Foster Announces City Council Candidacy

Fond du Lac native, Lawrence Foster, has officially announced his candidacy for City Council run on April 6, 2021. In a Press Release, Foster stated, “I am announcing my candidacy for City Council because of my passion to drive positive change within the community I live, the community my friends and family call home, and for the betterment of our city’s future prospects. It is of my opinion that there is much opportunity to be discovered in Fond du Lac—just below the surface waiting to be realized. Many of us have ideas on how to move this city forward.

Most concerns that are circulating out there on our current state are cyclical in nature. If you start to pull the string, one item leads to another, then to another, and so on. With that in mind, the question becomes ‘where to start?’ Although it is impossible to please all or be the expert matter on all topics, it should be the goal of your council members to seek to understand your views, your needs, and your ‘why’. It is expected that voters would be eager to hear their candidate’s views, their ‘why’, and their vision. What drives my passion is when visiting other cities that have a certain feel and vibe that calls you back, I often ask myself ‘what do they have that we don’t have’. I think many can relate to that feeling—feels safe, feels cultured, feels progressive while maintaining a balanced traditional feel….. it feels as though there is stability. Stability equals longevity and growth. A community that our youth want to grow old in. A city that they can be proud to work for, work in, and continue to build for years to come.

I believe Fond du Lac has this potential and more! We could be easily capitalizing and leveraging our local highlights and our proximity to our neighboring major Wisconsin cities and attractions. So where do we start? First and foremost, we start together. We need unity on the topics that matter most. We need compromise and to set personal preference aside for what’s best for the greater whole. In order to work together, we need to find a means to communicate that allows the council to hear the community members’ voices. We need to build a platform that brings us to the table to discuss what’s at the heart of the topics you care most about, and an avenue to engage, receive feedback and explanations to pertinent questions on process and decisions being made. I’d like to say we then turn our attention to public safety. We need to feel safe to be effective, to be productive, and make a positive impact. Once we know our children are safe, our homes are safe and all that we sacrifice for is safe we can turn attention to other matters. Safety allows us to flourish and prosper.

Building jobs are important, supporting our large employers is important—yes, we want people to call Fond du Lac home—but what would make it also a destination? For those that have moved to our city or potential future residents of our city, where do they take their visiting family and friends? I’d like to explore how we can incentivize innovation in small businesses to achieve tourist activity while gaining the participation of our community as well. Growing our tourism dollars would make a large impact on our local economy. Additional funds lead to more advancement opportunities. The possibility to maximize our local treasures, further enthrall our student base into community engagement and advance our connectedness in a way that builds that feeling of community is all drivers that calls me to serve. Fond du Lac, we have great potential and I am hoping to explore and help build on that potential. We can settle for the current state, or we can take all of our positives and use them to pave our way to a better tomorrow—together.”