July 19,
2007
To: International
Olympic Committee
Chicago
2016 Olympic Bid Committee
180 North
Stetson, Suite 1500
Chicago,
Illinois 60601
SUBJECT: 2016
Olympic Equestrian Venue Slated for
Lakewood Forest Preserve
Many
articles regarding the misuse of 300+ acres of public lands at Lakewood
Forest
Preserve for the development of an Olympic equestrian stadium have
recently
appeared in several well known Northern Illinois newspapers. As
President of
the Illinois Federation for Outdoor Resources, a
not-for-profit
statewide organization with over 100 Conservation groups as members and
with
our individual membership we currently represent in excess of 75,000
Outdoorsmen & women, I would like to go on record and offer
some comments
regarding this issue on behalf of IFOR’S Board of Directors
and membership.
We
understand the lands in question were purchased after 1958, when the Illinois Legislature
approved the
Forest Preserve Board to purchase up to 55,000 acres throughout Lake
County. It
is the constituents
of Lake County who now own these roughly 26,000 acres of Forest
Preserve land.
Some
articles and various letters to the media have indicated that there is
only a “small”
opposition to the development at Lakewood Preserve.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
In addition to environmental groups such as
the Sierra Club, members of our organization including hunters,
fishermen,
field trialers, and trail riders are also adamantly opposed. As are the majority of
people throughout
Illinois who are interested in preserving what few open space lands we
have
remaining and are interested in protecting those lands in their natural
state
for everyone to enjoy…for generations to come.
They see this allocation of public land as a violation of
public trust.
IFOR does
support economic development and the Olympic equestrian events in Lake
County
(if its constituents so choose), but we strongly believe this stadium
site
would best serve the interests of all concerned if it were done on privately
gifted lands without setting a precedence of using valuable public
lands for
any private venues of which the Olympic games clearly are. It is our
understanding that more suitable
land has been offered, and the offer was declined by The Lake County
Forest
Preserve Executive Board. The Temple Farm located in Wadsworth has
reportedly
offered to host the equestrian events in a letter dated June 26, 2007. That letter was addressed
to the Chicago 2016
Olympic Bid Committee and offered to work with the Forest Preserve.
In
addition,
it is our understanding that the Lake County Forest Preserve made their
decision to allocate the public land of Lakewood Forest Preserve and
even
today, they continue to push for it without adequate notice ever given
to the
Lakewood Advisory Committee, or to the Lake County tax payers for that
matter. We
understand constituents discovered the
deal after it was already cut by the County Forest
Preserve Board. We
have seen the disturbing Fox News report
thereafter with Forest Preserve President Bonnie Carter declaring it
was “a
done deal”, apparently an attempt to squash
opponents who were just finding
out about the announcement. IFOR
is
adamantly opposed to any such government body that covertly makes such
radical
decisions where taxpayers are stripped of their voice prior to a
decision being
made. The Voters
For Preservation
opposition group also has the support of the Sierra Club as evidenced
in two
separate letters from their President published in June.
IFOR also
strongly opposes this equestrian stadium development site at Lakewood
Preserve
and supports the dedication of
VotersForPreservation to protect public lands for all future
generations to
come. We call
upon the Chicago 2016 Olympic
Bid Committee, Mayor Daley, and the Lake County Board to put the issue
to rest
by removing the Olympic stadium site plans from Lakewood Forest
Preserve.
For further
information about IFOR please visit our website at:
Sincerely,
C. E. Becker
President
Phone/Fax
(618) 466-2582