Activist Toolkit

1. What motivates you to seek this office? What skills, experiences, and perspectives would you bring, and why would those contributions be valuable in the office you are seeking?

I have two young children and we use and LOVE the Berwyn parks - both in terms of their open space and the programs that are provided. Improving access to open space, activating community spaces, and improving the quality of our shared parks experience are my main motivations for running for office. I have spent hours and hours in Berwyn parks since the birth of our three year old and a lot of time thinking about ways they could be improved. I have also noticed some things that need addressing. These issues include tennis courts in poor condition at Proksa Park, underused and non-active places at Sunshine Park, and a lack of understanding of exactly what amenities our parks have to offer the community. I want to bring the ideas that I’ve had for the parks since I moved here 5 years ago, that are based on my 13 years of working in open space in and around the Chicago area. 

2. When in the past have you had to balance competing interests? What process did you use? What did you learn?  

I have worked in natural resource management for most of my professional career. There are all sorts of competing interests and ideas for the best uses for open space. Some folks want restored forest preserves and protect them from overuse, some folks want a quiet space to birdwatch, others want a gathering space for BBQs with friends and relatives, some folks want to make a mountain bike trail, and some folks want to sell some public land to developers, on and on. My compass on these types of issues are the answers to two important questions: 1)“What is the mission of the parks?” and 2)”Which proposed use is closest to the mission?”. Beyond that, it is important to have public meetings and input and to look for a compromise where I can. I have learned that a very common and repeated mistake by local government is to move forward with a project idea without getting meaningful public input. 

3. What does transparency in government mean to you?  How would you put it into practice? 

Transparency in government hinges on communication. Well established, clear, and open communication between local government and citizens is necessary. This should be even easier to facilitate on the local level because of proximity and accessibility to meetings. While I believe good communication is a two way street the burden falls on the elected official to initiate and open respectful channels of communication. Unfortunately, I think we are out of practice and I think more and more government officials need to meet people where they are at. On the park district board level, this means sharing more widely the board meeting agendas and on different mediums. This could also mean livestreaming board meetings on social media and inviting or welcoming members or groups to comment at the open forum. This means direct outreach to community members to ask them what they need from their parks and what they expect from programming. This means being responsive to concerns and welcoming difficult questions.

4. As more of our local discourse happens in social media, what is your view on how local elected officials should communicate with and respond to constituents? How will you engage with the breadth of the community, and not only those on social media?

Social media can be a very challenging space for an elected official to operate but if you want to meet people where they are at then social media work is a required part of the job. I have set up a Facebook page where residents can make comments and ask questions about their parks. Check it out by searching @ZTLovesParks. On this page, I will share park news, relevant information, and ideas with community members. This is not to replace other park communication mechanisms, but as a way to ensure that I’m both listening, learning, and sharing what I know as a Park Commissioner. As an elected official, it will be important for me to make frequent visits to all of our parks, enroll my children in programming, and organize community members in volunteer activities where we can have organic discussions on what should be done with the parks. 

5. What barriers do you see for community members who wish to engage with the Park District? How would you work to reduce or eliminate those barriers?  

Community members need to feel a sense of place and need also to be made to feel welcome as a starting point. If folks don’t feel welcome they will not be engaged. After that, I often find that people want to be involved but they just don’t know how to get started. There might be a lack of a volunteer structure, folks might not be able to afford programming, there could be language or cultural barriers. Translating important communications, creating welcome signage in multiple languages, and offering programming in Spanish could be effective ways to eliminate those barriers. I also think proactively welcoming residents to voice their questions, comments, and concerns is another form of engagement which can be easily facilitated with comment boxes and on the Berwyn Park District website. 

I think hosting and organizing volunteer and other free events is a key engagement strategy. For me, this will likely mean supporting district staff in their efforts and working with fellow board members to host board lead activities. Identifying community leaders and compensation for these leaders if they are interested in hosting regular park volunteer workdays. This type of work is another way to break down barriers and expand the network of people dedicated to caring for their park spaces. A robust and active volunteer community can do so much for improving the parks and people want to be involved.

6. What do you feel are the three biggest issues facing the Park District, and how do you intend to address them? 

1. Currently, the Park District is operating without a strategic plan. Getting a plan in place to guide decisions from the board level to the staff level is a key step towards a well functioning park district. Berwyn has changed dramatically even over the last 5 years and a strategic plan that equitably addresses the needs of the public needs to be put in place. The Executive Director, Sandy Fejt, will be leading this effort, selecting a consultant, and seeking community input during 2021. 

2. There are many competing high priority capital projects with limited funds that will make it impossible to get everything done immediately. The splash pad at Freedom Park is in need of expensive repair, the playgrounds are badly aged and in one case could no longer be insured (the youngest playground in the park system is eight years old), and the tennis courts at Proska need resurfacing to name just a few. Getting community input to help prioritize the capital projects, working with staff on creative solutions, and identifying additional resources will be ways to address these issues. 

3. Last, in the context where money and staff time are scarce, I would work to ensure that the Berwyn Park District is prioritizing work that directly improves and supports high-quality parks for all residents. 

7. How do you define equity? Have recent events and discussions in the larger community informed or changed your thinking? 

[The candidate did not answer this question.]

8. How do you plan to solicit feedback from people who may be experiencing this community in a different way than you? What barriers do you believe may exist in this process?

The Berwyn Park District needs to take intentional steps during the strategic planning process to seek input from all Berwyn residents and that this plan is intentional about diversity, equity, inclusion (DEI) work from the beginning. This will mean hiring a consultant that makes DEI work a top priority and then working with staff to make sure that recommendations from the community are followed closely. In terms of barriers, there are many forms of implicit bias that can affect someone's viewpoint and can ultimately lead them astray when making decisions on behalf of a large group of people. Not everyone views open space the same way, not everyone loves disc golf (like me), not everyone has children or dogs, etc. It is the job of the elected official to act on behalf of all residents. And that is only possible if you are listening to all members of the community. 

9. Name an influential local community member. How did this person’s influence change Berwyn? As an elected official, what do you imagine your influence will be on the community?

Ed Karasek was a 50-year commissioner for the Berwyn Park District and a founding member of the Berwyn Development Corporation. He was totally committed to his community on the park side but also as a member of PTA and the Kiwanis Club. He worked strategically from 1966 to 2016 to expand the footprint of the Berwyn Park District. When he first became a commissioner there was only one park in all of Berwyn and that was Proksa Park. Ed believed that as a park district commissioner you should get insights from everyone in the community on what the park district should be doing and I agree 100%. There are some other aspects of Ed’s legacy that I would like to continue to expand on as an elected official. I would like more green space in Berwyn to be added, I would like parks to be beautifully maintained, and I would like a park district that is well run. I would also like to continue Ed’s quest to combine the City Recreation department with the Park District and explore the merger between the North Berwyn Park District and the Berwyn Park District. Ed believed that the City Recreation department could be run more effectively and less expensively by the Berwyn Park District and I agree.

10. Park districts make use of many different sources of funding, including property tax revenues, fees, and grants. Do you feel the Park District maintains the right balance for financial sustainability and equity? What do you see as the tradeoffs?

According to the Trust for Public Land, “proximity to parks increases property value and increases revenue from property taxes. Research of property values has shown that a 5% increase in property values for houses within 500 feet of a park is a conservative estimate of the change in property value due to proximity to a park”. Investments by the park district should be viewed with this type of potential impact in mind. Additionally, consideration regarding lessons learned from other places about green gentrification (i.e. the 606 trail) and how to avoid it will be an important lens with which to view potential projects. A measurement of success for me will show equitable investments in parks across south Berwyn that are supported by the community that currently live here. 

I would like to avoid any dynamic where one park gets more support than the other parks. Working in Chicago’s large park district, I saw first hand that some parks clearly had more investment and support than other parks. This type of geographically and demographically disproportionate investment negatively impacts black, indigenous, and people of color residents in Chicago. I would like to make sure to avoid that in Berwyn. Additionally, new funding sources need to be developed. Most modern park district systems partner closely with a foundation to get large scale projects and park expansion completed. I am currently working with a group of active citizens to establish a foundation to support extraordinary park projects.