Hammond voters have two choices for their next mayor: the three-term incumbent who says he wants to finish out his goals or the competitor who argues he’s the one who will be here for the next four years.
Mayor Thomas McDermott, a Democrat, is seeking his fourth term in office, which he says will likely be his last. Republican challenger Humberto Prado argues that McDermott is unlikely to finish a fourth term, however, pointing to comments the mayor has made about wanting to seek a higher office.
“My biggest concern is him saying he wants to run for other offices,” Prado said. “He’s not going to last a year (as mayor).”
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McDermott, who defeated Hammond City Councilman Homero “Chico” Hinojosa in the primary race, admitted he would like to eventually run for a higher office but said it would just depend on when an opportunity opens up. Until then, McDermott said, he remains committed to the city, as he has been for the past 12 years.
“I’ve been here 12 years, and nobody’s ever had a problem with my loyalty,” he said, adding that lots of things could happen that would stop someone from serving a full term.
If re-elected, McDermott would become the longest-serving mayor in the city’s history, and he said he thinks anything past a fourth term would be too much. However, he still has a few goals he wants to accomplish, including connecting the city’s bike trails and addressing the problem of City Hall. He said to fix the problems with the current building, on Calumet Avenue, would cost about $5 million. He thinks City Hall could help revitalize the downtown area on Hohman Avenue if they moved to a new building, but that would cost $15 million.
McDermott said he also wants to continue his work to keep crime down and bring more people to the city.
“That’s really what I do (as mayor),” he said. “…I think we’ve been successful.”
The mayor said he also wants to continue improving the city’s program to raise revenue by selling its water to other communities. There are several cities in Illinois that McDermott said the city could expand service to, although another issue is the fact that the city’s current water building is almost at capacity.
He said he wants to look during his next term at possibly building a second water plant to help the city grow its customer base, although he admitted such a project would not be finished before he ended his time as mayor.
“Hammond’s future is in water sales,” McDermott said.
He also argued that the city’s finances and issues are so complex it would take his challenger at least two years to get a handle on them.
His challenger says he wants to focus on developing the city’s interior. He argued the mayor is focusing too much on the very north and south borders of the city when it comes to development and that too much of the businesses coming are corporate retail stores.
Prado, who has lived in Hammond for 12 years and ran unsuccessfully for mayor in 2011, said he would instead focus on bringing in small business owners, who he said bring character to a city and also usually live in the same area as their businesses.
He pointed to the area by the city’s South Shore Line train station, where people from outside the city come every day but then don’t spend any time because of a lack of businesses.
“This is a perfect example of how this city can bloom,” he said.
The mayor defended the city’s recent development, saying that the businesses choose where they want to develop. McDermott also argued that the city has had several recent development projects on Conkey Street in the center of the city, such as Root Brothers Manufacturing, which took over a building the city had used for storage.
Prado said he wants to cut the red tape businesses must deal with to move in and would try to increase the city’s quality of life to induce young adults to move there.
Prado added that he also wants to bring in more residential development to help encourage more people to move to the city. He suggested investing in outdoor art projects to beautify the city and bringing in businesses such as sports bar to provide things for people to do.
“You have to sell your city,” he said.
Prado says he also sees the city’s police department as its top priority and wants to hire more officers so the current officers aren’t overworked. He admits doing so on the city’s tight budget would be difficult, but says he would have to take a look at the budget.
He also argued the city is spending too much on contracts to tear down vacant homes. Better deals would allow the city to not only tear down more homes, Prado said, but to also buy the properties and then sell them to residential developers.
Prado, a Republican vying for a seat in a city known for its Democratic leaning, said he wants voters to know that not all Republicans are like the conservative, older generation of the GOP. He added that although this would be his first elected position, his experience owning a martial arts businesses means he knows how to run a company, which he argued is similar to running a city. Prado also said he would quit his day job as a global Mac strategist if he wins election.
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