Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Wissmann's In
Councilman Chris Wissmann just emailed out the following PR announcing he wants to sit at the council table for another 4 years
Carbondale City Councilman Chris Wissmann Seeks Reelection
For Immediate Release
09/23/08
Carbondale City Councilman Chris Wissmann officially announced his candidacy for reelection today.
Chris Wissmann, elected in 2003 to a two-year term and reelected in 2005 to a full four-year term, has identified several issues where city-council action can continue to move Carbondale in a positive, progressive direction:
Violent crime: The Carbondale City Council, with support from Chris Wissmann, has taken steps to improve public safety by voting to expand and reorganize the police department to better and more quickly respond to criminal activity. The council, led in part by Chris Wissmann, has also voted to increase the monetary rewards for information leading to the arrest and conviction of perpetrators of unsolved crimes. Chris Wissmann, however, believes that families and neighborhoods can bring to bear enormous influences that could well prevent crime in the first place- by looking after each other and instilling in individuals a sense of personal responsibility to and respect for the community. The city can play a stronger and more proactive role in helping citizens organize neighborhood associations and watch groups, and otherwise empowering them to make their own city safer.
Ameren and energy: As if environmental considerations aren't enough, Chris Wissmann believes that recent, prolonged power outages and Ameren's unjustifiable and painful rate increases require that Carbondale explore incentives to help make promising residential alternative-energy technologies more affordable and widespread.
Job retention and attraction: Between globalization and the information age, the nature of work in the United States is changing, and with broadband-connected home computers the very term "place of employment" is becoming obsolete. As manufacturing jobs leave America, and consolidation in the retail sector results in a decreasing pool of companies available to enter Carbondale, Chris Wissmann believes that the city needs to foster the development of smaller, home-based and service employers. Chris Wissmann cites as a good example the Artist Relocation Project in Paducah, Kentucky, which has transformed a concentration of dangerous slums into a vibrant neighborhood that significantly contributes to that city's economy and great reputation. Pursuing such businesses may require alterations to Carbondale's zoning code and the increased granting of variances and special uses- often controversial in Carbondale, but changes that Chris Wissmann feels our citizens may need to accept if they want better job opportunities in the city.
Carbondale City Councilman Chris Wissmann Seeks Reelection
For Immediate Release
09/23/08
Carbondale City Councilman Chris Wissmann officially announced his candidacy for reelection today.
Chris Wissmann, elected in 2003 to a two-year term and reelected in 2005 to a full four-year term, has identified several issues where city-council action can continue to move Carbondale in a positive, progressive direction:
Violent crime: The Carbondale City Council, with support from Chris Wissmann, has taken steps to improve public safety by voting to expand and reorganize the police department to better and more quickly respond to criminal activity. The council, led in part by Chris Wissmann, has also voted to increase the monetary rewards for information leading to the arrest and conviction of perpetrators of unsolved crimes. Chris Wissmann, however, believes that families and neighborhoods can bring to bear enormous influences that could well prevent crime in the first place- by looking after each other and instilling in individuals a sense of personal responsibility to and respect for the community. The city can play a stronger and more proactive role in helping citizens organize neighborhood associations and watch groups, and otherwise empowering them to make their own city safer.
Ameren and energy: As if environmental considerations aren't enough, Chris Wissmann believes that recent, prolonged power outages and Ameren's unjustifiable and painful rate increases require that Carbondale explore incentives to help make promising residential alternative-energy technologies more affordable and widespread.
Job retention and attraction: Between globalization and the information age, the nature of work in the United States is changing, and with broadband-connected home computers the very term "place of employment" is becoming obsolete. As manufacturing jobs leave America, and consolidation in the retail sector results in a decreasing pool of companies available to enter Carbondale, Chris Wissmann believes that the city needs to foster the development of smaller, home-based and service employers. Chris Wissmann cites as a good example the Artist Relocation Project in Paducah, Kentucky, which has transformed a concentration of dangerous slums into a vibrant neighborhood that significantly contributes to that city's economy and great reputation. Pursuing such businesses may require alterations to Carbondale's zoning code and the increased granting of variances and special uses- often controversial in Carbondale, but changes that Chris Wissmann feels our citizens may need to accept if they want better job opportunities in the city.
Comprehensive Plan review and rewrite: While this may not sound like an exciting issue, the next Comprehensive Plan will create a blueprint for how Carbondale changes and grows during the next decade or more. Chris Wissmann believes that the city should consider dropping its suburban-style zoning and explore what is often called the New Urbanism: more walkable, mixed-use neighborhoods with small businesses integrated into residential districts.
SIU enrollment: It is the university's responsibility to expand. Chris Wissmann also believes it is the city's responsibility to create a safe but fun and enriching off-campus environment for students. As a city almost entirely dependent on university students for its economic well-being and cultural enrichment, Chris Wissmann believes that finding ways to assist SIU's growth is in Carbondale's best interests, perhaps by assisting SIU in marketing the community to prospective students.
Government-television programming: Chris Wissmann believes that the city needs to expand programming on its GOV-16 cable-television channel to address and provide information about community issues ranging from home and personal safety to landlord-tenant-neighborhood relations to various city programs. The city can do this by working with SIU professors and students to provide practical learning opportunities while receiving low-cost programming.
If thirteen or more candidates file for the three open City Council positions, a primary will take place Tuesday, February 24, 2009. The Consolidated Election takes place April 7, 2009.
For more information about Chris Wissmann's reelection campaign, please call him at home at (618) 549-2653 or email him at <nightlif@midwest.net>. Please do not call him at his place of work.
First-term Accomplishments:
Yes to new jobs in the TIF district.
Yes to a pioneering antidiscrimination ordinance covering sexual orientation.
Yes to owner-occupied new-home construction incentives.
Yes to preferences for local bidders.
Yes to saving the Eurma Hayes Center's daycare center.
No to Enterprise Zone expansion for low-wage employers.
Second-term Accomplishments
Yes to expanding and reorganizing the police force.
Yes to community-cleanup and summer-jobs programs.
Yes to incentives to convert rental units to owner-occupied homes.
Yes to the rental-property inspection program.
Yes to the city's truancy ordinance.
Yes to strict new animal-control provisions.
No to increases in tow-truck fees.
Chris Wissmann's Campaign Biography
Chris Wissmann, who won election to the Carbondale City Council in April 2003, was born in Carbondale in June 1969 at the old Holden Hospital.
When Chris was born, his father, Jack, was completing his bachelor degree at SIU (his mother, Kay, was a 1962 alumna). The Wissmanns wanted to stay in Carbondale to raise their family- but as with so many others, Jack and Kay could not find decent work opportunities in Carbondale. They were forced to relocate to the Chicago area, then north-central Illinois, to raise Chris and their second son, Aaron.
Chris returned to Carbondale to attend SIU in 1987, and has remained a Carbondale resident ever since. While still a college junior, Chris cofounded the Nightlife newspaper in 1990, which he continues to edit and co-own. Chris earned his radio/television degree in 1991.
All of Chris's immediate family- Chris, his parents, and his brother Aaron- graduated from SIU.
Chris married SIU alum Jesslyn Jobe in 1999. They own their own home on Walkup Avenue, where the happy couple live with their German wire-haired pointer, Cappuccino "Cappy" Latté.
In addition to working to improve the community through his work on the city council and his editorship of Nightlife, Chris serves on the Boys and Girls Club of Carbondale and WIDB boards of directors. He was appointed to the board of the Southern Illinois American Civil Liberties Union in 2003, and has served as a Democrat Precinct Committeeman since 1996.
Government-television programming: Chris Wissmann believes that the city needs to expand programming on its GOV-16 cable-television channel to address and provide information about community issues ranging from home and personal safety to landlord-tenant-neighborhood relations to various city programs. The city can do this by working with SIU professors and students to provide practical learning opportunities while receiving low-cost programming.
If thirteen or more candidates file for the three open City Council positions, a primary will take place Tuesday, February 24, 2009. The Consolidated Election takes place April 7, 2009.
For more information about Chris Wissmann's reelection campaign, please call him at home at (618) 549-2653 or email him at <nightlif@midwest.net>. Please do not call him at his place of work.
First-term Accomplishments:
Yes to new jobs in the TIF district.
Yes to a pioneering antidiscrimination ordinance covering sexual orientation.
Yes to owner-occupied new-home construction incentives.
Yes to preferences for local bidders.
Yes to saving the Eurma Hayes Center's daycare center.
No to Enterprise Zone expansion for low-wage employers.
Second-term Accomplishments
Yes to expanding and reorganizing the police force.
Yes to community-cleanup and summer-jobs programs.
Yes to incentives to convert rental units to owner-occupied homes.
Yes to the rental-property inspection program.
Yes to the city's truancy ordinance.
Yes to strict new animal-control provisions.
No to increases in tow-truck fees.
Chris Wissmann's Campaign Biography
Chris Wissmann, who won election to the Carbondale City Council in April 2003, was born in Carbondale in June 1969 at the old Holden Hospital.
When Chris was born, his father, Jack, was completing his bachelor degree at SIU (his mother, Kay, was a 1962 alumna). The Wissmanns wanted to stay in Carbondale to raise their family- but as with so many others, Jack and Kay could not find decent work opportunities in Carbondale. They were forced to relocate to the Chicago area, then north-central Illinois, to raise Chris and their second son, Aaron.
Chris returned to Carbondale to attend SIU in 1987, and has remained a Carbondale resident ever since. While still a college junior, Chris cofounded the Nightlife newspaper in 1990, which he continues to edit and co-own. Chris earned his radio/television degree in 1991.
All of Chris's immediate family- Chris, his parents, and his brother Aaron- graduated from SIU.
Chris married SIU alum Jesslyn Jobe in 1999. They own their own home on Walkup Avenue, where the happy couple live with their German wire-haired pointer, Cappuccino "Cappy" Latté.
In addition to working to improve the community through his work on the city council and his editorship of Nightlife, Chris serves on the Boys and Girls Club of Carbondale and WIDB boards of directors. He was appointed to the board of the Southern Illinois American Civil Liberties Union in 2003, and has served as a Democrat Precinct Committeeman since 1996.
Chris's primary goal as a Carbondale City Councilman will be to create the opportunities that his parents could not find in Carbondale- jobs with which young families can support themselves. Jobs that allow young families to fulfill the promise offered by an old city slogan: "Carbondale. Make it your home."
Labels: City council, election
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Anybody heard anything about other candidates besides Wissmann, McDaniel and Fritzler?
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# posted by 
: September 25, 2008 at 1:32 AM
: September 25, 2008 at 1:32 AM Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
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