Wilmette Village Trustees Election: Vote for Karen Spillers, Mike Basil, and No One Else

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Here at Wilmette, we previously endorsed Karen Spillers for Wilmette Village Trustee. We add to that endorsement, Mike Basil.The Wlmette election takes place next Tuesday, April 17, 2007. Voters serious about the future of Wilmette and responsible government should vote for these two candidates, and ONLY these two candidates. We need both Spillers and Basil on the Wilmette Village Board to return to a government that will serve all the people of this village, not just the few.

The type of nonsense that Wilmette residents have had to put up with from the current Village Board is typified in the current article by JB Powers on his blog, which you can read by clicking here. Candidates and current trustees, Mari Terman and Joanne Aggens. have been deeply involved in every sort of nonsense that is not the proper job of local government. While we salute people who give of their time and talent to civic affairs, both Terman and Aggens must be retired.

Local quality of life, and local problems in general have appeared to bore our trustees for a number of years now, and frankly their lack of interest shows, particularly in the downtown area. Of course, if you tried to walk anywhere during this winter, the abysmal job done in plowing the sidewalks is reason enough to turn out the incumbents. If the current trustees had spent their time focusing on the quality of life for local residents, rather than chasing windmills in the style of Don Quixote, life would be better for us all. It is the job of the elected Wilmette Trustees to serve the people of this village, not to use their position to advance personal agendas or to amuse themselves with government initiatives that have no business being considered at the local level.

It is also the duty of the Trustees to demand accountability in all areas of local government. Anywhere you drive in the village, you can see the effects of failure to enforce traffic laws, much to the detriment of local residents. Spending time on Kyoto protocols, rather than simple problems such as the inherently dangerous condition for pedestrians exiting the train at Green Bay and crossing Central heading South is reprehensible. Other traffic nightmares, such as the corner of Skokie Blvd. and Hibbard, remain unaddressed. Misguided and dangerous encouragement of bicycle/automobile traffic in a "share the road" program is a legacy of this Board. Depending on hired personnel at Village Hall to set priorities and solve problems cannot be applauded.

Did you ever have the pleasure of having your neighbor ask you to sign-off for approval for a permit on some home improvement project so that they could make changes to their property? Perhaps you lived through the nightmare of seeing how the village inspects that work. The inspectors wait until a complaint is made. Then they visit your neighbor and are kind enough to inform them of your complaint. If you have hot tempered neighbor, God help you. Oversight for construction safety and impact on neighbors simply doesn't happen.

Do you remember the old days, when you could buy a newspaper, a loaf of bread, and milk in downtown Wilmette? Some trustees apparently can't wait to get ride of all merchants. Currently, fhe pet store and the Chinese take out on Green Bay seem to be aggravating some trustees, who will never rest until they have a completely irrelevant village center.

Do you remember the Trustees' promise of trees in front of Mallinckrockt? Have you been by there lately? It is a concrete jungle, with possibly room for a couple of ornamentals in containers.

Does your vote count? It sure does. Very few people vote in local elections, so get out there and do your part for the future of Wilmette! Vote for Karen Spillers and Mike Basil on Tuesday, April 17, 2007.