Two Candidates For Joliet City Council At-Large Release Joint Vision Statement

Warren Dorris and Hudson Hollister share their vision for Joliet with WJOL’s Scott Slocum.

Full statement below:

We the undersigned, candidates for Joliet City Council Member At-Large, desire, through service to our city and to all its people, to renew the peace, wholeness, and welfare of Joliet. We believe that our futures, our families’ futures, and our city’s future are intertwined.

Our desire to renew our city’s peace, wholeness, and welfare compels us to embrace four key ideas, each with its own implications for our work in government. Some of these are popular. Some are unpopular. But all are informed by our values, our experience, and our shared faith–though we respect people of all faiths and of no faith.

If elected to serve Joliet and its people as members of the City Council, we will:

Welcome all people, especially those who are poor, isolated, or overlooked. This means we must provide for the poor and homeless, as much as we are able, even if other communities do not. This means we must open public jobs and contracting opportunities to everyone, not just members of a favored group.
- We support MorningStar Mission’s purchase of the Quality Inn property.
- We support expanding the city government’s translation services.
- We oppose the city government’s creation and filling of public-service jobs without opening them to all applicants.
Make prudent plans, yet expect blessing. This means Joliet must plan and budget carefully, with our long-term future in mind. At the same time, Joliet must plan ambitiously, expecting our community will continue to attract growth, jobs, and residents.
- We urgently support the creation of our city’s first Comprehensive Plan since the 1950s, with the participation of all of Joliet’s communities.
- We oppose the development of NorthPoint’s East Gate – Business Park Chicago, because it was haphazardly approved, conforms to no long-term plan, will overwhelm our roads, and will not benefit Joliet’s working people.
- At the same time, we support planned and prudent growth in the logistics industry, if infrastructure and neighborhood needs are met and the benefits flow to Joliet’s people.
- We believe Joliet urgently needs to confront its $1 billion in unfunded pension and retiree health care benefits and other liabilities, so we oppose budgets and labor agreements that try to postpone difficult decisions for future leaders.
- At the same time, we believe Joliet is a good place to work and a good place to live, and can seek to attract and retain more jobs and residents, bringing revenues that will partially address our financial difficulties, so we support limited bond issues that will promote growth.
Do justice. This means we will take the side of those who are oppressed, especially those treated unfairly by our own government. This also means we follow laws and rules even when we disagree with those laws and rules.
- We support body cameras for our police department and we will prioritize the necessary expense over other budget priorities.
- We will invest our time disproportionately in economic development projects for our poorer areas, such as grocery stores on our East Side.
- We support efforts to ensure our city government’s staff and appointed commissions reflect all of Joliet’s communities.
Pursue reconciliation. This means we will seek good working relationships with political opponents, even those who have criticized us in the past. When others in government tell us they want what is best for Joliet and its people, we will believe them. We will strive to avoid unnecessarily criticizing others.
- We have joined the Joliet Transparency Pledge, will follow it, and will make transparency the norm in our city’s government.
- We will resist efforts to pit Joliet against other governments and neighboring municipalities, believing that our region is strongest when its governments work together.
- We will treat all participants in public meetings with respect and dignity, and will invite those who have historically been excluded from notice or participation to join our counsels.