carson.qxd
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I was furious when I read Edward H. Kim’s letter to the editor in your November 14 issue. How could any Northwestern student, who is surrounded by hundreds of arguments pro and con on this issue [Neighborhood News, October 31] in every paper he looks at every day (this is getting unbelievable coverage up here), totally ignore the biggest complaint of the Evanston taxpayers: who is paying for this development? Why, of course, it’s the property owners of Evanston! Evanston property owners pay the highest property taxes of any suburb in the North Shore, yet probably have one of the lowest per capita incomes in said area. Why? Because Northwestern University, which owns a huge amount of Evanston, doesn’t pay any property taxes. That leaves the other property owners to pay for all of the city services, including the ones used by the students of Northwestern. Frankly, Northwestern is already bleeding the average taxpayer in Evanston dry; why should we subsidize a playground for the students of Northwestern?
Mr. Kim shouldn’t be so eager to spend other people’s money: if Northwestern paid its fair share of property tax and contributed to subsidizing this new project, then we might have something to talk about. Until then, please keep your hand out of my wallet.
