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Lisle mayor seeking re-election

Saying that he wants to achieve the vision of a bustling downtown, Lisle Mayor Joseph Broda is going to seek a fourth term during the spring election.

Broda said Thursday that volunteers already are circulating petitions throughout the village to get his name on the April 9 ballot.

“It’s no secret that I’m running for re-election,” said Broda, who has been mayor since 2001. “I’m committed to this job. I want to finish what we started.”

Broda said his top campaign issue will be downtown redevelopment, including the old village hall site at Main Street and Burlington Avenue. That property has been vacant since the former municipal center was razed in 2003.

“There’s still a lot more work that needs to be done,” he said.

Lisle invested millions of dollars to beautify Main Street and build the Prairie Walk Pond at Route 53 and Burlington Avenue. However, Broda says the sluggish economy prevented the downtown area from experiencing increased economic development.

“If it wasn’t for the recession,” he said, “I think we would have had a lot of things completed in the downtown.”

At one point, a builder was planning to put a mixed-use project at the old village hall site. But village officials terminated the contract in January 2011 after the builder left the location virtually untouched for more than two years.

“What (the builder) had envisioned for that site was no longer practical because there was a surplus of condominiums and townhouses in the marketplace,” said Broda, adding that he believes the property could be developed into “an anchor” for the downtown.

When it comes to Lisle’s business corridor, Broda said the village has had several major projects in recent years.

Lisle officials celebrated last year when Navistar moved its international headquarters to the former Alcatel-Lucent building along Warrenville Road. And on the other side of Warrenville Road, Universal Technical Institute is building a 185,000-square-foot school on a roughly 20-acre parcel that was the site of a long-vacant corporate training center.

“We’ve brought some great companies into the village of Lisle,” Broda said. “We are progressing.”

Broda, who faced challengers during each of his previous re-election bids, doesn’t know if he will have an opponent this time around. Still, Broda says he’s ready for a campaign.

“I know what it takes to run an election in the village of Lisle,” Broda said. “I will do what I have to do to win.”

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