Post by doctorwho on Dec 30, 2011 12:14:05 GMT -6
Glad to say I know someone who deals in FACTS, not emotions...and works to 'get it right'. I just wish more people would have listened on the waste of $154M....
--- we'll be ready for a referendum, whenever it comes however !
People looking for more facts from Mike can be directed here -- for any of the area issues.
Mike Crockett works to keep government honest
By Hank Beckman For the Sun December 29, 2011 10:58PM
Reprints
Members of the Wheatland Township Space Study Committee including Mike Crockett (right) and members of the audience listen to a presentation about options for a new township facility during a public meeting at Plainfield East High School. Jeff Cagle / For
Updated: December 30, 2011 2:33AM
Mike Crockett first became politically active in Naperville over School District 204 issues, including the decision to build Metea Valley High School.
Then he joined the fight in early 2011 to prevent Wheatland Township from building a $1.5 million township headquarters.
The efforts of Crockett, a 59-year-old attorney and futures trader, and several other Wheatland Township residents resulted in the Aug. 9 electors meeting at Plainfield East High School that voted overwhelmingly to direct Wheatland Township officials to cease plans to build the new facility, sell the property and use the proceeds to refurbish the existing Ttwnship office space.
Mission accomplished?
Well, maybe, but Crockett isn’t taking any chances, regularly attending Wheatland Township meetings and staying on top of other issues affecting Naperville’s southwest side.
“It’s pretty clear that they (township officials) don’t have the power to go ahead with the building,” Crockett said. “The courts have ruled that the electors have the power to stop the building.”
But Crockett said that the township’s recent tax levy for 2012 left him wondering about the Board of Trustee’s intentions. The levy called for a 5 percent reduction from the previous year, but still leaves the township with a $1.7 million surplus.
Crockett said that the board had been levying more than it needed for daily operations for years in an effort to build a new facility. He agrees with Wheatland Township Trustee Joe Hudetz, who called for a reduction in the levy of up to 15 percent.
“There’s nothing remotely out there in terms of needs that could require them to levy as much as they did,” he said.
But Crockett also had praise for the board’s decision to expand the Ride DuPage program to parts of the township that are unincorporated.
“That’s what they should be doing,” he said.
Crockett recently became active in the controversy over the Islamic Center of Naperville’s request to annex property on 248th Street between 95th and 103rd streets.
The issue pitted the Islamic Center against some residents of the Tall Grass and Penncross Knolls subdivisions, with many of the residents up in arms about the possibility of a huge structure being built on the land.
The Naperville City Council unanimously approved the annexation Monday, but the reaction of some in the community clearly annoys Crockett.
When the issue first surfaced, a number of signs opposing the annexation surfaced on poles along 248th Street, including one that used racially derogative language.
During public comment at City Council and Plan Commission meetings, some, including Islamic Center attorney Len Monson, spoke against the perceived racism of the opposition.
Crockett rejects the notion that anything other than property rights motivated the residents’ concerns.
“It was never an issue,” he said of the attempt to attribute the opposition to racial prejudice.
Crockett pointed out that anywhere from 30 to 50 Moslim families lived in the subdivisions in question.
“It (the charge) doesn’t make sense,” he said.
Citing an impulse as old as the American Republic, Crockett vows to remain active in Naperville politics.
“I don’t trust government,” he said.
--- we'll be ready for a referendum, whenever it comes however !
People looking for more facts from Mike can be directed here -- for any of the area issues.
Mike Crockett works to keep government honest
By Hank Beckman For the Sun December 29, 2011 10:58PM
Reprints
Members of the Wheatland Township Space Study Committee including Mike Crockett (right) and members of the audience listen to a presentation about options for a new township facility during a public meeting at Plainfield East High School. Jeff Cagle / For
Updated: December 30, 2011 2:33AM
Mike Crockett first became politically active in Naperville over School District 204 issues, including the decision to build Metea Valley High School.
Then he joined the fight in early 2011 to prevent Wheatland Township from building a $1.5 million township headquarters.
The efforts of Crockett, a 59-year-old attorney and futures trader, and several other Wheatland Township residents resulted in the Aug. 9 electors meeting at Plainfield East High School that voted overwhelmingly to direct Wheatland Township officials to cease plans to build the new facility, sell the property and use the proceeds to refurbish the existing Ttwnship office space.
Mission accomplished?
Well, maybe, but Crockett isn’t taking any chances, regularly attending Wheatland Township meetings and staying on top of other issues affecting Naperville’s southwest side.
“It’s pretty clear that they (township officials) don’t have the power to go ahead with the building,” Crockett said. “The courts have ruled that the electors have the power to stop the building.”
But Crockett said that the township’s recent tax levy for 2012 left him wondering about the Board of Trustee’s intentions. The levy called for a 5 percent reduction from the previous year, but still leaves the township with a $1.7 million surplus.
Crockett said that the board had been levying more than it needed for daily operations for years in an effort to build a new facility. He agrees with Wheatland Township Trustee Joe Hudetz, who called for a reduction in the levy of up to 15 percent.
“There’s nothing remotely out there in terms of needs that could require them to levy as much as they did,” he said.
But Crockett also had praise for the board’s decision to expand the Ride DuPage program to parts of the township that are unincorporated.
“That’s what they should be doing,” he said.
Crockett recently became active in the controversy over the Islamic Center of Naperville’s request to annex property on 248th Street between 95th and 103rd streets.
The issue pitted the Islamic Center against some residents of the Tall Grass and Penncross Knolls subdivisions, with many of the residents up in arms about the possibility of a huge structure being built on the land.
The Naperville City Council unanimously approved the annexation Monday, but the reaction of some in the community clearly annoys Crockett.
When the issue first surfaced, a number of signs opposing the annexation surfaced on poles along 248th Street, including one that used racially derogative language.
During public comment at City Council and Plan Commission meetings, some, including Islamic Center attorney Len Monson, spoke against the perceived racism of the opposition.
Crockett rejects the notion that anything other than property rights motivated the residents’ concerns.
“It was never an issue,” he said of the attempt to attribute the opposition to racial prejudice.
Crockett pointed out that anywhere from 30 to 50 Moslim families lived in the subdivisions in question.
“It (the charge) doesn’t make sense,” he said.
Citing an impulse as old as the American Republic, Crockett vows to remain active in Naperville politics.
“I don’t trust government,” he said.