Response to “U.S. Bank opposes plan for police station at Madison branch” Wednesday Journal, Jan. 13:
While the Oak Park Village Board seems to run in circles around this problem, a ready solution exists at the former Mohr Concrete site with a more-than-willing seller and an opportunity to build a specially purposed facility for a 21st-century police department.
Wednesday Journal recently published an excellent analysis by Bill Dwyer detailing what other similarly-sized, Chicago-area municipalities have done to upgrade police facilities [What other towns have done when building a new police station, News, Oct. 15, 2025]. I urge anyone interested in this issue to closely read this article.
The village hall campus option is too expensive and still requires police operations divided between the new building and the old village hall. Eminent domain actions are hostile, and litigation with U.S. Bank could take years while the police department attempts to efficiently operate in obsolete and inadequate facilities.
I urge this board to stop trying to fit square pegs into round holes. Do the right thing. Purchase the Mohr site and build new on a clean slate.
Noah Sullivan
Oak Park
