Designs on the future. Davenport looks forward to next step in serving Downers Grove

With more than a decade under his belt as a Community High School District 99 board member, Mike Davenport was not yet ready to leave public service.

Now he gets the chance to continue representing Downers Grove residents, this time as a member of the Village Council.

In the April 4 election, Davenport, 57, was among six candidates vying for three seats on the Downers Grove Village Council. Other winners were former Downers Grove Mayor Martin Tully and incumbent Leslie Sadowski-Fugitt.

Davenport, married with four children, has been on the District 99 school board since 2011, serving the past four years as vice president.

“I felt like I still had a little more to give to the community, and after 12 years on the school board, it was time for me to step aside and let someone else step in,” Davenport said.

He and his wife, Shelly, are founders of the Downers Grove-based Davenport Architects. Davenport believes his architectural experience will benefit him as a member of the council.

“I’ve had many occasions to deal with our building codes and ordinances and there is a whole list of little tweaks and adjustments I think really need to be made to update them,” Davenport said. “Because of my experience as an architect, in the past I’ve actually had village staff reach out to me when they were looking to make updates to some building codes. Now I’ll be looking at it from the standpoint of being on the council and directly giving input for the code changes that are being looked at.

“I’m super excited about being able to get involved in this way. I have my wheelhouse being an architect. I’m a creative person and a highly technical person and I’m looking forward to bringing this to the Village Council. And I’ll be relying heavily on other council members to help inform me about the things I’m not as knowledgeable about, which is just so cool.”

Davenport, who has lived in Downers Grove for about three decades, would like to see momentum continue on making the area’s bike paths safer and more accessible.

“Downers Grove could use a few more bike paths along arterial streets to connect some of our parks,” he said.

Davenport said in the aftermath of Downers Grove North High School student Elizabeth Dunlap getting struck and killed by a vehicle in 2019 while she was crossing Main Street outside of the school, members from both the District 99 board and Village Council partnered to find ways to make the areas around the high schools safer.

Joseph Kucharski, the driver who struck Dunlap, was sentenced to seven years in prison after pleading guilty to one count of aggravated DUI causing death and one count of reckless homicide.

“It was just heartbreaking and affected all of us in town,” Davenport said. “We held meetings to gather input on what we could do to make things safer. And the village was a strong partner in this.”

This week, a first reading for traffic safety improvements for Main Street and Highland Avenue near Downers Grove North High School and for Main Street at Oxford Avenue near Downers Grove South High School went before the council.

“How exciting to have been part of trying to put that plan into action and now getting to go to the Village Council and eventually being able to vote and approve it,” Davenport said. “I’m so honored and humbled. And I’m thrilled the people in town would trust me to do this work.”

As a council member, Davenport looks forward to helping unite the community.

“We have seen the extremes on both sides politically and there has been fighting, fighting, fighting,” he said. “But I think the lion’s share of our residents are not those sorts of extreme people and want to work together to better educate themselves about the issues and look for common ground. I’m very firm in my beliefs in terms of looking out for marginalized groups. We need to stop fighting, and we need to start working together and not let the extreme views steer us.”

Davenport said he faced similar struggles with divisiveness when he first joined the District 99 board.

“And I’d gotten sucked into some of that divisiveness,” he said. “But after being on the board for a year or so, the things I was saying and the relationships I had with people, I recognized they were not who I was. So I started to work very hard to build common ground and work with my colleagues to get things done.”

He plans to continue supporting equity, diversity and inclusion efforts.

“I’m not just going to take someone else’s beliefs about how this person is or isn’t. I’d rather get to know people myself, form my own opinions and find ways we can work together to get things done,” Davenport said. “That’s what the people of Downers Grove want and expect.”