Board of Realtors endorses RF schools referendum
Departure from recent non-political stance

By BILL DWYER

Tuesday, February 21, 2006

The 11-member Oak Park Board of Realtors broke with recent precedent last Thursday and publicly proclaimed its support of the upcoming River Forest schools property tax referendum.

Board president Rich Gloor Jr. said Monday that the unanimous decision to go public in support of the tax increase was due solely to economic considerations.

Gloor said the board members concurred that the quality of River Forest’s schools was a primary consideration in moving to the village.

"So many people have moved to River Forest specifically for the schools," he said.

In the board’s opinion, he said, the additional revenues provided by the 27.5-cent increase on each $100 of equalized assessed home value are crucial to maintaining the superiority of the River Forest’s schools, and thus the strength of the village’s housing market.

That decision came in the wake of a growing consensus that it is not always appropriate for the Board of Realtors to remain silent on certain issues.

"Ten or 15 years ago the board made a decision to be less political," said Gloor. In recent years, however, there has been a growing sense that the board needed to speak out on local issues directly related to the health of the area’s housing market, he said.

"The thought was that the board needed to support important issues in the communities where they sell homes," said Board of Realtors executive director Gerri Keating.

"In hindsight, we should have had a bigger voice," said Gloor. "It was time to take a stand."

Gloor added that the referendum and other issues relating to owners’ property rights had been discussed for a while. He made a distinction between endorsing political candidates and supporting a referendum.

"It’s not like we’re picking a candidate to endorse," he said. "We’re not being political just to be political."

Gloor said the board is proceeding slowly on the issue, and won’t likely be taking a leadership role.

"This is kind of new for us," he said. "We’ll lend our support to a few of the groups [working for passage of the referendum], but we won’t be taking out newspaper ads."

While the referendum’s official website, PreserveRiverForestSchools.org, doesn’t feature any endorsement from the Realtors’ group, it prominently features a quote from local Realtor Tony Iwersen that echoes the opinions expressed by the board.

"I can unequivocally say that the high quality of the District 90 schools is an important selling point for homes in River Forest," Iwersen is quoted as saying. "I’ve sold significant numbers of homes in the village, and time and time again, potential buyers ... explain that their reasons for purchasing in River Forest are for the superior quality schools."

Gloor acknowledged that taking a political stance may not meet with total agreement with his organization’s membership, but he hoped and believed that the wisdom of the decision to endorse the property tax hike would be proven over time.

"It’s a long-term thing," he said. "We want to be able to look down the road in 10 years and see that we’ve done the right thing and [supported River Forest property values]."