Bob O'Connor for at-large For alderman at-large, our choice is Bob O'Connor.
O'Connor has been alderman at-large since 1985, and is seeking a sixth four-year term. As chairman of the Finance Committee, we value his intimate knowledge of the city budget and the manner in which it is determined and executed. His expertise will be an asset to the new mayor. Further, we respect the independence he has shown. He has not been afraid to cast a vote that dissents from the majority position, and he has been especially firm on businesses' applications for assistance, insisting that they draw on public funds no more than necessary.
The other candidate, Jeffrey D. Donelson, is making his second bid for alderman, and received this newspaper's endorsement in his first campaign. He says the council needs new people if it wants better results. He stresses crime as his chief concern, and wants to create a support network for at-risk youngsters and their families that includes local churches partnering with police and social service agencies. While there might be merit in that concept, the churches and social service agencies could get that rolling, then ask for city support. Donelson also looks askance at ward funds, and suggests that money could support the new police headquarters the city needs.
O'Connor's ideas are more firmly grounded in the realities of budget and city responsibilities, and we endorse him for re-election based on his strong record.
Beacon News (http://www.suburbanchicagonews.com/beaconnews/opinions/a03edit.htm)
PEAKER-PLANT APPROVAL APPEALED BY ALDERMAN PLAN IS NOW HEADED TO FULL AURORA COUNCIL
By Hal Dardick Special to the Tribune March 2, 2000
An Aurora alderman Wednesday appealed the City Council Planning and Development Committee's approval of a plan to site a peak-usage electricity-generating power plant on the far northeast side of the city.
Ald. Robert O'Connor's action, taken two hours before a 5 p.m. deadline, sends the plan by Houston-based Reliant Energy to the full council, which could either vote on the plan or send it back to committee for further consideration.
“We're very pleased with Ald. O'Connor's thoughtful and cautious approach to this new industry,” said Dianne R. Turnball, a consultant to Citizens Against Power Plants in Residential Areas and president of the Woodstock-based Center for Community Involvement.
Attempts to contact Reliant officials and Bruce Goldsmith, an attorney for the current owner of the land on which the plant would sit, were not successful.
In his appeal, O'Connor's second of the plan in less than a month, he raised five issues, including whether the 870-megawatt, natural gas-fired plant meets the definition of a public utility, an allowable use under the 1976 plan for the industrial property on which the plant would sit.
Whether a so-called peaker plant–the energy from which is sold to electric companies during peak-usage periods, particularly hot summer days–is a public utility was the prime issue raised by CAPPRA.
O'Connor also raised the question of whether a specific arrangement had been made with the Fox Metro Water Reclamation District as to the disposal of any waste water.
He also asked whether a covenant could be established to prohibit permanently the use of land designated for open space in the plan. Reliant's plan includes 70 acres of open space, 30 of which could be used for recreation, on the 103-acre site southeast of Eola and Butterfield Roads.
Finally, O'Connor questioned “the intent and enforceability” of Reliant's statement that “the facility does not and will not have a detrimental effect on real estate values,” and whether a commitment to not contest local property taxes under $800,000 places a ceiling on those payments.
Whether any of the city's other nine aldermen or mayor have remaining concerns about the plant remains to be seen. Mayor David Stover has said he's satisfied with Reliant's plan, and Ald. Tess Wackerlin, in whose 1st Ward the plant would lie, said she felt Reliant had met all city criteria.
“Reliant has gone to great lengths to try to accommodate everybody,” she said earlier in the week.
She questioned the legal grounds of the appeal and said she believed the number of people opposed to the facility was dwindling.
At a public hearing on the plant held at City Hall last month, hundreds of DuPage County residents from northeast Aurora, Warrenville, and unincorporated Naperville and Winfield Townships expressed opposition to the plant.
From: http://www.angelfire.com/il2/NoPeakerPlants/CTrib04.htm
Profile on Aurora's gov't website: http://www.aurora-il.org/AldermensOffice/bob_connor.html
“Alderman At-Large, Bob O'Connor 56, was first elected to the City Council in 1985. He presently serves as the Chairman of the Finance Committee of the City Council. He and his wife, Mary, who is a kindergarten teacher at Bardwell School, have two sons, Tom 21, who is a senior at Northern Illinois University and John 17, who is a senior at West Aurora High School. Bob is a graduate of East Aurora High School, the University of Illinois and Notre Dame Law School. He is an attorney in Aurora and practices law in the area of estate planning, wills and trusts and real estate representation. He is the Chairman of the State of Illinois Council of Aging, and is a board member of the Northeastern Illinois Area Agency on Aging, The Aurora Police Foundation, the Visiting Nurses Association and the Joseph Corporation. He additionally serves on the scholarship committee of the Aurora Foundation and is a member and past president of the Aurora Exchange Club.
He can be reach at the Aldermen's Office at the number listed above. Or his law office at phone: (630) 897-1534; Fax number (630) 897 6919; and at his home phone: (630) 897-5849. ”