Shame on the park board for rejecting new Ribfest plan
Thank you to Rafael Guerrero for reporting on the Naperville Park Board decision to deny organizers of Ribfest access to Frontier Park for a two-day event because it would be “too disruptive” and would result in a loss of $90,000 in revenue because programs would need to be delayed or canceled.
All I can say is shame, shame, shame on you, Naperville Park Board! You will deny an event that could bring in $450,000 to $500,000 in revenue for charities that are struggling in difficult times so you do not have to ask the sports camps and day camps to disrupt their schedules for a few weeks to accommodate this worthy, community-wide activity.
Since when does the schedule and convenience of the few, privileged participants of sports and day camps take precedence over the needs and concern of the needy, particularly the victims of domestic violence? Let us remember that it was another park board decision two years ago that forced Ribfest out of the Knoch Knolls Park site, Ribfest’s home for 32 years, so that a lighted, fenced-in, specialty turf, multisport facility could be built to cater to some of the sports clubs in the area.
So, what’s the park district’s message in these actions for Naperville citizens? It sure sounds like, “Don’t look to us for help in tough times. But if you want an exclusive, luxurious sports training facility, we’re the place for you.”
As Naperville is now the fourth largest city in the state and a model to some of affluence and success, we should be able to accommodate the needs of many different people in our community. Our obligation to give back to the community should be growing, rather than shrinking.
Naperville Park Board, stop catering to the few and privileged! Please bring back those past days when we proudly served all constituents in our community. Bring back those days when Mayor Pradel and other city officials could proudly stand on the main stage in front of all Naperville and boast of all the good that this festival has done for our community.
Bring back those days when we could we could sit back in our park, enjoy some good music and food, and take a measure of pride that, while we were serving the community, we were having a little fun at the same time.
Patrick McDonough, Naperville
Keeping coal plant open a death sentence for hundreds
I am writing as a concerned health care professional, a mother and a resident of Naperville. I’m challenged to understand why Illinois legislators are still struggling to pass a clean energy bill, and one of the mind-boggling political sticking points is whether or not to close a huge, filthy coal power plant in 2035.
That coal plant, Prairie State Generating Station in southern Illinois, is now the 8th highest-polluting power plant in the country. A recent study found air pollution from that one coal plant kills 76 people breathing it every year. That’s a death penalty for over 1,000 innocent people. Some special interests are pushing to have it kill an additional 760 people by letting it pollute until 2045. I have no words.
This growing mass grave is just from what people will breathe, not counting the truly frightening and growing parade of tragedies from global warming. This past week a foot and a half of rain fell in Tennessee in 24 hours, killing 22 people. Wildfires have ravaged the West and the choking smoke, likely responsible for thousands of premature deaths so far, caused the air in downstate Decatur, Bloomington/Normal and the Quad Cities to violate health standards last month. Seventeen states from Iowa to California are seeing “extreme drought” levels. Killer heat waves have likely already killed hundreds of people this summer.
The Senate has already approved the 10-year extension on the closure and now it’s headed to the House. State legislators need to stop listening to special interests looking to profit from the suffering and death fossil fuels cause. Rather than lining pockets and political campaigns, they must pass a clean energy bill that actually saves lives, advances justice and builds a better future for me and my children.
Nicole Brandon, Naperville
(Editor’s note: Naperville is one of several communities in Illinois that has invested in Prairie State and receives electricity from it for use by city residents and businesses.)
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