Adriane Johnson: 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: Buffalo GroveWebsite: Candidate did not respond.Office sought: Buffalo Grove Park Board (2-year Term)Age: Candidate did not respond.Family: Married, one childOccupation: Managing Principal at an HR Consulting FirmEducation: Master of Jurisprudence in Busines Law, Loyola University Chicago School of LawCivic involvement: Rotary Club of Buffalo Grove Taproot Foundation Beyond BullyingElected 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 The Buffalo Grove Park District will continue ensuring finanical stability and fiscal planning.Key Issue 2 The Buffalo Grove Park District will continue with improvements to infrastructure, i.e., fitness center, parks, bike trails, etc.Key Issue 3 The Buffalo Grove Park District wil continue to reduce its carbon footprint.Questions Answers What programs aren't paying for themselves? Would you keep, eliminate or change them? How and why?The Buffalo Grove Park District is fortunate to have dedicated financial and fiscally-responsible stewards of our collective resources. We conduct an annual review of all programs to assess their effectiveness and relevance. And most importantly, we are very concerned about if the programs are in the black or red. Over the years, we have eliminated programs that are no longer effective or self-sustaining. As stewards of the Buffalo Grove Park District taxpayers? resources, we ensure that all programs are self-sustaining, relevant, and effective. Also of note is that we put all programs into program areas. These include Youth Sports, Youth General, Camps, Seniors, Special Events, Adult Sports, and Adult General. Programs that do not pay for themselves normally fall in the special event and senior program areas. And many of these programs are beneficial to the entire community and are typically offered at a nominal charge or are free.Is there any additional open space the park district needs to acquire? Please describe.Although there is always a desire for open space, the Buffalo Grove Park District has more than 50 parks and facilities. To support the ongoing requirement for open space, I will encourage the staff at the Buffalo Grove Park District to proactively establish relationships with select landowners to secure the rights of first refusal for their properties. This way, we will be ahead of the curve in terms of having access to open space in the future.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?In a recent survey to residents of the Buffalo Grove Park District, more than 67% of the respondents indicated that they would attend professional shows, concerts, plays, etc. if a cultural and programming arts space was developed for children and adults. The Buffalo Grove Park District recently acquired the Congregation Beth Am facility located on Old McHenry Road (Route 83), and we are planning on converting this property into a performing arts center. Although the Buffalo Grove Park District offers the aforementioned events through our Big Deal Productions, we did not have a performing arts center, which would allow the district to have centralized programming. We are really excited about opening the performing arts center sometime in 2015. Another unmet need is a community recreation center that would be available to residents of the Buffalo Grove Park District to use for special events and other recreational requirements. In light of our current projects, i.e., the performing arts center, we will take some time to reassess the need for a community center and determine the best way to fund this endeavor. We want to respond to our residents? immediate needs. More than 71% of the respondents from a recent community survey indicated that it is important for the Buffalo Grove Park District to develop additional walking / biking trails, while 25% believe it is very important for the Buffalo Grove Park District to upgrade existing neighborhood parks. The Buffalo Grove Park District has done an outstanding job of providing the services and programs that are most important to our residents, and we continue to have ourthump on the pulse? of the community needs.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?The Buffalo Grove Park District has partnered with local school districts for many years in an effort to save money for the taxpayers in Buffalo Grove Park District. These partnerships include the use of school facilities for our Clubhouse program, sports programs, special events and performing arts events, aquatic needs. Most recently, we executed an inter-governmental agreement with School District 214 resulting in the construction of an artificial turf field for various park-district and school programs. We will continue these important partnerships to save money and preserve resources, as we know this is the fiscally responsible course of action, as well as important to the taxpayers in the Buffalo Grove Park District.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.N/A