The truth is that it has become far too noisy in Barrington Hills. The noise comes not from the sounds of traffic or congestion but from one group of voices trying to drown out the other. And we are all to blame, including this publication.
There are too many blogs and political parties. Their names are an allegory for something that has been lost or diminished: “Save Horse Boarding in Barrington Hills,” “Don’t Change Barrington Hills,” “Save Open Space,” and “Preserve Barrington Hills.” But what have we really lost?
There have been too many lawsuits: Iatarola, Duda, Sears, LeCompte 1, LeCompte 2, and now a fresh lawsuit challenging the Village’s handling of its own horse boarding laws. These lawsuits are also a sign that we have lost control of our problems and now must ask faraway judges, strangers to our Village, to decide what we were unable to resolve ourselves.
We talk too much about lawyers and legal fees and government investigations. We have had too many controversies: cell phone towers; exterior lighting (remember the HALO signs?); horse boarding; bike lanes; disconnection; 911. The list and the signs go on and on.
There have been too many headlines portraying our small Village as the epicenter of wealthy-folks’ petulant controversies: “Horse feud splitting Barrington Hills”; “Residents, cyclists feud over Barrington Hills roads”; “AG’s office reviews ex-mayor’s Barrington Hills appointments”; “Appellate court sides with Barrington Hills police officers.”
Of course we would be remiss or (worse) hypocritical if we did not recognize that these pages too, within the Barrington Hills Observer, have added to the “noise.” If only by necessity, we have editorialized and perhaps sometimes heightened the public debate on controversial local political topics and public figures.
We spend too much money on trustee campaigns; we stuff mailboxes with too many mailers; there are too many political coffees (and too few social ones); and too many articles about all of them. And, while we could never be critical of public participation in government, the reality is that our Village Board meetings are too well attended because they are filled with so much drama. We’ve become a rival to reality television, including the expletives.
Now back to the question. What have we lost? The answer is that we have lost peace and a commitment to the public and private service of our neighbors. We have taken the noise to a level that cannot be sustained and it is time to back down. If not, what’s next? More signs. More lawsuits. More lawyers and lawyer fees. More mailers. And, regrettably and not coincidentally, more “for sale” signs. We have written before on the need to restore peace to Barrington Hills, (Read “Why Barrington Hills must change”). It is equally or more true today.
On April 7th, next Tuesday, we will have an opportunity as a Village to restore peace to Barrington Hills at the ballot box and, one can only hope, to usher in a new era of public and private service of our neighbors. Our roads and budgets and zoning laws need repair. For those jobs we need trustees who will be devoted to public service and unity. We need residents who possess the skills needed to fix our broken roads, budgets and zoning laws, not noisemakers.
The Observer will publish its endorsements on Monday. Suffice it to say we will not be endorsing the candidates whose names have been synonymous with the noise that now covers the Village like a blanket.
It is time to reflect and to reduce the “signs” of trouble in our Village.
– The Observer