Business owner deserves better
After many months of reading in the Review the saga of Elite Tire on Harlem, I was appalled to see that the village of Forest Park has let Pep Boys move into the old location that’s now next door to the new Elite Tire. While I am not privy to all of the politics of this situation, my perception is that there was a lot of dispute over letting Rod build his new garage. Once the economy went south, he was given the blessing to build.
Pep Boys has been on Harlem in Forest Park before, and it caused a lot of issues, if I recall. But there they are back.
Where is the small town charm of Forest Park when we do something like this to a local merchant who has spent a lot of money and has invested in building in Forest Park under our current economic times? Elite Tire’s new building is quite impressive, and is anything but an eyesore like the building it replaced, or the Pep Boys current location.
We have used Elite Tire for service for many years, and I appreciate the good service I have received. I hope the residents of Forest Park take this into consideration when they are deciding whether to pull into Elite Tire or Pep Boys. You won’t see me at Pep Boys, that’s for sure.
Lynn Anderanin
Forest Park
Function over form
After living in Forest Park for 25 years, it is great to see improvements to Jackson and Harvard. Actually, living three houses from Jackson and finally seeing completion in site, I am ready to throw a party for all nearby residents who suffered through this construction. There was no doubt that updating was needed to the streets. But do we need all the expensive extras like different sidewalk configurations, planters that will be put in and a concrete median strip in the middle of Harvard? One resident informed me that benches were going to be put in along Jackson. If this is true, someone has truly lost their mind.
My knowledge of the funding for these projects is zero. Hopefully it is from the state and it won’t cost Forest Park residents money. My complaint is there are many other deficiencies in the village to rectify before we start planting trees. Are we becoming Oak Park or has Mayor Daley somehow taken over this town? The alley behind my residence on Circle has been flooding for 25 years. Thought there was no way this would be taken care of as long as the late Mayor Popelka lived next door to me. But now this problem is getting old. If this is repaired (like numerous alleys in the village have been) the only ones to suffer will be the kids who love to swim in the alley when it rains.
Surely, other residents must have similar issues where they live in town. If Forest Park had no control of what work was to be done to Jackson and Harvard, then my letter has little meaning. But if the enhancements to these projects were decided by our administration, then we have a serious issue. There are too many structural deficiencies in the village to be wasting money on planting trees and other cosmetic upgrades.
Tom Reich
Forest Park
