Ethnic Slur Comes Up At Burr Ridge Meeting

BURR RIDGE, IL — A Burr Ridge resident who has neither confirmed nor denied making an ethnic slur against the mayor wanted the Village Board to revisit its meeting minutes about the issue.

On Monday, the board's attorney, Mike Durkin, noted resident Patricia Davis' request to revise the minutes from the May 10 meeting, when Mayor Gary Grasso and other officials were sworn in.

On May 24, Grasso denounced Davis at a meeting, saying she called him a "f------ goombah" in the Zoom video of his swearing-in. The mayor's statement about Davis was included in that meeting's minutes.

At this week's meeting, Grasso said Davis requested by email that the minutes be amended to say that Grasso "alleged" she made the slur "since neither the mayor nor the village was able to show proof to that effect."

"Is there anyone on the board who wishes to entertain Ms. Davis' request that the minutes be amended according to her recollection?" Grasso asked.

Trustee Al Paveza asked, "Where are we legally? Is there some reason we should?"

The mayor said Davis requested reconsideration and that he forgot to bring it up at the last board meeting.

Related: Listen to the slur against Italian Americans during a Burr Ridge meeting.

No board members proposed to change the minutes.

"Goombah" is a slang term used against Italian Americans and has connotations to the mafia and other Italian organized crime. Grasso is an Italian American.

Asked about her statement on the video in May, Davis, a Grasso critic, neither confirmed nor denied it. She questioned how her voice could have been caught on Zoom during the meeting.

"As a businesswoman, I am an experienced Zoom user. The very first thing I do when entering a Zoom meeting is to mute my microphone," Davis said in an email to Patch. "I know that my audio was muted during the Board meeting in question. My attorney is now investigating whether or not the Village unmuted me without my knowledge or consent, which may constitute fraud."

Also in May, Davis got into an online Zoom chat during a meeting of the village's Plan Commission with an anonymous person who used Italian-American slurs against an Italian-American businessman proposing a night spot.

Davis said in response to the person: "Fugeddaboutit."

The online chat, which Patch obtained through a public records request, drew the criticism of Trustee Guy Franzese, an Italian American, and other trustees.