We don’t want more affordable housing

Arlington Heights Village Board member Carol Blackwood recently got on her soapbox to demand that Arlington Heights force future developers to make 20 percent of all new residential units “affordable housing.”

While Ms. Blackwood has the right to state her personal beliefs, she has an obligation to the residents to listen to their opinions. Ms. Blackwood’s personal philosophy is posted on the Village of Arlington Heights website, it reads:

“Listen to local residents and business owners and be their voice in Village government. Promote and maintain economic growth within the community while managing the ‘bottom line’ in spending.”

Ms. Blackwood, please tell me where your current stance on forcing affordable housing on developers and on current residents is in concert with your quoted philosophy? Have you listened to the local residents and been told that this is what they want? Have local business owners been clamoring for more affordable housing? Will affordable housing truly promote and maintain economic growth within the community?

Ms. Blackwood, please get off of your high horse long enough to listen to the residents. We don’t want more affordable housing, the crime around the current affordable housing is enough for all of us. Also, our property values have plummeted over the past five years and we don’t need a self-aggrandizing, headline chaser making things worse.

Paul Lee

Arlington Heights