City Council Discusses Permanent Highland Park Mass Shooting Memorial

HIGHLAND PARK, IL — A multi-year public process to develop and establish a permanent memorial to the victims of the July 4 parade mass shooting began formally Monday with a discussion by the Highland Park City Council.

City Manager Ghida Neukirch said city staff have started looking into how other towns that have experienced mass shootings have handled permanent memorials.

"Some people have commissions or committee processes where people are formally appointed, some people have their corporate authorities leading that charge and every meeting is open to the public and the public has an opportunity to dialogue directly with the corporate authorities," Neukirch said.

"So they're really varied ways in order to move forward, and we are continuing to do that research to assess what are the best practices that are really best for Highland Park," she told councilmembers. "And what the Department of Justice advises us is: there's no right way to do this, but really, the most important thing is to make sure that you're engaging with the public."

Mayor Nancy Rotering said it was important to recognize that different people are on different timelines as they move forward.

"Transparency of this process will be paramount. Public engagement will be paramount, with special emphasis placed on the families of the victims and the survivors who were directly impacted," Rotering said.

"But we recognize — and clearly by my own example — we are all still very traumatized," she said. "So this will be a multi-year process and I don't want people to think that it isn't for any reason other than we are absolutely trying to be as well-informed and to be as reflective of the needs of our community as possible."

Councilmember Tony Blumberg said the issue is one of the most emotional that the community will ever face and asked the public to remain tolerate during discussions and whenever an ultimate decision about the memorial is made.

"There's a potential for conflict as a community," Blumberg said. "We're fortunate to have leaders with both our mayor and our city manager that have seemed to find a way to address those conflicts in a civilized way, and I urge us all to continue on that path.

"I'm looking forward to hearing everybody's ideas," he said. "Ultimately, we can't incorporate everybody's ideas either as to how everything should be done, or what actually is going to be done, but we're all going to participate in that and we're all going to be included and we all value everything that all of you and all of us have to say."]

Councilmember Michelle Holleman encouraged the city to undertake more of a "bottom-up" approach than a "top-down" approached and suggested the city charter a formal commission to help set the direction for the future.

Councilmember Andres Tapia said it was important to establish ground rules for the process before it launches.

"I've seen well-intentioned, top-down and bottom-up processes go awry, especially when the words of 'inclusion' and 'community' and 'support' — all these good values — as if that would be enough to carry us," Tapia said. "So I think that's one of the things that as we continue down this path, we be really meticulous about whatever model we use."

More than 50 people were shot, seven fatally, when a rooftop gunman began shooting into the crowd gathered at last year's Independence Day parade.

A local 22-year-old is awaiting trial on 117 felony counts in connection with the killing. And the accused shooter's father has been charged with reckless conduct for signing off on a gun license application for his son, then-19 and the subject of a recent "clear and present danger" report.

---

In November, city officials opened a temporary memorial to the victims of the shooting in the rose garden between City Hall and the Highland Park Public Library.

The temporary memorial contains plaques each of the seven slain paradegoers — Katie Goldstein, Irina and Kevin McCarthy, Stephen Straus, Jacki Sundheim, Nicholas Toledo and Eduardo Uvaldo. It is set to remain in place until a permanent memorial is completed.

The City Council will continue discussions of the memorial at a future meeting of its committee of the whole, city staff announced. Anyone interested in sharing ideas or suggestions with city officials were encouraged to email staff at HPCares@cityhpil.com.

Rotering, who is running for a fourth term as mayor in April, said Monday's meeting was the first step in what is likely to be a long journey.

"Stay tuned, I think we'll need to figure out our next steps," Rotering said. "It's been six months, and it's been forever."