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Attracting business key goal for LollisBy THOM GIBBONSTwo weeks ago, Zeb Lollis, 62, became Dixmoor’s first black mayor.The recent death of Kenneth Fisher raised local black political hopes that the time was right to elect a black mayor. The village board was split along racial lines in the choice of an acting mayor until the board’s three white trustees decided to support Lollis.Lollis, the man they elected, has lived in Dixmoor since 1954. He was elected as a trustee in April, 1987, He will be acting mayor until the next village election in April, 1989.THE NEW mayor says, “I never grasped for the job. I never thought about it. Once you get into something you can do, if you’ve got enough force behind you.”Since coming from Woodville, Miss., in 1952, Lollis has worked in the contruction trades. He has been a contractor, carpenter, plumber and laborer.He, and his Viola, raised six children. The children were the reasonZeb Lollisthey moved from Chicago’s West side to Dixmoor. The family was out looking for a home one day when they saw a model home on Wood street, liked it and decided to buy.Getting people, both business and residential, to come to Dixmoor is one of Lollis’ goals. “We’ve got space,” he says. “We’ve got to make it safer and more appetizing for business.”ALONG WITH HIS goal of making Dixmoor more appealing, Lollis wants illegal dumping stopped. “I want to make it (Dixmoor) look good, instead of a dump.”In addition to his goals for making the village “look good,” he wants more citizens to help reduce the village’s crime rate. He is open to the idea of citizen patrols equipped with CB radios.“It ain’t what I can do, it’s what can we do? What it really boils down to is it takes the citizens, but it can’t be done overnight. But it can be done if all are willing to put our shoulders together,” he says.Lollis backs Dixmoor’s inclusion in the Cal-Sag Enterpise zone, and wants it passed soon, “so we can see where we’re going from here.” He wants to see local industry hiring more local people, but will not make that a condition for industries coming into the village.“WE’VE GOT to meet with the planners,” he says. “We want to get some businesses into our community so we can get some more revenue.”He had little time to get used to his new job before plunging into the job of eliminating a projected $i 06,000 deficit from the new budget. That is the short term goal, but once that’s finished he wants to begin long term financial planning.“I intend to get familiar with all avenues, and that doesn’t leave anything out,” he says. He also intends (Please turn to Page A-2)
Newspaper Details
Harvey Star
Harvey, Illinois, US
Sun, May 29, 1988
Page 1
Full Page
Clipped by
Patuxent R.
AL, USA 05 Jun 2025
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