The Conversation Continues: EP Recreation

Dear neighbors,

As most of you are aware, Election Day is April 7, 2015 in Evergreen Park this year. This year’s race will include candidates for both local school districts (the High School Dist. #231 and the Elementary Dist. #124). In addition, the Evergreen Park Library and of course the Village of Evergreen Park local government itself will be participating. For those of you who don’t know me, my name is Chris Trzeciak and I will be running in this election as an independent candidate for a Village Trustee position. I have been serving on the Evergreen Park High School Dist. #231 Board of Education for the past eight years and am presently serving as the Board President. While I will be working diligently between now and the election to earn your vote, I am also hoping to stimulate some meaningful conversation about our community and the issues we are facing. In that spirit, I have drafted this brief position piece and hope that you will consider joining me in the conversation on my Facebook page and website.

Hopefully, we are doing a good job getting the message out there. Yard signs should soon start appearing, doors will be getting knocked on, and literature is being distributed. One thing that I really want folks to know is that anything you see with my name on it was paid for by me directly. From the start of this campaign I wanted to make it clear that no one was influencing my candidacy. With that said, it is my sincerest hope that I get an opportunity to engage with every resident and homeowner before Election Day. Furthermore, I am deeply committed to reaching out to the many residents who have previously not been part the process.

If you have been following the campaign on Facebook or checking out the campaign website, hopefully you are aware of my efforts to get residents engaged in some healthy discussion about ways to improve our neighborhood. In January I talked about some of the methods the EP High School Board and I have used to increase communication channels at the High School. I think communication is really an essential building block of any good thing and if I am elected, I will do everything in my power to increase the communication channels between the Village leadership and the residents. This month I would like to talk about another very important issue in our community, and this one is of particular importance to me.

Some of the top reasons families choose to move into and stay in a community are: the quality of education, the safety of the area, and the quality of the municipal services. One of the most important municipal services in my opinion deals with the availability and quality of local recreational activities and programs. I believe recreational activities affect all age groups in the population because they include everything from pre-k programs to activities for seniors. There are many great recreational programs in town. I remember how much fun I had when I was growing up playing community outdoor/indoor soccer, baseball, and basketball. That being said, I think this is also an area that could benefit from some increased investment in our village. For example, I have always felt that Evergreen Park needed its own proper indoor recreation facility that was purpose-built and designed to meet the needs of residents of all ages.

In addition to the youth programs, the Village sponsors a number of other community activities through the year. Over the years I have attended and participated in many of these and that’s why this particular subject interests me. In a online poll conducted by The Reporter (www.thereporteronline.net), less than 1% of respondents indicated that Evergreen Park’s “Day in the Park” was their choice summer festival. Tough feedback can be hard to take, but I see that as an opportunity to look at it constructively and determine how we can improve.

For this month’s “Join the Conversation” piece I want to hear from residents about their favorite EP recreation activities, their least favorite activities, some new ideas, or thoughts on where our Village should consider some investment. Please visit my website at www.ctfortrustee.com or my Facebook page at www.facebook.com/ctfortrustee to join the conversation.

Chris Trzeciak Candidate,
EP Village Trustee