Letters to the Editor: Residents Voice Support for Mayoral Candidates

Rotering the right choice

While serving you on the City Council for twenty years as your councilman and mayor pro-tem, you have relied on me to make the right decisions for Highland Park. Now I ask you to make a decision for the future of Highland Park. I am asking you to join me in supporting for mayor. She will make the tough decisions needed during these economic times, she will be responsive to your concerns, and she will lead us through the numerous obstacles all cities are now facing. Like me, she is a life-long Highland Parker who really cares about our quality of life. Nancy is the right choice. 

Michael Brenner
Former Highland Park City Councilman

Olian makes ideas blossom

I am certain that will be a wonderful Mayor for the City of Highland Park.  It has been my privilege to work with Terri on many projects during her tenure as a member of the District 112 School Board and the Highland Park City Council.  In every instance, Terri has been interested in bringing people together, listening to all opinions and making thoughtful and well considered decisions. More than once, I have seen her take the seed of an idea and work hard to make it blossom when others were not interested or said it could not be done.  Terri is committed to the continuing economic, social and cultural vibrancy of our community and values all of our constituencies.

Beth Shapiro Kopin

Rotering is fully committed

Join us in supporting for mayor. We have known Nancy as a colleague at McDermott Will & Emery; as a board member, advocate and fund-raiser for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation; and now as a City Councilman. In each of these capacities, she has been a tireless advocate and leader. She is dedicated, thoughtful and fully committed to doing the best job possible.

As mayor, she will serve our community well. Nancy brings not only her legal and financial acumen; she combines with that a pure love of her hometown. She appreciates the many facets of our community, from her four kids in our schools to her broad experience doing charity and community work.

Ilene and David DeYoe

Olian a 'do-er'

Forty six years… That’s how long I have been friends with . Ever since I have known Terri, she has been a “do-er." She was president of our high school, went to law school, was a practicing attorney, was active on the District 112 School Board and now, the Highland Park City Council. Terri is smart, caring and knows how to get things done. As a lifelong friend, Terri has always been there for me. As Mayor of Highland Park, I know she will always be there for you.

Bonnie Flanzer

Rotering the fiscally responsible candidate

Does serving Highland Park a long time really equate with what's best for our community? Remove the dazzle of longevity and apply other prisms, namely fiscal responsibility and credibility, and clarity emerges.

Longevity in community service should be rewarded with a hearty thanks and public acknowledgment, to be sure. But as a criterion for electing a mayor? Hardly. Highland Park needs a mayor who is fiscally responsible, has the analytical chops and professional credibility to do the job well and has shown herself to be an independent, clear-thinking voice for the taxpayers. That candidate is .

Margie Kapnick

Olian known for her charitable acts

I have known as a fellow CERT (Community Emergency Response Team) member where she and I have served together for over three years. The CERTs are the behind-the-scenes volunteers who help the Highland Park Police Department with crowd control during events (such as the 4^th of July parade) and are on call for emergency situations that could occur in Highland Park.

Terri has been a hard working CERT since the program began. She shows up for our monthly meetings and is constantly volunteering for active CERT duty in CERT activations.

I also know Terri for her charitable acts. Several summers ago, there was terrible flooding in the Midwest and thousands of people lost their homes and all of their worldly possessions. Terri organized a fundraiser that was held at the Highland Park Fourth Fest to help the victims of that disaster by raising money for them and sending blankets and supplies to the victims. I know that Terri will be a great mayor for Highland Park.

Leslie Neilan

Rotering a bridge-builder

At a recent coffee, emphasized the need for city governments (council, School Board, Park District) to reopen lines of communication that have been closed for years.

She used the recent blizzard as an example. City works had the streets cleared by that first afternoon. Schools were closed a second day because snow drifts had piled up against the exit doors and parking lots needed plowing. She said that if there were better relationships between the government agencies, perhaps the city could have helped the schools clear the snow so the children would not have to miss that second day.

I'll be voting for the bridge builder.

Samantha Stolberg, Highland Park

Olian is responsive and accessible

I was delighted to hear that has decided " to kick it up a notch " in her passion to serve the community of Highland Park by running for Mayor. She is a very responsive and accessible council member. Highland Park has definitely benefited during the time she's been active in the City Council. Helping to bring new business life and environment/ green initiatives are my favorites that Terri has helped lead the charge.

On a personal note, I have always noticed that Terri is really involved with a lot of the activities /events that Highland Park offers and its shows me that she gives her time to interact with the community directly which helps makes things happen. Terri seems to me quite qualified to lead out city for many years ahead.

Ed Kugler

Rotering supremely qualified

Highland Park is fortunate to have someone like willing to serve as mayor. Her intelligence, education, experience and integrity are outstanding characteristics she will bring to the task.  As the campaign has unfolded, Nancy has stuck to expressing constructive positions; we're proud of her, and proud to support her, and encourage our neighbors likewise to vote for Nancy. 

Nancy Rotering's qualifications are so deep and impressive, her leadership, passion and perspective so valuable that she is qualified--and has our support--for any office she chooses to occupy.  Raised in Highland Park, she knows the city intimately. Educated here in public schools that launched her to undergraduate work at Stanford, and graduate work at both Northwestern and the University of Chicago, she went on to a distinguished career in law with an emphasis in business accountability.

As a wife and parent of four sons in Highland Park schools, Nancy has been active at the grassroots in a variety of local endeavors, and is invested in Highland Park's future. Locally, she has served on city and township committees, and gained further experience as a legislative aide.  She's made significant  leadership contributions to local environmental efforts.

In short, Nancy Rotering is supremely qualified to lead the City Council and extend a skeptical and watchful eye on the City's management.

Bryna and Edward Gamson

Olian dedicated to the community

consistency of performance over her many years of public service, first on the District 112 School Board and more recently, for the past five plus years, on the Highland Park City Council, clearly demonstrates a dedication to our community, its well-being and its growth, a sound and level-headed approach to community issues and their fair resolution, a high degree of integrity and ethics in all aspects of her service to our community, and a willingness to work hard for what she believes in and supports.

Over the past five years, we have had the privilege to see firsthand Terri’s devotion to the community and to the well being of Highland Park’s citizens. Terri has the experience needed to effectively lead our community forward in the coming years, and her thoughtful dedication is evident in all that she undertakes.

Terri Olian has unselfishly given of herself in time and effort to the continuing betterment of our community. She is a proven leader and is most qualified to be our next mayor, and so we strongly urge everyone to support Terri Olian for Mayor of Highland Park.

Barbara and Robert Paget