Aurora Voters Are Concerned About Big Business and Housing Development Growth

With election season right around the corner in Aurora, we reached out to local citizens and businesses to see what changes they want to see take place and what they enjoy about their community so far.

One very positive thing that came up a lot was the quality of Aurora schools. We talked to three groups who all agreed they loved Aurora local schools. Anna Sommers says she loves the local schools, both when she was in school and now for her three year-old. 

“Aurora historically has had just phenomenal schooling. I was a product of that. I appreciated the education that I got here,” Sommers explained “I really felt like it fostered learning how to think versus just knowing facts or what somebody else taught you. So I appreciate that, and I’m looking for that with my son. Just exposure to different ideas and different ways of thinking.”

Sommers recently moved back to Aurora, her childhood home, with her son after living in California for a number of years. She is a single mother, which is one of the reasons she moved back home. She wanted the support of family while helping to raise her son. 

Johanna Garber and Bryan Garber are the Owners of Evexia Cafe, a vegan and vegetarian cafe in Aurora. They agree that the schools are very good, but that is due to the cooperation between the parents and the schools.

It’s a really great school system. It’s a lot of it is the parents and the cooperation with the teachers. It’s a really strong community here. So I think that makes the schools better. And so we’ve loved being a part of it. I mean, our kids are doing great in the schools, we’ve had really good experiences with the teachers and pretty much good things to say all around.” said Johanna Garber

While discussing what they didn’t like about Aurora or where Aurora was going, some residents mentioned enjoying the “small town feel’ of Aurora and they didn’t like all the home developments in Aurora which messed up that feeling. Diane Viant, a citizen of Aurora for over 20 years, says she loves how small the local communities of schools are and worries that the new housing developments and large amounts of people moving in may jeopardize that. 

“I don’t want the school districts to grow more, but there is an influx of, I would say, building and housing development that I wish the community would actually stop.” Explained Viant.

In 2010 the population of Aurora was 15548. In 2020 the population grew to 17239. Some residents are more concerned about the rising number of big businesses in the area.

“When you go to big box stores, you don’t necessarily know the tellers.” Sommers said. “You definitely don’t know the people that are owning it and running it. You don’t know you know, the people that you run into there as much, whereas smaller places you tend to you tend to build those relationships with the businesses and the owners. and you see, Bob, at the hardware store, you see whomever. And it kind of creates that togetherness feel that some people look for in a small town. you don’t feel anonymous you feel seen and heard more.”

Johanna Garber agrees that small-town businesses are important. She believes that small businesses help to form a stronger-knit community in towns and cities.

“Small businesses give back to the community. We are members of the community. We have kids in this community. We care about Aurora. And we are here for Aurora. So we want to support the community and give back to it in any way that we can. I think when you have a community of small businesses and they’re working together and everyone is supporting that, it just builds a stronger community in general.”

It’s statistically clear that Aurora is growing, both in population and in industry. Local residents are afraid of how this growth will affect their community. To the residents of Aurora, it is a small closely knit community and they want to slow the growth.