Thanks for supporting District 95 referendum
Thank you to the voters of Brookfield-LaGrange Park School District 95 for supporting the education fund referendum. Our children will greatly benefit from a stronger curriculum and improvements to the environment in which they learn. Our community benefits by continuing to be a vibrant place to work, live and raise a family.
The District 95 administration and Board of Education deserve recognition for planning for the long-term needs of the community’s children. Thank you for having the courage and perseverance to put this question before the voters again.
Finally, I want to express my gratitude to the committee members and the many volunteers who worked tirelessly on behalf of our children. The teamwork and camaraderie demonstrated by District 95 families, not only through this campaign but on a daily basis, is truly special. Thank you for your continued commitment to Brook Park and S.E. Gross schools.
Kristine Gauger
Brookfield
Kristine Gauger is chair of Citizens for District 95.
Boycott Brookfield businesses over tax
I see that the PEP Party has scared people into raising the sales tax to fix the streets in the north side of the village (“Voters say yes to sales taxes,” News, March 22). People on the south side of the tracks have been paying for their streets for the last 10-15 years.
I am here to say to the village that you won’t get any help from the south side. I urge all residents to boycott all village businesses and do their shopping and dining in two towns that don’t have the tax, which are Countryside and LaGrange. There is no fine dining or shopping in Brookfield anyway, and gas is 10-15 cents cheaper in the other towns.
You might get the streets repaired on the north side, but not on the backs of the people from the south. Boycott Brookfield businesses. I also urge residents of towns around us to drive right through Brookfield, and don’t stop and pay the higher taxes.
Mark A. Roegner
Brookfield
Welcome to the Brookfield politics
Hear, hear, Matthew Tennicott! (“Political grandstanding just tiring,” Letters, March 22)
You have said what I have wanted to say for a long time?”not only to Bill Russ, but all of the cronies on either side that attack each other weekly in the Landmark.
Thanks for writing your letter?”and welcome to Brookfield. We need a lot more people like you.
If you’re thinking of running for village president, you have my vote!
Donna Karpavicius
Brookfield
Brookfield should embrace smoking ban
“I am not prepared to enter into a complete smoking ban that would hurt our businesses,” said Brookfield Village President Michael Garvey (“Village mull options to counter county’s smoking ban,” News, March 22).
The people of Brookfield showed their forward thinking by passing not one, but three referenda?”two to improve our schools and one to improve our roads. We voted for these referenda even though it will increase taxes. We understand that as a village we have to move forward?”even if it takes sacrifice.
Society is moving forward to protect its citizens from the dangers of second-hand smoke. Chicago is moving forward. Cook County is moving forward. Brookfield apparently is not. I’ve lived in Brookfield for 46 years. It’s a lovely village. However, I have been disappointed in Brookfield’s narrow thinking over the years?”fighting the future.
I remember Brookfield fighting Walgreens moving in many years ago. We didn’t allow them to come here, so they moved just over the border to First Avenue in Lyons. Guess who received the sales taxes from that Walgreens?”not Brookfield. Guess who spent money there?”Brookfield citizens. And fighting the future did not save our local pharmacies in the long term.
I’ve been pleased with a lot of the changes in Brookfield in the last few years. Finally they seemed to get it. Embrace the future?”it’s going to happen anyway. Do we want to come off as provincial, afraid of change? Better the devil you know than the devil you don’t know?
I was part of a group that had a party at Irish Times in the non-smoking room. You could choke on the smoke in the room, and I did. It’s right off the bar. When the manager asked how the party went, I told him how smoky it was. He said it couldn’t be smoky; it’s a non-smoking room, as if stating it made it so.
A friend and I stepped into the new wine bar, and turned right around and left. It was smoky. I wanted to go to the blues club Brookfield had a few years ago, but didn’t because of the smoke.
I haven’t tried the restaurants that replaced the blues club because it’s clear the bar is the center of the restaurant, and smoke doesn’t stay at the bar (no matter what the managers think).
I avoid smoky environments, as do many people. Please consider the business lost because of allowing smoking in restaurants and bars.
Clare Donovan
Brookfield
