The 30 people that appear to attend every Park Forest trustee candidate forum were again on hand in Village Hall last week for the final discussion of issues before next Tuesday’s election.
These are the same people who often attend every such dialogue, who also peek into Village Board meetings every now and then and often when asked by others about their choices (and often when not even asked), they may offer strong opinions on the merits of each aspirant.
Trustee candidate John Moore calls them the village’s “frequent flyers” with good reason. They always seem to be on hand when debates on how the village is run take place.
They all seem to be of a certain (ahem) “mature” age group. And they all vote.
Moore, along with former Trustee Andy Gladstone, incumbent Trustee Tiffani Graham and trustee hopeful Joshua Travis spent 90 minutes on a mid-March Sunday answering questions put to them by moderator Chip Young, the interim chair of the Park Forest Non-Partisan Committee, the group which conducts these dialogues.
Throughout the session some basic questions from the seemingly steadfast audience asked by Young included what can be done to reduce crime in the village, what can be done about rundown or vacant housing and whether all new hires should live in the town.
But in one way or another, the two touchiest issues involved the villages youth, first as candidates took turns berating the Rich Township High School District 227 Board for its decision to close Rich East High School, and then for an apparent lack of interest of the young in village government.
“I do not trust the school board,” said Moore, urging voters to “vote for the right candidates” which translates to approving those who voted to keep the school open some three years ago.
For his part, Gladstone said it would cost $100 million to implement a proposal to turn the unused facility into a vocational school serving the entire south suburban area, and said the District 227 Board would not spend “one penny of its own money” for that to take place.
So it was that, as part of a two-part query toward the end of the meeting, Young asked who in the audience was under the age of 40.
One hand was raised.
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Young then asked the second part: “You always talk about programs for the youth, but how can we believe you when you can’t get them to show up for these forums?”
Gladstone believed the village “has not reached out to young people.” Moore said the problem is not local, and “we have to rethink” how to cultivate younger leaders. Graham said she was told by young people that village government is “too boring,” while Travis thought offering the incentive of school credit for civic service could work.
Some other questions were more localized.
One query complained that the village’s summer farmers market had turned into a summer flea market with less produce on hand and more trinkets on stands. Another asked if nonresidents should be charged more for entertainment programs in Freedom Hall.
For the second consecutive forum, trustee candidate Randall White was absent. The first time was because of illness. This time, he said, was because, as the new pastor of the First Baptist Church of Park Forest, a celebration in his honor was being held at the church.
That evening, candidate Travis had a meet-and-greet at a local restaurant, but not before he sent a letter to the Non-Partisan Committee asking whether allowing other candidates to attend would violate the committee’s rules regarding those running for other offices endorsing each other.
Although trustee candidate Gladstone and his wife attended the event, they did not speak and were not “recognized.” The committee’s parsed reply to Travis was that “your mixer event moves in a direction away from the nonpartisanship of the Park Forest village elections that have been practiced and revered for over six decades.”
Oh, well. Election Day is next Tuesday.
Jerry Shnay is a freelance columnist for the Daily Southtown.