Isaac Wilson: Candidate Profile

Note: Answers provided have not been edited for grammar, misspellings or typos. In some instances, candidate claims that could not be immediately verified have been omitted. Jump to:BioKey IssuesQA Bio City: AuroraWebsite: http://www.makeourvotecount.orgOffice sought: Aurora City councilAge: 28Family: I am a proud husband and the father of one child.Occupation: I am an Admissions Advisor at a university.Education: I currently have Bachelor of Science in Business Administration and will complete anExecutive Master of Business Administration on 02/08/2011.Civic involvement: Through out my live, I have volunteered at many organizations in our community. Also I am activity in my Church. I am the president of the men#146;s organization of Greater Love Missionary Baptist Church.Elected offices held: Candidate did not respond.Have you ever been arrested for or convicted of a crime? If yes, please explain: NoCandidate's Key Issues Key Issue 1 As your Alderman, there are several issues that I wish to address immediately. First is the crime rate. I have noticed the overall perception of crime has move to direction where crime is acceptable. I have discussed this issue and was shocked to find out that some residents who have witnessed crimes feels that reporting the crime is not going to help. I have now heard about this disconnect more than once. Crime affects us all. For example, there was a physical confrontation that occurred last year that ended with a teen being a victim of gun fire. This shooting occurred within feet of my home, one block away from a church, and within a quarter of a mile of an elementary school. Stories like this one happen all too often in our city and in our Ward. If elected I feel one of my job duties would be to reconnect the people with the city government including the Aurora Police Department.Key Issue 2 The 2011 budget, in my opinion, represents the old way of doing things which includes wasteful spending. I was highly disappointed when this budget passed through the city council. I would have not approved or accepted this budget. One of my issues with this budget is the message that the city of Aurora is sending to the public. We have the funds to build a new police station, however, we are laying off the police officers that protect and serve our community. This sends the wrong message. As your Alderman, you can rest assure that I will research and suggest alternatives that will not include laying off any of our police officerKey Issue 3 With the increase in change of home ownership, the neighborhood is now different from what it used to be. For example, when my father purchased his home in the city of Aurora in the early 90#146;s, we knew our neighbors, and my father knew the elected officials in the area. In our community, I discovered that many people do not know their Alderman. With that in mind, many people in our community do not know where to turn if help is needed, or where to express their thoughts to make our city better. Another one of my priorities is to fix that. As Alderman, I plan to attend many community functions to meet the people in our community. As Alderman, I will introduce myself to each of the new home owners in the Ward, and ask this community#146;s landlords to notify me when a new tenant moves in. We all want our new members of the ward to feel welcome, understand the ordinances of our city, and share in our belief, #147;Aurora is beautiful and a great place live.#148;Questions Answers What makes you the best candidate for the job?I have in lived in the city of Aurora for over fifteen years. I hold a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration and am on pace to complete an Executive Master of Business Administration on February 8th 2011. I am Veteran of United States Army. As a home owner, business man, husband and father in the city of Aurora, I can see a need of change within our community. I look forward to the challenge of being your next Alderman, and truly value the opportunity to serve our community.Given the delicate balance between the need for revenue and over-taxing local businesses, what is your opinion of your community's present level of local sales taxes? Is the tax just right, too low or too high? Explain.The community's present level of local sales taxes needs to be adjusted. Our community can benefit for the lowing of the Hotel Occupancy Tax. By lowering this tax the city of Aurora would benefit in the long run, a reduce Hotel Occupancy Tax would lead to the increase of overall tourism. In the end the reduction of the Hotel Occupancy Tax by1% would increase the overall revenue of this tax. The alcoholic liquor tax can be raised by .5 %. This increase would bring in over $90,000.00 in revenue for the people of the city of Aurora.Talking with your friends and neighbors, what seems to be their biggest public safety concern? Explain the concern as you see it, and discuss how you think it should be addressed.Crime, the people of the city of Aurora are upset with the current level of crime. To make matters worse, the people see the laying off of the eight police officers as something that could have been avoided. The issue of crime can be address by, first we must bring these eight police office back to protect and serve our community. Also the city government must advertise the Neighborhood Watch Programs and the Citizen Police Academy program. The additional involvement of people in these programs would lead to a safer Aurora.In these tight economic times, municipal budgets have to be prioritized. Where, if anywhere, could the current budget be trimmed, and conversely, are there areas the budget does not give enough money to?In these tight economic times the word accountability needs to use. In the city budget the word other is use too many times in the Expenditure Accounts section. The total of this amount is the line items of #147;Other#146; is almost 1,000,000.00. In this budget, the reduction of the Golf Fund by 10% and the Ward Project Funds 5%, to help lower the number of police officers the city had to layoff. Also in these economic times families are making many sacrifices, the city government should have done the same and sacrifice the coffee and the bottle water the city pay for.What#146;s one good idea you have to better the community that no one is talking about yet?As a community we should focus on community involvement. In these times people feel disconnected from the government. One way we address this issues is through community involvement. Currently there are some great programs the city has in place that people do not know about. An example of programs in place that many may not know about is the Citizen Police Academy, and the Neighborhood Groups of Aurora. If the city government did more advertisement on these groups, the additional interaction of people in these groups would lead to less crime. Another result would be the people in the city of Aurora would feel more connected to the government.