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"A Great time in a
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August 6, 2010
Rich Carollo is Leaving Oak Park
Rich Carollo was a hard-working guy. He, unfortunately, is like Ted Williams without a bat. Take away FLW homes and Oak Park has no tourist attraction. As I've written, no golf course, 18-hole or pee wee, batting range, forest, river, mountain, hiking, camping, gambling, canoeing, skiing, strip clubs, waterfalls, caves, beach, etc. We don't even have a bowling alley. Since 1984 I've been proposing a real tourist attraction that would bring people here on the el and would create a demand for a hotel. There's a reason no hotel chain has located here: There's no draw.
My restaurant park/performing arts/convention center/nightclub district would bring people here. FLW and Hemingway conventions would occur annually with all the resources in a central location. Friday nights with art gallery openings at the PAACC would be the attraction for singles from throughout the western suburbs. The restaurants would be jammed with theater-goers and those with tickets to the theater, jazz, and eclectic music venues. Numerous retailers would sprout up with a built-in demand for florists, tuxedo rentals, rent-a-cars, ice creameries, bagel shops, and airline tickets. A roof-top organic greenhouse garden would service the restaurants throughout the year. Concerts on the Green would feature local and touring groups every lunch hour during the week. Classes in the fine and performing arts with professional instructors would attract youngsters via easy el and train access.
I've proposed it, along with associates, at the Stankus Hole (which became an apartment building), Lake and Harlem (non-descript shops), Holley Court (a half-empty Whiteco), and South Blvd. and Harlem (still a parking lot). We have been spurned even though I've gotten funding via naming rights, bank letters of credit, and letters of intent from banquet and nightclub operators, retailers, and restaurateurs. Then I look at the red ink pouring out of village, think about our trustees and village president, and paraphrase jazz great Carmen Macrae, "Their elevators must not go all the way to the top."
Good luck, Rich. I hope wherever you go, they give you a bat.
Les Golden
Oak Park
Rich Carollo is Leaving Oak Park
Rich Carollo was a hard-working guy. He, unfortunately, is like Ted Williams without a bat. Take away FLW homes and Oak Park has no tourist attraction. As I've written, no golf course, 18-hole or pee wee, batting range, forest, river, mountain, hiking, camping, gambling, canoeing, skiing, strip clubs, waterfalls, caves, beach, etc. We don't even have a bowling alley. Since 1984 I've been proposing a real tourist attraction that would bring people here on the el and would create a demand for a hotel. There's a reason no hotel chain has located here: There's no draw.
My restaurant park/performing arts/convention center/nightclub district would bring people here. FLW and Hemingway conventions would occur annually with all the resources in a central location. Friday nights with art gallery openings at the PAACC would be the attraction for singles from throughout the western suburbs. The restaurants would be jammed with theater-goers and those with tickets to the theater, jazz, and eclectic music venues. Numerous retailers would sprout up with a built-in demand for florists, tuxedo rentals, rent-a-cars, ice creameries, bagel shops, and airline tickets. A roof-top organic greenhouse garden would service the restaurants throughout the year. Concerts on the Green would feature local and touring groups every lunch hour during the week. Classes in the fine and performing arts with professional instructors would attract youngsters via easy el and train access.
I've proposed it, along with associates, at the Stankus Hole (which became an apartment building), Lake and Harlem (non-descript shops), Holley Court (a half-empty Whiteco), and South Blvd. and Harlem (still a parking lot). We have been spurned even though I've gotten funding via naming rights, bank letters of credit, and letters of intent from banquet and nightclub operators, retailers, and restaurateurs. Then I look at the red ink pouring out of village, think about our trustees and village president, and paraphrase jazz great Carmen Macrae, "Their elevators must not go all the way to the top."
Good luck, Rich. I hope wherever you go, they give you a bat.
Les Golden
Oak Park
Editors Note:
President and CEO at Visit Oak Park
Rich Carollo's Page
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