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Thursday, April 2, 2015
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2015 DeKalb Alderman Elections
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One alderman is elected from each of the seven wards in the city and serves a four-year term. The aldermen compose the City Council, which serves as DeKalb’s legislative body. Election Day is Tuesday.
Ward 1
Ward 3
Alderman candidate: David Jacobson
Alderman candidate: Steve Kapitan
Involvement: 1st ward alderman, Sigma Alpha Mu fraternity alumnus and national board member, member of the NIU Alumni Association’s Greek Affinity Council, Greek community advocate
Involvement: Volunteer for more than 30 years, League of Women Voters member, DeKalb County Partnership for a SubSteve Kapitan stance Abuse Free En- 3rd ward vironment member and alderman DeKalb Interfaith Net- candidate work for Peace and Justice founder
There are a host of issues the next [City Council] will need to deal with: Amongst them, implementation of fire sprinklers in all Greek Housing prior to January 2019, what the next steps are for University Village, continuing to combat crime and future plans David Jacobson relating to university planning in the neigh1st ward borhood. As the housing stock continues to alderman candidate age and remain under-rented in the ward, finding quality tenants that buy in to these Q: What do you think is the most efforts will be paramount. pressing issue in your ward? A: ... The most pressing issue in the ward Read Online | bit.ly/1ISZ0TE is what its future looks like.
socioeconomically diverse, there isn’t one dominant issue. For some, it is the high property tax burden. For others, it is the availability of good-paying jobs. Improvements in streets and sidewalks are also an issue.
Q: What do you think is the most pressing issue in your ward? A: Because the 3rd ward is
Read Online | bit.ly/1F5q3qP
Alderman candidate: Michael Marquardt
Ward 5 Alderman candidate: Michael Haji-Sheikh Involvement: Associate engineering professor at NIU, former soccer coach, music boosters member, Faculty Senate member and DeKalb Michael HajiCounty Community Sheikh Gardens volunteer 5th ward
have streets that are falling apart, we have sidewalks falling apart. The whole city is struggling with tax base, ability to pay for streets, roads and sidewalks. One single thing I would say that is a citywide problem is we don’t have enough jobs to support the infrastructure.
alderman candidate
Q: What do you think is the most pressing issue in your ward? A: Right now we have a large contingency of retirees. A lot of that is having being on fixed income. [There’s] no one issue; we
Read Online | bit.ly/1CcRWeE
Involvement: Leader of the junior high youth group at First United Methodist Church
way we need to work to retain and attract new ones.
Q: What do you think Michael is the most pressing Marquardt issue in your ward? 3rd ward A: The loss of busi- alderman nesses that used to be in candidate our ward. A lot of the manufacturing facilities are gone and ward 3 goes up Sycamore Road and losing the retail business going up that
Read Online | bit.ly/1I6GDgq
Ward 7
Alderman candidate: Kate Noreiko
Alderman candidate: Monica O’Leary
Involvement: Former Kishwaukee Hos- concerned with economic issues in the city. pital director of huThe shaky financial position of the city ... man resources, former the loss of jobs, loss of retailers. member of the DeKalb Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors and Noreiko HR Consulting founder
Involvement: 7th ward alderwoman, New Hope Missionary Baptist Church minister, board member of service that helps low-income Monica O’Leary families who need assis- 7th ward tance with rent and lights alderwoman
Kate Noreiko 5th ward alderwoman candidate
Q: What do you think is the most pressing issue in your ward? A: We have some basic issues of street maintenance, safety, but people are also
Read Online | bit.ly/1ND56YX
Alderman candidate: Craig Roman
Alderman candidate: Cameron Zelaya Involvement: DeKalb County Health Department in-person counselor, First Congregational Church of Christ choir member and Hope HaCameron Zelaya ven volunteer 5th ward alderman
Q: What do you think candidate is the most pressing issue in your ward? A: [The] most pressing issue that I’ve heard from the residents, I’ve been going around knocking on doors trying to spread
here are criminals. As long as it’s reported to the police, I know there’s been a lot of breaking in cars, purse snatching, robberies. I only heard about a couple rapes, but it’s crime in the 7th ward. We have a police presence, but it’s not to cover those things. The police presence that we’ve [had] in the 7th have been tocandidate ward [black people]. If [black people] have Q: What do you think is the most a party, it gets shut down. It’s geared toward pressing issue in your ward? watching you. A: Crime. We have had a lot of people out here and some of the ones that came out Read Online | bit.ly/1Dy3y1u
the word that I’m running and hoping to be a voice of the people and best represent the people of the 5th ward. What I keep hearing is that property taxes are too high. The city’s portion of the property tax, there are 10 taxing districts, the one that takes up the biggest portion is the school district, so there taking up about 62 percent of the property tax that people pay. The city portion will only be 8 percent.
Read Online | bit.ly/1bQlCcr
Involvement: Elected in DK37 precinct, former treasurer for the DeKalb County Illinois Democratic Party, neighborhood watch chair and employee of two funeral homes in DeKalb and Sycamore
Craig Roman 7th ward alderman candidate
Q: What do you think is the most pressing issue in your ward? A: Since it’s the 7th ward, we have a couple of different things. It’s a mixed ward, half of NIU and half of residential. It has a
For more information on how to register and where to vote, go to bit.ly/1NKk1m4.
multitude of different things. From speaking with students, it’s more a parking issue. As far as the residents, I live in Devonaire Farms and we have a bunch of unused, undeveloped lots and we need to get those built so we can have them thrive in DeKalb.
Read Online | bit.ly/19LSWzL