John Rutledge Announces Run for Wheaton City Council in 2013 Election

The following is a press release from John Rutledge:

John K Rutledge, Wheaton City Councilman representing the South District, intends to run for a full four-year term beginning in May 2013. He was appointed to fill a vacancy in March 2011 and will have served two years at the time of the next election in April 2013.

With a career of over forty years devoted to commercial and residential real estate investment and management, he brings a unique perspective regarding the many zoning and development matters that come before the Council. In addition to economic development, other priorities are the preservation of Wheaton’s strong financial condition and continual maintenance and improvement of infrastructure.

In particular, he has vigorously supported the initiative to . Soon to replace the former Hubble Middle School, this store will provide a long-desired grocery market to downtown and will generate substantial new sales tax revenue for the City. Rutledge also supported the new assisted living community to be . It will provide close-in accommodations for over eighty residents who need a little help with daily living activities.

The coming required a zoning change which he supported in the belief that customers should decide which businesses succeed or fail and that a government body should not pick winners and losers.

While he supports development and believes government should not raise barriers to development, he believes that developers should not be subsidized by taxpayers. For this reason, he has been strongly supportive of the approved for the block bounded by Front, Cross, Wesley, and Scott, but he objected to providing tax increment financing assistance to the developer. He believes that, if this subsidy is necessary for the project to go forward, the developer overpaid for the land.

John is a member of Rotary and has served the community as Scoutmaster and as a church elder. He has served several local and international real estate associations in senior leadership capacities including presidencies, chairmanships, and directorships. He and his wife Nancy moved to their present home in 1971.