Oak Park Newspaper

Free Readers Ensemble

Wm. B. Sullivan Realty & Co.

November 2006

Residents concerned about the talk of eminent domain listen to concerned citizens commenting on additional parking near Madison street.
© Forest Park Journal photo

Forest Park Village Council Meeting
November 27, 2006

Recap
By: Tammy Florczak

The meeting began with the pledge of allegiance, roll call, and approval of the minutes from the previous council meeting on November 13, 2006. Commissioner Guillian was the only individual not present for the council meeting.

Resident Carly Perkins expresses her dislike for more parking
near the bars. She is upset by human feces being left on her
property by bar patrons.
© Forest Park Journal photo

Mayor Calderone opened up the floor to public comment, encouraging
audience members to refrain from addressing at length, the parking/home acquisition issue discussed in the council’s previous meeting. Charles Woodbury was the first at the podium for public comment. He stated that
the Village’s intent to compensate property owners with market value for
the acquisition of their homes in the parking plan was not enough
compensation. Mr. Woodbury encouraged the council members to loosen
the parking restrictions, especially during the evening and overnight hours,
to relieve the parking difficulties in the area.

Mayor and Commissioners listen to Citizen comments. The Mayor
speaks with many at the close of the meeting.
© Forest Park Journal photo

Resident Carly Perkins also encouraged the council to seek other parking alternatives. She went on to express her concerns about having a parking
lot in close proximity to her home citing that these lots would become hang-
outs for people coming out of bars. Ms. Perkins, a resident of Forest Park
since 1996, mentioned that she had found beer cans and drug paraphernalia
on her lawn on several occasions, as well as human excrement.

Liz Chilsen was the next individual at the podium to speak. Ms. Chilsen
told the council how she had sent letters to the individual council members encouraging them to seek other parking options. She pointed out that other parking lots in the village were not being utilized. Ms. Chilsen encouraged the building of a parking structure as a solution to the problem at hand.

Monica Leventhal was the final speaker during the public comment. Ms. Leventhal admitted that she was outside the radius of homes being
considered for acquisition, but she did express her displeasure in the idea
of seizing people’s homes. She encouraged the council to find a “more
humane, more just way” of solving the problem.

The Council Chambers were filled with Residents.
© Forest Park Journal photo

Mayor Calderone acknowledged all public comments made and continued
with the council meeting agenda.

Bills by resolution were addressed next. Commissioner Doolin encouraged the removal of two bills up for payment, because of the nature of the charges and the excessive amounts. One of these charges was for appraisals on properties considered for acquisition. The second bill was for law firm expenses in connection with the properties being considered for acquisition.

Council members voted on whether or not to retain these bills for the Village to pay. The vote was tied between Mayor Calderone and Commissioner Hosty who felt the bills should be paid and Commissioners Doolin and Steinbach who felt the Village should re-examine these charges and consider contesting them. These two charges were not approved for payment. Payment on these charges will be determined at a later time.

The council members then moved on to new business. Items on the docket included a motion to accept the ZBA recommendation to deny the request for a variance in order to place a fence in the front yard area of 547 Marengo, a resolution authorizing Subrecipient Agreement for 2006 Cook County Community Development Block Grant Funds, a resolution requesting a FFY05 Local Law Enforcement Block Grant for a B.A.D.G.E. program and a resolution approving an intergovernmental agreement for the provision of environmental health inspection services. All of these motions and resolutions were approved.

Other items on the docket included a resolution approving the 2007 paratransit service provider agreement with PACE, a motion to approve the American Red Cross Mass Care Shelter Agreement, a motion to approve specifications for a Fire Department diesel exhaust capture and removal system and waive requirement and award the contract to Midwest Air Pro, a resolution creating the 2007 Centennial Ad Hoc Committee, and a motion to appoint 12 members to that committee. All of these motions and resolutions were carried and approved.

Two items on the docket in particular sparked discussion. Commissioner Steinbach expressed concern regarding item #3, a motion to approve the estimate amount for the 2006 Tax Levy. Her concern was that the Village would be locked into a particular figure. Village attorney, Michael Durkin assured her that this figure was just an estimate amount and was not set in stone. The motion was subsequently carried and approved.

The second item up for discussion was a resolution approving an intergovernmental agreement establishing a multi-jurisdictional task force to deter organized and street gang criminal activity (item #4).
Commissioner Doolin expressed concern about the cost of this agreement and that the Village had received no background information on the program.

Chief of Police, James Ryan, explained the stipulations of the agreement. One Forest Park officer would be committed to the program for 4 days out of the month to help neighboring towns in the effort to deter criminal activity. In turn an officer from one of the towns neighboring Forest Park would also come in to help the Village in their own efforts to deter criminal activity.

Doolin questioned as to whether this program is really needed in Forest Park as most of the gang activity occurs in the towns of Cicero and Berwyn. He also expressed concern regarding a depletion of Forest Park officers should the Village choose to participate in this agreement. Commissioner Doolin questioned the Chief Ryan as to how the project information would be shared.

Ryan cited a database available to the Village for updates on the program. Doolin requested that the Village track progress to make sure that there is adequate police coverage in Forest Park and that other towns are willing to assist Forest Park in covering community streets.

After discussion, the motion was carried and approved.

Mayor Calderone discussed future council meetings for the month of December. Because of the holiday, the council would be meeting once rather than twice. That regular council meeting was scheduled for December 18th. Calderone also scheduled a special meeting between the council and the public, on December 11th to specifically address the Forest Park parking issue.

The mayor requested the administrator’s report, commissioner reports and asked for any new business. There was no new business. The meeting was then adjourned.

editors note:

Chief Ryan noted that there were some 45 -50 known gang members living in
Forest Park currently, but that they "were just using Forest Park to return to
and had no turf of their own in the town." Chief Ryan also stated that the
town of Cicero had a database with over 5000 known gang members in
its computer and that those members were from the metro region of Chicago.
Oak Park has not released the number of known gang members to the public
yet, but it would probably be less than Forest Park. The Chief also added
that Forest Park would have no increase risk of crime in their town with one
officer working with the gang unit.