Elmwood Park is a great place to live, shop, work and play. You'll find events and activities for people of all ages. Your departments at the village hall, public works, police and fire, parks and recreation make this village clean, safe, fun and economically sound.
This is a vibrant community. We support a variety of churches, good schools, an excellent library, and expanding parks and recreation programs. We're dedicated to making our neighborhoods stronger, better places to live.
We're committed to economic redevelopment of our commercial areas, modernizing and maximizing our police and fire services, making our village better and safer all the time.
Elmwood Park is truly a community in every sense of the word. We're planning and working for a brighter future each day, boldly setting our sights on new horizons. As our slogan clearly states, Elmwood Park is a "Village With Pride."
Elmwood Park's population has declined. The need for recreation and library services hasn't. Of the village's 23,000-plus residents, nearly 84 percent live in family households, according to 1990 census figures. Given that 39 percent of Elmwood Parkers are between the ages of 19 and 44 the ages at which many people start families - the village's young population is expected to grow. Already, school and village officials say, the 1990s have seen a surge in the number of young children enrolling in Elmwood Park schools and participating in village recreation programs. According to Elmwood Park School District 401, enrollment has increased at a clip of about 140 students a year in the last five years - although total enrollment falls about 1,000 students short of the district's record of 3,500 students in the 1970s. And so, construction began on the family aquatic center at Conti Circle; two pools covering 5,000 square feet of surface area, plus green space and other amenities between the Civic Center and library. Bennett was the Village Board's sole "no" vote on locating the aquatic center on the circle. "I was not against the concept of a pool, but the location of the pool," Bennett said, adding he feared burdening residents with "a fourth major government facility in that area." Parking and traffic congestion are chief among Bennett's concerns. Additional spaces will open up once the Police Department moves to its new headquarters on Fullerton Avenue. Eighty-five percent of parents who bring their kids to municipal pools drop off their kids and don't stay, according to the aquatic center's architect. And the center's plans call for a drop-off and pickup area. "It requires a 'wait and see' attitude," Bennett said. "Parking (at the circle) does tend to become tighter on weekends and weeknights. It (the aquatic center) will probably create additional parking pressures." Echoed Hommersand: "I don't know how that will make out for the library. But it's a done deal." After the face of Conti Circle is irrevocably altered, the village will continue its quest for green space elsewhere. Elmwood Park historically has lacked the recreation facilities typical to other municipalities: It has no village baseball fields, softball fields, volleyball courts, golf-course holes, picnic shelters or tables, swimming pools or hiking path.Some of that is now changed. In early 1996, the village razed a three-story house to expand Kathie Torpe Park at 76th and Fullerton avenues to nearly double the size of the one-fifth acre playlot. The site was intended for use the Elmwood Park Library until the library was built on Conti Parkway. On the 2400 block of North 75th Avenue, the village in 1995 also bought and razed six houses for the new Central Park. Completed in June 1996, the park includes many amenities for residents to enjoy. The park projects will help boost the village's park acreage, which compares dismally with standards established by the National Recreation and Bark Association. The association recommends 10 acres of parkland per 1,000 population; until the park expansions are complete, Elmwood Park has only 0.08 acres per 1,000 residents. The park expansions will more than make up for the now-underutilized green space on Conti Circle that will become home to the aquatic center, Silvestri said. "Well, T can't make use of it, even though there are a lot of younger people who can," Litrenta said, *referring to the changes in store for Conti Circle. "I think it should have remained as a park. That was a beautiful fountain. We should have put up a fight for it, but we didn't. Echoing Litrenta, Silvestri said, "It's too late now to lament the use of the circle. Those who are complaining are complaining 20 years too late."
Learn more about this city.
City of Elmwood Park, IL official site
City of Elmwood Park, IL Chamber of Commerce
City of Elmwood Park, IL newspaper
County of Elmwood Park, IL official site
State of Illinois official site