Opinion

Vote no; force park district to negotiate

Posted March 16, 2012 5:36 am

I want to share with you the experience I had with the Arlington Heights Park District. When I first saw the news column in the Daily Herald regarding the $48 million park district referendum, we contacted the park district hoping to be able to work with them a compromise that would be affordable for the taxpayers.

When my husband, Pat, met with Steve Scholten he tried to find out what kind of a plan the $48 million was. He got nowhere. We went to meetings in October, November and December and we tried to find out more about the referendum. They gave us only three minutes to speak. They call it citizens to be heard.

After that they thanked us for coming and went on with other business. On Dec. 13 after about a dozen people spoke against the referendum four members of the board voted to put it on the March 20 ballot. One member (Robert Whisler) was against it.

What we have here is a take it or leave it referendum. It is a clear case of taxation without representation. Please vote NO for this referendum so that the taxpayers can negotiate with the park district and come up with an affordable plan for the taxpayers.

Janice Pontrelli

Arlington Heights

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