Lifelong Norman resident John Argo running for Ward 2 seat

Lifetime Norman resident John Argo has once again thrown his hat in the ring to run for public office — this time, for the Norman City Council Ward 2 seat.

Argo has run for public office on a number of occasions in the past two years, running unsuccessfully twice for the Ward 2 seat and as a Democrat for Congressional District 4.

In an interview with The Transcript, he said he runs for office because he “loves Norman” and wants to continue to make it a better place to live.

“Norman is a great place with great people,” he said. “It’s been really good to me and my family, and I want to give back and now’s the time I can do it. But part of the problem we’re running into right now is there’s so much divisiveness. People just, just don’t want to work with each other down here, and I think I can bridge that gap.”

A Norman resident of more than 50 years, Argo said he’s built connections with people from all walks of life and believes everybody has something they can bring to the table.

One of his main priorities is to fix the relationship between Norman businesses and the city, he said. He wants to work with people, try and make Norman more business-friendly and a more welcoming place to build without all the hoops people have to jump through, he said.

“I work a lot with businesses, contractors and builders, and Norman has a bad reputation for building, and whether it’s deserved or not, I just think I can work between the businesses and the city of Norman and rebuild that the reputation,” he said. “I think we can make [Norman] a more friendly place to build without sacrificing the quality that we need to look for.”

One of the big things Argo would like to see fixed in Ward 2 is the traffic problem in front of Whittier Middle School that has spurred up, he said. He wants to think of ways to fix the problem and make it safer for students and their parents.

“Some people say, ‘Well, that’s a school issue, and the school board should fix it,’ but it’s really a traffic issue, and maybe there is something we can work as a City Council, hand-in-hand with the schools, to [address],” he said.

Argo also said he strongly supports the police and thinks they need to be funded in order for Norman to be a safer community.

“If they do something wrong, I’m the first one to call them out, but we got to have a police force. We don’t have a community without police,” he said. “So I’m willing to work with the police, work with public schools and work with whatever it takes to make Norman a better community and a safer community, because without that, you don’t have anything.”