Governments put business over taxpayers

Hold onto your wallets, everybody. The economic development juggernaut is just getting started.

First the county authorized $12.5 million dollars for the improvements to Peterson Road, done "through the lens of economic development."

That got us the ugly, unsafe SAIA trucking distribution center. Now Grayslake wants to spend $11 million to build a new water tower to ensure adequate pressure to the Alter and Central Range properties.

There are no developers lining up for either property, and there is no specific plan to recoup the monies that will be spent on the water tower.

Let me get this straight, the county and Grayslake are spending millions upon millions of our tax dollars to help the corporations that have yet to express any interest in developing here.

If development really were for the good of the taxpayers, as the government gurus claim, then wouldn't the developers be paying (at least in part) for the needed improvements that we all could use?

Lake County has certainly had its share of economic development, and, rather than reaping benefits, we have some of the highest property taxes in the country.

It is a delicate balancing act between attracting development and being overwhelmed by it. Each new project impacts the community in many different ways. Traffic congestion, demand for water and sewer service, need for new schools, visual blight, noise - all must be considered.

The authorities must keep residents' well-being first and foremost, and work their plans with a sharp pencil. As it stands now, with these projects, it appears that our elected officials, whether village or county, are so pro-business that they are just an extension of the corporations that they are supposed to regulate.

Susan Zingle

Wadsworth