I am an American history teacher and have spent the last 17 years of my career trying to get kids to understand not only the values upon which this country was built but also understand the basic ideas behind what the founders called "a republic of virtue."
I am afraid that in the modern era, the founders would have difficulty recognizing this country as the values upon which they created the structure for this federal system have slowly eroded away over the last several decades.
And the current issue with Meyer Material Company regarding the building of a gravel pit echoes this erosion.
Although the founders established safeguards to prevent mob rule, the structure they created was to reflect, at all levels, the will of the people. This would be especially true at the local level. The local level was the level that Jefferson thought was most important because it was there where people would have the greatest voice in determining their political lives.
However, this does not seem to hold true anymore as those entities with more resources---money, legal representation, etc---have taken that voice away from where it truly belongs.
And that is a problem.
Meyer has far more resources than anyone in the village. They have money. They have a cadre of lawyers that we can never hope to match.
But they also lack the virtue upon which this country was built. They are not out to create something for the "general good," which is the cornerstone of republican virtue, but for their own profit.
In this never ending quest for profit, the will of the people is disregarded and bulldozed: the ultimate violation of the republic of virtue. Profit becomes the virtue over everything else. And profit then trumps quality of life, property values and basic self determination for the citizens. The decision making is taken from the voice of the people and replaced by the voice of profit. Corporations have hijacked the democratic voice of the people. And they do it through money, bribery and threats.
Meyer bought the land over ten years ago knowing the zoning laws in regard to that land. And those zoning laws and the Chally Farm Agreement reflected the will of the people--the idea that the Chally Farm land should never be used for mining purposes. Indeed, it is that very agreement which prohibited mining on the land that persuaded many of us in Fox Trails to purchase property near the land in question in the first place. Maybe that is because many of us believed that the law was supreme, that the village was in the business of not only protecting the residents but also adhering to the basic principle that the government represents us, the people.
And now Meyer wants the village to go against the will of the people and they will use whatever it takes to do so---because for them, the profit is more important than ethics. Profit is more important than virtue.
And profit is more important than the people.
All that we ask is for you to recognize this for what it is: an attempt by Meyer to increase profits at the expense of the people of Cary.
You will need to make a decision: Do you represent the people of Cary or do you represent the interests of a multi-billion dollar international corporation--a corporation that has no ties to this village other than the fact that they own some land they wish to strip of its resources?
You know where we stand.
And we hope you will stand with us.
5 comments:
Very well said Bruce.
Here's something else to ponder for those of you in support of Meyer's "gift" to Cary.
Before the next meeting, take a drive by these locations:
-Rt. 25, 2 miles south of Rt.20
-Rt. 72, 1 mile east of Rt. 25
These are just two of many locations that are currently giving "gifts" to their respective villages. At any given time during the work week, they are full of dust pollution, noise pollution and traffic congestion. Not to mention the mud/gravel all over the roads.
Frankly, I am SICK of gravel trucks and mining corporations raping our county of its beauty and natural resources. I alone have had 5 cracked windshields and countless episodes of "here comes another flying rock" all from my friend the gravel truck.
Furthermore, Meyer cannot truthfully tell us that this will not increase the traffic load on our already overtaxed roads.The traffic through Algonquin takes F O R E V E R as it is.
Let's not add more.
It seems strange to me that our Mayor had no problem telling Mr. Kaper (who happens to be a very accomplished attorney) that he could NOT build an eight story (80 foot) building at Three Oaks and Georgetown, But, he seems to support an 80 foot deep hole in an area NOT ZONED FOR MINING!
While I am not a Fox Trails resident, I am resident of Cimarron and I wish the best for my neighbors to the south whatever the outcome.
pssst...Village officials......Listen up!
We put you in your position to represent OUR NEEDS, not the political agenda of Meyer (or any other big bully company)trying to stuff THEIR needs down our throats for THEIR financial gain.
Here's an idea Meyer......Fix the big holes you have already made in our county. Then come back to the table and let us judge you. Jerks.
Those locations are not owned nor operated by Meyer. The former pits near Rt 25 have actually been reclaimed. There are subdivisions on what USED to be gravel pits. The only continued action you see north on Rt 25 is due to underground dolomite mining.
If you're sick of gravel trucks, then move to another part of the country that doesn't have them. If you've had 5 cracked windshields then I'm assuming you've been tailgating and blaming them right? If we didn't mine sand and gravel, oil and natural gas and other minerals and metals from the earth, you wouldn't have half the things you have today. Roads and concrete would be more expenisve than oil and gas today. But I bet you forgot how it got to your home just as long it's not in your back yard...NIMBY. So in that case stop driving your car and buying anything where our "beauty and natural resources" have been raped! Please.
A gravel plant can only handle so many trucks a day anyway, so regardless of the production, traffic therefore CANNOT increase on Rt 31. Blame traffic through algonquin on IDOT and not Meyer.
Caper's building got nixed because our fire department doesn't have the equipment to handle a high rise fire and we all know how fire referendums work in this village!
So when then pit doesn't get expanded and they build homes on the challey property, I do seriously hope that you will be fighting the developer on dust control measures and noise from grading equipment, wood saws and hammers. NIBMY.
ps. wait for the transfer station that is being proposed on virgina road...then complain about traffic. Oh yeah, and you're downwind...move while you still can!!!
In response....
Let's get something straight.
I have been in residential construction for over 25 years and totally recognize the need for aggregate. The point is Meyer purchased the land knowingly that it was NOT zoned for mining purposes and now they are crying because they are facing resistance. The people of Fox Trails do not deserve to have their home values decreased, their drinking water contaminated, their homes covered in dust and their serenity disturbed by heavy equipment running all day. PERIOD!
I have attended several night baseball games at Plote field in Lake In The Hills. (For those of you not familiar with this field it backs to a quarry) The conveyors and Michigan wheel loaders run up to 10P.M. 5-6 days a week!
Nobody should have to live around those conditions.
In all fairness, my cracked windshields have happened over the course of 20 years. They were not from tailgating, (who in their right mind would tailgate a semi?) rather, from lazy truck drivers who do not sweep off their gate shelfs. You deserve every ticket you are issued for creating a dangerous situation on the road whether it be for overloading, dropping rocks, no tarps, bald tires and my favorite.....self destructing, re-capped tires that you continue to drive on until they fall off and lay all over the road. Yeah, I know, you didn't feel it because all your rims are bent right!?
Don't get me wrong, I have several friends in the gravel trucking business. It just takes a few bad apples to ruin it for all of you. Please, drive your truck and earn your living, with any luck you'll still be working after the already declining construction industry bottoms out.
My guess is that if the Challey property is bought by a developer, there will be no fight from Fox Trails. Why? Because in 1-2 years it will be finished and look great. You can't possibly compare the earth moving and construction noise from that to that of a gravel pit.
Oh yeah, when the pit is nixed, I hope your forced to haul garbage from the transfer station 50 hours a week. Then you won't have to collect unemployment all winter.
What comes around, goes around.
I love how people throw around the "contaminated groundwater" tatic. A gravel quarry will NOT contaminate the groundwater!! I don't want to hear the "it'll turn into a garbage pit" because that is impossible with the IEPA rules and regulations. Ask Blago's father-in-law about his illegal garbage dump.
I do agree about some of the truck drivers and their less than par trucks that they drive. Some of those things are death traps on wheels. But that should be the county and village police that should be pulling them over for safety violations.
I just don't see this thing getting nixed however. The village sits to gain too much. Sometimes the residents pay for it, and not directly out of thier pockets...
Hey, Paid Off -
I love your sentiment, "Sometimes the residents pay for it, and not directly out of thier pockets..."
As a Fox Trails resident sitting on the pit I know what I have paid and will continue to pay.
What are you paying?
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