[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 6]
[Senate]
[Page 8233]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                    TRIBUTE TO DANIEL J. McLAUGHLIN

  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I would like to take a few moments to 
acknowledge my friend, Mayor Daniel J. McLaughlin of the Village of 
Orland Park, in my home State of Illinois. There is no stronger 
advocate for the people of Orland Park than Dan McLaughlin. For more 
than three decades, he has served his community with distinction.
  Dan began his service to Orland Park in 1983 as a village trustee. A 
decade later, he was elected mayor and would go on to serve for six 
terms. In 1995, Mayor McLaughlin created the Orland Park Open Lands 
program, which preserved nearly 300 acres of open space, two family 
farms, and created the village's nature center. In the same year, he 
completed the Orland Park Veterans Memorial. Each Memorial and Veterans 
Day, the village gathers at the memorial, Ara Pace--Place of Peace, at 
the Orland Park Village Center--and adds the names of veterans to the 
granite wall surrounding the memorial. It is a wonderful tribute that 
allows residents of Orland Park to thank those who bravely served our 
country.
  During his tenure, Mayor McLaughlin also brought the community 
together through an increase in village sponsored events and outdoor 
concerts. He believed in fitness for fun, and his leadership helped 
save the Orland Park Health and Fitness Center, created Centennial Park 
West, and expanded the aquatic center, which now includes ice skating, 
sledding, a dog park, and bicycle paths.
  His governing philosophy was simple, ``plan for people not cars.'' 
That vision led to a pedestrian-friendly center in the heart of 
downtown Orland Park in the historic 143rd train station, where people 
can come together to play and work. Throughout his career, Mayor 
McLaughlin grew Orland Park's economy by marketing the I-80 corridor, 
helping to bring in new businesses while retaining the ones already 
thriving in the village.
  Mayor McLaughlin has been honored by numerous organizations, 
including the American Institute of Architects; Chaddick Institute; 
Chicago Magazine; Chicago Southland Convention & Visitors' Bureau; 
Congress of New Urbanism; Government Finance Officers Association; Home 
Builders Association of Greater Chicago; Illinois Arts Council; 
Illinois Association of Chiefs of Police; Metropolitan Mayors Caucus; 
Moraine Valley Community College; the Chicago Building Congress; the 
United States Conference of Mayors; and the United States Green 
Building Council--just to name a few.
  I want to thank Mayor McLaughlin for his commitment to the people of 
Orland Park. I especially want to thank Dan's wife, Patricia 
McLaughlin, and four children--Bridget, Mary Kate, Dan, and Matt--for 
sharing so much of their husband and father with the Village of Orland 
Park. Now as he moves to the next chapter in his life, I wish him and 
his family all the best.

                          ____________________