President and Trustees of the Oak Park Village Board:
I have read the Shape Oak Park’s proposal and joined the presentation at the CRC. I have spoken with many of my neighbors and understand that, in its current form, some 90-95% of the voters are against moving forward with this plan. Yet I believe the majority of the board still supports it. If you cannot follow the will of the people, perhaps your service to the community should come in the form of advocacy or consulting not representation of the voters.
I realize that change is hard but change without the benefit of an explicit cost/benefit/feasibility plan is irresponsible. Perhaps you do have a good idea and plan, but you have not convinced the community and after all it is our community (not the consultants’, not the village staff’s and not the village board’s.
Since you voted down a referendum on this issue, I guess our only recourse as voters is at the ballot box. And yes, our community is smart enough to vote on an issue that has many “nuances.”
Please respect the will of the people you represent. Thank you for your service.
Steven Kastenholz
Oak Park