A candidate for the Peoria City Council's 5th District said she would bring an analytical, resident-focused approach to issues.
Hind Abi-Akar is a retired Caterpillar technical expert. In her career, she said digging deeply into complex issues to find solutions was something she did regularly. She said that approach translates to working in local government.
"It's data driven, it's end users and what they need. In our case here, it's the residents," she said. "So this tendency to analyze, to understand all sides and to take decisions based on the high efficiency and high value is in my training, and I can easily apply it."
Abi-Akar said she attends city council meetings and believes she could represent District 5's residents on issues like safety, growth, and infrastructure.
When it comes to growth, Abi-Akar said it's important to consider that District 5 is surrounded by farm land that also has value. That means the city needs to be smart when it considers where it spreads geographically, she said.
"Keep in mind the sustainability and lower greenhouse gasses on every level. Preserve the land that is high (productivity), fertile land and good for agriculture, yet at the same time, understandably, go and have more housing," she said.
She said she wants to work with the Peoria Area Chamber of Commerce, Realtors, and others to discuss how the city can grow "reasonably but also smartly," adding investing into more downtown residential space as one idea that could work for the city as a whole.
Abi-Akar said the city also should invest in talent attraction, focuding on the needs of small businesses and working people.
"They don't have to be only CEOs and engineers and so on. They can be at all levels of the working level," she said. "This is what will grow the city, and absolutely District 5 seems to be attractive to the professional residents who want to grow in terms of their work areas and in terms of growing businesses."
Abi-Akar said she also wants to be a voice for homeowners' associations on the city council.
The city's budget woes are projected to grow in the coming years as public safety pension obligations eat up a larger chunk of Peoria's revenues. The state requires that municipalities have fire and police pensions up to 90% funded by 2040.
For now, the city can pull money from the general fund to make pension payments while still exceeding the 25% reserve required by policy, but by 2030, it's projected that Peoria will need to adjust spending to hit that goal.
That could lead to some tough decisions down the road on what to fund, and how to fund it. Abi-Akar said she wouldn't take an absolutist approach for dealing with that challenge.
"It does not make sense to me to take a one side only, that there's absolutely no tax increases. I would not say that, but efficiency built into the budgeting has to come first, and if it's unavoidable, and it's the only way, we need to be smart about tax increases," she said. "What level of business can afford more to pay more taxes? I am open to look at both sides."
Abi-Akar is a member of the Peoria for Palestine group that regularly calls for the city council to take up a resolution calling for a ceasefire in the ongoing conflict in Gaza. The council has declined to bring such a resolution up for a vote. Abi-Akar said she would support a ceasefire resolution if it comes before the council, but also said she's not a "one issue candidate."
"I think this is a city worth putting a lot of effort into keeping it thriving and keeping it growing in every aspect," she said.
Abi-Akar will face incumbent 5th District councilman Denis Cyr next year. He was first elected to the city council in 2017 and is running for a third term.
