There are approximately 24 blocks north to south in Oak Park. Of those, only 3 (and sometimes 4) blocks are separated from the rest of Oak Park by the I-290 expressway. This separation is not just geographical. It’s also cultural. For years Oak Parkers (the ones who actually knew that Oak Park’s city limits extended south of I-290) derisively referred to this section of town as “North Berwyn.” In particular, the southeast quadrant (I-290 to Roosevelt Road and Austin Blvd. to Ridgeland) was considered to be the most modest in income and housing stock. Residents of this quadrant often felt they were the last to get municipal services and infrastructure improvements.
In 1998 this southeast neighborhood acquired and new and equally damaging reputation. Contaminating coal tar was discovered in Barrie Park, which sat on the site of a Manufactured Gas Plant in the early 1900’s. The byproduct, coal tar, was simply dumped and covered up on the surrounding land. The remediation project was far more complicated, protracted, contentious and divisive than anyone expected. Southeast Oak Park was the object of negative headlines for almost 6 years. The neighborhood was under siege. Many affected residents adjacent to the park felt the Village of Oak Park had brokered a remediation agreement for their properties that favored not the property owners but the two utilities responsible for the remediation: Commonwealth Edison and Nicor Gas. Most of those residents had to leave their homes and move into temporary housing during the cleanup. Ultimately, 350,000 tons of soil was replaced at a cost of $100,000,000.
There were many neighborhood activists working to hold the Park District, the Village and the utilities accountable, and demanding improvement in lines of communication and access to decision-makers. A number of those involved began to understand that underlying the often angry and frustrated activism was a profound desire to reclaim the neighborhood in order to continue living here. There was evidence that many residents had deep roots in the neighborhood, and a resilience that allowed them to weather the storm for almost six years and still decide that this is they wanted to be. At one point, the Village offered a buy-back of private homes on the perimeter of the park whose properties had not yet been remediated. Of the 21 eligible homes, only 6 entered the program.
Those activists saw this as a really good sign and decided to capitalize on that resilience and deep commitment to the neighborhood to form a community organization that would work diligently to create a reinvigorated sense of place and identity for the neighborhood, and to showcase the neighborhood to the rest of Oak Park as a vibrant, diverse and welcoming place to live. They created the South East Oak Park Community Organization (SEOPCO) in 2003, and started to work on an ad-hoc basis to identify ways to recover a positive image for the neighborhood.
SEOPCO therefore was formed for the following purposes:
▪ To solidify the newly-recognized sense of neighborhood by defining boundaries and giving the area a name. The boundaries are I-290, Austin, Roosevelt Road, and Ridgeland. (There are collaborations with the Irving School PTO that reach west to Wesley.
▪ To create for the Southeast quadrant of Oak Park a positive identity for the residents and an improved image within Oak Park.
▪ To mobilize citizens to plan for a vibrant and attractive neighborhood
▪ To provide a representational voice for the neighborhood to elected officials and public private entities whose activities affect the neighborhood.
SEOPCO sponsored numerous community informational meetings, testified before the Village of Oak Park Board of Trustees, and collaborated with the Park District of Oak Park and the Irving School PTO to sponsor events such as the first annual Renaissance Festival held on September 11, 2004.
The first SEOPCO steering committee members were: Stuart Barnes-Jamieson, Marion Biagi, Jack Chalabian, Peter Ferraro, Barb Hanzl, Jim Kelly, Patricia McMillen and John Mikos.
In April of 2005, SEOPCO registered with the State of Illinois as a non-profit organization.
In May, 2005 SEOPCO both promoted and helped organize the reopening of the Barrie Park playground. On September 10, 2005, SEOPCO participated in the grand reopening of Barrie Park, almost six years from the day it was closed for remediation.
SEOPCO reached out to the Park District, the Village government and the Oak Park Police Department, seeking collaboration in the efforts to revitalize the neighborhood, both physically and socially.