Regarding the story about the Cock Robin (“Cock Robin in Brookfield sold, to be demolished,” News, Oct. 19): Every time a building gets torn down in Brookfield, my heart breaks a little.
The latest news on the Cock Robin being torn down and turned into a parking lot is the saddest news I’ve heard this year. I had a lot of hope that someone would buy it and restore it to what it was.
In the last six years of my family living here, there seem to be more torn down buildings/empty lots than there are trees. And knowing that they get torn down to become parking lots or just slabs of gravel makes me second guess why I moved to Brookfield in the first place.
When we first arrived here, we walked to the Cock Robin for ice cream and another time for burgers. I was really happy to know that we had moved to a town with some old-school charm and the promise of more economic growth.
But the last few years, I’m watching old buildings being demolished and nothing popping up in their place. And something tells me it is going to take a long time before anything is put in its place. I’ve heard a lot of talk and very little action.
The ostensible excuse for this is the economy and the recession, but I look at other suburbs like Forest Park, LaGrange and other neighboring areas where businesses and growth appear to be flourish.
I think Brookfield’s main issue is it’s too slow, resistant to change and dependent on these other suburbs and their businesses. What can be done to attract and not discourage new businesses from establishing themselves here?
Brookfield has so much potential — it is why we moved here — with the hope that we could walk to places like an ice cream shop. It has the ability to have the small-town charm, to be the “pastoral” community it claims to be.
I am thankful for wonderful places like the library, Brennan Massage, Loca Mocha, Irish Times and the Salt Creek Wine Bar, along with other businesses that have since come and gone. I was thankful for Cock Robin (before it closed).
The zoo is also a much-cherished place that we take our kids on a regular basis. We need more of these places to stay and grow with us in this suburb, which has a lot of potential for new young families to thrive in. Witnessing what is happening now –buildings that stay vacant or are torn down — make me question whether or not this is the place I want to raise my family long term.
I hope I’m not alone with feeling this way. I think there are many young families that have moved to Brookfield hoping for the same promises I have. Why hasn’t Brookfield taken advantage of our ever growing presence?
For now, we’ll sit and continue to wonder these things while looking at all these empty lots we seem to be so good at making.
Carla Utrie
Brookfield
