On the Brink

When the village of Cary annexed some land on February 5 that once belonged in Lake in the Hills, Village Administrator Cameron Davis announced that the acquisition of this land will add "to the village's reputation as a great quality-of-life community."

However, many of us in Fox Trails are doubtful of Davis' assertion as we stand on the brink of having a gravel pit back up to our own back-yards, drastically reducing our quality of life.

Don't get me wrong, the addition of the 180 acres of Hoffman Park into the village is good news. However, that still leaves about 100 acres belonging in Lake in the Hills. Although the Cary Park District owns it, who can say that they won't sell that land to Meyer in the future and the proposed pit will get even bigger.

It can happen. Unless we stop it now.

We are standing on the brink of the final decision. Possibly the last meeting regarding Meyer Material's petition will be held on Tuesday, February 19 at 7 pm. This time, the meeting is being held at D'Andrea Banquets in Crystal Lake. D'Andrea is located on Route 14 and Route 31.

This has been a very long road. It's been monotonous. It's been difficult. It seems that many of us have grudgingly accepted the fact that we could have an eyesore next to our houses.

Some of us have apparently accepted the possibility that in this housing market our home values will fall even further and we will be forced to live next to a dusty, hazardous pit.

Some of us may have accepted the possibility that we will lose.

If we give in to defeat now, then we have given up on our homes, our neighbors and our community.

If we give into defeat now, we have let corporate greed highjack the democratic process.

If we give into defeat now, we will have allowed Cameron Davis to tout the Village's quality of life reputation for the papers while disregarding the truth.

We cannot let that happen. We can still win.

Please come to the meeting on Tuesday. Call the Village Hall at (847)639-0003 and tell them that we hope the village lives up to Cameron Davis' statement about Cary's quality of life reputation and insist that if the village believes that, they will vote no to Meyer's petition.

The only thing that stands between a "yes" or "no" vote is us.

And together, we can tip the scales in our favor.