New home for mentally ill needs support

A few weeks ago, Nobel laureate John Nash and his wife Alicia, the inspiration for the book and movie "A Beautiful Mind," died in an auto accident. Their passing is extremely sad for many reasons but most sad is that they leave behind a son who also suffers from schizophrenia and now has neither parent to provide support or care. It may be that the Nashes leave behind adequate financial resources for their son. Facilities exist to help those with mental illness; they just require a family with substantial financial resources. What happens to those who don't.

In August 2014, the Palatine village council rejected a proposal to build affordable, supportive housing for the mentally ill. Palatine's professional staff recommended approval of the project. Palatine's Plan Commission recommended (by a vote of 7 - 1) approval of the project. Palatine's police and fire chiefs stood up publicly and stated that we need this type of facility. Yet the Palatine village council chose to reject the proposal, ignoring their own professionals, hearing body and community.

A new proposal (Caryne Court) to build affordable, supportive housing for the mentally ill is working its way through Palatine's process. Unfortunately, this new site is meeting with similar NIMBY resistance to the original site and the outcome of this proposal is very uncertain.

In the near future, the Caryne Court proposal will hopefully be in front of the Palatine Plan Commission and then back to the Palatine village council. Everyone assures me that they understand the need but we cannot ignore the past and expect a different outcome this time around.

Please tell your Palatine Village Councilman and Mayor Schwantz that they must do the right thing and vote to support those with a serious mental illness by approving the Caryne Court proposal without further delay.

Andy McPherson

Palatine