Sarto pleased with successful fest

Yesterday I posted an update on Autumn Fest, held Sunday in Carpenter Park — it was the first fest in the park since Jamboree Days ended in 1998, and the first parade in the Village since 1960(!).

I wrote in yesterday’s post that I was planning to contact members of the Board to get their thoughts and impressions of how the Fest went.

The following is what I hope is the first of comments from each member of the Board:

As someone who has advocated that the Village encourage and promote more events for our residents: I was very pleased to see how successful the parade and Autumn Festival were on Sunday. This was a real shot in the arm for keeping this theme going. We proved that we can do it.

Carpentersville needs some Village wide events to help bring us together as a community. We are lacking certain things in this Village that surrounding Villages have had for many years. First of all, Carpentersville does not have a central business district (a downtown). The old town area of the Village is set up more like a New England style Mill Town. The riverfront properties are where the industrial buildings still stand today. Other communities around us and up and down the Fox River have their “Downtown’s” located where we have our old factories. Granted, OTTO engineering is an exception. The Roeser’s, both Jack and Tom Roeser, have done a wonderful job of dressing up their properties and this has been a terrific improvement to the look of the old town area. The new Main Street bridge has made a big difference as well. But, my point is, we really don’t have a central area of our Village for people to come together and shop and interact with each other.

This is the reason that we need festivals and parades and events for us to really interact as a community. Events serve a couple of important purposes. They give the business owners a chance to highlight what services and products they provide. They also give the residents the opportunity to be entertained and fellowship with other members of the community. Both of these are necessary for the health and vitality of any community.

Personally, I welcome more parades and more events in the coming years. We had a very good start this year having two festivals and one parade. This should be what we build on in the coming years. Each year it should become easier to put these events together. We have laid a solid foundation this year and now it’s up to our community to continue to build on that strong footing.

Carpentersville has a long tradition for being innovative. We were one of the first communities in the country to build a shopping mall, we had a world famous auto raceway at one time. Those were places for people to come together to shop and find entertainment. In short, these things brought us closer. That has been missing for some time now. We do need the festivals to bring us back together. I hope that the two festivals and parade of 2007, mark the beginning of many good things to come for our Village.

Bill Sarto – President
Village of Carpentersville

Truly “no room for negative in Sarto’s speech”

With about 50 people gathered in the Village Hall Board Room to listen, including the Trustees (with exception of Paul Humpfer), State Senator Michael Noland, Kane County Board Member Hollie Kissane, Kane County Board Member and Dundee Township Republican Chairman, John Noverini, Dundee Township Democratic Chairman, Judge Robert Steffen, and a handful of Village staff members, Carpentersville Village President Bill Sarto gave the first State of the Village address in anyone’s memory on Tuesday night.

Illinois statutes allow municipal leaders to give an annual address, but few seem to take advantage of it. With all the negative attention focused on Carpentersville in the past year, it was good that Sarto took the time to highlight the numerous accomplishments in the Village over the past 2 years, since he took office.

When first announced, there was concern by some that only the positive would be addressed in the speech, but in reality there truly was no room for negatives in the 38-minute address. Some might even say that the positive atmosphere in the Village Board room was refreshing. One can hope that it will carry over to next week’s meeting of the Village Board.

At approximately 7:02pm, with Village Trustees Ritter, Hinz and Ramirez-Sliwinski settled in their seats at various places around the Board room, Sarto began. Trustee Sigwalt arrived about 4 minutes into the address, followed by Trustee Teeter about 5 minutes later, each taking a seat in the back row.

As your Village President, I come before you this evening to report that the State of the Village of Carpentersville is strong and moving forward.

Though stumbling on his words a few times, Sarto provided details of the achievements of the various Village departments, including the areas of Public Safety, Economic Development/Planning, Public Works, Engineering, Finance, Information Technology and Volunteer Comittees and Commissions. Rather than attribute these things to any one person or department in the Village, Sarto spread the love. This felt far from a “look what I have done for you” speech.

Our success and future success can only happen with dedicated hard work and with a concerted team effort…

No one person, acting alone, can get this Village where it ought to be.

Sarto showcased the many ways the Village is working to address the concerns of residents; concerns that some feel can only be addressed by establishing illegal immigration ordinances (which he never mentioned at all, even in passing). In each case, Sarto offered a number of examples of the good that Village staff is doing for residents.

Looking to the future with hope, based on what has been accomplished in the past 2 years with the effort and determination of everyone, Sarto concluded his address by saying:

Our future is up to you and me. It’s up to us. We can make a difference.

[It would probably be wishful thinking to say the bolded and underlined “can” was a subtle homage to this blog … 😉 Continuing on…]

My hope for Carpentersville is the same as yours. We must never stop dreaming with the enduring confidence of the ages knowing that through hard work and perseverance that dreams do come true.

Provided that the Board can work together on these items, it seems that Carpentersville is in a good place. Perhaps this Board, with Sarto sitting in the President’s seat, isn’t as bad as the one issue that has been continually gnawing at everyone in the town. Hopefully businesses will see the significant improvements in the Village — although admittedly much work remains — and will see the opportunities there.

[Read the 2007 State of the Village]

I’ll probably have some more analysis of the content tomorrow …

[Wednesday A.M. UPDATE: Links to Newspaper reports ….]

Courier-News: Sarto says state of C’ville is ‘strong’

Daily Herald: Sarto emphasizes positive in Village

Of course, it should come as no surprise, especially to those that have ever attended a Board meeting, that Trustee Sigwalt was the only one to speak in the negative. Sounded like sour grapes to me. It might have been good for Sarto to mention some of those others … but he sent the right message, and had a large number of examples to back it up, so it wasn’t all just a “feel-good”. That was the focus. And, it was to emphasize that much more work needs to get done — these good things need to continue.

I’m sure Sigwalt will have to make some complaint about it in her Trustee Report on Tuesday night, though…

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.

Trustees appear to have no plan

As was mentioned in an entry last Tuesday, an email was sent to all the members of the Village Board, requesting a few brief comments about their plans and ideas for the future of Carpentersville. Of the trustees, only Trustee Ritter responded. His response was less than favorable.

Here is his reply:

Hi,

I am sorry, but I do not respond to unsigned emails. Please provide a name and phone number and I will be glad to contribute.

Ed Ritter

Now, I will not quibble with the fact that my email was, basically, unsigned. A level of anonymity was established for this blog from the outset. It was setup this way for two reasons, 1) to focus on the information and not the person(s) contributing to this blog; this is also why anonymous comments are allowed on this blog; and, 2) to prevent reprisals against those associated with the blog or bloggers. Based on the track record of Carpentersville politics, the need for #2 should be understandable. While this would appear to some as allowing for freedom to bash officials and those who disagree with us, we realized that doing so would also impugn our credibility. Every effort has been, and will be, made to keep from intentionally slandering someone — except when they really deserve it. 🙂

Next, referring to the response — or lack of it — received from the trustees. First, let me say that I can understand some hesitation in responding to an email from someone you cannot determine the identity of. That said, however, the information requested should not have been, nor did it need to be, of a sensitive nature. In fact, it was initially thought that trustees would jump at the chance to share some of their vision with residents, visitors and those with interests in Carpentersville.

Apparently, though, they consider such things “privileged information.” Or, perhaps the information requested is not something they have thought much about. And, “oppose whatever the other side proposes” doesn’t seem like it would be positive PR for their career. In either case, they should take some of the ideas presented here and work on them. I would be much better for all of us.

If any of the trustees or those who communicate directly with them are reading this (and there is some relative certainty that they are reading), let me just say that they should consider the invitation sent via email to be “open”, and should they choose to reconsider their position, their replies are still welcome.

One will notice that I have not mentioned President Sarto in this entry, but have only referred to the Trustees. That is because President Sarto responded, and provided actual information. The content of his reply will be published in a later entry.