against the wall of a meat packing plant with his police SUV during an arrest. Barron suffered a small puncture wound to his leg and was taken to a hospital for medical treatment. An internal police investigation cleared Gonzalez of any wrongdoing based on video evidence, records show.
Later that year, Barron filed a federal lawsuit against Gonzalez and the city, seeking damages for his injury and emotional pain and suffering. The city later settled the suit for $98,000, according to the CPDP.
“For nearly 27 years with the Chicago Police Department, I have been part of thousands of investigations involving some of the most serious crimes affecting Chicago — from murders and shootings to sexual assaults and other violent crimes,” Gonzalez said in an emailed statement. “My record of public safety and community service is not something that can be fully understood through an internet database. It comes from nearly 27 years of serving Chicago and continuing to live, work, invest, and serve in the community I call home.”
“I live here. I walk these streets. I own and operate a business here,” Gonzalez said. “I know families, residents, and business owners here, and people know they can approach me when they need assistance or guidance.”
“The location of that incident is also important to understanding who I am,” he added. “It occurred approximately four blocks from where I live today and six blocks from my café. This is not simply an area where I was assigned to work. It is my community.”
In 2025, Gonzalez opened DreamCatcher Café, a Back of the Yards coffee shop on West 47th Street.
Besides the coffee shop, Gonzalez owns more than a dozen properties on the Southwest Side, according to public records. In a 2023 interview with a real estate podcast, Gonzalez said he had been involved in renovating buildings with his family from a young age, later buying and rehabbing buildings on his own.
“There are both physical and financial risks that come with serving and investing in a community that has experienced serious violence,” Gonzalez said in his statement. “I have chosen to take those risks because I believe in this community, and I will continue to do so.”
A U.S. Marine Corps veteran and son of immigrant parents from Mexico, Gonzalez attended the University of Illinois Chicago. He said he wants schools in the district to have high academic standards that challenge students, many of whom also have immigrant backgrounds.
“We wanna compete, we wanna be challenged,” he said. “As a first-generation American, I don’t wanna be thought less of just because I’m from a certain ZIP code.”
Gonzalez also wants to improve math and reading instruction, and believes schools could increase their career and technical education programs. Offering pathways to careers in construction could benefit new young immigrant students who have settled on the Southwest Side and “want to create things with their hands,” he said.
“We have an incredible creative mindset in our community — in the arts, in the way we fix properties,” he said.
Gonzalez also wants to look into how Chicago Public Schools uses its budget and how resources could be spent to better the quality of education.
“Why are we losing students and taxpayers to the suburbs?” he asked. “We’re a world-class city and we expect a world-class education.”
Gonzalez has received contributions from the pro-school choice, politically centrist organization The Urban Center and the political arm of the Illinois Network of Charter Schools, which advocates for publicly funded, independently run charter schools. He is also supported by the Common Ground Collective, an anti-CTU political action committee that is heavily funded by billionaire Michael Sacks and says it aims to engage voters around “effective progressive policies.”
Read Gonzalez’ full questionnaire.
Francia Garcia Hernandez covers Pilsen, Little Village and Back of the Yards for Block Club Chicago. Contact Francia at francia@blockclubchi.org.
