Publications & Sites 
Letter to the editor: Park Ridge Park Board put Senior Senate in exile
Updated: July 22, 2012 6:25AM
In 2008, a bequest of some $300,000 was left to the Park Ridge Senior Center. In 2011, the Park District Board of Commissioners unilaterally decided to assume control of the Park Ridge Senior Center.
Shortly thereafter, the board encouraged a lawsuit, using taxpayer money, to control that bequest, going so far as to apparently include the bequest money in the 2012 budget.
Recently, the Park Board offered a settlement citing a waste of taxpayer money. Because the devil was in the details, our attorney advised against a settlement. The only point of agreement was that the suit was a waste of taxpayer money; its whole premise had as many holes as Oakton pool.
There’s more.
The governing body of the Senior Center is the Senate, 16 duly elected members whose average age is somewhere between 55 and “Wow, you could have fooled me.”
The Park District board has seven commissioners whose average age is somewhere between old-enough-to-vote and 54. They control a budget of over $14 million.
Recently, the commissioners voted to take away the members’ right to have their vote counted by refusing to acknowledge the legitimacy of the Senate because it has been unruly and uncooperative, and instead will appoint an advisory board of their choosing.
Since then, the Senate has been scrounging up enough money to pay a rental fee for a room to conduct business in its own Senior Center.
Thought you’d like to know.
Roger Loeffler
Park Ridge
