South Cook News

Will County Board member Mike Fricilone has thrown his support behind Orland Park Mayor Keith Pekau in his April 6 rematch against former Mayor Dan McLaughlin.

“I think Keith has done a fine job and hopefully he will retain the seat and continue to do the things he’s been doing for Orland Park the last several years,” Fricilone told the Will County Gazette.

 Pekau registered 54% of the vote in 2017 to knock off the then-incumbent McLaughlin, ending his run of 24 straight years in power.

The two recently meet in a video town hall hosted by the Orland Park Area Chamber of Commerce where they clashed over their differing views on the Orland Square Mall.

“I know what his vision is and the first time I ran, I said the first thing we have to do is protect our mall,” Pekau said. “I met with Simon Property and I found out that six years before I got here, Mayor McLaughlin told them they wanted to make it into a town square type of a mall and they pretty much, without saying so, they laughed him out of the room. They have a top 1 percent traffic in the country in this mall and top 10 percent sales at this mall. Why in the world would a private entity ever look to demolish that to build residential and some retail?”

 If elected, McLaughlin vowed some changes, including perhaps removing the roof and converting the facility into an open-air shopping center and allowing residential zoning on the property.

“I look forward to working with Orland Square to keep (it) as a viable entity in Orland Park,” he added. “It is imperative that we consider incentives that make shopping in Orland Square an experience that is both safe and unique.”

McLaughlin said he is also considering the possibility of adding a police satellite office at the mall to make shopping there a safer experience.

Pekau said the idea strikes him as a solution in search of a problem.

“It’s safer than Oak Brook,” he said. “It’s safer than Woodfield. It’s probably the safest place to be in Orland Park. If anything happens, we’re there within 30 seconds to a minute because we have a constant presence.”