Oak Park Newspaper

The gathering at the Bank started on time and within a short time all available seats were filled with residents wanting change in the local government, an alternative to the VMA.

Some of the attendees had history with the VMA, CFC, NLP, VCA, NLC and perhaps some acronyms not presented. Those each have had success with elections to the board of the Village of Oak Park with varied degrees of success.

There was also a group of new residents, drawn to this as
their first local poltitical meeting. Some folks were born here and moved away to other regions of the United States, now to return. Some have been on commissions for years, but now want more, now want real change in Oak Park.

Lots of phone calls and emails will begin to happen before the
next meeting, a week from today.

There was concern given to the large sums of money being spent on Oak Park's local elections and the sources of some
of that money being donated to political campaigns.

Some comments of note where the statement by one resident about the "Apathetic voters" of Oak Park who have punished themselves for years. Another resident of nearly a decade commented that "I don't believe anything that the Village is doing is green, except wanting more greenbacks from the taxpayer." A life long citizen of Oak Park told some of the
younger residents that the VMA (Village Managers Association) government is by invitation only, today's meeting was open
to all interested residents.

A second meeting is scheduled for Sunday, November 16th
at Park National Bank at North Avenue and Austin from 1-3 P.M. to continue discussions offering Oak Park voters alternatives
in the upcoming village election.

A meeting on Sunday, November 9 at Park National Bank at North Avenue and Austin from 1-5 P.M. to discuss offering Oak Park voters alternatives in the upcoming village election.