'Monumental' Elmhurst Sidewalk Plan Passes

ELMHURST, IL – It's been a long road – er, sidewalk – for the City Council to reach the point it did Tuesday night.

The City Council voted 13-1 for a 40-year plan to get sidewalks on every street.

Aldermen hailed the proposal as "monumental" and a "great moment" for the city. But the lone opponent called one part of it "antidemocratic."

Under the new policy, the city would focus on installing sidewalks on one side of streets where none exist now. The city plans to cover the costs.

The city aims to set up a rating system establishing priorities for the 40-year plan. Routes to school, for instance, would be at the top of the list.

For years, the city has required that 60 percent of a block's residents (changed to a simple majority last year) to petition for sidewalks. That would trigger a process in which the city would foot half the bill (adjusted to three-fourths last year), with residents paying the rest.

This policy was considered a failure, unused for the last 15 years.

Ward 3 Alderman Michael Bram said sidewalks have always been controversial since he joined the council in 2001.

"(The new policy) takes it out of the hands of residents, stops pitting resident vs. the next, and literally lays out a plan for everybody to have access to a sidewalk on at least one side of the street," said Bram, who represents the ward with the fewest sidewalks.

However, Ward 4 Alderwoman Noel Talluto decried the lack of an appeal procedure for residents who object to sidewalks next to their houses.

"That seems to me antidemocratic and an overreach of government," Talluto said.

She said she favored paying for sidewalks on streets that are deemed safe routes to school, which is the plan's first phase. But she questioned the second and third phases.

On behalf of her constituents with sidewalks, Talluto said, "I don't think they want to pay for other people's sidewalks when they paid for the sidewalk in front of theirs with the purchase of their home."

She further questioned whether residents would want public money shifted to sidewalks, from roadwork.

In response to the appeal procedure, other aldermen said the sidewalks would go on city land.

"This is on public property," Ward 2 Alderman Jacob Hill said. "So there shouldn't be an appeal process."

And he said sidewalks don't just serve the homes they go by. Rather, he said, they are part of a network for the entire city, providing safety for pedestrians.

The overwhelming majority of streets south of North Avenue have sidewalks. But the city's northeast corner, which is Ward 3, is almost entirely without them. The same goes for parts of Ward 2, which is northwest Elmhurst.