Saturday Soapbox
Rushing to season's end:
Did you ever notice that it seems like Halloween comes one day, Thanksgiving is the next and before you know it, it's Christmas? Probably has a lot to do with all the planning and shopping involved. Maybe we all need to just slow down a bit and enjoy life more.
Cumberland Circle vindicated?
Poor Cumberland Circle in Des Plaines: maligned and feared, the terror of driver ed classes and the subject of insulting nicknames. But a new book by Tom Vanderbilt, "Traffic: Why We Drive The Way We Do (and What It Says About Us)" says roundabouts are a good thing because they require drivers to merge, adjust their speed and watch others - in other words, to pay attention.
Cumberland Circle, part II:
Vanderbilt cites a study of 24 intersections that were converted to roundabouts and notes a nearly 90 percent drop in fatal crashes afterward.
Missed opportunity:
We're disappointed Naperville Unit District 203 school board members were unable to reach a unanimous consensus on naming the new early childhood center after the late Ann Reid. The final 5-1-1 vote came off as a halfhearted concession rather than a ringing endorsement - and that's too bad.
Leaf it to Geneva:
Yes, Genevans, that was the mayor out there last Saturday picking up leaves. The public works department, trying to catch up on a 10-day lag in leaf collection, wanted to run a crew but it couldn't find enough workers. So Mayor Kevin Burns suggested the city council step up. Burns and aldermen Craig Maladra and Dorothy Flanagan raked wet leaves and handled the heavy, unwieldy giant vacuum tube.
Leaf it to Geneva, part II:
So what's the reward for volunteering for the ultimate fall cleanup? Shoulders and arms still aching days later. "All I can say is that it was a chance to experience firsthand how hard our public works crews work ... It was hard work, but hopefully it made some small difference," Alderman Craig Maladra said.
Speaking up for soundproofing:
As it stands, Elk Grove High School won't experience reduced airplane noise until today's fourth-graders are freshmen, and it will be only incrementally better. But members of the O'Hare Noise Compatibility Commission are trying to change that. We wish them luck on their trip to Washington, D.C., in December to try to get $10 million once expected for school soundproofing but lost when the FAA declared the school no longer eligible.
Glory be the Eola Road/I-88 interchange:
At last the ramps onto and off the Reagan Tollway are open. What a relief to Aurora residents who live near Eola Road but who had to either go to the Farnsworth ramps or the dreaded Route 59 ramps, where they had to turn from Diehl or Ferry roads onto Route 59 first. We don't think anyone can question the need for the interchange, especially if the choice was Route 59 before.
One little catch:
Or really, two catches: You have to pay 30 cents to go through the Eola Road interchange ramps, whether you're getting on or off the tollway. Hmmm, they don't post that on all the new signage. They do, however, more than adequately warn cash-payers that only I-PASS is accepted. We guess your visiting relatives will just have to use Route 59 or Farnsworth. That'll add to those driving directions.