Politics & Government

Meet the Candidates: Robert Friedberg

Meet the candidates for Village Board and see where they think Glen Ellyn should be headed.

Glen Ellyn Patch: To start, please give us a little info about yourself for people who might not know you around town.

Robert Friedberg: My name is Robert Friedberg and I have been a resident of Glen Ellyn since 1993.  I am currently the Vice President of Operations for Central DuPage Hospital. I am married with two kids, one at Hadley, the other at Forest Glen.  

Patch: Economic development is an important issue to small business owners in Glen Ellyn, and residents alike who want options for shopping and eating. Do you have a plan to encourage more businesses to open in Glen Ellyn? Would you like to see more corporate or chain-style businesses open in downtown Glen Ellyn, or is it best to encourage more development of the 'mom and pop' variety?

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Friedberg: I believe the way to secure a lively downtown district is to invest in its infrastructure. Businesses will succeed only if there are ample customers to come through the area on a regular basis.  We are challenged with several factors, such as traffic patterns and parking. These are two very tangible issues that can be solved, and will have a direct effect on all the businesses [for] decades.  Our efforts to try and recruit businesses without adressing the underlying principles of success and failure will only perpetuate a continuous turnover in businesses. As far as chains versus smaller self-owned retail opportunities, there needs to be a combination.  Recognized brands draw customers, who then are available to the smaller shops. I would not expect that a large chain retail would be attractive in downtown—it just doesn't fit, either physically or in character (e.g. Pottery Barn), but smaller to medium size stores could work nicely.  These can be debated, discussed and acted on, only if the downtown area is structured in such a way to support the activity we desire.

Patch: What do you think are the top three most important issues facing residents in the next few years? 

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Friedberg: The village's great challenge is the economy. It continues to have a ripple effect creating unemployment, loss of homes, stagnant wages and lower property values.  While many of these issues are global, we can work on creating opportunity in the village for jobs (retail and service), encourage investment in our community by developing infrastructure to keep the town vibrant and support property values, and encourage volunteer support of community programs that assist our residents who are in need. 

Patch: In what area(s) is the village excelling? What has the last board done right, and what should it continue to do to continue said positive trends?

Friedberg: Our largest issue will be maintaining a balanced budget with higher mandated expenses in a downturned economy.  Theses are challenges [that] the board will need to address over the next [few] years until there is either sufficient retune of the economy, or there are changes at the State level on issues such as defined benefit pension.  The board has been and should continue to be proactive in managing the short term implications through continued reduction in labor and expenses.  

Patch: Reports from the Finance Department on the village's five year financial forecast look very good for the village overall, but show a need to increase revenue and find news areas of revenue. Is it possible to raise revenue, but not taxes? Where do you see this new revenue coming from?

Friedberg: This needs to be a longer-term strategy of appropriate investment in multiple retail locations. There is a lot of time spent on downtown, but Roosevelt Road is the economic engine for sakes revenues. Five corners represents another opportunity to capture sales revenues through a coordinated effort of redevelopment and investment. 

Patch: Please describe some long-term goals for Glen Ellyn. These do not necessarily need to be things you hope to accomplish in a single term, but more what direction do you think the village needs to go into the future? 

Friedberg: I believe that Glen Ellyn is a vibrant, well-regarded village that is a desired location for family to live.  We should continue to maintain this high standard and continue our development.  During the past decade, there has been a lot of private redevelopment of the housing stock, both encouraging families to come to Glen Ellyn, and reinvesting in properties to meet contemporary needs of existing families.  There has also been a long-term commitment to infrastructure improvement of roads, water and sewer reconstruction.  These all need to continued, and expanded.  We should be looking at additional infrastructure investments (e.g. Parking structure), and a commitment to become more business an developer friendly.  This should be balanced in such away to continue the look and feel of the village as a whole.


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