Above / The Naperville Development Partnership, www.naper.org, under the leadership of President Christine Jeffries, also is home to www.DineNaperville.com and www.VisitNaperville.com. During the current “Stay-at-Home” order, many Naperville restaurants, bakeries and sweet shops are offering curbside pick up. Some businesses also have home delivery.
During the Naperville City Council meeting on Tues., May 19, under “New Business,” Councilman Kevin Coyne referenced a letter from the Naperville Development Partnership (NDP).
“I just want to make sure the public was aware of a really good letter… in response to the Governor’s Restore Illinois Plan…,” said Coyne. “I agree with every word of the letter… I would applaud our Mayor’s leadership on this issue so far… I simply think we need more local control and more local input on this crisis that we’re all dealing with… And again, I would encourage folks to read that NDP letter and reiterate that I support it.”
Mayor Steve Chirico “dittoed” his comments with gratitude.
Naperville Development Partnership Letter
May 19,2020
Mayor Chirico and
Members of the Naperville City Council
400 S. Eagle Street
Naperville, IL 60540
Re: Plan to Reopen Our City’s Economy
Dear Mayor and City Council,
As you are aware, the Naperville Development Partnership is a not-for-profit corporation
responsible to maintain and promote economic development in the City of Naperville. As a result of our collaborative efforts with the City over the past couple decades, we have helped Naperville to become the second largest economy in Illinois after the City of Chicago.
Since the Governor’s stay at home orders were put in place over eleven (11) weeks ago, with the objective to ensure that our healthcare systems would not be overwhelmed, many of our business owners have shuttered and/or limped along, and our residents have sheltered at home and practiced social-distancing. Fortunately, the original models for Illinois that projected that our healthcare systems would not be able to handle the number of anticipated cases have not materialized.
While the curve has now “flattened” and the projections dispelled, the Governor is still requiring our business owners to keep non-essential businesses closed and residents at home for the indefinite future. The State’s strategies for addressing the virus have remained essentially unchanged over the past eleven (11) weeks, even though the stated objective has been achieved.
If the Governor’s current “Restore Illinois Plan,” which continues to keep “non-essential”
businesses closed and residents at home, is implemented, there will be catastrophic outcomes for our businesses, residents, and City. This Governor’s “Restore Illinois Plan” is specifically not appropriate or acceptable for Naperville.
We believe that it is time that Naperville be allowed the authority to provide a realistic strategic plan for reopening our local economy and a path for the recovery of all our businesses, while always prioritizing the health and safety of our residents. We need Naperville to be removed from the “Restore Illinois Plan’s” “Northeast Group.” Naperville has a considerably lower density, death and infection rate than Chicago, while also maintaining a high-quality and responsive medical system. Our Edward Hospital had, and continues to have, excess ICU beds and ventilators available to treat local patients with the virus. While Illinois is generally divided into eleven (11) medical regions, for no logical reason the “Restore Illinois Plan” only divides the State into four (4) virus regions and lumps Naperville in with Chicago.
We also disagree with the Governor’s “Restore Illinois Plan” regarding restaurants and hospitality venues, which shutters them until Stage 4, and makes them the biggest economic “losers.” Many states, including Indiana and Iowa, are reopening all of their businesses. Many of our restaurant, salon, barbershop, bookstore, and other small business owners and employees see Illinois residents traveling to neighboring states to meet their needs. If this “one size fits all” part of the Governor’s “Restore Illinois Plan” is not modified, the damage to these restaurants and hospitality venues will be immense, if not fatal, and recovery for those who do survive will likely take years. The longer the economy is shut down, the harder it will be to restart these businesses and the greater the number of them that will close, the results of which will change the fabric of our community and our State forever.
We have worked together for over two (2) decades to create a healthy economy in Naperville and we must take immediate action to preserve what we have remaining. We call on you, as our local elected officials, to pursue all reasonable means to secure local control for Naperville to implement its own re-opening plan and which is specifically not tethered in any manner to the City of Chicago. As the elected leaders of our community, we respectfully request that you proclaim this message “loud and clear.”
Sincerely,
Naperville Development Partnership
cc.
State Rep Grant Wehrli (See update below)
Senator Laura Ellman
Senator Linda Holmes
State Rep Ann- Stava-Murray
State Rep Stefanie Kifowit
State Rep Amy Grant
Senator John Curran
Editor’s Note: The City Council Meeting, broadcast live for 3 hours and 41 minutes via Zoom on May 19, 2020, is available to watch online alongside its agenda by clicking here.
Update, 2:11PM May 20, 2020 / Rep. Wehrli Reacts to Withdrawing of Emergency Rule
SPRINGFIELD— An emergency rule that would have provided for criminal penalties against business owners who reopen in violation of Governor Pritzker’s executive orders was abruptly removed from the agenda of Illinois’ Joint Committee on Administrative Rules (JCAR) on Wednesday. Following the withdrawing of the emergency rule, State Representative Grant Wehrli (R-Naperville) issued the following statement:
“Since Friday, my legislative office has received thousands of emails and hundreds of phone calls from constituents and business owners who vehemently objected to this emergency rule and the blatant abuse of executive power it represents. Those serving on JCAR received upward of 7,000 emails, which is the biggest response any of us has ever seen to any single JCAR rule issue. The people of Illinois were rightly outraged by the emergency rule, and I’m glad the Governor and Department of Public Health had the good sense to withdraw it.
“The removal of this rule is a huge win for the law and a huge win for the thousands of Illinoisans who emailed and called their elected representatives. Every Illinoisan who engaged in the political process needs to know their voice was heard. The pressure placed on Governor Pritzker and the Democrat members of JCAR was tremendous, and it is due to the enormous opposition shown by people from all across the state that the rule was removed from consideration.”
