Highland Park Public Library Local Newspapers Site

Wilmette Life (Wilmette, Illinois), 29 Apr 1927, p. 27

The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

~pril 29, 1927 WILMETTE LIFE i I ~ ·An Open Letter to the North ·shore Members of the "No Man'S Land" Moving Picture Syndicate Mr. Ayres Boal, 701 Shfridan Rd., Winnetka Mr. H. C. Edmonds. 670 Blackthorn Rd., Winnetka Mr. He~ry T. Stanton. 698 Blackthorn Rd., Wtnnetka Mr. A. W. Shaw. Locust Rd., Winnetka Mr. Mancel T. Clark, 76 Locust Rd., Winnetka Mr. Gilbert H. Scribner, 812 Ash St., Winnetka Mr. H. 0. Edmonds, 37 Kenilworth Ave., Kenilworth Mr. Alfred T. Carton, Laurel Ave., Lake Forest 1 GENTLEMEN: · You are about to impose Sunday moving picture performances on a community that has always voted and legislated against them. Y ~ur spokes~an, Mr. Ayres Boal, openly stated to Kenilworth and Wilmette representatives that you tntend ~o budd apartment houses adjacent to your theater in "No-Man's Land." · An~ you have. strenuously opposed through your attorney and otherwise, passage of House Bill 51 at Spnngfield whtcb would give Wilmette the authority to annex, regulateandpolice "No-Ma·n'sLand." · A few weeks ago, certain members of your syndicate ~ade overtures to come in under Wilmette jurisdictaon under certain conditions. Mr. Ayres Boat, Mr. H: C. E~monds and Mr. Henry T. Stanton, met wa~h K~nalworth and Wilmette officials and representataves tn the office of State Representative. Howard P. Castle. They stated that you might be willing to come into Wilmette providing a referendum was held in Wilmette on the subject of Sunday movies and that you were given assurance that the Wilmette Zoning Board would zone air property in "NoMan's Land" for business purposes. Wilmette officials told you that they would willingly agree to the referendum and that they would zont everything for business purposes except a narrow fringe along Tenth Street and a narrow fringe backing up against Chestnut Street-this thev would want to zone for residential purposes for th~ protection of the ·adjacent property holders. That arrangement apparently did not appeal to your representatives and I asked Mr. Boal the direct question: "What do you intend to put on that property along Tenth Street?" 'Why we . figured on putting apartments up there and havin1 our parking space behind them," be replied. Your representatives. also stated at that time that you might not be able to gtt some of the otbu owners of "No-Man's Land" property to join you in the annexation move and we showed them how it was possible undef the law for you people to accomplish this all by yourselves. You agmd Jo consider the matter and again get in touch with us at the end of a week. You did not advise us at the end of a week as agreed, but after about 3 weeks you announced that you were no longer interested in the plan and would go no further in working it out. Why this change of attitude? Was it because during that time Evanston voted 2 to 1 against Sunday movies-and Evanston is our most cosmopolitan and metropolitan North Shore suburb? Was it because of this fact that you decided not to take chances on a Wilmette referendum and preferred rather .to stay "outside the law" of the surrounding community? . l I Tell us thent Gentlemen, how in the light of all these things, how in the light of your 'long residence on the North Shore and the privileges you have enjoyed as its .residents-how in the light of everything considered that has transpired, you can feel justified in soliciting the patronage of this North Shore community for your theatrical enterprise. The North Shore would like to know. It wants to treat you fairly but it also wa.nts to be treated fairly. Wilmette and Kenilworth officials showed at the conference that they were willing to go to any reasonable extent in protecting your financial investments but at the same time desired to protect the financial investments and the community life of North Shore property holders. Yery truly yours, .f NEW TRIER CITIZENS COMMITTEE ARTHUR BONNET. Chairman . . New Trier Citi:tens:-Have You Written to Springfield Yet? Put your influence behind House Bill 51. Write, wire and talk to any State Representative or Senator you know or can get in contact with. Tell him you want the Bill passed so your home and your community can be protected from unrestrict£~, unregulated and unwelcome development. Do this now, we need your help. And if you can spare $10 toward the fund to win this fight, send it . We need money, too. Address NEW TRIER CITIZENS COMMITTEE, KENILWORTH, ILL. .I

Powered by / Alimenté par VITA Toolkit
Privacy Policy