Dear Trustees: Here’s why you should support the Albion project …
To the Oak Park Board of Trustees:
Why should you vote for the Albion project? Because this is the single most important vote you will make to support retail and restaurant business in the Downtown Oak Park/ Avenue District. For our downtown to continue to prosper, it needs to be a real lived-in neighborhood, not just a collection of commercial buildings. It needs to be alive with people day and night.
Secondly, this gets too little attention: It provides additional housing choices for singles who are not yet parents AND empty nesters, a way for people to enter the community and put down roots prior to starting a family and for people to stay in the community after their kids are out of the house.
Third, this is a sustainable transit-oriented development. A high-density building within walking distance of mass transit and within a walkable shopping/restaurant area. This is our collective future as we move to a more-sustainable low-carbon economy. It makes no sense for Oak Park, which is so perfectly situated, to ignore its suitability for this kind of project. To reject it is to not do our part to improve the sustainability of the broader metropolis we are a part of.
Finally, it adds to the tax base. The project will not attract many school-age children so its tax impact is low. In addition to generating property taxes, it will also generate sales taxes. Not only that, but a truly vibrant downtown (and we’re not there yet) will draw additional shoppers and restaurant-goers who want to experience it. A vibrant downtown, in turn, is a huge community asset that helps support overall community desirability and therefore home values.
Trustees, there is a literal reason why you are called a “trustee” rather than a “representative”. A trustee is someone the public entrusts to make decisions on behalf of the community as a whole, present and future. A representative, by contrast, is someone whose decisions are just an attempt to reflect public opinion, which is itself often unknowable and, these days, it’s easy to be misled into thinking your social media contacts are representative of public opinion.
The two approaches, trustee and representative, are not always aligned. When they aren’t, as trustees, you should make the decision that will benefit the community as a whole, even if you think it will be unpopular.
It feels to me like this tension is coming into play in your decision on the Albion project. As a “representative”, you may think that because public opinion seems to be against it, that your vote should reflect that. Yet, it’s difficult to know for sure what “public opinion” is on this issue. If you over-rely on social media, you may think “everyone” is against it. When I have real-life conversations with people about the project, though, I have seldom run into anyone who is dead-set against it. Others are supportive, and most more than willing to consider the merits and hope their trustees will make a prudent decision that allows the project to go forward but addresses some of the concerns raised.
As a “trustee”, you should weigh the merits of the proposal and its long-term impact on the community without regard to public opinion. Unlike me or most others who have a strong opinion, you are, by virtue of being a trustee, in the position to carefully consider the issue. You should be confident that your decision is what’s best for the community, and probably the decision most others would make if they too were actually in your shoes.
Yes, the Plan Commission voted 5–4 against the project. That majority carries weight — it forces the Board to provide a 5–2 vote in favor for the project to be approved — but it should also convey to you that the other public body that considered the proposal thought it was a close call, and Albion has taken steps to address concerns raised in the Plan Commission hearing process. Again, in keeping with your role as trustee, it’s not unreasonable for you to come out on the other side of the Plan Commission vote.
Thanks for considering, and for serving,
Jon Hale
