Meet Your Candidates: Ray Johnson, Oak Park Village Trustee

Ray Johnson, 47, is running for his third term on the Oak Park Board of Trustees, six trustees and the village president responsible for shaping the village’s public and fiscal policies. 

Members of the board of trustees serve four-year terms. This year, three seats are up for election. Three candidates  — Johnson, and – have formed the Citizens for Accountable Leadership Party, a group backed by the Village Manager Association, Oak Park’s principal candidate slating organization.

and Lewis Carmichael are running as independents.

Johnson, the program manager of community investment for HSBC/North America, has lived in Oak Park for 22 years. He served on Oak Park’s Community Development Citizen Advisory Commission for three years and the Plan Commission for two years and was first elected as trustee in 2003. He is unmarried.

Patch: What is your vision for Oak Park?

Ray Johnson: We must continue to build an economically strong community, with great schools and widespread diversity. Economics isn’t just about new development and expansion of the tax base, but also ensuring we support current businesses, offer expansion opportunities, work with our local governing bodies to be more efficient and cost effective, protect our historic character and urban forest, and continue to foster Oak Park as the best place to live, work, shop, or visit.

This means that the Village Board alone cannot solve the challenges before us, but rather working together as a community we can continue to move Oak Park forward. Protecting and enhancing the very best of Oak Park, while we seek ways to engage and be more responsive with citizens or stakeholders is a hallmark of accountable leadership. Ensuring we spend your money wisely, effectively and transparently must be at the very core of our actions.

Taken together, this vision will lead Oak Park into greater vibrancy for the 21^st century.

What would you accomplish during your first two years on the board?  Please be specific.

Bringing together the local taxing bodies (schools, library, park and township), for a collaborative discussion about various challenges, needs and priorities must be a key objective for the next board. Can we reduce the overall burden on taxpayer through consolidation of operations? Can we work together to bring real pension reform to Illinois? Can we build on our strengths to attract more people to Oak Park as tourists or residents? These are just some of the questions local taxing bodies should begin, and citizens and stakeholders should provide input on.

In addition to this broader community conversation about our priorities, the village itself may need to reinvent itself in ways that foster stronger relationships with current and new business or building owners, while utilizing technology in more innovative ways for service delivery and communications.

One of the board’s priorities has been transparency in village government and trustees often say that the village is open and transparent. In the wake of the Attorney General’s ruling that the VOP violated the Open Meetings Act, how can Oak Park live up to that priority? Please be specific.

Quite simply, we must uphold the spirit and intent of the Open Meetings Act. The violations noted must be taken seriously --- period. If we’ve been calling the meeting to order in a room that isn’t as ‘public’ as the Attorney General would like, we will change the location of where we gather. The two violations noted must be remedied go forward, while seeking clarity on the Attorney General ruling is most appropriate so we are sure we are compliant 100% of the time. Releasing the minutes from the meeting as soon as possible is also necessary.

Give specifics on how the village can be more financially effective and efficient. How would you ensure that the village is spending its money wisely?

We have a very open and transparent budget process and seek citizen input on any number of occasions. We must continue to do that. Seeking more effective and efficient ways to provide services can rightly rest with staff, as they search for best practices from across the United States and elsewhere. Creating ad-hoc citizen committees with specific expertise on issues of particular interest can enhance the way we do business, such as with the upcoming technology commission which will assist the village in important ways including an improved website to on-line service delivery.

Careful review and management oversight of the financial processes within the village are paramount, as well as implementing any recommendations for improvement from our audit or bond counsel.

Oak Park has retained its strong bond rating due to the careful way the Board and Staff have managed the budget during this economic crisis, and that good work will continue.

There are several areas in Oak Park that are ripe for development: the former Colt Building site, on Lake Street just east of Harlem Avenue; and Oak Park Avenue and Madison Street; Lake Street and Forest Avenue could soon follow. And there are other sites, too, that aren’t being developed, like the former Volvo site on Madison. What’s holding back the development?

Oak Park is on the cusp of some great progress on the development front and the only thing holding progress is back is the uncertainty in the global economy. As President Obama recently stated at a US Chamber of Commerce meeting, $3 trillion dollars are “on the side lines” just waiting to be invested. It must be our hope that as the economy improves, investors will move forward with projects not just in Oak Park, but across America. The Village stands ready for activity when it begins.

What should Oak Park be doing to attract and retain business? Is it being aggressive enough? Be specific.

We have a great many success stories about attracting, retaining and expanding businesses; the sustainable and ‘green’ Walgreen’s at Madison and Oak Park Ave, Circle Theatre, Takara, Aripa’s, Trattoria 225, and any number of new restaurants and shops from North Ave. to Roosevelt and in key locations in between. With a 98% occupancy in our core central business district, and 95% in other key areas of Oak Park, and a +7% increase in sales tax revenues in 2010, we have done far better than most.

The positive news allows us to celebrate success, but requires us to do even more. The strongest partnership possible between all stakeholder groups (Business Associations, Oak Park Development Corporation, Chamber of Commerce, VisitOakPark, the village, and others), must ensure we are implementing plans already approved and in place, enhancing our retail/commercial mix, and bringing goods and services to where people live, work, or visit.

We must also ensure a user-friendly culture exists throughout every department in Village Hall so business or building owners get complete support in their endeavors and investments.

How would you vote on the Comcast project and what would be your reasons for your vote?

I have been carefully following this proposal since its inception and one of my first steps was to meet with a small group of immediate neighbors who would be most impacted by this proposal, to better understand their views on the project. I came away from that meeting very informed about potential neighborhood impacts and concerns.

As I attended the Plan Commission hearings, I was able to hear the testimony from both sides and I shared many of the concerns expressed by the immediate neighbors.  I was also moved by the testimony of those who spoke out in favor of the project, as they expressed in very eloquent terms the value system of Oak Park and their belief that this project sent a positive message about the importance of housing for low-wage workers.

The Plan Commission, in my view, carefully and thoughtfully added 19 requirements to the proposal, all in an attempt to mitigate the expressed concerns of the neighbors. This very thorough review by the volunteer citizen commissioners is now being reviewed by the neighbors and other interested parties throughout the community. I pledge to continue listening to all in advance of a final decision, but am optimistic that a critical component of the requirements regarding the tenant profile of the building, which creates preferences for tenants who already work and/or live in the Village or are people with disabilities, will ensure a successful project.

It is important that I continue to listen to people in advance of a final decision, but I hope this email explains my approach to decision making and my views on the process up to this point.