The Oak Park Police Department is investigating an act of vandalism that included antisemitic language and imagery. The vandalism occurred at the 327-329 Home Ave. property, currently developed by 327 Home Ave., LLC.
A neighbor of the property, who asked to remain anonymous, said she initially saw a chair on the lawn next to a tree on June 5 around 5 a.m. when she was walking her dog. On the chair, she recalled seeing a metal cross, a pile of poker chips, and an action figurine holding a gun.
John Schiess, the architect of the three-unit townhouse development, later said he thought the figurine was doing the Nazi salute.
The neighbor said she saw two stakes pointing at the tree, and other stakes lying on the ground that wrote “NO” twice. “This was weird,” she remembered thinking. At the time, she thought it was a message against taking down the tree.
On Tuesday morning, the neighbor noticed the chair had moved forward on the lawn. She also saw that somebody had written “NO!” on the development sign. Then, she said she saw stakes laid on the lawn spelling out “NO JEW.” On the back of the sign, she saw that somebody had written “NO JUIF” in dark ink (Juif is Jew in French).
She said she also saw a toy coffin and the same pile of poker chips on the chair, and the cross was now taped to the tree. The situation was “very upsetting” and “shocking,” the neighbor recalled. She remains confused about the incident and the message. “What are they trying to accomplish,” she said.
She took photos and sent them to Schiess.
“Somebody spent quite a bit of time and energy to send out this hate message,” said Schiess. He reported the incident to the police. Schiess also said the village has authorized him to put a tall fence around the property.
Neither Gary Collins, the property owner, nor the architect are Jewish, but Schiess said he has Jewish ancestry.
According to a Thursday statement from the village government, the police department is canvassing the area, reviewing security camera footage, and collecting physical evidence. “The department takes all reports of hate-motivated vandalism seriously and is dedicating additional resources to this investigation,” wrote the village spokesperson in a statement.
On Thursday, the neighbor said there was an object added underneath the development sign, which she thought was an urn.
Years ago, when the developers of 327 Home Ave. proposed a zoning change to allow for additional units, some neighbors opposed the proposal. Schiess said those disagreements were always “respectful and civil.” The current three-unit proposal is now under village review. He added that neighbors who had opposed the earlier, denser proposal were “very helpful” in responding to the vandalism, including the neighbor who first discovered it.
“I believe there’s always a silver lining in most things, and that this is one of those,” he said. “That the community comes together and disavows the ugliness of this.”
Schiess has worked in Oak Park since the 1990s and currently lives in River Forest. “I’ve never, never seen anything like this,” he said. “It saddens me that this ugliness lives among us,” he wrote in a statement to Wednesday Journal.
“Acts of antisemitism have no place in Oak Park. Our village prides itself on being a welcoming, diverse community and incidents like this one are deeply painful, not just for those directly affected, but for our entire Jewish community and all residents who value inclusion,” Vicki Scaman, village president, said in a statement. “I want our Jewish neighbors to know that they are valued and supported here. We do not tolerate hate in any form.”