She’s done it twice now, and we think she can do it again.

In the often fiery debates between incumbent Mayor Laurel Prussing and longtime Urbana resident Les Stratton, Prussing comes out on top. She has demonstrated her abilities not only in the mayoral primary debates throughout much of 2013 but also in what she has accomplished in the last eight years. She held her own then, and she can do so again in the election Tuesday against the Republican candidate Rex Bradfield.

So that Urbana can continue to see the development it has in recent years, we want to see Laurel Prussing re-elected for her third term.

Four years ago when The Daily Illini Editorial Board endorsed Prussing over Bradfield, there was a bit more of a difficult decision: Urbana was still making its way through a downturn in the economy, and the next mayor would be instrumental in leading the city to a successful recovery. And she did.

Businesses grew (like the Common Ground Food Co-Op in the Lincoln Square Mall), the Olympia Drive project began, North Lincoln Avenue started to get the treatment it needs, and the Landmark Hotel acquired a private benefactor to restore it. 

She has proven herself, but there is still work to be done, especially those projects which affect University students. Urbana has given renters, a large share of whom are students, some rights that are far superior to its Champaign counterpart, but the roads surrounding them need improvements yet. This goal may be the only issue on which we side more with Bradfield.

Prussing has said that her administration’s main focus has been on select core roads — those with heavy traffic — but we place high priority on them for added safety.

Her efforts to remedy the crime in Urbana, especially in the southwest part of the city, have worked, and we think that she can continue to bolster public safety in another term in office.

We like her efforts to beautify Boneyard Creek because the look and feel of the city are especially important to its residents. The beautification project may not add another business downtown, but it would clean up the creek, which runs through campus.

Prussing has taken this election by a wide margin before, and she took down her early opponent Stratton easily in the primary. She didn’t earn those votes by sheer luck.

The debates have shown that the election will largely be an issue-driven choice, giving voters a clear decision when they take to the polls.

We were confident in her election in 2009, and we are again for the next term as well. But above all, we echo the same sentiment we had four years ago: We choose Prussing because we see no reason to fix something that’s not broken.