Poll: Partisan Politics in La Grange Park
La Grange Park residents tell us what they think.
At a La Grange Park Village Board meeting on Jan. 24, Village President Jim Discipio called for a five-minute time-out in the middle of a discussion about whether the board should accept $600,000 in grant money to rebuild the facilities of the public works department.
Earlier in the meeting, a resident had suggested in public comments that certain trustees should stop playing politics with the issue. During the board's discussion later in the meeting, Trustee Rimas Kozica used his speaking time to directly go after that resident in a way the village president found disrespectful. Discipio ordered a five-minute recess to cool things down.
"What a joke," a resident in the audience said about the situation.
This isn't the first time that board discussions in La Grange Park have been bogged down by politics—take a look at this story in the Doings.
Politics continues to be a red-hot issue in the village. What do residents think about that?
Today Patch asks La Grange Park residents:
- Is there appropriate civility between trustees on the La Grange Park Village Board?
- Has partisan politics been good or bad for La Grange Park?
And if you missed the Jan. 24 meeting, it's worth a watch. Catch it on Channel 6 at 7 p.m. on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.
Vote in the poll and tell us why in comments below.
Scott Mesick
7:13 am on Thursday, January 26, 2012
Some Trustees are respectful but others cannot discern the difference between policy differences and personality. A problem that is all too common in our country these days
Gary Charles
8:15 pm on Friday, January 27, 2012
Village President Discipio gets upset whenever things don't go his way, and he is sometimes disrespectful to the trustee(s) who don't see things his way.
Had former trustee Janet Klingberg truthfully given her intentions of moving out of state prior to her name appearing on the ballot, the Rose Party may never have emerged. By keeping her move quiet, it gave me the feeling that President Discipio expected her to retain her seat in the April election, then submit her resigniation. This would allow President Discipio to hand pick her successor, presumably a resident whose views more mirrored his.
Matthew Hendrickson
10:23 am on Saturday, January 28, 2012
Thanks for your comment, Gary.
Karen Koncel
9:30 pm on Saturday, January 28, 2012
Case in point, we can expect the bickering to continue based on comments like these. These comments perpetuate the divisiveness of party politics.
TOM
1:49 pm on Tuesday, January 31, 2012
I attend village meetings. The trustees are always civil to each other. There is nothing wrong with different views and opinions being discussed by the trustees AND the residents at these meetings. The village needs independent thinking and not a bunch of yes men. Stop trying to push through the LEEDs garage and do whats best for the village. $600,000 is not enough to pay for a $7,000,000 garage.
Matthew Hendrickson
1:56 pm on Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Thanks for sharing your thoughts TOM. At this point the LEED certifed garage project is not in the works. Trustees are currently aiming at budget of $1.2 million to restore part of the garage and rebuild another part.