Having just received the literature from the “Alive Our Parks” slate of Diane Dunn, Tom Finch and Julie Grossman, I am very impressed at their ideas and visions as newcomers to the political process. These include a shared athletic complex with OPRF including Ridgeland Commons, the high school playing fields, and a new soccer field on top of the village-owned parking garage (the new stadium at Ridgeland Common will be paid entirely by corporate naming rights and philanthropic donations).
They promise a 50 percent reduction in property taxes by cutting bloated administration staffing and selling the administration building on Madison for $1 to $2 million. They want a summer baseball and softball school using high school coaches with the goal of state championships in both sports in the next decade; vastly increased programming in the arts using the artisans and studios of the arts district and Festival Theatre; much more senior programming, including converting the Farson-Mills Home into a full-time senior center with free shuttle service for seniors (provided under intergovernmental cooperation with the township) from the Oaks, Heritage House, Oak Park Arms and Holley Court; a large no-fee dog park at Lindberg Park; maintenance of parks and the Ridgeland Common rink and pool rather than expenditures of more millions of dollars; preservation of our trees and Van Bergen field houses; a continued 100 percent ban on pesticides; and bringing back the Gala Summer Children’s Circus under the “Big Top” at Stevenson Playground.
These are great ideas, and I ask my friends to vote with me for the “Alive Our Parks” slate of Dunn, Finch and Grossman. Concerning the latter’s “withdrawal,” the literature makes it obvious that her candidacy is apparently alive and well. “A-OP” is OK with me!
Rick Richardson
Oak Park
