Elgin challengers: take your best shot

This letter is a word to the wise to those who will listen in challenging the Elgin City Council incumbents. It would be beneficial to your campaigns and impressive to editorial boards if you would do simply the following.

The Freedom of Information Act mandates that any citizen or candidate can get copies of our city council minutes. In order to inform yourself and challenge the mistakes and faulty thinking of these incumbents you are going to have to be super aggressive by presenting facts on why they should not be on our council. Furthermore, it is not going to be easy and it will require hours upon hours to gather enough evidence to create a powerful and legitimate case against them.

For a starter, refer to the Channing YMCA property debacle, the Kimball Street tragic forfeiting from Kane County of a grant of $3 million, due to the mismanagement of funds and foresight the required match of $2.1 million was not available for a bike path under the bridge, million dollar costs over expenses per year for The Centre, the regressive telephone 5 percent tax, the $500,000 thoughtless gift to Elgin Academy pork, the incentive giveaway to wealthy developers, the condo lack of foresight and on and on it goes.

Find it, use it and shoot it and you will hit the target and you will destroy the bizarre thinking and actions of the incumbents big time. Brenda Rogers (two-year term) and Linda Quezada (four- year term) have empathy and sincere desire to bring "real" affordable housing to Elgin. Two other candidates are needed that espouse this desire come forth. The developers' propensity for upscale housing has to end. "The American dream" of owning a house has to be addressed to help the lower middle class and the economy will benefit greatly in many respects.

Yes, it is a "time for a change" - no more the same old guys. And if we do not get it, heaven help us.

M. Barry Birchfield

Elgin