First and foremost, a representative to government should be accountable to you.  That's why I have made it a personal policy to answer/return EVERY email and EVERY phone call I receive from constituents, and I have done exactly that.  Barring an Army commitment, I have also attended  EVERY neighborhood association meeting to hear input from and solve problems with our residents.  I make it a top priority to be extremely available to support you.

 

My priorities have remained constant: property tax relief, decreased neighborhood blight, safer neighborhoods for our families, economic growth, and cooperation with RVC and RPS205 to improve educational outcomes for our children.

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SUPPORTING OUR NEIGHBORHOODS

• Reduced Property Taxes over 4 years

• Fighting Blight: Advocated and voted in favor of joining a regional land bank to give Rockford more tools to fight blighted properties in our neighborhood

• Public Safety: Worked to successfully pass ordinance to strengthen oversight of massage parlors in 2017 after neighborhood concerns

• Public Safety: Crime down 31% in neighborhoods as a result of community policing and outreach efforts to the broader public, pre-COVID19

• Decreasing Domestic Violence: Supports Mayor’s Office on Domestic Violence and the Family Peace Center in Rockford

• Education: Rockford Promise scholarship will increase desirability of Rockford for families

• Collaboration: Worked with RRD to develop comprehensive plan to ensure waste continues to be collected in alleys for the future, especially during winter

• Public Safety: Voted to support all front-line RPD squad cars with dashboard cameras.  By mid-year, all RPD officers are expected to be equipped with body cameras as well, which protects both citizen and police officer. ​

• Fighting Blight: Supported the creation and implementation of the Vacant and Foreclosed Property Registry to track properties’ progress before they begin to affect neighborhood property values

• Public Safety: Supports the new pilot program with RPD, Winnebago County Sheriff’s Department, and Rosecrance where officers respond to mental health crisis calls utilizing a co-responder model.  This model has been effective in de-escalating situations and ultimately saving human life.

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SUPPORTING OUR INFRASTRUCTURE

• Flood Mitigation / Economic Development: Worked with Public Works to prioritize and secure more grant funding for Keith Creek Greenway over the next 5 years

• Flood Mitigation: Worked with Public Works to prioritize funding to increasing wastewater pipe size to mitigate future flooding effects

• Walkability: Worked to allocate funds to fix more sidewalks in our neighborhoods than nearly every other ward in the City

• Bike Lanes:  Has worked to spur and has supported an expansion of bicycle lanes to improve recreational activities so Rockford can be a place where residents live, work, and play.

• Fixing Roads: Supported the largest capital improvement plan in our City’s history in 2020 to support Rockford’s roads and bridges

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SUPPORTING GOOD GOVERNANCE

• Reduced Property Taxes over 4 years

• Reducing Administrative / Oversight Costs: Voted to support measures that cut City Hall footprint and enabled the City to pass balanced budgets

• Expanded Community Input: Supported Community Relations Board, created to advise City Council on different local issues and expand community input.

• Increasing Transparency: Worked with City Hall to provide residents snow emergency message alerts via Nixle

• Fiscal Responsibility: Long term road debt retired in 2019

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SUPPORTING OUR LOCAL ECONOMY

• Construction Expansion: Strong supporter of the continued construction to build Rockford up with new buildings being built in downtown Rockford for the first time in decades!

• Hard Rock Casino will bring more tourism and more long-term jobs to Rockford in a $300M project in our city

• Supported downtown expansion which will improve our nearby neighborhoods where we live

• Local COVID-19 Relief:  Supported City efforts to work quickly in building loan packages to support our small businesses when state and federal assistance was delayed

• New Library:  Voted in favor of continuing the construction of the new library downtown, bringing more good construction jobs to our area

• City Market:  Voted to support Rockford's Indoor City Market which will also serves as an entrepreneurship incubator for budding businesses.

 

Due to these initiatives among others, the housing market in Rockford is stronger than it has been in decades, crime was significantly dropping (pre-COVID; we will continue the hard work to ensure we are all safe in our neighborhoods), Chicago Rockford Airport continues astounding growth, and our City’s urban core continues to realize sustained private investment (over $30 million).  Moreover, according to the most recent Community Scorecard, poverty metrics in the region have been trending downward.  Progress takes time, but we are certainly moving in the right direction. 

I have prioritized listening and understanding the problems affecting you and have happily done whatever I can to help support you.