Park board members harassed as Maple Park vote nears

Four Oak Park park commissioners received harassing phone calls late Friday evening from a resident opposed to creating a dog park in Maple Park. The calls, park commissioners made plain at a meeting Monday, won’t stop the planning process but neither would they be considered an acceptable part of public dialogue. Instead, Oak Park police have been called in to review the phone messages.

Mark Gartland, park board president, spoke at the beginning of the fourth Maple Park community meeting Monday night, echoing a common refrain during the site’s planning process: The park is for all of Oak Park, not just those in its immediate vicinity. But things took an unexpected turn as Gartland started to choke up, relating a harassing phone call his family received after 9:30 p.m. on Friday night.

“We’re volunteers on an elected board. We’re on the board to serve the community,” Gartland said in a phone interview the next morning. “We understand there needs to be community input. We love community input. Done in a right way, it’s helpful for everyone. [But at] 9:45 on a Friday night, accusing and making veiled threats to them and their family is just not acceptable.”

Board Treasurer Lise Valentine also received a harassing call around the same time, and vice president Marty Bracco received a call threatening him and his family. Secretary Chris Graves also received a phone call around the same time, but the person hung up.

“She was very concerned, very disturbed,” Bracco said of veiled threats directed at his wife. “When I first listened to [the message], I was more angry. The fact that my wife was disturbed got me even more inflamed.”

“It’s been a very upsetting weekend,” Gartland said at the meeting after settling his emotions. When asked if the calls pertained to a potential dog park at Maple, Gartland replied, “Of course.”

Bracco filed a report with Oak Park police on Sunday afternoon. The caller left his name in phone messages, but Bracco and Gartland would not reveal his identity. Bracco did confirm that the man attended the meeting.

Oak Park police Commander Clemet Harbour confirmed that a person had called Bracco’s home shortly before 10 p.m. Sept. 7 and left a message, including his name. Harbour said police were planning to speak with Bracco to confirm details of the incident.

Harbour reported that Bracco’s message had said, “If you think you can screw the whole neighborhood, you need to do the right thing, for your sake, and for your family’s sake.”

Harbour said a special police watch was established on Bracco’s home, and the resident beat officer for that area was informed of the situation. He added that police were not releasing the name of the person who allegedly left the message because they had not confirmed that he had in fact been the one who phoned Bracco.

Monday evening landscape architect John MacManus of Altamanu, Inc., presented a park plan which featured a dog park at the northwest end of the park, two tennis courts at the southwest corner, a continuous path system throughout the park, and the addition of 158 trees.

With the proposed tennis court relocation, 13 trees would need to move. Eight smaller trees could be relocated and the other five would be removed according to the park district.

The proposed dog park would cover about 13,800 square feet, around 4.4 percent of Maple Park’s entire surface.

In October the park board will likely vote to consider taking action on the plan at its scheduled meeting, Bracco said. Construction of the park would begin sometime in 2009.

“We’ve done nothing but be as open and transparent in all these processes and we’re going to continue doing so,” Bracco said. “We’re doing this because we love Oak Park. I’ve got roots in this town going back to the late 1800s. We’re just happy to be part of the process, appreciate everyone’s input and nothing is decided until we make a vote.”