Friday morning, the three slates had an opportunity to “debate” the issues of affordable housing, economic development and governance. It was a civil, well-run debate hosted by the Business and Civic Council.
The VMA did its level best to call the other parties uncivil extremists and to note that they had the answers. They claimed they would be the strategic party that would not waste tax dollars. That’s odd. For 20-plus years, the VMA helped dole out $91 million dollars in the TIF district in downtown Oak Park for what the consultants called a mediocre area. The VMA also tried to say everyone was rude to the developers and investors. Funny, I thought we represented the people of Oak Park.
Both (NLP/VMA) have ignored the 1,200-plus citizens opposed to the destruction of the Marion Street mall–how rude is that?
The NLP read from some script and claimed credit for everything. Their focus indicated they were running for one of the school boards, not for trustee.
The Vision Community Action Party message is simple:
– Support Small Businesses in Every Business District
– Preserve our Historic Neighborhoods While Supporting Appropriate Development
– Stop Inappropriate Tear-Downs & Out of Scale Development
– Provide Responsible Stewardship of Public Monies
– Promote Cooperative Labor Relations at Village Hall
– Save & Improve the Marion Street Mall
– Fix the Crumbling Streets
– Adopt the National Trust Main Street Program (as Forest Park has done on Madison Street)
– Encourage Adaptive Reuse of Historic Commercial Buildings
– Establish Design Standards for New Multi-Family & Commercial Buildings
– Enforce Building Codes Fairly to Prevent “Demolition by Neglect”
– Create a Lively, Beautiful, Pedestrian-Friendly Downtown
Vote April 17 for the Vision Community Action Party: Milstein, Balanoff, Abraham and Schwab.
Robert Milstein
Village trustee candidate