The case for a cultural arts center

To the editor: I think most people would agree that Bartlett, like all cities and villages, has a responsibility to provide a basic core of municipal services to its residents, such as police protection, fresh water, disposal of wastewater and passable streets. This is what it takes to build a successful municipality, and I believe that our village does a good job of providing these basics at the highest level possible.

To build a community, however, takes more than just providing for the basics. The Bartlett I know has always been willing to step up and give extra if it meant that our community would be better for it.

Many years ago, when Bartlett residents wanted to maintain the recreational and open space of Bartlett Hills Golf Course rather than see it subdivided for high density residential use, the village stepped up and made it work even though it was out of the realm of day to day municipal services. Today, Bartlett Hills is enjoyed not only by area golfers, but our student golf teams from the high schools, cross country skiers, Special Olympic athletes who compete there summer and winter and any number of birds and wildlife.

When Bartlett children started playing Little League baseball in record numbers and the number of teams outgrew the number of ball fields, our village again stepped up, spent years acquiring the needed land and contributed $2 million to make the Koehler Fields of Bartlett happen. This summer our community will proudly host the 2008 Little League 12-year-old State Tournament because we now have the facilities.

Likewise, when Bartlett veterans asked for a location to build a Veterans Memorial, the village negotiated and purchased an appropriate piece of property, and when the Bartlett Fire District needed to build a west side fire station the village once again acquired the land the district requested and financed a portion of the construction.

While both the park district and the fire district are separate entities from the village, these projects were considered to be important to the whole of the village, and when completed, would result in a better and safer place to live.

Many residents may feel that a cultural arts center is not within the purview of the village of Bartlett; neither were any of the previously listed projects.

The question I ask is do we want only to build a municipality or do we want to continue to build a fully rounded and thriving community? Do we want to live in a municipality that only gives us basic services or a village which not only provides those services, but also reaches out to provide a great place to play and enrich our spirit?

Catherine J. Melchert

Bartlett Village President