Donald Wilson for Evanston's 4th Ward

I am excited to be serving my third term as Evanston's 4th Ward Alderman.  I have enjoyed working in our community, with the City's staff and with the other local goverment leaders the past 8 years and I am looking forward to contributing further to the positive growth of the Evanston community!

City Priorites

There are still many challenges facing our community.  We are not alone in most of these challenges.  There will be difficult financial decisions to be made for Evanston.  In order to keep Evanston strong, our spending must account for the current economic environment.  Contrary to what many claim, I do not believe that there is not a lot of "waste" or "mismanagement" by the City.  Our City staff continues to work hard to identify ways to become more efficient and the community has participated in identifying priorities for our budget.  

I intend to continue working to ensure that our budgets and spending policies are realistic, account for the current economic conditions and does not unduly compromise the City's ability to provide the services our people need.  I also intend to work toward accomplishing these goals without undue property tax increases by the City.  

One of the contentious aspects of City spending in recent years relates to economic development policy.  Generally, my opinion is that demand for goods and services creates jobs, governments do not create jobs, at least not the kind that can be sustained in the long term.  There are circumstances where government assistance is appropriate, but to me, those situations should be opportunities to "level the playing field" and should not result in an unfair competitive advantange to a particular private enterprise.

We should strive to implement policies that promote equity and opportunity throughout our community.  Thoughtful consideration about how, why and what we chose to do should help move us forward in that direction.

If you have thoughts or concerns, please let me know.  I do my best to take every opinion into account.  We may not agree on a course of action, but I will listen and consider any point of view.