The Village of Oak Park has announced late Friday afternoon that the Village of Oak Park’s  Community Relations Commission (CRC) will host a community discussion of a draft report on the practicality of a living wage ordinance in Oak Park. The public meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m., Wed., Feb. 10, at Village Hall, 123 Madison St. The draft report is the result of several months of research and a public meeting held in August. The upcoming meeting is the final step in a process that will result in a report submitted to the Village Board for consideration. CRC commissioners say they are working to illuminate both sides of the living wage debate – the moral question and the economic realities of mandating pay levels. The draft report is posted on the main Community Relations page of the Village web site – or just click here to download the file. For more information on the meeting, call 708.358.5405 or e-mail community@oak-park.us.

This will be the only opportunity for the public – property owners, residents and business owners to speak.  Don’t say you were not warned!

I received the following from Mr. John Murtagh.  Mr.  Murtagh has had the unenviable task of chairing the Village of Oak Park’s Community Relations Commission.  By way of explanation, Mr. Murtagh has tendered his resignation as Chair of the committee, however Oak Park Village President Pope prevailed upon John to remain at the helm.

In October (2009) when I addressed the Chamber of Commerce’s Living Wage Forum, I promised to keep you advised of the Community Relations Commission’s progress. This note is an effort to fulfill that promise. I am sending this e-mail to you as a private citizen, not as the Chairperson of the Community Relations Commission. You will understand why I cite that further in this note.

Since the forum, the commission has concentrated on the preparation of a final report. Last night, the commission approved for distribution of a Preliminary Living Wage Report to the public in preparation the CRC Living Wage Public Meeting tentatively scheduled for February 10, 2010. A vote on the final report is likely to occur at the February 17, 2010 regular commission meeting.

At the first Living Wage meeting of the commission last February, I stated that the commission’s responsibility was to produce a thorough and objective report. The focus on thorough and objective was the result of a conversation I had with President Pope in which he laid out the village board’s expectation of the Living Wage Review.

A thorough document is one that provides all available information in a decision-ready context. An objective document is one that is free of overt advocacy and reported in an un-biased manner. The first two drafts of final report prepared by a sub-group of the commission were not thorough or objective — in my opinion.

As I saw little likelihood that the commission would be able to formulate a single “thorough and objective” document, I prepared a report that approached the living wage issue from the “con” viewpoint.  I then proposed at the December meeting that the commission’s final report contain two separate components – pro and con.  The commission rejected the document in the motion below.

“The Con Report is personal information (of John Murtagh) and should not be included final report, though it can be used as additional information components in the final draft.”

The Draft Preliminary Living Wage Report presented last night contained few substantial or meaningful changes based on the “Con Document.” My report had minimal impact on the third and final draft.

With the commission’s vote for exclusion of the con report, the report is neither a commission nor a village document. It is a document expressing my personal opinion based on my research and analysis. I also see it as a community document. My sole purpose and sole role in the Living Wage review process was to represent the community by ensuring that the Oak Park Village Board received a thorough and objective decision-ready report. After a year of work on the Living Wage, I have concluded that there is insufficient proof that the benefits of a living wage ordinance have been proven to be substantive enough to outweigh the risks, burdens, and uncertainties the community would face..

The views in the report are my own and do not represent the views of the village, commission as a whole, or any members of the commission. The report was written as a “Con Report.” As such, it is an advocacy report. I make no claim that it is objective, though I do hope it provides a fair narrative of the risks to the village of a Living Wage passage.

In my concluding comment at the Chamber of Commerce Living Wage Forum, I said, “The assignment given to the commission by the village board is nearly over. By law, analysis, and common sense, the village’s discussion and review is not over.  Oak Park historically has had a strong voice in supporting social justice issues and did so again in November. Oak Park historically has had a vibrant business community that is critical to the village’s success. Social justice and business success are not contradictory in Oak Park. The living wage challenge is to use our community’s consensus traditions, creativity, and skills to find a poverty solution that works.” My hope is that the last year’s efforts will result in the community continuing to come together to find solutions to a severe and debilitating problem — poverty

The Preliminary Living Wage Report approved last night will be available on the village website before the public meeting. I urge you to read the commission’s document thoroughly.

The “Con Report” titled The Risks, updated 01/31/2010, is attached. Please feel free to distribute this report in its entirety or in summary form as you see fit, or to anyone inside or outside of the business component of the Oak Park community that will benefit from the information.

John Murtagh
1/20/2010

The complete report is available here.  The original draft of the Village of Oak Park’s Living Wage Ordinance is available here.

“As adults, we must ask more of our children than they know how to ask themselves.    What can we do to foster their openhearted hopefulness, engage their need to collaborate, be an incentive to utilize their natural competency and compassion… show them ways they can connect, reach out, weave themselves into the web of relationships that is called community.” ~ Dawna Markova.

I wonder what kind of parent I would be – a nag, hovering over homework?  A spoiler who overindulges? Would I have made a good teacher and could I inspire even kids that are desperately in need of as “naughty chair” and a long visit from Super Nanny?

Tina Valentino Editor/Publisher

The only thing that I know for sure is what I have seen with my own eyes.  The best parent or adult role model is not always the wealthiest or most prominent in the community, someone who is able to secure a desk in the most expensive schools and placement in the finest extracurricular activities.  The catalyst to greatness and compassion is rarely money and privilege.  A willingness to wonder, work hard and have someone believe in you are factors that are more likely to create contributors to society.  Rachel Carson wrote: If a child is to keep his inborn sense of wonder, he needs the companionship of at least one adult who can share it, rediscovering with him the joy, excitement and mystery of the world we live in. Those who think money and status make better parents and role models have never met Chris Zorich.  I haven’t seen Chris in several years yet I continue to be inspired by his story, which he shared with me, and his philanthropy, which he shares with thousands of families.  He stood in food lines; he stuttered; he was bi-racial; his mother rummaged through the trash behind supermarkets for discarded food; she hit fly balls to him in the park in the absence of the father he never met.  Despite all the strikes against him, Chris Zorich prevailed, earning athletic honors as well as eternal gratitude for his decency and kindness.

Certain experiences stay with you and shape you.  Just before Christmas, I had the opportunity to accompany a mom and her 8-year old son as they delivered gifts to a local convent of 28 Sisters.  He was dressed up in his Santa suit and tolerated countless hugs and kisses from strangers; but it was how he tolerated a visit to a room a seriously ill, bedridden Sister that impressed me the most.  His mother had done something I rarely see – she wasn’t waiting in line in the middle of the night to buy his present, she was his present, helping him discover the mystery of the world we live in.  As I told the story to friends and relatives over the holiday, I was reminded of the third grade teacher at Our Lady of Mount Carmel, Mrs. Pesce, who made visiting the sick and aged at Villa Scalabrini and singing carols a Christmas ritual.  It wasn’t supposed to be fun – it was meant to foster openhearted hopefulness, to weave students in the web of relationships that is called Community.

Children need your presence more than your presents, Jesse Jackson is quoted as saying.  I will always wonder what kind of parent I would have been; but, if you have children, you can use the gift of as a new year to spend time, not money, and build character instead of walls between your children and life.

Tina Valentino is the Editor and Publisher of Neighbors, a FREE publication that spotlights the western suburbs and partners advertisers with award-winning stories.  Neighbors Magazine – “Everyone has one” is distributed each month via high-traffic retail and/or commercial outlets throughout Bellwood, Berkeley, Elmwood Park, Forest Park, Franklin Park, Hillside, Maywood, Melrose Park, Northlake, North Riverside, Oak Park, River Forest, River Grove, Schiller Park, Stone Park and Westchester.  www.neighborsmagazine.com

Redux – adjective literally, “brought back, restored” (from the Latin reducere – bring back) used in literature and film titles.

I’ve been a fan of Roosevelt Road for sometime.  Good things always seem to start in the spaces between municipalities.  With the coup led by the Village of Oak Park and supported by Berwyn and Cicero, the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) has miraculously committed to funding $7 million towards the much needed rebuild of Roosevelt Road.  This project has been championed by the Roosevelt Road Business Association and Paul Zimmerman, the RRBA President.  Important Disclosure – the Publisher of this blog is a member in good standing of the RRBA.

Perhaps a little history and context is in order.  The $45.1 million Eisenhower Expressway (I-290) resurfacing, set to begin in 2010, is one of the biggest projects planned for the Chicago region.  More than 13 miles of the Eisenhower (Interstate Highway 290), from the Reagan (Interstate Highway 88) to the Kennedy Expressway (Interstate Highway 90/94), will be resurfaced.

Roosevelt Road Reborn

One of the logical alternate routes around the Ike is, Roosevelt Road.  To that end, IDOT has been bringing pressure upon Berwyn, Cicero, Oak Park and other municipalities to make needed repairs and improvements to storm sewers and water mains before the onslaught, with a good measure of success.  However, the patching of curbs and roadway are of an admittedly temporary nature.  In all honesty, Roosevelt Road like many other major traffic arteries needs to be rebuilt.

Now comes along Dan Haley, publisher and owner of the Wednesday Journal of Oak Park and River Forest, opining that spending the taxpayer’s money on Roosevelt Road is something of a Boondoggle – not that Uncle Dan isn’t above taking from the public trough when he can… And then there was the expected response from the RRBA through its President rebutting Dan’s nonsense.

Just between us, there’s nobody else reading at the moment… the lion’s share of the project is involving rebuilding the roadway, replacing the sidewalks and making the crosswalks ADA compliant.  Very little of the expenditure, relatively speaking, is targeted upon embellishments and decorative items.  A light post costs about the same, whether it is fancy or plain.

The real challenge will be to the businesses that are located on Roosevelt Road who will have to live with a messy and potentially crippling major construction project in a down economy.  I encourage you to visit and keep visiting Roosevelt Road.  There are plenty of good restaurants, shops and services worthy of your support.

To kick off the new year and this new blog, we’re looking for the “Worst Pothole” in Oak Park, River Forest, Forest Park, Elmwood Park and Berwyn!  Send us a picture of your favorite pothole – be sure to include it’s Name, Age, Size – Width, Length and Depth and the reasons why you believe that your pothole should be judged the best! Be sure to include how to get in touch with you in case you win!

Each and every pothole  will be displayed in the comments and the best entries will be sent to the appropriate Governmental Authority.  Although determining who is responsible for repair is a bit of a mystery – is it the Illinois Department of Transportation or the municipality in which your favorite resides.  Does the pothole stretch between two municipalities?

Remember – Safety First

Please don’t do anything silly or stupid like “playing in traffic” or stopping on the i-290 to get a closeup of the “Axle Breaker”.  It just isn’t worth life and limb!

To enter, just leave a comment below.  If you’re not already registered, you’ll have to do that first!