Aurora Mayor John Laesch to hear from community through town hall tour
The Community Listening and Action Town Hall Tour, officially announced late Monday, will be held four Saturdays in a row beginning on July 26. The workshops will be held from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. at locations across the city designed to cover each of the 10 wards, according to a city news release.
'We want to give the community an opportunity to provide feedback on the state of Aurora,' Laesch said in the news release. 'This listening tour will help my staff and I to better understand what our residents want to see from us and the City over the next four years.'
The first stop in the series will be at Metea Valley High School, 1801 N. Eola Road, a location that city officials say will cover the 1st Ward and the 10th Ward, on July 26.
On the following Saturday, Aug. 2, a session will be held at the city's Public Works building at 2185 Liberty Street, which is for residents of the 2nd Ward, 3rd Ward and 7th Ward.
Residents of the 8th Ward and 9th Ward will get their town hall on Aug. 9 at the Eola Community Center, located at 555 S. Eola Road.
The last stop on the tour will be on Aug. 16 at the Prisco Community Center, 150 W. Illinois Avenue, for residents of the 4th Ward, 5th Ward and 6th Ward.
Translation services and devices will be available upon request, and childcare will be available at the Eola Community Center session and the Prisco Community Center session.
Residents can reserve their seat ahead of time at www.aurora.il.us/CommunityListening.
Each of the sessions will give residents the chance to work directly with city leadership, according to the city news release.
'We want to be responsive to the needs of our residents,' Aurora Chief of Staff Shannon Cameron said in the release. 'These town halls will not only assist us in serving the city, but also encourage civic engagement, helping to build towards the goal of a people-centered government.'
Laesch was talking about doing a citywide listening tour even before he was sworn in as mayor. On election night in April, he said he wanted to use the tour to introduce himself to the city's different communities and share his vision for the future of Aurora, but also to listen to residents' concerns so the city can be more responsive.
His number one goal as mayor, he said on election night, would be to respond to Aurora residents.
Already, Laesch has held listening sessions for those in downtown, specifically within the city's Special Service Area Number One.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Washington Post
25 minutes ago
- Washington Post
Trump administration: El Salvador's Bukele not a dictator
MEXICO CITY — The Trump administration said El Salvador President Nayib Bukele should not be lumped together with leaders in other countries it considers dictatorships after his party and allies discarded presidential term limits. Bukele posted the statement of U.S. support on X Tuesday. On Wednesday, the U.S. State Department said in a statement to The Associated Press that the constitutional change axing term limits in the Central American country was made by a 'democratically elected' Congress and that 'it is up to them to decide how their country should be governed.'
Axios
3 hours ago
- Axios
Council GOP pushes to remove residency requirement for city employees
City-County Council Republicans want to remove a decades-old residency requirement for city employees. Why it matters: The removal of the requirement could open up new recruitment opportunities for departments that have struggled to hire, but also dispenses with the long-held notion that the tax dollars paying for public employees should stay in the city. Catch up quick: Since 1977, anyone who accepts full- or part-time employment with the city or county must live within Marion County within six months of accepting the job. Yes, but: The rule doesn't apply to interns, firefighters, IMPD, 911 operators or "persons who have specialized skills or training if there is no suitable applicant for the position residing within the limits of Marion County." What they're saying: Minority Leader Michael-Paul Hart said the proposal came from a roundtable conversation with the county's public safety leaders. "We said to them, 'How can the City Council address the shortages of employees that you are seeing in your organizations?'" Hart said during a press conference Wednesday. "And they unanimously told us: remove residency requirements." Hart said they want to expand the talent pool and retain more employees who may leave city employment when they want to move for more affordable housing or better schools — two issues he said he's heard about from city workers. What's next: The proposal will be introduced to the council Monday, which is also when the next year's city budget will be presented.
Fox News
4 hours ago
- Fox News
Zohran Mamdani spending big on private security despite earlier calls to defund police
The leading mayoral candidate for New York City, Zohran Mamdani, is spending big on private security for his campaign and personal life despite previous calls to defund the police. The campaign for Mamdani, who is the Democratic candidate for New York mayor and a self-identified member of the Democratic Socialists of America, has spent $33,495 on private security, according to expenditures reviewed by Fox News Digital. Expenses reported in the New York City Campaign Finance Board show that Mamdani's campaign submitted three payments to Advanced Security & Investigations in June and July. Advanced Security & Investigations, a New York state-based security professionals' group, offers a range of services, including armed and unarmed protective services. According to the company's website, it is also a "proud employer" of personnel from the New York Police Department, which Mamdani previously called to defund, as well as the New York State Police, New York City Sheriff's Office and several other law enforcement departments in the area. The purpose listed for the various payments, which ranged from about $8,000 to around $13,000, is "security." Mamdani has also recently made headlines for leaving New York City to throw a lavish wedding celebration in Uganda, which was reportedly guarded by armed special Ugandan military forces as well as his own private security detail. The three-day-long exclusive wedding bash in Uganda also included masked military security and a cellphone-jamming system. Mamdani has been facing intense backlash for his previous calls to defund the NYPD following a deadly shooting in midtown Manhattan last month that left five individuals, including the suspect and NYPD Officer Didarul Islam, dead. On June 28, 2020, Mamdani posted on social media, "We don't need an investigation to know that the NYPD is racist, anti‑queer & a major threat to public safety. What we need is to #DefundTheNYPD. But your compromise uses budget tricks to keep as many cops as possible on the beat. NO to fake cuts – defund the police." "We need a socialist city council to defund the police," he wrote again on July 3, 2020. Again, in December 2020, Mamdani wrote, the New York City Council "tried to make the NYPD reduce its overtime budget by half. They simply refused. There is no negotiating with an institution this wicked & corrupt. Defund it. Dismantle it. End the cycle of violence." However, Mamdani has taken a very different tone during his campaign, saying this week that those tweets are "out of step with my positions as a candidate." After the shooting, he told reporters during a press conference, "I am not running to defund the police." However, he has not disavowed a more recent social media post from December 2024 in which he pledged to disband the NYPD's Strategic Response Group (SRG), which is tasked with responding to mass shootings and other emergencies. He wrote, "As Mayor, I will disband the SRG, which has cost taxpayers millions in lawsuit settlements and brutalized countless New Yorkers exercising their First Amendment rights." Fox News Digital reached out to the Mamdani campaign for comment but did not immediately receive a response.
