Cameras only thing village doing right

I am writing after reading the letter from Steven Baldasti of Hoffman Estates. I disagree with Mr. Baldasti on both of his comments. First of all, I am in favor of the red light cameras. I wonder if Mr. Baldasti ever sat at a light on Route 72 and was unable to get through the intersection because so many people made the left turn after the arrow turned red and then blocked the intersection because the cross traffic had backed up.

I'll bet Mr. Baldasti never stopped to think people who run red lights in Hoffman Estates most likely don't live in Hoffman.

I also have a comment regarding his comment about the Sears Centre. I do agree it is an economic disaster. But it is just one in a long list of blunders by the current administration. Perhaps it is a major reason why Trustee Gary Collins recently announced his resignation.

Let's look at this list of blunders. Number one on my list is the deal they made to acquire the current Village Hall. Does Hoffman Estates really need this Taj Mahal? Have you ever seen all the wasted floor space in that monstrosity? Next came the Sears Centre. Just what the Northwest suburbs needed is another arena. What were the elected officials thinking?

And now the village is engaged in building a state of the art police station. This comes as they were forced to lay off four or was it five police officers. This represents one full shift of those who patrol our streets.

But the village retained the garbage toter police patrol. Did you know the village has at least one person who goes around to see if the residents remove their empty toters from the curb within the prescribed period of time?

Hoffman Estates does.

So, Mr. Baldasti, you barely scratched the surface regarding the Sears Centre and the mismanagement by the village officials. And you are way, way off base concerning the red light cameras.

Earl Kelly

Hoffman Estates