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wilmettebeacon.com SOUND OFF
the wilmette beacon | June 13, 2019 | 35
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From WilmetteBeacon.com as of June 10
From the Editor
Time to lace up those traveling shoes
1. UPDATE: Bomb threat at Wilmette
Junior High included racist content
2. Police Reports: Drunken Wilmette man
allegedly found passed out at wheel
3. In Memoriam: Radler was ‘reliable
spirit’ in Regina Dominican community
4. Glenview: Gas station sells $450,000
winning lottery ticket
5. Former NSCDS student allegedly
sexually abused by volunteer
Become a member: wilmettebeacon.com/plus
Eric DeGrechie
eric@wilmettebeacon.com
Each year for my
son’s birthday in
September, which
happens to be the same
day as mine, we’ve made
a point to visit a national
park or lakeshore. For
birthday 1, it was Yellowstone.
Last year, for
birthday 2, we made our
way to Michigan to visit
Sleeping Bears Dunes
National Lakeshore.
While we have several
months left to figure out
birthday No. 3, the preliminary
plan might involve a
trip south to several spots
including Great Smoky
Mountains National Park.
Gavin has a U.S.
National Park Service
passport book in which
we get each trip stamped.
We haven’t told him a ton
of details about this next
voyage as his young mind
will think we’re leaving
tomorrow versus months
from now.
While the trips Wilmette’s
PolarExplorers
(featured this week
on Page 39) offers are
certainly not in the near
offing for my family, I
am nonetheless intrigued
by where they travel,
including both the North
and South poles. We’ve
featured PolarExplorers
before and it’s always
fun to catch up on what
they’re up to.
Despite the disappointment
of not making it to
the North Pole for the
100th time in April due to
some unforeseen circumstances,
the company
continues to travel the
world and bring teams of
adventurers along for the
ride.
“I was touched by how
understanding everyone
was [about the cancellation
of the North Pole
trip]. Our own team too
proved to be resilient and
flexible,” said Annie Aggens,
of PolarExplorers.
“We drew on the lessons
learned during our travels
that nothing is ever a
guarantee.”
Wilmette Police Department posted this
photo on June 2 with the caption:
“Thank you for helping #WilmettePD support
@SpecialOlympicsIllinois
Like The Wilmette Beacon: facebook.com/wilmettebeacon
“5th grade field day is the best!
#gohawks39”
@HawkWolf39 Highcrest/WJHS posted
on June 6
Follow The Wilmette Beacon: @wilmettebeacon
go figure
53
An intriguing number from this week’s edition
Number of graduates in
North Shore Country Day
Class of 2019, Page 29
Letter
From Page 32
• Take money out our
kids’ classrooms.
• Create vast uncertainty
for loyal longtime
Kenilworth property owners,
who under the shadow
of the TIF district may be
forced to sell their investment
— Eminent Domain.
• Reduce our rights to
approve capital plans, as
we asserted when we defeated
Home Rule.
• Allow unelected staff
to direct redevelopment of
our village.
• Threaten our existing
service businesses, under
state law.
• Risk problems like
Wilmette’s at the old Jacobs
Ford.
Kenilworth has never
shied away from a challenge.
We can bring responsible,
community-focused
development to Green
Bay Road without using a
financially risky TIF that
robs our schools of the resources
they need
It will bring higher
taxes and less money for
our schools, all while diverting
taxpayer dollars
for 23 years into an undemocratic
Village slush
fund and into the pockets
of well-connected private
developers.
The Green Bay Road
TIF is not the way we
should develop our Kenilworth.
Contact the Kenilworth
Village Board and tell
them to oppose the Green
Bay Road TIF proposal.
Marjorie Zander
Kenilworth resident
TIF proposal is ‘lose-lose
proposition’
Here’s the nightmare:
Robin Hood (Kenilworth
Board) steals $23,000,000
from Sears School, New
Trier, and other taxing
authorities over next 23
years, and parcels it out to
private property developers.
(Board’s own absurd
numbers). The schools,
desperate fill the hole in
their budgets, agitate to
recoup via tax increases.
These must be granted,
so Kenilworth citizens
are dunned the 23M.
Meanwhile, the Board encourages
and subsidizes
massive, bulky multi-family
developments along
Greenbay Rd. (compare
new building on Green
Bay in Wilmette) Sears
school, already pinched
in its budget, must absorb
additional students, thus
increasing the otherwise
attractive pupil-teacher
ratio, which made our
school so special. The
extra taxes and no longer
so attractive school lead
to declining real estate
values for all Kenilworth
residents. A lose-lose
proposition.
Risky property loans and
home seizures from terrorized
District residents
are all part of the permitted
TIF tools. There’s an
old adage in risk-taking:
if you don’t know who
the chump in the game is,
you’re the chump. Citizens
of Kenilworth, if you
tolerate passage of this
TIF, you don’t recognize
who the chump is. Let the
free market dictate Green
Bay Road development.
David Joyce
Kenilworth resident
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