'Hot Button Topic' In Western Springs

WESTERN SPRINGS, IL — Western Springs trustees said this week they did not get enough responses to a survey about the proposal for sidewalks in a local neighborhood.

According to the village, 911 households are in the Forest Hills subdivision in Western Springs. About 20 percent of them responded to a recent survey. Of those, 53 percent were in favor of installing sidewalks throughout the neighborhood, 43 percent were against and 4 percent had no opinion.

At this week's Village Board meeting, Trustee James Tyrrell said the survey did not give the village a good idea of what the neighborhood wants.

"I would like to know about more than 20 percent of the people in Forest Hills," he said.

Trustee Al Fink called the issue a "hot button topic" in Forest Hills, but he said not a lot of people responded to the survey.

"Within Forest Hills, a lot of people are discussing it with their neighbors now," Fink said. "If we do the survey again, I think we'll have a much better response. The for-sidewalk people organized first. Now it's the against-sidewalk people getting organized."

Village President Alice Gallagher said the survey sample was not as large as the village would have liked.

"It still does not give us clear direction because it's close," she said. "It requires further study."

The board took no action.