The issue at hand is whether Oak Park should eliminate single-family zoning. Having lived and worked in this community my whole life, I see nothing wrong in keeping it as a single-family zoning. Oak Park has always been in the forefront of diversity. Bobbi Raymond did an excellent job in ensuring that. Did you know that Oak Park had an African American church before the turn of the century? Have any of the board members been to our History Museum to learn of Oak Park’s past?
Having been a past commissioner of the Landmarks Commission, I have always had an appreciation of single-family dwellings. The whole nature of Oak Park is its architecture. Did you know there was a surge in population in Oak Park, after the Chicago Fire?
Oak Park was incorporated in 1902. I was on the committee to celebrate that milestone, along with Elsie Jacobsen, in 1977. My business took me to rehabbing and preserving historic structures in the village for many years.
What would happen if we were to do away with single-family zoning? Certainly it would have a much different atmosphere than what we are experiencing today. This is not a racial issue although I do believe that future developers would like to use this tactic so as to have people shy away from this issue and thus further their development plans.
Oak Park is a community of old and new ways and should be celebrated as such. But to raze its history is not the answer. The future of Oak Park should be celebrated with its past, which includes its single-family zoning.
Bob Proko
Oak Park