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Online Candidate Forum: February 2025

As we approach the City of Berwyn municipal elections on February 25 (and traditional early voting February 10-24), the Berwyn Tree Canopy Initiative (BTCI) has asked the candidates to share their vision and plans to improve the health and well-being of Berwyn’s residents and neighborhoods. We invited the candidates for Mayor and for Alderman of each of the eight Wards, as well as the candidates for City Clerk and City Treasurer to participate in our “Online Candidate Forum” by answering three questions:

  1. What is your vision for a healthy Berwyn? What are the key components of your vision and how would you support them? You may want to address people, neighborhoods, and the environment, as well as the role of equity, communication, and education and how you plan to respond to input from residents.
  2. The City of Berwyn’s Urban Forestry Management Plan sets a goal of increasing tree canopy coverage from 20.91% (as of 2022) to 23% by 2032. If elected, what would you do to ensure this and other goals of the Plan are met?
  3. Flooding is a big concern for many residents and with a warming climate we know to expect more extreme weather events. If elected, what would you do to decrease flooding and ensure our community is ready for a changing climate?

[Disclaimer: The Berwyn Tree Canopy Initiative (BTCI) is a non-political community group. We do not support or endorse and political candidates. Any views expressed on this website by candidates are not necessarily the views of BTCI, and should not be attributed to BTCI.]

Names in bold/color link to answers from those participating candidates for each elected position:

Mayor

Alicia Maria Ruiz
No responses received from candidates Ralph Avila or Robert Lovero

Alderman

1st Ward

Micah Caldwell
No responses received from candidates Scott Lennon or Rigoberto Salazar, Jr.

2nd Ward

Joshua Bowman
No responses received from candidate James Woywod

3rd Ward

Brian Brock
No response received from candidate Richard Leja 

4th Ward

Patricia Ostaszewski
No response received from candidate Robert Fejt

5th Ward

Rob Pabon
No response received from candidate Deanna Carbajar

6th Ward

No response received from candidate Teddy Polashek 

7th Ward

Michael Bane
No response received from candidate Sara Barnett Bruckmann

8th Ward

Joe Carmichael
No response received from candidate Ruthy Ortega

City Clerk

Letty Garcia
No response received from candidate Jessica Rodriguez

City Treasurer

No responses received from candidates Libby Linares-Herrera or Lisa M. Gomez

We sent email to the candidates on January 22 inviting them to participate. We requested candidates submit their answers by January 31. On February 2, we sent follow-up emails to candidates who had not responded hoping to receive additional responses. In our email invitations we included these guidelines:

We ask that you please answer each question … in fewer than 300 words and, if possible, provide answers in both English and Spanish.

Pick one of the three questions and make and upload a 1-2 minute video version of your answer … Your answers and short video will be shared on the BTCI website, social media, and email listserv as a way to help residents come to a decision on who to vote for in the Feb election. You are of course welcome to also share the content with your networks.

[Disclaimer: The Berwyn Tree Canopy Initiative (BTCI) is a non-political community group. We do not support or endorse and political candidates. Any views expressed on this website by candidates are not necessarily the views of BTCI, and should not be attributed to BTCI.]

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City’s Fall Parkway Planting: Turning Up the Volume

The City of Berwyn planted 110 trees in residential parkways in the fall of 2024.

This November, shortly before Thanksgiving, the city completed its autumn planting of trees in Berwyn parkways. Fifth Ward alderman Rob Pabon let us know that a total of 110 trees were planted.

This is a good increase over past years, when at most 80 parkway trees were planted each season.

As this season draws to a close, we will be submitting requests to the city to learn how many trees have been removed this year, as well. We have seen a lot come down, so we hope this increased planting is making some positive impact.

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30 Trees in the Ground

Saturday was a beautiful day, and we made it more beautiful by planting 30 trees in North Berwyn!

After a three-week-long drought, we were surprised that it was not terribly difficult to dig in that dry, dry soil. After planting, we watered each tree with 10 gallons of water. Still, what a relief it was when the very next day it rained over an inch! Oh, happy trees!

Nearly 50 volunteers joined us on September 21st, 2024 to plant trees around Ebeneezer Church, located at 14th & Harvey, and the surrounding neighborhood. One of our members, Alex McKinley, organized this TreePlanters grant from Openlands. With his leadership and the support of another half-dozen Berwyn Tree Canopy Initiative members, we recruited homeowners to plant trees in their parkways.

Thanks go to Alex and everyone who helped — especially to the homeowners and church leaders — and to Whomever made that rain finally come down!

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Mariachi 5k: ¡Sí!

Mariachi 5K logo and BTCI table at the event
The Berwyn Tree Canopy Initiative hosted a table at Berwyn's 2024 Corrida del Mariachi -- where we answered questions and spread the good word about planting and caring for trees.

The runners were fast, the walkers were strong, and the music and food were wonderful! We had a great time at Berwyn’s Corrida del Mariachi 5k on Saturday, August 17, 2024.

We answered dozens of questions about tree care and how to get a parkway tree planted in Berwyn. We connected with city and township officials and candidates.

So many folks were interested in and supportive of our cause! Thank you to everyone there who signed our petition for proactive tree planting… and if YOU haven’t signed it yet, sign it now!

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Are you in our 2024 TreePlanters Grant area?

Map of 2024 BTCI Openlands planting area in Berwyn, between Ridgeland and Lombard, from Roosevelt to 16th Street.
BTCI will be planting parkway trees in the pictured area with a 2024 Openlands TreePlanters grant. Our spokes-cat Fernando encourages you to sign up by 9/10/24 if you live in this zone!

Sign-up deadline is September 10th! For the third year in a row, the Berwyn Tree Canopy Initiative has received an Openlands TreePlanters Grant to plant trees in Berwyn. This fall’s tree planting will be on Saturday, September 21.

The planting area: We will plant trees on parkways and other public areas from the east side of Ridgeland Avenue all the way to the Cicero (east) side of Lombard Avenue, and south of Roosevelt Road all the way to the north side of 16th Street.

If you are a home owner in the tree planting area and would like a free tree planted in your parkway, sign up here by 9/10/24: https://openlands.jotform.com/241685606358970

(Renters, please note that the City of Berwyn requires landlord approval for tree planting.)

This planting is in addition to and separate from the City of Berwyn‘s free parkway tree planting program. The city is now accepting requests for their Spring 2025 planting here: Berwyn Parkway Tree Program sign-up

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See you at Juneteenth

We will be at Proksa Park for the 2024 Juneteenth Spirit Fest on Sunday, June 23rd from 1 to 5 pm. We hope to see you there!

Last year’s event was lots of fun. Come see us at our booth where we will be hosting a find-a-leaf scavenger hunt for the kids — plus a chance to get any tree questions you might have, answered in person!

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Noisy Invasion: Cicadas 2024

The 17-year cicadas are BACK!

Some folks are protecting their young trees with fine mesh netting. That’s because cicadas can damage branches between about 1/4 and 1/2-inch thick, by cutting the bark to lay their eggs. Larger trees won’t suffer much, as long as they are watered well during the next few months. Young trees will also do better if you make sure they get the water they need to be in general good health now and for at least a couple months after the cicadas are gone. That’s when the scars left on branches dry out and can cause damage.

If you want to learn more about protecting young trees, check out the Morton Arboretum page about the cicada emergence or this Openlands post on LinkedIn.

These red-eyed insects don’t bite, and they aren’t very good flyers. They have been living underground for 17 years, and they will only live for about four to six more weeks.

In the forest preserves, there can be up to 1.5 million cicadas per acre! You can learn more about cicadas in this excellent Cook County Forest Preserves article.

We hope you are appreciating this amazing show of nature. We won’t see these little guys and gals again until 2041!

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Vote YES for Trees!

Help us get an extra $75,000 for Berwyn to plant trees this year—just come VOTE at the Berwyn Township annual meeting on Tuesday, April 9, 2024 at 6 p.m.!

UPDATE: This measure passed UNANIMOUSLY! Thank you for making your voice heard!

— Original Post —

All Berwyn registered voters can vote for this item on the agenda, but you have to be there IN PERSON when the vote happens.

We learned that the Berwyn Township has funds set aside that it needs to spend on city improvements. So last month BTCI members collected signatures to get this resolution added to the Township annual meeting:

Should the Berwyn Township spend $75,000 in tax revenue to purchase 150 trees for public lands?

Passing this resolution will not raise taxes, because this is money that has already been set aside. It calls for dollars to be transferred from the Township to the City. This amount will cover purchasing and planting the trees—and might even pay for more than 150 trees.

Now it’s time to put it to a vote! If you support trees in Berwyn, join us at Pav YMCA at 2947 Oak Park Ave. on April 9th at 6 p.m. We hope to SEE YOU THERE!

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Time to ask for your FREE parkway tree!

Spring planting is coming soon! The City of Berwyn will plant a tree in the parkway in front of your home for free — you just have to ask. > Complete the city’s online tree request form.

The city only plants about 80 trees each spring and fall. So hurry to get on the list in time! Trees may start to go in the ground as early as April.

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Looking Back at 2023… and Ahead to 2024!

Berwood the Tree-a-saurus loved the Berwyn Tree Canopy Initiative's booth at Juneteenth.

Let’s start off the new year with a look back at what BTCI accomplished in 2023!  Last year our group spoke out at three Berwyn City Council Meetings, four Public Works meetings, and seven different civic and aldermanic meetings. We distributed hundreds of flyers about the benefits of trees. We also had ongoing communication with residents and Public Works related to tree numbers, plantings, tree maintenance, and care.

Our efforts have led to Berwyn posting several important tree resources on its website: a tree request form, an interactive tree inventory map, and the city’s complete 2022 parkway tree inventory spreadsheet including arborist notes. The number of parkway trees the city planted in 2023 increased to 158 – about double what it was the year before – in part due to BTCI’s spreading the word about the city’s free tree planting program, and our call to increase the city’s tree planting budget.

We also had fun reaching out to our neighbors in 2023 by walking in two parades, sponsoring a T-ball league (go Marlins!), and providing educational resource tables at three great community events – Juneteenth, the Corrida del Mariachi 5K, and Hispanic Heritage Day.

One action we took that looked outside Berwyn, was in support of increased funding for tree planting and care in communities across Illinois. We provided a Letter of Support to the Morton Arboretum as they pursued Inflation Reduction Act funding. The Arboretum has since received millions of dollars to distribute to Illinois communities and nonprofits in the months ahead.

For the second year, we got an Openlands TreePlanters Grant and then knocked on doors, leading to our planting 44 parkway trees in North Berwyn. We also orchestrated planting 50 trees from Morton Arboretum in Berwyn parks. That’s another 94 trees we got in the ground in 2023, that we are very proud of!

In 2024, we still have plenty of work to do. As in previous years, we will continue to work to increase the number of trees planted, improve city tree maintenance – and ensure that Berwyn has a transparent city-wide plan to do just that.

Our approaches continue to grow, and we have a number of new ideas for 2024. In the coming year, we want to work with local groups to get more tree planting grants, investigate reviving the city’s defunct Tree Board, and continue to increase community outreach.

Do YOU have some ideas for how to help Berwyn’s tree canopy grow? Let us know! Send us a message, come to our next meeting, or comment on Facebook! The more of us who care about trees in Berwyn, the more we can achieve together!