Forest Park Elections: April 2007

A bit of background:

Forest Park has 15,000 souls, of which about 3,000 show up on election day -- so it's not a very large body politic.

Village government maintains the streets, sewers, police department, fire department -- and most controversially - the zoning of property.

It has a Commissioner form of government, with four commissioners and a mayor elected every four years -- and it's so small -- that these are considered part-time jobs. Until recently, the mayor was paid $20 thousand/year and the commissioners $3 thousand/year. (now the mayor gets 40 and the commissioners 10 )

(Given the amount of work/responsibility they have -- I basically consider them as paid volunteers)


Relevant recent history:

Property values have doubled in the past 10 years -- the business district has gone more upscale (but still has it's share of seedy bars) -- reflecting , I think, an overall tendency of people with means to return to the city from the distant suburbs. (Forest Park is a very close-in suburb)

The incumbent mayor, Tony Calderone, is given some credit for this economic expansion -- and he certainly is a go-go, up-beat, pro-business kind of guy -- while still being a down-home
local man who grew up here and has a small security alarm business. I like him -- he's accessible and appears to be very hard working.

The problem, however, is I really wonder how good his judgement has been -- regarding the management of the police department that seems to have more
internal controversies than it should -- and regarding the transformation of the village from low-density single family homes to enormous condo developments (like the one at
the end of my block)

It just doesn't seem like there's any development that he doesn't like (unless residents organize a protest) -- and recently his village manager presented the council
with legislation to approve the use of eminent domain to acquire several village homes to be turned into a parking lot for the business district.

Upon an outcry being raised -- this proposal was quickly dropped -- and he's firmly against any such program -- but what if an outcry hadn't been raised ? What if it were my home that was going to be bulldozed ?

Over the past four years, the village council has had something of a balance -- where two very active, articulate commissioners held the mayor's pro-business inclinations in check -- and if it were possible -- I wish that situation would last forever: keeping the same mayor together with the same adversaries in office.

But this cannot be -- since both of the adversaries ran for mayor -- one was eliminated in a primary election last month -- and the other will face him in the upcoming election in two weeks -- while I'm doubting that any the current candidates for commissioner would be able to fill their shoes.

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So my decision for mayor -- is the incumbent mayor's opponent, Terry Steinbach

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Regarding commissioner, I think my job is to find who will provide the most effective balance to the incumbent -- who I'm guessing is likely to win (since he had more votes in the primary than both of his opponents combined)

Interestingly -- I think everyone involved realizes that many others will be thinking the same thing -- so, unlike in the last election, the Mayor is not endorsing a *team* of candidates -- even though posters for the following are usually grouped together in the same front yard:


Mike Curry; Rory Hoskins; Mark Hosty, and Anthony Lazzara.

So barring any other factors, I'd be inclined to vote for the others:

Carl Nyberg; John Plepel; Marty Tellalian; and Jerry Webster.


But there are some other factors involved that put me on the fence:

1. Jerry Webster has advocated the use of eminent domain to solve the parking problems for the business district
2. Mike Curry seems smart and feisty enough to be an effective independant voice on council
3. Rory Hoskins seems to be the best representive for the African Americans in Forest Park

So.... I may not make up my mind until I'm in the voting booth.

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Whoops - I almost forgot -- one more issue -- campaign finance.

It can't be that important here -- since major media purchases are not an issue for a Forest Park election -- just yard signs and mailings --- but I think that candidates who agree to limits on the contributions they'll receive deserve extra consideration -- and on this issue, I think the candidates are split along the same lines as earlier noted: the major's group -- following the mayor's lead -- will not limit themselves -- while the others will.