Oak Park trustee looks back on first year

Photo by Jason Geil, staff photographer

Glenn Brewer has no regrets, but some critics do

By MARTY STEMPNIAK
Staff Reporter
Last week marked the one-year anniversary of the election of the current Oak Park village board. And it’s been a year of noteworthy decisions for the group, including the approval of lights at the high school’s football stadium and the green-lighting of a controversial 20-story hotel in downtown Oak Park.

Glenn Brewer was the lone fresh face of the four board members elected April 7, 2009. President David Pope and trustees Colette Lueck and John Hedges were incumbents vying for re-election. Last week, Wednesday Journal sat down with Brewer to hear some of his thoughts on his first year at the board table.

Just 12 months in, Brewer is catching the attention of his colleagues. Ray Johnson, on the board since 2003, praised Brewer for his ability to synthesize complex issues and weigh in on matters without getting longwinded.

“He brings common sense and thoughtfulness to his position,” Johnson said. “In very few words, he gets right to the heart to of the matter, and I think that’s his greatest skill. Sometimes, folks might over explain things, but Glenn is able to dig right into the issue.”

Brewer, 53, was first approached by the Village Manager Association political party about running for trustee eight months before the election. He had previously served on several other boards, including those of the Oak Park Regional Housing Center and Unity Temple. He currently works as a community affairs specialist for the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

Before getting elected in April, Brewer said two of his top challenges for the board were to “improve the organizational structure, staff competencies and efficiency of village hall,” along with maintaining a “thriving diverse community.”

One year later, Brewer says he is satisfied with how the board has performed since the election. He pointed to the board reinvigorating its system of committees – where trustees meet in small groups to flesh out certain issues – and the opening of a one-stop shop at village hall for people trying to open businesses as some accomplishments of the board and village hall in the past year. He says it’s still too early to say whether the 20-story hotel at Lake and Forest will be a success, as the project still needs to find financing.

Brewer believes the board has lived up to its promises of transparency pointing to amount of citizen comment and input.

“I think we’ve been good at reaching out and getting public input on our decisions,” he said.

Village hall still has progress to make in becoming more user-friendly for residents, Brewer said, cutting down on wait times and making each trip there more efficient.

Gary Schwab, who ran for village president against Brewer and his running mates, criticized the village board for its performance over the past year. All seven members are from the same political party, and, too often, trustees vote in “lock step,” without any disagreement. He believes the board “makes up the rules” as it goes along, pointing to the board approving a sale of a vacant building to Pan’s Food Center to create a parking lot, when the village had previously rejected a similar plan.

“All the sudden a parking lot is OK because they need the money,” Schwab said. “They make up the rules as they go along, and there is not any discussion.”

Schwab also criticized the board for earmarking TIF dollars to the hotel project, while not meeting all its obligations of paying out money to other taxing bodies. He said the one-stop business center was a positive, but it was an old idea that was in place previously.

Trustee John Hedges says people may not agree with how the board votes, but he believes its members do their homework and take their time in making decisions. He agrees the board can occasionally be too cohesive.

“Sometimes I wish there was a little more pushback from people, because we think a little too much alike, but that’s what happens when you head in this direction,” he said. “We kind of have the same philosophy of what local government should be like and how we should deal with issues, so there’s not very much disagreement on the board.”

Hedges said that Brewer is sometimes quiet at the board table, but he went through the same thing in his first year, as he caught up and learned how to do the job. Brewer admitted that it’s been a steep learning curve on certain issues, such as Oak Park’s tax increment financing districts.

“From Glenn’s perspective, I’m sure he’s still learning because I’m still learning,” Johnson said. “That’s one of the greatest aspects of the job; it’s never dull and it enriches you in ways that can surprise you sometimes.”

Besides making village hall friendlier to residents, Brewer says he also wants to see Oak Park work to attract more businesses, especially those that are locally owned. In addition, he wants the board to work with the village manager to make sure spending stays in check.

March 11, 2010

By MARK LAWTON mlawton@pioneerlocal.com

Foreclosures in Franklin Park have continued a five-year increase, going up 49 percent from 2008 to 2009, according to the nonprofit Woodstock Institute. That’s the largest increase of 13 west Cook County suburbs.

Foreclosures are when a homeowner can’t make payments on a home loan and the bank or other lender takes legal action to repossess the house.

In Franklin Park, the number of foreclosures has grown 410 percent from 2005 to 2009.

Rob Breymeier, executive director of the Oak Park Regional Housing Center, speculates that Franklin Park has seen an increase due to a large number of first-time homebuyers and a high Latino population.

“Folks who are most likely to be taken advantage of are on the edge of what they can afford,” Braymeier said.

The increase in foreclosures has its roots in the subprime (above market rate) loan industry.

Initially, said Braymeier, a number of homebuyers borrowed from subprime lending institutions and had to pay more for the loan than the market rate.

“In many cases, these were people who were qualified for better loans but got subprime loans mostly because of race and ethnicity,” Breymeier said.

“It was much more prevalent in the African American and Latino communities.”

According to the U.S. Census Web site, more than one third of the residents in Franklin Park are of Latino ancestry.

“Then the market went beyond those two groups and started to provide exotic types of loans to people that weren’t intended for those types of loans,” Breymeier said. “Such as adjustable rate mortgage loans. It was fine for people who were getting a large increase in income in the short term, like doctors and lawyers who were just out of school.”

Such loans still worked for many people while housing values were increasing. Then, in 2006, housing values stopped increasing.

“People were in real trouble,” Breymeier said. “They were betting on their homes increasing in value. No refinancing was allowed. Also, the banks started tightening up their lending criteria based on the fact that the market was crumbling.”

The poor economy of the last couple years has only exacerbated the problem, causing homeowners to lose their jobs and income.

The priority of the Franklin Park government is to make sure foreclosed homes are maintained so properties don’t get vandalized, said Jeff Eder, director of community development.

“So they don’t stand out like sore thumbs,” Eder said. Last year, village trustees passed an ordinance requiring owners of foreclosed properties — banks, lenders — to notify the village.

Kurt Kugelberg, a Franklin Park resident who serves on the village Plan Commission and is a former urban planner, suggests the village government apply for federal stimulus funds so it can buy foreclosed properties.

“Either tear it down and sell it to the lot next door or restore them and sell them,” Kugelberg said.

The city of Northlake has also seen an increase in foreclosures. From 2008 to 2009, foreclosures increased from 127 to 172.

“It drives everybody’s property values down,” said Mayor Jeff Sherwin. “When houses are eventually sold, they are sold for much less.”

In the interim, the city’s public works department takes on maintenance — which costs the city time and money.

Geoff Smith, senior vice president of the Woodstock Institute, expects foreclosures to continue to remain high. The fourth quarter of 2009 saw the highest number of foreclosure filings since the mortgage crisis began.

“The economy is a weird and tricky thing,” said Smith. “We can see the gross domestic product and stock market going up. That doesn’t translate into jobs necessarily. Jobs tend to be the last thing to recover in a recession.”

In the meanwhile, Smith suggests the focus be on ways to keep people in their homes.

“If you let a person stay in a property, they have a place to live,” Smith said. “From a lender perspective, if they want to sell at some point, they have someone maintaining it.”

The Oak Park Regional Housing Center is looking for volunteers to help us with a variety of tasks including our website, front desk reception and intake. If you are looking for a volunteer opportunity, please stop in and ask for a volunteer application or email us at info@oprhc.org.

We ask that volunteers commit to at least a 3-hour commitment per week for at least 8 weeks . Knowledge of Oak Park is useful. We currently need volunteers for the following times:

Tuesdays: 9am – 7pm

Wednesdays: 9am – 2pm

Thursdays: 9am – 4pm

Fridays: 9am – 2:30pm

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