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Lisa Gregory for City Council 2023

Lisa Gregory is a candidate for City Council in the 2023 Decatur Election and will be on the ballot in Macon County, Illinois.

Campaign Platform

Written by Reed Sutman on Mar 24, 2023

Lisa Gregory's top three priorities are neighborhood revitalization, workforce development, and improving downtown Decatur. She would like to continue demolitions of defunct structures and wants "more aggressive code enforcement, property inspections, and other enforcement strategies to improve our housing stock." She'd like to support large "catalyst" projects like the Jasper Street Corridor and Garfield project that spur further improvements.

Gregory wants to help workforce development agencies better connect & find "the right champion" to "[coordinate] our workforce initiatives." She wants to develop a five-pillar plan for Downtown Decatur including a market analysis, zoning & code enforcment unique to downtown, design elements, tourism and promotion, and economic vitality. She firmly opposes cannabis dispensaries. She is pro-police. She approved a restriction on downtown park access at night, but advocated for reducing the fee from $150+ down to $25. She opposes changes to state law regarding TIF Districts.

Lisa was elected to city council in 2015 & re-elected in 2019. She has previously served as a legislative liaison for Illinois Department of Revenue, Executive Driector of Public Information at Richland Community College, Chief of Staff at Richland Community College, and worked with/for the Illinois Municipal League, Illinois State Treasurer’s Office, Illinois General Assembly, Illinois Primary Health Care Association, and Decatur Memorial Hospital. She is currently a Public service administrator for Illinois Department of Health and Family Services, and is a Republican Precinct Committeewoman.

Lisa Gregory is endorsed by Central Illinois PAC, Decatur Labor & Trades Assembly, and Mayor Julie Moore Wolfe.

Please use the feedback box at the bottom of the page to suggest any information we are missing. Unless otherwise noted, all "quotes" are of Lisa Gregory.

Policy Positions

Public Safety: Pro-police. "There's absolutely no doubt that every member sitting at this table supports our officers, and we have done our best to show that to you," said Councilwoman Lisa Gregory in July 2021.
Cannabis Dispensaries: Opposed to having Cannabis Dispensaries in Decatur. Has previously voted against them. Re-iterated her stance at March 8th 2023 Forum.
Downtown Park Closure, Fines: Voted in favor of a $25 fine for anyone in Downtown Decatur Parks from midnight to 6am. This was a change from the initial proposal of $150+ fine from 10pm - 6am. Gregory advocated for the change to midnight & fee reduction. There was a lot of opposition to this ordinance.
TIF Districts: Gregory supports their current implementation & opposes new Illinois Legislation that would shorten TIF District designations & allow School Boards to opt out of TIF.

Goals

"to make decisions that would positively impact our community"
Continue neighborhood revitalization efforts
Workforce Development
Improve Downtown Decatur
Continue demolitions, and "more aggressive code enforcement, property inspections, and other enforcement strategies to improve our housing stock."
To support "'catalyst' projects that are large and visible enough to spur improvements," like the "Jasper Street Corridor and the Garfield School / Park projects."
Connect different entities together for workforce development: "we need to connect the dots and ensure that they are all working together. Finding the right champion among this group will be key to coordinating our workforce initiatives."
Develop a five-pillar written plan for improving Downtown Decatur, in part to help with securing state & federal grant money. Pillars include: A market analysis, zoning & code enforcment unique to downtown, design elements, tourism and promotion, and economic vitality.

Statements / Quotes

"When I initially ran for the city council, I did not run on a platform that focused on a specific issue(s), but simply on the idea that I wanted to make decisions that would positively impact our community. The same holds true for my re-election efforts this year."
"I have secured over $12 million in federal and state funding for federally qualified health centers (such as Crossing Healthcare) and over $5 million for higher education (Richland Community College)."
She says our neighborhoods need to "come together" and tell the city what they want for their community & that she doesn't believe in "top-down government".
She says the city has worked with owners of vacant lots to ensure the city has ownership of contiguous lots in a block, rather than properties "spread out in a shotgun fashion", which allows them to talk to developers about investing in the community.
She says they have worked with DPS 61 to put together a training to teach students how to make good choices. She says she really thinks that "we are working together."
She says Decatur Police do an excellent job and that our crime rate is "much lower" than Springfield or Champaign, before talking about many people & kids needing to learn conflict resolution instead of picking up a gun.
She talks about a ride-along she participated in where six police cars came to coral 60 children at the movie theater, and parents were sometimes "worse than the children" when they came to pick up their kids. She said we have resources in town to teach moms and dads how to be parents.
Lisa Gregory worked at the Illinois Department of Revenue while cannabis legislation was being drafted, and she says the drafters of the legislation "absolutely knew that the sale of marijuana would cause problems in communities." She says they addressed this by allocating funds for drug rehab and "the list is long."
She says "I am not willing to sell the soul of my community for a few bucks," in regard to allowing cannabis dispensaries.
Gregory talked about previously extending bus service hours so people can get home from work, modifying routes to get people to richland, and providing free bus rides to high school students as some accomplishments.
Says she "championed" the fiber optic network "which connects municipal buildings with higher education institutions, saving taxpayer dollars."

Current Roles / Jobs

Republican precinct committeewoman
City Council member
Public service administrator for Illinois Department of Health and Family Services

Endorsed By

Mayor Julie Moore Wolfe - "Lisa has been an amazing councilwoman and I look forward to her being there four more years — at least," according to Herald & Review
Central Illinois PAC
Decatur Labor & Trades Assembly

Past roles / Jobs

Elected to City Council in 2015
Re-elected to City Council in 2019
Legislative liaison for Illinois Department of Revenue
Executive Driector of public information at Richland Community College
Chief of staff at Richland Community College
Illinois Municipal League, role not known
Illinois State Treasurer’s Office, role not known
Illinois General Assembly, role not known
Illinois Primary Health Care Association, role not known
Decatur Memorial Hospital, role not known

Personal History / Info

Decatur Native
Her paternal grandfather worked as a minister at a local church, her other grandfather worked for Wabash Railroad, and her grandmother was a supervisor at GE.
She is a mother of 3 kids & grandmother of 2
Attended Richland & Sangamon State University