Right, not spite

Yep … they’re still at it folks.

In light of the lawsuit, President Sarto directed staff to postpone work on a draft of a controversial ordinance viewed by many across the US as targeting immigrants. And, Sarto also said he would hold off on appointments to the “Improvement Committee”, which has also been seen in the community as focusing on one segment of the population.

Trustee’s Paul Humpfer and Judy Sigwalt didn’t like the action.

He is a village president, not a king. said Humpfer.

However, Sarto is the Chief Executive Officer of the Village. Per the Carpentersville Municipal Code:

The president shall be and shall have the powers and perform the duties of chief executive officer of the village, shall preside at all meetings of the board, and shall devote to the responsibilities of his or her office such time and endeavor as the faithful discharge thereof may require.

As such, he is not simply another member of the Board, or having merely the powers of Trustees.

That said, I believe it is a good idea to postpone the work and enactment of the ordinance and committee, particularly in light of the lawsuit that has been filed. While it would have been better for Sarto to bring this first to the Board if he did not mention to them that they remove it from the agenda, I believe it is the right and prudent to take this action.

However, even in absence of this being brought to the whole Board first, the Board should not vote to proceed with these things as a matter of political spite. No matter what we eventually learn of the facts of the lawsuit, the present situation in Carpentersville is demonstrative of bigotry and bias.

Leaders in this community are those that recognize that fact and stand up to to speak out and do something about it.

But, there are others simply come up with slogans and rhetoric to tell the people that they shouldn’t feel what they are feeling. Those are not leaders.

What have these trustees done to bridge the divide that exists in Carpentersville? People in the community feel targeted. What have they done to reach out to those people and put them at ease?

In September/October 2006, they came up with an ordinance that worried a lot of people.

What did they do to reassure those people? Said, “It’s not about race. It’s about what’s legal”. (Making attempts to change the law.) And, the told them they needed to learn English; which worried them — even those that spoke English — more.

And, what did they do to reassure them, then? Told them they were going to come gunning for “code violators”. Which made them and others — even those who kept their property looking pretty good — feel more worried.

And, what did they do to reassure them, then? They said “watch out! We’re going to modify the laws to come for your vehicles!”

They haven’t done one thing to try to ease people’s minds about what they are doing. Telling someone “It’s not about race” when there are impressions (real or not) of a pattern that it is about race, hasn’t done anything to put the community at ease.

Now, with a lawsuit pending that is zeroing in on that pattern, the Board shouldn’t forge ahead like cowboys trying to tame the wild west. They need to step back, save the town from bankruptcy and heal the wounds that people have in the community.