Schools, railway keep village hopping

Between the Prairie Creek Amphitheater and the Elgin, Joliet & Eastern Railway, things are buzzing on the village's west side.

Monday was my first trip to Lincoln Elementary School, and I was immediately handed a flier about next week's village board meeting, at which will be discussed Prairie Creek's future. Turns out some people remain concerned about noise levels.

Imagine that.

I waited it out, and about 200 residents filed into the school cafeteria. I knew it was a school cafeteria because of the posters on the wall. One featured actress Hillary Duff urging me to drink milk for strong bones. The other had Bears cornerback Nathan Vasher telling me to have three servings of dairy per day. Vegans need not apply.

Each of the 23 residents who spoke publicly were civil and made their point or asked their question in a calm and collective manner.

That may sound like common sense, but I've covered enough meetings outside of Hoffman Estates to experience unruly public behavior. I was appreciative of the manner which the public conducted itself Monday.

Between that, and the distribution of the Prairie Creek flier, it seems democracy is alive and well on the west side. In regards to the railroad purchase, I'm eager to see how long this commotion will be sustained.

The steps toward approval of the EJ&E sale will take a long time, and, let's face it, we're all busy people. It's hard to convince the public to attend one village meeting. How difficult will it be to attend a series of meetings and keep up the activity?

Can't we just buy it ourselves? The most unusual suggestion offered on Monday? A member of the public proposed that the village should pool its money with other communities to buy the rail line themselves.

As the always outspoken Trustee Cary Collins said, if they could gather the money to do that, what would the towns do with the track?

Meanwhile, I'm prepping for next week's meeting. I'm sure Jam Productions is eager, too, as it's gearing up to find a performer worthy of opening up Prairie Creek.

What's Duran Duran done since opening the Sears Centre? I know Mayor William McLeod is crossing his fingers for Billy Idol.