Jason Dusenberry: City Council Candidate
Jason Dusenberry (Photo by The Elginite).
The questionnaire below was completed by city council candidate Jason Dusenberry. Mr. Dusenberry will be a candidate in the city council primary election on February 26th.
Name:
Jason Dusenberry
Seat for which you are running:
2 year city council
Can you tell us a bit about your background, both personally and professionally?
I’m originally from the Quad Cities, graduating from Moline High School, approximately 2 hours from Elgin. I grew up in a working class family that taught me the importance of hard work to accomplish goals in life. I graduated from Western Illinois University in 1999 with a degree in Recreation, Park, and Tourism Administration. I have been managing and operating hotels for the last 13 years. I’ve been married to my lovely wife Janet for two years, together for eight.
Why are you running for Elgin City Council?
I want to bring my personal and professional skills and experience to help enhance the quality of life for all who live, work, and play in Elgin. One of my major platform ideas is to work hand-in-hand with public safety officials, business owners/managers, service/non-profit groups and city leaders to accomplish this goal.
What do you view as the major issues facing Elgin in the next few years?
Economic conditions continue to be difficult throughout the nation and Elgin is not immune to that. One of the big issues/challenges will be to get our local economy going in a positive direction. Specifically, downtown suffers from many vacant storefronts and abandoned office buildings. Many business parks and commercial buildings are vacant as well. Bringing more businesses and corresponding jobs to our area will be a major initiative in the next few years. Foreclosures are a natural by-product of the poor economy and trying to help fix that will also be a major issue facing many Elgin homeowners for the foreseeable future.
Are you generally in agreement with decisions the city council has made in the past few years? Please describe any measures with which you particularly agreed or disagreed.
“The every day, small spending items that are on most council agendas I do not generally have issues with. I agree with the new format of allowing positive interaction between the council and citizens. I also agree with the council supporting ongoing crime prevention/core services and the purchasing of state-of-the-art safety equipment.
I disagree with some of the major spending items. For example, I love to ride bikes in the summer season. However, the $100,000 to perhaps $2,000,000 needed and approved by council for a bike path extension does not sit well with me. We have also raised taxes in the middle of a recession and I believe we can combine the EastSide Recreation Center operations into the The Centre of Elgin to lessen the losses both of those facilities take on. Not long ago, $900,000 was approved for repairing the EastSide location and yet both facilities have extreme operating losses per year.
We have to better balance wants versus needs. Until we do that, we will not see a better local economy and positive downtown redevelopment.”
If elected, what do you expect to accomplish during your time on the council?
I want to help create a friendlier business atmosphere. I will work hard to bring new businesses to town. I will promote fiscal responsibility, which will free up more funds to do these things. When this is accomplished, it will expand our tax base, create jobs, and lower our unemployment. I will be extremely transparent and accessible to the people of our city so that their comments and concerns are addressed in a timely manner.
From a crowded field of candidates, why should voters choose you to represent them on the city council?
I have a track record of success in the private sector with leading a staff, working with vendors, customers, and clients. My work experience has seasoned me to take over under-performing hotels and turn them around. I am confident I can utilize these skills and abilities on the council to set the bar for accountability and accessibility to the people of Elgin. I like to meet challenges head on. I’m dedicated, passionate, reliable, and ready to work hard on day one, if elected. I’m goal oriented and task focused. I’m a middle class advocate, not a career politician or a bureaucrat. Standing up for the taxpayers and their best interests are what will be my focus.
What’s the best way for voters to find out more about your campaign?
“www.jasondusenberry.com, https://www.facebook.com/jasondusenberrycitycouncil,
773-329-3353 or at jasondusenberry@yahoo.com”
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“help enhance the quality of life for all ”
Specifically, how? Start with one specific example!
“Bringing more businesses and corresponding jobs”
Specifically, how? Is there a magic ‘bring business to Elgin’ button!
I suppose you are for world peace too!
Paul,
You and I are policy wonks. We’d like them to get specific. At least he’s talking about consolidating the ERC and The Centre. We’ll probably take a bath on the ERC since they’ve dumped tons of money into it, but if we can cut staff and jettison the albatross that’s progress.
I like his real-world background.
Give him a call and see how much depth there is to him.
“You and I are policy wonks. We’d like them to get specific.”
I’m not a policy wonk. Provide something - anything - tangible.
Telling me they are going to bring jobs to Elgin and enhance quality of life tells me absolutely NOTHING of substance.
Apparently most of them have a degree in BS.
One Vote,
Thank you for your comment. Yes, I do have a real-world background that I’m proud of. I’m not a career politician, just someone that lives here, works here, owns a home here and pays taxes here. I run a business in the private sector, so I know the sting of dealing with a tough economy, breaking bad news to employees, leading a staff, responding to my supervisors, interacting with the public, overseeing budgets, processing payroll, managing a profit and loss statement, etc. I feel the council could use more people with my hands-on, private sector experience to better find solutions to challenges our city faces.
Paul,
Thank you for your comments. As you know, there is no magic button that will bring business. However, I am willing to bet that you and I both agree there are better ways of doing things to create/foster a better business culture here in Elgin. More and more business owners and managers that I’ve spoken with are feeling disenfranchised with how city hall does not truly listen to their comments and concerns. There is no quick fix or overnight sensation. One of my specific talking points listed on my website is that I want to work closely with as many business owners and operators as possible to truly listen to what they want and need to be more successful here. Our current tax/spend mentality only scares away potential businesses (that bring jobs) or tends to disenfranchise existing businesses from expanding or even staying here at all. If elected, I am willing to volunteer for a committee to help work with other city leaders/business owners/developers, etc. to find better answers in not only bringing more business here, but keeping the current businesses from leaving. Personally, I don’t see enough interaction on the city side of things to help keep existing businesses or attract new businesses and the jobs they create. Eliminating unnecessary discretionary city spending can also free up funds to properly help with economic development of our area, which in turn brings businesses and of course, jobs. I’ve also spoken to developers that are not happy with the length of time and red tape currently in getting permits to get projects done. To these folks, time is money and if they want to build/develop and can’t in a timely manner, they will simply move onto another area to do so. I believe we should streamline this process to make projects move along quicker. As I run a hotel here in Elgin, I also have a vested interest in bringing more events/attractions/businesses to town. This gets people into my hotel, keeps my job safe, my employee’s jobs safe and expands the city’s tax base. Again, these are all ideas and I don’t claim to have ALL the answers or magic answers, but I am very confident in my background and abilities to work hard toward reasonable solutions to these types of challenges.
“One of my specific talking points …work closely with as many business owners and operators as possible to truly listen to what they want and need” ???
” Eliminating unnecessary discretionary city spending” WHAT
“bringing more events/attractions/businesses to town. ” HOW
“volunteer for a committee to help work with other city leaders/business owners/developers” WHY
If these are your specifics what are your generalities?
Jason, I do agree with your comments on the ERC, and the bike paths as well.
I like to tell people that I rode my bike and walked from my house to ECC as often as weather would allow for one full year. The greatest part of my route was west on South Street. AFTER I finished at ECC, the City put in a bike path on South Street. I don’t know what that part of the project cost, but it involved striping and sinage.
So what was achieved by putting in this path? Well, it did nothing to make my occasional bike rides out to ECC or the Golden Coral any easier. And as Councilman Prigge found out in questioning of City Attorney Cogley, the creation of a bike path actually creates an insurance liability for the City!
So we spend a lot of money for City planning, striping and sinage, which does NOTHING to make it easier to ride your bike, AND you create a liability for the City in the process. This is why creating bike paths along existing City streets is worse than a complete waste of money. So, I agree with you there 100%.
Also, this isn’t just aimed at you, as many candidates say this, but do you really think the City can create jobs? If so, why not create 100,000 jobs in Elgin? What, we can’t do that? Well do we think we can create 1,000 jobs? Maybe not??? Can we create 100 jobs? Oh, well you may say, look at Portillo’s. Did the City create those jobs? Or was Portillo’s smart enough to see a good location (that ability must be a key component to their business success), and then they came to the City to grease the skids…
On the flip side, just as the City says they can create jobs, they also say that they can keep jobs. If so, why did, according to INFO USA, did Elgin loose over 200 businesses from 2010 to 2012? Could the City have kept all those businesses? If they could, why didn’t they? Certainly they have lost more jobs have been lost in Elgin than have been gained, which is of course an irrefutable fact, since our unemployment rate shows we have lost more jobs than we have created, which is why the unemployment rate goes up….duh….
Actually, there are forces much larger than Elgin at work in the creation of jobs….. It is a diversion of tax money and city hall’s energies to indulge in the delusion that the City creates jobs. And the candidates mostly all play into this delusion, by claiming that they need to bring more jobs into Elgin.
Perhaps despite the claims of City Hall that they can create jobs and retain jobs, maybe they really know that people come here and leave for other reasons, which is why the City doesn’t mind imposing business license/taxes. Maybe that is why they don’t mind creating rain taxes that will put yet another burden on businesses. Maybe that is why they don’t mind telling businesses they have to install bike racks, because the know that adding taxes and fees, punishing businesses won’t make someone leave Elgin, because Elgin can’t attrack to repell businesses.
Another funny part of the jobs situation is trying to tell new businesses that they must give Elginites hiring preference. Maybe that has a fringe effect….but on a macro level, what about our good civic partners Hoffman Estates? We like to work with them and share our tax dollars with them. But how does this help Hoffman Estates if we tell Portillos to effectively not hire someone from Hoffman Estates, hire Elginites instead? Where do these policies and meddling by government really get us? Just more red tape with unintended consequences. And more work for City Hall, so we need more staff, or added burden for the staff we have, keeping them from working on important matters, like can a business on Randall Road make their sign 2 feet taller, or can they make their lights blink 3 seconds faster, you know, important things like that……
Chuck
Hi Chuck,
Yes, in my above answer to Paul I describe some specifics that I’d like to work on to help create a better business climate, which in turn creates opportunity, businesses, business expansion, and jobs. I’m in favor of eliminating the questionable spending, less government and let free markets work. The bike path expansion is a great example. You and I both love riding bikes in the warm weather, but it’s simply not a good idea to throw money at something like this when we have so many other issues.
Paul, I am curious as to what your intentions are with commenting on all of the candidates pages. Are you honestly trying to get more information about the stances of each individual or are you trying to personally attack them? I don’t think you have said one positive thing on any of these pages so far. Jason and a few of the other candidates seem to have some strong ideas. Maybe try to think more positive. Changing Elgin for the better starts with one person(just like world peace).
P.S. The comment policy clearly says to be civil.
Claire, thank you for allowing me the opportunity to clarify your confusions, contradictions and hypocrisy in your NEGATIVE uncivil baseless derogatory commentary about me.
First off, value terminology such as civility and negativity are defined by perception. Undoubtedly you do not view your CLEAR negative commentary about me as being negative. Conversely, ANYONE trying to pry specifics out of political wannabes who speak in broad general terms of ‘enhancing the quality of the community’, should be viewed, not negatively as you do, but as a positive!!!
“Jason and a few of the other candidates seem to have some strong ideas. ”
Well, what are these strong ideas (that was my question)? Why spew your hatred of me when you could expounding on these unknown great ideas? Why? What a great opportunity for you and Jason and a few others. I’m thinking their ideas must be quite shallow if rather than defending them all you can do is go on a baseless attack rant against me.
“Maybe try to think more positive.”
I was quite positive yesterday in my hope that the working stiff taxpayers will rise up and send Dresang’s political utopic idea of enhancing the quality of community life by extinguishing individual freedom and liberty as he so aptly demonstrated with his quote of “property taxes are” not “high”, into the dustbin . (add Rauschenburger to that list)
“Changing Elgin for the better starts with one person(just like world peace).”
Translation - give up your wallet, liberty, and freedom and oh what a wonderful place Elgin will be!
Yes, I’m very very well aware that the problem to the liberal socialist utopia is any expressed opposition to it. If I could just get my mind right!!!!
I want to side with paul here. We’re tired of being spun by soundbites. We want to hear some ideas. We want candidates who oppose something and suggest an alternative. Sometimes the incumbents will eat them alive by saying, “You can’t do that. The law won’t allow it,” or some other attack on naive proposals.
But we still want specifics, not platitudes.
One of Reagan’s advisers came up with a scientific plan for political talk called Quantifiably Safe Rhetoric. Essentially it means that if a politician uses words like Mom, apple pie, freedom, puppies…they don’t really need to say anything substantial.
Paul just happens to be very good at picking up on speeches that sound good but say nothing. We need people like that in the discourse.
Hello Claire. I have had tangles with Paul, like so many people. Often he is rude. Sometimes he is flat out wrong. But the truth of the matter is, he does often raise interesting points. And he is not just sitting idly by as events unfold.
But more significantly, in my opinion, this site SHOULD be flooded with comments, 200 or 300 per month at least. On the Daily Herald, before they put up their pay wall, some articles about ELGIN would generate 100 ore more comments in a single day. But when so few people post on the Elginite, not only does it give the impression that most people don’t care about Elgin politics, it also makes Paul’s comments stand out all the more. His voice should be heard, as should everyone’s. But the biggest issue is simply that so few people express their opinions.
I have announced the Elginite during my little 3 minute council speeches. And I told about it from the podium and asked people to check it out at our 1/12/13 candidate forum. So I hope you will urge your friends to check out the Elginite, and to comment. Not only will more people learn what is going on, Paul’s comments will be better balanced off by all the other more civil discourse.
Chuck
This is why politics are unbearable.
Hello Claire. I agree with you. Politics can and unfortunately often does get ugly.
I am a quiet man, who really doesn’t like to complain. But when you see what goes on, and feel compelled to speak out on things that are wrong, it gives a negative focus to one’s life that I personally don’t like.
And when you speak out, you make friends AND enemies. So even if you find it unbearable, please don’t give up. When everyone gives up, it lets a very few who stick with it, have too much control and run wild with the taxpayer’s (our) money.
Tomorrow will be a better day, Chuck
Claire, I got into this site during the last election, take paul’s rants with a grain of salt, he sounds like and may be the old poster-boxcar and herguth from the daily herald. Besides, generalities that canidates speak of is on every level, very seldom with federal, state, county and local elections do we hear how their changes will be implemented. We can all see this. One Vote, the word platitudes jumped out at me just now as I saw a familiar face at the forum today, Mike Robins was there. I spoke with him briefly, several people told him he looked much better, he did mention his heart proceedure went well. I mentioned to him I hope he runs again the next time. My reason was, speaking of platitudes, that he did just the opposite his second time around. He had very specific ideas and challenges to issues. If he was running again, it would be very close between him, shaw and dusenberry. Chuck, it’s great you spread the word on this site, when I tell friends and people I work with from here and Schaumburg, most of the feedback is negative toward blogs, especially with seniors. Unfortunatley our voter turnout will be very low Tuesday as it is on the site.