Reading the latest article in Wednesday Journal about the village’s efforts to use eminent domain to wrest ownership of the building at Madison and Austin from US Bank [Oak Park police station ‘quick take’ bid moves forward, News, April 22], I had to laugh at the bank’s accusation that vindictiveness is in the heart of Oak Park’s village board. As the “public commentator, who criticized US Bank’s role in the 2008 financial crisis” as well as written comments submitted by Jackie Leavy during January’s board meeting when the filing of the eminent domain case was approved, I will admit to being vindictive toward a bank that profited from the mortgage foreclosure and nationwide financial crisis. But the matter had been placed on the board’s agenda before my comments and Village President Vicki Scaman apparently had other issues with US Bank.
In 2025, Wednesday Journal reported on US Bank’s closure of 25 branches in the Chicago area, among them a facility in the Austin community at Laramie and Madison, and the Oak Park Avenue branch in the village. In 2020, Crain’s Chicago Business reported that US Bank planned the closure of 12 branches, eventually among them two other locations in Oak Park, one on North Avenue and the other on Roosevelt Road, both intersecting with Austin Boulevard.
It is absurd to believe US Bank’s banking services for the city’s West Side and the western suburbs relies on the limited amount of business conducted at its lone remaining outpost in Oak Park at Austin and Madison. After disinvesting in Chicago for years, on its way out of town US Bank should accept the offer negotiated as part of the eventual eminent domain settlement with the village.