advertisement

Endorsement: Wesseler for Bensenville village president.

In December 2008, during the peak of the recession and with bulldozers poised to demolish neighborhoods in the path of O'Hare Airport runway expansion, Forbes magazine declared Bensenville tops on its list of "America's fastest-dying towns." People were moving out, while no one was moving in; jobs were being lost and poverty rates were increasing, the magazine said.

That was a low point for the village, which since then, has seen a "resurgence" through increasing property values and a dramatic reduction in vacancy rates in its industrial complex, according to Henry Wesseler, a village trustee running for village president. Wesseler, elected to the board in 2009, gives former Village President Frank Soto much of the credit for the turnaround. Wesseler says he decided to run for the village's top elected post only after Soto declined.

During his time on the board, Wesseler says, the village has turned around its finances, passing a balanced budget and hiring a new, enthusiastic village manager everyone seems to like. Despite making all that headway, Wesseler's rival for the top elected post, Trustee Frank DiSimone, says there's plenty of room for improvement, especially in the area of listening better to residents and continuing to crack down on what he calls wasteful spending. One specific he cites is the village spending $10,000 a month on a lobbyist, the most of any town in DuPage County.

That's money well spent, Wesseler counters, resulting in the rebuilding of the awkward confluence of two railroad lines at York and Irving Park roads, an area now with two bridges carrying cars and truck over the trains. Wesseler and DiSimone also spar over whether the village was overly generous with tax incentives to entice a new restaurant to locate in the downtown area - something all candidates see as a plus for the village.

In the end, though, this race for village president is much one of style and impressions. The village made great strides under Soto's leadership. He not only endorsed Wesseler, but asked him to run. That's significant. Wesseler is endorsed.

Article Comments
Guidelines: Keep it civil and on topic; no profanity, vulgarity, slurs or personal attacks. People who harass others or joke about tragedies will be blocked. If a comment violates these standards or our terms of service, click the "flag" link in the lower-right corner of the comment box. To find our more, read our FAQ.