Homewood staffer apologizes for comments about residents
A Homewood village staff member said Friday she is “deeply ashamed” of comments disparaging opponents of a redevelopment of Calumet Country Club, including suggesting she might want to fight some of them during a public meeting.
The comments were caught on a live microphone Thursday before the start of a village Planning and Zoning Commission meeting.
In the recording, Angela Mesaros, the director of economic and community development, is heard talking to other village staff, including Napoleon Haney, assistant village manager, and saying “No. 1, I can’t fight,” but that “I would try anyway,” referencing project opponents.
She makes a few references about “jumping” into the audience to fight.
“I have said words that were thoughtless and unkind towards members of this community. My actions showed disrespect for our residents whose voices need to be heard,” Mesaros said in a message sent to village residents.
“I let my frustration with the lengthy and challenging hearing process get the best of me” Mesaros said.
The comments were made before the Zoom meeting and were recorded by a member of South Suburbs for Greenspace Over Concrete, a group formed to oppose the golf course redevelopment and which is calling for the staff member to resign.
Discussion about the opponents and how to prevent them from “intimidating staff” followed on the recording, including possibly having a police officer walk through the audience. Mesaros talks about experiences being bullied in high school and confronting those bullies.
“That’s why I don’t own a gun … and Chris should not have one either,” she later says, referencing village attorney Chris Cummings. “Good thing me and Chris don’t have guns.”
Mesaros included Cummings in her apology, saying it “was inappropriate to include you in my own litany of frustrations.”
Cummings said he was in the Village Board meeting room, where the Planning and Zoning Commission was to be held, before the hearing, but did not hear Mesaros’ comments. He said he may have been in the back of the room at the time speaking with the attorney for the company that plans to redevelop the golf course.
Mesaros said that “any reference to violence or the use of a gun is never appropriate, and it does not reflect my love for this community I call home.”
“Moving forward I want to continue to listen and engage in meaningful dialogue with the community and to work towards what is best for Homewood,” she wrote.
Greenspace members held a protest Friday outside Homewood Village Hall demanding the “immediate removal” of both Mesaros and Haney. The organization termed Mesaros’ apology “insufficient, insincere and insulting” and stood by the call for both to resign.
Thursday’s meeting was the third commission hearing on the rezoning issue.
Diversified Partners plans to redevelop the golf course with up to 800,000 square feet of warehouse-distribution space. Residents who live near the golf course are concerned about heavy truck traffic the development would bring along with pollution and potential impact on their property values.