By Press Times Staff

DE PERE – Incumbent Kelly Ruh will face challenger Pamela Gantz April 5 for the District 2 seat on the De Pere City Council.
District 2 includes portions of the city on the east side of the Fox River.
The Press Times emailed each candidate the same question and gave them 200 words to respond.
What do you see as the most important issue facing the City of De Pere and District 2, and if elected, how will you address it?

Kelly Ruh

A: The Southern Bridge is the most important issue for De Pere residents and businesses.
If you’re like me, you dread crossing the bridge at rush hour.
For semis hauling loads in/out of our industrial parks, navigating through the downtown is extremely challenging.
To accommodate growth in the area, the Southern Bridge connector is no longer an option – it’s a necessity.
The Southern Bridge is key to attracting new businesses to locate in our industrial parks, which in turn will bring new jobs and additional tax revenue to the city.
It will also ease congestion in the downtown, which will provide for continued revitalization and growth in our downtown.
As an alderperson, my voting record supports this bridge and, if reelected, I will continue to advocate for this bridge to become a reality.
To date, I have voted for the necessary financial commitments to the design and development of an interchange at Interstate 41, part of the Southern Bridge corridor.
Many homeowners of District 2 will be directly impacted, especially those along Rockland Road and in close proximity to it.
I will work to coordinate with the city and county to minimize disruption to residents while balancing the needs of our businesses.

Pamela Gantz

A: The most important issue being proposed in our community right now is the South Bridge connector project.
As your alderperson for District 2, I’ll support the new South Bridge connector, because it has the potential to bring serious economic development opportunities to our community, improve our public infrastructure, increase safety for southern De Pere and Brown County and make travel more efficient for De Pere citizens and visitors.
Though there are some concerns on its construction and the resulting short-term increase in rerouted traffic through residential areas (like my own neighborhood), the South Bridge connector will invite long-term new development near our part of the community, and bring more small businesses, grocery stores and other amenities that improve our standard of living and make our neighborhoods vibrant.