End all Route 53 projects
As a representative of Highland Park, Highwood and Deerfield on the Lake County Board and Lake County Forest Preserve District, I have asked the Illinois Tollway board to drop the $50 million environmental study and pursuit of the $2.65 billion construction of Route 53.
I have been an elected official in my area for over 23 years and currently serve on the Finance Committee of the Lake County Board as well as vice chairman of land acquisition of the Lake County Forest Preserve District. My experience on the Highland Park Plan Commission, as councilman and as mayor pro tem allows me a broad comprehension of land-use issues and am fully aware of the tremendous economic challenges the state and local governments face now and in the future.
We should not waste the citizens’ money. Continuing the work on the “Dead Route 53” will be spending our citizens’ money in a wasteful fashion. I do not believe a majority of the 21 Lake County Board members support the large local financing required for the Route 53 project. The majority of the Lake County Board will never support additional taxation or special districts to support the billions of dollars the Tollway board needs to pay for the Route 53 project because our residents won’t stand for it. If there are members that want to raise the billions needed for 53 in increased gas tax, special development fees and possible other revenue increases, then let them stand up and let voters know their position before the November election.
As in Cook, DuPage, Lake and other collar counties, an additional nondiscretionary tax burden on our residents of increased gas taxes and other fees would be intolerable in this low-growth economic climate where folks are barely making ends meet. Also, the economics of supporting our current roadway infrastructure is unmanageable, and additional burdens on our taxpayers is not an option. We have a huge burden to just maintain and improve our current road network, let alone spend money that we don’t have. We need to focus on efficiencies and consolidations and remove wasteful spending like the current Route 53 project.
I applaud Chairman Aaron Lawlor for articulating his reasons for rejection of this project and ask you to please consider this huge burden and help cancel any further action on Route 53.
Steven Mandel, District 11
Lake County Board
