By James P. Economos DDS, Opinion Contributor
Ernest Hemingway had a fond description of Oak Park, Illinois where it is believed he once said, “Oak Park is the land of broad lawns and narrow minds.”
Over the years there’s been several examples of “narrow minds” including the village’s status as a nuclear free zone – or the fact that they did not recognize the need to develop vertical structures to increase the population base when the downtown shopping district was decimated when the building of shopping centers such as Oak Brook and Woodfield Malls were done. It sucked the business out of Oak Park during the late 1960’s and 1970’s, resulting in many vacant spaces.
At one time Oak Park’s downtown was a small version of Chicago’s Michigan Avenue with many department stores. When an old school building was raised, a proposed development similar to Marina City was rejected. This would have been located adjacent to the shipping district and the Metra and the L train. The effect was to have the population remain stagnant, while the suburban areas flourished.
The village just recently learned their lesson when they were foolishly spending $360,000 a month to house migrants. Now the migrants need to find other places at the end of this month! There are other examples, but that’s for another opinion piece.
Last year, Oak Park passed an ordinance which went into effect in January 2024 where new buildings can’t have a natural gas hookup – meaning they will be forced into paying for more expensive electric energy prices. This is another example where our liberal friends are only “pro-choice” in one topic, the rest needs to be controlled by the state.
This is a very foolish ordinance which needs to be reversed! People who advocate this receive an F in chemistry because the combustion of natural gas produces heat with the by-product of water vapor and carbon dioxide – which is plant food. They need to take basic chemistry and learn how the process of food for plants produces oxygen in a process called photosynthesis. Cooking with various oils does release many by-products, but no one minds when the kitchen smells wonderful during food preparation!
Another benefit of having a natural gas supply is when the electric does go out, people have gas powered backup electrical generators available. If there’s no gas supply what will people do if there’s no alternatives available?
The state of Maine recently reversed their electric vehicle mandate where 400,000 residents lost electrical power for several days. It’s hard to charge your EV if the grid’s down, don’t you think? And states like Florida are banning this foolish practice from their states for many reasons.
Maybe it’s time to do the same in Illinois!
Since 1980, James Economos, DDS, has been helping patients create artistic, beautiful, and aesthetic smiles. Dr. Economos is an opinion contributor with Illinois Review and he can be heard on Chicagoland radio shows each week providing insight and commentary on local and national issues.
