Will Oak Park never learn?

Years ago, Oak Park turned one of its major thoroughfares, Lake Street, into a pedestrian mall. The predictable disaster was eventually reversed; Lake Street was reopened to cars in 1989, and the remaining remnant of the boondoggle, Marion Street, was finally converted back into a regular street in 2008.

Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it, as they say, and Oak Park is no exception.

A recent proposal would put one of the village's other east-west thoroughfares, Madison Street, on what proponents call a "road diet," eliminating some of the traffic lanes. "More and more people are riding bicycles," says one resident. But wherever will we drive our electric cars?