Judd Lofchie, real estate broker, attorney, and 10th Ward alderman for Aurora, announced Tuesday, June 30, his intentions to run for mayor. With three years of aldermanic experience and a storied history of community advocacy and support, Lofchie becomes the first to formally announce his entry to Aurora’s mayoral election in April 2021.
“I have been humbled by the great residents of the 10th Ward, electing me as their alderman a little over three years ago. Having attended about 300 city meetings and responded to hundreds of resident complaints and concerns, I’m even more excited about what lies ahead. I am officially announcing my candidacy for mayor, as I do not think there could be a better point-in-time to put my strengths to work for our great city,” said Lofchie.
Lofchie has deep ties with the Chicago area’homeless population and many of the organizations that assist them. In 1992, Lofchie saw an exceptionally large homeless population while living in Chicago and started StreetWise, an organization that provides instant jobs and services for the homeless that has helped more than 13,000 since inception. He and his wife frequently serve breakfast and dinner to Aurora’s less fortunate. He recently invited members of Aurora Business United, one of the Fox Valley area’s largest networking groups which he founded, to dinner and a movie, The Public, about homelessness, at his expense.
“Education and awareness are tremendously important to our community. There are folks less-fortunate all around us, and there is much we can do. Our current mayor has just decided that after 40 years, that Aurora’s homeless shelter, Hesed House, has occupancy that was counted wrong, and has demanded that they reduce their occupancy in half, or by about 100 residents during the worst pandemic in modern times. So, if Hesed House cannot come up with tens of thousands of dollars and build additional bathrooms, showers, by September, Aurora will have 100 or so additional men, women, and possibly children on the streets. That is months after a decision to remove 19 individuals from Wayside Cross Mission because of a newly-defined proximity-rule to McCarty Park.”
Lofchie’s campaign will focus on much-needed fiscal responsibility. The Aurora city government has more than $1.1 Billion in debt and unfunded pensions. (Report from CFO, 6/18/19) In addition, the mayor wants to spend an additional 100 Million: $30M- $50M to move the Casino by the outlet mall, $23M for a new city warehouse, and the rest for development projects.
“Much of this 100 Million will fall on the taxpayer’s shoulders,” Lofchie said and the City is forecasting a $20M – $35M shortfall due to the corona virus. We are hoping that the counties bail us out, instead of taking prudent financial actions like other nearby communities have done (such as Elgin). With Aurora, its business as usual, and inexplicably, we have not made any cuts or furloughs like we did in 2009/2010. Instead, we just hired more than a dozen new police officers and firemen with full benefits and pensions. These trends are not sustainable. We need leadership that will take a new look at our City’s reality.”
Lofchie plans to launch an aggressive campaign over the next few months while he continues to serve as alderman to the 10th Ward. More information can be found at www.JuddforAurora.com.
— Citizens for Lofchie