Greendale Village Board Candidates Mostly on Same Page

If you’re looking for a flashy candidate that has wildly different ideas from the rest of the field, you’ll have to look further than the Greendale Village Trustee race.

That’s because for the most part, incumbents Ronald Barbian and Carl Genz and challenger Jason Cyborowski are on the same page.

The trio is vying for a pair of available Village Board seats in the April 2 election, and about the only thing separating them is experience. Barbian is seeking a third term on the board and Genz a second; this is Cyborowski first attempt at an elected office.

About 40 potential voters listened in as the three candidates weighed in on key issues facing the Village during a nearly two-hour forum in the multi-purpose room at Greendale High School on March 21. All three appear focused on the same things.

“We have some high standards here,” Genz said. “We’re one of the youngest communities in the state, but we’re historical. We have a balancing act where we want to develop the village and keep it vibrant, but we don’t want to sacrifice any of the heritage that is Greendale.”

“We have to be creative and move forward with our ideas, but be careful not to damage what has made us a historical landmark,” Barbian said.

The most critical issues facing Greendale is, “keeping taxes where they are, not cutting services, improving the business park and keeping up with 76th Street development,” Cyborowski said.

Lots of 'What if?' ...

The candidates dealt with plenty of hypothetical situations, many of them centered on development, growth and taxes.

Cyborowski said he’d like to see another restaurant go in where the old post office is, if the rumor that the post office will shut down in the near future becomes a reality. He said a third restaurant coupled with the current success of Joey Gerard’s Supper Club and the hype surrounding the Panther Pub would make downtown even more attractive.

Barbian said the parcel is big enough for a strong end anchor tenant to move in and would like to see something that is open late at night like the two aforementioned restaurants.“Anything that would happen there, I’d want it to be a destination point,” Barbian said. “Let’s get in the car and go there.”

The trio debated what to do with the industrial/business park off Loomis Road, as well. Genz said the Village needs to do a better job marketing the area and should try to attract “a couple more permanent owner-occupied businesses.”

“A lot of what we have there are tenant-based,” Genz said. “They start to thrive, they grow and then no longer fit in the tenant area and have to move on.”

Barbian said a challenge with the area is the Department of Public Works building located in the middle of it. The Village, however, has done a nice job of beautifying the location he said. He and Cyborowski said a second entrance would make the location more attractive to businesses.

Cyborowski said putting a hotel in the Southridge area would be a great idea that could lead to tourists coming to the Village, but wasn’t sure if it would be possible. Barbian and Genz were equally pessimistic about land being available for a hotel and weren’t sure Greendale was the kind of destination that would lead to a successful hotel venture, but both said they would keep an open mind if any proposals came through the Planning Commission.

The trio also debated what to do with the former police and fire station. Check back with Greendale Patch for a future story about their thoughts on developing that area.