Judge Michael Chmiel’s message today to the Crystal Lake High School District was reminiscent of President Ronald Reagan’s call for Mikhail Gorbachev:
“Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall.”
Michael Chmiel
Judge Chmiel ordered the bleachers to be torn down on December 1st after the football season is over.
He would have ordered it sooner, but Tom Burney said the homeowners did not want to disrupt the football season.
The district can probably ask for a stay with the Appellate Court, but Chmiel will not give it to them.
Chmiel was visibly upset when Rob Swain asked if the homeowners could be asked to put money aside to pay for the teardown costs if the Supreme Court held in their favor.
A side view of the South High School football bleachers.
Swain said he was asking to protect the taxpayers.
Chmiel responded that it is not the homeowners who are appealing and that the district should have thought of that before they stuck the $1.1 million dollar structure into the ground.
He also made a comment like “it didn’t have to go this way” referring to the fact that the school district never made any effort to work things out.
During the last 15 months and even before the building of the bleachers, the the school district made no effort to sit down with the city and discuss the issues.
Alright, Judge Chmiel, your the kind of professionals we want on the bench.
Keep up the great work on behalf of the people!
Thank you Judge Chmiel.
BOO to Swain and the board members, regional superintendent and superintendent.
Please do us a favor and resign.
WBBM 780 Radio just reported the story, stating that the School District believes it may operate outside the jurisdiction of local zoning laws.
What a message that is.
School Districts operating independently of any authority or responsibility for wellbeing of its local population: the families who are the reason the District exists in the first place.
Another indication it makes sense to plow under homes and vacate this poisonous region.
Bare land has no need for Schools or any other taxing bodies.
I guess the taxpayers in the district will be footing the teardown bill.
What’s the tab going to be?
The wonderful world of education can do the right thing or what it can get away with. What are they teaching our children?
So much for being a class act.