Oak Park township leaders have identified a new location for Oak Park’s annual town meeting.
Oak Park Township had to postpone its annual meeting last week as too many people came out to vote than the meeting space could safely accommodate. The meeting will now be held at the cafeteria at Julian Middle School at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 28, the township said.
The meeting was set for 6:30 p.m. April 14 on the second floor of the Oak Park Public Library’s Dole Branch, but a line of more than 100 people stretched outside the library’s door, around the building and down Augusta Street. The township meeting drew a huge turnout, as meeting attendees would have the chance to vote on whether or not an advisory referendum concerning boycotts of Israel should be put on this November’s ballot in Oak Park.
The question on this year’s meeting agenda is “do you support the right of individuals and organizations, including state contractors, to boycott, divest and sanction Israel?”
The township canceled the meeting shortly after it was supposed to start. The room at the library could only accommodate 58 people. The library was chosen for the meeting in part because of streetscape construction on Oak Park Avenue limiting access to township offices, the township said.
The cafeteria has capacity for more than 200 people, the township said.
The same question is on the agenda for several other townships around the state. Votes on the matter reportedly passed in the townships of Cunningham, Peoria, Kickapoo, Medina, DuPage and Normal but failed in Capital and Wheatland townships, according to progressive news blog Let’s Address Illinois, who supports the petition.
Champaign townships also postponed its meeting due to a large turnout and Naperville Township did not vote on the matter, although it was on its agenda, according to the blog.