Voting for Pride surest bet for future

I am a 22-year resident of Lake Zurich and very much a fiscal conservative. I got interested in city politics last year when I signed the petition against the NestleRest development, mostly because I felt that city planners should finish the uptown development first.

I attended my first city board meeting on Feb. 23 to learn more when David Smith of ESG presented his plans for investing in the uptown area development. Several important issues stood out: 1. The Lake Zurich uptown must become a social and economic destination or the current stagnation will continue. 2. The ESG investors will assume the upfront financial risks; the city will have commitments but few upfront costs. 3. David Smith believes strongly in the market turnaround before the uptown completion and will continue the development planning at ESG's expense.

After David Smith's presentation, many proponents and detractors expressed their opinions. After listening to everyone, the village board openly reviewed each of the resident questions with legal advisers, the accountant and David Smith. I found the process complete, transparent and I got good answers to my most critical concerns.

To me, the ESG deal is about as good as we will ever get. If the citizens want the uptown to be a fun place to "hang out" we will need to make this work. Success will take commitment and consistency by the ESG Group and our Lake Zurich leaders. A vote for the Village Pride party most assures an uptown with a future.

John Crary

Lake Zurich