Preserve Winfield’s unique character

My wife Phoebe and I have lived in our home in Winfield for 20 years. Over the years, we have often considered downsizing and moving away from our longtime home in Winfield, but we have stayed because we love Winfield. It is a unique, hidden, rustic oasis in the heart of one of the largest metropolitan urban areas in the U.S.

It’s close to everything, and welcomes residents home each evening. If you are like most folks, you might not realize that Winfield is doing quite well today, fiscally and otherwise, in spite of the sorry state of our economy.

There is a local election coming up April 5, and we have heard loud criticism from a pair of village trustee candidates. They are advocating the rezoning and commercial development of the Roosevelt Road area. This, they claim, will create a sales tax bonanza. I think most Winfield voters are smarter than that — drive any direction on Roosevelt Road, and you will see towns that have pursued development of that corridor (Wheaton, West Chicago, Glen Ellyn — pretty much all the way to Chicago).

You may not realize it, but the property tax rate in Winfield is significantly lower than any of our neighboring communities who have pursued commercial development of the Roosevelt Road corridor. I am not opposed to sensible development, but nothing I have seen so far from the above two mentioned candidates is sensible.

I urge Winfield voters to support the common sense candidates VadeBonCoeur, Mortenson and Hughes for village trustee. Do this for the sake of preserving Winfield’s uniqueness among its larger, but higher-taxing, neighboring communities.

Michael Smith

Winfield