Naperville city council candidates take questions from the local indian community

On Saturday, the organization called Indian Community Outreach of Naperville, hosted a city council candidates’ forum, for the candidates who are running for the Naperville City Council. The

forum was meant to inform the local Naperville Indian community, on issues related to local government. This forum was also a chance for local Indian community members to get to know the

candidate’s positions on local issues, and also it was a chance for local community members to voice any concerns that they had to the candidates. There are currently eight candidates that

are running for the Naperville City Council. There is a mix of incumbents and new faces, that are running for the positions. The incumbents are Judy Brodhead, Kevin Coyne, Kevin Gallaher,

and John Krummen. The newcomers are Michael Issac, Julie Berkowicz, Mike Strick, and Benny White. Some topics that were covered during the event were how to attract young people to

Naperville, and the state of diversity in the community. On the topic of bringing young people to Naperville, the candidates brought up a variety of solutions to this issue. One of the

candidates Benny White, suggested that businesses need to reach out to young people for employment. “We got to be able to bring in businesses here, we got to be able to attract younger

people. When there’s businesses here, they understand that there’s places that they can go and work,” White said. White also had the idea of improving Naperville’s entertainment sector, so

that it’s more palatable for potential young residents. “I think the next thing we need to take a look at is maybe an entertainment district that’s attractive to some of our younger

generation. Something that would involve having restaurants, having condos, things that they can buy that’s at an affordable rate,” White explained. Michael Issac explained how Naperville

should adapt to how young people will live and work in the future. “I think it’s important that Naperville prepare very strategically for our youth… We have to understand that the way people

work even just ten years ago, is a little different,” Issac said. Issac also went on to explain how he owns commercial properties, and that he designs them in a way that fits a typical

young person needs and wants. Another topic that was brought up during the forum, was the topic of diversity in the community. Kevin Gallaher pointed out that one of the benefits of having a

diverse population in Naperville, is the different kinds of businesses that those with different backgrounds bring to the city. “We also see people coming to bring businesses to Naperville

that reflect diversity, whether that be in the type of restaurants that we have here. We see different types of grocery stores that cater to the various ethnic groups that live here in

Naperville,” Gallaher said. After the forum ended, I had the chance to talk to Benny White, who was passionate about maintaining diversity in Naperville. “I really like to focus on inclusion

of individuals versus dividing, White says. A lot of times we say diversity it just means we bring different people together and everything’s going to be great, but if it’s not focused and

people focus on the things that they have in common, a common goal, those commonalities the diversity just doesn’t work… in fact, people will remain divided and stick with their own little

groups, versus trying to do something a little bit better,” White explained. I also spoke with Kevin Gallaher, who liked that this forum covered a whole range of issues, along with issues

that concerned the local Indian community. “There were some questions I think that were very specific to the community, but I think that the community also is part of the Naperville

community, has some questions that everybody in Naperville has,” Gallaher said. “I think it really covered the whole spectrum.” Viral Shah, the treasurer of Indian Community Outreach told me

how the idea to host this forum came about, over email. “One of the ideas that were important to the organization was to help understand who is going to be running for the city council, and

what are their objectives and outlook towards issues that are important to us,” Shah said. Shah also said that the feedback to the forum was positive. “I did talk to a number of Naperville

residents who attended the event and they were ecstatic about the forum,” Shah says. “This being a first candidate forum that we had organized, they were happy to see that our candidates are

passionate about the city.”