Politics & Government

Mary Black: Lake Zurich Village President Candidate

There are three candidates running for Lake Zurich village president.

Please provide a brief biography. 

I am a Real Estate broker in and around Lake Zurich and not afraid of hard work I became an agent in 1995 and worked in Chicago. I now own the company I started with in 1995. I have been an investor as well as dealing with both commercial and residential real estate. I have and I have been very successful at business and being a mother now that my children are older I am leaning into becoming Mayor of Lake Zurich, Illinois. I, along with my husband and children have lived in Lake Zurich for 15 years. I attended Loyola University 1991-95 after studying abroad in Italy, I started my family and Went back to finish up in 2005. I earned BA in Italian Literature and a minor art all while caring for my three children as a single mom. I have been actively volunteering at elementary, middle school and high school levels for 12 years. I was Vice president at Sarah Adams PTO. I was a minister of care for St Francis. As a minister of care I volunteered at Lexington nursing home from 2002-2010 I volunteer at all my children's sporting events from 1999 to present those sports include baseball, gymnastics, football, wrestling.

Why do you want to serve?

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I am at an advantage because I have not been a part of the quarrels of the exsisting board.  I can bring a fresh perspective and with my real estate back ground it is essential. I decided to throw my hat in because I know I can make a difference. Opening up lines of communication and moving forward not looking back to place blame that takes us nowhere fast. I want to get in there learn as much as possible about what our main issues are and get a plan and implement it. Rather than criticizing and talking about what we need to do I decided it was time to actually do it. Let’s think positive, it’s more productive than crying over spilled milk.

What needs to be done to create a solid financial base for the village?

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Everything needs to be scrutinized. Nothing can be off the table. We need to look at our budget and prioritize with a fresh perspective. Line by line we need to figure out where we can STOP wasting money so we can STABILIZE. Ultimately, we have to create a budget that focuses on inspiring economic development downtown. A developed downtown will generate the income we need to SUCCEED as a community. 

What are your top priorities for the Village of Lake Zurich?

 

  1.       STOP STABILIZE and SUCCEED. Let’s just have some fun downtown, the businesses that are there now need our support let’s take advantage of the open space for concerts, street fair, movies in the park weekly events that will draw all ages.  We could generate some income by selling vendors permits. We need a short term confidence builder and a long term plan of action.
  2.    TIF- Finding the right businesses to support the TIF. The studies have shown that just simply putting in restaurants will not sustain the TIF we need more revenue a bigger chain store /pharmacy option or banquet hall or medical building. Something like that would be a start. Filling some of the smaller existing boxes would be another support as well as mixed housing options. It’s hard to say exactly what we would do but I would explore all options to get that nut covered.
  3.    Lake Michigan water: Having a stable and affordable water supply is crucial for the development and future success of Lake Zurich, which is why I support Lake Michigan water. The referendum should have been on the ballot in November. As outlined in the Metropolitan Planning Council's Recommendations for Integrated Water Resources Planning in Lake Zurich, we need a strategic plan for dealing with all our water issues, including storm water and wastewater management. We cannot continue to sustain the costs to repair and upgrade our water infrastructure, such as the costs we've paid, and continue to pay, to remove radium and other contaminants from our aquifers in order to comply with environmental regulations [page 9 of the Recommendations]. We need to move forward with the more sustainable Lake Michigan option

What is your vision for downtown development?

I would love to bring diversity to our downtown. It would need to balance the needs of the TIF but also begin to add the character of where we will be headed as a community. I find that communities that have and support the arts and music tend to do better all around. We have such a great landscape to do great things. Being more positive and creating a safe fun downtown will not happen overnight but implementing where we can immediately by drawing people in with events and activities. 

How much time do you have available to devote to this role? 

It’s hard to say, some weeks I may have more time than others. There may be weeks that I have to choose. I am fortunate to be very good at managing time and commitments. I will put as much time in it as I have available. The good news is I am very good at multi-tasking and I have successfully done everything I have to do, most of what I need to do and some of what I like to do. There is always room for more work. 

What traits do you have that make you a good leader for the village?

The advantage I have is that I am not a part of any of the infighting and the division of the existing board and village president. I was not a politician before starting on this path but I have leaned in and I love it. I have a thirst for knowledge and I support women and men alike. I am a strong successful aggressive business woman and proud of it. I am a problem solver, a negotiator, and I don’t like to waste time. When I see a problem I Stop, Stabilize and execute a plan to Succeed.

 

 


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