Endorsements: Gorman, Selep, Wood for East Dundee village board

Things are looking up in East Dundee.

Thanks in large part to the vision and wallet of businessman/landowner/builder/rehabber Tom Roeser, the downtown is now a vibrant place, sporting his trademark butter brick facades, an inviting streetscape and a budding entertainment district.

But Roeser is not running for election to the East Dundee village board. Rob Gorman, Kirstin Wood, Dan Selep, Scott Andresen and Cindy Comstock are.

Gorman, Wood and Selep are incumbents on a board that has risen above petty squabbles in recent years. They appreciate each other's opinions, even if they don't always agree. That's the hallmark of a healthy village board.

Andresen, a lifelong resident and attorney with an office downtown, remembers the downtown as a ghost town. He says the village board needs to maintain a good relationship with Roeser, who has pumped tens of millions of dollars into rehabbing East and West Dundee and Carpentersville, where his Otto Engineering is based. Andresen is right about that.

The board has been working to secure another grocer in the closed Dominick's at Routes 25 and 72 and has been talking about ways to better develop riverfront land.

We like the direction the board has taken in the past few years and see no reason to interrupt it, so incumbents Gorman, Wood and Selep are endorsed.

Andresen is a worthy candidate, and we hope he gets involved in another capacity.