Letter: New development will damage hometown feel

Beautiful towns like Glen Ellyn are made up of homes and neighborhoods. There is nothing like a home. But it can be so easy to lose one.

I remember how my parents purchased their first home. Mom loved it. It was in a new subdivision, and I helped dad put in a lawn and shrubs. I attended the local school and was happy coming home to my room and the new-carpet smell. My dad worked hard in his TV-radio repair shop and my parents paid taxes and were active in a local church.

Then a recession arrived and stabbed hardworking people like my parents in the back. Local industry faltered. Folks began to move away. Dad's business went under. They couldn't afford the mortgage payments and lost their home.

We crowded in with my Uncle Jake's family in their home until Dad got a new job and we found another place to live. My parents were not vagrants or criminals. Mom and Dad worked hard, paid taxes and suffered difficult times. I later attended college and became a physician.

Another business or mini-mall off Roosevelt Road will increase traffic congestion and take away from small business owners who already struggle to provide important services to the residents. The proposed new housing development at Roosevelt and Taft will show what Glen Ellyn really is as a town. I think that in your heart of hearts you believe that, too.

David Rinaldi

Glen Ellyn