In the recent web extra Wednesday Journal article “VOP to pay $7.5M for DTOP buildings,” the article reports that the village board is set to buy the Colt building and 1145 Westgate from the Taxman Corporation for $7.5 million. It’s not whether anyone thinks that this is a good idea, the shocking point is the decision process. This article brings to light the disturbing and unsavory practices of the current board majority.
Trustee Marsey said that he, Trustee Milstein and NLC President Brian Farrar meet and “hammered out” a compromise on the downtown plan. When adopted by the village board, this “compromise” will set in motion a monumental allocation of tax dollars. My question is, “Who is Brian Farrar and why does he get to insert himself at this level of village decision-making?”
Brian Farrar, as far as I know, is not an elected village official. He is the president of the NLC and, in the last campaign, the bankroller of the NLP with personal contributions and loans totaling over $10 thousand. I cannot remember a time in Oak Park when someone’s party boss pulled them in and told them what to do.
We have a mechanism to work out differences among board members. They are called public meetings. Public debate, although muddy at times, is open and transparent and a mark of good government. As to the plan for downtown Oak Park, last year a diverse committee was assembled and met for months, heard public comment, deliberated, and presented their findings to the board. This was an open process, but the recommendations were not wholly what a majority of the board wanted to hear.
Now two months later we have a behind-the-scenes deal brokered by party bosses and politicians. What just happened is not a hallmark of honest government and should be met with outrage and revulsion. In the last election these trustees ran on a platform of open government and open planning. Where is it?
Does Oak Park now accommodate large political donors and party bosses? Hey, I guess you’re better off if you are both.
Joe Langley
Oak Park