I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Madam Clerk, please call the roll. Trustee Estrada Volpe? Here. Trustee Zabazovic? Here. Trustee Conte? Here. Trustee Sargent? Here. Trustee Kaminsky? Here. Trustee Molino? Here. President Saviano? Here. Okay, I think what we're going to do is... Call up our chief. We're going to give some clarification, not only to what happened the other day, but I think you've all seen that we're really proactive, especially in the last five or six years on this whole crime issue. We've added plate readers, cameras. We've been very successful in a lot of situations where we've made arrests because of this technology, and we're currently negotiating with SpotShotter to protect our borders, just in case the city does not extend their contract. We've been working with the Chicago Police Department probably for how many years, Andy? Since they gave us... We've been using their SpotShotter technology, but we're not going to depend on them anymore, so we're getting our own. But we're very proactive in everything we do. We're very deliberate. We know that every reaction that we take, every action we take has a reaction, whether it's traffic, public safety, whatever the case may be. So we have to be very deliberate and very conscientious of every action we take. So sometimes it takes longer than we really... We want it, but we have to study legalities of certain things we do. We've got to study the engineering possibilities that we can ensue. And believe me, this is probably one of the most proactive communities in the whole area. We have a very good police department. We're very supportive of them. They're very supportive of us. We've been taking some laterals, which for those of you who don't understand that, ACTIVE POLICE OFFICERS FROM OTHER DEPARTMENTS, WHETHER IT'S THE CITY OF CHICAGO, THE VILLAGE OF OAK PARK, OR WHEREVER IT MAY BE, WHERE THEY FEEL COMFORTABLE DOING THEIR JOB IN OUR TOWN BECAUSE WE LET THEM DO THEIR JOB. SO WE'RE VERY PROUD OF THAT. AND WE HAVE A GOOD REPUTATION WITHIN THE WEST CENTRAL MUNICIPAL CONFERENCE, WHICH IS A CONFERENCE OF 51 COMMUNITIES THROUGHOUT WEST COOK COUNTY, WHICH I WAS THE PRESIDENT OF TWO YEARS AGO. WE HAVE A GREAT great amount of cooperation with them and with all our local police departments. So I just want to let you know how active we are, proactive we are in taking on this new day and age that we're dealing with. I think you're going to see some changes when we get a new state's attorney, that our police department doesn't have to debate with state's attorneys to get felony approval on certain charges. So we're hopeful that that change will come about and we could become even more effective than we have been in the past. So this is more of an informational thing for our residents. I also want to say that everybody up here, we're all in this together. We're all residents. There's pocket problems throughout the community that we have to watch all the time. I live on 77th and Belden. There's cars that come down off of Grand Avenue that avoid the train. AND SO I HAVE TO DEAL WITH CERTAIN ELEMENTS OVER THERE. BUT SO I UNDERSTAND THAT EVERYBODY, WHATEVER LOCATION IN TOWN THERE ARE PROBLEM POCKETS, AND WE'RE AWARE OF THEM. THAT'S WHY YOU SEE DECOY CARS PUT OUT. THAT'S WHY YOU SEE POLICE OFFICERS SITTING ON CORNERS THAT WE GET COMPLAINTS ABOUT. WE'RE VERY THOROUGH, AND WE'RE VERY, VERY, WE LISTEN VERY WELL TO OUR RESIDENTS IF THEY SEE SOMETHING. OUR RESIDENTS ARE OUR BEST RESOURCE in locating crime or possibility of crime. And so that's why we're so accepting in suggestions and in communication with our residents. We just did a coffee with a cop. We're going to do more of those. And I think we have a community crime prevention seminar on April 9th at Elmcrest Banquets. What time does that start at? So we've been doing this. We have a neighborhood watch program. So we're doing everything we can. I mean, my grandkids live here. My family lives here. So we all have a vested interest. So I want to make sure you all know that we're your partner in this, you know, and we're going to work together to get through all this. So with that, Chief, bring us up to speed on that occurrence, and then we're going to... EXPLAIN WHAT OUR PROPOSAL IS, WHICH WE'VE BEEN WORKING ON FOR SOME TIME. WE FINALLY GOT THE GATES AND THE ALLEYS, BUT WE HAD TO GET THOSE UP BEFORE WE PROCEEDED FURTHER WITH ANYTHING ELSE. SO GO AHEAD AND PROCEED. THANK YOU, MR. PRESIDENT. I ALSO WANT TO ADD, I'M THE POLICE CHIEF HERE, ANDREW HOCK. I WAS BORN AND RAISED, MY MOM IS STILL IN THE SAME HOUSE SHE BOUGHT IN 1964, 1800 BLOCK 72. I WAS A COUPLE BLOCKS AWAY. MY SISTER WAS A COUPLE BLOCKS AWAY. Your concern is my concern, too. So back to the evening on the 27th. On March 27, 2024, at approximately 3.51 PM, our agency responded to 75th Avenue for a shots fired complaint. Upon arrival, witnesses advised the responding officers that a black SUV was being chased by a white SUV traveling northbound 75th Avenue. A witness advised that occupants from the white SUV began to shoot towards the black SUV on the 1700 block 75th Avenue. The vehicles continued on 75th Avenue to Courtland Street, then turned eastbound. A witness at 72nd Court in Courtland reported the two vehicles exchanged gunfire at that location. Both vehicles fled from 72nd Court in Courtland in different directions. RO officers secured both locations to preserve evidence for processing. Officers and detectives identified and interviewed multiple witnesses of the incident and viewed multiple village-owned as well as residents' personal cameras. Some of the witnesses are here tonight. The detectives were able to identify the registered owners of both vehicles involved in this incident and issued alerts to all our law enforcement partners of the suspect vehicles. Based on our alert, one of the vehicles was located and towed to our agency. That's where it's at right now. Our detectives are working on obtaining a search warrant for this vehicle and continue to work with various law enforcement partners to actively search for a second vehicle of this incident. Our investigation revealed this incident began as two vehicles known to each other were traveling in opposite directions on North Avenue at the 7300 block in slow traffic. This incident did not start at any business in Elmwood Park. I would like to acknowledge the quick response and hard work from our officers and detectives during the initial investigation of this unfortunate and senseless act. I also want to acknowledge all the witnesses who provided crucial information and the residents who provided video surveillance of this incident. It takes everyone's effort in keeping our village safe And I would like to thank the residents for their cooperation. Thank you, Chief. Yes. Orion? So we had to do that because we want to get everybody the facts as it transpired. We've been working. We finally, like I said, we finally got the gates up in the alleys. And we were awaiting those to be installed. before we proceeded with this, but this is a great opportunity, one-on-one with us and you, to explain what our proposal is here. This is a very complicated situation. I mean, we would love just to call the sack and call it a day, but like I said, for every action, there's a reaction, and we're trying to figure out where this traffic's going to go. I think after Orion... explains the project, we'll tell you, we'll expand on it more. Sure. So just a little background. Orion's our village engineer, by the way. Orion Gailey, Christopher Burke Engineering. I've been working in the village since 2003, so I'm very familiar with the inner workings of the village, the streets, and how all that works. Village staff identified this as an issue back in 2021. In the fall of 2021, we did a traffic study to analyze what the impacts of shutting down 75th Avenue would be just to the north of that with complete blocked access. We identified three different solutions, one being that cul-de-sac, another one being just bringing in similar to what you're seeing there, and the third option being to set up Jersey barriers as a test pilot, whether or not I believe barriers did get put up briefly? Because we didn't have the gates up in the alleys yet. So then subsequent to this, the village has identified numerous areas where there's issues with alleys and different other entrances to the village where we've also installed either cul-de-sacs or these gates that you're seeing now with alleys to prevent access. So we are being very proactive in figuring out ways to try to limit the amount of traffic getting into Owen Park from the surrounding areas. Most recently, the village has asked us to look at another option, which is similar to one of the options that we identified in our study, but with that adding manual gates to that so that it can be closed down during all times except for when there is so much traffic that they need to open up So what you see up on the screen here is creating cul-de-sacs, similar to what you've seen on some of the other streets, most recently, I think, 77th. This would be controlled by police, normally left closed. But again, when there's traffic volumes that dictate needing to have some sort of release, it would be open. With fully closing, our traffic study showed that over 525 cars per day would now need to use those alleys. So that was a concern in our report. But with having this release valve during those very high traffic areas, we'd be able to open that up with police presence, and those vehicles would be able to go through that. A couple things to consider once we have this in there is it is a somewhat narrow road. So you may want to look at reducing the parking on one side of the street or the other. And then similarly with the alley, you'll get a lot more traffic. to upgrade the streets or anything like that. Plus, the high volume, we have to alleviate cars being backed up on the North Avenue because then we're going to catch heat from the state that we're botching up traffic in the state. Now, it wasn't too long ago before I was mayor when I was state rep, we did a study to try to put a traffic signal at 75th and North. The state wouldn't let us do it. because it was too close to the one in 76. So, I mean, we've explored every option, and at times it's frustrating, but I think it's worth a try, you know. Paul, do you want to explain the law enforcement side of that? Like, we have any officers there? Yeah, I think the good news, just to reiterate what Orion said, is that this gate will be closed in a normal time. So, you know, when you... go there now, where obviously it's not a peak time for the area, this gate will be closed. So people traveling on the 75th Avenue will have no choice but to turn down the alley either westbound or eastbound. When we have peak times, and we all know that there are peak times, hot summer day, Friday afternoon, whatever it might be, police will control that gate. If they find that traffic is backing up and creating an unsafe condition for a period of time, Then the chief or whoever is the commanding officer will order that gate open. But when that gate is open, it will be staffed by a police officer, and we will have additional presence on that street to ensure that it will be only safe and orderly traffic through there. The goal is to keep that gate closed as often and as much as possible. So once that unsafe situation is alleviated and the police feel that they can close the gate again, That's what they will do. But it will be only the public safety officials that will have access and control that gate. But normally it would be closed, and when it is open, we will have police staffing it. So we'll have a police officer in his car out there ensuring that traffic is going safely. Maybe we'll put one down the block. Whatever it takes, we'll ensure that it's only for that period of time where we need to have it open and it will be safe and orderly. Very good. All right, Orion, you're done? Thank you, Orion. Appreciate it. All right, now I'll open up to public comment. If you need to speak, you can come up and just identify yourself and maybe you know something we don't know. Come up to the podium and just give me your name. Thank you for inviting me. I know most of you gentlemen and ladies up here, and I appreciate the opportunity. I've been a resident for over 44 years and lived on 76th Avenue, and we've seen a lot of things going on that street. Just the other day when this happened, I was pulling out of the alley with my wife and I thought I was hearing firecrackers and it was gunshots. So I stopped in my car and I backed up just to get out of harm's way and just waited till it ended. And then we spoke to the cops a little bit later on. But after you see something like that happen, you know, you right away, here, petition. You know, I got 40 signatures and everyone is very aware of it and they want something to happen. Obviously, you took the, you know, the bull by the horns and making it happen. Maybe not everyone will like what you're saying and they want to close permanently. Well, I understand it's hard to get everyone to be happy here. So how do you do it? How do you get more parking? I know when I drive and I walk my dog up and down those streets two or three times a day, New Star, countless guys are parked back there that are employees. And there's 15, 20 cars. They have no parking lot. Yet and though, they're taking parking spots for your restaurants. Why? Because they weren't there. Well, why don't we get a parking spot just for them and put it two blocks away? Say like right behind Alpine. There's no one parking there hardly at all. Well, just to let you know, we just bought a house behind Panera. And that's going to give us 30 more parking spaces. But we could work with New Star and all the restaurants. They have them utilize that because it will help Panera. Probably not so much Binnie's maybe, but Panera needs more parking. And we've got the animal hospital going in next to Panera now. So we will work with the restaurants and try to direct them to have their employees park that. That may solve a lot of the problem. Yeah, that might solve a lot of it. But, you know, we could complain about the litter and the people that are just – hanging on the corner by New Star. Ever since New Star had the Apache open, you have a lot of people just hanging there, smoking cigarettes, smoking pot. You have your new pepinos there, open at 2 in the morning, and they're going down the street, yelling, screaming, and causing a little bit of ruckus in the middle of the night. Being right down the street, I hear it. I look out the window. My wife says, Jimmy, get up and look out the window. I just look on my camera. I don't see that in front of my house. I'll call the police as often as I have to, and I have done that many a time. I've lived through some pretty tough times where things weren't good with neighbors, and I just said, you know what? We're going to get through this. I don't want to leave a place I really love to live and be afraid to walk down the street now because I'm worried about getting shot by somebody. I think this will solve the problem of... because it won't be at peak times at night. We'll put Pinos and New Star. If that gate's closed, that takes care of that. And you've got your gate in the alley, too. Right, but you almost have more businesses and customers coming in than you have parking spots allowed. And now I know you're trying to get more, but it's growing so fast, it's actually scary to see the amount of people coming into the neighborhood all at once. You can't even cross North Avenue without worrying about getting run over. So hence, we walked to 76th Avenue to cross the street. In the city, you get into the city, you press a button, it slows the traffic down so someone could walk across the street without having to run and trip and fall and get hurt. Yeah, our problem is we don't have jurisdiction over North Avenue. That's all state. That's all state. And well, you know what? I know you also control how fast people go down North Avenue. They are speeding, not 30, 40, 50, up to 60 miles an hour. You sit up, and we sit and look and watch this and think, how in the hell are they not hitting someone or killing someone? It's just a matter of time before someone does. The chief just initiated a program. He's got cars on the street taking radar. How long has that been going on now? Yeah. Aggressively, we've been doing it. I think I've said enough, but you get the picture. We're all here for the same reason, because we care about our safety, our family, and everyone else in the neighborhood. I have two of my daughters living in town, and they said, what are we going to do, Daddy? And I said, we'll see what happens. Well, unfortunately, we're not unique to this whole problem. I mean, this is going on in Western Springs, Willow Springs. It's going on in Elmhurst. It's going on everywhere. We're not unique. We're not the only ones. I talk to other mayors every day. We're all talking about this crime issue. And it's frustrating. You can see the frustration on our faces that, you know, if people want to break the law, they're going to break the law. And it's our job to catch them and give us a reputation that we're a town tough on crime. And that's what we've been doing. Right. Well, you know, even the stop signs that, You have installed, I'd say, probably 70% of people don't even come close to stopping. It's not even a road through. It's just drive through. Don't care about what they're looking at. Sometimes they slam on the brakes as they see you're walking a dog or there's a child involved. There's countless people here that I know that have said, they come so close and then you say something, now you're afraid of, are we going to pull out a gun and shoot you? I had a guy when I said, hey, you just threw a beef out. your window. He goes, F you. And I was like, excuse me? And he just kept driving down the street like it was no one's business. And I know I called Johnny's and I talked to the owner. Could you clean up some of the mess that's on the street here? Otherwise, it doesn't happen. They used to have their guys regularly going out there. Smoking cigarettes and walking around and talking on the phone. They rarely do what they're supposed to do. I mean, even after you pulled out all those houses there, the litter the cigarette butts and the junk that's laying out there. I've seen needles. I've seen cocaine bottles, all sorts of stuff that make you think, this is what's going on here? The last thing, even just getting a camera installed at the end of the block, just watch it for about a month and see what they're doing. I mean, I stop and I'm careful. You know, the first time I don't stop is when I'll get a ticket. I was like, wow, what a stupid idiot I was. But I've been living in the neighborhood long enough to know to respect the people here and respect, you know, what you're doing. You don't want to hurt anybody. No regrets. So thank you very much. Give me your name, please, sir. I'm James Romano. Thank you. And thanks again for your concern. It helps us. It helps us. Thank you very much. Appreciate it. Appreciate it. Thank you. Very good. Good evening. Anthony Marino, 1619 75th Avenue. So first off, I want to thank everyone here. Thank you for this. This is a move in the right direction. Just a few things I was concerned about when I saw this today. And I'll direct my first question to the village engineer. Are those gates electric or manual? Manual. Manual. Okay. So lock and key, not really a big deal. It's a gate. When those gates are open and there is going to be an officer posted at that gate, can we convert the street back to northbound traffic only? Because it is a narrow street and all our cars are going to be parked on both sides. If those gates are open and it maintains a two-way street, you're going to have cars getting sideswiped continuously. That's a Big issue. I see what you plan. When the gate's locked two-way, at least there's time to meander past cars. When it's open, I'm not sure that's going to work. Other than that, that's really all I had. I think this is great for our village. I think it's great for our community. Thank you for your time. Thank you. Thank you, Chief Hock, for the update on the shooting last week, or the gun incident last week. Thanks for your time. Thank you. Thank you. Come on up. JUST LINE UP BEHIND THE PODIUM, AND THEN THE NEXT. LENNY SMITH, I'M ON THE 1600 BLOCK OF 75th AVENUE. AGAIN, I APPRECIATE EVERYTHING YOU GUYS HAVE DONE SO FAR. I LIKE THE IDEA, BUT IT'S STILL ON OUR BLOCKS, ON OUR STREET, THE MAIN COMPLAINTS ARE THURSDAY THROUGH SUNDAY, WHEN IT'S PEAK TIMES, WHEN EVERYONE'S FLYING DOWN THE BLOCK, PARKING ON OUR BLOCK, EVEN WITH THE SIGNS, THE RESIDENT-ONLY PARKING. AND IF WE'RE OPENING THE GATE, NOTHING'S REALLY GOING TO CHANGE ON THOSE DATES. So this is going to help Monday through Wednesday. But when the gates open, we're having a police officer there. There's a police officer there now, and everyone drives right past him, parks on our front lawns, throws garbage all over the floors, blasting music. They don't care. They're not worried about the police officer standing there. Well, we'll handle it a little differently. All right. And then the next thing, you guys apparently agree that there's a traffic problem over there. Are you going to hold? and not give out any more restaurant licenses until you find an absolutely perfect solution, like widening the alley so we can make this permanent? There's only one place that's left for a restaurant. Well, have you gone towards the apothecary all over that area? That's the only place. So are you going to not hand out any more licenses, or are you still going to add more licenses to bring more people to the neighborhood? To that location, we may. So it'll worsen it. Well, not... Correct, it'll worsen it. No. We're in a process of buying more homes, okay? And it's going to be west, okay? Besides the one we're buying behind Panera, which I think will help with the employee parking, we're currently negotiating to buy more on the west side of the alley, correct? 77th Court. What about taking down that old apothecary and making that part vacant for how many years now? Well, we're negotiating actually with a Greek restaurant right now, which we don't have. Listen, the only way we make money for this village, we don't have factories. We have one major supermarket, Caputo's, and they took away our 1% grocery tax on that, which costs us, you know, over $300,000 a year. And I don't want to raise anybody's property taxes. If we didn't have these restaurants, your property taxes would probably be up 25% of what they already are. I mean, my taxes just went up 64%. So I don't want to pay any more taxes. Well, that's why when I said it's a complicated issue, you know, listen, it's... THE TRAFFIC IS ALWAYS GOING TO BE A PROBLEM. IT'S A PROBLEM WHEN WE SEE OUR APARTMENT BUILDINGS, WHEN EVERYBODY HAD JUST ONE CAR, NOW THEY GOT A FAMILY OF FOUR IN THERE, AND THEY'VE GOT THREE CARS, AND WE GOT TO FIGURE OUT WHERE WE PUT THEIR CARS. AND IT'S JUST A SIGN OF THE TIMES. YOU KNOW, PEOPLE BUY THEIR KIDS' CARS. WE CAN GO TO THE TIMES AND DO SOMETHING HERE THAT'S MORE PERMANENT THAN JUST THIS. THAT'S MY OPINION. THIS WILL HELP FOR RIGHT NOW, ABSOLUTELY. IT'S NOT A BAD IDEA WHATSOEVER. IT'S A GREAT IDEA, BUT I THINK WE NEED TO STILL FIND A WAY TO And where is the traffic going? You know who's going to get hit with this? The people who live on 76th. Now, think about it, Lenny. If you want to go north or you want to go east, leaving our restaurants there, what are you going to take? You're going to go to 76th through the alley and make a right. And then you're going to make another right on Bloomingdale if you want to get back in the city. We have to take all this into consideration. This is not an easy issue. But once you closed off 73rd, it was. You just doubled the traffic down our street. But what we found, Lenny, listen to me. What we found was a lot of crime-ridden people were shooting down north and going right down 73rd. Same thing on 75th. And that's why we're doing this. And that's why we're doing this. Go to Oak Park. Go to Gaylord off of North Avenue. Go to Oak Park off of North Avenue. You can't even get in their places. Correct. That's why we should be doing the same thing. But they have other industry. We need revenue. I understand. We just need to keep working to try and find another way. Here, listen. Listen, I'm not saying this is the cure-all. I never would. We've been working on this, and as Orion said, We consider three different options, and this is the one we feel is the safest for traffic flow and as safe as we could get for our residents at this point in time. I agree. I appreciate that. And that's why I just wanted to speak and say, you know, there are some of us that still feel that we 100% would like that to be locked off full time because Thursday through Sunday, I guarantee you nothing's going to change. We'll wait until it happens and we'll try it out. The only thing I would say, Lenny, is that if when it's closed the conditions are safe, then it'll never be open. So this will be a great way to test your theory that it's safe to keep it closed. So Thursday, Friday, if you're saying it would be safe being closed, then it'll never be open. So let's see how it goes. You guys mentioned it during peak times, which those are the peak times throughout summer. Peak times, if... Well, no, I'm just saying maybe we're wrong, and maybe like what you've been saying, that it's safe to close it. If you're right, then it'll never be open, and then it'll solve it. But if we create an unsafe condition, at least we have a relief valve that we can fix it, and we can open that gate, which will be the lesser of two evils, maybe for an hour, maybe for two. But the other... 22 hours in the day, it'll be closed. Correct, and that's what Tony mentioned just a minute ago before me about the two-way traffic once it's open. That was part of the concern. Yeah, I don't have a great solution for that one, but we'll have to put police on the block. It's permanent, you're in the same situation. No, it's permanent. You're going to have only parking on one side of the street. It's permanent? It's permanent. Why are the other streets that have cul-de-sacs? It's wider. You've seen most center lane for a car to drive in turn around at the end. Yeah, we'll have to put police on there to monitor that the traffic is safe. That was the first thing I said. It's going to have to be orderly and safe. And that's another reason why we're going to narrow it at the gate rather than keep it wide open so that they have to slow down as they're coming through. So they're going to be approaching it slow already, and we're going to have to keep them slow going through. And it's going to take some crawling before we walk with it, right? So we'll have to have police over there. The chief is here. He hears me telling him we need police there when that gate is open, and it's going to happen. But if what you're saying is that it'll be safe when it's closed, it'll never be open anyway. So it'll be a win-win. I appreciate it. Thank you for your time. Thank you. Hi, Joe Sheck, 13-year resident, lifelong resident of about a mile and a half radius of here. So as you know. So thank you for your time, Mr. President, and all of our village trustees. I think that this is a great idea. I just kind of reiterate Mr. Smith's sentiment that what I really want to understand, and maybe Mr. Volpe just explained that, is what constitutes peak time? Is it just going to be the traffic? that constitutes that the peak needs to open it up? Yeah, if we see that traffic is backing up and it's creating an unsafe condition, police will be dispatched there to open the gate. They'll keep it open for as long as that unsafe condition exists, and then they'll close it as quickly as possible. That's the goal. Okay, because I think what some of us were worried about, as I see a lot of my fellow neighbors and residents of that general 16, 17... block of both 74th Court, 75th and 75th Court is, we're just worried that peak time might mean Thursday through. No, no, we're not, yeah, we're not going to say like Thursday 5 to 7, Friday 4 to 6. No, it's going to be, the conditions have to be unsafe and then they'll open it. It's going to be driven by the circumstances, not by a schedule. Circumstances, right, exactly. There will be no, the schedule is, it's closed at all times unless there's unless conditions dictate otherwise. So based on what your emails that you sent out, that sounds like a really good idea. And the fact that only public safety officials have access to it is also another really good idea that I think should make us feel better. It just makes us nervous about the peak time issue. As we get into this, we're going to have some experience. We'll figure out what the peak times are on a regular basis, so we're not guessing. or waiting at the last minute to open up the gates, or whatever the case may be. Hopefully, we'll learn from the whole experience. So when we talk about the traffic circumstances and as they dictate if it needs to be open, and I understand it's going to be narrower. That's great. It's a great idea. I just worry about the whole, because I've seen throughout all the emails about the I'm concerned about two-way traffic in the alleys, which already completely exists 24-7. I don't know if you guys are aware of that, but it's already a two-way because of the parking lots, not just because of all of us being ignorant. It was two-way before the parking lots, too. And then the trucks used to block the alley. And they still do. Right. So at least you could go around and get into the lot and go around them in most cases. Actually, I don't know if you realize this, but we can't get around. But, I mean, that's, you know, they're there for a few. What I'm concerned about is when we talk about the traffic backup, and maybe, who knows, I guess we'll all find out as we see with that gate being there, if there's trouble going this way or that way through the alleys, that's one thing. And I'm not blaming Spisco, because we're very frequent patrons of Spisco. And you have the decoy car there, Commander Haack has the decoy car there. It's that spot that backs up North Avenue more than anybody. People dropping off. I understand if there's no literally patron that needs to get out. But once that backs up, it backs up almost the 74th Court. And I specifically remember one night within the past year and a half, it was probably summer of 22, when there was an auxiliary officer circling the block, catching every person that stopped in front of the district. I think that would be great, but that's not for me to say. I'm not a police officer. But I just hope that the traffic situation that we're all concerned about is not because of the gate. It's because it's inherent anyway because of the people that stop right at the front. And the other thing I've thought about is we've got all the spots right there in front of Spisco, Taco Town, and Johnny's, all the angled spots. More of the backup? comes from people reversing out of their spots. I mean, is there a way to make those spots strictly pick up? I mean, that's something to think about, because they're still going to be backing out of the spots. If they are all straight, they will probably be just driving forward, rather than backing up in the same direction. We'll probably give up like 20 spots. I mean, parallel spaces? Listen, we've talked about that, but we can't afford to give up parking spaces. But you've added seven lots in the last decade. But they're filling up. I understand. I mean, Lenny just said it. Mr. Romano said, I mean, a lot of them are taking up. And I'm not arguing. I'm just saying. No, no, no. What I see is the angled spots right there are causing more of the traffic buildup than anything. And the people that stop in front of the physical because they want to double cover it up. I just think the angled spots are causing more of the backup than anything. But I guess we'll see. It's just a thought. Thanks. Thanks for your time, guys. Thank you. My name is Ed Hartnett. I've lived in Elmwood Park now for 29 years in the 2700 block of North 76th Court. I came here for a different reason, but hearing all the information about, by the restaurants, Since I live on the north side of town, that is the road that my wife and I take back because it is one of the few that cross the tracks to get back to our home on the north side of the village. And if that is blocked off, that makes it much more or much less palatable to go to those restaurants because it's now inconvenient for us to return home. You can't turn onto left on North Avenue, coming out of the parking lot, the former New Star parking lot, It's either that or you end up going up and then you have to zigzag around Elm School and down Fullerton Avenue trying to get back across the tracks. So while I understand the safety issues and the cars speeding up and down those streets, I see the same thing on my street, and we have a stop sign at either end, and it's like a racetrack. But that's my concern with regard to that and it being blocked off. The real reason that I came here tonight was last summer I had contacted the village when the Pace bus number 307 was discontinued coming through the circle. I came here. I expressed my concerns. I contacted the village. And I went in contact with Pace. I was told it was because of safety concerns with fire equipment exiting the fire station. I contacted Pace. I offered a couple of suggestions. They were shot down. Then the paving started on the circle. And I thought, well, certainly nothing's going to happen while we're repaving the circle. My fear, which came to fruition in December, I got a text from Pace saying they had permanently eliminated the leg of the Route 307 from Harlem Avenue West, just like it had been eliminated to River Grove many years before. I contacted Pace again and asked, I said, well, if the concern is the bus being parked there blocking visibility for the fire equipment. What about the driveway that is in between the fire station and the library that has an entrance off of Grand Avenue? It would be the opposite side of the station or the half a dozen spaces that are cut out in front of the library that it could pull out of the right of way of the street. The response I received from Pace was that those are completely under the control of the village. So since the entire surplus seems to be under the control of the village, I would put it to the village board. What are you doing about it to make a spot for that bus to return service to Elmwood Park? CHRIS JERRAM, JR.: Paul, correct me if I'm wrong. We offered them where the metro turnaround is. In fact, didn't we redo the concrete? We redid the concrete and everything there for the bus to be able to park, pull right in there. Because it's used periodically, the drop-off, and the bus would be fine pulling in there. Since many times, if you noticed, maybe you don't notice, I notice because I'm here, that bus used to park over by our firehouse. The driver would leave the bus there and go to a convenience store. That was like every day. Okay. So what would be the problem with him just pulling in? We gave him the turnaround. We gave it to him. They didn't want it. That's all we could do. That's all we could do, and it's all that under their policy that they would accept. All I know is that now I'll be 63 in October, and the 319 bus runs far fewer hours than the 307 bus does, which means there's no service up and down Grand Avenue, and it is quite a long walk to get to Harlem so that I can catch a Harlem bus to go, for example, to the Green Line to downtown where I work. That's my concern. Thank you. Thank you. Hi, my name is Jamie Gagliano. I live at 1801 North 75th Avenue. I was home that afternoon. I worked for the Secretary of State. I was working. I worked from home. And I heard the shots. I knew there were shots. I worked it. Laramie and Lexington for 20 years. I jumped into my window to see, because I'm connected, I can run a plate instantly. They did not go down 75th Avenue to Cortland. They went 75th Avenue to Bloomingdale and shot down Bloomingdale. I seen the cars. I tried to get the plate number, the way my window faces. I couldn't, he was going so fast, he went through the stop sign on 74th Court. almost hit a car. The traffic on Bloomingdale is just ridiculous. I mean, I don't know if you can do anything on that corner to put something, but nobody stops at that stop sign. And this was just something, it was a day that was not a very nice day out, because at that time, had it been a nice day out like it had been a couple days before, there are kids, people walking their dogs all day long. Now that I work from home, I cannot believe the traffic on Bloomingdale that I see. But there has to be a better way for, I mean, I did not feel safe. I just left Lexington and Laramie to work at home, and I was thrilled. And then one month into it, I'm like, this is not what I want to see happen in a town that I love. in the neighborhood. I have wonderful neighbors. It just, we have to do something about the people using our village as a go-through. And that's all it is. People are coming through there. It's like, and I know it's been going on for years. I grew up in Galewood. I went through there my whole life, okay? And I know that there has to be a better way. I mean, they just don't stop. THERE'S PEOPLE WALKING THEIR DOGS. THEY'RE TRYING TO PULL THEIR DOGS BACK AS CARS ARE FLYING AROUND THE CORNERS. AND I KNOW THEY DO HAVE THE DECOY CARS OUT THERE. IT DOES HELP A LITTLE BIT. I GREW UP ON 79TH AND BLOOMINGDALE. I LIVED THERE FOR 25 YEARS. I'VE LIVED IN THIS TOWN FOR 58 YEARS. SO WHEN I BECAME MAYOR, I HAD A GROUP OF RESIDENTS THAT LIVED ON BLOOMINGDALE, SUGGESTING I CLOSE OFF BLOOMINGDALE GOING eastbound off of Thatcher. We put the barricades up there with the sign saying this is a pilot program. Within 24 hours, I got so beat up by people, and they were our residents. How am I supposed to get home? How am I supposed to do this? How am I supposed to do that? I call them up. I says, well, everybody's complaining about the traffic on Bloomingdale. I figured instead of them using us as a thoroughfare to get off of North Avenue going... Most of it's going back in the city. I said, I put them up and figure another way for you guys to get in town. We want them gone. And Paul, remember that? In 24 hours, I got bombarded by our own residents. So that went... I mean, it's greatly a great restaurant. Everybody loves them. Everybody comes from... But it's... The impact it's having... on our few blocks off of North Avenue is, you know, a new start, all this, I mean. Well, let's see how this works. Give us some time. I mean, obviously, we're all watching it. You know, listen, I feel your pain. Seriously, I do. I know you wouldn't feel it. Everybody here does. You might not feel my frustration. But it's true. I mean, there's only so much we can do that's, you know. I just wanted to say, you know, it's just that traffic, and I'm right on the corner, and now that I'm home, I see it. It's just, you know, and it's not our residence. I get it. I get it. Thank you. Thank you. Seventy-fifth court? Okay. The one on the pole we had? Yes. With the trailer? Okay. We're working on putting a permanent camera at 75th and North Avenue now. The police department's working on that. You'll be able to see from 75th Avenue down both east and west. Well, we have them in the alleys. Every parking lot has cameras. Yeah. Everyone. Thank you. Barbara Lisiak, and I live at 1619 74th Court, three houses from the alley, New Star Parking. So if I understand that correctly, that's the alley where all the houses have been torn down? Is that what it says, alley? What happened to it? That's where the parking lots are. Okay. So 74th Court, and for all of you that live on 75th, I get it why you agree to that and think it's a great idea because you want to stop that massive flow. We have the same thing going south on 74th Court. And whoever mentioned about the angle parking on 75th, I also have that with the angle parking on 74th Court right by what you see, Dazzle Nails, I don't know what it's called now, and the New Star parking lot. And people still continuously, and I saw it last night again, totally ignore that this is a one-way south, and they come in so they can grab a spot. So they come in off of North Avenue, where it flat out says, do not enter, that this is a one-way. However, if I'm understanding that correctly, you're talking about those gates going down right there at that alley, correct? And as you mentioned, it would go east and west that they would have to turn on, which would then, have you thought about it? that the traffic now, which already backs up down that alley to get into 74th Court, because if they're looking for a parking space and they can't find one, they consequently make a right-hand turn onto 74th Court. And if they don't, they zoom across into the alley and further down onto 74th Avenue, where that house is going to be gone, and where you're saying 30-some spots, correct? Now that traffic is going to now continue on, and we'll have only one way we'll probably be able to safely get out of the alley. And generally, I do go north to get out of there, because that T, I don't want to run into all the traffic on 74th Court as they're all flying down the street trying to get out. And so I hope that you think about the consequences of what's going to happen at 74th Court as they pass the new start parking lot, Past my alley and on to 74. So now you understand my pain here. I understand your pain. Why do you think it took so long to figure out? I get it. Mr. Smith's wanted this for years. And I said for every action there's a reaction, okay? So one person's pain gets relieved and someone else's pain increases. So here, we have an open conversation here. What's a solution? I don't know. Okay. I don't. I really don't, but I get what you're doing. But, you know, as one of your actions is creating a reaction somewhere else. We're well aware of that. That's why we've kept 75th Avenue open. Listen, our engineers have been telling us since we were talking about call to sack and what it was going to do. So now we have a room full of residents from 75th Avenue from 1600, 1700, 1800 that want this cul-de-sac. Maybe you should have a conversation with them. I mean, I think this is a reasonable alternative. And we're gonna see how, we need some experience out of it, see how it works, and go from there. I mean, listen, I'm with you. So one last little thing is that I appreciate the fact that we on our street says no overnight parking, 2 a.m. to 6 a.m. Perhaps you could send someone down there any given night and hand out tickets to all those people from River Forest that are parking there. Are they still coming back? All right. That's fine. So not that that's going to give any more parking to any of the patrons of any of the restaurants, but. No, they're supposed to have, from 2 to 6, they should have an all-park vehicle sticker. Thank you. Hello, everybody. 1732 75th Avenue, Richmond Carter. Real fast, to alleviate the parking on 75th and North, what about making the first two spots in front of Johnny's and Spisico handicap only? Alleviate maybe a lot of the drop-off, a lot of the double park running. Just an idea. The first spot by Spisico is going to be public safety only. It's going to be only for police. In fact, there's a sign there now. I don't know if you've noticed it, and as soon as the weather changes, I see Pete Gunther shaking his head. He knows what I'm going to say. We're going to stripe it yellow. So it's only going to be for police on that first spot. What about Bloomingdale you mentioned? I remember you bringing that up, and people bombarded you guys with calls. I'm asking as a resident, maybe let's try that again. I'll tell you what, you become the mayor and you try it. You can sit in my office. Yeah. I would love to. I would love to. Rich, it's now. Rich, it's not going to work. I still got the sign if you want to hang it in your backyard. Power 75th going in the alley, how does that gate go up? With a code. With a code? Yeah. Okay. What about putting a gate on Thatcher where residents only have a code and plug it in? I don't know. I'm brainstorming. I have two little girls that live on 75th Avenue. Didn't we try to do resident only on the east end? I'm bringing it up because I was not here for the shooting. If I was, it would have been a much, much bigger deal. I love EP, love Andy. Another question I have is, do we have more police coming onto the force so we could have someone stationed on 75th? maybe still have someone at Walgreens, someone at Armitage. I know it's a personnel issue. We added one sworn officer last year's budget. We're going to be presenting an option to the board to add yet another one in this next year's budget. So, yes, we, unlike anybody else, are adding police. That's great. And we're at full capacity. You realize Oak Park, 800 officers, they're down 32 officers? Yeah. Okay. We're fully staffed under our ordinance. What about... You know, just throwing ideas. Speed bumps on Bloomingdale. That could be taken out in the winter. We have to stop something on Bloomingdale Highway. Coming into Galewood, when I have the girls, I go to St. Giles. They're zipping west. Do we still have that sign up that says do not enter? Seven to nine. How about a cop there? Instant revenue for the village. $100 tickets. You don't live here. Come from Chicago. I even told my mother when she was watching the kids. You get pulled over. I don't want to hear it. You pay your ticket. I'm being serious. It's like Shaq said. When I lived in Galewood, I did it. It's different times now. There's a lot more crap coming westbound on Bloomingdale, let's be honest. Let's come up with some ideas. Get a reputation of, oh, there's a squad there Monday through Friday, 7 to 9. Maybe I'll go back to North Avenue. I mean, there has to be. We'll give it to our Traffic and Safety Committee. I agree. Have them take a look at it. I've asked you last year, sit in my corner from four to six one day. Rich, it's not rocket science. I drive these streets every day. I understand, but we have to do something more. Are there any ideas? I would love to, if there's a safety committee or someone that wants ideas, I'll sit down once a month. I'd love to. It's a brainstorm. Like, hey, this could maybe work because, or like you say, speed bumps can't work. Because I'm fine with that. We need open dialogue for our residents to know that there's something else that's. We have open dialogue. Yeah, Mike Kirsch is the chairman of our Traffic Safety Committee. I know him very well. Very well. This is great. And I know it takes time. But maybe, I don't know, maybe do a survey. Blind survey. Elmer Park email address is maybe doing that Thatcher thing again. I swear, we got to do something. Or maybe that auxiliary cop on Harlem put that one on Thatcher at like 5, 5.30 and stopped them from coming eastbound. I don't know, once a month? You know how many cars come through there? You'd be blocking traffic up, and then the residents are going to get tied up in that. I agree, but we can't leave it as is. So I'm open to any ideas. I know you're not going to be sitting here, oh, here's a bag of ideas, here's what we're doing now. But I'm open. I mean, I can't ride bikes with my kids, rollerblade up and down Bloomingdale, unless it's 7 or 8 in the morning because of the traffic. It's got to change. I voted for most of you guys up here. Now you answer. I voted for all you guys. I know everybody lives in town and everybody wants the best. However, we can't wait... We can't be reactive anymore. We need to be more proactive. We're proactive on everything. That's practical, Rich. I know. We've got to do something. And you know what? We've got to be worried about litigation, too. Someone sues the village for us doing something that turns out to be unsafe. That's why it takes so long to get things done. That's why we have engineers. That's why we have lawyers. We have to research the history of other communities that have been victims of litigation and everything else. Today, it's a different world. So right now, is there anything else in place to make Bloomingdale safer? They get people, including the residents, to stop at the goddamn stop signs. That's it. And I could, we have, we hear, not only are decoy cars, we have man cars. The decoy cars work for a while, and that's it. Ten minutes. But then we have, we have regular officers there. They're stretched thin. Yeah, but I can't have a guy sit there for eight hours a day. I completely agree. That's why I asked. I'd be willing to raise my taxes to maybe get instead of one cop, maybe three or four. Hey, Rich. Rich. There are limits. Hey, Rich. For more police officers? You're crazy. Rich, what's my budget? Because I know how to spend. Just give me the number. Listen, what would $100 or $200 be? a house being per year, how many more police officers can we have? Or auxiliary. Taysom Park has 50 auxiliaries. Yeah, but auxiliaries are limited in their powers. They can't write speeders. They can write parking tickets. They can do security work for us. That's all they can do by state law. Awesome. Let's get them on 74th for this lady. Let's get them on 75th. Let's get them at least one coming down to 3rd Avenue. resident parking only. We do that. If we have a busy night, it doesn't... I'm only throwing ideas out. Rich, all these ideas have been brought out. So they're all shut down. So as of right now, Bloomingdale is just going to be a status quo. We're going to just keep letting them speed through. Well, Rich, first of all, the suggestion you gave me, we can't do it. We can't close off Bloomingdale. We can't do speed bumps. We could increase police presence as much as we can without breaking the bank. There's other more areas of concern. So trust me, I've been in government a long time. I know that, Skip. I just, it's frustrating. And I know when I watch other villages make mistakes, I'm not making those mistakes. It's frustrating that I can't reap the benefits of being a single father. My ex-wife didn't want the house in Elmore Park. I didn't. Because I love the community. Love you guys. We're a tight-knit community. But something has to change for the safety of our kids in town. And I know you're working on it. I'm open to more conversations. I had a great conversation today with one of you guys sitting up there. And I hope there will be more. And I'm open to anything. Mike will sit down. I'll take out for a couple beers and just brainstorm. I don't mind. We talk about a lot of stupider shit. So let's talk about some good ideas. Thank you all. Thanks, Rich. Jack is a neighbor. I'm in light commercial construction. I do a lot of warehouse work. I have an idea that I think could help. Everyone wants more cops. They want to spend more money. You guys are caught in the conundrum of the retail and the restaurant district pays a lot of money towards taxes and does things that help benefit the You can't park a cop at every corner. You can't put speed bumps in. There are certain things you can't do. You couldn't put metal posts up in all the alleys since they rotate and they don't lift. And the lifting ones are the, what do you call them? It's not a metal. It's a carbon or whatever they are. They can be busted. I've installed backwards teeth, which could be instituted at every one of these corners that are a concern from the people on all these streets. And it would take no cop to sit there. Even Delta Sonic has, when you pull in, if you're a member, your snickers in the window. right through to the car wash because you've got a sticker in your window. Residents, they have stickers in their windows. You can put backwards teeth in each of these streets. If you're a resident on the block, teeth fall, resident comes through. And if you're not a resident, those teeth stay up and they'll pop all four of your tires and you can't go anywhere. It's not a bad idea because the cost of a cop sitting there every day of the year for however much a cop. You're talking like at Thatcher and Bloomingdale? I'm saying an entrance that I've installed at any. No, I mean, I'm thinking here. Thatcher and Bloomingdale, is that what you're talking about? I don't know if you have backwards teeth anywhere. No, we don't because, again, that's a liability. If a non-resident just comes flying over those things, blows out the tires, and, say, takes out that island at Thatcher in Bloomingdale and he gets killed or gets injured, we're responsible. I understand that that could occur, but if you have visitors on a night, a weekend, or whatever, their family, their resident family members or whatever, they can be coded in It's an option that doesn't look like another cop on salary. It's an option that doesn't look like someone who has to sit there all night and watch. It's not a steel gate that rotates on a wheel that can break eventually and need replacing, and it's not a fiber gate that can be broken through. I'm just throwing it out there as an option to say you don't belong here, and you don't have the code, and a way of creating an entrance exit that is not anything else that's been brought up tonight. It works very well at warehouses. If you're not an employee of that warehouse, you don't have entrance to the parking area. It's the same philosophy. That's private property. Understood. Public roadways, so that's the problem. Well, let's... We got our engineer, I'm sure he'll... Sure, and I just want to present an option that I've seen work, the works of companies, and obviously there's a lot of disgruntled people here for the right reason. I have taken on three kids that are not my own, and we have asked our kids this week to not sit in the front window and stare outside as they like to do. put their ear pods in and listen to their music. We've asked them to go in the basement, which is a lot to ask of a childhood. And even though it may sound extreme, it's not a bad option. And it doesn't cost as much as having a few extra cops on staff every year to sit at corners and become stalemate, where some people have presented that though we have cop cars sitting in the right places, these things are always going to occur. They're always going to occur in every suburb. Crime is not something you have anything to do except respond to. You can't get out in front of it. It happens, then you have to be responsive. But my idea was simply to say that this would disallow people that don't have the Delta Sonic sticker in the back car no reason for them to be driving down our streets while our kids are trying to play outside. What we're now doing is disallowing them in a good neighborhood to be able to sit outside. In the summertime, I sit out front and try to have a fire, which may not be legal. I'm going to enjoy my fire, and I don't need to be taken out. While I'm having my fire on a Wednesday, Thursday, Sunday, Tuesday, there's no high time, low time to me. If it's nice out, I would like to sit out front, and I don't want to have to keep telling the kids to sit in the basement because I'm scared they're going to take what now is a possibility of a bullet, which is, again, one occurrence in one town. This is happening everywhere. It is the sign of the times. There might be an easy answer, and it might not be a cop at a corner or a carbon fiber gate. Just don't let them in, unless you belong here. Thank you. All right, everybody in the front here knows me. I want to thank all you guys. I did not know about this incident that happened. And everybody knows I bike through Elmwood Park. I go down. I used to go over to River Forest and bike there, too. But North Avenue is just too much. And 75th to cross was always a problem. So I mean, I just go down to Bloomingdale and go to Evans Field. But I have no complaints. I live in the boring section of town, nothing except yelling at people because they're throwing garbage on the street. So, so far, we haven't had any bullets on our block. And I thank you all for that. And thanks to the police department. But I'm still going to be biking. Thank you. Thank you. Evan Giffen, 1600 Block 75th Avenue. Hearing a lot of just obviously stuff thrown out today, a lot of concerned citizens here. Appreciate everything you guys are saying. Just my only perspective of sitting here listening to everyone is what I am not feeling now personally, what's the long-term plan? What is that? If this doesn't work, it's a test, then what? That's kind of where I think some of that uncertainty is coming from, is that unknown. What's next? So what I would ask, and I discharge you guys, is shut us up. Throw it out there. Inundate us with information. THIS CAN'T WORK BECAUSE OF X. I THINK THAT'S WHAT WE DID TONIGHT. WE DON'T HAVE A BAZILLION OPTIONS TO THAT PROBLEM. AND THIS IS, AGAIN, WE'RE GOING TO LEARN FROM THIS, AND WE'LL SEE WHAT GOES FROM THERE, BECAUSE THERE ARE NO OTHER OPTIONS. SO IF THIS DOESN'T WORK, THEN THAT'S WHAT I'M SAYING. YOU KNOW, HERE'S THE FLOW CHART. IF YES, I THINK UNDER CIRCUMSTANCES, THIS IS THE ONLY OPTION WE HAVE AT THIS POINT. AND WE'RE GOING TO SEE WHERE THE TRAFFIC GOES. YOU KNOW, I MEAN... I GET THAT. AND NO ONE KNOWS THE FUTURE. NO ONE KNOWS EXACTLY WHAT'S GOING TO HAPPEN. JUST PAY A LOT OF PEOPLE A LOT OF MONEY TO TRY TO FIGURE THAT OUT. MY COMMUNITIES HAVE DONE THAT. WE'RE NOT THE FIRST TO DEAL WITH THIS ISSUE. SO THAT'S WHAT I WOULD SAY IS, YOU KNOW, WE ARE PROACTIVE. LET'S THINK THREE YEARS FROM NOW. Let's think two years from now. What if three more restaurants do open? Then what? Instead of kind of these band-aids, which seems to me, in my perspective, I know there's tons of conversations going on behind the scenes, a lot of stuff we're not privy to, a lot of stuff we don't know. That really isn't. You guys know probably more than I do. But even more reason to give us a bunch of information and say, here, here's a plan. We're throwing this stuff at the wall. This plan came out this morning. It would have been great to know this. We've been working on it months ago. That would have been great. Say, hey, this is in the works. It may not happen. We're working on this. Well, we were communicating with some of the residents. How long did it take us to put up the gates and the alleys? A few months, right? Yeah, and we heard about that long. Okay, well, this was already under, was being developed, this concept. When we ordered that, because we needed to get those up, BEFORE WE DID ANYTHING ELSE. UNDERSTAND, SO KNOWING THAT, SAYING, HEY, THIS IS STEP ONE, THIS IS STEP TWO, STEP THREE, THROW A DART AT THE WALL THREE YEARS FROM NOW. THIS IS KIND OF WHERE WE'RE AT. AT LEAST THAT GIVES SOME FOOTING, AT LEAST WE KNOW WHERE WE STAND, AND IT'S NOT THIS KIND OF BAD OF APPROACH. WE'RE IN THIS TOGETHER, SO WE'LL SEE HOW THIS GOES. AND IF I HAVE ANOTHER MEETING, I'LL HAVE ANOTHER MEETING. AND MAYBE BECAUSE EVERYBODY'S BEEN HERE TONIGHT AND LISTENED TO ALL OUR OPTIONS, MAYBE THEY'LL SEE SOMETHING ELSE. But we don't see it. Our engineers don't see it. Our lawyers don't see it. Sure. And so whatever information is, that's all I'm asking, just more information about it from our side. No problem. Thank you. 1743 75th Avenue. We bought my house at 22, naively on the corner of 75th Avenue and Bloomingdale. I love North Avenue. I love all the restaurants there. Yes. Roseanne Scorpio. Thank you. Can we... get a police officer on North Avenue at New Star? Why Hibachi has turned into pot smoking and hangouts and swearing? I don't understand why Hibachi did that, but can we get a street police officer on that corner on the nice nights? Can that help? I'm there a few nights a week, and I don't really see them. So that's one question. Two, is there anything we could do on the streets that are through? I mean, 75th Avenue goes through, Bloomingdale goes through. I know we can't put cops everywhere. I live right there. The decoys are not working. I swear I could probably put my good job and just write tickets for you and make more money for the village than in my real career. But can we put police officers on those streets that we know are your through streets that are getting and write the tickets? The decoys aren't working. Can we put them in private cars and not POLICE CARS MAYBE AND START WRITING SOME TICKETS? OR IS THERE A WAY TO PUT, LIKE, HOW WE USED TO HAVE GOING INTO THE CIRCLE, THE SPEED LIGHT, YOU KNOW, THAT TICKET? LET ME TELL YOU, I GOT 100 TICKETS MYSELF MAKING THAT RIGHT-HAND TURN INTO THE CIRCLE. THAT WASN'T SPEED. THAT WAS A STOP. RED LIGHTS. RIGHT. CAN WE DO ANYTHING DIFFERENTLY WHERE WE HANG THINGS AND STILL BE ABLE TO GET PEOPLE GOING? I MEAN, I GOT A $200 SPEEDING TICKET FROM A HOLOCOPTER GOING HOME FROM WISCONSIN. SOMEONE CAUGHT ME. IS THERE ANYTHING? THESE ARE IDEAS. YOU SAID, LET'S THROW OUT IDEAS. But let's find where those high-traffic areas are, get the cops who are really sitting in the car, put them in unmarked cars. And I've been here 35 years. I always knew the crime in Elmwood Park. There was a police slaughter. Now all of a sudden, I can ask any police officer I've known since they were born if something happened here. And I've known it's happened here. And no one's very forthcoming. You all know, and that's great. But how do we get to find out? Those are all my questions. Thank you very much. Okay, is there anything else? It's going to take a few months. Take a few months. Can I ask one quick question? Uh-huh. Just one question. Short and sweet. I live in the Elmwood Park Senior Building. Can we please have a sign like slow down for seniors? You're talking about Grand Avenue? You're talking about Grand Avenue? Well, we've tried to do that, but the state wouldn't let us. They wouldn't even let us put up a blinking light, would they? They wouldn't let us do a crossing either. We'll try to... We'll try to have another conversation with them, because I know it's a problem. I know. Because if you want to wait for the bus on the other side, because you have a bus stop on your side and there's a bus stop on the other side, it's dangerous to get over there. I'm aware of that because I have a lot of friends that are residents of Elmbrook. Unfortunately, the denier has just knocked off my air, and so I just... I wanted one minute to say that. And if you can do anything for us, we appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you. All right. We'll go on to committee reports. The only thing I have is I just wanted to report that we did have early voting here in these chambers for the presidential primary. We saw about 760 early voters. So it's fairly decent turnout. That's all I have. All right. Jonathan? No report, Mr. President. No report, Mr. President. No report, Mr. President. Mr. President, the Finance Committee met this evening at 5.30 p.m., reviewed the bills and vouchers for the month of March, and unanimously recommended same for approval by the full board tonight. No report, Mr. President. Mr. Durkin? I'm going to defer the 20 items that the manager is going to report on, so you can have my time. Thank you. Mr. President, the village awarded a contract as you know to FH Passion to perform various construction projects through a general government services contract in 2020. The agreement was extended once for a two year period and it allows for another extension and I recommend that the board authorize another two year contract extension at this time. Board will be asked to ratify my purchase of a 2024 Chevy Tahoe, which has been delivered and assigned to the police chief. Board will consider an ordinance that amends the code that regulates garbage to reflect the elimination of the requirement to place a sticker on garbage that will not fit in the resident's village container. Board will consider a proposal from Alpamonte Ford to purchase a Ford F750 diesel regular cab truck chassis, as well as the proposal from Monroe Truck Equipment to build that truck chassis out with a dump body, salt spreader, lights, electrical, and plow. The board will consider a proposal from Cook County to purchase four Motorola digital radios. They will be assigned to auxiliary police unit. The board will be asked to ratify our acceptance of an engagement letter with Kroll to update our fixed asset inventory. The village opened sealed bids to clean and televise the sewers associated with our planned 2024 paving project. Three bids were received. Duke's is the apparent low bidder. Christopher Burke Engineering recommends that the board award a contract to Duke's. The board will be asked to approve an amendment to the contract with Vega Tree Service for the trimming and removal of trees. The board will also be asked to authorize the competitive solicitation of our contracts for pavement patching as well as concrete replacement. The board will be asked to approve a marketing program with iHeartRadio. Ads promoting the village's summer events will run throughout June, July, and August. If approved, the board will be asked to approve a rock salt joint participation agreement coordinated by the state of illinois the village will be obligated to take delivery of at least 80 percent of its 1500 ton allocation if approved the board will consider a contract with asi to provide a century 32 by 24 mobile stage to be used at the taste of elmwood park you know uh taste of elmwood park by the way is august 8th through the 11th in 2024. as you know the village has engaged its consultants to study the formation of a tiff Along Belmont Avenue, the board will consider an ordinance that reflects the village's intent to reimburse itself for any expenditures related to the eligible costs in that TIF area. And lastly, the board will consider a license agreement with Aging Care Connections, who will staff the Elmwood Park Senior Facility for two days each week. Aging Care Connections is a not-for-profit association that offers programs and services to senior citizens and individuals with disabilities. This is a nice option for our residents. THANK YOU, MR. VOLPE. I THINK I TALKED ENOUGH TONIGHT, SO I'M NOT GOING TO GIVE A REPORT. WE'LL MOVE ON TO THE CONSENT AGENDA. THIS EVENING ON THE CONSENT AGENDA, WE HAVE APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF THE PRESIDENT AND BOARD OF TRUSTEES HELD ON MARCH 4, 2024. RECEIVE AND FILE MINUTES OF THE PLAN, ZONING, AND DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION PUBLIC HEARING HELD FEBRUARY 26, 2024. RECEIVE AND FILE MINUTES OF THE FINANCE COMMITTEE MEETING HELD ON FEBRUARY 5, 2024. A MOTION TO APPROVE PAYMENT OF THE BILLS AND VOUCHERS FOR THE MONTH OF MARCH 2024 in the amount of $3,944,849.78. Various license applications received and processed by the village clerk's office. We have a motion to approve the following 2024 garage sale dates for the village of Elmwood Park. June 7th to the 9th, July 12th to the 14th, August 2nd to the 4th, and September 6th to the 8th. A motion to allow the village clerk to advertise for bids for the 2024 50-50 sidewalk program and asphalt repair. An ordinance amending Chapter 23 of the Elmwood Park Village Code regulating garbage, trash, and weeds. An ordinance ratifying the purchase of a vehicle for the police department from Ron Westfall Chevrolet. An ordinance ratifying the execution of an agreement with Kroll LLC for financial consulting services. An ordinance authorizing the acceptance of proposals for the purchase and outfitting of a vehicle for the public works department. An ordinance authorizing the purchase of digital police radios from the Cook County Emergency Telephone System Board. a resolution authorizing the issuance of a notice of award of a contract to Dukes for the 2024 combined sewer cleaning and television project, an ordinance authorizing the execution of a second amendment to a contract between the Village of Elmwood Park and Vega Tree Service, Inc., an ordinance authorizing the acceptance of a proposal from iHeart Media for marketing and advertising services, an ordinance authorizing the execution of a joint participation agreement for the purchase of rock salt, an ordinance authorizing the execution of a contract with Alverson Sound Inc. for event production services for the Taste of Elmwood Park, a resolution authorizing the execution of an agreement to extend an agreement with FH Passion for various construction projects through general government services contracting, a resolution expressing official intent regarding certain expenditures to be reimbursed from the Special Tax Allocation Fund for and or from proceeds of an obligation issued in any in connection with a proposed tax increment financing district commonly described as the West Belmont Avenue Redevelopment Project Area, and a resolution authorizing the execution of a license agreement between the Village of Elmwood Park and Aging Care Connections for access to and use of the Senior Center. Motion to approve, Mr. President. Second. Any discussion? Any none? Madam Clerk, please call the roll. Trustee Estrada Volpe? Yes. Trustee Zavaznevich? Yes. Trustee Conte? Yes. Trustee Sargent? Yes. Trustee Kaminsky? Yes. Trustee Lolino? Yes. President Saviano. Yes. Okay, moving on to communications. We have a raffle application submitted by John Matranga from the American Veterans Community Trust Company. He's looking to sell raffle tickets at the Taste of Elmwood Park August 8th to 11th and at a fundraising dinner at Donny G's November 4th. Move to approve. I'll second. All in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? You guys have it. We had a request from Lois Gates, Executive Director of Misericordia. She's seeking permission to solicit for donations outside certain businesses within the village, April 26th to the 27th, 2024. Move to approve. Second. Second. All in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? Motion passes. Okay, there being no old business, we'll move on to new business. We'll need a motion to advise and consent to the following appointments and reappointments. Move to advise and consent. Second. When I call your name, if you're here, please come up so that you can be sworn in by the President. Peter Volpe, Chairman of the Planned Zoning and Development Commission. Chris Caponigri, Gregory Duff, members of the Planned Zoning and Development. The Board of Fire and Police Commissioners, Vicki Jolly, Secretary. For the Safety Commission, Chris Kennedy. Senior Advisory Board, Annie Francis, Barb Lisiak, and Geraldine Lustro. And for the Village Ethics Commission, Paula Potempa, Chairperson. and for the Youth Commission, Gito Fiore, Tim Lockney, and Shakundala Narayan as members. If you're here, please come on up to the desk. Okay, as you know, I've stated before how important our commission members are in their respective capacities. They're our ears and eyes for the village. These are volunteer positions, and we REALLY DO APPRECIATE YOUR PARTICIPATION. WITH THAT, PLEASE RAISE YOUR RIGHT HAND. I STATE YOUR NAME. I STATE YOUR NAME. I STATE YOUR NAME. I STATE YOUR NAME. I STATE YOUR NAME. I STATE YOUR NAME. I STATE YOUR NAME. I STATE YOUR NAME. I STATE YOUR NAME. I STATE YOUR NAME. I STATE YOUR NAME. I STATE YOUR NAME. I STATE YOUR NAME. I STATE YOUR NAME. I STATE YOUR NAME. I STATE YOUR NAME. I STATE YOUR NAME. I STATE YOUR NAME. I STATE YOUR NAME. I STATE YOUR NAME. I STATE YOUR NAME. I STATE YOUR NAME. I STATE YOUR NAME. I STATE YOUR NAME. I STATE YOUR NAME. I STATE YOUR NAME. I STATE YOUR NAME. I STATE YOUR NAME. I ST AND TO PERFORM IN AN HONEST AND ETHICAL MANNER IN MY CAPACITY AS TO THE BEST OF MY ABILITY, SO HELP ME GOD. CONGRATULATIONS AND THANK YOU SO MUCH. THANK YOU. OKAY, IS THERE ANY OTHER BUSINESS WE BROUGHT BEFORE THE BOARD? If not, we'll entertain a motion to adjourn. So moved, Mr. President. Second. All in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? The meeting's adjourned. Have a great evening.