Vicki Scaman President at Oak Park | Official website
Vicki Scaman President at Oak Park | Official website
The Village of Oak Park will host a special panel event featuring German Mayor Dora on August 7. The event will take place in Council Chambers (room 201) at 5 p.m., and members of the public are invited to attend.
In addition to President Scaman and Mayor Dora, Oak Park resident Alan Hoffstadter will participate in the panel. According to a 2023 story in the Wednesday Journal, Hoffstadter recently traced his family’s German roots to Datteln, from where his mother fled in 1933 as a 15-year-old. He was awarded Datteln’s Etienne Bach Prize, which honors “individuals committed to promoting understanding and reconciliation between people of different and historically adversarial cultures.”
The event, moderated by Oak Park resident and community leader Linda Francis, will open with a traditional German welcoming of dignitaries and a signing of the “Golden Book.” The discussion will center around the promotion of peace and unity within communities, especially in spaces that have been historically divided.
Prior to the panel, Mayor Dora and guests will spend the day enjoying tours of the Frank Lloyd Wright Home and Studio, Unity Temple, the Oak Park River Forest History Museum, Village Hall, as well as lunch at a local Oak Park restaurant in the Hemingway District.
Both Scaman and Dora are members of the global organization Mayors for Peace, which focuses on promoting a culture of peace, realizing safe and resilient cities, and a world without nuclear weapons. Headquartered in Hiroshima, Japan, Mayors for Peace boasts more than 8,400 member cities in 166 countries. Additional members from Illinois include Berwyn, Chicago, Evanston, Highland Park, Lombard, Normal, Oak Lawn, Schaumburg and Urbana.
About Oak Park
The Village of Oak Park is located just nine miles west of downtown Chicago. It offers a distinctive urban/suburban lifestyle in a thriving multi-cultural community known for progressive values. With tree-lined streets and bustling business districts it serves as an ideal place to live work and play. The Village benefits from convenient access to local transit high-quality public schools arts cultural attractions including Frank Lloyd Wright’s home studio Unity Temple which was recently designated as a UNESCO World Heritage site.
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