Barbara Rendall Hochstadt: 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: RoselleWebsite: http://www.moveroselleforward.orgOffice sought: Roselle Village boardAge: 49Family: Married for 20 years to Adrian Hochstadt. Mother of three children: Andrew (17), Lauren (15) and Sarah (12)Occupation: Partner, Affiliated Marketing Partners a marketing and communications firm that focuses primarily on the truck industry.Education: BA, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, EconomicsMBA, Northwestern University, J. L. Kellogg Business School, Evanston, IL (concentrations in Marketing and Operations Management)Civic involvement: 1999 - Present - Founder of the Buttonwood Network, an electronic homeowners' communication network that provides service to our 101 home subdivision.2006 - Communications leader for the successful Kemmerling Park and Pool referendum, Roselle, IL. Created campaign strategy and messaging, organized precinct teams and block captains. Held weekly meetings of team. Sent hundreds of emails for 6 weeks leading up to the vote. It won with a 2-1 margin.Elected offices held: 2003 - 2007 - School District 12 Board Member, Roselle, IL2007 - Present - Village Trustee, Roselle, ILHave you ever been arrested for or convicted of a crime? If yes, please explain: NoCandidate's Key Issues Key Issue 1 ELECT QUALIFIED LEADERS - Like many communities, Roselle has many tough and complex issues to handle each year. Roselle residents need to elect a village board that is independent of outside influences and capable of looking at an issue from all sides. We need to elect leaders who are comfortable analyzing data and who are free to make optimal decisions for our community. Most importantly, we need to elect leaders who do not benefit directly or indirectly from one outcome or another.The economic reality is that more difficult decisions will be likely made in the next 2-4 years. I want to make sure that any pain is spread out fairly and that no group, no matter how well-connected, benefits at the expense of the taxpayers. As the changes come, communication with our community is key so folks have confidence that their elected officials acted in the best interests of the village.Key Issue 2 FOCUS ON THE BASICS - In this tough economy, we need to make sure that the village board spends our limited budget dollars as wisely as possible. Until our revenues improve, we must do the best possible job delivering the BASICS: Public Safety (Police and Fire), Snow Plowing, and re-investing in our infrastructure as our means allow.I will do my best to avoid unnecessary spending as I have in the past. I stood against Safety Town, an unnecessary project that has not been officially cancelled.Key Issue 3 COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT - Our village can do a much better job of connecting the voices of our Residents and Business Owners to Move Roselle Forward. Simply stated, we need to actively engage our community and better understand their priorities and aspirations for our town. I believe community input should be considered when creating spending plans, community development plans, and budget cuts, etc. The technology exists to gather resident and business owner feedback and analyze their responses in a very efficient, cost-effective manner. When the village#146;s priorities are aligned with our community, the village board will be spared of making costly mistakes.Questions Answers Roselle has seen a spate of new businesses come to town in the past year like including restaurants, a bowling alley and new grocery store. What can be done to keep attracting businesses and grow sales tax revenue?Roselle can do many things to attract new businesses and grow sales tax that have not been tried yet!!!1. Roselle can create a #147;Commercial Revitalization Commission#148; as Elk Grove did back in 1998. This commission would consist of community leaders and residents. A commission would get more people involved in the discussion of TIF investments, potential businesses to target and area planning. This would help insure that Roselle#146;s future growth is in line with the commissions#146; plans.2. Roselle can address several areas of town that may qualify as blighted and therefore qualify as TIF districts. This would benefit our schools, parks and libraries down the road. We have some areas of town that not only look blighted but they also underperform from a property value (and property tax) standpoint.3. Roselle can focus additional energy on promoting our Central Avenue area to other distribution companies. When I joined board, I made sure we met with a distribution company on Central Avenue that re-located to Roselle #8211; they contribute a great deal of new sales tax dollars to Roselle and I wanted to understand why they chose Roselle.4. Roselle can support citizen-driven campaigns to attract new businesses that our residents would love (i.e. Trader Joes.) 5. Roselle can leverage social media tools to help promote our community as a great place to create a business. The Village of Roselle can build on the success of the Town Center Facebook page by creating a Village Facebook page. Many respected communities have them (Schaumburg, Oak Park). The Roselle Facebook page would be one more tool to promote available retail space, grand openings etc. It could also be used to share other important information that our citizens need to know.6. Roselle must stay focused on the things that get customers to the front door. Things like: having a great reputation as a community, good site planning, low sales taxes, ample parking, sidewalks, wise investments (in TIF districts), creative events and most importantly, effective area marketing. I want voters to know that I have been a LEADER in modernizing and improving the way our village is structured to attract new businesses. When I joined the board four years ago, Roselle#146;s new business marketing kit was stuck in the 1990#146;s. I advocated for the creation of a new marketing/branding package to help attract new businesses. My business background and my MBA played a key role in that. I also recommended that the village host focus groups for new businesses - this is a value-added benefit of doing business in Roselle. A focus group can help a new business owner be more successful. I recommended that the village create a listing of available retail spaces on the village#146;s website. If you are interested in starting a business in Roselle, here is the link to our available commercial real estate: http://www.roselle.il.us/index.aspx?NID=468 . As an individual, I created a Facebook fan page for our Town Center businesses which has helped provide additional customer focus in an area of town that is not as visible as our two other higher-traffic economic centers. As of this date, the page has 294 fans and its page stats are very good. The Town Center Facebook page helps customers be aware of our local businesses. I believe it can help attract more businesses to our downtown. I also believe Roselle#146;s two other business corridors can benefit from having their own Facebook fan pages. As an individual, I'm happy to work with any business leader to get that rolling.Now that the $3.7 million Foster Avenue project is finished, what major project should the village tackle next and how should it be funded amid Roselle's current budget crunch?The next area of focus will likely be storm water management and abatement programs. We have several areas of town that have standing water in backyards or that flood homes during severe weather. Severe weather is becoming more common. We must find ways to help alleviate these problems so that all our residents enjoy a reasonable standard of living. Funding these programs will be an issue. Storm water management is not less important than street repair to most residents and it will have to be prioritized in the budget process like any other capital improvement and we must actively pursue any federal grants.Do you believe the city's storm and floodwater control measures are sufficient? How could they be improved and how far should the city go in helping individual residents with chronic flooding?I do not believe our current process is sufficient. The Village needs to:1. Adopt a formal storm water management participation policy, 2. Create a Storm water Committee consisting of 3-4 residents, 2-3 trustees and key Public Works staff to help with resident flooding complaints, 3. Explore all federal grants, and 4. Invest in additional storm water management projects perhaps at the expense of a percentage of our road repair/replacement budget.What makes you the best candidate for the job?I am a public servant who is dedicated to the betterment of our community. I have served our community in many ways and have dealt with tough budgets in both on the District 12 school board and now as a member of the village board. I have formal education in business and marketing which helps me make more informed long-term decisions for our village. I am not beholden to any special interest groups and I make all my decisions without regard to political fallout. I am a person who gets things done.What#146;s one good idea you have to better the community that no one is talking about yet?I believe Roselle would benefit from creating a community foundation (a 501c3). It could be called ""The ROSELLE CARES Foundation."" The Village of Roselle is blessed to have many generous residents and business owners and this foundation could provide funding for civic enhancements that are beyond our regular budgets. A portion of the Roselle Cares Foundation could be allocated to provide exterior maintenance assistance to seniors below the poverty line. The Roselle Cares Foundation would have a separate board to solicit donations and to make funding decisions.