There are more vacancies on the 2 block stretch of Lake St. (15) than
on the Marion Mall (3).  Lake St. has been open to traffic since 1988. 
I inquired about the vacancy rate at the TIF meeting last week but no
one, including Mike Fox (dtop president, TIF public representative, non Oak-Parker and owner of dtop buildings with code violations)
could even give me a range.

The following persons/organizations have some responsibility for
marketing dtop:

    dtop business association (located on Lake St.)

    OPRF Chamber of Commerce (located on North Blvd. in the
    Prairie Bread building with numerous code violations and a
    1960's decor)

    Business Association Council president Greg Melnyk (address
    at 1111 South Blvd owned by Melnyk and Gene Armstrong with  
    code violations)

    Oak Park Development Corporation

    Village business community liaison

    Marketing person in Elmhurst who works part time out of her
     home (hired recently by dtop assoc)

Think about it:  6 different entities, none of which has a real visible
presence in dtop.  Any coordination among them?  Not apparent.

On May 18, 2005, the Board received a proposal from The National Trust for Historic Preservation for assistance with marketing dtop in
accordance with their Main St. program which has been successful in
over 1800 communities across the country.  In their proposal they
state " We also note that the planning process failed to provide adequate forums for public input and dialogue on the major areas of concern that were voiced by the public, most notably traffic and historic
preservation."  The Trust encouraged you to establish a Task Force 
with broad representation of community interests to encourage more
extensive public participation in a series of open forums and
discussion groups.  If these recommendations had been adopted, maybe we would all be working towards the same goal now.  The dtop association wrote you a letter opposing adoption of the Main St. program, which you obliged.

Don't be surprised that so many citizens are angry about the $6 million
you plan to spend on re-streeting the Marion Mall while nothing is
being done to ensure that the dtop building stock is put into top
physical shape and that the marketing/business recruitment program
is strengthened.  I was told by the Dress Barn (recently departed) store manager that business was good, but the landlord was not willing to keep the rent at a reasonable hike.  I have also heard that the owner
of the Bennetons' shop will not have her lease renewed as Starbucks
wants to expand into that space.

It appears that citizens' concerns about additional traffic congestion
if Marion is opened to 2-way traffic is supported by KLOA's $50,000
traffic study in 2005 where they state that traffic on Marion - if
opened - should be limited to one way south, and that the level of
service on Lake St. will be reduced from level B to level C.  The
Transportation Commission also recommended to the Board in November that traffic be opened one way south only.  When I asked the Commission why the Board did not take KLOA's recommendation or their's, Chair Sonny Ginsberg responded that they do not have authority to question the Board's decisions.  I would like the Board's rationalization for not accepting either of these recommendations.  Metro's traffic study is only in the form of a preliminary draft and the Traffic Commission has not seen it.

Instead of mounting a PR effort to convince the public of the validity
of the strategic reasons for re streeting the Marion Mall, I hope you
will respond in an honest and open way to the concerns citizens are
sharing with you in the on-line petition.  Please join the community in
questioning the real causes for blight in dtop.  As you are aware, it
is already spreading to the Ave/Lake district with the eviction of over
20 small businesses by John Schiess at South Blvd. and Oak Park Ave. 

How much longer will you continue policies that are causing the erosion
of our commercial tax base which increases the burden on residential
property owners?

Thank you,

Kathryn Jonas