Elections, Letters to the Editor, Opinion, Park Forest, Politics

To The Editor: Experience counts. But Ideas Matter.


Letters to the Editor, old typewriter, sexually assaulted
Letters to the Editor. (Valeriana Solaris on Flickr)

(ENEWSPF)-

My name is Lane Cameron. I’m 62 years old and a life long resident of Park Forest. I have met and spoken with Mae Brandon. She is a good and wonderful person. I believe she loves Park Forest as much as I do and has the best interest of it’s citizens at heart. However, other than being Mayor pro tem I have not heard anyone tout her achievements as board member. Nor have I heard her ideas for solving the many problems that face our village. Over the years our problems have gotten worse, not better. Her main talking point, as is yours apparently, is her experience for being on the board for 15 years. Having board members with experience regarding village government is a good value for the community. As mayor, however, we need someone who understands the issues we face. Someone with innovative ideas with the abilities to put these ideas to work for us. That person is Jon Vanderbilt.

Our problems won’t get solved by the experience of one person alone. Park Forest, and South Cook County in general have been neglected for years. Our roads, our schools, and the biggest elephant in the room, our property taxes, all need to be addressed. To fix these problems we need a broad coalition. One that includes all the stakeholders. Residents, business owners here and throughout the area, as well as our elected officials. Jon Vanderbilt has put together such a coalition. His ability to reach out and listen to a diverse populace is his strength. They’ve led to his understanding of the issues and have culminated in ideas that are bright and innovative. Electing an Ostenburg protege mayor at a time when bold change is needed would be a grave mistake. We must not stay the course.

Mr. Vanderbilt’s views are focused not “scattered”. Saying he has “cozied up” to Realtors serves only to slant your article. I have rental property in the village. I’m all for village inspections as are the people I talk to. I have heard calls for changes to the policy but not for its elimination. There is a housing crisis in Park Forest. You can’t walk down any street without seeing an empty home. Many of which are in disrepair. To exclude the ideas of those intimately involved would be foolish and wrong-headed. Using words like “scattered” & “cozied” is pure mudslinging and has no place in our politics.

Jon Vanderbilt is a man with vision. He looks at our problems with fresh eyes and fresh ideas. His efforts to bring people together and to share their thoughts is what Park Forest has always been about and is sorely needed now. To bring the change we need requires everyone to be at the table. They require Jon Vanderbilt as mayor.

It looks like Enews is trying to elect a candidate in Mae Brandon. A fine person she is but in my opinion not who we need for mayor at this time. I’ve never heard her ideas on fixing the problems we fave ion the village. My candidate is Jon Vanderbilt. He understands the problems we face and has the ideas and the courage to face them head-on. I explained my views at length in a comment I left regarding to the Enews endorsement of Mae Brandon. Why wasn’t that printed? As with this comment regarding your “Disturbing events…” article I wasn’t even able to leave my comments. I received the error “Unable to connect to server.” I tried to send it numerous times with 2 different browsers. I finally emailed it to Enews as I’ve done here. However, all we get is the opinion of the editor. Are you scrubbing opposing views in the hope of electing your candidate? When I subscribed to Enews I thought it was, in part, a public forum. Now however it seems to be just a mouthpiece for Gary Kopycinski.

Lane Cameron
Park Forest

Editor’s Response: eNews Park Forest has a long tradition of making political endorsements and we reserve the right to do so. The fact that some might disagree with an endorsement is to be expected. Many agree. As Editor and Publisher, I reserve the right to dictate editorial policy in this publication.

That’s just simple editorial policy in the media.

Gary Kopycinski
Editor & Publisher
eNews Park Forest

Related: Endorsement: Mae Brandon for Mayor of Park Forest


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