Voters need more than leap of faith

I have received multiple four-color postcards from the Lake County Forest Preserve District, and I notice there are also ads in the e-edition of the Daily Herald encouraging voters to agree to a bond offering for various future projects and acquisitions. Additionally, there is quite a bit of discussion on social media about reasons to vote yes or no on this issue.

I don’t understand how a public entity can request such a large amount of money and there be so little coverage in the media. Taxpayers need to trust any entity that asks to take on $155 million debt. How does this ask square with the LCFPD desire to sell 52 acres of savannah including 22 acres of wetlands to the Waukegan airport to build a runway that would be longer than any runway at Midway. A benefit of the longer runway is that it will allow larger and louder private and corporate jets to fuel up in Waukegan in order to fly directly to Asia without stopping to refuel.

That land was bought not only with taxpayer money, but also with the promise that it be set aside perpetually for recreation and preservation of the earth for humans, animals and the environment. How is it possible that LCFPD participate in a project that defies that purpose?

Furthermore, LCFPD is not trading this land. It is selling it to an entity that is composed of very few Lake County residents. This broken promise will foist more dirty air and greater noise for the many thousands who live in proximity to the airfield due to the runway patterns that will surely be created.

Where is the news coverage and transparency of LCFPD informing voters about the environmental downgrade in their backyards? Does it make sense to sell off forest preserve land to benefit a few highflyers when thousands of residents will be left to pay the bill for decades? How can taxpayers take a leap of faith for a $155 million bond offering when LCFPD is contemplating selling off land to benefit the few at the expense of so many?

Rita O’Connor

Lake Zurich