I was disappointed by the recent headline that “We all need to become architecture snobs” [Dan Stark, Viewpoints, May 10]. The imperative is ridiculous and it is patently absurd that such a transformation would be required.
There’s clearly no need for us to become architecture snobs because that’s what we already are.
Now we can debate the choice of the pejorative snob, but a good many of us do truly love architecture and Oak Park’s aesthetic in particular. And I think the point — despite the mildly incongruous headline — was that we need to start acting like it.
That means speaking up when the butt ugly is proposed, as some of our neighbors in Wright-Sized Development have. Attend village board meetings. Go to the Plan Commission ones, too, and any other bureaucratic get-togethers that might on their face seem soul-shattering to endure. Make your voice heard in one way or another.
Perhaps that’s what the Viewpoint was trying to say, although who could even tell between all of the “jokes”? Demeaning other suburbs is not the way to rally people to your cause, whatever that may be. Nor is taking potshots at the beloved Frank Lloyd Wright. We are all flawed individuals, sir.
Let’s put aside the insulting rhetoric and come together to stop the accelerating erosion of the Oak Park we love.
Dan Stark
Oak Park
