Changing image lies with Board

One of the items listed in the “Existing Conditions Report” that was presented January 2006 was that Carpentersville has an image problem. It was something many of the business owners and residents surveyed for the report listed as a top concern.

Without a doubt, the recent targeting of Hispanics “illegals” in the Village, and the Board’s combative discussions, have expanded that poor image. Articles casting the town in a poor light have appeared not only in the local Chicago papers, but also in the New York Times Magazine, CNN and USA Today. Village President Bill Sarto stated at the last Board meeting that he has been contacted by several media outlets around the country, including a news organization from Miami, FL intending to do a piece on Carpentersville and illegal immigration.

So, what needs to be done to improve the Village’s image?

• Improvement of roads, sidewalks, parks and open space needs to be Job One! Fortunately, this has begun to be significantly addressed in the past 2 years. There is plenty of work left to be done, however.

• Focusing on creation of ordinances that would most likely penalize a large segment of the population needs to stop. The Board and Village staff need to get creative to come up with ways to restore pride in Carpentersville.

• Members of the Board need to stop being critical of each other in the press. Just as I’ve made the focus of this blog, ideas, instead of people and personalities, need to be addressed. The Board must lead this, so that it hopefully extends to the residents as well.

• Now that zoning and design codes have been updated, there needs to be a focus on creating development — retail/commercial especially — that will improve the aesthetics and vibrancy of Carpentersville needs to be actively pursued. The Board and staff, together, should look at what surrounding communities are doing, and have in the works, and work on things to complement those communities.

There is a good deal of things in the Comprehensive Plan that would help the town significantly … if everyone was focused on each goal. One thing that was interesting about what was said in the surveys to create the “Existing Conditions Report” was that the diversity of the community was seen as a strength. For the last year, some members of the Board have been acting like it is a weakness that must be dealt with.

All of these things will go far to repairing the image of Carpentersville and helping to achieve the vision laid out in the Comprehensive Plan. With the events of the last year … the Village may be as far from that as we are with creating a permanent colony on the moon.

News Links

Here are a few news links that didn’t appear under the “Carpentersville News” section in the sidebar …

• Courier-News: State bans use of residency checking tool

A new Illinois law forbids employers from using an online tool to check the residency status of recently hired workers.

• USA Today: Cities get at illegal immigrants through cars

The nearby city of Elgin, Ill., broadened its towing ordinance last month to cover unlicensed drivers. Officials in Carpentersville, Ill., were scheduled to discuss whether to adopt a similar ordinance Tuesday.

• Daily Herald: After 1 year, immigration activist to leave churc

Arellano planned to formally announce Wednesday a Sept. 12 trip to Washington D.C. during which she plans to lobby Congress for immigration reform…

• Daily Herald: Red definitely means stop at Huntley, Randall intersection

Whoa! No right turn on red at Randall Road for you westbound Huntley Road drivers. Stop that!

BTW, today marks Day 16 of Border Patrol Ad Watch. The good news is that job postings allowing residents to take a position which allows them to remain a resident of the Village now outnumbers the ones that require them to leave by a margin of 2-to-1. It’d be nice to see that be 100% of all jobs posted on the website, but keeping it up there is kind of par for the course. It is an testament to the kind of obstinance that the Village government has become notorious for.

Besides, they aren’t going to do anything that might showcase the fact that this blog is making an impact.