Supercenter Wrong For West Dundee

The following is a Press Release issued by Dundee Neighbors.

WEST DUNDEE RESIDENTS: SUPERCENTER IS WRONG FOR WEST DUNDEE

A group of concerned residents in West Dundee have come together to form Dundee Neighbors, a coalition of residents and interested parties who want to send a message: development is an issue of deep public concern, and high-impact developments cannot be planned behind closed doors and then submitted to the public only as a formality. A 186,000 square foot, 24-hour Supercenter is wrong for West Dundee. Residents and neighbors are currently working to more comprehensively evaluate the plan, which includes requests for Special Uses and Variances and necessitates a road-widening.

What is clear is that West Dundee’s small-town, Main Street character could suffer irreparable harm by the opening of a 24-hour, mega-giant retailer in a residential neighborhood. The small retailers who typically prop up Main Street shopping could be discouraged, young families looking for a safe, quiet town will look elsewhere, and the quaint nature of our historic river town will be sacrificed for a quick fix to a budget gap caused by temporary economic conditions.

Dundee Neighbors has heard from dozens of residents in every part of the Village-from the river to Sleepy Hollow, from Huntley Road to the highway-that a high-impact development like a Wal-Mart Supercenter is wrong for West Dundee. Despite intimation and implications that the plan is a “done deal”, residents are eager to have their say and contribute to the public planning progress.

Besides its poor record for parking lot and customer safety [see: http://video.nbc5.com/player/?id=247256 ], a Supercenter is a less-than-optimal neighbor. The sheer size of the planned store-some 3.5x the size of a standard Wal-Mart discount store-is unacceptable with no transitional uses between itself and single family homes, both by common sense and by most planning standards. The abutting park and wetlands will also surely suffer. Wal-Mart is also planning taller lights-greater than the height of four basketball poles-and removing internal landscaping islands in favor of a vast parking desert with end-caps.

Tartans Drive, a residential road with homes that face the street, many of them with young children who cross the street to play in the park, will become a cut-through street for the heavy traffic intended for the huge retailer.

Dundee Neighbors are reaching out to residents across the village to encourage them to get all the facts and participate in the public process that is supposed to weigh ALL the evidence-not just the evidence provided by the developer. They can be reached at dundeeneighbors@gmail.com.

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A public hearing will be held at 7:30 p.m. tonight at Randall Oaks Golf Club, 4101 Binnie Road, West Dundee.

Child abduction stopped at Spring Hill Mall

Scary stuff.  Great work by the chaperones and Mall public safety staff.

Thursday morning at Spring Hill Mall, a Chicago man attempted to abduct a 4 year old child visiting with a group from Elgin’s Two Rivers Headstart.

Arthur Robinzine, 19, of 818 S. Wolcott Ave., Chicago, has been charged with unlawful restraint, aggravated battery in a public place and resisting arrest after he grabbed the boy at about 9:15 a.m., according to police.

[…]

As soon as Robinzine picked up the victim and attempted to walk away, he was tackled to the ground by a group chaperone and a mall store employee, Sawyer said. The child wasn’t injured, [West Dundee Police Chief Dave] Sawyer said.

Police said it is unclear what the man’s intention was, and he was at Sherman Hospital undergoing psychiatric assessment.

Read more on this story:

• Chaperone helps foil child abduction attempt at mall – Courier-News
• Suspect tackled after boy, 4, is grabbed at mall during field trip – Chicago Tribune
• Attempted abduction thwarted at Spring Hill Mall –Northwest Herald
  
• Chaperones tackle man who grabbed child on field trip – Daily Herald

Christmastime is here? Already?!

As a kid, I recall waiting anxiously for the Sears catalog to arrive in the mail.  When it finally arrived, I would grab it — along with a few sheets of paper — flip toward the back where the toy section was, and then go page-by-page writing down the toys I wanted on my list to Santa Claus.

If I remember right, that was sometime just before Thanksgiving.  My list wouldn’t be completed until sometime after Thanksgiving, however.  It, of course, had to go through revisions.

Also excitement surrounded Thanksgiving morning.  I would wake up in time to be in front of the TV for the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade (which was carried live in those days) … and to catch the first Christmas commercials that signaled the beginning of the season.

Unfortunately, those days are gone.  Now, stores begin to set up their Christmas displays and prepare for the added gift inventory … sometimes before Halloween has arrived!  Radio station, WLIT 93.9FM, began playing Christmas music 24/7 on November 1st.

The Courier-News reported that Spring Hill Mall will hold Radio Disney’s Santa Jam … this weekend!

The Santa Jam with Radio Disney will be held from 10 to 11 a.m. Saturday at the West Dundee mall’s center court.

Santa will arrive at Woodfield Mall on Thursday, November 15:

WELCOME SANTA TO WOODFIELD ON THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 15 AT 11:30AM!
Bring your children to Macy’s Court next Thursday, November 15th at  11:30 a.m. to participate in Santa’s Arrival Parade.

Retailers have continued to extend the Christmas season — unofficially labeled “Christmas Creep” — in hopes of being able to help their bottom line, especially due to consumers already feeling pinched by credit card debt, mortgage woes, and increases in fuel and food prices.

But, I will admit that I am planning to have at least 99% of my shopping done before Thanksgiving, so that I can slow down and truly enjoy the Christmas season; listening to Christmas music, putting up decorations, listening to Christmas music, and meeting with friends and family…

For me, though, the Christmas season still doesn’t really arrive until Santa guides his sleigh and reindeer down the street at the end of the Thanksgiving Day Parade.