We are very proud of our diversity, but it’s a myth. Now we do have racial diversity. We used to have economic diversity, but rising taxes and home prices have made Oak Park a much more expensive place to buy or rent. Even in south Oak Park a starter home costs $300,000 and 20 percent down is $60,000. Not an easy number to make as a down payment.
Most significantly, Oak Park has very little political diversity. Color us as blue as the deep blue sea. Every precinct in town voted for Obama. I counted 4 McCain signs in the 2008. Gay marriage, environment, gun control, affirmative action –our political opinions are monochromatic. We watch Rachel and we read Maureen.
So if you value diversity we need to get more conservatives to move here. In an ideal world, we would attract George Will or David Brooks conservatives, but articulate, reasonable conservatives are hard to come by. And they are already living in places like Winnetka. So we may have to be satisfied with more red necky conservatives. Now this is not going to be easy, but no one ever said diversity was easy. I’m counting on cutting edge thinking from our leaders– the Oak Park way. Some possibilities might include: pilot a creationism unit in one of the junior highs; emphasis on family , but downplay the two mom, two dad thing; and the number of churches (conservatives are big on God.)
