Opponents of library referendum only hurting themselves
I once had a boss who sometimes approached problems in an interesting way. When he was asked to approve a project that he thought should be done more quickly, he would sometimes delay in signing it hoping to pressure the project manager into agreeing to a more aggressive schedule. The problem was that my boss had no experience in project management. So rather than relying on the experience of his subordinates to know how long a project should take, he delayed it even more by refusing to approve it. So the project that he wanted done by July, but would practically take until September, actually got completed in October because he waited a month to approve it.
I’m afraid I am seeing the same dynamic happening with the Forest Park Library tax referendum issue. Your front page article seems to imply that some people who are unhappy with the state of the library may vote against a tax referendum. But why would anyone who wants more books in the collection and more staff to assist patrons refuse to approve a tax referendum? Will voting down a referendum improve the quality of the library? I don’t think so. Who would you be hurting by voting against a tax referendum, yourself or the Library Board?
Dwight Decker
Townhouses would damage character of neighborhood
I oppose the ownhouses that will be built at 504-508 S. Elgin Ave. I live next door to these properties and these Townhouses would be only 10 feet from my property.
I have lived here since 1958 and I feel that these Townhouses do not fit in with the rest of the block. Most houses are either one family or two-flats.
Betty Lucey
Don’t sell out to developers
As a homeowner, by definition, I am a property owner, and as a property owner I want to see the rights of property owners protected. As a Forest Park resident I want to see the community continuously improve, prosper and experience reasonable growth. I think most of us in Forest Park share these sentiments of protecting property owners’ rights and promoting improvements in our community. But here is the catch”Who defines what is improvement and who decides which parties should prevail when the interest of property owners’ rights are in conflict with the interests of the community.
As example, we should all have the right to the full use of the property that we have worked 20 or 30 vehicles on the front lawn, who added on to their property in such a way as to diminish the value of everyone else’s, who clogged the sewers and overloaded the storm drains and who drove their many vehicles up and down what was once a quiet residential street, most of us would feel that the people of the neighborhood would have the right, in fact the obligation, to have the Village government intervene on behalf of the good of all of us, and limit the actions of the one aberrant property owner.
This is the situation that the residents of Elgin Avenue face with the impending permitting of a four-story, twelve-unit condominium building on property that now has 2 two-story houses.
Forest Park was once a small, not too prosperous, way stop on the road to Chicago. We have grown since those days through building”some of which required the tearing down of old structures and the building of new. The current village administration has done a great job of attracting new businesses and revitalizing the main business district, Madison Street. So we all recognize that some change is necessary and that certain changes can be good, but at what point do we move from transforming our village to deforming our neighborhoods, and our quality of life?
Many of us have lived in Forest Park our whole lives and have enjoyed a certain quality of life and many have moved to Forest Park to get away from the overcrowding of the areas that surround us. We owe it to those who have made Forest Park home, newcomers and lifelong residents, to preserve values of home and community while continuing to prosper and grow. If we are to accomplish both we must demand rational growth and careful improvement. We look to the community and the village to recognize these values now, before it is too late, and to stop any variance to zoning or other codes that would allow a project such as the one on Elgin Avenue to proceed unchecked.
This petition is not just about Elgin Avenue, it is about what we want Forest Park to look and be like in the future. We can maintain our sense of home and community or we can sell out to every developer who lives somewhere else and would exploit what we have for their own gain”until Forest Park becomes like so many other places and there is no premium left to be had. The time to take a stand is now or prepare to see your street, your neighborhood and your quality of life change.
Trudy Roznos
