Last spring, when the majority of Oak Park village trustees decided to abandon a long-standing leaf collection policy and shift the burden to property owners, they not only disregarded the will of their electorate. They also forgot a very practical fact: The wind still blows and fallen leaves that continue to collect in the streets need to be removed.
The village has an inherent duty to clean this mess and avoid clogged catch basins, but has failed in that duty. On many side streets, including ours, leaves piled up in the street and the village street sweeper never visited. The result showed itself in early February when the temperature warmed and the rain came down, leaving many streets backed up with clogged catch basins and several inches of standing water. What we saw during that early rainstorm will repeat itself in spring as the catch basins remain clogged.
And still, the village ignores this problem. Perhaps Election Day will be rainy to remind voters that on the ballot is incumbent Trustee Lucia Robinson, who voted in favor of this very unpopular and poorly executed change.
Marilyn Schlesinger
Oak Park