Good luck on the brick streets initiative that the Community Design Commission is reviewing. It makes sense if the project can cut some of the auto traffic in Oak Park and gets folks walking again. I hope commission members have the opportunity to stop by Randolph Street from Harlem to Wisconsin to check if there are any bricks underneath the asphalt there.
However, they may want to avoid looking from 4 to 7 in the evening Monday through Friday. The SUVs are usually backed up four blocks with drivers blabbing away on their cell phones in a hurry to get home. “Honey, don’t forget to defroast the pot roast. Oh heck, I might be late. I think I hit another one of those darn pedestrians.” These are the same drivers who can’t seem to see the double-size stop sign at Wisconsin.
There may be another way to cut traffic. Several years ago, a few north/south streets were blocked off and turned into dead-end streets. Oak Park even put up some nice fencing and did some streetscaping. Could we create a dead-end for any east/west street? Let’s start with single-lane Randolph. Send drivers to Madison and other double-lane streets.
Burney Simpson
Oak Park
