Meet your Candidates: Lynn Kessen, Oak Park Village Trustee

Lynn Kessen, 46, is vying for a seat on the Oak Park Board of Trustees, six trustees and the village president responsible for shaping the village’s public and fiscal policies.  This is her first run for public office.

Members of the board of trustees serve four-year terms. This year, three seats are up for election. Three candidates  — , and – have formed the Citizens for Accountable Leadership Party, a group backed by the Village Manager Association, Oak Park’s principal candidate slating organization.

Kessen and Lewis Carmichael are running as independents.

A government affairs analyst for an engineering, construction and environmental firm, Kessen has lived in Oak Park since 2000 and has not served on any village boards of commissions. She has been an officer on the board of her condominium association, which led to her decision to run for Oak Park trustee. She is married.

Patch: What is your vision for Oak Park?

Lynn Kessen: All communities must define themselves before they can visualize and then realize the future. Oak Park is no different, and has done so with public input through many of its leadership tools.

I envision Oak Park, with its many retail and service districts and corridors throughout the Village, offering a welcoming atmosphere with lively shopping and dining options with an exciting array of mixed uses and a keen focus on sustainable living… where people from around the region, the country and the world want to visit over and over again, and where the people who live in the Village feel completely invested in and part of the community.

I envision a continued eagerness for private redevelopment while maintaining the charming character and historical landscape with which we are entrusted, being sensitive to – and promoting responsible development compatible with – adjacent residential neighborhoods.

Patch: What would you accomplish during your first two years on the board?  Please be specific.

I would like to accomplish so many things in the first two years if I were fortunate enough to be elected, but I will describe three in detail:

Smart Economic Growth: To achieve the goal of responsible economic growth, we need to become more organized and start operating as a cohesive Village. Municipalities all over the country, both larger and smaller, have acknowledged the need for a long-term strategic plan to address growth. Guided initially by a small group of qualified residents (no need to outsource to a consultant when we have such a vast talent pool within our Village), we need to craft a vision for all of Oak Park. This is a lengthy process, but we need to begin to tie together the several corridor plans and master plans already in place into a cohesive, village-wide plan.

Business Development: There are many business success stories in Oak Park, and with the fairly recent addition of the Business Service Center to Village Hall, it is clear that the administration has a vested interest in attracting businesses to Oak Park. I would like to look in more detail at the current business licensing and permitting processes, and identify areas where realistic goals may be set in the attempt to make it easier, cheaper and quicker to establish a business in Oak Park. Though there are many factors that affect the timeline of the processes – many that are beyond the control of Village Hall – we should aspire to a process that takes no longer than 90 days. Increased economic growth is a direct result of creating a more business-friendly environment.

Open Government: I would like to establish an Open Government Plan that clearly defines the types of information available to the public, how it is made available, and a targeted timeframe for implementation. The document would be updated annually, with the ultimate goal of presenting as much information to the public as possible, which would reduce, if not eliminate, the need for formal Freedom of Information Act requests.

One of the board’s priorities has been transparency in village government and trustees often say that the village is open and transparent. In the wake of the Attorney General’s ruling that the VOP violated the Open Meetings Act, how can Oak Park live up to that priority? Please be specific.

In my role as Government Affairs Analyst for an engineering, construction & environmental firm, every day I see both the promise of improved transparency and openness, and failed attempts at it. I believe that developing and implementing an Open Government Plan is an excellent step in beginning the process toward true openness and transparency.

I am a firm believer that it takes far less energy to do things properly than the alternative, and we need to give ourselves a fighting chance to make it happen.

Give specifics on how the village can be more financially effective and efficient. How would you ensure that the village is spending its money wisely?

After reviewing the Village’s most recent budget audit (2009), I think the first step toward financial efficiency is to provide the Finance Department the support it needs to be better organized in implementing the policies and procedures to which they are bound. Understanding the underlying details of why there are material weaknesses and deficiencies in the processes is important in remedying the situation, which will likely prove challenging since there is evidence that reduction in staff was a contributing factor.

Considering the consequences to not meeting some of our financial reporting and procedural obligations, we should address this with a firm plan as to how to restore our financial operations.

There are several areas in Oak Park that are ripe for development: the former Colt Building site, on Lake Street just east of Harlem Avenue; and Oak Park Avenue and Madison Street; Lake Street and Forest Avenue could soon follow. And there are other sites, too, that aren’t being developed, like the former Volvo site on Madison. What’s holding back the development?

 Aside from the obvious economic situation that is affecting every corner of the country with regard to development/redevelopment, I would be speculating as to why the Village has delayed such projects. What I would like to see, however, is that once we get beyond the crisis, and property values begin to increase, that we make it a priority for the Village to divest its interest in real estate, which would put the properties back on the tax rolls.

In my opinion, the Village has not proven its abilities in this area, and it should stop before more costly decisions are made.

What should Oak Park be doing to attract and retain business? Is it being aggressive enough? Be specific.

It is clear to me that the Village has made steps in acknowledging the need and intent to improve its interaction with the business community, through its creation of the Business Service Center, its strong relationship with the Oak Park Development Corporation, as well as its obvious aspiration to assist businesses and business districts as evidenced by its desire to implement streetscape beautification plans.

In my previous response to what I hope to achieve in two years, I introduced one possible method to attract businesses through process improvements, which addresses one aspect of creating a business-friendly environment. Insightfully, much is being done by the OPDC (working closely with the Business Service Center), which has created an informative marketing piece – Succeed Here Oak Park – and has used it to target growth-oriented businesses. OPDC and the Business Service Center have a proven knowledge of Oak Park’s market condition and types of businesses that are presently underrepresented within the Village.

I think we need to expand our focus beyond the greater downtown area to the other districts that could also use an infusion of attention and support, such as North Avenue Business District, the Chicago Avenue districts, Lake Street (east of Ridgeland), the Oak Park Arts District along Harrison, the Madison Street Corridor, the South Town Oak Park District, the Roosevelt Road District and the Garfield and Harlem District. I believe that a broadened scope could work wonders toward aiding business retention and growth, as well as elevating the perception of Oak Park as a business-friendly community.

How would you vote on the Comcast project and what would be your reasons for your vote?

This is one of the most controversial issues within Oak Park, so I decided weeks ago to make an appointment with Perry Vietti at Interfaith Housing Development Corporation (IDHC) to tour a couple of their established communities so that I could make an informed decision if I were to be elected. I was on the fence. I had attended a few of the meetings, read the articles and blogs, and spoken with individuals both supporting and opposing the redevelopment.

My conclusion is that I find it sad that a project such as this has divided our community. Having seen a few of the IHDC communities (we only toured two, but also drove past three others), it is evident to me that the resounding underlying issue – no matter the argument – is that people fear the low-income status of the anticipated residents of the proposed community. In other words, I don’t believe that this question would be posed to candidates, nor would this redevelopment be at all controversial, if the low-income status were not a factor.

I truly respect that people have their opinions regarding the development of this community. I cannot, however, subscribe to the labeling and gross generalizations being made – that because the individuals applying to live in this community maintain a low income status, they are a threat to public safety and property values. The target resident has been thoughtfully and clearly defined with the larger community in mind, and I see no ability to tie the likely tenants to increased crime and decreased property values. Based simply on the facts, I believe that the stigma being attached to the proposed use is unsubstantiated and unjust.

In absence of other reasonable arguments against the planned redevelopment of the Comcast building as presented, I support the IHDC proposed community.