Greg Schwarze: 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: Carol StreamWebsite: Candidate did not respond.Office sought: Carol Stream Village boardAge: 45Family: Married to Laurie since 1993; 2 Daughters: McKenzie (15) Lauren (14)Occupation: Firefighter/Paramedic with the Carol Stream Fire District. Also served as Carol Stream Fire District Public Education Coordinator from 2004-2010.Education: Bachelor of Science degree from Illinois State University.Multiple Fire Science Certifications and State Licensed ParamedicCivic involvement: Carol Stream Village Trustee (2007-Present); Carol Stream Rotary Club (2010-present); Lions Club (1995-1999); Youth Softball Coach (2000-Present); Youth Basketball Coach (2001-Present); Carol Stream Character Counts Coalition (2004-2009); Carol Stream Seniors Team (2004-2009); Sunday School Teacher (2001-2006): Church Council Member (2004-2005); Volunteer-Carol Stream Christmas Sharing;Elected offices held: Carol Stream Village Trustee (2007- Present); Bloomingdale Township Precinct 43 Committeeman (2009-Present); Carol Stream Professional Firefighters Local 3192 Secretary-Treasurer (2003-2007);Have you ever been arrested for or convicted of a crime? If yes, please explain: NOCandidate's Key Issues Key Issue 1 #1 and #2 go hand in hand... (#1)Keeping a balanced budget w/o enacting a village property tax and (#2)continuing to provide the excellent basic services(Police, Streets, Water) to our community despite the economy. Carol Stream is one of the few communities left in Illinois that doesn't receive any property tax revenue. The majority of our revenues come from sales tax. As the economy has taken a hit, people are buying less, stores are going out of business and it just snowballs. Over the past two years, we have had budget meeting after budget meeting trying to figure out how to handle this. We have been very successful in coming up with effective ways to handle the budget without enacting a village property tax, dipping into our reserves, or laying off the personnel that provide us the basic services we have come to expect. I hope residents realize what an accomplishment this is! Even Schaumburg, with all of its shopping and sales tax revenue, had to enact a village property tax for the first time! We didn't dip into our reserves and we didn't sacrifice the basic services provided to our citizens! It is important to remember that it is these basic services like police, water, and streets, (along with our great fire district, school districts, library, and park district), that make Carol Stream a wonderful place to live and raise a family. As a 2nd term trustee, I will continue to look for creative and effective ways to balance our budget without burdening our taxpayers and without sacrificing the excellent services we expect. One of the ideas I've been preaching since the first day I took office in 2007, is to ""Shop In Carol Stream!"" Since we need all the sales tax revenues we can get, all residents should shop in Carol Stream as often as possible! Every time a shopper buys gas, groceries, hardware, autos, etc, in Carol Stream, the Village gets a share of the sales tax! My goal over the next year is to encourage local shopping by working with Village Staff and local businesses to have a ""business of the month"" appear on the Village Website and offer savings to residents.Key Issue 2 Continuing to provide the excellent basic services(Police, Streets, Water) to our community despite the economy. see aboveKey Issue 3 Add jobs and increase sales tax revenue by bringing in new business to our community.(see question below for more info)Questions Answers What makes you the best candidate for the job?What makes me the best candidate for the job? I think the first and best reason is to take a look at the financial accomplishments made during my 4 years in office. In the history of Carol Stream, no elected board has had more struggles financially than we have had over the past few years. Because the Village and it's economy was continually growing over its first 47 years, the problems we faced these past few years were unheard of. We were really the first board to take such a huge financial hit! But hard work was put in by the Board and Village staff and tough decisions were made. We were able to combat the incredible loss of revenue without enacting a village property tax, and without sacrificing the basic services provided to our citizens! We also didn't dip into our reserves! And though this was quite an accomplishment, the financial struggles are not over yet. I believe the experience I've gained during these tough times, will give me an advantage in dealing with the tough economy over the next 4 years.On a more personal note... I really and truly care about the people of our community! As a Carol Stream Firefighter and Paramedic, and after serving the past 7 years as the Fire District's Public Education Coordinator, I have a very real understanding of the people that live and work here. Whether I have been invited into homes and businesses to teach fire safety or CPR, or have had to visit during terrible emergency situations, I have had opportunities to see and hear concerns from all walks of life from our community. I will always listen to the concerns of everyone I meet. I will try to put myself in their shoes and make the best informed decision I can make.Many buildings in the industrial park on Gary Avenue remain vacant and could provide a large revenue stream. How could the village best promote that park to bring businesses in?I consider this one of the more important issues facing our community. Not only would bringing in new business increase our revenue stream, it would also bring in more jobs! We need to do as much as possible to help our unemployed, and bringing in new business has to be a top priority! I am open to creating new TIF districts if needed, but I would really like to see us do a better job promoting ourselves. We are one of the few towns that can say we do NOT have a village property tax! We also need to promote the great services that our community provides! We have an excellent Police Department and an excellent Streets and Water Department. We need to promote our superb Fire District (ISO rating of 2), our wonderful schools, our award winning Park District, our wonderful Library, and our outstanding Chamber of Commerce! We also offer housing at various affordability! Our town has so much to offer! Enhancing our website would be a way to get this information out there. Encouraging the different taxing bodies and civic groups to focus on promoting our community would also benefit in business recruiting! Working with our Chamber of Commerce to see what avenues are available to business recruit is an option. On a positive note, we have made some recent progress bringing new business into town, as the Village has issued 53 new business licenses over the past 12 months, including 29 over the past six months! Red-light cameras have been controversial almost since they first were installed in Carol Stream. Where do you stand on that issue?As a Trustee, when I first heard that red light cameras were being considered for our community, I thought very long and hard about the positives and negatives. I know many people, not only in Carol Stream, but throughout the State, have said the devices are ""all about the money"" they bring in. I have heard community leaders and police officers all over the state say they are about ""the safety"" of our community. As I pondered it, I found myself driving in other communities that had cameras already installed. It was this experience that prompted me to support the red-light cameras. Whether or not people believe we installed them to increase revenues or to promote safety, the truth is that red-light cameras do ""MODIFY"" our driving behaviors. I notice that I started slowing down earlier when coming to an intersection that had a camera in place. I noticed that I made complete stops when turning right on red at intersections with cameras. I was definately modifying my driving behavior. I believe that others will do the same. So whether or not studies show the cameras cause less accidents or not, there is no doubt that these cameras will promote safer driving habits. And that to me is a good enough reason to keep them. Especially for those of us with teenage drivers at home! The park district will build a huge recreation center just south of Town Center in the near future. What should the village do to get involved in that and how much of an impact can, and should, the village have on that project?As Village Trustee, I supported selling this parcel of land to the Park District for this project from the get-go. Our Town Center is geared toward family entertainment and I felt that the rec-center would fit perfectly next door! The Village and Park District have already ironed out an intergovernmental agreement that makes sure that construction won't sacrifice the needs of the Town Center (ie. parking, roads, etc). There are also stipulations in the agreement that would prevent any scheduling conflicts with Town Center and Park District events. With that being said, I think the Village and Park District will work together well using both the rec-center and the town-center during specific activities such as the park district's ""Just Play"" event. We should be able to work together to bring in even more people for our Thursday night concerts! I also believe having the rec-center on this property will enhance the entire corner of Lies and Gary. The Village and Park District will be able to work together now to bring in restaurants and other family-oriented services to this location! It's another win for our citizens!How would you fix the flooding issues that have plagued Carol Stream in the last several years? What, specifically, would you do to both fix the problem and put residents at ease that they won't have to worry about this in the future?Though some positives were made after the floods of 2007(working with Glenbard North football field and Park District to relieve the flooding in that area), we dropped the ball a bit by not following up with the County's efforts. For that, I apologize to all those affected by last years flood. Over the past six months however, we have accomplished some good things, including working with the County and with FEMA to help buyout 3 homes in the worst part of the flood zone. We will continue to work with the County to hopefully offer these buyouts in the future. I'd also like to work with the Park District and take a look at Armstrong Park to see what changes can be made to help alleviate the flooding altogether. With the building of a new rec center and upgrades to the ball fields at McCaslin Park, there may be the possibility to enhance Armstrongs retention capabilities.