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Linda Aiani: Candidate Profile

Itasca Park Board (6-year Terms)

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: ItascaWebsite: Candidate did not respond.Office sought: Itasca Park Board (6-year Terms)Age: AdultFamily: Married to Jeff for 34 years.Occupation: RetiredEducation: Attended: Northeastern Illinois State in Chicago Triton College in River Grove College of DuPageCivic involvement: Itasca Garden Club Itasca Walk In Ministry CERT member Chairman of Combined Church Choir of Itasca St. Peter the Apostle Catholic Church Handbell DirectorElected offices held: Commissioner of the Itasca Park District for 18 1/2 years. Currently am President of the Board of Commissioners.Have you ever been arrested for or convicted of a crime? If yes, please explain: NoCandidate's Key Issues Key Issue 1 My issue is that I feel that the Itasca Park District staff and board of commissioners offer the patrons of the Itasca Park District programs, facilities and parks that are requested, used and enjoyed. I want to continue to be on the board that guides the staff in making choices that enhances the existing program.Key Issue 2 Candidate did not respond.Key Issue 3 Candidate did not respond.Questions Answers What programs aren't paying for themselves? Would you keep, eliminate or change them? How and why?Attendance is monitored for every program and event offered. If a program is not being attended we will cancel it. If events do have many attendees we will try and improve it or not offer it again.Is there any additional open space the park district needs to acquire? Please describe.Being a land locked community there is no availalbe space at this time. We are always looking for land that could handle soccer fields.Are there any unmet recreational needs? If yes, what are they and how would you propose paying for them? Or, should they wait until the economy improves?When we went for our water park referendum we conducted a community wide survey asking what the needs of our patrons were. We are conducting another survey this summer asking patrons what they would like changed or improved upon in the areas of programs, facilities and parks. We always listen to requests from patrons and try to implement them as best as we can. Our staff is looking into expanding programs and events for our older teens and some new adult alternatives.Would you support sharing/pooling resources (i.e. printing, vehicles) with other local governments (school districts, village, etc.)? If so, what areas would you consider combining or merging to save money or improve efficiency?We are part of the Intergovernmental board of Itasca. We share costs on making improvements in Itasca for the safety of our patrons. We have shared costs and manpower on improving facilities and events that serve the entire community.If you are a newcomer, what prompted you to run for the park board? If you're an incumbent, list your accomplishments or key initiatives in which you played a leadership role.As a board we have been able to rebuild Franzen Park, Benson Park and upgrade our smaller parks. We have recently applied for a OSLAD grant to rebuild Peacock Park as well. We were able to pass the referendum to remodel our water park. We added on to the recreation center offering more fitness space. We built the softball complex and recently received a grant to put up netting and new fencing. We were able to completely renovate the depot museum allowing it to showcase the history if Itasca. We received a grant to relocate a caboose to the site. We are financailly stable with a comfortable fund balance. We have won the NRPA Gold Medal twice. And we have received several grants that has improved our district.