This Monday, October 15, the City Council is expected to vote on whether to give a variance to a group led by Norwood Builders so that it can build 168 units - instead of the 160 units that our newly-revised zoning code permits - on the property known as Executive Office Plaza (EOP), across Northwest Hwy from St. Paul of the Cross.

From what has been said and written so far, the argument for 8 extra units seems to break down into three main points: Park Ridge needs to “evolve” by building more condos; Park Ridge is in “dire need” of the kind of “senior housing” that Norwood is offering; and we need to become friendlier to developers who are “investing” in Park Ridge.

Where does it say that the “evolution” of our community requires building boxes of condos? But if more condo-villes are, indeed, Park Ridge’s future, then we better look at one of the likely consequences of adding hundreds of condos (counting the PRC development) to the Uptown area: Secondary streets like Washington, Western, Belle Plaine, Crescent and Elm “evolving” into heavily-trafficked thoroughfares, as motorists look to avoid the increasingly congested Six-Corners area. Why isn’t anybody talking about that?.

And why is it that we never heard about the great demand for this particular form of “senior housing” - with units only slightly different from the regular units (”senior housing lite?”) - until Norwood suddenly needed an excuse for a zoning variance?  Other than Norwood cheerleader Herb Zuegel and a handful of his friends, how many times in the past decade have citizens appeared at City Hall or written letters to the newspapers demanding more senior housing of any type? And if there truly is so much demand for this kind of senior housing, why is Norwood building only 50 such units?

As for embracing developers who are allegedly “investing” in our community, let’s call a spade a spade. These outsiders are basically carpetbaggers who are “investing” in Park Ridge for only as long as it takes them to get their condos built and sold. Their long-term commitment to our community is virtually zero, unlike resident Guido Neri - who was willing and able to build his residential development in the same neighborhood as EOP, and within the new zoning code’s density limits.

Why is it, then, that four of the City Council’s aldermen are so eager to give Norwood 8 extra units, especially when so many of EOP’s neighbors oppose it?  And why is it that some folks who have lived in Park Ridge for quite awhile are suddenly so dissatisfied with the historically single-family home character of our community that they are lobbying so hard for Norwood to get those extra 8 units?

As 1st Ward Ald. Dave Schmidt so accurately pointed out, Norwood doesn’t need these 8 extra units to go forward with this project and still make a good profit.  So if it’s not a question of need, is it just a question of greed?

Robert J. Trizna

A few weeks before moving to Park Ridge from Chicago in 1988, I drove around after a storm and found extension cords running across streets between houses, carrying electric power from the side of the street that had it to the side that didn’t.  I also saw piles of sodden carpeting and furniture, along with other soaked belongings, heaped on the curbs.

Nineteen years later, the circle remains unbroken: We in Park Ridge still lack dependable power and a sewer system that can be counted on to keep our basements dry. And nobody seems to be doing what it takes to make it better.

Over the years Park Ridge residents have made thousands of calls and complaints to ComEd, to no effect.  Many of us have simply accepted the problem, even as our electric bills have skyrocketed.  Others have purchased their own generators, as if they lived in some third-world country.  But maybe this most recent outage - which in some parts of town lasted as much as four days - will finally get us up off our duffs and shouting: “I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take this anymore!”

Isn’t it time our city government demanded a meaningful sit down with ComEd executives to determine exactly what are the specific problems with our portion of the power grid, and what must be done to fix them?  The same goes for the flooding, which may be improvable by the installation of more relief sewers but which still needs a solid commitment from the City.  Either way, a responsible and competent city government must take the lead in getting us some definitive answers - and then acting on them.  

We also need to start thinking about the substantially greater demands all the new “development” is placing on our already strained and fragile power grid and sewer systems.  Every old house wired according to code that is replaced with a larger one drawing two or three times more power adds to that strain.  And what kind of potential for future havoc is being created by all the electricity and sewer demands of those new condo and townhouse units that we’re adding like there’s no tomorrow?  

The “perfect storm” explanation that I’ve been hearing from the City and ComEd for why we lost power and flooded a couple of weekends ago might be fine if this was a once-a-decade event.  But in the week leading up to that “perfect storm,” my house (and many others in our neighborhood) lost power on a least three other separate occasions: August 17, 19 and 21. That might be considered okay for a banana republic, but it’s unacceptable for a city such as ours.

Solving problems like these may not be as easy and fun as a groundbreaking for a new building or a ribbon-cutting for a new business, but it’s every bit as much of what government is supposed to do for us.  Is there anybody in City Hall that’s willing to step up to the challenge and get ‘er done?