Since the Village Manager Association reestablished one-party rule in 2007, Oak Park’s Village Board has resumed its old ways. Public meetings have become sales efforts to convince citizens that decisions already made are optimal and inevitable.
Government works best when diverse viewpoints are freely expressed and can compete fairly, on their merits, in the full light of day. Government, even by the capable and well-intentioned, stops working when decisions are made behind closed doors. Oak Park’s government’s avoidance of public oversight has caused:
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A growing fiscal crisis resulting from assuming that rising property values and easy credit would go on forever
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Attempts to spend our way out of being broke by offering developers huge subsidies to build huge projects justified by financial assumptions that go far beyond silly euphoria and blissfully deny today’s economic realities
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Taxes rising unabated while essential services like snow removal, street maintenance and police protection decline
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Small businesses moving out or closing, leaving vacant stores, while subsidies go to attract national chains easily found in nearby malls
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Large sums, including massive unauthorized hidden consulting fees, being spent on a failed software implementation
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Continued large payments to lobbyists
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Constant erosion of the unique environment and quality of life that have made so many people want to live here
The Feb. 12 village board meeting held to present a proposal for Lake and Forest is the latest example of our civic dysfunction. For months, the village has worked secretly with Sertus to design a 19-story behemoth containing a hotel, condos, parking and retail. The village says this project is in keeping with the Greater Downtown Master Plan, which supposedly embodies residents’ wishes. While we know firsthand how that master plan was in fact dictated to Crandall Arambula (the village’s consultants) by those promoting excessive development, the Sertus proposal is two or three times taller and far denser than even what that plan suggested.
Financial viability of the proposed hotel and reasonable return on the village’s investment (the village would donate the site and pay for most of the parking garage) can be accepted only if we also accept assumptions based upon the current “recession” (depression? panic?) ending quickly.
Even if this project were viable, its size and design are inappropriate for what will soon be the gateway to a national historic landmark district.
Having given residents five days to consider this complex proposal, the village board will likely authorize preparation of a redevelopment agreement with Sertus on Feb. 17.
The VMA says we need a “steady hand” in these times. If we’re headed off a cliff, perhaps staying the course isn’t such a good idea. It takes the whole village to make democracy truly work in Oak Park. To have a chance to change Oak Park’s direction, vote for all of us on April 7. We’re the only alternative to one-party rule. We have knowledge and experience. We promise to listen and to conduct the business of your government fairly, openly and honestly.