New Aurora mayor calls for people-centered economic development, better relations with aldermen
New Aurora Mayor John Laesch began his job Tuesday night by promising to put people first when it comes to the city’s economic development.
“The big-picture goal of our city has to be bringing living-wage jobs,” he told a crowd of about 1,100 people at the inauguration ceremony at the Paramount Theater.
That will be the litmus test for any company looking to build in Aurora, he said.
Laesch also said he wants to share more power with the aldermen and treat all of them equally after being treated as a “second-class citizen the last two years.” He pledged to keep relations civil.
“I look forward to traveling this path together. Aurora is stronger when we work together,” he said.
Laesch was elected an alderman-at-large in 2023 and clashed repeatedly with former Mayor Richard Irvin and several aldermen who supported Irvin.
He unseated Irvin, who served two terms, in April.
“The No. 1 thing we need to do is to get our financial house in order,” Laesch said. “I don't want to be all gloom and doom, but I want to be truthful going into the budget cycle.”
He said the city is carrying too much debt.
He credited former mayors, including Irvin, for what they did to revitalize the city after an economic slump in the 1970s and 1980s, especially the downtown.
Laesch, a union carpenter and Navy veteran, spoke of his enthusiasm for green-energy construction and against “corporate hedge fund investors” building rental housing.
A variety of DuPage, Kendall, Kane and Will county judges administered the oaths of office to incumbent aldermen Juany Garza, Dan Barreiro, Edward Bugg, Shweta Baid and newcomers Jonathan Nunez, Keith Larson and Javier Banuelos.
Laesch defeated Irvin in a bitter contest. An Irvin supporter had tried to get Laesch and two other mayoral candidates kicked off the February primary ballot. The other two candidates were working with Laesch to defeat Irvin in the primary.
“What is most impressive about this election is we did it without taking one dime of corporate PAC donations,” Laesch said while acknowledging “a little bit of help from (Gov.) JB Pritzker.” The state Democratic Party spent more than $150,000 supporting Laesch.
“We have to respect whatever the result is. Now we need to work together,” said Garza, who supported Irvin.
A representative of the Liberian consulate spoke before the mayor took the stage. Laesch was born in Liberia, where his parents worked as missionary linguists. He lived there for 12 years until his family returned to the United States, and his father started working for Lutheran Bible Translators in Aurora. His father gave the invocation at the ceremony.