Grayslake trustee candidates with ideas to better village
Creation of a local food economy, construction of a downtown tunnel under railroad tracks and other ideas are being floated by candidates trying to distinguish themselves in the Grayslake village board trustee race.
Five candidates are competing for three, 4-year village board positions in the April 7 election. On the ballot will be trustees Ron Jarvis, Elizabeth Davies and Kevin Waldenstrom, along with newcomers Quin O'Brien and Mary Klees.
All of the candidates participated in a Daily Herald editorial board group interview and addressed issues in questionnaires. As part of the process, they were asked to provide a good idea to better the community they believed no one else has been talking about in Grayslake.
Jarvis, a village board trustee since 2007, said he'd like to rekindle the idea of building a tunnel under the downtown railroad tracks north of Center Street. He said his underpass concept would be different from previous proposals by not going directly through a shuttered gelatin factory on the east side of the downtown tracks.
“This ultimately will provide an egress from the downtown to (Route) 83 when the train is blocking all other egress,” said Jarvis, who works in the telecommunications industry. “But it also will provide another way of accessing Central Park, the library and the aquatic center from the downtown.”
Klees, a stay-at-home mother and freelance designer and photo stylist seeking election for the first time, said she wants to help build a vibrant village economy focused on local food, agritourism, active lifestyles and the arts. She said Grayslake has the land and other essentials for a hub to grow, process and distribute food that would serve metropolitan Chicago and Milwaukee.
“If you look at the Chicago (area) food shed, about a 225-mile radius around Chicago, you look at that radius, we're almost dead center in that radius,” Klees said. “There's no reason we can't tap into that and really build a strong local economy based on that.”
Waldenstrom, a Grayslake village board member since 2009 who's a real estate broker and mold inspection business owner, said his idea to better the community would be to pursue a quality restaurant for the Route 83 corridor. He said “it would be nice” to have such an eatery built with a view of Central Park to the west.
Davies, a full-time mother who was appointed to the village board in late 2014, said Grayslake should capitalize on its character.
“One idea I have is to recognize the historic homes in the heritage neighborhood with official plaques,” Davies said. “The plaques would highlight the homes and help to further tell the history of our wonderful village.”
O'Brien is a real estate business owner seeking a village board seat for the third time since 2009. He said he has a vision of what the vacant former Lake County Fairgrounds site should look like at the northwest corner of routes 45 and 120.
“I would love to see something exciting come to the old fairgrounds,” O'Brien said. “I picture a mixed-use property featuring an upscale lifestyle mall, such as Deer Park, with retail, a gazebo, a water (fountain) and walking paths.”