Creating affordable housing the best thing the city can do
At the Aug. 5 Naperville City Council meeting, many speakers presented their views on subjects such as short-term rentals and marijuana dispensaries. The last public comment was on the subject of affordable housing from the Accessible Community Task Force, which has a mission to enhance the lives of individuals with physical, cognitive, mental and/or developmental disabilities living, working or visiting the city of Naperville.
The task force strongly supports the need for more affordable housing for people with disabilities, seniors, veterans and lower-income groups. About 6.5% of Naperville residents have a physical or cognitive disability and 15% live below the poverty line. This promotes the need for public awareness of the need for affordable housing in our city.
Providing a full range of housing choices is one of the most fundamental elements of a vibrant and livable community. A housing trust fund is a helpful tool communities can use to make affordable housing a reality for their residents. Because housing trust funds are created, administered and operated locally, local officials can use them to reinforce a wide range of community goals.
It is up to local government officials to ensure they implement programs such as affordable and accessible housing that will serve to create an inclusive, diverse and sustainable Naperville. Recognizing the urgent need for attainable/affordable housing in the city, the Naperville City Council will be holding a workshop in September 2020 to address this extremely important issue.
Barbara Stark
Member, Accessible Community Task Force
Tired of Wehrli blaming others instead of taking lead
While following our elected officials’ activity on social media and in the news, it is clear the majority of state Rep. Grant Wehrli’s time is spent attacking other people, despite being in office for nearly six years himself.
When talking about the many issues facing the state, all he can do is point fingers and blame the process for his complete lack of leadership and inability to get the work done, just like other Trump Republicans.
People expect their elected officials to put partisan politics aside and work together to develop real solutions to the many different issues facing the state in a way that best represents the district’s values. Every time Rep. Wehrli points a finger at someone else, blaming them for the problem without taking any accountability for his own lack of leadership, I wonder why it is that he was elected to represent the residents of the 41st District in the first place.
We need someone in Springfield who is focused on getting work done, not playing petty politics, which is why I am voting for Janet Yang Rohr for state representative on Nov. 3.
While I know Janet and I will not always agree on every issue, I believe she will take everyone’s opinion into consideration when making the difficult decisions that are required of this position. She will use thought and reason to drive her decisions, as she does in her career, in her role on the school board and as a mother of three.
It is time we send someone to Springfield who knows bipartisanship and working together are the solutions to our problems, not political showmanship. That is why I ask for the voters in the District 41 to vote for Janet Yang Rohr for state representative and to dump the Trump-Wehrli agenda.
Col. Don Potoczny (U.S. Army retired), Naperville
Ending pandemic comes from leading by example
Social responsibility is an ethical framework that suggests an individual has an obligation to act for the benefit of society as a whole. This should lead to social responsiveness.
The responsiveness to COVID-19 containment measures in the United States has in large part been entirely lacking. We see people flocking to beaches, bars, political rallies and other gatherings, putting their fellow citizens at risk by not complying with social distancing and mask wearing. The repeated warnings of doctors and scientists to follow these measures have been completely ignored, politicized and rejected due to poor leadership.
Living in the 6th Congressional District, I have seen the same poor practices and lack of responsibility here that are occurring nationally. This behavior has led to a prolonged pandemic and a U.S. unemployment rate at its highest level since the Depression.
Without healthy people we cannot have a healthy economy. If we take our social responsibility seriously and follow the advice of doctors and scientists and sensible leaders like U.S. Rep.Sean Casten, who represents District 6, we can bring this pandemic to a more controllable place and join together in our shared goal of beating the virus. We need to be part of the solution and not the problem.
Unlike his election challenger, Jeanne Ives, who ignored the safety measures while holding a political fundraiser with people crowded together without masks, Casten has held many webcasts and virtual and phone townhalls to support the responsible science and to keep his constituents informed about COVID-19 and in general.
I am grateful for his leadership and will support him in the fall election.
Patricia Locanto, Lombard
Support for Casten’s analytical approach to climate change
As a voter who wants to be informed of each candidate’s position on the issues, I have been intensively investigating U.S. Rep. Sean Casten’s position on renewable energy.
In an Aug. 19, 2019, article in a Pioneer Press newspaper about Casten’s town hall meeting at Harper College in Palatine, I found Casten is not as progressive on combating climate change as I had hoped he would be. The article quoted him as being skeptical about the Green New Deal, saying it was 90% economic and 10% environmental.
To another question from the audience, Casten said he was reluctant to support a ban on fracking because a drop in natural gas use would increase coal use.
On the other hand, Casten’s technical analysis of approaches to address climate change were demonstrated by his support of the “Grid Storage Act,” which would expand the use of clean and renewable energy through power storage capabilities. He also supports the “Clean Industrial Technology Act,” which would provide research and development funds to reduce CO2 emissions in the steel, cement and other industries.
I have decided to vote for Sean Casten as my Congressional representative from my 6th District because he has a methodical approach to achievable actions that will reduce human-caused CO2 emissions, which are the primary cause of the record heat of the last two decades.
Tom Teune, Wheaton
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