After an extended era when local politics took on characteristics of a contact sport and being self-important ran a race with being ornery, Oak Park, at least, has come back to its roots of good government.
We’ve enjoyed it in the latter half of 2007, and we expect more of it throughout 2008. The beauty of good government is its simplicity.
Be transparent. There are few secrets worth keeping in local government. When an official starts to think that secrecy is often essential, it is time for him or her to step down.
Be honest. Sometimes the news is good, sometimes bad. Deal with it directly.
Be open to good ideas from every source. Oak Park, with its commissions and committees, not to mention its love for letters to the editor, was built for input. The town is filled with exceptional people. Listen. Carefully.
Be timely. Transparency, honesty and openness are not prescriptions for stagnation. The inane infighting of recent years ground Oak Park to a halt. Nothing got done. The gears rusted. Political muscle atrophied. Set goals, set timetables. Stick to them. Critical corners should not take years to develop. Let the debacle of the years-long debate over lighting the high school stadium be the last remnant of the old, sodden way of confronting and obstructing.
Be decisive. Let’s be honest-more bad decisions have been made around here by officials being overly pummeled and waiting too long, than by setting a schedule and sticking to it. The village board is taking hairpin turns in its march to redeveloping the Colt building/superblock. Governing has to be thoughtful but it can also be snappy.
All this is possible if elected and appointed officials do two things:
Get over yourselves. Best-case scenario is that a few thousand of your neighbors voted for you. You are now a park board member, school board member or village trustee. Good for you. Thanks for running. But no preening, pontificating or ego-stroking on Channel 6.
See the similarities. At the end of most every debate that has roiled our front page in recent years, the actual differences between harshly voiced points of view has been negligible. Mostly Oak Parkers share a vision. Our politics had become about amplifying distinctions not bridging them. A lot of heat, little light.
As Oak Park’s village board and park board have righted themselves in recent years-in both cases with the help of sure-footed, commonsensical administrators-we have now seen the opposite on the west side of Harlem Avenue. First on the River Forest park board and recently, in spades, on the village board, we have seen embarrassing dysfunction and runamok ego. Having the audio of the final excruciating moments of a November village board meeting posted on our website was, perhaps, the wake-up call for trustees. Private sitdowns have followed among warring members; compromises on procedures and protocols have occurred. Just this week, we see a unanimous vote to settle the long-standing federal suit filed by police officials against the village.
There is some reason for hope as the new year begins.