When my wife and I both landed jobs in the Chicago area here in the late 1980s, we had to figure out where to live. We ended up deciding that Oak Park was a good, centrally-located destination. We liked the look of the neighborhoods (beautiful houses, lots of trees!) and, without knowing too much about the village itself, we settled here. We soon learned about the village’s equity assurance program, implemented in the 1970s, which guaranteed housing values against the effects of “white flight.” We also found out that the public schools were high-ranking among Illinois schools. It’s close to downtown Chicago with good public transportation options. Our sons attended Oak Park public schools (Districts 97 and 200) and my wife and I have been here 37 years. All good, no regrets.
Over the years, Oak Park has evolved. Oak Park has become a more upscale and cool destination among potential renters and home buyers. The nice vintage housing and apartment stocks and Oak Park’s proximity to downtown Chicago are attractions. And no doubt Oak Park’s reputation as being politically progressive has appealed to younger renters and home buyers wanting to relocate.
So Oak Park has become both more “exclusive” and more “progressive” over the past four decades. The “exclusive” part is reflected in the housing prices, while the “progressive” part is reflected in our village’s political and social culture. Oak Parkers are more politically engaged now than they were a few decades ago. We have print outlets such as Wednesday Journal and Oak Leaves, as well as internet-based forums such as Facebook available to express ourselves. The First Amendment to our Constitution is a wonderful thing: We can say what we think (of course within limits that are still being debated).
Wednesday Journal recently published a “One View” piece that I authored, in which I took a satirical jab at Oak Parkers and our Oak Park political landscape. It was written partly in the first-person plural, so I implicitly included myself in what I wrote: I am an Oak Parker, after all.
Apparently my piece, intended in fun, struck a nerve in some people. Two Wednesday Journal readers were picqued enough by my piece to object to my satirical points (fair enough), but went on to suggest that I should move away from Oak Park, to an unnamed town in Mississippi [Begging to differ, Viewpoints, Oct. 1] or to some undesignated Red state [Wake up in ‘Woke Park’, Oct 14]. Apparently, my doing either of these things is the equivalent of going to Hell. Fans of South Park will recognize this “love it or leave it” sentiment in the recurring redneck refrain, “If you don’t like it here [America], you can just get the hell out!”
Well, I like it here. And I like that I can speak my mind. I hope that these things are not mutually exclusive in Oak Park.
Mark Knickelbein
Oak Park