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Viewpoints
Let neighbors show you how
Do I insulate my house first and then install heat pump HVAC — or the other way around? Who should I trust to install rooftop solar? If I switch to an induction stove, will I have to replace all my cookware? I want to get off fossil fuels, but where to start?! Wish you could ask a neighbor these and more questions about clean energy upgrades to your home?
Long live the Monarchs!
The iconic Monarch butterfly appears to have had a very good summer this year in Oak Park. I haven’t seen this many in decades. I don’t know if this is a local phenomenon or more regional, but I think a recent increase in the number of native plant gardens all over the village has had an impact. Many of the monarchs that you see now will be making their long migration to Mexico this month. How they manage this incredible feat with their tiny brains is amazing.
First things first
Viewpoints columnist Josh VanderBerg has anointed northwest Oak Park as the ideal site for a zoning pilot. A neighborhood, notably, that isn’t his own. His ideal location for a “safe” pilot site conveniently lands on someone else’s streets, full of real residents who would live with the impact firsthand. The village hasn’t agreed to a pilot, let alone a location; nothing on the board’s own agenda says otherwise. Mr. VanderBerg has put the cart miles ahead of the horse.
And what do you think? We want to know!
One Views
A third party is our only hope
The column “Politics is not a spectator sport” [Ken Trainor, Viewpoints, Sept. 2] addresses the need for a voter to become a lobbyist, not a hobbyist. Be active, not passive, when it comes to voting. It uses that opening to build momentum toward countering the clear and present danger of the current administration. Of course, there is a dire need for getting rid of the radical and deadly Trump administration.
Shrubtown: Affordability
We are proud to offer our neighbors a place to share their viewpoints. Help us keep the conversation going.
Columns
Where oaks find safe arbor
By Ken Trainor
I think that I shall never see an oak among our downtown trees … as our trees begin to please, turning color, some sooner, some later, I thought I would revisit a column that echoes back to 2014. You can also find it in Our Town Oak Park, available at both of our excellent new indie bookstores, Dandelion and Book Loft. The Downtown Oak Park Business Association recently sponsored an Arbor Day contest, asking us to wax eloquently about “what trees do for you,” a remarkably pastoral notion for a business organization whose main job is promoting commerce.
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