Time For Elmhurst Park Board To Take Mulligan On Bandshell Decision

This letter to the editor is from Elmhurst resident Jim Schuetz:

In golf, a “mulligan” is a second chance – a chance to redo a poor shot one would rather forget. The Elmhurst Park District Board should take one now.

At its January 12 meeting, the Park Board preliminarily approved the resident-opposed East Lawn location for the new Wilder Park bandshell. Commissioners Kevin Graf, Claire Kubiesa, Meghan Scarsella, and Susan Smentek voted in favor of the East Lawn site, while Commissioners Vince Spaeth, Carolyn Ubriaco, and Tim Sheehan supported the Ice Rink location. Notably, commissioners voted along the same lines they took in May, disregarding significant project changes and new information that has emerged since then.

This decision will have a profound and lasting impact on Elmhurst’s most iconic park. For the past eight months, a group of concerned residents has repeatedly urged the Board to use a sound decision-making process – one grounded in open-minded discussion, fact-based analysis, transparency, and broad consensus. Unfortunately, those principles were largely absent.
Instead, the process has been marked by:

• No agreement on the key facts that should drive the location decision
• An unwillingness to update and correct a consultant study from May evaluating the East Lawn and Ice Rink sites
• Commissioners digging in on personal preferences instead of listening to and responding to resident input
• No discussion at the December meeting of a Park District survey showing 70% support for the Ice Rink location
• No discussion at the January meeting prior to the vote – and not a single commissioner explaining the rationale behind their vote
• A narrow 4–3 vote on a decision of major and lasting consequence

We call on Park Board Chairman Kevin Graf to take a mulligan – to exercise real leadership and reconsider the bandshell location using a fair, transparent, and fact-driven process. Anything less would be a serious breach of public trust, a major slap in the face to Elmhurst taxpayers, and further fuel concerns about backroom political decision-making.

Elmhurst deserves better.