Thank You for Attending Our First Forum!

Last night we made history!

In our first attemt to start an open conversation about development in Evergreen Park, a topic that's been particularly hot lately, we gathered villagers representing the business community, local government, the , the  Evergreen Park Historical Commission and more.

brought out about 30 people who began to lay down the foundation of what they wanted the future of Evergreen Park to look like.

This is how change often starts: with a group of concerned citizens who make an honest effort to help effect change. As a virtual town square, Patch is proud to serve as a forum where residents can discuss their town, foster community and start revolutions to enhance their towns.

We didn't fix the world's problems last night, but we got people talking, and who knows what that could lead to? In the coming days, we'll make the notes from our first forum available to you, and within weeks, we'll be soliciting your suggestions on what our next forum should be about.

We'd like to give a warm "thank you" to Pastor Mark Brouwer of who graciously opened up his doors to us and Diane Shedelski who worked with us to plan the event. We'd also like to thank owner Neil Savani for donating the tasty donuts. Special thanks to Patch regional editor who took time out of his evening to support our first forum. We'd also like to thank our elected officials who were able to make it, (D-36th), and Younus Suleman, deputy district director for ; and those elected officials who expressed interest, but who were not able to make it.

Last, but not least, I'd like to thank columnist for , who lead the discussion and had the foresight to bring our concerned citizens together for this worthy cause. This event wouldn't have been half as successful without you!

This is the first of many forums we will present and it has been our honor to initiate the conversation. Let's keep the conversation going.

Stay tuned!