Writer credits assessors office for doing its job
Recently, I was impressed with the expert professionalism and astute care given by the assessor’s office in Lyons Township at 6404 Joliet Road. These professionals are the real heroes that people uphold, doing their job each day and doing it so well that it is seamless and no one even notices.

For instance, while I was waiting in a nicely seated line for their service Aug. 1, three men of varying ages-perhaps one older than I, one about my age, and one younger-were all mentioning how they received such outsanding service in all previous years from the assessor’s office assessor, Barbara M. Weyrick. They also indicated that they had been at other assessor’s offices in neighboring areas and they never received such “we care attitude” as this one. One of these men was a veteran of Vietnam and he was the most outspoken about this fact. Another lived in the area virtually all his life, and the third worked for Cook County.

Even though they were all wondering why the property assessments went up in addition to any other specific concern they might have had, they knew that if there was something that could be done about it, Barbara and her staff such as Bernadine Kulaga would do it. They are such honest and really downright good people and professionals. In fact, I just met Barbara this time, and it was quite evident to me that she and her staff are exactly what all those men had stated to me. I had been at the office one other time and Bernadine helped me and the same is true of her, most definitely — that office runs like a dream come true regarding good, truthful hard work — despite all the work they have before them and the long line of people there both times I have been there as a resident since 2001.

They deserve great applause. Seemingly, Lyons Township doesn’t even know what it has! Sometimes it just takes common gratitutde to make the world a better place in support of those who are doing such good with they lives and their “hard-earned” professions. It is best to let this light shine, shine, shine.
Dr. Carol Scatena, La Grange

Frederick Law Olmsted Society goes green
For more than 40 years, the Frederick Law Olmsted Society has endeavored to keep Olmsted’s vision of Riverside a living reality. In that vein, we most recently have assisted the Riverside Public Library with a $5,000 contribution to their landscape and contributed at a cost of over $5,000 in professional services in the relandscaping of the business district. But not every form of assistance has to involve money. Earlier this summer we brought forth a draft of “Green Initiatives” that can be used as a starting point for what is an overdue discussion and an opportunity for making our village a leading model of conservation and green practices.

Most all of these initiatives would come at no cost to the taxpayer. Sustainable solutions that do involve cost can be offset by instituting higher fees for those that do not.

The recent adoption by the Board of Trustees of a broadly formulated advisory referendum question with regard to “Adoption of Green Policies” for the Nov. 4 election as reported by the local press linked the Olmsted Society’s well-intentioned initiative to the passage of the upcoming tax increase referendum. 

Based on statements made by Trustee Sells in the July 29 Suburban Life article titled “Voters to decide on green initiative,” a direct link has been made between the Property Tax Referendum question and the Green Initiative Advisory Referendum “Sells said he suspects the green referendum will pass; however, unless the revenue referendum passes, it is unlikely residents will see any improvement or efforts to ‘go green.’” The linking of these two issues by Trustee Sells is a calculated attempt to join what should be two different issues. It is extremely unfortunate that this important issue is being used as a political tool with which to persuade the electorate into approving a request for more tax dollars. 

When the Frederick Law Olmsted Society added the protection of the environment to its mission last year, we did so with the firm belief that an objective of such complexity could only be achieved by working together. We envision collaborating with local organizations like  Supporting Eco-friendly Every Day Solutions, village staff, commissions, and interested residents to evaluate opportunities and explore initiatives related to sustainability. We now have an opportunity before us to discuss our aspirations, ideas and priorities as they relate to the future of this beautiful village. Any attempt at over-simplifying the hard questions at hand and looking at our challenges as either black or white while not seizing on the low-hanging fruit that are the free-of-charge initiatives improving the village is not in the best interest of Riverside. We can and must do better.
Jim Reynolds, president; Lonnie Sacchi, board member; Riverside

Meeks’ idea not a solution that benefits children
State Sen. James Meeks is calling on the parents of Chicago Public School children to withhold them from the first day of class. Instead, Meeks suggests, they should drive to suburban school districts and enroll their children in these classrooms.

Meeks is bringing attention to an issue that has been debated in Illinois for over 30 years: how we fund education. The boycott of CPS classrooms doesn’t change this. Nor will a one-day legislative session in Springfield called to address Sen. Meek’s legislation. This is legislation that would allow any resident of a city greater than 500,000 have full autonomy to enroll their child in any school district in the state of Illinois.

Despite the fundamental flaws in this legislation, Meeks’ goal is better education for children in Illinois. But throwing money at our education system simply won’t fix it. Neither does allowing Chicago students to pick and choose the suburban schools they want to attend. 

What this legislation would do is effectively limit the one thing that is vital to our education system: local control.  One of the most important benefits to our schools is the local control and the commitment of the members of the communities they live in. Accountability is hard to come by in Illinois government; that is why local residents continue to be our student’s best watchdogs.

We all agree that property taxes are far too high, we agree that we need to make sure all Illinois children get the best education possible, and we all agree that our education system needs reform and oversight. But the only thing actions and legislation like this will do is build division instead of building schools. 
Dennis Reboletti, state representative, R-46th District
Franco Coladipietro, state representative, R-45th District
Jim Meyer, state representative, R-48th District
Randy Ramey, state representative, R-55th District
Jim Durkin, state representative, R-82nd District
Mike Fortner, state representative, R-95th District