See Videos: Darien Promotes Itself

DARIEN, IL — Darien's city government released two promotional videos Thursday that reflect a different time — perhaps unintentionally. The videos show a Darien with trees full of leaves and happy residents together.

This is a sharp contrast to recent times, with winter lingering and orders requiring social distancing. The videos are titled "Darien, Illinois: A Nice Place to Live" and "Darien, Illinios: A Nice Place to Do Business." They promote Darien's businesses, housing, schools, churches, parks, library, shopping and city government.

"Having a progressive, bipartisan government and exceptional public service commitment, Darien consistently updates and improves its infrastructure and operational policies, ranking among the top 30 percent of Illinois' safest cities," a female narrator says. "Darien boasts a well-trained and responsive police department, and it is served by two full-time fire districts."

One of the videos says Darien has a fiscally sound government, low property taxes and top-ranked municipal services.

The video on doing business in Darien includes representatives of two organizations that have benefited from city money. Lou Ramandani, general manager of Carriage Greens Country Club, spoke about Mayor Joseph Marchese's involvement in getting a "very substantial" city grant to help the country club with capital improvements.

John Manos, managing partner of Brookhaven Plaza, credited the mayor with providing an "incredible amount of support." He said he saw the city government as "very proactive as opposed to reactive." In January, the City Council approved giving as much as $150,000 to Manos' company to help pay for upgraded architecture for a planned building next to Brookhaven that is expected to include Dunkin' Donuts and a pizzeria.

Both videos share a conclusion: "So how would you describe Darien? Well-managed, progressive, responsive, community-focused, a city with friendly, caring residents and dedicated public service officials committed to the future, a truly nice place to live."