| This week’s meeting started with the Committee of the Whole. We generated some good discussion about a potential future 143rd street project. The 143rd Street project is to widen to 5 lanes (2 lanes each way and center turn lane). It has 2 sections, the SW Highway to Wolf Road and Wolf Road to Will-Cook. The latter portion is shovel ready. Unfortunately, while the village and the federal government have paid for engineering the state has not done their part and funded construction. One way to spur construction would be to consider taking jurisdiction of the Wolf to Will-Cook portion since it is not a numbered route (we did the same thing from Ravinia to Harlem a long time ago). We are working on all options including federal grants to fund the project. After the discussion there was a lot of commentary on social media. Here are my thoughts on the project. Since I have been in office, I have routinely fielded complaints about 143rd Street. This project will address every complaint I have heard over the last 3 years and is the number one priority regional project for the Southwest Conference of Mayors as well. Since I have been here, all 9 trustees and I have supported this project (as have the elected officials that came before). We will continue to work on this to get it done. At the Committee of the Whole we also spoke about options regarding overhead line interference along the upcoming 151st Street project. Six of the board members agreed to have ComEd raise the lines at no additional cost to the village or to allow the fire department to pay to bury the lines near their station (approximate cost $400K). Trustee Calandriello was willing to spend village money and share the cost with the fire district. The rest of us were not, because raising the lines (at no cost) solves the problem. In my opinion this is more fiscally responsible. In the main board meeting we had the pleasure of honoring St. Michael’s state championship cheerleading squad, their 17th state title! The big item of the night was unanimously approving an inter-governmental agreement (IGA) to setup a task force with 4 neighboring communities to address the rash of car burglaries in the region. By the way, it’s not just our region, it’s something that’s happening all over. It was the discussion on this item that was very interesting! This was on the agenda because we have been proactively working with our neighboring communities (Tinley Park, Orland Hills, Oak Forest and Midlothian) to address this problem. First, a resident brought up a social media post from Township Supervisor Paul O’Grady that attacked our police department. |
| Police Chief Tim McCarthy addressed this resident’s concern with the following comments: (You can also watch the board meeting from 16:12 to 39 minutes to hear these comments rather than read them – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c85P9x0VC88) “No Joey’s is not in Orland Park, it is in unincorporated Cook County under the jurisdiction of the sheriff. If I might respond to that post at this time. I’ve been involved with law enforcement for 48 years and I don’t publicly respond to too much misinformation or disinformation for many good reasons. However, when an official is so misinformed, or the misinformation is directed solely at one department when this is an issue affecting a widespread area then I have to conclude maybe the comment is less about public safety and maybe more about something else. Our residents and the public do have an absolute right to demand the best services from the Orland Park Police Department and every department in the village and to complain when they don’t get it. When that happens it makes us a better police department because we have to reexamine how we are doing our job. But when you intentionally malign the men and women of the police department or if you are actually seeking to productively address an issue then it is usually better to do it when you know all the facts because the facts do matter. Not only did Mr. O’Grady not call me or any of the chiefs of police within the township to discuss this issue that I am aware of he even refused to return my call last Tuesday at 8:10 AM when I became aware of this post to try to discuss it with him and understand what his point was. If he would have called, he would have found out, as most of us know, these crimes are totally preventable and are happening throughout most of Northern Illinois, including Orland Hills and Tinley Park which are also within the Township and the fact that they were never notified about this makes me wonder why. If he called, he would have found out that Joey’s restaurant is not in Orland Park, it’s in Orland Township in unincorporated Cook County, so logically he would have directed his demands and remarks to the Sheriff of Cook County but to my knowledge he didn’t. If he would have called, he would have found out that the common strategy being employed by all of our surrounding departments in all of law enforcement is to address this issue via education, prevention and enforcement, but he didn’t call. If he had called, he would have found out that the towns of Midlothian, Tinley Park, Orland Hills, Oak Forest & Orland Park have endorsed a common strategy that we have implemented of education and a publicity campaign on a regional basis. We started this over 2 weeks ago. And an upcoming regional enforcement strategy as well, but he didn’t call to find that out. If he would have called he would have found out about the regional intelligence sharing among police departments in the southland and he would have found out about a regional mayors and chiefs of police meeting just last Wednesday attended by our mayor and deputy chief to share intelligence and best practices about this issue, but he didn’t call. If he had called, I would have told him in detail about the Orland Park strategy using technology, information, education and prevention and enforcement including Trustees assigned to ESDA out stickering cars (Trustee Milani) in the middle of the night which we have done repeatedly. I would have told him that our publicity and education program was also directed to unincorporated Orland Township as well. I believe Mr. O’Grady knows about the expertise of this department because it was in 2017 when $60,000 in taxpayer dollars where embezzled from the general assistance fund, food pantry fund and the general town fund of Orland Township and he turned to the Orland Park Police Department to address the matter which led to the arrest and indictment of one of the township employees and information that there are additional fraudulent checks that have been negotiated. So like Orland Park, Orland Township residents also deserve to know that the Township is safe guarding their taxpayer dollars and demand greater accountability from township government when it comes to internal financial controls and criminal activity. If Mr. O’Grady had called, he could have found out how he, his government and his board could be part of the solution, part of our long-term community policing efforts much like our churches, schools and other agencies that have joined with us in our efforts for prevention and education rather than impugning the ongoing efforts of our police departments. And finally, if Mr. O’Grady had called, I would have direct to the FBI crime in the United States statistics for 2017, 18 and 19, where he would have found that Orland Park was either the lowest or second lowest crimes against person, that’s violent crimes, for any city in the state of Illinois with 50,000 or more residents. That’s the lowest number of index crimes that we report to the State of Illinois that are reported to the FBI. I would much rather work constructively with Mr. O’Grady and Orland Township if possible, but I am not going to stand by as I never have in 48 years of policing and allow the men and women of the department to be the victim of misinformation. Whatever the intention is of impugning the hard work of these men and women of law enforcement for whatever his reasons might be. So I thank you Mr. Mayor for giving me this opportunity to say something on behalf of the Police Department and I would be happy to share our efforts with anyone, anytime with regards to our strategy in regards to the car thefts that have been going on throughout the Northern suburbs and frankly throughout the whole country.” Three of our trustees also expressed concerns with Mr. O’Grady’s comments. Trustee Milani pointed out that our department is very proactive. He also pointed out that we have over 40,000 vehicles with 100 to 150 broken into and this can be avoided by locking your car, not leaving your keys in your car, not leaving your garage door opener in your car, and bringing your valuables inside instead of leaving them in plain view. Lastly, he pointed that Mr. O’Grady had his car stolen out of his garage, because the garage door was left open and his keys were left in his car. (BTW the police recovered the car on the same day). Trustee Milina also pointed out to Mr. O’Grady that he should focus on helping with the issue instead of attacking our police department. Trustee Healy pointed out that Mr. O’Grady demonstrates poor judgment by paying for negative ads, where he wasted money and the money wasted in the township. He asked, “How can we trust that he is a good steward of our money?” He also stated that he doesn’t worry about our police department, because it is in good hands but he worries about how the township manages our money. Trustee Katsenes said, “With social media, I think we have a lot of opportunists out there trying to gain mileage, or stir the pot, whatever you want to say, whether it’s the ring of the mall, Hope Covenant, the Pioneers or now with Joey’s. I think there is a common thread there which is nothing to do with the ability of the police department. There is another agenda and that is very clear.” Personally, I pointed out that Mr. O’Grady never bothered to call me either and I read from the recent report from Chief McCarthy. I want to reiterate that in 2018 Orland Park had the lowest number of index crimes since 1994. In 2019, crime dropped another 6%. Also, Orland Park was number one for the lowest violent crime rate in 2018 and has been the lowest or second lowest for the last decade (trading off with Wheaton). Orland Park is incredibly safe, but we are also a very large community. Even with the lowest violent crime rate, we still average 2 violent crimes per month. Anyone can try to grandstand when an incident happens in an effort to elevate themselves and damage the reputation Orland Park. However, we have to ask if they are really interested in what is best for Orland Park. I continue to stand behind our chief and the great men and women of the Orland Park Police Department who do an outstanding job, and in my opinion, are an example for the entire state to follow! I will continue to work for the residents of Orland Park and against those that would like to damage Orland Park’s reputation. We have many great events upcoming, including:March 7th – Lincoln’s Generals at 11AM at the History MuseumMarch 19 fundraiser – 6:30 to 8:30 at Coach’s corner – https://www.facebook.com/events/192026918824761/March 24 Mayor’s Senior coffee at the Civic Center. Health screenings at 7:30 presentations begin at 9:30. https://www.facebook.com/events/3002633533081058/ |
