One Night, Some Neighbors and a Conversation About Evergreen Park's Future

It was a start, a first step. On a mild Monday evening, 28 people chose to spend time with their neighbors, sharing their thoughts and ideas about

But before we get to that, it is worth noting that nearly everyone in attendance at said Evergreen Park is a pretty good place to live now – so good, in fact, that I lost track of the number of people who said they've lived here their entire lives. Many of those who haven't lived here that long have lived here long enough to see children well into their school years.

People said they love the walkable streets, they love their houses, they love the library, they love the convenience of easy access to the urban playground that is Chicago. Many said they like the schools, although that sentiment was not universal, and by and large they like the.

Ostensibly, the forum was "led" by Patch and "moderated" by myself, but those in attendance needed little leading and were pretty good at moderating their own discussion. There was a lot of nodding during our two-hour talk, perhaps an odd thing to note but I saw it as a sign that people were listening to one another. There was not complete agreement, but there was understanding. And frankly, that was what Patch editor Renita Young and I were hoping for – understanding.

During the course of our conversation, we identified common issues facing the village, among them:

- The need for economic development,

- the need for a concrete plan to guide future physical development,

- affordability (taxes, home prices, water rates, other fees)

- crime,

- the struggle of small businesses against big-box retailers,

- what to do with the old Plaza shopping center and

- improving communication between residents and village government.

On Monday night, the discussion centered around economic development, specifically what to do with 95th Street that might encourage more businesses to locate there, and help them be more successful. Parking was identified as a problem, with a couple of residents pointing out that the paltry parking moats fronting the new strip malls at 95th and Kedzie are inadequate to handle the traffic generated by those businesses. A better idea might have been to front the businesses to the sidewalk and put the parking behind, where perhaps there would be more room.

I suggested that if the Illinois Department of Transportation could widen 95th Street, it could narrow it, put in angle-in parking along the sides and trees down the middle. This would make the street more pedestrian friendly and possibly even slow traffic. smiled and said she didn't think that was likely. In the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary, I will remain optimistic.

The trick now is to turn this spirit of community, this sense that we can come together and make the village better, into something real, something tangible, something we can all point to someday and say "We did that." This was a first step. I'm already looking forward to the next step.