NEED THE WHOLE STORY

The following is a copy of an email sent to Phil Kadner of the Southtown Star in response to his articles regarding the Orland Plaza. It is my opinion that the media has been amiss in reporting the whole Orland Plaza story.

I found your recent articles on the Orland Plaza quite interesting. You show two sides, which is fine, but what about the human side. The owners and the customers. It's not black and white. Would you like pennies on the dollar for your investment? What about the goodwill and effort to build these businesses. Would you like to start over? It's probably over for most of the businesses. Will they look elsewhere and start from scratch?

I don't know if you have the key to the feelings of the community when it comes to the demolition of the mall. Go on the street and question the customers. Go into the barbershops and beauty shops and get the opinions of the patrons.

Everyone talks about the development, no one talks about the financing. Have you asked the Village to give you a complete financial plan of the cost to build the Metra Triangle? How about the TIF's and their impact on the property tax bill. How will the taxing bodies make up for the lost revenues from the lose of the Orland Plaza? I bet they'll raise the tax rates to make their levies. It's not just about looking out a restaurant window and seeing a waterfall. It's about decision making, and what kinds of decisions the Mayor and the Trustees make in moving Orland Park foreward. The Village turned this into a fiasco with their decisions and treatment of the original Metra Triangle business owners. There is a right way and a wrong way. The Village selected the wrong way and should pay for their poor judgment. Unfortunately the community pays for their attitudes and decisions.Their decisions and mistakes don't come out of their pockets. It would be great if it did, government would certainly be more efficient.

The owners and tenants of the Plaza must stay and fight until they receive justice and fair payment for their investments and properties. Maybe you would take what they offered you.
But you're not in the shoes of the owners nor have you been treated as shabbily. Did you really sit down and have a heart to heart talk with the owners of Randy's, the Bakery and others? There were options in this project and the Village ignored them. Why didn't they build new stores and when ready move and then demolish? Why didn't they remodel and reconfigure the plan? It was a one way street and it wasn't in favor of the Plaza.

The whole story needs to come out and should become a case study for management students to discuss in developing large scale municipal projects..

TIME FOR FULL COST DISCLOSURE

Maybe it's time for the Village of Orland Park to make a total cost presentation of what it will cost to demolish the Orland Plaza and where the funds will come from. I would like to see the dollars, in detail, the Village will offer for the land and what it offers for each store. The investment and goodwill for each store should not come cheaply and should be at today's market value. The presentation should include all costs, paybacks and the time it will take to recoup the millions lost by demolishing the mall. Can the village justify and guarantee the cost for this project? The question is: "Is the Village placing the Village in debt? Since the Village is so certain of their direction, they should have no problem sharing this data with the taxpayers of Orland Park. How else can they be so sure of success. I'll be looking for the data in the July 24th edition of the Orland Park Prairie Newspaper.

Eminent Domain

The Village of Orland Park is acting as a bully in running the Orland Plaza out of town. They have no respect for individual rights. Maybe the problem is that they had an ill conceived plan from day one. Initially, if they had no assurances of rights to the Plaza, they should have had alternative plans to bypass the Plaza. It's not the owners fault for poor planning and they should not be penalized for the ignorance of the Village Administration.

The Village needs to be questioned on where the money is coming from for the buyout. If the money is coming from TIF's the State should step in and stop the abuse of the TIF Act. This is not a blighted area. You do not destroy sound businesses and sacrifice millions of dollars of tax revenues for the sake of following an ill conceived plan.

I say, stay and fight. Don't be bullied.

George A. Tarasuk

IS IT TIME TO RETIRE THE PLEDGE ALLEGIANCE

July 6, 2008

Paul M. Howey's commentary "Is It Time To Retire The Pledge Allegiance" struck a nerve. I don't know if Mr. Howey is serious or just trying to be thought provoking, Whatever his motives, I disagree, I believe the Pledge shows a belief and faith in ones country. It's a way of saying thank you. It's a valuable tradition that should not be thrown aside beacause someone feels its old and worn out. We must continue to be proud of our heritage and traditions.