These are two of the visual aids used in the presentation from OWP&P (O'Donnell, Wisklund, Pigozzi and Peterson-Architects Incorporated)  Both of these items represent plans for the new Ralph Waldo Emerson Middle School.  Click here for the full drawings in a larger View.   

Click here for an alternative view with changes made for your viewing by our Art Dept.

Here are some of the concerns addressed by neighbors, parents and resident taxpayers.  Several adults noted that children are already smoking in the alleys behind their houses on Kenilworth and Clinton.
Diane Patton mentioned that she did not want to see parking problems solved at the expense of our children's green space.  She went on to add that she “ was told that the children will have to play indoors more”, by District 97 Staff.  Diane  also said that “getting teachers cars off of the street was not a priority.”

Mike Cooper addressed the District 97 Board with the following intro.:  “Prior to the referendum the architects showed drawings without parking garages on them.”  Mr. Cooper also noted that it might be a
good idea to plan a curriculum around the idea of the new building going up, something that would involve 
design, construction and other events that the children are going to notice occurring.

Christine Koman thought that “if the teachers will not walk another 40 paces to teach our children, we do not need them.”  This was in reference to the teachers having to walk a little further if they had to park a half a block away from school.

Chander Balakrishner  was concerned about safety, loss of green space, and having to watch out for cars coming and going from the garage.  Madison Street made more sense (to him for a parking garage) than a school yard.  Mr. Balakrishner made it clear that he wanted more, not less community space.  His family moved to Oak Park after living more than a decade and a half in the western suburbs with plenty of land for a yard.  He and his family
love the sense of community, and green spaces are needed for this.  Green spaces build friendships that last a lifetime, a place where children get to know each other and not just stay in their own backyards.

The Board allowed this testimony to occur at the beginning of the meeting instead of waiting 'til past midnight, when the meeting finally ended.  The concerns above were echoed by many more residents who spoke.

New teachers were introduced to the Board and each one of them appeared to be an incredible asset to the District.  Each of the new instructors came with kinds words and enthusiasm for the job ahead.  All the staff, and especially, Mr. Tim Hull, should be thanked for the fine job of finding such a treasure of new teachers.

  OWP&P
(O'Donnell, Wisklund, Pigozzi and Peterson-Architects Incorporated) presented their works for the board and asked questions of them.  There was already dissent from some of the Board members concerning the outcome of the talks with the Village and amongst themselves, as to whether or not any garages would be built.  The designers were not too happy with this feeling, but that is the story at this point.  If you have any questions concerning the garage, its design, or other design related issues contact the following:

OWP&P
Attn: Mr. Stuart A. Brodsky, AIA
Senior Associate
O'Donnell, Wisklund, Pigozzi and Peterson-Architects Incorporated
111 West Washington Street, Suite 2100
Chicago, Illinois 60602-2711

These are nice people so please treat them with respect in your questions.  They are not the final yes or no on this issue, they are merely working for  the interested parties in our town.  You may also email Mr. Stuart A. Brodsky by clicking the following  sbrodsky@owpp.com

---

July 21, 1999, the Village Board Room was packed with irate citizens joining together speaking with one voice to let the 2 members of the Village Staff, under Carl Swenson, know how they felt about building a parking garage in a residential area.  Mr. Adolfo Benages head of the parking in Oak Park and a Mr. Joe Euclide took notes and listened to persons who were expecting to hear from persons who could give them answers to their questions.  Both of these gentlemen were polite and considerate of the citizens, but why wasn't their boss Mr. Carl Swenson or his Assistant Pete Dame at this meeting with residents spilling out onto the second level to find seating??  I felt sorry for theses two persons who did their best to deal with the multitude of questions raised by the attendees.  If this was the Villages idea of putting multi- level parking garages onto School property to help the people with too many cars in the Washington corridor find parking and at the same time cut back on the green space for the children to play on (at the same time that you dramatically increase their numbers in attendance) then these persons should have been there to address these issue directly and not hide behind these two employees. 

There was a meeting on July 19, 1999, at the District 97 administration building.  The meeting started at 9:00 am. and had two board members present, Adekunle Onayemi and Elizabeth Lippitt; as well as three men from two companies supplying design work and equipment for the two middle school projects.  Peggy  Wilson, the business manager for District 97, Dr. Fagan and some additional support staff were also in attendance.  Mr. Onayemi and Ms. Lippitt were being presented different color schemes for their comment and discussion.  Security of the new schools was discussed with attention being drawn to locks on the entrances of the new buildings, visibility of the entrances from within the schools, and lack of visibility from the school to the parking garages.  The parking garages were already drawn into the proposals for viewing.  Some of the drawings showed the garages higher and larger than they will proposed to be.  The new bathrooms will have zig-zag entrances without any doors.  This will allow greater security if someone should call out for help.  It also prevents someone from holding their foot at a door and preventing someone from coming in.  Mr. Onayemi commented on concerns over the security issues presented by the large garages.  There was some talk of keeping the garages to only two stories and perhaps increasing the views in to and out from the structures.  Oak Park Police that I spoke with yesterday were very concerned about children using the garages as hangouts.   Being close to the schools, or part of the schools will allow them to be of increased concern with safety.

The presenters were talking about the colors being used on the new construction and how it would fit into the neighborhood.  Examples of the Frank Lloyd Wright Unity Temple for color were shown to the members of the board, with modern brick samples of the complementary colors.

Site plans were shown reducing some curb cutting at Julian to help reduce the amount of older trees that might be destroyed (one of the few goods moves taken)  The Emerson site plan had a  garage on it.  It is called a parking structure.  Structures for parking and  school entrances are adjacent to each other.  All the drawings are inked in.  The Emerson layout shows four stories for classrooms to the west, three stories for the arts to the east.  Window placement and design are to break down the scale of the building and perhaps make it look smaller.  Skylights to be installed in the hallway of the top floor.  The insides of the buildings
look nice and it was commented to me later that the buildings would have first floor access to some the computer equipment that could be used by children who come from homes where there may not be sufficient computer access for the entire family.  I did hear though how it was needed to keep costs down and that stainless steel sinks could not be used because they were too expensive to install in the Art department areas.  It was not noted though that some $20,000.00 to $30,000.00 would be spent on each single parking space in the proposed garage.  It seems ridiculous to me to let the building suffer or make changes that will not last so that a garage can be built.  The most important issue should be education, not parking for people that have too many cars or teachers who are not willing to walk 1 or  1 and half blocks to their school.  I also looked at these designs and did not find them in keeping with we in Oak Park should demand of our new building designs.  Village Hall is interesting in its design, why should the schools be so dull.  They look on the outside like large cracker boxes laid on their sides.  We should have been more influenced by Louis Sullivan or that other person Mr. Wright.  Both enjoyed large open areas on the inside, in keeping with team teaching and multipurpose use of design.  If these buildings are going to last more than ten years, the designs should be a little more interesting , like most of this towns buildings.
 

1. SAFETY OF CHILDREN

What is the educational benefit to the children of such a structure?  Where will the 1000 children go before and after school and during lunch, gym and emergencies?  Ability for individuals posing safety to children to hide.  Concerns about ingress/egress at school entry.

 2.  DESTRUCTION OF EXISTING AND LIMITED GREEN SPACE

Where will 1000 children go for outdoor recreation and outdoor physical activity?  Where can the almost constant neighborhood activity be relocated?  What green space will be left in this residential neighborhood?

  3.  LACK OF RESPECT FOR THE RESIDENTIAL NEIGHBORHOOD IN HISTORIC DISTRICT

School neighbors feel that staff parking nine hours per day is less discordant with the look and community feel of the neighborhood than a permanent, 24-hour per day parking structure.

 4.  LACK OF DISCLOSURE AND ACCOUNTABILITY TO TAX PAYERS BY DISTRICT 97 DURING THE REFERENDUM CONCERNING THE PARKING STRUCTURE AND ITS FINANCING

What can you do?
 Attend and bring others to a Special Meeting to discuss parking garage at Emerson at Village Hall council Chambers, Tues., July 20 at 7:30 pm
 Attend and bring others to a District 97 School Board Meeting  at 970 Madison Street, Wed., July 21 at 7:00 pm.
 Protest your property taxes en mass at Assessor's Office, Township Office, 105 S. Oak Park Ave. Saturday, July 24 at 9:30 am.

(Oak Park Avenue and South Blvd., )

During the open committee meeting it was evident that there would be some opposition to this idea of putting a multi-story parking garage on Elementary School property.  Concerning other areas of the Village, President Barbara Furlong made it clear that she was interested in preserving trees and green space when considering new parking.  I am very pleased to hear this.  It was only a few weeks ago that I met Mrs. Furlong volunteering with the Oak Park and River Forest Garden Club. The current Village Manager, Mr. Carl Swenson, stated that he had approached District 97 persons about joint parking accommodations right after the School Board had won its vote to use tax money to improve the school structures.  This is not illegal, but it is problematic for many persons who voted to help the children of Oak Park with their education and not people that have too many cars.  Mr. Swenson, in his position of Village Manager, then commented that he was getting " no commitment from District 97", and that they (District 97) " were in the discussions, and nothing was concrete yet."   Mr. Swenson also noted that part of the current problem was that District 97 was wanting too much control over the proposed large multi- level garages that would take up green space on the school grounds.  It appears that Mr. Swenson would like total control of the garages and their use.  The schools often have events in the evenings that would require they have access to the parking, access Mr. Swenson would not like to have available. Perhaps, if Mr. Swenson can not be pleased,  the bad idea of parking garages on School property  will end.  The meeting was open to the public, and the public filled the small room.  There was no time set aside for public comments, but without exception, Mr. Gus Kostopoulos moved to allow citizens a brief comment. 
Mr. Kostopoulos has always kept an open mind on citizen comment and welcomed their input.  First to speak was Mr. Mark Lingen of the 300 South block of Clinton Avenue.  Mr. Lingen asked members of the committee if they had any firm numbers on the parking requirements.  No one had any firm numbers yet, but the committee did note that the Washington Blvd. area was in need of additional parking.  Mr. Lingen made it quite clear that the residents were more concerned about the proposed parking garage across the street from them then they were about a few cars on Washington Blvd.  The Emerson lot currently has some 32 spaces for rent to residents now and they are poorly used to this day.  Mr. Lingen also mentioned the topic of historic district status and the question of architecture. 

I, Edward Vincent spoke next and noted the photos I took for this newspaper and encouraged the members to view them.  I found numerous locations that were within the region and would not cause the concerns of property damage, security issues, and neighborhood outrage.  I also drew notice to the poor condition of the Village Garage on Forest Avenue. (During the meeting break Mr. Adolfo Benages, Parking Services Director, said he would look into making the changes to clean up the Village Garage appearance.)  I also noted that I had met with some of the owners of multi-level garages in Oak Park found them not in favor of placing a garage next to a school.  Speaking with local police on the issue, I had my attention drawn to the problems at the local Universities in the area (police escorts for female students to their cars ... etc.) and the same with the Grant park garage in the city.  I also noted that the many residents that I have spoken to or heard from did not mind teachers parking in front of their homes.  Give the teachers stickers for their cars and let them park in front of our homes was a suggestion offered by many residents. 

If you have any comments to the board you may email Mr. Pet Dame, the assistant to Mr. Swenson.  Please request that your email be given to the members of the Board.

pdame@www.math.uic.edu 

I am very impressed with the concern of our elected officials.  I have found them
very interested in the citizens' input and with the Village's future.  I have not found the same degree of dedication and desire to serve in some of our local bureaucrats.  I hope that the board will continue in their wisdom and perhaps tighten the leash on some
of these non-elected public SERVANTS.