Publications & Sites 
Letter to the editor: Park Ridge not the place it used to be
Updated: May 1, 2012 8:30PM
My husband and I have lived in Park Ridge, in the same home, for 57 years.
When we first bought our home, real estate taxes were $200 per year.
For that money we had good schools; there was free ambulance service for residents; brush was picked up by the city.
Real estate taxes now take a huge bite out of our retirement income, and the value just isn’t there.
I guess our schools are still decent (and I know this is important for property values); but we now pay for ambulance service; we have to hire a landscaper to deal with brush; the city no longer gives seniors a break on taxi service; maybe the police drive by now and then; there are no social services.
And now the city is thinking about charging extra to pick up the garbage and recycling, and water rates have increased dramatically.
Last month I emailed our alderman about the possibility of making the sidewalk to our home handicap-accessible (my husband and I are both handicapped), and there hasn’t even been the courtesy of a response.
Park Ridge is not a good place to grow old.
Jane Moody
Park Ridge
