Endorsement for Hanover Park Park Board: Elkins, Fuentez, Grima

The Hanover Park Park District has considerable problems — razor-thin finances, facilities badly overdue for maintenance and replacement. By a ratio of 2.5-to-1, the voters soundly rejected a tax proposal in a referendum last November, so traditional help is not coming soon.

That means the district's leadership must be creative if there are to be improvements.

Four candidates are running for three seats on the park board in the April 2 election.

We endorse incumbent Mark Elkins, whose tenure on the board dates back to 1995, and former park Commissioner Miguel Fuentez, who is seeking a return to the board. Their experience should help.

We also endorse Ceferino “Cef” Grima, who had participated with the district's referendum task force and campaign committee. We appreciate his understanding of the challenges.

Also running is Shawqi Mustafa. We salute his long involvement with the Hurricanes youth football program, but he did not respond to numerous requests to interview with our Editorial Board.