La Grange voters should retain Gordon Park land
Without much fanfare, the La Grange Park District has placed a referendum item on the Nov. 4 ballot. They are requesting approval to sell three acres (more or less) of existing open space/park land to the developer of the old La Grange YMCA site. Whether you are in favor of, or opposed to, the development plan itself, I believe this request to dispose of open space/park land should be denied.

Part of the problem is that most people don’t know what three acres of land actually looks like. This can be easily remedied with a short drive south on La Grange Road, about two or three blocks south of 55th Street. There, on the east side of the road, you will see about three acres of land for sale by Countryside.

You will plainly see that, by itself, three acres of land is a lot of space. Now, couple that with its proximity to Gordon Park, and you must know that retaining that land, in whatever its existing configuration happens to be, provides future park boards with more options for utilizing the totality of the Gordon Park area than would exist if that land were sold.

Even if the Park District were to take the funds and acquire open space somewhere else, assuming it could be found for the same price, do we really need another smaller park when the present sized Gordon Park is one of the few larger parks in the district?

Charles Witt, La Grange

Signs around park in La Grange too much
I live across the street from Waiola Park. Recently, these referendum promoters put yard signs every 20 feet around the park we enjoy. One, maybe two, and it would be hard to disrupt my day over. As I walked around the park pulling the signs out, I counted 25 propaganda signs.

Destroying our park’s appearance is a bad way to encourage a yes vote on a referendum.

David Kane, La Grange

Vote yes on La Grange referendum measure
I urge the residents of La Grange to vote yes on the Park District of La Grange referendum Nov. 4.

Besides bringing in millions in tax dollars to improve local parks, a yes vote will mean nearly $2 million in additional revenue for the library, municipal services and local schools, all without raising a dime in taxes from homeowners. La Grange voters should understand that, unlike most referendums, supporting the Park District question will help create revenue from a property that is currently tax exempt, the YMCA, by providing the final component for developing the Y site with a private, tax-paying project.

Joan Carey, La Grange

Writer urges land sale for Park District of La Grange
I am writing to encourage my fellow La Grange residents to vote yes to authorize the sale of 2.82 acres of Gordon Park.

Lost amid the many misperceptions circulating is the truth the proposed sale, which is that the sale of an underutilized corner of Gordon Park will result in the transformation of La Grange’s ugliest, least usable park into a showcase park that will be enjoyed by current and future generations. No longer will we be afraid to use the park at night for fear of what lurks behind the weeds when the park becomes a clean, well-lit and well-designed landscape. No longer will our games be rained out after a short rain shower when the park’s drainage system is dramatically improved. No longer will we mourn the loss of the Bemis toboggan slides when the sledding hill is constructed and we have that first fluffy winter snow.

In addition to the park improvements, the village and its residents will benefit from the reinstatement of the formerly nonprofit YMCA and Park District parcels onto the property tax rolls and revenue for local governments.

And lastly, the YMCA, which has been held hostage for so long in the attempted sale of the eyesore YMCA building and parking lot, will finally be freed to sell it and, we hope, use the proceeds to rebuild a state-of-the-art facility for the benefit of our community.

Julie Workman, La Grange

Westchester needs to keep village manager format
After reading the positions of Mr. Ryan and Mr. Klaczynski regarding the Westchester village manager referendum, it is clear Mr. Ryan is correct that a yes vote to retain the village manager form of government is best for Westchester’s future.

 
As Mr. Ryan commented, a village manager serves at the pleasure of the elected Village Board. If at any time the board determines the manager is not performing to expectations, they can act to remove the manager from his position. The board controls, not the manager. No dictatorship was created in 1985, nor is one in place.   

However, the system of government  Mr. Klaczynski is advocating could lead to total power being placed in the hands of one person, the village president. Now, would you rather have one person making all the decisions on how your tax dollars are spent or would you rather have multiple individuals of varied business disciplines and educated, trained professional municipal managers transparently debating and discussing how to best utilize your tax money to manage this village?  

A village manager would help economic development. Westchester is restricted by lot sizes and, unlike Hillside, lacks the land area to establish a large retail plaza. We are, however, blessed by heavily trafficked business corridors and it is those areas the board is seeking to attract development. A professional manager with economic development education and experience will guarantee forward progress. By limiting the employment pool to those living within our town, we are turning our back on many highly qualified professionals capable of making positive changes to our village. A professional manager is needed to guide this process.  

Jim Lange, Westchester

La Grange should not sell Gordon Park parcel
Selling green park land for money seems to be what officials in La Grange are seeking in order to “enhance Gordon Park.”

However, taking away the beautiful green park in order to fill the area with 26 row houses is not the dream it would seem to be. Anyone viewing the area in question should be alarmed that having so many cars and families jammed into that area would pose many problems for the community. In addition, the proposed plan includes a massive construction of 283 condos and 30,000 square feet of business on the adjacent YMCA lot at La Grange Road and Ogden Avenue — a very busy intersection suffering constant traffic snarls.

For months, residents have protested against the sale of park land to no avail. Why sell off park land that makes a park what it is — a park where families can enjoy the air and be grateful there is such an open space near where concrete is beginning to spring up at an alarming rate.

As a stop light on Shawnut Avenue is not feasible, entering or exiting La Grange Road would be difficult for families living there and also for those utilizing the businesses opening. Turning Shawnut into a street to join Locust still will not erase the fact that one street in that densely populated area would be frustrating for all drivers and pedestrians as well.

The green park land of Gordon Park has been a haven for children’s games and other gatherings for years. Within walking distance to downtown shopping, the park is perfect for all who would prefer a park close by rather than having to drive to a forest preserve.

We need to hold on to all the green park land we have.

Bonnie Velander, La Grange

Obama is taking away from women’s rights
The coming election has exposed a rift in the “feminists’ movement,” which may spell the movement’s doom. The glass ceiling, what happened to it?

Barack Obama has taken from Hillary Clinton an excellent chance to become the first female president. Obama made Hillary swallow her pride and lowered her to stump for him. Swooning over Obama is derailing the feminist movement.

Kathleen Parker, my favorite columnist, has just succumbed to the swooners, thus shocking me to write this. The swooners’ lame excuses for not backing Sarah Palin are: Sarah was not the best pick and that Sarah would be a heart beat away. Is this not familiar to the feminists and isn’t this what the movement was fighting against? Sarah has better credentials than Obama has for presidency. It is hard to believe that feminists would sacrifice one of their own, Sarah Palin, to male.

As badly as President Obama needs Biden’s experience, Biden is replaceable by the excellent pool to draw from. Should Vice President Sarah Palin succeed President McCain with his expertise, she too has an excellent pool to draw from.

With one sweep, Obama wants to put women back into the kitchen baking cookies, where he obviously thinks they belong. To bolster his weak credentials, Obama picked Biden to be his running mate, Biden reluctantly accepted and later said that Hillary would be a better vice president.

This presidential election will go down in the feminist movement annals as their blackest period, when they sacrificed one of their own, a brilliant leader, for a rock star that could affect McCain’s election.

Richard Repzynski, La Grange Park
 
Village wronged the public on Gordon land sale
During the past year, I have been following the review process regarding the redevelopment of the YMCA site and Gordon Park.

Having an environmental background, my initial reaction was to question the proposed sale part of Gordon Park to facilitate the development. As I soon learned, his deal was being packaged as the sale of 2.8 acres by the Park District of La Grange, plus a gift from the village of La Grange of 0.7 acres. The village would trade away half of the Gordon Park parking area to facilitate this. As reported in the papers, this deal was challenged and the Park District was required to go to public referendum because the land proposed for sale did in fact exceed the three acre requirement.

To date, there has been no explanation as to why the Park District, given the need for a referendum, continued the ruse of only “selling” 2.8 acres, when in fact the useful park area would be reduced to 3.5 acres. While the Park District would stand to gain from the trade, to date no clear response has been given as to what the district will do with the lot if it is traded.

To date, village has not had any formal discussion of the proposed land swap. The Village Board should not be forced into the untenable situation where the citizens would have approved the sale of 2.8, and a decision to not trade away the lot could cancel the development. Clearly, the referendum should have been for 3.5 acres and the citizens of La Grange should vote no on the proposal for 2.8 acres to force the true question.

If the development is desirable on its own merits, the citizens should be asked to evaluate it as such, and not have to address the proposal that is sweetened by a gift from the village, at the expense of the loss of a useful parking lot.

Harlan Hirt, La Grange