Monday night the River Forest Village Board unanimously passed a resolution opposing the proposed O’Hare Flyer high speed private rail service between downtown Chicago and O’Hare Airport that would run through River Forest with trains passing every 15 minutes between 4 a.m. and 10 p.m.
The vote came after approximately 90 minutes of public comment from 20 people who spoke out against the proposed rail line. Only one person spoke in favor of it. More than 100 people attended the village board meeting that was held in the Fox Auditorium at Trinity High School to accommodate the large crowd. Opponents of the proposal said that the high-speed rail line would be dangerous and disruptive to life in River Forest.
“[I]t takes a literal village to stand up to a private, politically connected company that wants to send a high-speed train nearly 24/7 past homes, schools, libraries, trauma hospitals and parks,” said Renu Shah a member of the steering committee of the newly formed group S.T.O.P. (Stop the O’Hare Passthrough).
Shah and a few others said the existing train tracks which would be used by the Flyer run by their back yards and that a high-speed train would be dangerous and disruptive.
The people behind the O’Hare Flyer have proposed to run a battery powered high speed train that would run on or alongside existing rail lines at speeds of around 80 mph and potentially include a stop in Forest Park. Dave Lundy, a lobbyist and communications consultant, is the CEO of O’Hare Flyer LLC. The estimated cost of the O’Hare Flyer is $2.25 billion.
The resolution passed by the village board urges the sponsors of the O’Hare Flyer to “cease advancing their plans and explore alternative route options for the O’Hare Flyer” and requests federal and state elected officials, including Senate President Don Harmon and House Speaker Chris Welch, to “not take any action allowing for the development of the O’Hare Flyer.”
One public commenter, Ron Steele, called on River Foresters to pressure Harmon to oppose the O’Hare Flyer proposal calling for River Foresters to write, call and email urging him to oppose the O’Hare Flyer proposed route.
“It’s very important that Don Harmon commits to something really quick and we need to let him know that,” Steele said. “We can talk about processes and kids on bikes all we want but he could wake up tomorrow morning and just make a phone call and shut it down because he’s the Senate president. This corridor is his and he hasn’t said no. He said he’d like to hear from the neighbors so here we are. Nobody lends $2 ¼ billion against a project that the Senate President opposes in his own backyard.”
When Harmon was asked for comment Tuesday morning his spokesman sent Harmon’s previous statement to Wednesday Journal.
“While I appreciate the significant positive impact this project could have on Chicagoland, I’d like to hear from my neighbors who will be most directly impacted,” Harmon’s statement said.
Erik Huston made the only public comment supporting the O’Hare Flyer. Huston, who was booed when he finished his comment, said that fast train service between O’Hare and downtown Chicago would bring environmental benefits.
“More people relying on transit to and from the airport means fewer cars on roadways,” Huston said.
Less traffic would benefit everyone, Huston said.
The resolution also calls on other municipalities along the proposed O’Hare Flyer route to oppose the proposal and some have already have done so.
On the same day as the village board meeting Melrose Park Mayor Ron Serpico sent Lundy a letter opposing the O’Hare Flyer project as proposed. Cook County Board member Maggie Trevor and Ronald Pellegrino, the executive director of the West Central Municipal Conference, also sent letters to Lundy opposing the O’Hare Flyer proposal.
“[C]ommunities such as River Forest and surrounding municipalities similarly situated could face increased congestion and longer travel times, as frequent rail closures on major north-south corridors disrupt daily commutes and slow emergency response,” Pellegrino wrote.
A spokesman for O’Hare Flyer said the team behind the project would like to meet with village officials to discuss the project and clear up misunderstandings.
“The O’Hare Flyer team has requested the opportunity to meet with the River Forest Village Board to present the project in detail and answer their questions,” said John Digles, a spokesman for O’Hare Flyer in an emailed statement. “We are fully committed to meeting with the River Forest community as well. We were not invited to tonight’s board meeting and have not yet received an invitation to meet with the board. We are concerned that several aspects of the project are being misunderstood or misrepresented.”
Before the vote on the resolution some village trustees expressed frustration that they did not hear about the O’Hare Flyer project until recently although Village President Cathy Adduci met with Lundy last year and again this summer. Adduci said that Lundy gave her essentially no information in those meetings. Adduci said that she and Village Administrator Matt Walsh met with Lundy and Harmon at Harmon’s Oak Park office in July and that’s when she found out about the proposed route of the O’Hare Flyer but still didn’t receive any renderings. Adduci said that she never signed a non-disclosure agreement.
“We were left flatfooted here,” said Erika Bachner, a village board member.
Fellow village trustee Katie Brennan agreed.
“I was playing catch up for sure,” Brennan said.
Walsh said that he understood the frustration.
“I share the board’s frustration with the lack of context,” Walsh said. “There were no renderings.”
Adduci said there is still much she doesn’t know about the details of the project but said that she is opposed to it as it is presented.
“This is not a good thing for us and that we need serious conversations around things like alternative routes,” Adduci said after the meeting.