Let's not give up on Navistar

When the possibility was raised that Navistar would move its world headquarters to Lisle, as 30-year residents and business owners in Lisle, we were thrilled. The prestige of having a major corporation with historic roots in DuPage County, major improvements in the property, new construction jobs and thousands of good, permanent jobs, resurrecting a property that was going downhill - all of these factors were extremely positive factors for us.

When Lucent was in its heyday, I used to jog through its full parking lot, dodging the cars bringing thousands of people to good jobs there. This morning, as I jogged there, what did I see? Dying trees, filthy-looking, empty buildings, crumbling pavement in the parking lots, and one pickup truck - probably the security guards.

We had the unique opportunity in this struggling economic environment to have Navistar commit to a $100 million plan to bring their world headquarters, thousands of jobs and tremendous economic spinoffs to businesses, institutions and real estate market. But now we are in serious danger of losing this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity because of the scurrilous and misleading tactics of a few people. This is terribly unfair to Navistar and will send a clear message to any future investors: Stay out of Lisle; they don't want you.

Let's not let a few naysayers kill the golden goose. I sincerely hope that working together as a community, we let Navistar know that we urge them to continue the process of bringing their headquarters to Lisle. Let's let them know that we want them here and we appreciate their efforts.

I would love to jog past a gleaming Navistar world headquarters in Lisle and feel the pride in seeing the crown jewel in our corporate community. And I wouldn't even mind dodging all those cars.

Richard Lamb

Lisle