Islamic Center’s mosque plan deserving of city approval
I wholeheartedly support the Islamic Center of Naperville’s mosque project on 248th Avenue, which has passed its first hurdle going before the Naperville Planning and Zoning Commission and will soon go to the Naperville City Council for a final vote.
The Islamic Center of Naperville has been an integral part of the community for 30 years. Our Muslim residents contribute to our town in many impactful ways as physicians, educators, bankers, community leaders and, most importantly, our children’s friends.
ICN is a true community partner, acting as a voting center and hosting COVID-19 vaccine clinics and free medical clinics for people of all faiths. My family and I have attended Open Mosque Days at ICN. These are interfaith events where we’ve had an opportunity to try on hijabs, wear beautiful henna designs on our hands, sample traditional Arab food and learn about Islam.
For the past 20 years, I have lived in Olesen Estates, near the Islamic Center on Olesen Drive. While out walking all these years, I have seen firsthand the growing need for a new mosque.
The ICN’s parking lot is woefully inadequate and attendees must park up and down Olesen Drive — a residential area — and cross the street to get to the center, even in inclement weather. I have passed many attendees on my walks, and all have been courteous and respectful. Traffic on Fridays, during non-peak hours when our friends worship, is resolved promptly.
Please support the ICN mosque project. The new facility will not only help meet the needs of our growing local Muslim community, it will also provide public outreach programs and services those of all faiths. This will build a more inclusive Naperville.
Lyndsey Kasson Kokoris, Naperville
Thoughts on why stores keep getting moving things around
Hilary Decent’s Oct. 17 column on grocery stores moving products to different aisles was interesting because I worked at a Jewel store in the ’60s while I was in high school.
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Every time we got a new manager or assistant manager back then, we rearranged the store. I thought that the new guy (and it was always a guy) wanted to make his mark, hoping that if sales improved he could take credit.
Then I thought that maybe they believed that by moving stuff around it would force shoppers to notice things they never noticed before. Now I think it’s just become an expected behavior that management follows blindly because that’s how it’s always been done and nobody knows why.
One thing Jewel has never figured out is if they were properly staffed, no one would care about the rearranging. They should open more registers, have baggers for each and have employees in the aisles to assist shoppers. That, I believe, would improve sales.
It’s a simple cost benefit analysis, as are most business problems. Good luck convincing a grocery manager to do one.
James Vena, Chicago
Decent not alone in her grocery shopping frustration
I appreciated Hilary Decent’s column about grocery stores moving items around (“Is there a method behind the madness when grocery stores move everything to new places every month?” Oct 17).
It was good to see I am not the only one who is irritated by running in to pick up a few things only to waste time playing “Marco Polo” trying to find items that the store has moved. I figure they either had to make room for other items or were deliberately trying to get me to buy items not on my list by placing them where I was looking.
I like Hilary’s idea of stores updating their directory whenever they reorganize. While we are at it, how about getting rid of the road blocks of displays jutting out into the aisles. They always seem to be in front of the shelf where I’m reaching for products.
They also make it more difficult to get around people who park their carts diagonally in the middle of the aisle and then stand like zombies, apparently unaware of other shoppers needing to get through. I’m short but not so short that others can’t see me.
Leslie Abrahamson, Westmont
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