Attend hearing on tollway plan

The following is a Guest Post from Billita Jacobsen.

Speak up now or forever hold your complaining about the proposed four lane toll way through Carpentersville. Artfully named the “Longmeadow Parkway Corridor” this monstrosity will create more traffic in our village, decrease property values, and steal more businesses while destroying the most scenic view along the Fox River. The plan has always been intended to create a corridor to Algonquin’s Randall Road shopping centers and, at the same time, solve Algonquin’s traffic problems.

If officials in Carpentersville, West Dundee, and East Dundee would have a forward-looking brain among them, they would see that this project will only hurt our area. We’ve already lost a lot of business to Algonquin’s Randall Road 1,000 acres shopping corridor. This toll way will be the final nail in the coffin.

So, taxpayers, you are funding a public hearing March 26th at the Randall Oaks Golf Club (4101 Binnie Road, off Randall) from 4-8 p.m. If you are against a toll way plowing through Carpentersville, please attend and speak out about it. The Kane County Dept. of Transportation is providing a court reporter to take down comments about the “proposed” project. Of course, this is what’s known as a “done deal.” The problem is, residents of Carpentersville are the ones being done in.

The toll way will carry four lanes of traffic from Route 62, cross Route 25, go along Bolz Road, cross the river and continue to Huntley Road. Has anyone taken a look at Bolz Road and noticed how close this toll way will be to homes? Is anyone aware of where they will be able to get on and off this toll way? What will happen if the tolls collected don’t pay for the building of this Carpentersville bypass? Are any efforts being made to minimize the noise residents will suffer from as cars and trucks whiz by their homes? Is anyone concerned that property values will plummet (even more than they already have)?

Maps will be on display March 26th, as well as propaganda about the “purpose and need” for this toll system. Educate yourself and start telling officials you don’t want a toll way through Carpentersville. A simple, local, two-lane bridge (from Route 25 to Route 31) will suffice. This is an especially good time to speak out, with local elections coming up. I know Bill Sarto supports the toll way. He believes it will bring business to Carpentersville but in reality, it will do the opposite.  [ed. This was stricken as Bill Sarto provided a comment that clarified that he opposes this tollway and supports a local bridge option.]  I don’t know where the other candidates stand on the issue. I would love to hear one of them oppose this ridiculous plan–so I’d know who to vote for.

Billita Jacobsen
Foxpathorg@aol.com

Guest post: Trustees continue to disappoint

I can not describe the disappointment that I feel regarding the lack of leadership and integrity of the Village Board of Carpentersville. Last night, Trustee Sliwinski, made a motion that the Board discuss whether Trustee Humpfer should remain on the Board. Trustee Humpfer was recently convicted on four counts of beating his wife using a baseball bat. No trustee was willing to second the motion and no discussion was allowed on the matter. The Board has now officially condoned that this convicted wife beater remain on the Board without so much as a censure.

The trustees hid behind the fact that “this was only a misdemeanor” as many trustees described the situation. Would any business allow a senior manager of their company to remain in his position if convicted of such a crime? Would Walmart, Target or Proctor & Gamble allow a person of this character to remain on their Board of Directors? These Trustees have made every issue into a “if I lose, you win” situation. Neither of the two sides will work together for fear of losing. The one that actually loses is Carpentersville.

There are many difficult issues that confront Carpentersville. There are 150 VACANT homes partially caused by the mortgage crisis and exasperated by the Board’s implied hostility toward Hispanics. Route 25 is becoming an empty retail corridor. The Village needs leadership and a colossal improvement in the faith in their leaders. What surprises me is that the citizens of Carpentersville are not showing their outrage or concern. Does this mean that they are apathetic or are they so disgusted that they do not get involved?

Some might wonder what they can do? Attending board meetings, calling the trustees and writing one’s thoughts to the newspapers are ways. Edmund Burke stated “that the surest way for tyranny to prevail is for good men to do nothing”.

Tom Roeser
OTTO Engineering
Carpentersville

Guest: More Bad Government

The following guest blog was received from Tom Roeser:

Cass Benitez, a local resident, and his family are opening up a new restaurant, La Salsa, on the east side of Carpentersville this week. Cass is joining entrepreneurial America by starting his own business. He is doing it in an area of Carpentersville that needs business investment. Way to go, Cass!

One would think that the Carpentersville government would welcome the investment and make it easy to open this new restaurant. Think again.

Cass went to the building department to apply for a building permit. He received no help regarding other permits that he needed. At one point he found that they had lost his application. Subsequently, building inspectors told him he needed level sensors on the HVAC drip pans (there is not such requirement) and other inaccurate requests. Cass attempted to comply.

Cass purchased new lens for the existing sign, spending over $2000, alot for a small businessman. He went to install them and was told that the sign ordinance had been changed and he could not use the sign. He was “given” 6 months to build a new sign. More investment by a small businessman because of a Village regulator’s wants. A few thousand more may not mean much to Carpentersville, but it’s alot to a new business. It doesn’t end here.

Cass bought an “opening soon” banner and within a day he was told to take it down, he needed a banner permit. Although he was never told he needed one, $50 later his banner is up.

Cass’ restaurant will be a success. He has fought through the Carpentersville bureaucracy. One would think they would be more help. Let’s show this businessman we value his investment in Carpentersville. La Salsa is on Rt 68, east of Rt 25

Tom Roeser

Guest: What’s in a name?

I received the following as a “Guest blogger” submission from Peter Pimkus:

There is all this curiosity about names: Who are the anonymous posters? What, however, does a name tell us? Do we know the ideas a person has from their name? Do we know their profession or their education? Do we know their expereices in life or what their interests are?

Brown, Patel, Pennington, Harrington, Castro, Emmanual, Santiago, Smith, Capone, Sosa, Clemente, McNeil, Schultz, Kowalski, Carr, Stoneham, Rosser, Prescott Bush, George Bush, etc. What pictures come into our heads as we read these names? And do we see who they are or just the images that the names create from our own experiences? Is the name male or female? Do they have white or dark skin? What is their hair color or are they bald, old, young, single, married or dead or alive?

Often, from a name we think we know their heritage, or their race, or even their religion. From a name, we may think we know if they are rich or poor. We may think we can tell their neighborhood or their intelligence. We may even think we KNOW them because we know their name. I hear many say, oh they must be German, or Italian or Irish, or Mexican, or Jewish or I know the family or I know the wife or brother or mother or sister…So, what does this tell us about THEM?

So, to those that are more interested in thinking they know me, I say, listen to what I say, to the thoughts, concerns, ideas, or questions I have, and then you MAY be more accurate in knowing me but even then, I doubt it…

Attacks on people are used to silence them and while that is wrong, we see it used even at the highest levels of our government. We see the “explanation” for the comments made by people as only being because of who they are and then no answer is given, just the inference that no answer is needed because of who they are. Or, because someone said something, they’re labeled as some kind of kook and that is how they are “perceived” or viewed for anything they ever say again.

If you like George Bush and he said something, would you accept it more willingly and universally than if you didn’t like him? Would either be correct? Should questions be asked or is the information all that you need to “know” the facts? I say that assumptions lead to misunderstanding and do a disservice to everyone. Yet, that is what is being asked here. To let us judge you because of who you are and not by what you say or the questions you ask is what is wrong with society. We need to listen to, question, and respect each other for who we really are.

Guest post: Feds and locals at odds

In response to my “Guest bloggers sought” request, Bill Sarto submitted the posting that follows:

Illegal immigration is a Federal matter that is up to our Federal government to solve. It’s not a matter for local government to take on.

The real problem is that our Federal government is not being honest with the people of this country. This is about money… That’s the bottom line regarding this issue.

There is a reason our Federal government is looking the other way on the issue of illegal immigration. Frist of all, there is a need in this country for an unskilled labor force. The new immigrants fill that need.

For many years now we have been shipping most of what was once good paying manufacturing jobs to other countries. That work is being done much cheaper in China and other places. Lately, our U.S. companies have been out-sourcing jobs to other countries. Most tech support jobs have been out-sourced. What we have left in this country are mostly service type jobs,i.e. Fast Food Restaurant workers, Hair/Nail Salons, Banks, Cell Phone Stores, Movie Rental Stores…and the higher end jobs of skilled professionals, i.e. Doctors, Lawyers, Law Enforcement, Nurses, Teachers, Media, Computer Programmers, and Government Positions. The jobs with the best benefits are in the public sector.

It’s a changing work force in this country. It’s a changing market place as well. We are truly in a global economy. Those American’s who I’ve heard complaining about the influx of immigrants are mostly those 50 and over. They’re old enough to remember when things were different in this country. Many of them/us grew up in a simpler time and place. They did grow up in the “Happy Days” of the 1950s and early 1960s. They miss that time. They grew up in a different country that was mostly segregated, all of their classmates looked just like them. They all spoke one language (English) and that was how it was…Most of their mother’s stayed home and took care of the house and their father’s worked in a factory and made enough to support the family.

I don’t want to be the bearer of bad news, but those days are over. They are over because now the market place has changed. It has changed  over the past 30+ years. Just take a look at all the new houses that have been built in the past 20 years. Those homes are in a price range that a new immigrant could never afford to buy. The older stock housing becomes the “new homes” of the immigrants. Think about that for a moment. If the new immigrants were not in this country today, who would be buying the older homes so that those new homes could be purchased by those people who have lived here for many years. If you couldn’t sell your older house to someone you could never move up to that new house could you? Today the young American’s are very spoiled. They think they should live just like their parents are living now as soon as they get married. They don’t want what was once considered a “starter” home. In fact, some of those young people are moving into homes they can’t afford and they are falling into foreclosure.

Yes, there is a reason our Federal government doesn’t want to deal with the issue of illegal immigration. They don’t want to admit that they need these people here, they want these people here and they don’t want them to be legal because that will only cause them to be more like us and want more out of life. Our Federal government is intentionally holding these people down for a reason. It’s called MONEY. They want that cheap labor force of unskilled workers. You may rightly argue they aren’t “cheap labor” because we have to pay for their health care and other services. Well, I would agree with you, but who is paying for them… It’s the middle class as always. Yes, that’s you and me.