Park Ridge Mayor Marty Maloney was at the city’s newest restaurant Fire and Wine – cutting the ribbon there – when he talked up the city’s progress over the last year, delivering his annual “State of the City” address.
Hosted by the Park Ridge Chamber of Commerce, the State of the City event was standing-room only on Feb. 5 and included representatives from local school and park districts who also addressed the audience.
Maloney spoke of the usual, day-to-day progress he said the city was making, including repairing streets, welcoming new businesses and keeping the city livable.
“These are not exotic things,” the mayor said about his punch list, “but things we need to do to keep serving the community.”
He said bigger, loftier goals are also being met. Maloney said the city’s bond rating increased to the second-best spot while property taxes remained unchanged for the fourth time in as many years, and all the while, the city has grown and continues to grow.
Last summer, the City Council approved a four-story senior housing complex off Busse Highway, and Park Ridge-Niles School District 64 is working on renovations. In addition, the city is repairing streets, resurfacing tennis courts and performing other maintenance residents demand, the mayor said.
Maloney said the city is also keeping out undesirable businesses.
“A year ago, at this time, we were talking about vape shops that had just opened up,” he said.
Maloney explained that the shops – usually adorned with neon and other gaudy lighting and offering a variety of smokable substances – operated within the city as any other retail establishment. That freedom has ended.
“We have put in some extra protections for residents,” the mayor explained.
Certain businesses, like vape shops, now require a special use permit “regardless of where they want to [locate in the city]. Which means it has to be approved by Planning and Zoning first and then they have to come to council for approval,” Maloney said.
He said the two-step approval process and the requisite public hearings give neighbors more of a warning and a chance to voice their objections – or support.
Other leaders praised their entity’s accomplishments. Ed Eicker, the vice president of the Maine Township High School District 207 school board, said the district’s recent $250 million renovation, paid for through a bond vote, has been a win.
“I can tell you as a former alum of Maine South [High School], as I first walked in the building it was amazing,” said Eicker. “Had you not told me I was in my former high school, I would not have known I was in a building I spent four years in. … Many of those buildings had not been renovated in a meaningful way since they’d been built.”
Matt Doubleday, District 64 board secretary, said newly-started district updates are going well so far.
“Lincoln (Middle School) is 100 years old and looks every bit of it. So, you’re seeing a lot of work going on in there already,” Doubleday said, adding that other schools will soon be getting facelifts.
Maloney wrapped up the evening by reminding residents that all the public boards, though serving different functions, work toward a common goal, and he praised the efforts toward that end.
“We all want a community that allows each one of us to be included and for each one of us to succeed,” he told the audience. “When we make choices for the city, it’s really for the goal of benefitting the community. … It’s not a city-centered decision, it’s a decision that affects the school district, the park district, Maine township, everybody.”
Jesse Wright is a freelancer.
