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Time has come to change the way we manage our City.

In this time of economic crisis, Evanston and the 6th Ward need strategic leadership. We need a City Council that thinks creatively, works collaboratively and focuses all of its energies on keeping our City safe, secure and vibrant. We must reject the notion that we can limp from budget to budget, line item to line item and elect a Council that is capable of managing the present in a way that ensures our future. We must also plan for the day when the economic crisis allows us to return to a more normal way of life in this city.

As a long-time advocate for open and transparent government, working both from within and outside government, I understand our elected officials' duty to satisfy the public's right to information and accountability.  The business of the public must be conducted in full view of the public (Open Meetings Act) and citizens must have access to all public records (Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)). 
 

In my blogs and speeches so far as candidate for alderman, I have emphasized my knowledge and experience, listing intellectual credentials and professional accomplishments. But I realize that a successful alderman must have a heart as well as mind (and both need to be connected to ears.) As I prepare myself to become a successful alderman, I realize I need people skills- navigating a spreadsheet is not enough.

Madam Mayor and Members of the Council
 
Thank you…for the many long hours you’ve spent, along with the city staff, working on budget development and the current budget proposal. As citizens, we can only try to understand what it means to take on these responsibilities in a time of incredibly hard choices. But what we can imagine are the difficulties of facing an unhealthy budget situation on the one hand … and on the other hand, asking a financially injured community to take on additional burdens.     
 

Last night (2/3/09), the City Council spent at least a half hour discussing the budget for training for city employees. The HR person described how the training budget was cut in half from over $100K to about $60K (keeping 10 different programs at about $6K each.) Earlier in January, the Council spent time discussing a $7,000 expenditure on office furniture.