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14 | March 9, 2017 | The frankfort station News
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From Page 3
it does cause a parking problem,”
Morgan said. “Most of
the time there is no parking
problem downtown — most
of the time — but to add parking
is essential.”
Morgan recommended
adding 100 spaces downtown
and said it was “craziness”
that the Village did not have
an answer yet.
Holland said that problems
with everyday parking
stemmed from shop employees
parking in residential
areas. He suggested the Village
re-implement a sticker
system or use metered parking.
He also agreed that special
event parking was inadequate
but pointed to shuttles
from administrative buildings
and churches, which
will begin at the Country
Market this summer.
“We have parking in the
downtown; yes, we could use
some more,” Holland said.
“But it’s going to come with
the development. The developers
should not be proposing
properties to develop without
proposing parking answers
along with those properties.”
Clavio also said parking
was a “whole community issue,”
not just a downtown
problem. He pointed to Naperville
and Burr Ridge as
examples.
“Maybe we need to start
talking to them — maybe we
need to look at what they did
— and figure out how we do
it here in Frankfort,” Clavio
said.
On whether he would support
affordable housing for
those who have been priced
out of Frankfort’s $350,000
median home value, Holland
said his goals has been
to boost property values over
the years.
“We want to see property
values continuing to rise, and
that’s counter to finding lowcost
housing,” he said.
Walker said higher property
values has allowed the
Village to maintain a low
tax rate.
Holland said the plan is to
look at properties in nearby
communities to “take care
of people who may not
have the money to live in
Frankfort,” and pointed to
the Gateway senior mobile
home community as an example.
According to the Illinois
Housing Development
Authority, about 2 percent
of Frankfort units are considered
“affordable” for
low-income residents.
While Morgan said it is
a “difficult topic” he would
work toward, he focused on
increasing incentives for new
residents to move to Frankfort.
“People need a reason to
move to Frankfort, in addition
to having affordable housing,”
he said.
Morgan also criticized
the current administration
for allowing the Villageowned
properties at Elwood
and White Streets to remain
vacant. The six properties
were purchased between
2013 and 2014 for a total of
about $1.1 million.
Holland said that “sketches”
were brought to commissioners,
but he has not heard
from developers in about four
to five months.
“The Village made it so
onerous to try to develop
down here, that I don’t think
any developer is going to
come here,” said Morgan.
“We need more businesses
down there to support the
downtown and drive the traffic,”
Morgan said. “We can’t
always be paying for events
to get traffic down there.”
One heated moment came
in response to a question
most candidates agreed upon:
whether Frankfort should
switch to a ward system.
“We’re responsible for all
of you,” Ogle said. “We have
to answer to all of you and
take all of your interests —
because this is one community.
This is not one section,
one district.”
“This certainly applies
to the idea of — sorry Sam
[Giordano], just the concept,
nothing personal about you
— the ‘I’m your guy.’ I think
that invites corruption,” Ogle
said, referring to a phrase
Giordano used to describe
himself during introductory
statements.
Giordano said the phrase
meant that he would be a
“voice for the people.”
“Keith and I talked the
other day on the phone,
and we talked, and you said
you weren’t going to sling
any type of mud or anything
like that whatsoever,”
Giordano said. “I guess that
didn’t occur.”
All candidates said they
were not in favor of a ward
system except for Giordano,
a division senator for Harper
College’s faculty senate, who
said he would need to hear
more from community members
first.
The mayoral candidates
also split over term limits, a
topic that came up at a January
Village Board meeting
when trustees rebuked
Morgan’s push to put a term
limit referendum up for an
April 4 vote.
In order to have been placed
on the ballot, the board would
have needed to approve the
measure by Jan. 17, which
trustees said would leave little
time for discussion. The measure
would not have gone into
effect until the 2019 election.
Morgan said term limits
create an equal playing field
and prevent politicians from
becoming “institutionalized.”
Giordano also favored term
limits.
The incumbents said it
would thin the pool of qualified
candidates. Ogle said it
should be an “open discussion.”
While Clavio did not support
term limits, he said he
would step down after eight
years if elected if he hasn’t
accomplished his goals.
“Frankly, it’s my opinion
that you have term limits right
now,” Holland said. “You can
find out about us, you can
learn about us and you can
vote us out of office, if you
want to at any point at the end
of our term.”