The year was 1990. It was the 20th anniversary of the first Earth Day in 1970 when people worldwide came together to declare that steps needed to be taken to “save the world.” It was also the year that the people of Oak Park celebrated Earth Day by adopting a comprehensive plan that concluded:
“The Village with the assistance of its Environmental and Energy Advisory Commission should develop and adopt a comprehensive environmental protection plan and should review all major governmental actions to identify their impacts on the environment.”
We were ahead of our time in 1990. Determined to act, knowing that for every action there is a reaction, with good or bad consequences. We decided then that actions would be integrated and complimentary, not fragmented and conflicting. We declared that implementing environmental projects and programs and integrating green policies in all aspects of our government would save tax money while protecting community character and quality of life.
It’s now 2009. It’s not time to hire a consultant, to study the problem again, to look at the village as a collection of unrelated development projects, but as a comprehensive, intact community where every street, home, business, park, tree, institution, resident and action can contribute positively to our environment. In 1990 we called that “comprehensive.” In 2009 we call it “sustainable.”
It’s also time for another election, but it’s not time to re-elect the people who have given us vacant lots and drive-through strip shopping on Madison Street. Who demolish solid, fully occupied homes, small businesses and commercial buildings and our tradition and character along with them. Who replace these structures with so-called “green” buildings to show us how it can be done when the challenge is to show us how to do it ourselves to our own older, traditional homes and apartments.
It’s time to elect people who don’t green wash, but who actually have worked “green,” helping to design the recycling program we use today; who actually live green as organizers of urban community gardens, practicing certified arborists and historic preservationists; and who will run this village on the cutting edge of green as recommended so long ago.
It Takes a Village candidates will create a Web site to promote environmentalism and the existing Green Blocks Program, require the adaptive reuse of existing structures, adopt a tree preservation ordinance and eliminate the village sticker for hybrid vehicles. We will partner with residents and other governments to research and explore all these actions together now and in the decades to come
Environmental action plans and practices do not stand alone in a vacuum and do not in this way make for a sustainable development plan for our future. To be “sustainable,” all projects must follow environmental guidelines based on the precautionary principle of “first do no harm.” It Takes a Village candidates have the experience personally and professionally to do it. With your vote on April 7th we will do it together with you: www.it-takes-a-village.org
Candidates running for the Oak Park Village board on The It Takes a Village slate includes Julie Samuels, John Franklin and Kathryn Jonas for trustee, Gary Schwab for president and Sharon Patchak-Layman for clerk.