West

Tim West: Early voting more than merely convenience

Early voting is useful for more than just the convenience of it, writes Sun Viewpoint columnist Tim West.

Extending the Riverwalk? Maybe yes, maybe no

So how far does the Riverwalk need to go? If you lived in Naperville in 1980 you may remember that the Riverwalk began as a project for the city’s Sesquicentennial celebration the following year. In a sense it was to be a replacement for the …

Time to crack down on downtown ‘nightlife’

Do you feel safe in downtown Naperville late at night? In particular, on Friday and Saturday night? Until recently, being in a tavern or other late night establishment or going back to the car after midnight has never been a worry in our downtown. But …

Readers weigh in on Washington, Hillside site

Sunday’s column on the not-to-be McDonald’s for the intersection of Washington and Hillside brought some suggestions as to what could be done with the site from Naperville residents. Here are a few: “Hooray for our East Highlands neighborhood. We won. Why ask then what. Does …

Half a million one day, half a million the next

As the city of Naperville’s website is now expected to be down at least for the rest of the week, City Manager Doug Krieger was saying that the problems are more likely the work of a computer hacker, rather than a virus. In an article …

Poll parents on start of school year

Not having any kids or grandkids in District 203 schools, I’m not entirely sure I should be expressing an opinion on when the school year should start. Maybe I should leave this to the parents whose lives are affected by what day their youngsters have …

Raffi’s restaurant to close at month’s end

Wednesday’s column dealt with people watching from one of my favorite downtown Naperville restaurants, La Sorella, and also with some of the other fine dining places in the downtown. In the more than 40 years that I’ve lived here Naperville in general, and not just …

Sometimes Naperville is all about the food

One of my favorite things to do on Saturday is have lunch in a good restaurant, usually in downtown Naperville, where there are several places that do nicely. Unfortunately, Sullivan’s Steakhouse isn’t open for lunch on Saturday, but that still leaves La Sorella, Catch 35, …

If the shoe fits, change the park’s name

Sun Viewpoint columnist Tim West writes “When the Naperville Park District first suggested that it would change the name of Nike Park to something else so that people wouldn’t keep confusing that little park with the much larger Nike Sports Complex just to the north, I thought that sounded like a good idea.”

Next spring may bring another ward vote

Sun Viewpoint columnist Tim West writes “It’s interesting to see that a group of Naperville residents are going to make an attempt to bring to referendum in next spring’s election a proposition to keep Naperville’s council members elected at large.”

A smart meter finally makes it to my house

A smart meter was installed at my home by the city of Naperville’s contractor last Tuesday. From looking at the city’s website, some 47,656 meters had been installed citywide by Aug. 19, or 83.1 percent of the total of 57,323 that will be in place once the city is wired.

Any way you spell it, keeping Walmart is good

Now matter how you spell the name of Wal-Mart, the tax rebate deal inked by the Naperville City Council, Tuesday, will be good for the city.

Isabelle sleeps while church band rocks

Sun Viewpoint columnist Tim West writes: “Last weekend my wife and I went to Springfield, Illinois. No, it’s not all that exciting a place but it was the first time in at least three years I’ve been away from home overnight that has not involved a week’s stay with an IV in my arm and a nurse taking my vitals every hour or so.”

Dog assisted therapy program seeks volunteers

Whenever I get a press release from Edward Hospital about its great animal-assisted therapy program, in which people have their dogs trained to visit patients, as a cat owner I can’t help but wonder what would happen if the program featured cats instead of dogs. …