Economy: June 2008 Archives

Sunday's Sun features a story about a couple of Naperville-area Realtors who bought one of those conversion kits that make a diesel engine run on vegetable oil. At $4 a gallon for gas and even more for diesel, they figure the $1,000 kit will pay for itself in a matter of months.

What are you doing to save money on gas? Driving less? Looking to trade in that SUV for a compact? Rethinking that summer drive to the Grand Canyon? How are you coping with the high gas prices? And how do you pay for gas--cash or credit?

Naperville Mayor A. George Pradel and others addressed the Naperville Area Homeowners Confederation Saturday about encouraging residents to visit local attractions instead of heading out of town, what with today's gas prices.

You can read the story here in The Sun:

http://www.suburbanchicagonews.com/napervillesun/news/1018997,6_1_NA23_NAHC_S1.article

With festivals, concerts and destinations like Centennial Beach, the DuPage Children's Museum and Naper Settlement, there is a lot to do in town. What's your favorite summertime event/activity/destination in Naperville?

It's rough being a small-business owner, especially when a construction project chokes off access to your business. That's the case of a Bailey Road florist (just down the street from Extra Value Liquors), who says business has fallen off 75 percent since the city closed the Bailey Road Bridge for a summer reconstruction project.

His beef is that he thinks the city didn't do a very good job notifying the neighborhood about the project. He wishes the city got residents and business owners together at a meeting to talk about it. The city says it sent letters, publicized the work and featured it prominently on its Web site, and that this isn't the sort of debate-driven issue that warrants a meeting.

What say you? Should the city have conducted a neighborhood meeting about this project? Is this just the case of a merchant whose seen his sales slashed venting his frustration at the city? Overall, how well do you think the city communicates with its residents and merchants?