Should city neighborhoods have walls around them? Should they exclude outsiders from their streets, or would that be antithetical to the very nature and vitality of the city?
Some people think that questioning is something Rugai has assiduously avoided. She avoided this reporter, and in general has dodged the press. Jerry Moore, editor of the Beverly Review, laughs when told about multiple endeavors to interview the alderman: “I’ve attempted to reach her for the past week and have been unable to; I was talking to a reporter [from the Daily Southtown], and he hasn’t been able to reach her either. I certainly don’t remember, in the past year, the alderman’s office coming to us and saying, ‘Here’s this plan we’re working on–could you publish this?’”
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Chris Berghoff, a third-generation Beverly resident and a lawyer in his second year on the board of directors of the Beverly Improvement Association, believes that the plan reflects Rugai’s wishes more than those of the neighborhood. According to Berghoff, the alderman carefully selected a committee to make up a formal plan, but didn’t solicit input from the general public. Adds his father Robert, also a lawyer, “The committee choices were political; they certainly weren’t random. She picked people she knew were in favor of the plan, and the committee was created without notice to people outside the group.”
Dead ends make problems for emergency vehicles. North Beverly would not be a full-service walled city. The nearest police and fire stations stand without. Police commander Joseph Logue of the 22nd District says he’s waiting for the final version of Rugai’s plan, but observes, “I absolutely could not go along with the original plan at all, with the gates. [The traffic plan] will have a negative effect on response time, no question.”
Robert Berghoff attended the meeting and reported an almost evenly divided overflow crowd–far too many people for the hall. He said Rugai presented no final plan and no cost estimates, and was rude to her opponents. “Ginger said that unless there is significant, organized opposition to the plan, it’s going ahead as scheduled on November 1. Well, it’s hard to put opposition together in that short a time that she’ll listen to. I would like to delay the process at least long enough for the community to discuss the plan. The representative from the Fire Department said the plan would slow response time, but that it was still ‘acceptable.’ I don’t see how making responses any slower can possibly be acceptable.
