Resident: Village Should be Busy Clearing Sidewalks, Not Photographing Me

Resident Joe Yacura says the village should have better things to do than take photos of him using his snowblower–listing clearing sidewalks and streets of hazardous conditions as better options.

Yacura, of 362 Crest Road–who admitted guilt in inadvertently putting snow back into the street while snow blowing his out-of-town neighbor's sidewalk as a courtesy–told the village council Wednesday night that he'd prefer the village worker who took a photo of him snow blowing be out doing something with a larger impact.

"It's a waste of resources," Yacura, a 16-year resident, told the council. Yacura said he's 'not a complainer,' and was not opposed to paying the $40 fine his neighbor received for his good Samaritan efforts, but wondered aloud if in difficult budget times the village should be preoccupied with such things while publicly-owned sidewalks like those along Crest Road go unplowed and a section of Crest Road and Monte Vista Avenue remains filled with 4-6 inches of water.

Yacura claimed the sidewalk hasn't been plowed in over a week and also remarked that the water pool will soon be far more hazardous with cold temperatures to freeze it over.

Resident Boyd Loving said he also thought village personnel could be deployed more effectively, citing an incident he saw Monday morning. "Obviously, the two Parks Department employees I saw on South Irving Street digging out Christmas Trees from the frozen tundra would be better utilized clearing snow and ice from Village owned sidewalks, and/or clearing snow and ice mounds from in front of key pedestrian crosswalks."

Apart from complaints that the village would be better off utilizing resources to tackle some of winter's challenges, Yacura said he didn't want to have to resort to appearing at a council meeting but did so only after Village Manager Ken Gabbert refused to meet him for a private meeting.

Bottom line, Yacura said after the meeting, "management should be more accountable."

Mayor Killion instructed Gabbert to look into Yacura's complaints.