Just one week after a resolution failed to apply for free Federal funding to complete a walking/bike path between 394 to Cottage Grove and from Sauk Trail to Mary Byrne Drive (at no cost to village residents) the village board will meet to discuss tonight SPENDING Village funds to place a fence around a detention pond that has been in place for years and only because Parks & Recs under the direction of Trustee Jones are unable to supervise the children during a summer program.
Tonight's discussion is supposed to be about children's safety however, the majority of the board voted against a path that would have provided a safe route along Sauk Trail not only for the young that must walk to Bloom Trail High School but also for adults that have a job in our industrial areas along Sauk Trail.
I've been asked by many residents about the path that have been misled to think that the village could not afford to upkeep or maintain the path years down the road after it was installed.
That
is totally false!
While
Sauk Village was the sponsor for this project the larger portion of the path is
within the Steger boundaries which, Steger would be responsible for maintaining.
In
addition, this project was no secret since I updated the board at multiple village board meetings and informed residents during the Meet the
Mayor events that the village was in discussions with the State, County, Village
of Steger and SSMMA.
Perhaps
residents should be asking Trustees if the village does not have the
resources to upkeep a free path where will the funds come from to upkeep and
maintain a fence around a detention pond and if Parks & Recs are unable to keep the
children out of a detention area how will they keep them off a fence.
Lastly,
the votes against the resolution last week to apply for free Federal funding
was politically motivated and was a vote to prevent the village from moving forward.
It should be interesting to see how many use this path in their campaign
material within the next twelve months.
Mayor David A. Hanks