Woodstock has made a lot of good friends from other places lately. For example, Mike Guzman of Houston, Texas, and his buddy, Bryan Stenstrup of Orlando, Florida. And Javier Rueda and Wendy Pita of Chicago, along with Javier’s mother, Rubiela Benitez, from Colombia (the South America nation). Not to mention Kevin and Stephanie Simper, also […]
Downtown Woodstock has a parking problem. Even with its nearly 1,400 parking spaces within a few blocks of the Square, the city has a problem. That problem, some city officials have suggested, is merely a problem of perception – that people think there are too few places to park for special events downtown and during […]
Dress for the job you want, not the job you have. Woodstock City Council has borrowed that concept in its recent discussions about the structure of city government, to wit: Create an organizational chart for the city you want to be, not the city you are. At the urging of recently installed Mayor Mike Turner, […]
Let’s think of Woodstock’s three-month-long experience last year with a single-use bag fee as a rehearsal. Now that we have experimented with encouraging shoppers to carry reusable bags, let’s do a reset when the fee – you might call it a tax – goes back into effect Aug. 1. The interruption in collections was, of […]
We’ve been through a lot during these past 15 month. The chart above takes us back to the beginning of pandemic protocols in Illinois, which taught us a new vocabulary, including terms such as “shelter in place,” “essential business,” and “social distance.” We learned to live with “curbside pickup,” “capacity limits,” and “face coverings.” Most […]
Build it and they will come. Some disembodied voice famously whispered that line in a fantasy movie about an Iowa farmer who, without really knowing why, tears up his corn field to build a major league baseball diamond. Of course, all of his neighbors questioned his sanity for destroying his crop on the chance that […]
Will we know what “normal” looks like when it returns? Apparently, we’re going to gradually be exposed to whatever “normal” is to avoid any sudden shock to our systems. In fact, we’re now in the “bridge” phase, effective last Friday. Next – if the metrics continue to be favorable – we enter Phase 5 of […]
C’mon, Mother Nature! As we’re trying to come out of this year-long pandemic, we’re looking to find a degree of normalcy in our public gatherings by scheduling more outside activities for spring and summer. We could use a little cooperation in the weather department. But according to AccuWeather, the first part of summer will feature […]
Woodstock seems destined to have another community discussion soon on growth, not unlike we had 30 years ago during a period of unprecedented expansion of the far northwest suburbs. To say this is a debate between the traditionalists and futurists does not do justice to the complex issues involved in growing – population, tax base, […]
Larry Lough is editor of The Independent and reports local news.
Janet Dovidio has been a freelance correspondent for The Independent for eight years.
Susan W. Murray wrote for The Independent, covering various beats, from 2005 to 2008.
Tricia Carzoli is a freelance writer and photographer that on community news.
