Thanks, but the deal still stinks
Thank you to Mr. O’Brien for responding to my letter (“District 96 board made the best possible decision,” One View, Aug. 12). I am disappointed only you took me to task for better or worse.
It is too bad that you think my “attack” on the District 96 board is personal. I think the board’s lack of fiscal responsibility is an attack on my and many others’ standard of living.
You raised several points that I would question. I commend those board members who work many hours, unpaid, to help our schools and the village. It is a thankless job, and you’re damned for what you do or what you don’t do. Thanks to all of you.
But, Mr. O’Brien, you mention they are elected by village-wide vote. Please tell me by what percentage of registered voters they were elected by and total votes counted. Are they representing just those who voted for them or all residents?
I do not think my argument of a pay cut is flawed. My retirement accounts have taken a loss the last few years, and now my Social Security benefit is going to take a hit. Essentially a pay cut for me.
Less income translates into inability to keep up with real estate taxes tied to mortgage payments which equals foreclosure. No red herring there, just the crappy end of the stick, thank you. Move you say? Have you seen the state of the market?
I agree with you that many people borrowed themselves into oblivion, buying homes they could not afford. Just how many did that to get their children a better education in Riverside?
You mention Chicago’s poor schools, but their magnet schools appear to be doing well, so well that they are under federal investigation. Can your district stand up under the same?
People seem to equate better education with the highest cost to taxpayers. If this is true, then excellent education is just west of us. Go west, young families.
The arrogance of the present board and its disdain for the residents of Riverside is very disturbing to many who have kept the district in the black for many years. With the upcoming teachers’ contract, will that color change? We can only wait and see. Will their actions make future referendums fail? We can only hope.
Frank Vlazny
Riverside
Roads need quicker fix for safety
Although not having the damage capacity of land mines, the manhole covers that protrude from our roads under construction can present a formidable danger not only to our vehicles but to our health.
It seems that the leveling of these covers with the asphalt or concrete of the road is among the very last tasks that road construction crews perform. Not only is this task among the very last to be performed, but it is often the case that it takes road construction crews weeks, even months, to complete the task on short-to-moderate stretches of road.
Road construction crews, for whatever reasons, tend to do their work on any road in a sort of patchwork – some today, some in the next few days and some in the next few weeks or months until completion.
The road construction work on, for example, Cermak Road between First Avenue and 17th Avenue in North Riverside has been an excruciatingly lengthy affair and it continues as of this date.
Why the tasks involved in road construction work can’t be completed, one after the other, without lengthy delays between the stages is beyond me.
But, the real problems come in when one is driving on these obstacle courses. Not everyone has or even remotely possesses the dodging and darting reflexes of Devin Hester or the driving skills of a Formula One driver. In their attempts to avoid these massive metal protuberances, drivers may abruptly cross over lanes or swiftly decelerate or even stop in the middle of the road.
These maneuvers not only put them in danger, but other drivers who are in their vicinity. Of course, when these maneuvers either cannot be performed or are performed poorly, vehicle repair shops which specialize in underbody and suspension work are at the ready.
It’s great that there is so much road construction going on; it is sorely needed. However, it should be done expeditiously, intelligently and with an eye toward human and vehicular safety.
Steven Spiro
North Riverside
Support health care reform
This letter is to urge readers to support H.R. 3200, a health care reform bill with choice.
I am very concerned about efforts to drop the “public-option” choice for health care reform. How else are we going to limit the out-of-control increases in insurance costs. The public-option plan would be subject to all the rules and guidelines that the big health insurance companies are held to.
Congressman Lipinski argues that the public option takes away the “level playing field” for insurance companies.
The congressman should support his constituents, not the big corporations, paying millions of dollars salaries for their CEOs. Where is the ethical stand regarding our Constitution to “promote the general welfare to ourselves and our posterity”? The phrase “ourselves and our posterity” does not mean the selected few or only those chosen by the corporate community.
I don’t see how promoting the general welfare should be a for-profit endeavor that charges what the market can bear for those who can pay and leaves the rest out.
Recently, I was passing out literature supporting the president’s plan at the LaGrange Metra station. Two residents I talked with noted they each had taken $2,500 deductibles to help control health insurance costs. One had no health care coverage from her employer of 18 years. The other’s insurance has gone up every year and up 8 percent last year.
Please register your support for H.R. 3200 and commit to a uniquely American plan that guarantees our freedom of choice by including a public option. Call your congressman and senators at 888-801-4426.
Sandra Baumgardner
Brookfield