OP_032317

opprairie.com election 2017
the orland park prairie | March 23, 2017 | 5
McLaughlin plans for future of Orland Park retail, commits to process
The Prairie’s final
look at Mayor Dan
McLaughlin before
April 4 election
Bill Jones, Editor
Running a Village is a
process, especially when
progress is the aim. And that
process and progress often
are met with unforeseen
problems.
But incumbent mayor
Daniel McLaughlin says he
has enjoyed the process, the
progress and even addressing
the problems over the past
three decades, first as trustee
and then as mayor. That process
is what leads to “getting
stuff done;” the progress is
what he thinks will make Orland
Park a great place to live
for years to come; and the
problems are best handled
with a personal touch, if one
were to ask McLaughlin.
McLaughlin already has
discussed the Main Street
Triangle and Interstate 80
corridor at length. He additionally
noted, though, that
while everything from shifts
in the economy to changes
in plans to the other duties
of mayor sometimes have
made those projects seem
like slow going to some,
they have continued to move
forward. The bigger picture
of the village must be taken
into account when examining
the progress of Orland
Park, he said.
McLaughlin’s recent State
of the Village announcement,
for instance, that Cinépolis
would be bringing a
luxury movie theater to Orland
Park’s “downtown” was
more than just another piece
of the Triangle puzzles taking
shape. It also was more
than just the announcement
of another business coming
to town. The proposal takes
into consideration a problem
McLaughlin said he actively
Incumbent Daniel J. McLaughlin. Photo submitted
has been working to solve.
“The Internet sales are
going through the roof the
last few years,” McLaughlin
said. “That hurts the brickand-mortar
stores, retailers
— people that are willing
to invest in people and hire
people, that follow all our
codes and ordinances, the
parking requirements, the
lighting and landscaping requirements.
… They’re being
competed with unfairly.”
McLaughlin notes it is
not only the convenience of
ordering online from one’s
home but also the lopsided
sales taxes that make it difficult.
And while he has talked
to people at the State level
about addressing the problem,
he also has tried to take
matters into his own hands
by courting entertainmentfocused
businesses that give
consumers an “experience,”
rather than simply providing
a product. It is McLaughlin
addressing a problem by utilizing
the process with an eye
toward progress.
“We have to change Orland’s
economy slightly
to more entertainment,”
McLaughlin said. “People
will still go out and spend
money on restaurants and entertainment.
We just opened
up Gizmos and Sky Zone.
You’ve got Dave & Buster’s.
“We’ve got a huge retail
base, but you have to keep
fostering that base by bringing
out retailers that complement
them. And you have to
bring people out, make the
roads easier to get in and out,
like we did with LaGrange
Road, so people don’t say,
‘Ah, screw Orland. I’m not
going there; you’re always
in traffic.’ Providing easy access,
in and out, to Orland,
providing more entertainment
value, where people
will go out to a show or a
Gizmos with their family,
and out to eat at restaurants
— we have to change.
“For businesses to be successful
today, they have to
make their business or their
service an experience for
the customer. ... How do you
make a municipality an attraction
or an experience,
and why would people pick
Orland instead of Oak Brook,
Chicago Ridge, Woodfield or
whatever? That’s behind a lot
of my thinking.”
Despite the Internet problem,
McLaughlin said this
past year Orland Square actually
was up in sales from
the year prior. At the State
of the Village, he cited 300
businesses over the past
three years that have taken
out business licenses and
opened up shop in Orland
Park. So, anyone questioning
whether or not Orland
Park still is a “destination”
simply needs to look around,
McLaughlin said.
“There has been more action
going on in the last 10
years than in 10 years before
it,” he said. “I can give you a
list of all the businesses and
activity that have gone on in
the last 5-6 years. There’s a
lot of activity.
“As a matter of fact, national
retailers, when they
want to come into the Chicago
market, they’ll look
at Orland Park, downtown
Chicago, Schaumburg and
Naperville. That’s where
they look. … That’s why we
continue to get major businesses
in Orland every year.
“We are a destination.”
And when it comes to
the question of whether or
not potential residents feel
the same way about Orland
Park, McLaughlin readily
admits Orland Park’s housing
market has not been
without problems. It has
historically dealt with plenty
of subdivision proposals,
annexation requests and the
like. But then the economy
crashed in 2008-2010.
“Around that time,
when the economy tanked,
we stopped seeing that,”
McLaughlin said. “Just in the
last couple of years, we’ve
had five housing projects
or developments, and another
really big one is about
finished with our planning
stages. That’s going to come
in for approval in May, June.
“We haven’t seen a new
subdivision proposal in front
of us for years, but in the
last two years, we’ve got all
kinds of them.”
He noted many of them
are smaller (40-60 units), but
those combined with a big
project in the works gives
him high hopes for things to
come for Orland Park.
“The economy tanked,
and business as well as
residential went away for
awhile, but it’s coming back,
full force. This is a lot of
residential stuff to come in
in the last year-and-a-half or
two years.”
Which leaves just one
question: Why should
residents re-elect Dan
McLaughlin for mayor?
“I think the track record of
how much is going on in Orland
Park, how good Orland
Park’s being run, how safe
Orland Park is,” McLaughlin
said of why voters should
choose him. “They see all
the road improvements coming
to town, all the businesses
coming to town, jobs,
University of Chicago, a
couple of businesses on I-80.
“We actually have two industrial
parks, as well — one
on the east side of Harlem
Avenue, one out off of Wolf
Road. There are more and
more jobs being provided
for the area, other than retail.
You just don’t see a lot of it.
Some of them aren’t real big
operations, like University
of Chicago.
“But when you add it all
together, I think people are
relatively happy. It’s a nice,
safe community, and we’re
running it on 7 cents on the
dollar, and giving some of
that 7 cents back every year.
“That’s covering parks and
recreation, too. Tinley Park,
Oak Lawn, Chicago — most
of these towns have park districts.
We don’t have a park
district. That’s 7 cents on the
dollar is going to cover our
operations, our police, our
roadwork, our maintenance,
and it also covers some pretty
nice recreational facilities
[and] a huge collection of
recreation programs. What a
park district would normally
be doing, we’re doing as part
of the Village operation for
that same 7 cents.
“I will add, too, that while
I have a full-time job elsewhere
and three hours a day
commuting, I respond to people.
When they call my office
with a question or complaint,
generally I’m asking my assistant,
‘Ask them if I can
come over and talk to them.’
I’d rather talk to somebody at
their house, in person, to answer
their questions.
“Sometimes it’s a question,
‘Geez, my part of the neighborhood
is always flooding.’
I want to see it in person. I
think people see me respond,
too. I’m all over the place.”
Election Day is Tuesday, April
4. As a company policy, 22nd
Century Media will not publish
additional coverage of the election
in the Thursday, March
30 edition of The Orland Park
Prairie. The deadline for Letters
to the Editor pertaining to
election issues has passed.