Tinley Park District Sees Rise In Membership After Vax Mandate

TINLEY PARK, IL — The Tinley Park Park District elected last month to follow county health guidelines requiring all adults to present proof of COVID-19 vaccination before entering district buildings. Despite outcry from some parents, board officials told Patch they have not seen a decrease in membership, even noting an increase in registrations.

The latest mandate went into effect Jan. 3 and originally required all eligible residents who use recreation center facilities to present proof of vaccination before entering the building. The mandate also applied to local gyms, restaurants and movie theaters. While Tinley Park Mayor Mike Glotz told residents he would not use village resources to enforce the mandate, park district board president Marie Ryan said they were following the health department.

"Just for the record, we are following Cook County public health mandate, we are not making any of our own," Ryan said at the board's meeting last week.

Local parents expressed concern with the mandate on social media and at the district's board meeting, but Tinley Park resident Garrett Bruinius told Patch he was more upset the district would impose a mandate on children to begin with.

"To me it's a matter of someone sticking up for kids," said the father of two teenage sons. "Lots of vaccines cause a lot of side effects. For them to mandate something that's only emergency use authorized not full FDA approved is wrong."

The Pfizer vaccine is fully approved for anyone over the age of 16, and data shows that it is safe and effective for anyone older than 5. More than 30,000 people took part in clinical trials for the Pfizer vaccine alone — one of the largest clinical trials ever conducted — and most reported side effects were short-lived and mild: soreness at the injection site, fatigue, fever, chills and headache.

As of Jan. 6, the district had fallen in line with the county's updated guidance to amend the order so only members above 18 years old would have to show proof of vaccination. For Bruinius, however, he said he still feels betrayed by the district.

"I'll drop [my] kid off at the rec center so he can continue to play basketball and socialize with friends which is something kids have been missing for two years," he said. "But I'm not going in there."

Bruinius, who is vaccinated, said he would not disclose whether his sons, ages 13 and 15, had gotten the vaccine.

When the district first announced the change, the father created a flyer for an online event calling for all those opposed to the mandate to cancel their memberships on Jan. 4. Bruinius went in a day later to cancel his, and said a stack of resignation papers were sitting on the table ready for people to take and fill out.

But, despite multiple people responding to the online event, a commissioner on the park district board said only five memberships were canceled.

"Our memberships are up to 3,160," said Don Cuba. "We're actually 40 memberships above where we were last month. Daily we've got about 450 members which is what we're normally at."

Cuba told Patch many people were confused by the mandate and that the addition of clearer language around who exactly had to be vaccinated has helped maintain memberships.

"Staff has done a fantastic job there addressing confusion," he said. "And at this point we're up five memberships on our recreation leagues."

Bruinius said the district's decision to pull back the mandate on children being vaccinated likely had nothing to do with the threat of cancellations and instead was continuing to fall into step with county guidelines. Bruinius also cancelled his Planet Fitness membership last week after the nationwide chain announced they would be checking vaccination cards before members can enter the gym.

"There needs to be a middle ground," he said.