Aurora alderman to Naperville councilman: Mind your own business

Naperville Councilman Richard Furstenau visited Aurora this week to urge the city council to reject both red-light cameras and plans for a new hotel on Route 59.

Frankly, not everyone was impressed.

"It's no surprise that a councilman from Naperville doesn't want competition for Naperville's hotels so he's doing his job here," Fourth Ward Alderman Rick Lawrence told fellow Aurora council members Tuesday night. "We've allowed Naperville to capture that entire market.

"I frankly don't care what Naperville thinks. Frankly, if we put a Naperville hotel out of business we did our job because Naperville has been sucking the tax money out of our city for a long time and I don't frankly care what they think about what we do. That's not our job. We live here."

Furstenau appeared surprised by the response and said he meant no harm. He said Lawrence was a "really, really good friend" whom he intended to call Wednesday to clear the air.

"I've only met the guy five times in my whole life so I wouldn't go that far," Lawrence said. "But I can see that maybe our styles are somewhat similar because if I went to his meeting and did what he did, I'm sure he'd tell me to get ... out and go back to Aurora."

Furstenau said he initially came to Aurora to persuade aldermen to vote against the installation of five red-light cameras at three intersections. In five months, he said, Naperville has issued 5,834 tickets at its red-light cameras, generating $583,400 because none of the citations have been overturned by the court.

"I personally have voted no on the red-light cameras every time and I just believe eventually it's all going to go away," he told the Aurora council. "There is not enough money in the communities to pay for this stuff and I would hope you would just turn it down."

His pleas were to no avail; the council voted 9-1 to approve installation of all five cameras.

Furstenau also ended up speaking against a proposal to build a Hampton Inn and Suites along Route 59. He said there's already a glut of such facilities and Naperville's hotels are "hanging on by their fingernails" with occupancy rates hovering around 40 percent.

The council rejected the plan, even though developers promised the establishment would lure customers from Lisle, Naperville and Warrenville hotels.

Lawrence said he understood why Furstenau attended the meeting but he didn't appreciate it - especially in light of the long-running competition between the two cities to attract and maintain businesses.

"There's some truth to the belief that a lot of people in Aurora do spend a lot of money in Naperville," Furstenau said. "Aurora residents frequent many of our discount stores along Route 59 and we certainly welcome that. We believe a lot of our commerce has also been stolen by the likes of developments in Oswego and Montgomery."

Furstenau said he didn't think it was inappropriate for him to attend or speak at the Aurora meeting.

"What affects Aurora, affects Naperville," he said. "So we need to keep an eye on each other."

Lawrence disagreed.

"Don't come into our city and tell us what to build and what not to build when you have done nothing but line our border with hotels," he said.