Don't pit one group against another
I'm the president of the advocacy group "Mundelein for Appropriate Development." If you live in or near Mundelein you might have seen our signs, received fliers or read commentary by supporters in local papers or on our Web site www.mfad.org. We exist because we're concerned about the direction of our community under the leadership of Mayor Kessler and the village trustees. I want to clear up a few deceptions being promoted by Mayor Kessler, trustees and other village officials.
Yes. A handful of our members are Ivanhoe and unincorporated Mundelein homeowners. MFAD has grown into a diverse group of several hundred constituents of all economic levels with addresses in and all around Mundelein and Lake County, and our numbers are growing rapidly.
As a resident of Mundelein I'm angered that Mayor Kessler, trustees and village administration continue to pit one economic class of residents in this town against another just to get a shopping center built. This is a diversion from the real problems with this proposed development they don't want you to know about. They conducted most of their business shrouded in secrecy with an out-of-town developer, the end result being another strip mall. We have enough of these in Mundelein with vacancy that matches the size of this proposed site!
It's 2008, and we are talking about Mundelein, Ill. This is not Selma, Ala., of the '60's, Jefferson Parish or Jena, La., of 2003 or now where prejudice abounds. Or is it? Do we want Mundelein to be like Carpentersville? Didn't the Iron Curtain come down, or is it being resurrected in Mundelein with Ivanhoe on one side and the rest of us on the other?
Mayor Kessler is promoting this ugly and dangerous mindset when he is quoted as saying "people from outside of the Mundelein corporate boundaries" or "everyone that lives in the corporate boundaries of Mundelein."
When did where you live dictate if you could have an opinion and voice it? Mayor Kessler is depending on their money to support this development, yet he is debasing them publicly for wanting to protect their property rights.
Beware the rhetoric. Road improvements will be paid for largely out of taxpayer pockets, not the developer's. Revenues will be split between new and existing businesses, while other Mundelein stores will suffer and eventually close like our downtown area now. Back-up revenue might come from off track betting -- gambling. Initial plans included residential development with only 500,000 square feet for retail. It's morphed into all retail now 40 percent more than originally planned. Poor engineering will add to the environmental damage already occurring.
Mundelein is a culturally diverse town with a diverse economic mix. Growth and development should reflect all people, not just some or at the expense of others.
Sarah Powers
President
Mundelein for
Appropriate Development
Kirk dodges public on issue of Iraq war
Congressman Mark Kirk, R-10th District, must really be unhappy that his constituents are getting together to register their opposition to the failure to show further accomplishments in Iraq since the removal of Saddam Hussein, our attempts to police an Iraqi civil war and to the false claims that were made to obtain consent to start a war in Iraq.
Recently the Iraq War Summer Campaign gathered close to 800 people at the North Shore Renaissance Hotel in Northbrook to hear speakers who shared their view that the war in Iraq should be ended as soon as possible. Kirk was invited to appear, but chose not to. I guess that the reason is either he realized that not many of his constituents attending the event would agree with his voting record on the Iraq war or that we should "stay the course."
But rather than accept that 10th District residents should have the right to express their opposition to the war, Kirk only sent an e-mail afterward to selected constituents casting doubt on the integrity of the event, saying it was organized under false pretenses by a group outside the district. The event was held in the heart of his district.
As a 10th district resident who attended the event, I can say that I didn't care who organized it. If Kirk has a problem with his constituents getting together to express their deep concern with a vital national issue, perhaps he should consider a line of work other than representing the 10th District of Illinois.
Steven Freedman
Deerfield