Community Conversation On How Elmwood Park Has Changed: A Recap

By Kevin Gosztola, Editor

On November 15, the Elmwood Park Advocate held its sixth and final “Community Conversation” of the year. Fifteen residents joined us in the Ferrentino Meeting Room to discuss how the village has changed since they moved to Elmwood Park.

The conversation was a bit more informal and undefined than prior events primarily because we did not know if we would be forced to cancel the meeting.

The library had denied the newsletter’s meeting room reservation request unless we paid $100, even though we had used the room five previous months without paying a fee. Yet on November 10, the Library Board of Trustees temporarily suspended the meeting room fee, which allowed us to close out 2025 with one more “Community Conversation.”

I opened the gathering by thanking everyone who has supported the Elmwood Park Advocate. Through engagement with residents, our reporting and writing has reflected real-life concerns of neighbors.

Also, I offered a summary of the conversations that we held. The first conversation was about where residents got their news and information about Elmwood Park. The second conversation was about making the village more resilient so that it can withstand extreme weather and other catastrophes.

The third conversation focused on traffic safety, and the fourth and fifth conversations dealt with migration and ICE operations in surrounding communities. (When we held our discussion about ICE, agents had yet to detain landscapers, tuck pointers, and roofers in Elmwood Park like they did in the second half of October.)

I asked everyone in the room when they moved to Elmwood Park and what they had seen change since they became residents.

A 33-year resident spoke about the real estate and business development that has occurred. Much of the village, including the circle, looks different.

There is more diversity, according to a 24-year resident who has raised their kids in the village. Elmwood Park did not always have this big of a non-white and LGBTQ+ population, and this change has made the village a better place to live.

One 12-year resident mentioned that they had only become involved in the community during the past couple of years. They noticed that people really look out for you here, and they have had a chance to appreciate the “community nature” of Elmwood Park.

A resident in a same-sex marriage, who moved to the village around 2015, described seeing all the flags for President Donald Trump in people’s yards. Yet they were relieved that their neighbors had never acted in a hostile manner.

For another 9-year resident, Elmwood Park was once an aspirational place where they could live at some point. The holiday lights at Christmas captivated her as they went on walks in the village, and when they finally were able to move to the village, they were able to fully appreciate the how accessible everything is in the neighborhood.

“I want my daughter to grow up around people that don’t look like her,” one resident who moved from Chicago said. They appreciated the demographic shift that has occurred in Elmwood Park.

Yet another 20-year resident, who is leaving for Palatine, said that Elmwood Park “has become more of a fortress.” They believe that the village has not paid attention to the importance of open spaces like it should, and they mentioned Centennial Park where the Elmwood Park Presbyterian was once located. It did create open space, however, a significant part of the space has been filled with bocce courts and cornhole boards.

This same resident has noticed the loss of civic organizations like the Women’s Club and now the Garden Club. Although the Senior Club and the Kiwanis Club has increased membership, some of these organizations that previously used the library as a hub are effectively defunct.

Multiple residents took a moment to appreciate the community benefit that the Elmwood Park Advocate has provided. I thanked them for their kind words and described how the newsletter will always seek to ask questions and explore topics that should be of interest to residents. It may create tension between the newsletter and certain agencies or officials, but it doesn’t have to be that way.

More than anything, what I’ve come to understand in the short amount of time that I have been in Elmwood Park is that residents recognize the status quo and who runs the show.

For example, they see business development and understand they aren’t going to convince the village to shift course. However, all they ask is that officials recognize the impact of certain projects and appropriately factor in their concerns when making transformations that will fundamentally alter parts of the neighborhood.

We closed by asking people in the room about conversations they would like to see next year. One person suggested that we reach out to Village President Angelo “Skip” Saviano’s office and invite him to a town hall.

Most likely, in 2026, the newsletter will hold a conversation that deals with Elmwood Park schools.

I’ve observed quite a few teenagers while playing with my toddler at the Kiddie Korral. A conversation about life for teens, who are just beginning to develop into adults who must find their way in this world, seems like a good idea.

Finally, there are two ideas that we have for events that may expand the possibilities of what the Elmwood Park Advocate can do for residents—a citizen journalism workshop, something for those interested in writing and publishing, and then a workshop on requesting public records through the Freedom of Information Act.

The Elmwood Park Advocate has grown tremendously. When the newsletter launched in late May, it had less than 10 views per day. In September and October, we hit 1,500 views and 2,000 views in a day. Our traffic is up over 26,000 percent, and the number of subscribers that we have has grown by over 3,000 percent.

We are taking a break until March 2026. In the meantime, it’s unclear what the library plans to do with the meeting room fee. Regardless, the Elmwood Park Advocate will keep fighting for free speech and community access to meeting rooms for all residents.

And we’ll take this time to further develop the range of reports, reviews, and commentary that we can offer our readers in Elmwood Park.