Exercising more. Eating and drinking less. Spending less time on social media. Getting together more in person with friends.
These are among the resolutions found on many lists as a new year approaches.
Here at The Hinsdalean, we like to offer a different assortment of resolutions in our final issue of the year. So, as has become an annual practice, we offer our suggestions to local taxing bodies, agencies and residents for smooth sailing in 2024.
• Take a time out
If District 86 Board members hope to hire and keep a new superintendent, they must stop doing whatever it is they did that led to Interim Superintendent Linda Yonke’s unprecedented resignation. How bad must it be for her to leave a part-time, 120-day, $1,300-a-day job that she was already half-way through?
• Make the investment
The village should resolve to invest more to retain the historic bricks on Sixth Street rather than paving the road in concrete. The full cost to repave the street in brick might be too much for the village to bear on its own, but trustees should agree to throw in more than the $4.5 million earmarked in the budget and look for other sources of revenue, including grants and contributions from residents.
• Keep history alive
The village’s sesquicentennial celebration gave residents the opportunity to learn more about the early days of the village this year — and how to spell that word! As we launch into the next 150 years, we encourage residents to continue to cherish the village’s wonderful history as much as they do the town itself.
• Sign up now
If you haven’t looked lately at the websites for the Hinsdale Public Library, the Hinsdale Parks and Recreation Department and The Community House, you are missing out on myriad opportunities to have fun, learn something new, keep the kids busy over break, meet new people and get in shape. Did we mention having fun?
• Carry on
The village’s historic overlay district and preservtion inventives have been successful since instituted in September 2022, with 79 homes added to the Historically Signficant Properties List in just 15 months. The village should continue to promote these programs as much as possible and homeowners should take advantage of them as often as possible to preserve as many homes as possible.
• Take another look
A year ago we encouraged village officials to continue to evaluate downtown parking dynamics, as it was almost impossible to find a space in the parking deck between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. We offer the same suggestion again this year — especially since several spots in the deck have been barricaded for weeks.
• Protect and serve
Hinsdale police do a great job of keeping Hinsdale a low-crime community, in part by going out of their way to locate perpetrators — such as car thieves — so they can be prosecuted for their crimes. We know they will continue to do so in the upcoming year.
• End with altruism
What better way to close out the year than to offer financial support to the agencies and organizations that provide help and hope to so many in Hinsdale? Whether people feel moved to support cancer patients, homeless pets, children in need, mental health intiatives, health education, the hungry or village history, there is a nonprofit in town that would welcome a donation. Please consider making one.
