When the Village Council voted in 2016 to allow video gaming in Forest Park they established many rules and regulations that would apply to any establishment that wished to obtain a license. They performed their due diligence in researching what other communities were allowing or prohibiting and one of these regulations pertained to signage.
Drive through Berwyn or North Riverside, two of our neighboring communities and you will see video gaming banners and neon signs at all the establishments that offer video gaming and I believe that they are an eyesore. They are popping up all over the place, especially at video gaming parlors or cafes which are not allowed to open up in our community.
The twelve establishments in Forest Park all agreed that they would not display outdoor signage and have stated that fact in their current campaign materials asking us to “Let Forest Park Grow, Vote No” in the upcoming election.
When the Review fact checked that statement the response was “True, BUT”. A wise person once told me that anything after “but” is BS. The owners all agreed to the no signage stipulation and they are not going to risk the loss of their licenses by reneging on the agreement.
The Forest Park Chamber of Commerce has publicly supported video gaming and I believe our community should support it as well. In all the time that video gaming has been allowed in Forest Park, have there been any problems that those who wish to prohibit it said would come of it?
With the revenue generated from the machines the establishments are able to make improvements to their businesses and it also provides an alternative revenue source for our village government. These machines are not for the hard core gambler and I would wager that there has been more money spent on the Mega Million drawings these past few weeks than on video gaming machines by people who are going to vote no or yes on the issue.
As Jill Wagner so eloquently stated in her article that appeared in the October 17th issue of the Forest Park Review, this issue is once again tearing our community apart. There are signs all over town asking us to vote NO to keep video gaming or YES to prohibit it. She ended her article with these words “Forest Park is a nice town with nice people, amenities and usually kind and generous neighbors. Let’s hope it stays that way.” I couldn’t have said it better. Remember signs don’t vote, people do. Be sure to have your voice heard and I’m hoping that we support our businesses and vote NO.
Dave Novak
Forest Park resident
