There are towns that become a bit obsessed with their village codes. Endless tinkering, expensive rewrites, all linked to ever-evolving goals and policies.
And then there is Forest Park. The village has a code book. Trouble is, it has had basically the same code book for decades. Steve Glinke, director of public health and safety at village hall, says portions of the code have not been reviewed since they were carved on tablets in the 1960s.
Doesn’t mean that Forest Park has been hidebound in enforcing those codes. Systems have evolved as technology has arrived, as the world changed in how it built and repaired structures. And so practices at village hall have shifted. Those shifts just haven’t been documented and preserved in the building code.
That is happily starting to change. This week the village council unanimously approved a series of updates to the code as it relates to permits and licensing around building issues. Fees have shifted, consolidated and been increased in cost. What practically requires a permit is now in sync with what the village actually enforces.
Rachell Entler, the village administrator, is driving this change along with her department heads. It will be a process. It isn’t glamorous. But it is the stuff of solid local governance and we are glad to see it.
Juneteenth’s hope
Forest Park has been a leader in marking and celebrating Juneteenth for 15 years. It was in 2009 that Rory Hoskins, then a village commissioner, raised this little known holiday to its rightful status, recognizing those who had endured slavery in America and placing value on the resilience and courage reflected in the fight to end the institution of slavery and confront the deep racism that permeates our society.
Hoskins, a native of Galveston, Texas, where Juneteenth was born, has continued the annual Forest Park tradition of gathering at the pool for a day of both fun and reverence. Since 2009 the Juneteenth movement has also grown as more people have become aware of its history. And as that has happened, Forest Park’s leadership with neighboring communities has also expanded.
In a special section in all of our Growing Community Media publications today we have worked to gather all the aspects of Juneteenth in our communities.
Back in 2009 there was earned optimism that America was making continued progress in facing up to our sordid racial history and taking steady steps toward repair. Barack Obama was our president, and while that certainly did not make this a “post-racial society” it made us a more racially-aware society.
In that moment it would have been difficult to predict the backlash to all forms of diversity that, as a country, we seemed to genuinely be gravitating toward. A decade and a half later we are now facing down a torrent of anger and fear rooted in racism coming from a stunning minority of our fellow Americans.
That makes this election year the most important in our lifetimes. And it makes having this community gather around the Juneteenth flag-raising so poignant and powerful.