November 8, 2005: Headlines: Figures: COS - Solomon Islands: City Government: Aurora Beacon News: Weisner gets to work
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November 8, 2005: Headlines: Figures: COS - Solomon Islands: City Government: Aurora Beacon News: Weisner gets to work
Weisner gets to work
Mayor Tom Weisner's plan to borrow more than $150 million and raise property taxes to pay for some much-needed downtown improvements and a new police headquarters is the kind of thing the people of Aurora have been waiting for since he took office more than six months ago. Tom Weisner, elected mayor of Aurora, IL in 2005, served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in the Solomon Islands.
Weisner gets to work
Weisner gets to work
It was a bold move — even his critics will tell you so.
And although not everyone out there will agree with it, Mayor Tom Weisner's plan to borrow more than $150 million and raise property taxes to pay for some much-needed downtown improvements and a new police headquarters is the kind of thing the people of Aurora have been waiting for since he took office more than six months ago.
During his campaign, Weisner promised a new kind of progressive leadership and a departure from the status quo that would pull the city out of the doldrums.
Until last week though, thanks to several early-term stumbles — his odd obsession with the questionable alternative fuel E85, his inability to fill several key positions that were left vacant months ago, and the well-intentioned but poorly-executed hiring of Chief-of-staff Bob Vaughan — Weisner was beginning to lose even some of his staunchest supporters.
The new budget plan is winning them back.
"These are things that the city has been trying to do for years," one previously disillusioned Weisnerite told me, "and finally, someone is coming up with a way to get them done."
The major projects Weisner has proposed — the $60, million construction of a new central police station, the $50 reconstruction of the downtown water and sewer system and a $15 million investment in city-owned fiber-optic and wireless Internet network — won't come cheap, both in terms of actual dollars and Weisner's political capital.
The new mayor has enjoyed near-unanimous support on the City Council for all of his initiatives thus far, but getting some members to go along with a tax increase — even one that will cost most residents less than 100 bucks a year — could be a tough sell, especially when it comes to those who need to get re-elected in a year-and-a-half.
But since the tax hike is tied directly to the new police station — a project that should have been started 10 years ago — it should be a somewhat easier pill to swallow, both for aldermen and their constituents.
Increasing the city's debt payments — in this case by as much a $9 million a year for 30 years — is always a scary proposition for the fiscally conservative among us. But the work needs to get done, especially the water and sewer project. Any developer will you that the antiquated system is a major road block for anyone looking to build something new here.
It was a deal-breaker for the once hopeful River City project a decade ago. So it only makes sense to get the work done all at once now, rather than piece by piece over the next 10 years.
"By leveraging our bonding ability," Weisner explained, "we can get this city moving forward right now."
Arguments in favor of the technology improvements fall along the same lines. We won't know for years whether these projects will help spark the type of renaissance the area has been looking for since store and shoppers left for the Fox Valley mall three decades ago. But it's good to know we now have a mayor whose willing to take a chance to make it work.
Ed Fanselow covers state and local politics and Aurora City Hall for The Beacon News. He can be reached at (630) 844-5957 or efanselow@scn1.com.
11/08/05
When this story was posted in November 2005, this was on the front page of PCOL:
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| PC establishes awards for top Volunteers Gaddi H. Vasquez has established the Kennedy Service Awards to honor the hard work and service of two current Peace Corps Volunteers, two returned Peace Corps Volunteers, and two Peace Corps staff members. The award to currently serving volunteers will be based on a demonstration of impact, sustainability, creativity, and catalytic effect. Submit your nominations by December 9. |
| Why blurring the lines puts PCVs in danger When the National Call to Service legislation was amended to include Peace Corps in December of 2002, this country had not yet invaded Iraq and was not in prolonged military engagement in the Middle East, as it is now. Read the story of how one volunteer spent three years in captivity from 1976 to 1980 as the hostage of a insurrection group in Colombia in Joanne Marie Roll's op-ed on why this legislation may put soldier/PCVs in the same kind of danger. Latest: Read the ongoing dialog on the subject. |
| Peace Corps at highest Census in 30 years Congratulations to the Peace Corps for the highest number of volunteers in 30 years with 7,810 volunteers serving in 71 posts across the globe. Of course, the President's proposal to double the Peace Corps to 15,000 volunteers made in his State of the Union Address in 2002 is now a long forgotten dream. With deficits in federal spending stretching far off into the future, any substantive increase in the number of volunteers will have to wait for new approaches to funding and for a new administration. Choose your candidate and start working for him or her now. |
| 'Celebration of Service' a major success The Peace Corps Fund's 'Celebration of Service' on September 29 in New York City was a major success raising approximately $100,000 for third goal activities. In the photo are Maureen Orth (Colombia); John Coyne (Ethiopia) Co-founder of the Peace Corps Fund; Caroline Kennedy; Barbara Anne Ferris (Morocco) Co-founder; Former Senator Harris Wofford, member of the Advisory Board. Read the story here. |
| PC apologizes for the "Kasama incident" The District Commissioner for the Kasama District in Zambia issued a statement banning Peace Corps activities for ‘grave’ social misconduct and unruly behavior for an incident that occurred on September 24 involving 13 PCVs. Peace Corps said that some of the information put out about the incident was "inflammatory and false." On October 12, Country Director Davy Morris met with community leaders and apologized for the incident. All PCVs involved have been reprimanded, three are returning home, and a ban in the district has since been lifted. |
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Story Source: Aurora Beacon News
This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; Figures; COS - Solomon Islands; City Government
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