Bolingbrook Residents Participate in "On the Table" Evening

"A little less conversation, a little more action, please" could have been the theme song playing in the background of Wednesday evening's On the Table: Memo to the Mayor event hosted at the Golf Club. With all available tickets allocated, this capacity event brought together a diversity of Bolingbrook residents. The great turnout for On the Table: Memo to the Mayor really emphasized the need for all the voices in the Bolingbrook community to be heard.

Coming together to turn "energy to action," as Ransom instructed, topics like Infrastructure & Sustainability, Economic Development & Finances, Education, and Social Justice & Inclusion were discussed. Topic leaders: Tom Braxton, Elnalyn Costa, Marcus Wright and Joanne Rodriguez helped guide the dialogue with framing questions and statistics to deliver a myriad of ideas in the round robin style process. All the attendees had the chance to weigh in and offer their visions, voice their concerns, and ideate solutions that will ultimately be the foundation for the Memo to the Mayor. "Following along with the Chicago Community Trust's program for this year, we really wanted to lend a voice to everyone in the room. We wanted to make sure that everyone had a voice, that it was heard, and their ideas were captured," said Ransom. "The evening was so well rounded, so well received--the energy was just so positive!"

The evening was kicked off in a presentation by Susan Varno of the Bolingbrook Historic Preservation Commission. Her program "Why Bolingbrook?" highlighted the history of the prairie grasslands that Bolingbrook now inhabits, the presence of native American fur traders due to our geographic proximity to waterways, to the support community builders--like Dover Construction--received through the GI Bill funding and the fact that most communities incorporated as an extension of existing adjacent municipalities. Bolingbrook, however, organized itself--not as an extension of an existing community but as a stand alone development. It was in this spirit that the residents of this event took the opportunity to harness their power and organize around action. "Why NOT Bolingbrook" as Susan's program noted, quickly became a sentiment echoed by all of the participants.

Moving forward, the On the Table event has developed into a Task Team. This team will seek to organize action around the top ideas generated. Assigning what we, as residents, can deliver is a priority but we will also be developing some requests and action items for the Mayor in a memo to be delivered via The Chicago Community Trust in June. There will also be items organized and brought to the attention of the School Board, Park District, Township and County. "We all have to work together like fingers on a hand," said Rodriguez. "If we try to develop one single path forward we lose the momentum of all the ideas and voices. Our community is strongest when we all work together."

If you are interested in more information on the Task Team, the ideas developed through this On the Table event, or how to get more engaged at the community level (like hosting an On the Table next year) email Terri Ransom at terransom@aol.com. A special thank you to Diane Donnelly for her help as timekeeper and sergeant-at-arms.