letters to the editor
July 3, 2012 3:40PM
Updated: August 6, 2012 6:31AM
Parking fees making baseball too costly
Yes, I am talking baseball; and, no, it wasn’t Ozzie, the Kane County Cougars’ highly entertaining mascot. He actually gave me a hand bump as he passed me by on my way to the front gate.
It was the feeling I got when I was charged $5 to park my vehicle this year for the first time. I was nicely informed that they did not raise ticket prices this year and still had the same great entertainment. Well, in effect, this was a $5 ticket price increase to me since I was the sole occupant in my vehicle.
To make matters worse, I drove separately from my wife since I get home late from work, which meant together we both paid $10 to park. As someone who has supported the Cougars since the first season, I have seen the steady price increases over the years both in ticket prices, food and drink prices. And now a parking fee?
Quite frankly, it has gotten to the point that this supposedly affordable family entertainment venue is becoming no longer affordable to bring the family to. As prices have continued to escalate, I have had two strikes against the Cougars for the last couple of years now. Well, this year I finally called strike three against them and won’t be back!
Keith Biedron
St. Charles
Foreclosure keeps our economy in the tank
Many Americans are hoping that housing sales across the country will pick up, but unfortunately, more middle-class homeowners are facing foreclosure.
Due to high unemployment rates or cutbacks, average Americans who have a modest house with a reasonable 30-year fixed mortgage rate are feeling the heat. As reported in The Fiscal Times (www.thefiscaltimes.com/Articles/2012/04/05/New-Face-of-the-Housing-Crisis-the-Middle-Class.aspx#page2), “Zillow expects the resurgence in foreclosures this year, combined with excess inventory of unsold, bank-owned homes will contribute to a 3.7 percent national decline in prices before the market hits bottom in 2013 and stays there until 2016.”
I believe that foreclosures will continue to rise, as many of the foreclosures that did not occur last year will most likely take place in 2012.
Although there are some signs of recovery both in the job market as well as slight improvements with the housing numbers that have been released, the bottom has not even begun to fall out. In some states, it can take as long as three years before the courts and banks will kick people out of their homes from the time they defaulted on their loans. Realistically, we have not seen the full spectrum of houses that will be bank owned yet.
In addition to that, there are many Americans who continue to pay a fixed-rate mortgage for a house whose value is much lower that the cost of what they pay. The housing market is directly tied to the employment rate; if joblessness does not improve, people will not have the ability or confidence to buy.
The fraud, errors and mistakes are still present in many of the foreclosures, and lenders/investors are still unwilling to seek a reasonable resolution with homeowners. Until those issues are properly addressed, it will continue to lead to wrongful foreclosures, intense litigation and devaluing of homes.
Darren Fish
Attorney, Fish Law Group
Chicago
