Interview with Ald. Roderick Sawyer

“No one should have to leave their neighborhood for essential services or to entertain yourself,” said Alderman Roderick T. Sawyer (6th Ward) during his interview conducted by League member Annie Logue.  

The interview, which premiered on March 18, is available for viewing on our YouTube channel.

Here are a few highlights from Ald. Sawyer’s interview:

• Key issues for his ward: Safety and education, which intertwine with each other, as well as with active business strips. Employment from the businesses reduces loitering and crime, and there is a need for an educated workforce.

• One improvement for the City Council operations: A lawyer for the City Council. The members can utilize the City’s Corporation Counsel, but those lawyers report to the mayor. Ald. Sawyer would like the Council to have its own attorney(s).

• Redistricting: While open to the conversation about an independent commission, he is a big proponent of aldermen drawing the maps. A key goal for him is to keep communities together, and he wants to make sure the communities in his ward remain intact under any new map.

• One goal: Improve the commercial corridors, both for those essential services and entertainment for the neighborhood, but also to be a destination spot for others.