March 2009 Archives

I often go out into the community and strike up conversations with people just to see what they might say.

Last week I had conversations with three different people (all in one day), who had recently lost their jobs. I know that things are bad. I read the newspaper. I watch the news. But it was something about looking into the eyes of these people and listening to their stories. To me, they represent the faces of the current economy.

And being on the hills of the Bolingbrook mayoral election, I thought this would be a good time to call up the candidates and ask what they plan to do to get us back to work.

Bonnie Kurowski-Alicea, a business consultant and college professor, said she would be cutting salaries, including her own, to help create new positions in key departments such as marketing and information technology.

"The village hasn't hired someone in over a year, but when you look across the board salaries (in the village) are high," she said. "You would be astonished to see how many people in the village make over $100,000 a year. I will be asking for (employees to take) percent pay cuts," she said. "I want to take our village to a higher level, to create better IT support, making the village more transparent," she added.

She said establishing a marketing department would help promote existing entities such as the Bolingbrook Clow Airport, Americana Estates and Boughton Ridge Golf Course.
The write-in candidate also plans to create jobs by establishing a Habitat for Humanity unit to repair residential homes. She also plans to post new positions by developing an improved IT department to upgrade village offices.

Roger Claar sees it differently. "She has no idea," he said, "About 20 to 25 people are making that, ($100,000 a year)" he said. "Creating jobs by cutting people's salaries is a very unique way to create jobs," he added.

The mayor said his plan includes bringing three to four new businesses to town in the next couple of months, a move that will add about 200 jobs to the area. The companies he already has on board including, Pewag Chain, Saratoga Foods, IFCO systems and a fourth company that he was unwilling to disclose, but said the company would bring an additional 100 jobs.

"In the last past months, we've locked up three new businesses. These businesses will be employing about 180 to 200 people in the next two to three months," he said. "The best way to stimulate the economy is to bring more jobs to the area," he added. "Private sector development is by far the best way to turn this economy around.''

Kurowski-Alicea said she too, will be bring new business to the area. "There are a lot of vacant and empty retail stores," she said, "I'd like to bring other corporate entities, and I've already been talking to some of these companies," she added.

It seems to me, come election day (April 7), residents in the Brook will have to decide whether they want someone with new ideas who could probably update the village and by doing so, possibly create some stable jobs. Or do they want someone who will continue to give us what we already have, but who can possibly deliver 200 jobs right now. You decide. I only hope to hear fewer stories about people losing their jobs.

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I woke up this morning with messages in my email box encouraging me to get out and vote in the local town elections. I had a minute wondering, am I even registered to vote? I immediately got on the phone to the Will County Clerk's office.

I was relieved to hear that if you registered for the past general election (presidential), then you're okay. You can walk right on up to your local polling place, or where ever it is that you voted for the presidential election and vote.

Registration for the local mayoral and township election ended March 10, and there was a slight grace period that ran from March 11 to 24. New registration opens up again beginning April 9 for next year's primary and general elections. You can register at the Town Center or the library.

See you at the polling place.

I recently met Will County Board Member, Jackie Traynere. She knocked on my door encouraging community involvement. And the other day, a resident who runs a local home based childcare business stopped me on the street, and told me all about her community involvement with the local school.

Then this weekend I watched my children ride bikes and play ball with some kids on our block. And I was reminded of how important community is to our welfare. We can go into our houses and shut our doors, but the community will still be there. Here in the Brook, we encounter the community wherever we go and in most of what we do.

The weather is warming and now is a good time to get involved, whether it's cutting a neighbor's grass or leading a home association committee. Being involved in the community contributes to our wellbeing and the wellbeing of those around us.

I was reminded of this when my daughter ran into the house, grabbed a box of popsicles and began passing them out to children on the block. Good community is what we all want, some place where our kids can play and be free. We should all consider getting involved, somewhere here in the Brook.

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Well the shelves are emptying at the Jewel on Boughton Road and Route 53.
The closing is upon us. The oldest store in the village will close its doors on Tuesday, April 4.

While it will be unfortunate to see it go and lose the convenience of having a Jewel near by, it is a great time to snag some groceries on sale.

It's kind of spooky with all of the empty shelves. I've never shopped in a grocery store going out of business. I've done shoes. I've even done furniture, but empty food shelves, that's kind of eerie.

On the upshot, food on sale is good for customers. I went over and grabbed a couple bags of peas. The store has sales going on from now through the closeout. You can get 10 to 20 percent off many food items and up to 50 percent on house appliances and utensils, such as spoons and pots.

And pharmacy prescription files have been automatically transferred to the Jewel-Osco pharmacy at 1200 W. Boughton Road. Mailers have gone out to patients to inform them about the change, Jewel officials said.

And as I stated in my first posting about the store closing, I hope another store with the same longevity takes its place, and fast.

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Lately I've been thinking about ways to live a simpler life, which is one of the reasons I moved to Bolingbrook.

Recently I caught an episode of The Oprah Show where she was discussing a similar topic. There was a guest who walked away from a lavish lifestyle, and moved her family to a one-bedroom cottage in the woods.

I'm not doing anything that drastic, but I started looking around for ways that I could make my own life simpler. One thing I decided to do was to walk my children to school each day, instead of driving them. When I first moved here, that was my intent. But overtime, I found myself driving them to school each day.

We literally live two minutes away from the school. When I look around, I see very few people walking. Everybody's driving. It's like cars and suburban living go hand-in-hand. I've also been trying to fit more exercise into my life. Then I thought how silly it is to have to schedule exercise, when I could simply make walking the kids to school my exercise time. It seems like in America, we don't feel like we're really doing something, if we're not scheduling it.

I also recently went to visit my father, who happens to be a farmer, and I thought to myself, "farmers don't have to scheduled exercise. Their work is their exercise." And it's true, my father is in excellent health, and is stronger than most men half his age. I think we should find ways to make exercise fit into our current lives, because trying to schedule one more thing into our busy schedules just isn't happening.

In my walks to school, a strange thing happened, I was able to have a meaningful conversation with my daughter about how important it is to be active, and she could feel the benefits.

Maybe the school district might want to consider holding a "Walk Your Kids to School Week." It could act as a exercise time, bonding time, as well as a time to conserve gas. And there's no better time to start like now.

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I know there's a lot of talk about the stimulus package. I would love to see some of that money go to the arts.

When people start to look for places to cut, the arts are usually one of the first line items to go. But when you see a show like Signs, you're reminded of the importance of funding art.

This weekend I went to see Signs, by Danceforce, a dance ensemble made up of local children, held at Bolingbrook High School. I found it a truly outstanding performance. I've seen many dance companies, both children and adults, and this one ranks pretty high on the scale. I've never seen so many kids on one stage, and I take my hat off to all of the adults who worked behind the scene to put it all together.

I think one of the things that I appreciate about the show, was its relevance to our times in the selected music, movie clips, and photos and of course, the road signs used as stage props. The messages were both pertinent and understandable to both children and adults.

Many times a show involving children looks like a forced performance for the benefit of the parents in the audience. These kids were "into it." They gave their heart and soul.

If you missed the show this year, see Signs next year.

Who knows, we might find ourselves sitting next to each other.

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