Mavis Bates: 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.mavisbates.comOffice sought: Aurora City Council Ward 4 (4-year Term)Age: 64Family: Married, two daughters.Occupation: Acupuncturist. Founder and Owner,Inner Harmony Acupuncture, 8 years. Small business owner.Education: B.A. Secondary Education, University of Illinois Associates of Applied Technology, Electronics, Waubonsee Community College M.S. Computer Science, Illinois Institute of Technology M.S. Tradition Oriental Medicine, Pacific College of Oriental MedicineCivic involvement: Chairman and Founder, Aurora Green Fest Chairman, Sierra Club, Valley of the Fox Member of the Board of Directors, Fox Valley United Way Chairman, Special Events Committee, Fox Valley United Way Member and Past President, Aurora Kiwanis Former Board Member, Mutual Ground Member and former Treasurer, AAUW Chairman, Aurora Democrats Economic Advisory Committee, 84th DistrictElected offices held: NoneHave you ever been arrested for or convicted of a crime? If yes, please explain: NoCandidate's Key Issues Key Issue 1 Public Health and Safety. First and foremost, the alderman's job is to make sure that our citizens are safe and that their environment promotes their health and well-being. Strong neighborhoods include safe, well-lit, well-paved streets, curbs and gutters in good repair, and homes in good condition. Safe neighborhoods are happy places to live, and keep or increase their value. We must support our police in fighting crime in our ward by providing the technology they need to do their job, and creating effective neighborhood organizations to work in cooperation with Community Oriented Policing (C.O.P.). Foreclosures cause many problems, including increased crime, unsafe properties, and neighborhood nuisances. If a house becomes empty we need to make sure it is secure. In addition, we need to work to prevent foreclosures by providing information and counseling to families in crisis. Density reduction is another way to create safer neighborhoods. Increased density burdens our city services and creates overcrowding. We need to continue our reconversion and down-zoning projects, enforce strict building code and zoning ordinances, and buy and demolish dilapidated buildings wherever necessary. I will be responsive to all of my constituents at all times to keep our neighborhoods safe.Key Issue 2 Jobs and business, a thriving economy. We need to bring quality, high-paying jobs into our city. We should aggressively continue to extend the I-88 research and development corridor west to include Aurora. We could use tax incentives to encourage manufacturing, software, medical billing and other high-tech enterprises to move to or start-up in Aurora. We should support entrepreneurs with business incubators to speed up the start-up process, assist them with regulatory compliance, and promote their success. I often hear about Aurora being a hard place to start a business. We should review business regulations, especially for start-ups, to make sure that they are user friendly and minimal. We should seek private and public grants to rebuild our infrastructure, bringing good construction jobs to build roads, bridges, public sewer and water projects, and parks. These construction workers support local businesses and drive the local economic engine. There needs to be more collaboration between the City of Aurora, the City Council, and the Aurora Economic Development Commission and Seize the Future, which are the two main resources our city has to attract and keep businesses in Aurora. Because these organizations operate independently, the aldermen have very little input into overall economic development. Perhaps the AEDC should report directly to the City. I propose that each ward have within their ward committees an Economic Development sub-committee with members who cananswer the phone? when someone is inquiring about doing business in that particular ward. We want toroll out the red carpet? to prospective businesses and developers to achieve a friendlier business environment. (See more on this underNew Idea?)Key Issue 3 Reviving the 4th Ward Committee We need to revive the 4th ward committee so that everyone in the ward has a better say in how the ward gets run, how we allocate our resources, and how we approach the city for new projects. Every ward receives approximately $75,000 a year as an allowance for small projects, and the city allocates much larger sums, including proceeds from federal, state, and private grants, every year for major infrastructure projects. The residents of our ward should have a say in how our tax dollars are spent. As the alderman of the 4th Ward, I want input from my constituents on how we spend our allowance and what street, sewer, lighting, and other improvements we should ask for from the city. We need to resolve the issue of the old Copley hospital and reduce the uncertainty that it brings to the neighborhood. After fifteen years of fruitless efforts to reuse the building it is time to move on. My recommendation, based on discussions with some of the neighbors, is to replace it with a park, which will be an asset to the entire community. The new 4th Ward Committee can help with these decisions. As the only ward that bridges the Fox River, our 4th Ward is very diverse. We have two school districts, both ends of the socio-economic spectrum, and many diverse ethnic groups. I will be an active alderman for all of our neighborhoods on both sides of the river, and I will be better able to accomplish this by bringing residents together to discuss their needs. A strong 4th Ward committee will do just that.Questions Answers Downtown Aurora is undergoing a revival, but there are still a number of vacant storefronts. What should be done to spur more business development?I partially discussed this issue above underJobs and Business.? In the short term, inducements to bring more people to live downtown would foster immediate business growth. The city should offer tax incentives to landlords for renovations to downtown buildings to bring in more businesses and tenants, including sales tax rebates, property tax rebates, and grants and loans, wherever possible using outside grant money. We have a downtown TIF (Tax Increment Financing) which should be fully utilized to help businesses thrive in our downtown. Our recent milestone of zero murders for one year will also spur people to come downtown. Every alderman who has part of the downtown area in his or her ward, which includes the 4th Ward, would have an Economic sub-committee as part of their Ward committee and all of the aldermen, with their economic development sub-committees, would meet together at least quarterly with the sole agenda item being downtown development. These meetings would include the Aurora Economic Development Commission, Seize the Future, and members of the business community, to help with new ideas coming from the business sector. Here's a long-term plan: Supporting education provides the foundation for strengthening our economy. Educational programs such as SPARK,Strong, Prepared, and Ready for Kindergarten?, a pre-K program sponsored by the Fox Valley United Way, are one step toward creating thinking people who make good citizens and skilled workers. A knowledgeable, skilled work force brings in better businesses to stimulate economic growth and drive the economic engine to support more and better retail stores.The city recently celebrated an entire calendar year without a murder for the first time since the 1940s. What are your top two ideas for making Aurora a safer place?Community Oriented Policing with more neighborhood organizations will make Aurora a safer place. I want to create new neighborhood organizations within the 4th Ward for areas without a neighborhood group?one for the near west side, and another for the portion of the ward on the east side of the river. In addition, I want to bring our Community Oriented Policing (C.O.P.) program to all 4th Ward neighborhoods. I believe that Community Oriented Policing reduces crime, increases safety, and improves communication between the police and the community. My second idea is based on theBroken Windows Theory?. This theory says that if we fix broken windows quickly then petty crime, such as additional broken windows, can be averted, as well as preventing major crimes in the future. The city needs to ensure compliance with codes and zoning laws. Citizens can take an active role in making Aurora a safer place by making sure that they mow their lawns, keep up their homes, and address nuisances. Our police can only do so much to keep our communities safe; everyone needs to lend a hand to keep crime out of our neighborhoods.Residents will be paying more property taxes for the next 30 years to pay for the new library and library technology improvements. What can be done to keep property taxes in check? What are your ideas for streamlining city services or reducing its budget?The library is worth every penny we spend on it because we need cultural and educational resources to attract more families and businesses. A well-equipped, efficient library is a hallmark of a prosperous city. Many families in the 4th Ward do not have computers at home, so it is especially important that we offer access to technology. Because the city's portion of our property taxes is relatively small, about 20%, the city can only have a limited influence on property taxes. However, every taxing body owes it to the taxpayers to be fiscally responsible and to be more efficient with their tax dollars. I believe the city has been working hard to reduce costs, especially during the recession, but I have some ideas for reducing costs, mainly through increased productivity on the part of city employees. The City of Aurora has had a lobbyist for several years. Are we getting enough in return for their fees? We have Representative Linda Chapa LaVia and Senator Linda Holmes to represent us in Springfield, as well as Mayor Weisner. The aldermen should also be acting as lobbyists on the city's behalf, seeking out grants and other money. The city outsources various projects and studies to consultants. We already have a great staff working for us. Could they take on some of these projects and save the city some of these very expensive fees? Securing outside grants is another way to reduce taxes. We constantly need to be seeking outside money, either from governmental or private sources. Sharing services with other municipalities could also save some money, like our partnership with Naperville for police equipment. Are there overlapping services, for example with Aurora Township, where we could save some money by sharing facilities or staff?What makes you the best candidate for the job?I am the best candidate because I have the best combination of education, corporate management experience, small business ownership, and public involvement. I have a bachelor's degree in Teaching Secondary Education from the University of Illinois at Champaign. I was a Montessori pre-school and elementary school teacher, giving me a special interest in education. I am retired from ATT Bell Labs/Lucent Technology, where I was a technical manager. I have managed professionals, including engineers, and worked with large budgets. I have a Master's of Science degree in Computer Science from Illinois Institute of Technology. I am the founder and owner of my own acupuncture business, which has been in Aurora for almost ten years, right through the great recession. I keep my expenses low, pay my bills, stay out of debt, and put money in the bank, all good lessons for an alderman. To be an acupuncturist, I earned a Master's of Science, Traditional Oriental Medicine degree. I am involved in many community organizations, and have seen the problems and joys of my community. I am the founder and chairman of the Aurora Green Fest, an annual event that brings over 1000 visitors to see speakers, businesses, and non-profit organizations who raise awareness about helping the environment. I am on the Board of Directors of Fox Valley United Way, and am the chairman of the Special Events Committee, helping those in need in Aurora. I am a member and past-president of Kiwanis Club of Aurora, and have taken an active role in the Coats for Kids program for the last three years. I was on the Board of Directors of Mutual Ground for many years. I have spent hundreds, maybe thousands, of hours volunteering for Aurora. I have been involved for a long time, and all those years were a build up to this point in time. I am ready to be an alderman for Aurora. This is who I am. I love my city and the people here. I will take good care of the 4th Ward.What's one good idea you have to better the community that no one is talking about yet?My idea: A joint effort between the aldermen of the downtown wards and the Aurora Economic Development Commission and Seize the Future and Aurora business people to bring more new businesses to Aurora, especially the downtown. There needs to be more collaboration between the City of Aurora, the City Council, and the Aurora Economic Development Commission and Seize the Future, which are the two main resources our city has to attract and keep businesses in Aurora. Because these organizations operate independently, the aldermen have very little input into overall economic development. I propose that each ward with areas in the downtown, including the 4th ward, have within their ward committees an Economic Development sub-committee with members who cananswer the phone? when someone is inquiring about doing business in that particular ward. This sub-committee would help new businesses get a footing in Aurora or specifically in their ward. We want to roll out the red carpet to prospective businesses and developers to achieve a friendlier business climate. All of thedowntown? aldermen, with their economic development sub-committees, would meet at least quarterly with the sole agenda item being downtown development. These meetings would include the Aurora Economic Development Commission, Seize the Future, and members of the business community, to help with new ideas coming from the business sector. Adding the aldermen as stakeholders in the business development process adds the energy of the City Council to bringing in and retaining businesses. Inviting the downtown aldermen and their ward committees to participate creates a powerful coalition based on the citizens of Aurora, who are clamoring for more jobs. What could be more dynamic for bringing in new businesses than involved citizens, from our neighborhoods, welcoming them to our city.