Arlington Hts. residents concerned for safety after sex assault
Residents of an Arlington Heights neighborhood where a woman was sexually assaulted in her home are asking the village to make changes to keep their community safe.
A group of residents of the Cedar Glen neighborhood spoke at Monday's village board meeting asking for more lights, more patrols and a restriction on garage sales to keep strangers out of the neighborhood.
The concerns come after a woman was assaulted around 2 a.m. Sept. 25 in her home by a man who entered through an unsecured window and also stole her jewelry, police said. No one has been arrested.
The woman who was assaulted attended Monday's meeting but did not speak to the village board or the media, but several other residents brought up concerns.
“People are pretty concerned at this point about security,” said neighbor Jim Rutherford.
Residents spoke to the village board about a few homes that are having many weekend garage sales that bring strangers into the neighborhood.
“Our streets are flooded with cars and strangers,” said neighbor Patti Filardi.
Nicole Eddy, a resident who said her house was broken into in July, said police had a hard time talking to neighbors about whether they saw anything suspicious because so many people were on the streets attending garage sales.
“It creates a concern if you have a lot of strangers coming around. How do you know who is a stranger because they are stopping at this little garage sale or a stranger canvassing the neighborhood to see what they might do under cover of darkness?” Trustee Robin LaBedz said.
Eddy asked the board to consider putting stricter restrictions on the number of garage sales allowed or requiring residents to obtain permits for the sales.
Several trustees said they would like to look at the garage sale issue and asked staff members to quickly address the police and lighting concerns.
“We have no greater obligation as elected representatives than to provide for the health, safety and welfare of our residents,” Mayor Tom Hayes said. “We are going to take this very seriously and make sure these concerns are addressed.”
Hayes and interim Village Manager Diana Mikula said they have frequent meetings with Police Chief Gerald Mourning about the assault, which they said is a high priority for the department.
“Everybody is scared right now,” said resident Lisa Ratajczyk. “This is something that needs to be addressed.”