I hope everyone is enjoying the last weeks of summer. This week we held a special meeting to approve a raffle for the Orland Park Chamber of Commerce that all of the Trustees had said they were available to attend. I want to thank Trustees Healy, Fenton, Calandriello, Katsenes and Milani for joining me by showing up to support our business community during this time.
Last week the governor issued more orders through regulatory agencies to restrict restaurants and to put additional restrictions on Will County. Only a small part of Orland Park is part of Will County so there is little effect. I stand in support of our neighboring mayors from Mokena, Homer Glen, Lockport, New Lenox and Frankfort condemning this action.
Yet again, the governor’s actions are not based on facts. Our goal was to protect the hospital system. Our hospitals have very few COVID cases and are empty. The facts are they are not strained in any way. Originally, to move into another Phase in the Restore Illinois Plan, testing percentages needed to be less than 20% on average over the previous 14 days. Now when testing percentages are above 8% for three straight days mitigation measures went into effect and don’t stop until it is less than a 6.5% average for 14 days. What is the science behind these moving measures?
Additionally, the mitigation measures are only for bars, restaurants, entertainment venues and gatherings. However, there is ZERO DATA that is tracked that identifies these locations as being responsible for an increase in COVID. A segment of our economy is being completely devastated, businesses lost, jobs lost and families destroyed with no data or evidence to support the decision. If the governor has data, then he should provide it. The State of Illinois, IDPH and CCDPH are inept at best. An example, just yesterday, September 1st, we were notified that a person who had been at Orland Park Health & Fitness had tested positive on AUGUST 19th. That came from the crack contact tracing that they did. Two weeks! Yet they somehow know that restaurants are the cause of all things COVID – ridiculous!
The governor has also further restricted restaurants across the entire state based on NO DATA! A reminder to everyone that Orland Park is in the final phase of our re-opening plan and that has not changed. Like our neighbors, we are not and have not been enforcing these ridiculous restrictions. I want to thank those mayors for speaking out. I still firmly believe that businesses and individuals can make their own decisions without the heavy hand of government.
The other interesting data is that the CDC came out with new reporting that showed that only 6% of deaths reported as COVID did not have another cause associated with it. Is that not important information that we should be factoring into the equation?
Orland Park’s numbers continue to stay similar to the last 6 weeks and our hospitals continue to be nearly empty. This is after Taste of Orland, July 4th, Concert in the Park, 2 months of Market in the Park and our Centennial Park West Concerts on August 22nd. Orland Park is doing a great job!
Speaking of a great job, our police department hosted the annual Special Olympics bike ride and raised the most money ever with the most riders ever! It was great to ride around Orland. I especially liked seeing Centennial Park filled with a softball tournament with girls playing softball and families watching them! That’s what summer should look like!
I also want to take this time to thank the 300 people who supported me at my first annual golf outing at Crystal Tree. It was a great event and Crystal Tree did an amazing job making sure that everyone was comfortable and safe!
We had several speakers at this event including Mike Fricilone, candidate for 3rd District U.S. Congress, Pat O’Brien for Cook County States Attorney and Dan Patlak for Board of Review. It is very important to get all three of these candidates elected. Their opponents are supported by AOC, Bernie Sanders and others who support socialist ideals, defunding the police and emptying our jails. I will talk more about each of them in coming weeks. Please get out and support them.
Additionally, there are two referenda on the ballot that are important. First is the local referendum on Term Limits. I fought hard to get this on the ballot and was the deciding vote. Please Vote Yes and limit the Mayor, Trustee and Clerk positions to three terms.
Lastly, the governor has put his Progressive Tax referendum on the ballot. The State has a spending problem not a revenue problem and they cannot be trusted. Do not let them take more of our money.
I have yard signs for all of these candidates, voting YES on Term Limits, and NO on the Progressive Tax. Please email me if you would like any of these signs.
Have a fun and safe Labor Day Weekend and please come out to the following events:
- September 6th, Concert in the Park at Crescent Park featuring Mellencougar
- September 12th, Centennial Park concert series featuring Hillbilly Rockstarz, Chicago Six (including the SuperBowl Bears, Dan Hampton, Otis Wilson & Steve McMichael)
- September 19th, Brewfest
- September 29th, Veterans Golf Outing
Keith
