La Grange Man Made Difference With Road

LA GRANGE, IL – La Grange resident Kristopher Serra says he wasn't going to take no for an answer lightly.

And he didn't.

The result: A school zone on Ogden Avenue from Ashland to Gilbert avenues. Ogden is a state highway, maintained by the Illinois Department of Transportation.

Last year, Serra wrote Village President Mark Kuchler about the need for a school zone, given that Ogden Elementary School, St. Francis Xavier School and Park Junior High are nearby.

At Monday's Village Board meeting, Kuchler said, "I wrote back a response that I wrote back 20 times: I absolutely agree. I would like nothing more than to have something done, but the road is controlled by IDOT, and IDOT won't do it."

Serra, who lives near Ogden, said he found the names of the local state legislators – Sen. Mike Porfirio and Rep. LaShawn Ford. And he invited them and Kuchler to come by his house one morning and walk with his children to school. They did.

Before finishing a meeting afterward, they drafted a letter to be sent to the state agency, Serra said. That led to a meeting with state officials.

"If they were going to say no, they were going to say no to our faces," Serra said.

On Monday, Kuchler honored Serra with a resolution. He also did so for Porfirio and Ford.

With the zone, the speed limit is 20 mph, rather than 30 mph.