Council Members, DWA Board Member Hope to Hear More Specific Ideas From Candidates at Tuesday's Forum

Mayoral and City Council candidates will have the opportunity to answer voters' questions at the League of Women Voters/Wheaton Chamber of Commerce candidate forum at 7 p.m. Tuesday. Last Wednesday, they had a warm up round at the Downtown Wheaton Association (DWA), where they answered questions from DWA members regarding economic development and the future of downtown Wheaton.

Six of the seven candidates attended the forum, including , , , , and . Questions addressed economic development downtown, the Wheaton Grand Theater, TIF monies and Hubble.

Council candidate did not attend. She wrote in a response to her invitation from the DWA that she believes “it is a conflict of interest for your organization to host this forum considering that your own DWA president (Derek Bromstead) is a candidate for election.”

Councilman Tom Mouhelis said that while not all candidates showed to the forum, he thought questions were fair, and “you got an insight to everyone’s level of capability as far of knowledge of city government,” he said.

Councilman Todd Scalzo said ideas about what should be done to revitalize downtown Wheaton “were vague at best.”

He said that based on candidates’ comments at the forum, “I think more and more people are coming around to supporting the theater,” saying they’d like to keep funding restricted to TIF funding.

All of the candidates said they'd support public funding in the form of TIF money for downtown revitalization, including the Wheaton Grand Theater. Mayor and mayoral candidate Mike Gresk said he is a proponent of TIFs, but for the Wheaton Grand Theater, there would need to be a private/public partnership.

Mayoral candidate John Prendiville said he'd "absolutely" support a TIF. "Nothing's happened in our downtown in at least the last 20 years without some public assistance," he said.

“I think people are opposing it because … they don’t get what it would allow us to do,” he said. “We have options … If we couldn’t work out a deal with a partner, then we could just walk away—we could abandon the project, and at that point we would have lost nothing … I don’t see why it’s a problem—why we shouldn’t try.”

Keven Graham, vice president of the board of the Downtown Wheaton Association, said he saw instances where there was “clear direction as to thoughts on how the downtown should be used and how resources should be used in and around the downtown … Some had some very clear ideas and some—it really wasn’t on their radar.”

“I think that there was certainly overwhelming support that the downtown is important and economic development is important, but differences in how we get there,” he added.

Adamson, Gresk, Molenhouse and Pacino Sanguinetti all said that the most important issue to them, today, in downtown Wheaton is economic development. Bromstead cited "generating foot traffic" as most important. Prendiville said the is most important, and would enhance economic development.

However, Graham said there are two issues he hopes to see more specifically discussed in Tuesday’s forum. “I’ve heard repeatedly with Hubble—put it back on the tax rolls, let the development community decide … you know the city gets the ultimate say … to me, that’s a brush off and shirking of responsibility because, yes, the city has (the) ultimate say, but no one has stepped up and said how they see their vision for this,” he said.

Council candidate Alberta Adamson said she is opposed to demolishing the Hubble school building, and suggested a boutique hotel for the site. Pacino Sanguinetti said she supports a mixed use option for the site, while Prendiville maintained his position that the park district use is the highest and best use for the property. Bromstead, Gresk and Molenhouse said they hope to see the site contribute to the tax rolls.

Second, Graham said he hopes to hear more specific ideas for protecting city infrastructure. “Tell me what’s most important in your mind. They’re not getting clear enough,” he said. He went on, “People talk about infrastructure, but it’s an ambiguous term.” It could refer to roads and sewers, or it could refer to something that puts downtown Wheaton on the cutting edge of technology, he explained. 

The candidates will have their next opportunity to discuss city issues at the League of Women Voter forum at 7 p.m. Tuesday at the Wheaton Community Center.