Legal fees & costs to stop the sale of Open Space

In less than 30 days the Homer Township administration plans to

sell your taxpayer-purchased Open Space. Action is needed immediately to stop this imminent sale.

Homer Township officials have listed for sale two Open Space properties – the Purdy

Farm (15832 W. Bruce Rd) and the Paul Farm (16349 W. 151st St) and intend on selling the Welter Farm, too (14858 S. Founders Crossing). These are Open Space Lands purchased with YOUR tax dollars through voter-approved referendum funds. Homer Township Supervisor Steve Balich and the Township Trustees, Michael Bonomo, Matt Connelly, Mark Gawron and Rob Rivera want to destroy the public open space lands and sell them off without any voter input or approval. Taxpayers VOTED to have these lands preserved so they would not be developed. Their actions go against our community identity and completely lack transparency. This is a travesty for our community and could set a dangerous precedent for preserved land across the entire state of Illinois. We cannot let Illinois politicians looking for “quick” money to sell taxpayer-purchased land. (The forest preserves could be next.) Any educated person can easily see how this goes against our community standards, transparent government and ethics. We have tried to talk to Supervisor Balich but he has said he can sell the land and if “people don’t like it, too bad!” We strongly disagree and since he will not listen to reason and will not listen to the voters, the only alternative is legal action. Time is of the essence, so please people, help us save our community's public open space lands by making a donation for legal action to stop this real estate sale.

Here’s the small print. We anticipate legal fees will be more than $10,000. We cannot

do this without your support. Any money not used for legal fees may be used to

educate the public about this matter (such as signs, mailers, referendums). If any funds

are left-over after this battle is done, they will be donated to The Conservation

Foundation, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that protects lands and rivers. The

expenditure of all funds will be fully viewable upon request. Unlike the current Township officials, we want to be transparent.

For additional information please go to the website: HomerOpenSpace.com

https://youtu.be/iM38LmsC-8M

Hi, I am Mike Campabello and I have been a resident of Homer Glen and Homer Township for 17 years. I have a wife and two young children who go to local schools. We live near the Welter Farm, Open Space Property that we enjoy and we like to walk our dog at the Trantina Farm, another Open Space property. We, like many of our neighbors and other residents of Homer Township, were shocked when the Township tried to put a subdivision on the Welter Farm. The community came together and let the Township officials know and effectively stopped the construction of that subdivision.

Now the same Homer Township officials have put two Open Space properties up for sale and can also try to do the same with a third property. Many people do not want Open Space Lands sold and we have come together to try and stop this from happening. We need your help if we have any chance to stop this. We appreciate any donation you can make.

Sincerely,

Mike Campabello