Saturday Soapbox: Quick thinking
Gas prices are up, housing values are down and the overall economy is just plain bad. Most everyone is looking to May when the federal government's much-touted economic stimulus rebate checks start hitting mailboxes and hoping it will give consumers incentive to go out and spend. The Lake Zurich Area Chamber of Commerce hopes to take advantage of that fiscal enthusiasm. The chamber this week said it will unveil the "Double Your Money - Double Your Fun" campaign to entice area residents to spend their rebate checks locally and support hometown businesses. For every $500 spent at any of the more than 500 chamber member businesses, anyone can enter to win one of six weekly cash drawings and a grand prize drawing for $1,200. There is no limit to the number of times someone can enter a drawing, as long as he or she spends $500 at chamber member businesses, in single or multiple purchases. The promotion runs May 19 to June 30. Now that's creative thinking.
Key issue
Cook Memorial Public Library District officials and Libertyville trustees are at odds over how to best expand the downtown library. There's no question at all that more space is needed in the cramped 1970s-era building at Milwaukee and Cook avenues. But library officials want to expand up, saying adding another story to the building will make the best use of natural light and interior space and, perhaps most important, allow the addition of 12 parking spaces. Village officials want to expand out, saying adding to the ground floor would be cheaper and more aesthetically pleasing. But such an addition would be built partly on the current parking lot, resulting in 16 fewer spaces. That might not sound like a lot, but in an area where parking is at a premium, it could make a difference. We hope village trustees will seriously consider the parking situation when they decide the best way to proceed with the $7 million expansion. It's true a parking deck is planned for the area, but that deck isn't there now. And even if it were, parents with young children would be better served with parking adjacent to the library. A library is a treasure for its community, and we think officials should make sure people can take advantage of it.
Thanks for thinking of them
One of the lesser publicized aspects of John and Rita Canning's generous donation to Northwest Community Hospital is worth a closer look. Part of their $1 million contribution to help fund the expansion of the emergency room will train ER personnel to better recognize signs of domestic abuse. The hospital is partnering with Women In Need Growing Stronger, a terrific local organization dedicated to helping abused and homeless women and children recover and get back on their feet. To identify domestic abuse in the ER is the first step to ending it, so thank you, John and Rita Canning, and kudos to Northwest Community for recognizing it's a worthwhile thing to do.
Phone tree needed
Parents were understandably angry when they learned their grade-school children's principal had been arrested on drug and sex charges involving teenage girls. As upsetting as those sordid charges were, they were outraged to first learn the news from reporters instead of Nippersink School District officials as they arrived to take their children home from school amid a media circus. To their credit, school officials have since taken steps to keep parents and the community in the loop. But how is it a school can quickly inform parents of a snow day but not of something of this magnitude?