Elmhurst Alderpeople Debate Closing Downtown Streets

A pedestrian walks down York Street. // Photo by Grace Kelly

During a heated hour-and-a-half-long debate at the Elmhurst City Council meeting on Oct. 19, alderpeople discussed adding new street-based events downtown, which would result in road closures and possibly changes in business visibility.

Popular events such as “Rock the Block,” a summer street festival in downtown Elmhurst, attract a lot of residents and guests who don’t live in town. Alderpeople’s debate focused on closure of streets for new events such as a Turkey Trot 5K, or for restaurants to have open seating on main downtown streets.

Extended discussion began after Ward 7 Alderman Rex Irby said there’s been little communication with business demolish owners about the street closures.

“I spent three hours down there walking everywhere, and I found one restaurant,” said Irby. “One restaurant that wants the street not to be closed. The other people, two-thirds of them, said they had no clue that nobody asked them anything.”

“Why are they claiming nobody wants this? It’s not what I just found out on this day,” added Irby.

Ward 7 Alderman Mike Brennan supported organizing a new event that requires street closures to attract pedestrians.

“We got to think outside the box instead of just saying that this is what we’ve done, this is unacceptable, it costs too much. What about the reciprocal to that?” Brennan said.

Ward 1 Alderwoman Jennifer Veremis said that city workers would need to be in charge of the event requiring street closure unless organizations such as Elmhurst City Centre or another business step up to host it.

Ward 1 Alderman Brian Belanger said that the large-scale difference with barricades and their associated high costs fails to back up data to move forward with hosting another event that requires street closures.

Belanger said that this conversation shouldn’t be closed yet; Elmhurst just isn’t ready to host another event alongside “Rock the Block” at this moment in time.