Tribune ignores resident calls for safety and business viability in Clarendon Hills
No mention in the latest Chicago Tribune article about safe and efficient passage through our own village and about ensuring that our businesses maintain a steady flow of customers who can park and shop all year round. But everything about events and getting dining on sidewalks (we live in a four season climate - Hinsdale has dining in parking spots all summer and then parking all winter and Hinsdale is thriving .) This Clarendon Hills board has completely lost its’ way and we will ALL suffer the consequences. And they did it privately, with the village staff “polling” them, instead of discussing and coming to a consensus in a public Open Meeting per Illinois standards:
“Mera Johnson, Assistant Village Manager, said village staff then polled board members, individually, to see what projects they would be interested in seeing move forward.”
"Specifically, getting outdoor dining out of the parking stalls and onto the sidewalk and moving electric for the stage to the north end of Prospect (Avenue)," she said.
“Getting dining off of our roadways behind unanchored highway barricades and away from traffic is a major milestone toward creating a safe and livable downtown.”
“This plan will also allow the town to create a safe and attractive space for the many concerts and festivals that the Chamber of Commerce hosts throughout the year.”
“The project does include using removable bollards to stop vehicles from entering at both the north and south ends of downtown during special events.
"This will eliminate the need to place dump trucks at those locations and provide a nicer look,” Johnson said.
Hinsdale, on the other hand, has simply made their dining barriers look more attractive instead of spending millions on permanent cement and on screw-in bollards. Hinsdale maximizes winter parking for their businesses. And Hinsdale followed their traffic study recommendations, which like our traffic study, said to leave everything as-is.
Instead, our board in Clarendon Hills has done neither here, pushing residents and businesses to the sidelines in favor of one unopened coffee shop, one restaurant and 11 chamber events, some of which could be held in our large parks.