KALAMAZOO, MI (WKZO AM/FM) — With local elections just weeks away, Kalamazoo City Commission candidates are hard at work campaigning for a seat on the board.
Chris Praedel is a director of events at Western Michigan University and is running as a candidate for City Commission.
“I love this city, lived here my entire life,” Praedel said. “My roots run very deep here, and [I have] spent pretty much every moment of my life here and every aspect of my life here. Now that I have two kids and a third on the way, I kind of look at is as that I want to leave the city better than I found it and create a future we can be proud to hand over to the next generation.”
Praedel has been learning about issues citizens care about by going door-to-door with his campaign.
“Right now, they are concerned about the mosquito spray, that was the big thing this weekend with knocking on doors,” Praedel said. “Recreational marijuana is a good one, the ‘complete streets’ plan happening downtown where it’s potentially going to two-way traffic. The thing that I find most fascinating is how willing and open people are to talk about things on their mind.”
One area of focus for Praedel is Downtown Kalamazoo and affordable housing.
“Mixed-income housing is gonna be incredibly important and affordable housing is gonna be incredibly important,” Praedel said. “We really need to stay focused on making sure that when development is happening that we’re not forgetting about people who are right on the cusp of paying their bills or the working poor. We need to make sure that there is housing available for everybody.”
Praedel has some ideas of how to tackle the issue of affordable housing.
“Mid-level housing, where you have maybe two to eight units in a housing unit, those fit in pretty well in a lot of neighborhoods,” Praedel said. “You don’t always have to put a big complex with 150 units to make a difference and put a dent into it.”
Praedel also wants to get younger people more involved and interested in local government politics.
“[Local government is] the meat and potatoes of our lives,” Praedel said. “Chances are this morning you turned on the sink and trusted that you had clean water to brush your teeth and take a shower. There’s hard-working men and women every single day that are thinking about those things and making sure that the things we take for granted are things that we can continue to take for granted.”
Praedel has a long-term vision for the City of Kalamazoo if elected.
“I’d love to live in a city where families can go out and enjoy the outdoors because we have the best parks in the region,” Praedel said. “I’d love to live in a city where we’re really making a dent and almost nearly eradicating poverty so that people aren’t struggling to get by every single day, and we take care of each other.”
The election is scheduled just over a month away on Saturday, November 5th.
