Elmhurst Eyes Citywide Garage Sale

ELMHURST, IL – A trio of Elmhurst aldermen wants the city to consider holding a citywide garage sale that would help residents and reduce the amount of garbage going to landfills.

Other towns with such sales include Franklin Park, Geneva, Roselle and St. Charles, the aldermen said in a memo.

The aldermen are Michael Bram, Mike Baker and James Nudera.

They said the event would not involve hosting garage sale participants on city property, the aldermen said. Rather, the city would advertise the dates of the sale, register the participants and put together a map of the sales, they said.

"The concept of a city-wide garage sale falls in line with the City of Elmhurst’s sustainability plan/goals," the aldermen said. "This would be one more opportunity to avoid throwing items out that would end up in a landfill."

A citywide sale, they said, would bring more people to Elmhurst at the same time, lessening the need for one-off sales throughout the year.

"(T)he less our community utilizes an event like the annual 'spring cleanup' then the more money the community saves as a whole when it comes to refuse landfill disposal costs," the aldermen said.

Some towns charge for the event and use the proceeds for charities and local initiatives. Others seek sponsorships.

Roselle had 135 participants this year, according to the memo.

On Thursday, Alderman Bram said on Facebook that he was asked a few weeks ago about having a citywide garage sale. At the time, he said he didn't think that was something that involved municipalities.

But he said he found otherwise after looking into it.

On Tuesday, the City Council plans to vote on whether to send the issue to a committee.