By Jason Crane
The Aurora City Council unanimously approved a Resolution granting the advice and consent of mayor John Laesch’s appointment of Will White to fill the vacancy in the office of alderperson at-large.
White was one of four finalists selected out of the more than 130 applications that were submitted after an open invitation was posted to complete the term of office of alderman-at-large left vacant by the recent mayoral election.
White currently serves as the executive director of the Career and Job Placement Center at the College of Lake County in Northern Illinois. In addition to his workforce development position, White supports various initiatives such as the Urban Farm Center, Rotary Club-Grayslake, and the Lake County Chamber of Commerce. He has also served as a Small Business Consultant at the University of New Orleans, as well as financial analyst for Procter & Gamble and an auditor for the U. S. Department of Defense. He is in the midst of his doctoral degree at Morgan State University, studying the impact of innovative auxiliary funding streams on community college budgeting and student success.
“There were a number of excellent candidates who put their hat in the ring to be the next alderman-at-large,” mayor Laesch said. “Will White brings an impressive background in finance, government, and he has experience building a local food economy. Mr. White brings a new and unique perspective to the Aurora City Council.”
The vacancy was created when former alderman at-large, John Laesch, was elected the City’s 60th mayor. Over 130 qualified applications were received from interested community members to fill the vacancy. The Mayor’s Office interviewed 14 candidates before narrowing the selection down to four finalists. After a closed session meeting with the Aurora City Council, in which all four finalists were interviewed, Will White was unanimously chosen to serve the remaining two years left in the term.
White will be sworn into office during the City of Aurora’s Committee of the Whole meeting on Tuesday, June 3 at 5 P.M. at 44 E. Downer Place – 2nd Floor..
In addition, White will serve on the Rules, Administration, and Procedures Committee (RAP) and the Building, Zoning, and Economic Development Committee.
- Approval was given to an Ordinance amending Chapter 27, creating Section 27-135, titled “Vehicular Nuisance”.
City government of Aurora documents show the purpose of this ordinance is to amend the City code to allow the police department to charge the registered owner of a vehicle with fleeing and eluding a peace officer.
In recent years, street take-overs, car meet-ups, side-shows, unpermitted vehicle parades and drag racing have become a large nationwide trend. Social-media based groups coordinate large gatherings throughout the Chicago area. The groups coordinate to meet at various locations including intersections and parking lots. The groups are meeting to show off their cars, to celebrate holidays, to have unpermitted car parades and/or to drag race. The groups typically fund their vehicles and the events through views, likes and shares on social media, which entices them to be more provocative at these events in order to increase their social media followings.
These events cause many issues for residents and businesses. Roadways and parking lots are damaged, neighbors are disturbed by interruptions to traffic flow, speeding vehicles and loud engines. Several people have been injured in these incidents. These groups have come to Aurora with up to 200 vehicles with participants from all over the Chicago area.
Some groups have poured gasoline on roadways and parking lots, which they light on fire to enhance their social media followings. They are also using fireworks for the same purpose. Part of the trend involves these groups even using stolen vehicles, which they don’t hesitate to damage during donuts and burnouts. Across the country, including in Chicago, firearms are frequently carried by these groups and displayed on social media.
As a result of these incidents, City officials have had to pull officers away from responding to other calls for service and have had to pay for overtime to try and combat the issues. The events require large number of officers due to the aggressiveness of the groups.
When officers arrive on scene, the vehicles typically flee from the location and travel in large numbers to another location in another city, until they are then approached by officers in that community, where they continue the cycle by going back to the original city or to third city. As they travel in between, they are reving engines, driving erratically, and doing burnouts. This causes alarm for residents who are calling about the noise from the vehicles.
The cars flee in large groups such that immediate enforcement is difficult and unsafe for officers and other motorists. The fleeting vehicles have jumped curbs and extinguished their headlights to avoid being stopped. Officers have been surrounded by these groups and even had squad windows broken by an event attendee. For safety reasons, police officers often must terminate the chase or apprehension and are therefore unable to physically identify the driver. Absent a positive identification of a driver of a motor vehicle, the registered owner of a motor vehicle is in the best position to know who is operating the registered owner’s motor vehicle and to prevent the motor vehicle from being used for these activities.
This goal of this ordinance is to deter people from hosting, attending and participating in these events in Aurora to police resources, to enhance the community and increase public safety.