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MARCH 7, 2012
Vol. 4 No. 27
City of Champions is Open for Business!
The
Mayor Giarrante gives his first State of the City Address
By Sherri Dauskurdas Staff Reporter
For the first time in more than 40 years, members of the Joliet community had the opportunity to hear a State of the City Address from their mayor. Mayor Tom Giarrante, in his first term as the city’s leader, addressed a group of community members and business professionals at the Autobahn Country Club on Feb. 28 to talk about the city’s accomplishments and challenges throughout 2011. “The City of Champions is open for business,” he exclaimed to the crowd,
“Development is strictly market driven by the private sector, and my administration is willing to meet with any developer who makes a presentation that makes sense for our downtown.” Tom Giarrante, mayor
adding that resurrecting the city from a $67 million deficit a few years ago has been tough. “There have been some limited, positive changes to our dire economic situation, but I wouldn’t say we’ve climbed our way out of anything. We’re just keeping the doors open.” That open-door policy is key to development of the city, particularly with just $3 million to spend for capital improvements in 2012. “A city of our size needs to be doing ten to twelve million per year. This year, we will be spending more than 80 percent
of our revenue on salaries, healthcare and workers comp. That limits what you can do in the future. It’s unlikely we will get out of this in the short term, and we will continue to look for ways to cut costs.” The mayor touched on a lot of ideas for the coming year as well, such as bringing more jobs to the city, making Joliet a central hub for transportation and logistics, and creating a city environment where people not only work and visit, but live and raise their families. Residential growth in the downtown should be a priority, he said. “We already have some outstanding residential units downtown, but for the
region to really thrive, we’ll need more,” Giarrante commented after the address. “Development is strictly market driven by the private sector, and my administration is willing to meet with any developer who makes a presentation that makes sense for our downtown.” He added that while some other small cities around Chicago have gone through reconstructions of their downtown sectors, he’s not following anyone else’s plan. “Joliet is unique in its own right. It’s the county seat, it has a riverfront, it’s home to some world-class entertainment venues and it offers easy access to Chicago via the Heritage Corridor and Rock Island lines,” he said. “Thousands of people work downtown each day and with the Joliet Junior College project, more are on the way.All of this will be enhanced by a highspeed rail terminal that will give residents access to Springfield and St. Louis. It only See ADDRESS, page 23