Riverside Fire Dept. reaches out of residents
The silver lining of living on a street pocked with teardowns is that my family and I have the opportunity to observe the Riverside Fire Department train on homes slated for demolition.
Young and old have been fascinated by the mysteries of the rescue equipment and watched in wonder at the drills conducted on our block. I have been particularly impressed by the special efforts the firefighters have taken to extend a friendly hand to our children?”to remind them not to be afraid of someone dressed as they are, to remind the older two of the safety lessons they have been taught at home and at school.
One day, the trainees noticed that we had several families with small children in our backyard, and they graciously came by to meet the little ones, even staying to pose for pictures. For the adults, the firefighters have provided a much welcomed course in fire-prevention and fire-response measures.
I have benefited immensely from their advice on what to do and what not to do. The Riverside Fire Department is to be commended for their fine work on Downing Road.
Mary Centorcelli
Riverside
Brookfield should focus on alleys
I recently moved to Brookfield into a home with a two-and-a-half car garage. The dust-free off-street parking ordinance will not affect me. However, I feel compelled to expose an inherent dichotomy this ordinance presents.
Many of Brookfield’s alleys are not paved. Traversing these alleys in our vehicles creates much more dust than pulling into an unpaved parking spot. Brookfield should focus on the bigger dust problem, which is our alleys.
Before the village board votes to require paved parking spaces, I hope they will evaluate the need for paved alleys. How can the village require residents to pave their parking spots in order to reduce dust and continue to have gravel alleys? Therein lies the dichotomy of this ordinance.
Mary McKevett
Brookfield
PEP leads to ‘hell in a handbasket’
It’s almost been three months since the election in Brookfield, and I see stupidity back in village government. Since Michael Garvey and all his PEP Party lackeys have invaded the village, the community has gone to hell in a handbasket.
They just said they would pay for the streets around Ehlert Park because they should not have to pay for something that all residents enjoy. I live two blocks from the park. Don’t people have to drive down the street to get to the park? They sure do, at Indy 500 speeds.
They voted to have their streets improved just like us common people west of Maple Avenue. You have to make it fair for everybody. But since we are paying for our streets, they are private streets and only homeowners that live on them should be the only ones to drive on them.
On the issue of crime, an undercover police officer was shot, there was a drive-by shooting at Congress Park School and an arson fire on Prairie Avenue. Not too concerned about crime, are you Michael? It means more business for you.
People are moving out of Brookfield faster than ever. I guess the old saying about how lawyers is true. When it comes to common sense, they have a brain the size of a pea. In three months since the election, he has already become the worst village president in the history of the village.
Mark A. Roegner
Brookfield
Politics as usual at village hall
When I was Village President and Jane Harps was a Trustee, Ed Laira applied for a position in Brookfield Public Works and was hired. Garvey and the PEP Party cried foul and talked about nepotism for many months. They told the newspapers this was very wrong and should not be.
Now Garvey and PEP are in power and what do you think they did? They hired four summer help workers and guess what? All their relatives work for the Village of Brookfield! Talk about nepotism.
Also, they claimed people were fired or laid off by my administration for “political reasons.”
What would you call it when the Garvey administration lays off or fires John, Nina, Sam and Coleen at the village hall? Political or fiscally responsible? I wonder if the newspapers will write it the same way they did when my administration was in power?
Also, I hope they do not lay off full time Public Works employees while the summer help is still on.
Why would you farm out crack sealing on streets when our Public Works has been doing it for years?
Garvey and Ketchmark criticized VIP for the last couple years because we had two meetings a month and they promised as soon as they were elected they would have four meetings a month. They broke their promise! Also, they told everybody that we have too many special last minute meetings and look what they are doing.
Bill Russ
Brookfield
