As my fellow villagers unite against the Ridgeland-Chicago mid-rise [Neighbors band against Ridgeland-Chicago mid-rise, News, April 26], let’s briefly put aside their concerns about the size and scale of the structure and instead consider this most pressing question: Where the hell is the design?
I have to assume the developers — and those of similarly unimaginative, style-free buildings popping up around town — still employ architects, but the only way any of them are continuing the legacy of Frank Lloyd Wright is if they’re serial philanderers. Is it really that hard to create something original (asks the person who can barely crank out one lousy letter to the editor every three months)? I mean honestly, in a community of avowed architecture admirers, why does the village continue to greenlight structures at Ridgeland-Chicago, Oak Park Commons, 203 S. Marion, and wherever else that are completely indistinguishable from the eyesores they put up in Wadsworth or Oswego?
Now before you all go accusing me of being a total architecture snob, allow me to clarify: I am a total architecture snob. Why the hell else would I have been willing to pay the ungodly taxes in this accursed town? It most certainly wasn’t because of the people with their never-ending accusations of total architecture snobbery.
These designs’ lack of panache is clearly a cost-saving measure, which I’d be all for if any of the buildings were affordable housing, which — surprise! — none are. They’re just buildin’ ugly to keep more money in their already overflowing pockets.
Moving forward, the new village board needs to ensure that every effort is made to erect structures that add to the town’s appeal instead of allowing the degradation of our neighborhoods’ aesthetics to further enrich a few lucky developers.
I’m Dan Stark, and Frank Lloyd Wright’s surviving mistresses approved this message.
Dan Stark
Oak Park
