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Chicago Tribune
24-04-2025
- Automotive
- Chicago Tribune
La Grange Park residents seek lower speed limit on La Grange Road; officials to lobby in Springfield
About 75 La Grange Park residents turned out Wednesday to give their input on the village's Traffic Safety Improvement Project, and lobby for safety improvements on La Grange Road. The village held an open house specifically targeting the stretch of La Grange Road from Brewster Avenue north to 31st Street. The Illinois Department of Transportation owns the road and any changes would require its approval. The village partnered with Kimley-Horne and Associates for preliminary engineering plans. 'They come up with this plan and the main focus is safety on La Grange Road from Homestead to Woodlawn. Safety is number one,' Village President James Discipio said. Discipio said the village would like to see the speed limit reduced by 5 mph to be consistent with La Grange and Countryside, and also wants better access for emergency vehicles off of Woodlawn onto La Grange Road. Kimley-Horne produced several viewing stations focusing on preliminary design concepts under consideration: Replacing the existing striped median at the Homestead-La Grange Road intersection with a raised landscaped median to provide a pedestrian refuge. Exploring the possibility of adjusting the traffic light at Homestead and La Grange Road with a leading pedestrian interval to give pedestrians a head start when crossing. The possibility of installing a traffic signal at La Grange Road and Woodlawn to improve pedestrian safety for residents crossing to Memorial Park. Widening La Grange Road between Homestead and Woodlawn to accommodate the raised medians. But the main topic was the dangers posed by speeding on La Grange Road and the possibility of lowering the speed limit. La Grange Park petitioned IDOT to lower the speed limit from 30 mph to 25 mph, submitting crash data July 17, 2024, that showed 12 vehicle accidents, one pedestrian accident and one involving a bicycle between 2017 and 2021 at La Grange Road and Homestead Avenue. Further north, at La Grange Road and Woodlawn Avenue, there were 35 vehicle accidents and two pedestrian accidents in the same time period, the data show. La Grange Road is already the busiest roadway in the village, and includes the Village Market Shopping Center, Plymouth Place Senior Living, the La Grange Park Public Library, Memorial Park and nearby entities, such as Village Hall, Jewel-Osco and Homestead Apartments. Traffic moving north from La Grange, with its 25 mph speed limit, tended to speed up while traffic coming south from Westchester often failed to slow from the 40 mph limit there, officials said. New additions to the area, including Andy's Frozen Custard and Aldi, have been popular with residents and made traffic congestion even worse, officials said. But IDOT rejected any decrease in speed limit formally requested, pointing to its own study concluding the 30 mph limit was appropriate, citing a 94% anticipated speed limit violation rate, meaning the problem was enforcement. One resident, Melanie Dawe, spoke out about safety on La Grange Road. 'The speed limit, the light and really the whole traffic flow needs to be made safer,' Dawe said. Bonnie Wedster agreed. 'I walk a lot and bike a lot,' she said. 'I go to Trader Joe's to shop, but I'm not going to bike any where close to La Grange Road. … People go way too fast on La Grange Road. It's not safe for anybody that's not in a car.' Tom Land lives directly across La Grange Road from Andy's Custard and stressed that whatever the speed lmit was, better enforcement was needed. 'We really don't see the amount of enforcement we think there should be,' Land said. 'You can get up at 7 a.m. and see semi-trucks and trucks full of gravel doing 45-50 mph down La Grange Road. That continues throughout the day and into the night when people are peeling out of Andy's and essentially drag racing down La Grange Road.' Trustee Mike Sheehan said he was impressed with the residents comments, and noted a planned trip April 29 to the state Capitol by Discipio, Village Manager Julia Cedillo and Trustee Bob Lautner to lobby IDOT for the speed limit reduction. 'Judging from the turnout there's a lot of interest,' Sheehan said. 'I know they're working on going down to Springfield next week, the slogan is 'take five' to try and get IDOT to lower the speed limit 5 mph. We have to make this area more pedestrian friendly.' Discipio stressed any change in that stretch of La Grange Road was up to IDOT. 'It's their road,' he said. 'We can't do anything without IDOT's approval.'
Chicago Tribune
03-04-2025
- Politics
- Chicago Tribune
Most incumbents return in La Grange, La Grange Park; referenda succeed
Most of the village leaders in La Grange and La Grange Park are back to work after an election cycle where only one municipal incumbent was defeated. Referendums in Western Springs and La Grange Public School District 102 appeared to have won by large margins. In La Grange Park, incumbent Trustee Jermaine Stewart lost his bid for reelection to Nick Diaferio as four candidates vied for three spots on the Village Board. Fellow incumbents Jamie Zaura and Karen Koncel appeared to retain their seats, according to unofficial election results from April 1. La Grange Park Village President James Discipio said he looked forward to working with Diaferio, but he was disappointed by Stewart's defeat. 'That's the Democratic process and Jermaine understands that,' Discipio said. 'But he's a tremendous loss to our staff and our board. He has done so many great things with our CRC (Community Revitalization Committee). He's a true gentleman.' In La Grange, all three Village Board incumbents were returned to office, with Lou Gale winning 28.6%, Peggy Peterson 25.6% and Glenn Thompson 25.2%, according to unofficial election results. Challenger Carla Carter fell short in her first attempt at elected office with 20.6% of the votes. The village presidents of both towns are returning after unchallenged campaigns. 'I think things are going great, and I appreciate the resident's support and the support from the Board,' La Grange President Mark Kuchler said after the election. 'I think we've accomplished a lot in the last couple years, and I'm looking forward to accomplishing a lot more.' Kuchler said his main focus for the immediate future is to get the village's sewer projects started. 'My hope is that we get the permitting approved by MWRD (Metropolitan Water Reclamation District) in the relatively near future and that we can go out to bid on the project in 2025,' he said. He spoke to the issue of liquor laws in La Grange that were the focus of much campaign discussion, particularly an ordinance requiring restaurants to derive at least 60% of their revenue from food sales and no more than 40% from liquor. Some thought the 60/40 rule should be relaxed or done away with altogether, but Kuchler disagreed with any drastic changes. 'I think a lot of it is really misunderstood,' he said. 'It really applies only for restaurants, first of all. We do have a license that would apply for wine bars if they were to come into town. The Wooden Paddle asked for an exception for their second floor banquet space and we gave that to them. We work with businesses that are interested in La Grange and are appropriate.' This is Kuchler's second term he's won outright, after having been appointed when Tom Livingston resigned. He said he's not even thinking about a third term. Discipio, having just won his sixth term in office, said he has no plans to retire anytime soon. 'I love what I do,' he said. 'As long as my community supports me and they think I'm doing a good job — and they trust us — I will continue as long as I'm able to, give to my community.' He said he's appreciative of his long time in office. 'I'm so privileged and grateful for the opportunity to serve the residents again, with the board doing good things for the community,' he said. Most other municipal posts in La Grange and La Grange Park were unopposed. In the La Grange Park District, newcomer Brad Carter will join incumbents Robert Vear and Chris Weber. In the Community Park District of La Grange Park, candidates running unopposed included Alexandria Zuck, Sheri Sauer and Mike Marusic and they all won seats as commissioners. The La Grange Park Public Library Board will return trustees Karen Snow-Bartholomai, Sarah Krall and Allison Demes O'Brien. The La Grange Public Library elected three brand new trustees, Bethany Griffin, Jessica Dangler and Jennifer Hopkins. A $45 million infrastructure bond referendum was passed by Western Springs voters, 72.44% to 27.56% opposed. General Obligation Bonds in the amount of $82 million were approved by La Grange Public School District 102 voters by a margin of 67.56% approve to 32.44% opposed.
