Village Manager's Message
My children experienced some cool milestones in their lives this week, and as their father, I am so proud of both. Their happiness and excitement fuels me to smile and be that much more appreciative of those who have helped them along the way. The African proverb, “It takes a Village to raise a child,” resonates with me more than ever. You may wonder what this has to do with the Village of Villa Park.
I also believe the proverb can be applied in the following manner: it “takes a Village” to keep it beautiful and moving forward as it relates to cleanliness and property maintenance. Sure, there are Village Services that do a multitude of things to help keep the Garden Village looking better, like street sweeping, mowing public areas, removing graffiti in a timely manner, and fixing potholes as quickly as we can.
No matter how efficient or fast these services are, there will always be a never-ending list of tasks for our Village Staff to do every day to maintain the Village. We need your help by making sure your business or residence is looking the best it possibly can. I drive on St. Charles every workday and notice there are weeds growing through the sidewalks and curbs. You may not know that there is a Village Ordinance that mentions the responsibility of maintaining sidewalks and curbs falls upon the owner of that property. See Village Ordinance (Sec. 21-101) titled: “Obstructions from abutting properties” which states:
“The owners or occupants of all premises in the village shall keep the sidewalks abutting such premises free from obstructions and shall prune and cut back all vegetation upon such premises or in the parkway so as to prevent obstructions.”
What I am asking is every business owner, homeowner, and property owner on St. Charles, as well as every responsible person in the Village, to please cut these weeds down to show some civic pride. Just prior to the start of this year's July 4th Parade, I noticed a prominent attorney “weed whacking” the curb on Ardmore. So, thank you for doing your part! Mowing and weed whacking is not how I like to spend my weekends, but it is necessary to be a good neighbor to those around us. The last thing you want is to have Village Staff issue you a property maintenance citation for weeds/ tall grass. Speaking of Property Maintenance Violations, here is a list of things you can do to help be a good neighbor and avoid a Violation Notice:
Make sure there is no garbage in your yard, no inoperable vehicles in your driveway, make sure your vehicles have license plates, make sure your windows and screens are in good working order, have house numbers on the house (this really helps the evening pizza delivery person as well as public safety go to the right house), removing landscaping and dog waste (trust me when I tell you my front yard is literally a “dumping ground” for neighbor dogs and owners who do not pick up after their dogs), please bring in your emptied garbage cans in a timely manner, and lastly any issue with the house/ building where siding, bricks and/or signage is in need of upkeep and repair.
The easiest way to go about improving your property is to pretend it is not yours and you are looking at a stranger’s property, and say to yourself: “…this place would look nicer if we just…” and then address those issues you just mentioned.
Having said all this, I need to go home and mow my front lawn due to the excessive rain.
View the full weekly report here. All weekly and monthly reports can be found in our Document Center under Village Manager.
Mike Rivas
Village Manager
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