CDH 'welfare' idea typical myopia

In an April 20 letter, a disgruntled publisher of a failed newspaper attempted to make a case for a Central DuPage Hospital welfare program to subsidize road maintenance in Winfield.

The letter actually hit one nail directly on the head. Central DuPage Hospital doubles the daytime population of Winfield. Yet the myopic views so prevalent in the author's failed newspaper shone through again. Instead of looking at this as an asset, it chose to pin blame on this as a liability.

Central DuPage Hospital is delivering to the village of Winfield a transient population of potential customers for our restaurants and retail establishments. Potential customers that could provide a true retail and commercial tax base for our community and therefore a mechanism by which we would no longer have to go "hat in hand" to local institutions or threaten our residents with tax increases.

But in the author's defense, shortsightedness is not all that uncommon in Winfield. Instead of creating an atmosphere that could capitalize on this most valuable asset, the "winning administration" in Winfield passes inane zoning restrictions on its most traveled potential retail corridors, discourages development with outlandish impact fee hikes and generally drags its feet on decisions that could catalyze business in the village. As the old Winfield saying goes, teach a man to fish and he'll accuse you of heresy and racketeering, give a man a fish and he'll call it a sustainable revenue stream.

Greg Nawrocki

Winfield