Lisle Reporter
922 Warren Ave.
Downers Grove. IL 60515

Letters to the Editor:

"The Meijer Issue Has Had A Positive Effect"

I was born and raised in Brookfield but spent over 20 years as an adult in Chicago. As a somewhat urban pioneer, I became involved in my neighborhood out of necessity. When gunshots were heard at night and when gang bangers ruled the alleys, I became INVOLVED in community policing, helped organize neighborhood groups, painted out graffiti, picked up litter and was on familiar terms with my Alderman who had a much larger constituency than most any suburban mayor. I spent both time and money in cleaning up the area and as a result had my car windows smashed more times than I can remember. But as a result, the neighborhood that I lived in became safer and cleaner and property values rose significantly. Say what you want about "gentrification", but my wife and I made a lot of friends who were less fortunate than we who lived in a $150,000 condo.

When we moved to Lisle (mainly because of our young daughter), I became complacent. It was suburban living and didn’t have such problems. I voted in all the elections (as I’ve done my entire life) but I didn’t really know who I was voting for. The Meijer Superstore was a wakeup call! I had to become involved again not only because of property values but also because this proposed store was just an abomination. My first involvement was the fiasco in July of 1998. There was no CRADL then, just a lot of groups of neighbors who were outraged! I was there but on the mayor’s command was not allowed to speak because I had written a letter! We were not organized at that time and certainly were not allowed to question any Meijer spokepersons. It was a calculated decision to allow only so much time per individual and to not allow us any time to get independent, professional studies on such issues as traffic, property values and the effect on the community.

Subsequently, I have learned the machinations of our local government and how unrepresented we were. At first I thought that we just had a bunch of local yokels on the board who couldn’t understand that such a store was backwards logic - that they had no idea of how detrimental this would be to Lisle. How could they not understand what was happening all across America - that people did not want their communities ruined by more and more unnecessary shopping centers?

And then we have an illustrious mayor who with his lackeys have pushed through all sorts of illogical legislation and projects. Good example is the Lucent Technology intersection. Was it ever open for discussion? Did DuPage County ever sign off on it? Was there any traffic study done? He wanted it done; he got it. Now we have to live with it.

Finally, the good part. This Meijer issue has had a very positive effect in that it got a lot of people like myself involved in local government. There is no longer a laissez faire attitude amongst the citizens. I am PROUD to be a member of CRADL. I think of this fight just as I did in Chicago when I was fighting the Latin Kings. And the opposition is just as dirty.

Sincerely, 

Philip Morgan