“Cheerleader” not enough for Naperville

In Mayor Pradel’s 2011 State of the City speech he offered his personal “Top 10 Reasons Naperville is World Class”. According to Pradel, it’s better to be the home of an Olympic gold medalist (No. 6) than have safe streets and rapid fire response (No. 10). Really?

According to the mayor, Naperville’s museums (No. 3) are more responsible for our city’s greatness than the schools (No. 9) or the vibrant downtown (No. 7). Really? Pradel professed the No. 1 reason Naperville is a world class city is our “community spirit.” Really? Personally, I would rather live next to someone who will help bring jobs back to town and strengthen our economy, than a cheerleader.

First and foremost I want safety and security. Sure I want quality education, beautiful parks, award winning libraries, museums, and public transportation but if I’m not safe and secure all else pales. In addition to personal safety I want financial security and resources for my health and well-being. This means jobs, strong financial institutions, health care, social services and places of worship. None of which made the mayor’s top ten list.

We could all make up our own Top 10 Reasons why we like the town we live in. We cannot, however, deny Naperville’s standing has dropped over the last few years. To get back to “World Class” we need nine strong leaders on the dais. Some will tell you that the role of mayor in Naperville is a minor, almost irrelevant, role in our city. That suggests past mayors Peg Price, Sam McCrane, Chet Rybicki and Kenn Small were merely figureheads. It’s just not so.

Barbara Dwyer

Naperville