Time is the great shape shifter in our lives.
Our first view of the community we still call home, Park Forest, was Sunday, March 9,1961. It was the end of a 1,000 mile-plus journey from Albuquerque, New Mexico, in a cramped car which included two children, a dog and the needed rubbish of a family on the move.
We rented for a year before moving into our present home on Shabbona Drive. It was during those first 12 months that shaped our feeling for the place. The Plaza, the Aqua Center, the library, the little amenities of life we found to our liking were all good. The friends we made quickly were even better.
While I went to work for the Hammond Times, Penny quickly became part of the real power behind the scenes — the women who shopped at the Jewel, Sears, Goldblatt’s or Marshall Fields and who talked to each other about what needed to be done for the long haul.
Evern before we came to town a “let’s do something about that” attitude shaped the community. In its first decade, a Non-Partisan Committee to frame local elections was created, so that elections, in which candidates would run as a team, were not to be tolerated.
Instead of a slate, public discussions were held, often in the living room of a resident. Here citizens could ask questions, get answers and decide. It was free. No one needed to spend a dime begging for votes.
It seemed to work. When these sessions were held in the Village Hall as many as 60 voters come with written questions to be asked and expectantly answered. It was democratic and if it gets heated at times, well, that too is democracy.
Last Sunday, 61 years to the day we moved into town, some 20 or so people listened to answers from the only candidates on the April 1 ballot: three village trustees running for another four-year term. Theresa Settles, Maya Hardy and Erin Slone responded to more than a dozen questions relating to the state of the village’s fiscal health and its operations.
When there were contests in an election, two or three such forums were held. But this year, one would be enough.
Non-Partisan Committee interim Chair Chip Young presented written queries. They included issues of law enforcement, the problem of getting business to come to the village and, of course, those incredibly high property taxes which got a good going over from the trio.
The trustees admitted Park Forest is landlocked in that it is not near an interstate and that small “mom and pop’ stores were the only way the village could get new businesses. Bigger stores do not see enough foot traffic to make a commitment to the community.
The 90-minutes session featured questions about vacant homes, a replacement for retiring Village Manager Tom Mick and the status of an Aqua Center that needs costly repairs before it can open this year.
The only response from a resident came when, near the end of the forum, Victoria Kolkebeck complained fervently about what she said was litter cluttering the streets.
This was only the second time since 1997 and perhaps ever there were no other contenders and the two candidates on hand for a seat on the Park Forest Library Board —incumbent Jessica Rodrigues and newcomer to the office Joshua Travis — are also unopposed.
Both Rodrigues and Travis, who ran for the Village Board in both 2021 and 2023, agreed on the quality and future of the library. Both want library services to expand as a community hub while Travis thought there’re should be space in the building to house the archives of the Park Forest Historical Society, which must leave its home in the St. Mary Catholic Church on Monee Road when it closes in July.
This seeming lack of interest by residents these days also included the cancellation last week of the Park Forest-Chicago Heights Elementary District 163 candidate forum sponsored by the teachers union. Board member Allison McCray was the only one of seven running for office who responded.
Time changes everything and sometimes in this never-ending process the good can fade away.
Jerry Shnay, at jerryshnay@gmail.com, is a freelance columnist for the Daily Southtown.
