Five candidates are running for three seats on the Oak Park Village Board in the April 1 election. Incumbents Chibuike Enyia and Lucia Robinson are running for second terms while former Village Board member James Taglia is seeking to return to the board. First time candidates Jenna Leving Jacobson and Joshua Vanderberg round out the field.
At candidate forums, there have been no huge disagreements among the candidates but differences in tone and emphasis have become apparent.
Leving Jacobson and Enyia are the favorites of progressive activists while Robinson seems to be in the middle with Taglia and Vanderberg promoting a business friendly approach and emphasizing the need to control costs and limit taxes.
Leving Jacobson is a leader of the local Moms Demand Action gun control group. She is an adjunct professor of Spanish at Dominican University and earned a doctorate in Romance Languages and Literature from the University of Chicago. Enyia works as the manager of community engagement at the Oak Park Public Library. Robinson is a corporate lawyer. Taglia is a business owner who is an accountant by trade and Vanderberg describes himself as a serial entrepreneur.
All the candidates agree that Oak Park needs a standalone police station — the current police station is located in the basement of the Oak Park Village Hall. They also agree the current village hall should not be demolished, but are concerned about the costs of an extensive renovation of the building.
“The police station is something that has to happen,” Enyia said at a recent candidate forum noting that the current police station is dark and not an inviting place to work and hurts Oak Park’s ability to attract and retain police officers.
Enyia also said Village Hall must be made more accessible.
“You want to walk into a building with dignity no matter how old you are,” Enyia said.
Taglia said at a recent campaign forum some improvements need to be made at Village Hall but he is not in favor of extensive changes.
“I think cooler heads need to prevail,” Taglia said.
Leving Jacobson agreed.
“I think it’s gotten out of hand,” said Leving Jacobson of some of the proposals to redo Village Hall. “I think the current proposal is too big and too expensive.”
Taglia was appointed to the Village Board in 2017 and served until 2023 when his reelection bid was defeated, finishing fourth in a five candidate race. But Taglia’s effort in 2023 was hindered by a back injury and infection which limited his ability to campaign. He is now fully healthy again and said he loves public service and is anxious to serve again. Taglia was an Oak Park Township Trustee for seven years before being appointed to the Village Board.
Vanderberg questioned the need for a Village Hall as large as the current one because young people use technology to pay bills and access government while many employees now work from home.
“If they’re going to be paying a water bill they’re going to be looking for an app,” Vanderberg said. “I come from the tech space. We need to build a Village Hall for the next generation. I’m really worried that we’re going to build a Village Hall for the last generation and not the next generation of workers and citizens.”
How to increase affordable housing in Oak Park is an issue where differences were apparent.
“The main problem with affordable housing in Oak Park is we just haven’t built enough,” said Vanderberg before saying that he thinks the village’s zoning ordinance should be streamlined to allow more density.
Robinson, who grew up in Oak Park, said the village’s housing trust fund should be used to promote home ownership as well as to support affordable rental units. She said existing affordable housing must be protected and also promoted the adaptive reuse of buildings.
Bob Skolnik is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.