We went to the Tinley Park Recreation Department's Halloweeen Day for Children on Saturday. It was great. It had rooms of events, insects, creepy animals and a haunted house, plus all kinds of games.
But what was most surprising was that the fee imposed for the same event at Orland Park chased many Orland Park residents away. And they came to Tinley Park -- those that knew about Tinley's great and FREE annual program.
Orland Park's increased tax, and increased fees are turning resdents off. The Recreation Department was forced to increase fees on almost all of its programs and despite an effort by local media to cover the fee increases up, residents are up in arms and blaming Mayor Dan McLaughlin for his poor leadership that is politically motivated.(He's a Chicago Machine politician who has sold Orland Park's soul otu to the 19th Ward.)
You can't blame the Recreation Department in Orland Park for the punitive fee increases. You have to blame McLaughlin. And it was obvious many who fled to Tinley Park in the face of the event fees -- they said it cost as much as $12 to get in. Yikes! That's terrible. (Actually, it was $6 for residents and $11 for non-residents -- which doesn't seem like much until you add it to the heap of new taxes and fees being imposed by the village and Mayor Dan McLaughlin.)
They were all complaining and it didn't take much to hear it. They were telling everyone. This year, we chose Tinely's event for our child because we heard so many great things about it. Orland has a GREAT recreation program, ut the tax increases and the increased fees will certainly chase many orland Park homeowners to go elsewhere for their recreation programs.
In the end, increased fees don't bring in new revenues. They chase participants away and the total revenues generally remain the same.
Sad to see this happening to Orland Park.
-- Ray Hanania
www.OrlandParker.com
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1 comment:
It's unfortunate that these community events are costing families extra fees. That's always a downer when trying to getting out in the community. Although, I want to share some Orland outings I've recently found that are free and fun. Almost weekly, I have been enjoying various outings at the Orland Grassland. These fun groups are going out regularly on hikes, restoring high quality natural areas that will one day cover an area almost a thousand acres large! The adults and teenagers get good excise (especially in winter) restoring this native prairie. Right now they are preparing millions of seed to plant later in the month. I hear the Nov. Thanksgiving hike will give a fun overview of the whole place. Here are there events, or check out the library.
Prairie Seed Prep Party
Thursday, Nov. 6th 6:30 pm
Join us for a great night of community camaraderie while we find all kinds of ways to prepare millions of rare seeds for planting our future local prairie. Meet at the Orland Park Civic Center to clean rare prairie seeds collected throughout the year.
Thanksgiving Prairie Hike
Sunday, Nov. 9th 1:30 pm
Learn about atlatls, bows, arrows, fire starting, flint knapping, native plants, and prairie restoration. We'll hike to the best view in this 960 acre preserve and discuss people's past and current stewardship of the plants and animals of the “New World”. This is a unique interpretive hike you won't want to miss. Directions: The main entrance parking lot is located on 167th Street about 1/4 block west of LaGrange Road in Orland Park.
Prairie Seed Prep Party
Tuesday, Nov. 18th 6:30 pm
Join us for a great night of community camaraderie while we find all kinds of ways to prepare millions of rare seeds for planting our future local prairie. Meet at the Orland Park Civic Center to clean rare prairie seeds collected throughout the year.
Seed Sowing/Pot-pourri
Saturday, Nov. 29th 9:00 pm
We will help create acres of prairie by distributing seed throughout important areas at the Grassland. These efforts will help attract people and wildlife to these new prairies for decades to come. It takes a lot of helping hands to plant a prairie off the beaten track and get a good look at our beautiful vista. Afterwards, at about 1:00 p.m., we'll meet up and enjoy our annual pot-pourri. Hot soup, good bread, and whatever else folks would like to enjoy bringing and eating. Directions: The main entrance parking lot is located on 167th Street about 1/4 block west of LaGrange Road in Orland Park.
RSVP to Sam at 847-800-3742
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