Protect Lake County Communities

Mayor Kovarik, Village of Gurnee
Mayor Hyde, City of Waukegan
Mayor Harger, Village of Libertyville
State Representative, Sandy Cole
State Representative, Kathy Ryg
State Representative, Ed Sullivan, Jr.
State Representative, Mark Beaubien
State Representative, Mike Bond
State Representative, Terry Link
State Representative, Bill Peterson
US Congresswoman, Melissa Bean
US Congressman, Mark Steven Kirk


We, the undersigned, are opposed to the proposed casino development at Fountain Square Park in Waukegan, Illinois.

This proposed casino will erode long-term economic sustainability of the northern lake county communities. This erosion will offset any promise of potential tax revenues or minimum wage jobs generated from the proposed casino development. The current economic state of all neighboring suburbs makes it irresponsible to even consider development of a casino operation in the short- or potentially long-term future. Long-term financial viability of the establishment will be unstable. Additional burden on the sharing communitys infrastructures will exceed any promised tax revenue sharing. There will be a permanent $20-30 million decrease in home values in residential areas immediately neighboring the proposed site: (aggregate property value decrease figured using University of Nevada, Leid Institute for Real Estate study * http://www.business.uiuc.edu/orer/v12-1-2.pdf which states a 4\% decline on avg. $250K home in the 5 subdivisions located within 2 miles of the proposed site)

We believe the proposed casino will negatively impact the surrounding communities of Lake County through

Increased traffic on local roads, burdening tax-payer provided services; including but not limited to public works, police and fire departments of host and neighboring communities;

Increased traffic incidents, including drunk driving, traffic violations and traffic accidents;

Increased crime in host and neighboring communities; including robberies, assaults, and thefts;

Decreased home values in host and neighboring residential areas; including those most immediately impacted on the OPlaine corridor north and south of Route 120/Belvidere Road;

Decrease in local small business tax revenues, due to permanent business closures;

Decrease in sustainable middle and upper income employment for host and neighboring communities; replaced by seasonal, contract and part-time wages with minimal to no benefits;

Increase in social problems and disorders, including gambling addictions, domestic violence, unemployment, poverty, child abuse and neglect, and drug and alcohol addictions

We believe the establishment of a casino will weaken already existing fragile economies of the host and neighboring communities. The continued and future development of sustainable residential communities will be discouraged as the host and neighboring cities become known as gaming communities. We believe any government who allows this type of development without responsibly conducting the required environmental, social and economic studies is taking a long-term gamble with lake county communities. Such a study would prove the proposed casino to be a significantly negative impact.

For the above reasons and more, we oppose the proposed development of a casino at Fountain Square Park in Waukegan, Illinois. We will build an organized effort to request that local and state government representatives respond favorably by protecting our residences and business communities.