As we face the economic challenges of the day we are obliged to take measures that will ensure our economic stability as a village.

The village of Beach Park is sound financially because our past history has been one of good management and frugal decision-making. Some problems we face are not of our choosing but rather they are fallout from a sagging economy.

The village of Beach Park is being looked at on a fairly regular basis by entrepreneurs who would choose us as a new location for their business or an additional location. Some of those who have investigated the village of Beach Park have made a decision to locate here. Activity should begin very soon at the corners of Wadsworth and Green Bay Rd. and again at the corners of Wakefield and Green Bay Rd.

As you have likely noted throughout the village there are many homes that have posted for sale signs or in some cases had been abandoned. We watch these very carefully in an attempt to make certain that the lawn is at least manicured because it detracts from the entire neighborhood if that were not the case.

The foreclosures and abandonment of private dwellings while increasing have on the other hand, begun to encourage the development of apartment and condo complexes. The people who lived in these houses must have a place to go and as a result they are looking for affordable rental units. I think we will see an increase of housing units in this area and in due time the cost of the abandoned or foreclosed homes were reduced to the point that they become affordable once again.

I see this as a cycle that we will eventually work out of but in the meantime, we must make every effort to encourage business to settle in our village in order to maintain our strong economic position.

We have had many complaints concerning the condition of beach road. There is no doubt in anyone's mind that beach road is in horrible condition. The roadway is very old and has had no major work done to it other than resurfacing over its many years of service. We are now in the process of taking core samples to determine the extent that we will have to go to bring the road back to the standards we seek.

Boring samples have indicated that the entire roadway is going to have to be taken up and a new base buildup will be installed followed by surfacing. The work on this project cannot start until the year 2012. It is going to be a difficult road to rebuild because so many of the roads feeding into it are dead in streets and the only means of egress is to beach road. As a result of this it is likely that they will be rebuilding one half at a time in order to allow traffic to continue flowing.

It's not an easy fix on Beach Road but we are definitely going to change it. I sympathize with anyone who must use it I drive on it and I find it very difficult to pick my way through the ever decreasing smooth spots. That's not much help but we can look for a new roadway in the future.

• The mayor's page

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