The Review reports today that John Doss, current park commissioner and longtime and village public works chief, now retired, will soon enter the 2023 race for Forest Park mayor.
That will pit him against Rory Hoskins, the incumbent mayor who announced a week ago that he is running for reelection.
The Doss family has a long history in Forest Park. Multiple generations have served the village, or depending on your take on that, have benefitted from the village’s insular hiring history.
When Hoskins ran for mayor in 2019 he was strong in arguing that hiring in the village needed to be opened up to more candidates and candidates without direct links to the village. He used the Doss family as an example of such hiring.
So going in we know of at least one issue that will rightly be debated.
With the election still 10 months out, we may see other candidates for mayor emerge, though the Review confirmed over the holiday weekend that Chris Harris, twice a mayoral candidate, will not compete for mayor in 2023.
We’ve also confirmed that two of the four sitting commissioners will run, one is undecided, and the fourth, the veteran Joe Byrnes is leaning heavily toward retirement after decades of public service.
Ryan Nero, elected in 2019, will run for a second term. Maria Maxham, former editor of the Review who was appointed to a commissioner’s seat a year ago, says she will run for election to the council in 2023. And Jessica Voogd, also elected in 2019, says she has not yet decided her plans.
We hope there will be multiple additional candidates for commissioner. Forest Park benefits when elections are contested. The town has genuine issues and challenges. Hearing more points of view is only helpful.
We do hope candidates in the coming election will consciously steer clear of the anonymous muck that has too often characterized, especially, the final weeks of election season. We want to see sincere pledges that neither candidates nor their closely or loosely aligned surrogates will splatter our local election with venom and untruths.
A better corner
Chipotle is open at Harlem and Madison.
And we’ll call that a notable upgrade from a decade as a vacant lot with a near miss on a Starbucks and occasional use as spillover parking for Rush Oak Park Hospital.
This northwest corner is clearly a gateway to Forest Park and the new signage identifying the village is a plus. We have concerns over the impact of traffic so near to an already congested intersection. And we’re not sure we fully grasp the Chipotlane concept. Smaller footprint. No indoor dining. Order your food in advance on the app. But what about folks who get a burrito craving only when they see the sign?
In any case this will be a solid property- and sales-tax producer, brings another major brand to town, and is a vast improvement over nothing.
