MEET DAVE

Kankakee Raised

A proud Kankakeean from the beginning, Dave was born in 1983 to Dennis and Deb Baron and grew up in Kankakee’s Riverview neighborhood where he played Jaycees Little League baseball and attended St. Patrick’s Church.  After graduating from Bishop McNamara High School, Dave attended the University of Notre Dame and Harvard Law School.

From there, Dave began his legal career in Chicago with the firm of Sidley Austin, and after repaying his student loans, he became a constitutional lawyer for the City of Chicago, handling a variety of cases that included challenges to the City’s food truck rules, affordable housing ordinance, and changes to Wrigley Field.

Though living in Chicago, much of Dave’s attention was still on Kankakee County.  Dave spent his free time researching the history of Pembroke Township, the impoverished community located in the southeastern corner of the county.  After first encountering the community as a teenager, Dave came to believe that Pembroke’s rich history and unique cultural intersectionality offer insights into building connections among diverse people in our broader communities.  After additional years of research and drafting, Dave released Pembroke: A Rural, Black Community on the Illinois Dunes, which was published in 2016 by SIU Press and received the Illinois State Historical Society’s Award for Superior Achievement.

While living in Chicago, one of Dave’s high school classmates set him up with her coworker because, as she describes it, they both liked weird restaurants and long distance running.  Dave and Anya Hurtado discovered they had considerably more in common, and they got married in 2017.

Coming Back Home

As Dave and Anya began to think about starting a family, they identified in Kankakee many qualities they wanted—the intimacy of a mid-sized community, rich diversity in many forms, proximity to a major American city, an actively growing downtown, and beautiful historic neighborhoods.  So they brought a home in Dave’s old neighborhood of Riverview and began their family.  They now have two sons, Remy, age 5, and Theo, age 3, both of whom love to explore parks across the City.

Dave currently works as an attorney for the Kankakee law firm of Deck & Baron where he maintains a general civil practice.  He also serves as Vice President of Visit Kankakee County, Marketing Chair for Downtown Kankakee (KDC), and Board Member of the Kankakee Riverfront Society.  Since returning to Kankakee, he has co-authored award-winning plans for neighborhood development and helped to attract millions of dollars in new investment to the City.

Representing the 2nd Ward

On the City Council, Dave serves as Chair of the Community Development Committee and Vice Chair of the Economic Development Committee.  In his first year as an Alderman, Dave successfully urged the Council to adopt a video gaming café moratorium, allowing the City to consider whether the expansion of gaming was good for the community.  Thanks to his efforts the Council imposed a cap on the number of gaming cafes in the City and closed the sweepstakes gaming loophole..

When the City of Kankakee was obligated to hold a referendum on whether to retain its Home Rule status, Dave led the campaign to “Save Kankakee & Vote No on giving up our Home Rule”.  Marshalling the support of all 14 alderpeople, the clerk, mayor, and many others, Dave helped ensure that our community retained the best tools available to keep the community strong.  The successful campaign has strengthened the City’s financial position, enabling it to save millions for taxpayers by issuing pension obligation bonds and eliminate the regressive Vehicle Sticker Tax for all Kankakeeans.

Dave says that the most rewarding aspect of being an alderman is getting to know the stories and livelihoods of 2nd Ward residents. Through an active social media presence, regular ward meetings, seasonal updates in the mail, and timely responses to residents’ concerns, Dave prioritizes constituent service as an elected representative of his community and invites everyone to the table to offer their ideas for building up Kankakee.