Stickney should maintain its own park system
Mr. Roll and Mr. Boyajin,
No, no and no. Berwyn cannot get cooperation between its two park entities now. The North and South Berwyn Park Districts have been warring for years. Why would we in Stickney want to be included in that mess? The Berwyn City Council meetings have become a circus and you want to subject our citizens to this ineptitude. What are you thinking?

An item mentioned but not emphasized in the Life Newspaper article is the fact Mr. Boyajin is the president of the South Berwyn Park district. Is this just another sly grab to annex Stickney into the city of Berwyn? We really don’t need the added aggravation and tension predominant in our neighbor to the north.

Why do we need to join with Berwyn? So the younger parents and kids can have a swimming pool? Have you looked to the west recently? The county has just built a water park open to all Stickney and county residents.

What would we give up if we joined in this annexation plan? One, the freedom of asking for park use in our local Village Hall would be lost. We would have to go through the Berwyn bureaucratic maze to ask permission to use facilities we paid for through our taxes with little chance of approval, after all we are not Berwyn residents.

Two, the exclusive use of our park facilities by our youth would also be lost. We would no longer be able to exclude some of the rougher youth elements on the basis of residency. The ability to enforce local rules and regulations pertaining to our park properties would be overturned by a council in which we have no input and where our comments would be drowned out by the Berwyn majority.

I can see all of the advantages for this annexation plan are strictly one-sided in Berwyn’s favor. I see no reason for us to give up our park properties paid for by our taxes to another city whose only reason for this annexation is those very dollars. How much more of a tax burden can we afford? How much more do we have to pay to Berwyn without any representation? Did you know that every cable and telephone bill in the 60402  ZIP code has a municipal tax applied which goes to the city of Berwyn?

Instead of annexation, how about sending those tax dollars to our communities? Then, Mr. Boyajin, you can afford a few more Public Works people whose only job would be our parks.
Tom Frencl, Stickney, former Berwyn resident

Large turnout at Berwyn  meeting was ‘comforting’
I would like to comment on the town hall meeting in the parking lot July 16.

It was comforting to see the large crowd, especially with last minute notice.  Residents do care and will react once they know what is going on. In the past, the mayor made many attempts to keep the residents informed, but the City Council did everything they could to prevent it from happening.

At the meeting, the first ward alderman made the feeble excuse that she did not know how the people felt. I wonder if perhaps this letter would jar the mind enough for her to ask herself, “Just who masterminded this secrecy campaign?”

Perhaps she will realize why she did not know how the people felt. Then perhaps the people will now realize why we are not informed on what is going on in city government.
August Pudlo, Berwyn

Letter writer gives big ‘thank you’ to District 100

To the District 100 School Board and Employees of District 100: I did not believe that I would ever see this day. My last child has graduated from Heritage School in June. I started to enroll my children in School District 100 after leaving the private educational sector in 1991. To my surprise and delight, I have seen wonderful things in our schools. Today’s letter is a genuine “thank you” to everyone for all your hard work and devotion to the schoolchildren of District 100.

Graduation day is not just for the students who graduate. It is for everybody who helped them succeed. In addition, it is for everyone who will benefit from their accomplishments when they take what they learned into the world and make their own path. I am grateful to all of the teachers and support personnel for the outstanding work that they do each day.

Our public schools today are a result of investments, ingenuity and commitment of our parents and grandparents. Students, parents, schools and communities all work together to create a future. My three children have learned and been able to do wonderful things for the past 17 years at District 100. Yes, at times it has been a roller coaster ride, but we succeeded, which was our goal.

I believe that great schools build strong communities. I also believe that these are great challenges to undertake in today’s world. So hats off to all of you, a job well done. Congratulations, and thank you.
Diane McLain, Berwyn