Forest Park Review 040721

Forest Park Review | 2021

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GROWING COMMUNITY MEDIA, NFP ForestParkReview.com Vol. 104, No. 15

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REVIEW F O R E S T PA R K

Graffiti ongoing problem for CTA

PAGE 5

State offers pandemic food benefits for kids

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APRIL 7, 2021

ALEX ROGALS/Staff Photographer

Bar issued emergency suspension of liquor license

@FP_Review @ForestParkReview

KICKIN’ IT Alanna D’Souza of Forest Park practices dribbling the soccer ball at Veterans Park.

Tap Room will have hearing with village within the week

By MARIA MAXHAM Editor

Forest Park Tap Room, 7321 Madison St., was issued an emergency order of suspension of liquor license on Saturday, April 3. The bar, owned by brothers Lance and Hansel Law, will be allowed to open but not serve alcohol, effectively shutting down the tavern until a hearing with the village is held within seven days.

According to Village Administrator Tim Gillian, “Based on numerous complaints from residents and local businesses as well as numerous police reports and local ordinance violations, the mayor [Rory Hoskins] is using his authority as mayor and liquor commissioner to issue an emergency suspension of the liquor license.”

Gillian said there have been “ongoing safety concerns and issues at the bar,” including loud noise and disturbances at closing time.

This measure is one of the quickest ways to halt business operations of the bar, and Gillian said it’s a necessary step because of the numerous complaints and issues that have been ongoing, despite the owners See TAP ROOM on page 9

When COVID cancels events, caterer finds success selling suppers and sweets Ashley’s Daily Breads and Sunday Suppers takes off

By MARIA MAXHAM

she was scheduled to work canceled, one

Editor

after another. With in-home and corpo-

Last March, when COVID-related shutdowns began in full force, Forest Park caterer Ashley Simone saw events

IN Crime . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6 THIS Big Week . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8 ISSUE Opinion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Classified . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

rate parties and meetings no longer happening, business and income Simone

“I had no idea what I was going to do,” Simone said.

She had been working out of a shared kitchen space in Chicago, but because of

was counting on suddenly evaporated.

See ASHLEY SIMONE on page 7

Two juveniles arrested for aggravated hijacking

Will Juneteenth become a state holiday?

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PAGE 10

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Forest Park Review, April 7, 2021

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Forest Park Review, April 7, 2021

A spring break in Florida

W

e needed spring break more than ever this year and we made the most of it. Normally, we head north for spring break. Those Wisconsin water parks are a powerful draw. This year, we traveled in the opposite direction to Clearwater, Florida.

What a novel idea, going to Florida for spring break. I wonder if it will catch on. I had my worries, though. After a year of lockdown, I was as jittery as a newborn kitten. I hadn’t flown in 15 years. I noticed security was tighter, same with the legroom. Our plane was packed with Midwesterners grateful to be escaping to paradise.

Paradise was all around us in Clearwater.

From our 12th floor balcony, we had breathtaking views of the white sand beaches.

We could also see every attraction and restaurant we wanted to visit. They were all within walking distance of the hotel. If we did want a lift, the free Jolley Trolley was circulating through the streets.

We didn’t need the trolley to get to the beach, it was a brisk walk from the hotel pool. The surf was gentle and the water was tasty. It was filled with refugees from the north. One woman I spoke with had escaped

Ohio three years ago. She said that the slower southern pace was going to add years to her life. So the rumors are true — Florida is home to the Fountain of Youth.

Speaking of legends, I had heard about Florida’s fabled open-air restaurants but had never dined at one. We dined on fresh seafood while basking in the mild breeze. One of these places had their own fleet of fishing boats. The food was so delicious, we witnessed a minor medical miracle. Our traveling companion could actually taste his appetizer. He hadn’t tasted anything since December.

After dinner, we strolled the pier to watch a spectacular sunset. As we walked back, we witnessed a magnificent moonrise. They even had full moons during the day. Mostly at the beach. To say that people dressed skimpily would be an understatement. I put on a shirt with a collar and felt like I was wearing a tux. The scanty clothing revealed more than the usual number of tattoos.

We also saw more than the usual number of people hobbling around on walking boots.

I asked one woman how she got hurt and she said she slipped on ice in Syracuse. She wasn’t only a refugee but a casualty. A num-

JOHN RICE

A

L O O K

B A C K

I N

ber of the walking wounded were northerners. They eased their pain with tropical drinks.

Our hotel didn’t just serve drinks at the pool. The servers handed cocktails to guests who were in the pool. It was heavenly and the water had the same flavor as the gulf.

There were only a few things that bugged me. It seemed that everyone around me was focused on their phones. I don’t get it.

You’re surrounded by natural beauty and staring down at a device.

The best decision I made was to leave my phone in Forest Park. It was liberating to be free from my electronic leash. The saddest sight I saw was a little boy at the aquarium playing a game on his phone while a giant sea turtle glided by the window.

Seeing this phone addiction was depressing but we also noticed more people than normal reading real books. So there is hope for the human race after all. After four magical days, we returned to Chicago.

It wasn’t all bad. As one Floridian said, “In a few months you’ll be glad to be there and not here.”

■ John Rice is a columnist/private detective, who has seen his business and family thrive in Forest Park. He thoroughly enjoys life in the village and still gets a thrill smelling Red Hots, watching softball and strolling through cemeteries. Jrice1038@aol.com

T I M E . . .

ONCE UPON A PARK The Forest Park Amusement Park, which was located at the current-day intersection of Desplaines Avenue and the Eisenhower Expressway, had numerous rides, including Shoot the Chute, shown here.

The flat bottomed boat would slide down a ramp into a lagoon. The ride and lagoon were flanked by roller coasters. On the right side of this photo is the Giant Safety Coaster, the largest roller coaster at the time. On the left is the entrance to the Leap the Dips ride. The lagoon, where the Shoot the Chute riders ended up, was in the center of that section of the park.

—Jill Wagner

F O R E S T PA R K

REVIEW Editor Maria Maxham Senior Editor Bob Uphues Contributing Reporters Tom Holmes, John Rice, Bob Skolnik, Jackie Glosniak, Robert J. Lifka Columnists Alan Brouilette, Jill Wagner, Tom Holmes, John Rice Food Editor Melissa Elsmo Staff Photographer Alex Rogals Design/Production Manager Andrew Mead Designers Debbie Becker, Mark Moroney Sales and Marketing Representatives Lourdes Nicholls, Marc Stopeck Sales & Development Mary Ellen Nelligan Circulation Manager Jill Wagner Publisher Dan Haley Business Manager Joyce Minich GROWING COMMUNITY MEDIA Board of Directors Chair Judy Greffin Treasurer Nile Wendorf Deb Abrahamson, Gary Collins, Darnell Shields, Sheila Solomon, Eric Weinheimer HOW TO REACH US ADDRESS 141 S. Oak Park Ave., Oak Park, IL 60302 PHONE 708-366-0600 ■ FAX 708-467-9066 EMAIL forestpark@wjinc.com CIRCULATION Jill@oakpark.com ONLINE ForestParkReview.com TWITTER @FP_Review Postmaster: Please send address changes to: Forest Park Review,141 S. Oak Park Ave., Oak Park, IL 60302-2901. Periodical rate postage paid at Oak Park, IL (USPS No 0205-160) In-county subscriptions: $28 per year. $42 for two years, $58 for three years.

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REVIEW Share photos on Instagram using #fpreview or email alexa@oakpark.com.

All photos become property of Forest Park Review for possible future use in print or digital capacities.

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Forest Park Review, April 7, 2021

Village out to bid on estimated $1.3M water main, resurfacing project North side work expected to be done this spring, summer

By MARIA MAXHAM Editor

Forest Park’s village government has approved project specs and gone out to bid on water main replacement and street resurfacing on Thomas Street and Monroe Street on the north side of town.

The 7700 block of Monroe Street and 400 and 500 blocks of Thomas Avenue will undergo water main replacement, from a four-inch pipe to an eight-inch, according to Village Administrator Tim Gillian. The 600 block of Thomas will be resurfaced only.

The project is estimated to cost around $1.3 million. Approximately $770,000 will be paid for through the water fund, and $530,000 through Motor Fuel Taxes (MFT). The village will open bids on April 7. Gillian said he hopes the contract will be approved and awarded at the April 12 village council meeting. The work, which will take several months, is estimated to begin this spring.

This particular project, according to Gillian, had previously gone out for bid last year, but with COVID-19 expenses hitting village finances hard, the contract was never executed.

The project was included in the list of 2021 planned infrastructure work put forth by village engineers Christopher B. Burke Engineering, Ltd. and presented to the village council at the Feb. 8 village council meeting.

CBBEL

SPRING FIXES: Replacing water mains and resurfacing streets are part of the village’s 2021 planned infrastructure projects.

Village and county crack down on Harlem Avenue eyesore Stop-work order issued to prevent asbestos problems

PERMIT REQUIRED: The owner of the house at the corner of Adams Street and Harlem Avenue needs a special permit for asbestos abatement in order to continue work on the derelict structure.

By MARIA MAXHAM Editor

The two-flat on the corner of Harlem Avenue and Adams Street has been an eyesore for years and is now under the attention of both the village and the county, as asbestos abatement is needed before any further work is done on the property.

Currently uninhabited, it sports missing windows, holes, exposed lathwork, and is in a state of complete disrepair.

Previously owned and occupied by the Karlin family, it was sold in 2019 to Immaculate Investing LLC, based out of Schaumburg, IL and owned by Michael Winders.

The building has been unoccupied for five or six years, said Steve Glinke, director of building and zoning. However Glinke believes the building was used as an encampment two summers ago by individuals experiencing homelessness.

In January 2021, the owner was ticketed by the county after an inspection by the

ALEX ROGALS/ Staff Photographer

county’s Department of Environmental Sustainability found violations involving illegal asbestos removal, according to the Brittany Hill, public information officer for the Cook County Bureau of Administration.

The owner, however, did not show up for a hearing scheduled in February, so a default

judgment was issued against him.

The owner needs to apply for an asbestos abatement permit to finish cleaning up the property, according to the county.

“The county is willing to work with the owner, but our calls have not been returned,” said Hill.

According to Glinke, the owner holds no current work permits issued by the village, so no work should not be occurring on the home. However, he’s observed signs of occasional changes and what might be called improvements, such as what looks like replacement or re-sheeting of one of the external walls.

As a result, a stop-work order was issued to the owner of the building last week.

Proper precautions need to be taken when removing the asbestos-impregnated siding, said Glinke, which is why the county has required the property owner to obtain an asbestos abatement permit.

The structure itself, Glinke said, is sound.

Without danger of a building falling, the village generally won’t demolish it.

“We’ll issue an order to demolish only in extreme cases,” Glinke said, “but if there isn’t an imminent risk, the village doesn’t want to incur expenses we’re not 100% certain will be reimbursed.”

In addition to the ticket from the county, multiple tickets have been issued by Forest Park to the property owner.

“As a village, we just want to see the property improved and occupied,” Glinke said.

Forest Park Review, April 7, 2021

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State releases guide to school reopening Districts to receive over $7 billion in federal funds to help in effort Photo by MAXHAM

WELCOME TO THE JUNGLE: Trains parked west of the Desplaines Avenue Blue Line CTA terminal in a section known as “the jungle” are often the target of graffiti vandals.

Blue Line sees uptick in train car graffiti

CTA vandalism is a dangerous felony offense

By MARIA MAXHAM Editor

Almost every week for several months, the Review’s police blotter has included reports of vandalism of CTA train cars. The Review reached out to the CTA to find out more about these crimes, including the costs associated with graffiti removal and what the consequences are when subjects are caught.

Two CTA train lines, the Green and Blue, end – or begin – in Forest Park. Train cars not in use sit at the stations, making them more vulnerable to would-be graffiti artists.

The Blue Line in particular ends in what’s called “the jungle,” the area between I-290 and Concordia Cemetery, west of the Desplaines Avenue terminal, thus named because it used to be overgrown with thick bushes and trees, said Forest Park Police Chief Tom Aftanas. The CTA, Aftanas said, cleared a lot of the overgrowth away over a year ago at the village’s request to increase visibility to passing officers. Even so el cars here have been the canvas for multiple incidences of graffiti over the past year.

Aftanas said the problem isn’t new; the trains have always been targeted. Other areas with frequent issues with graffiti on train cars are Evanston, Rosemont and points in the city where the lines end.

It’s not the vandalism itself that worries CTA officials the most, though. According to a CTA media representative, “The CTA’s number one concern is safety. Graffiti/vandalism is not only a crime, it is also extremely dangerous. When vandals trespass unlawfully into our secure rail yards and other protected areas, they are risking their lives or subjecting themselves to life-altering injuries.”

Graffiti is generally done under the cover of night, when it’s more difficult for vandals to see where they’re going. “This can result in them fall-

ing and sustaining injury or worse, such as making contact with the third rail or an approaching vehicle,” the CTA said.

Forest Park Deputy Police Chief Ken Gross said he’s not aware of any vandals being electrocuted on the train lines in town, although other individuals have succumbed to that fate over the years he’s been working for the village.

Vandalism of CTA property isn’t a crime to be taken lightly. Not only is it dangerous; it’s a felony offense, with a potential sentence of one to five years in jail and fines up to $25,000.

In Forest Park specifically, the CTA representative said the Blue Line has seen “a slight uptick” in graffiti this year. The graffiti, however, is generally not gang-related but is considered more of the “street art” style of painting.

Trains that are marked are taken out of service until they can be cleaned, which can cost anywhere from hundreds to thousands of dollars per incident, which includes the cost of time spent out of service in addition to the actual clean-up expenses.

Annually, graffiti-related crimes are expensive for the CTA. “Taken in total, this kind of vandalism represents hundreds of thousands of dollars in clean-up costs each year,” said the CTA. “This is money that would be much better spent on providing additional service to customers or upgrading our facilities.

In addition to working with the Forest Park Police Department, the CTA employs a security firm to conduct “weekly graffiti missions” across the rail system and has in place an “extensive video camera network” to combat the dangers and costs of train-car vandalism.

The last time a tagger was caught in town was this past January, when two males were apprehended and charged with criminal trespass but not with tagging because they weren’t caught in the act. Cans of spray paint were found in their backpacks.

Although uncertain if the local CTA train tagging’s being done by the same individual or group, Gross said graffiti artists often work in crews.

By PETER HANCOCK Capitol News Illinois

SPRINGFIELD — Educators, students and families will face a host of new challenges in overcoming the learning loss that occurred over the past year of mostly remote learning as COVID-19 vaccines become more widely available and schools prepare to fully reopen for in-person learning.

To aid in that process, Gov. JB Pritzker announced the release of a new 180-page Learning Renewal Resource Guide to help school officials identify and address the most significant challenges they face.

Pritzker said Illinois school districts can expect to receive roughly $7 billion in federal funds to help them transition back to in-person learning, mainly through the recently-passed American Rescue Plan.

About 90 percent of that money will come in the form of direct payments.

In addition, higher education institutions in Illinois will receive about $1.3 billion from the third round of federal relief that was approved in December, for a total of $2.5 billion across all three rounds of federal funding, mainly from the Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund.

“With these enormous new resources comes the great challenge that most districts have never had to face – how to avoid having the last 12 months become the lost year for our students,” Pritzker said at a news conference at South Elgin High School in the western Chicago suburbs, the state’s second-largest school district. “To revitalize learning for teachers and students and educators, our response must be intensive, holistic and practical.”

The resource guide is the work of the Illinois P-20 Council, an agency established in 2009 to study and make recommendations for all levels of education, from preschool through post-college education. The guide was developed in collaboration with the Illinois State Board of Education, the Illinois Board of Higher Education, the Illinois Com-

munity College Board, the Illinois Student Assistance Commission and the Governor’s Office of Early Childhood Development, with support from A Better Chicago and Advance Illinois.

Just as the pandemic exacerbated inequities that already existed within the nation’s health care system, State Superintendent of Education Carmen Ayala said it also had a disproportionate impact on low-income students, who often have limited or no access to home computers or broadband internet service, as well as students of color.

But she also said that as schools reopen post-pandemic, they will have a new set of resources to help address those underlying inequities.

“With the influx of federal funding and the learning renewal resource guide, we are now presented with a unique opportunity to transform systems of learning for students, to reshape our new normal, so that our students return to an education system that is more equitable, more individualized and more responsive to their needs,” she said.

Melissa Figueira, senior policy associate with Advance Illinois, said it has also had a dramatic impact on enrollment at all levels of education – an estimated 1.9 percent drop in pre-K through 12 schools, with the biggest declines in kindergarten through third grade, and a 5 percent decline in post-secondary enrollment.

The resource guide details 12 topics that districts and higher education institutions may want to consider to equitably address the pandemic’s short-term and long-term impacts.

Among them are ways to support enrollment and retention, redesigning the school calendar by expanding school days and the school year, ways to provide out of classroom learning experiences through tutoring, before and after school programs and summer camps, and enhancing the availability of both academic and behavioral counseling.

In addition to the resource guide, the governor’s office said in a statement that state education agencies will focus on four major goals to support schools: high-impact tutoring; social and emotional learning community partnerships; interim assessments to measure the impact the pandemic has had on student learning; and to encourage enrollment in both early childhood programs and higher education.

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Forest Park Review, April 7, 2021

Two juveniles arrested for aggravated vehicular hijacking

Two teenaged males, aged 16 and 17, were charged with aggravated vehicular hijacking, aggravated discharge of a firearm, motor vehicle theft, and aggravated unlawful use of a weapon on April 4 at 9:23 p.m.

The owner of the stolen vehicle was sitting in her car on the 300 block of Elgin Avenue with her girlfriend when two males approached the driver and passenger side doors. The driver reported one of the suspects putting a gun to the back of her head, and both women exited the car, at which time the two males got inside and fled.

The car owner said she heard a “pop” that sounded like a gunshot.

Other witnesses said they heard a gunshot in the area and observed two cars, including the stolen vehicle, fleeing the area. Police observed a spent shell casing on the windshield of the vehicle after it was recovered.

The shell matched the ammunition in the gun found in the Glock 19 semi-automatic pistol found under the front passenger seat after the vehicle was located and the two juveniles arrested.

The stolen car was located at Harlem and I-290, where an officer positioned his car to block traffic. He then unholstered his firearm and pointed it at the driver, who was attempting to maneuver the car through the backed-up traffic toward the officer.

Both the driver and passenger eventually exited the car and were taken into police custody. A quick vehicle search revealed the gun under the front passenger seat with two rounds missing from the 30-round magazine. One was in the chamber of the gun.

The gun had the fresh odor of gun powder, and residue in the barrel and chamber indicated to the officer that the gun had recently been fired, according to the police report.

Gunshot residue testing was done. The two suspects were processed and taken to the Cook County Juvenile Detention Center.

Gun stolen from apartment A Canik model TP9 Elite SC 9mm black

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semi-automatic pistol in a locked carrying case was reported stolen from a woman’s apartment on the 1100 block of Beloit Avenue on April 2 at 3:36 p.m. The owner of the gun, who met all legal requirements for ownership of the pistol, had placed the locked case in a bedroom closet in her apartment before going out of town and handing over keys to her apartment to a friend. The friend denied taking the firearm, the serial number of which was entered into the Law Enforcement Agencies Data System (LEADS).

Burglary reported in apartment building Police were called when residents of an apartment in a building on the 7200 block of Roosevelt Road heard the sound of a door being kicked in down the hall. A resident of the building said she observed the rear common entrance to the building had been forced open as had the door to one of the units in the building. Officers cleared the apartment and did not find an offender. The tenant was also not in the apartment. Other residents of the building said they didn’t hear anything, and that particular door is often wide open, according to the police report. Neither the building landlord nor the tenant could be reached by phone, but officers left a voicemail for the tenant advising to contact the department with a list of any missing items.

Man arrested for dealing drugs in bar Twelve plastic baggies containing suspected cannabis and 220 pills, suspected to be Xanax, were found in a bag and in the jacket pockets of a man trespassing in a bar on the 7400 block of Madison Street on April 3 at 2:14 a.m. Bar employees called police because they believed the man was selling drugs. He had been removed from the bar on a previous occasion and admitted to police that he knew he wasn’t allowed to be there as he’d been prohibited from being on the premises.

He was charged with trespassing, posses-

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sion of cannabis over 30 grams, manufacture or delivery of a controlled substance, and possession of a controlled substance.

According to the police report, the subject is “known to FPPD units from many previous encounters on Madison Street.”

CTA trains defaced Two CTA trains at 1 Harlem Ave. were defaced with graffiti, which was reported on April 3 at 4:49 p.m. The cost to clean the cars was unknown at the time of the police report.

Woman throws objects at bus Police were called to the 7200 block of Madison Street on April 1 at 12:59 p.m. by a CTA bus driver who reported an unknown woman was throwing objects at the outside of the bus. No damage appeared to have been done, but the driver’s dispatcher said they needed a report of the incident.

Subject assaults Pace bus employee A Pace bus employee reported being struck in the face by a passenger who boarded the vehicle without a mask and was asked to leave. The incident occurred on April 1 at 3:54 p.m. on the corner of Desplaines Avenue and Roosevelt Road. According to the employee, when he asked the unmasked passenger to get off the bus, the subject struck him on the left side of his face with an open hand. Police recognized the man as a person experiencing homelessness who frequents the area near that intersection. Pace employees asked that the subject be removed and asked not to get on the Pace bus again.

Woman too loud in apartment A woman on the 1000 block of Marengo Avenue was issued a citation for disorderly conduct after yelling so loudly from inside her second-floor apartment that residents on the first floor couldn’t sleep and called police on March 30 at 1:29 a.m.

The reporting officer said the woman’s yelling could be heard from outside on the front lawn.

The officer attempted to make contact with the woman, but she continued to scream and yell and refused to answer the door. Instead, she yelled at the police, who said in their report that she sounded intoxicated. This is not the first time she has been issued a citation for a similar event, according to the police report.

Man overdoses after long time in 7-Eleven bathroom A man at the 7-Eleven, 205 Harlem Ave., was “groaning and yelling” so loudly inside the single occupant bathroom for over 20 minutes that police were called on March 29 at 8:39 a.m. to check on him. The door was

locked, and police knocked. The man said he’d be right out, according to the police report.

The officer waited another 20 minutes before the subject finally came out. He told police he was on parole and wearing an Illinois Department of Corrections (IDOC) ankle bracelet. While police were talking to a representative from IDOC, the subject started to show signs of an acute narcotics overdose and altered mental status, so paramedics were called for immediate transport to the hospital.

Property damaged in hit-and-run A woman on the 1300 block of Elgin Avenue reported damage to her property from a hitand-run on March 29 at 4:01 p.m. Police observed visible damage to the garage and fence in the rear of the residence, as well as debris on the ground. The resident gave police pieces of a broken tail/brake light that she reported had been on the ground as well. The resident said the damage had occurred in the overnight hours between March 22 and 23.

Multiple citations for open alcohol issued On March 30 at 10:05 p.m., police were called to the 300 block of Desplaines Avenue for a report of two people fighting. Officers arrived to find a female subject bleeding from her mouth and head. Two male subjects stood on the sidewalk near several open, unsealed bottles of suspected alcohol.

There were also some cups next to the bottles. The woman said she’d fallen but was fine. The men, who according to the police report were actively drinking alcohol while talking to the police, said they’d tried to help the woman. An ambulance arrived, but the woman refused care. The men were issued tickets for open containers after officers collected the open bottles and cups and disposed of them.

A woman at Madison Street and Beloit Avenue was issued a local ordinance citation for open alcohol when police saw her walking with a can of White Claw on April 3 at 12:23 a.m. She apologized to police and quickly disposed of the drink in a trash can.

In four separate incidents, individuals were issued local ordinance citations for open alcohol on the 7400 block of Madison Street on April 4. The times of these occurrences were 12:31 a.m., 1:05 a.m.., 1:11 a.m. and 2:29 a.m.

These items were obtained from police reports filed by the Forest Park Police Department, March 29-April 4, and represent a portion of the incidents to which police responded. Unless otherwise indicated, anybody named in these reports has only been charged with a crime. These cases have not been adjudicated.

Compiled by Maria Maxham

Forest Park Review, April 7, 2021

ASHLEY SIMONE Performer and chef from page 1 social distancing she didn’t want to go back there. Not to mention nobody was holding events at the time.

Although she attended culinary school, she didn’t train specifically in pastries but said she’s always loved baking. (She calls herself “bi-culinary,” embracing both the savory and sweet of food creation.)

And just to stay busy, as the pandemic swept the world, she started baking at home for friends and neighbors.

“Let me see if anybody wants to buy some bread,” Simone said to herself.

They did. On March 16, 2020, she posted on her personal Facebook page that she was baking and selling bread, and the response was bigger than she’d expected.

Demand and interest grew, and soon after, she started a Facebook group, Ashley’s Daily Breads and Sunday Suppers, specifically to keep customers up to date on what she was making.

As the number of people in her Facebook

group grew, so did her business, and she began to add to her offerings. No longer was there only bread. People could order homemade cinnamon rolls and cookies. Scones, in different flavors, became her most-requested offering. Rustic bread and quick breads sold out.

She added a Sunday Supper to the menu.

On one Sunday last month, for example, she offered a Thai dinner, with pad thai and green and red curry available (meat or protein optional), cucumber salad, a variety of spring rolls and rice. An upside-down mango cake and blueberry lemon frozen yogurt were the dessert. It sold out fast.

For holidays, Simone sells what she calls “everything but the meat.”

“I make a bunch of sides and breads and rolls and dessert, so people can make their own main dish and I supply the rest,” she said.

As COVID restrictions ease up and events are once more on the horizon, Simone’s looking for a commercial kitchen space. She grew up in Oak Park and has lived in Chicago, but now a Forest Park resident, she said she’d ideally like a spot in town.

“I want to keep my business here because I love this community,” said Simone. “I love the people.”

Photos provided

SASSY AND SAUCY: Ashley Simone, owner of Zesty Catering, has been cooking up both sweet and savory dishes and baked goods for neighbors since COVID-19 canceled events last March.

She wants to cook out of that space for her business, Zesty Catering, but she’d also like to potentially offer cooking classes.

Simone has done cooking demos before.

During last summer’s garden walk, she showed masked and socially distanced visitors how to make tabbouleh. But her experience with cooking shows is much more extensive than that.

On her website afoodgasm.com, which she describes as “sassy and saucy,” Simone has posted recipes and cooking videos. The website, and Simone, have a vintage pinup look, and the videos were shot professionally with the help of her mother, Etta Worthington, who as a writer and filmmaker working at Columbia College at the time, had access to a full crew and good equipment.

It’s obvious that Simone is comfortable in front of an audience. She has a background in performance, working professionally as an actor and dancer into her late twenties.

She studied dance at the Academy of Movement and Music in Oak Park.

She also toured with Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus, where she began working as a dancer at the age of 22. She lived on the circus train, visiting 45 states between 1997 and 2000.

“They had professional dancers that would come out between the acts, and we’d do kick lines with lots of fancy costumes and big makeup and headdresses,” Simone said. “It was a really great part of my life. I missed the traveling, but it was great because I got to perform in front of the biggest audiences I think I’ve ever seen.”

After touring, she did some acting but didn’t enjoy the upkeep of going to auditions, although she loved being on stage. She worked in restaurants, both front and back of the house, and started culinary school in 2010, around the same time she launched her catering business and started afoodgasm.com.

Simone said her dream is to

7

build a food empire that includes catering, a cooking show and cookbooks, but with an environmental and social consciousness behind it.

“The basis of it would be finding ways to feed people and take care of food waste and food insecurity. People being hungry is frustrating and saddening to me,” Simone said. “Food waste in our industry is huge. I mean, it’s just rampant working in some of these catering companies. I’m not blaming them, but it’s the way it’s set up.”

Big jobs include big amounts of food and little time to cook, serve and clean.

Sometimes, said Simone, there’s just not the time to wrap up the extras and take it home, so a lot ends up in the trash.

“It’s a frustrating thing, seeing so much good food go to waste,” she said.

Oftentimes, in addition to not enough time, it’s a matter of not knowing where to take the food or store it, how to get it to people who need it.

“I want to grow my business, I want to be successful, but how I do that is so important to me. I mean, how can you be on top of being successful if everybody else is hungry?” said Simone.

Environmental issues are important to her as well, so she tries to avoid single-use containers or wrapping for the products she sells as much as possible.

During the week, Simone offers one or two days of baked goods, such as rustic and sandwich bread or rolls. She’ll usually have quick breads and muffins available as well, and sweeter items like cinnamon rolls, biscotti and cookies. On Sundays, she prepares a supper, and on holidays, she sells side dishes. She offers gluten-free and vegetarian options, and though she calls her food “veggie forward,” she prepares and offers meat-based dishes as well. For more information visit Ashley’s Daily Breads and Sunday Suppers on Facebook.

8

Forest Park Review, April 7, 2021

Trash Pick-up Around Town On April 8 at 6 p.m. join Forest Park residents for a grassroots trash pick-up around town. Meet at the corner of Madison Street and Desplaines Avenue.

Bring a trash bag or bucket, gloves and your mask if you would like to help out!

April 7 to 14

BIG WEEK

All Aboard with Conductor Cody and the Acceptance Express On April 10 from 3 to 3:30 p.m., children aged three through eight are invited to join multitalented magician, storyteller, and Autism advocate Cody Clark on a virtual adventure that celebrates the railways but also discovery, awareness, and understanding.

Registration is not required for this Facebook event.

Visit fppl.org/events for more information.

Free Mental Health Programs Through NAMI NAMI Metro Suburban strives to improve the lives of individuals, families and communities affected by mental illness by providing education, support and advocacy free of charge in the western suburbs of Cook County. Learn more about NAMI’s programming at namimetsub.org or call 708-524-2582.

Mindful Cooking with Chef Zen Frankie On Friday, April 9, from 7 to 8 p.m., the Forest Park Public Library is hosting Chef Zen Frankie in a live Facebook stream. No registration is necessary to join Zen Frankie as he presents a fun and meditative cooking class that will brighten your energy and fill your belly. He will be making vegan pad Thai.

More information, including a list of ingredients if you would like to cook along with the chef, can be found at fppl.org/events

Metro Suburban On April 14 from 4 to 4:45 p.m., middle-school aged kids are welcome to attend a virtual journaling session hosted by the Forest Park Public Library. During these difficult times, you might have problems expressing and processing your emotions. Journaling can help process feelings and emotions, and the youth services department invites all youth to join the weekly journaling sessions. Each session starts with a brief check-in and writing prompts, followed by journaling time. Feel free to write or draw, make lists, create stories or art, or do whatever you feel like doing at the moment. Your journal is for you! Free customizable journals are available through the library. Visit fppl.org/events or email Mia Manansala at mmanansala@fppl.org for more information.

Youth Journaling Program

Forest Park Review, April 7, 2021

9

TAP ROOM

Hearing this week from page 1 being made aware of violations of local ordinance.

On April 3 prior to the closing, the Review was contacted by a homeowner and resident who lives in the vicinity of the bar. She reported having serious issues with the establishment, including screaming and noise from patrons leaving, people urinating on her property, and plastic cups and cigarette butts that she cleans up almost daily and believes to be from bar patrons. She posted a video to Facebook showing alleged patrons of the bar returning to their car at night, yelling and being generally noisy.

It has gotten so bad, she said, that she’s considered selling her property, and she is planning to gather a group of residents who live in close proximity to her and to the bar to write a letter appealing to the village to do something about the problems they’ve experienced.

On March 20, after a rowdy few weeks on Madison Street and to help prevent violence in town, the village sent letters to the property owners of four Forest Park establishments, including former village commissioner Mark Hosty, who owns the property rented by the Tap Room owners.

The letter said the village has begun targeting property owners whose tenants are creating problems and breaking ordinances, which will ultimately lead to the property being designated a chronic nuisance property. At that time, according to the letter, fines can be levied.

According to the letter sent to Hosty, the bar has been the scene of multiple ordinance violations within the past 12 months, including open alcohol, theft, excessive noise, patrons in the bar after hours, and other violations of local ordinance.

Photo by MARIA MAXHAM

CLOSED FOR NOW: Forest Park Tap Room, 7321 Madison St., had its liquor license temporarily suspended on April 3. A hearing will be held this week.

But pulling the bar’s liquor license is coming at the alleged problem from a different angle, a solution that’s quicker and puts an immediate stop to what Gillian called “ongoing safety concerns and issues.” Pursuing the chronic nuisance

designation is a more drawn-out process. With no ability to serve alcohol at least until the hearing with the village, Forest Park Tap Room temporarily cannot act as a bar.

Applications closing 5pm, April 9

10

Forest Park Review, April 7, 2021

Lightford pushing to make Juneteenth a state holiday Bill headed to Senate floor for debate

By MICHAEL ROMAIN Staff Reporter

Senate Majority Leader Kimberly Lightford (4th), whose district encompasses most of Proviso Township, is following up on her promise last year to push to make Juneteenth a holiday across the state.

Earlier this month, Lightford introduced Senate Bill 1965, which would make June 19 Juneteenth National Freedom Day in Illinois, meaning state employees would have a paid day off and schools would recognize it as a holiday.

Juneteenth, which combines the words June and nineteenth, commemorates the moment that Union army general Gordon Granger announced the federal order that freed enslaved people in Galveston, Texas, on June 19, 1865 — two years after President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which declared all enslaved people in Confederate states free. The murder last year of George Floyd, who was killed by a Minneapolis police officer, brought the holiday to the attention of many more Blacks and non-Blacks alike.

“June 19, 1865 is the day the United State truly became the land of the free,” Lightford said in a statement released March 24. “It’s a day everyone should celebrate, and it’s a reminder that Black Americans are still recovering from the terrible legacy of slavery.”

Lightford said the state holiday would be a “way of highlighting our freedom and reminding us how far we’ve come.”

Senate Bill 1965 passed the Senate Executive Committee on March 24 and is scheduled to go to the Senate floor for more debate.

ALEX ROGALS, Staff Photographer

NEW STATE HOLIDAY? State senator Kimberly Lightford, pictured here at a March press conference in Forest Park, is pushing to make Juneteenth a state holiday.

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Forest Park Review, April 7, 2021

Pandemic-related benefit cards issued to eligible students D91, D209 students may meet requirements for relief

By MARIA MAXHAM Editor

Illinois families of eligible children may have received a Pandemic Electronic Benefits Transfer (P-EBT) card in an unmarked envelope, as the Illinois Department of Human Services (IDHS) began sending them out in March.

“The purpose of P-EBT is to provide food assistance to families with students who would have received free or reduced lunch while attending school but are not receiving these meals in school due to COVID-19 restrictions,” according to the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) website.

P-EBT provides benefits to children who meet certain requirements as listed on the IDHS website. Eligible children must receive free or reduced-school meals under the National School Lunch Program and must be without access to an in-school meal.

The child’s school must have been closed or operating remotely for at least five consecutive days during the 2020-21 school year and must participate in the National School Lunch Program.

Forest Park elementary schools in Dis-

trict 91 and Proviso Township high schools in District 209 are on the ISBE’s list of eligible schools.

Students attending a school operating under a hybrid model will receive benefits for the days they did not have access to school meals, granted that the school participates in the National School Lunch Program.

According to the IDHS website, benefits of $6.82 per day are provided for days that students are in remote learning but not offered a meal or are at home for an approved COVID-related absence.

Families do not need to apply for the P-EBT program; if a student is eligible, the card will automatically be sent to the family’s registered address.

Families are advised to keep the card; future benefits will be loaded on to it. If a family received a card for the 2019-20 school year, a new one will be sent for the current school year.

Benefits for the 2020-21 school year will begin to be distributed in March, during which families will receive money for the months of August through December 2020.

Distribution for the months of January through March 2021 will be received in April. In May, benefits for the remainder of the school year will be distributed.

More information about the P-EBT program is available at the IDHS website at https://www.dhs.state.il.us/page. aspx?item=131776.

11

Sponsored Content

Now’s the time to be a tourist in your own backyard

O

ver the past year, the pandemic has brought tourism to a standstill. This has had a big impact here in the Oak Park area, which usually attracts millions of visitors to our local Eric C. Wagner President & CEO attractions like: the Frank of Visit Oak Park Lloyd Wright Home and Studio, Unity Temple, Hemingway Birthplace Museum, and Brookfield Zoo. Now more than ever, they need your support.

With vaccines giving us all hope that life will start returning to some normalcy this summer, our attractions need locals—like you—to buy tickets and visit while they wait for more visitors to be able to return soon.

With strict safety guidelines in place at each of our local attractions, here are a few great ways to explore your own backyard with your family and friends.

Frank Lloyd Wright Home and Studio

As a local, it might be easy to forget, but Oak Park is the birthplace of American architecture. If you’ve never visited, drop by the Frank Lloyd Wright Home and Studio, and enjoy a guided tour of where Wright’s Prairie style design got its roots.

Take a Wright Around Oak Park Tour to get a deeper glimpse into this genius designer with a walking tour of ten Wright homes in the surrounding historic neighborhood.

If you’ve never attended the annual Wright Plus Housewalk before, this is the year to go. This year’s event was recently rescheduled for September, but you’ll soon be able to purchase tickets. Not only do you get extraordinary access to eight private residences, and two landmark buildings designed by Wright and his contemporaries, but you will also be supporting the great work of the Frank Lloyd Wright Trust.

While any tour of Oak Park usually includes a stop at

Wright’s famed Unity Temple, the best way to see his masterpiece right now is a special virtual tour as part of the Vintage Home Show on Saturday, April 24. This special event, hosted by the Unity Temple Restoration Foundation and the Oak Park River Forest Chamber of Commerce, features virtual workshops for how to repair, restore, and renovate historic buildings.

Ernest Hemingway’s Birthplace Museum

If you’re watching the new Ken Burns Hemingway documentary on PBS, taking a tour of Ernest Hemingway’s Birthplace Museum provides a behind the scenes glimpse of this enigmatic author that you just can’t get from watching the documentary.

The majestic Pleasant Home offers three unique tours. Get a glimpse of servant life at the mansion, or take an expanded tour and see all three levels of the home. A new grounds tour will be offered this spring.

The Oak Park River Forest Museum showcases unique and interesting historical artifacts of the area. Check out their many historical and timely exhibits, including the Fair Housing exhibit.

Finally, come one, come all, and enjoy the many famed exhibits of Brookfield Zoo, including Dinos Everywhere, which will only be here until September.

Be sure to check out the new Pick Oak Park guide to find local shopping and dining options to fill out a perfect day for your family and friends.

As we get closer to summer travel, look to Visit Oak Park for more information.

Visit Oak Park is the tourism bureau serving the Village of Oak Park and its neighboring Cook County communities, including the villages of Brookfield, Forest Park, North Riverside, River Forest and Riverside.

12

Forest Park Review, April 7, 2021

Upward trend in COVID-19 cases seen locally No related deaths among residents reported since early February

By MARIA MAXHAM Editor

According to information on the Cook County Department of Public Health (CCDPH) website, the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Forest Park, as in all of suburban Cook County, has been trending upward for the past several weeks.

Forest Park has had a 70 percent increase in confirmed cases over the past two weeks when compared to the two weeks before that, as reported by the CCDPH on April 6.

In total since the start of the pandemic, the village has seen 1,138 cases of the virus, with 18 new cases reported last week.

No COVID-19 related deaths among Forest Park residents have been reported since Feb. 9.

The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) “is monitoring key indicators to identify early but significant increases of COVID-19 transmission in Illinois, potentially signifying resurgence,” according to the IDPH website on April 6. “IDPH will monitor if these indicators show an increase in the COVID-19 disease burden with a simultaneous decrease in hospital capacity. These indica-

CASES INCREASING: This graph from the Cook County Department of Public Health shows that cases in Forest Park and suburban Cook County have been increasing slightly. tors can be used to determine whether additional community mitigation interventions are needed for a region to control the further spread of COVID-19.”

Learn more at cdphcd.shinyapps.io/covid19/ and dph. illinois.gov/regionmetrics.

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13

Bill to end qualified immunity advances out of committee Bad Apples in Law Enforcement Accountability Act aims to remove legal defense for officers

By TIM KIRSININKAS Capitol News Illinois

SPRINGFIELD – A measure to end qualified immunity as a legal defense for law enforcement officers advanced out of the House Restorative Justice Committee at a March 25 hearing.

House Bill 1727, introduced by Rep. Curtis Tarver, D-Chicago, would create the Bad Apples in Law Enforcement Accountability Act. It aims to remove the court doctrine of qualified immunity for officers, opening them up to civil litigation if they participate in the “deprivation of any individual rights” guaranteed in the Illinois Constitution. The liability is created even for officers who fail to intervene if such a deprivation is otherwise occurring.

The bill would also require local municipalities to disclose information about settlements with law enforcement officers.

Tarver and proponents of the legislation said the concept of qualified immunity emboldens some officers to make reckless decisions that could cost lives, as in the case of George Floyd’s killing in Minneapolis last year.

“Qualified immunity is one defense in a

QUALIFIED IMMUNITY: State Rep. Curtis Tarver, D-Chicago, speaks on House Bill 1727 during a virtual House Restorative Justice Committee hearing on March 25. The bill would create the Bad Apples in Law Enforcement Accountability Act, which would end qualified immunity as a legal defense for law enforcement officers.

Photo courtesy of ilga.gov

host of defenses that law enforcement has,” Tarver said. “Someone putting their knee on someone’s neck for nine minutes when they’ve already surrendered, that’s not a split-second decision.”

Peter Hanna from ACLU of Illinois told the committee on Thursday that the legislation is an effort to hold “bad apples” in police ranks accountable for their actions.

“We can no longer just accept the presence of bad apples in law enforcement as an inevitable truth,” Hanna said. “No reform, no matter how well intentioned, can be effective until we add real police accountability.”

Opponents argued the bill would contribute to ongoing problems with retaining and recruiting police officers who have cited recent changes to state law as reasons to not enter the law enforcement field in Illinois.

“We have the membership rolls, we see the outcome, we know we’re losing membership,” said Andrew Bodewes of the Illinois Fraternal Order of Police. “We’re concerned that a change like this would further complicate that.”

“We don’t believe that changes in qualified immunity are the correct tool to just solve the problem. Obviously we always want to talk about bettering law enforcement, (we) always want to have that conversation, but we just don’t see the value of using this tool,” Bodewes added.

Jim Kaitschuk of the Illinois Sheriffs Association told the committee the legislation could also result in complicating an officer’s decision-making process when arriving on a scene.

“The bill goes a lot further than just elimi-

nating qualified immunity,” Kaitschuk said. “I have a duty to intervene, at the same time, if I do intervene and I didn’t act and based on the information that I have in front of me, I’m going to be held liable if somebody else made a mistake or if I detain someone.”

Tarver argued that if law enforcement officers leave the field as a result of the proposed legislation, they did not belong in the field to begin with.

“If this leads to less police officers who are attracted to law enforcement because they know that they can demonize people and brutalize people, then I’m all for it,” Tarver said. “If this leads to attracting the right people, I’m all for it as well.”

Tarver said the legislation is not intended to target police officers unfairly, but rather is designed to hold all officers to a higher standard.

“It’s very simple, like everybody else in the private sector, control your employees, hire the best and the brightest, train them, provide the resources,” Tarver said. “If municipalities are concerned, all they have to do is follow that very basic guideline and I think we’d all be in better shape.”

Opponents on the committee, including Reps. Tony McCombie, R-Savanna, and Patrick Windhorst, R-Metropolis, argued the bill goes too far to target a legal defense that is rarely used in Illinois.

Windhorst said that a decertification bill that was signed into law earlier this year serves as a sufficient punishment to “bad apples” in law enforcement, and that the bill calls for a commission to study the effects of qualified immunity.

“We passed an expanded decertification law that’s now going to be law, where we actually say, ‘bad apple? You’re no longer a police officer. You violated somebody’s constitutional rights? You’re no longer a police officer. You broke the law? You’re no longer a police officer.’ That is the effective way to address the bad apples,” Windhorst said.

McCombie echoed concerns about officers leaving the field.

“This bill is going to have many unintended and intended consequences that I feel are going to put our very own public safety at risk,” McCombie said.

Representatives from ACLU of Illinois called the bill’s passage a “significant” response to “egregious police misconduct.”

“For too long, special protections like qualified immunity create an almost insurmountable barrier to justice for people whose constitutional rights have been violated by police,” Khadine Bennett, ACLU Illinois director of advocacy and intergovernmental affairs, said in a statement.

“HB 1727 changes that and provides the people of this state a chance to hold bad police officers accountable when they violate someone’s constitutional rights,” Bennett added.

The bill passed committee on a 4-2 partisan roll call, with support from only Democrats.

Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service covering state government and distributed to more than 400 newspapers statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation.

14

Forest Park Review, April 7, 2021

OPINION O U R

V I E W

The privilege of liquor

F

orest Park’s village government temporarily pulled the liquor license of the Forest Park Tap Room, a bar at Circle and Madison, which has in its short history developed a foul reputation for ignoring and abusing the village’s liquor service ordinances. These are the basic things: Close the bar on time. Be aware and responsible for the exit behavior of your patrons into what is essentially a residential neighborhood trying to sleep.

Good for Mayor Rory Hoskins, who doubles as the village’s liquor commissioner, for responding to rising frustration over this bar and others on Madison that are pushing into post-pandemic behaviors before the pandemic is conquered.

Hoskins is also recognizing an intersection between some bars and crime worries that extend beyond the serious nuisances of public urination, rowdy behavior, trash talk, and littering.

Always good when Forest Park reinforces with bar owners, and also with the owners of the bar properties — hello, Mark Hosty — that serving liquor is a privilege that comes with actual responsibilities. No one has the right to serve liquor in Forest Park. It is a privilege earned and maintained through being credible members of a community and enforced through very specific licensing.

Three other bars on Madison and the owners of the underlying property got fair warning from the village last week to shape up.

The Tap Room and its owners, Lance and Hansel Law, will get a hearing this week at village hall. They should be made to earn the privilege of selling alcohol in our village.

With spring/summer temps already here, Forest Park is wise to step up policing and enforcement along Madison Street. We hope, though, that these pro-active steps are not the sole response of the village and its police department to the death of Tony Smith in a police shooting recently. That matter is more complex than tougher enforcement in the bars.

An uncontested election As we write these editorials early on Election Day, it is certain who will serve next on the school boards at Forest Park’s District 91 and Proviso Township District 209.

Easy to predict when the elections are uncontested. While the outcome is predetermined, the responsibility to govern wisely and effectively is just as real.

In District 91, the opportunity for this remade board — three members will be brand new — is to bring on new Superintendent Elizabeth Alvarez this summer and then to work with her on a reasonable plan for reopening schools by fall.

In District 209, the uncontested election brings back only incumbents. Bad news for a board increasingly dysfunctional and with a still new superintendent in James Henderson who fuels dysfunction rather than tempering it.

We are not hopeful. This group of seven needs to take a hard look at itself and the way they behave publicly toward each other. They have become an embarrassment — an embarrassment on a path to grave harm to this once recovering district.

No rules for spending the $1,400

‘U

ncle Walt, I’m going to use my stimulus check for college in two years.”

Pastor Walter Mitty had driven up to Manitowoc after the Easter service Sunday and was eating dinner with his sister-in-law, Susan, and two nephews, Brian and Matt.

The conversation got around to the $1,400 stimulus checks. “We’re not desperate,” Susan began. “With what I make working at the bakery and the money I receive from the death benefit from Social Security, we’re OK. Besides, Herman had a good job at Oriental Milling so the house is paid for. But still, the money will help. I’m going to put it in my checking account as cushion.”

“Mom won’t let me spend all of it,” said Matt pretending to be mad at his mother. “She made me put some of it in the bank, so I only have a hundred to spend on myself.”

“You poor boy,” said Mitty feigning sympathy.

“What can you get for a hundred bucks these days?”

Matt laughed then got serious. “So Uncle Walt, what are you going to do with your $1,400?”

“I don’t know, Matt,” he replied. “I don’t need it for anything in particular, so I’m not sure.”

Pastor Walt went to bed early Sunday night, feeling the letdown from the stress of Holy Week responsibilities. His corner of the basement was known as Uncle Walt’s Room because it was where he slept during the year he had taken off to help Susan take care of his brother Herman who was slowly dying of cancer.

Mitty slept till 8, Monday morning, said goodbye to the nephews, stopped in at the Deutsche Backerei where Susan was working, bought two glazed croissants and a Berliner and drove out to Point Beach State Park.

Point Beach — a thousand acres of woods and two miles of shoreline on Lake Michigan — is a kind of holy place for Mitty. When he was a kid, he and Herman would hike the trails pretending they were Indians. Now it’s a place where he gets his feet on the ground and his heart in the right place.

When he arrived at the parking lot overlooking the lake, it was raining, so he parked the car and had a glazed croissant and the coffee he had picked up at the coffee shop in Schroeder’s Department Store in Two Rivers.

The sound of the rain on the roof of his car was soothing. The lake was calm. A few seagulls flew by, but everything else was still. The parking lot was empty, so he felt like he had the woods and the lake all to himself.

Sometimes he found himself staring at the huge expanse of water for half an hour, transfixed by the immensity of it, a powerful part of nature that had been there for hundreds of thousands of years before he was born at Holy Family Hospital and would be there hundreds of thousands of years after his ashes became part of that nature he loved.

“So Uncle Walt, what are you going to do with your stimulus check?”

Mitty started munching on his second pastry, this time the Berliner. Sitting by the lake with the rain running down his windshield somehow made him think about that question differently than when his nephew asked him about it.

He didn’t need the money. That was one thing he knew for sure.

The thought of buying more things for himself felt like hedonistic gluttony.

If not for himself, then for whom?

Michael would sometimes mention tikkun olam, the idea in Judaism that it is a duty to heal the world. “The world certainly needs healing,” thought Mitty.

He finished his Berliner, took another sip of coffee and felt a sense of cozy contentment as he looked out over the lake.

“OK, so it’s my duty to participate in healing the world,” thought Mitty. “But how? Do I fight gun violence by giving $1,400 to the Brady organization to promote gun regulation? Or maybe I should give it all to help pay for reparations in Evanston.”

Mitty liked the feeling of being small, of being an almost insignificant part of the lake and the woods, of definitely not being the center of the universe.

“So what good would my donation do relative to enormity of the racial and economic injustices in our country?” He looked at the lake and laughed at the thought of taking a gallon of water out of the lake to prevent it from rising anymore. A drop out of the bucket.”

And then he thought of Michael again who practiced tithing — 10 percent of your income according to the Torah as a way of giving thanks for a “bountiful harvest.”

He then thought about Zaphne and Bernie Rolvaag trying to keep their heads above water during the pandemic tidal wave. He understood why his sisterin-law would squirrel away the money as a cushion to use if the water heater broke down or her car needed major repairs.

So the check was meant to be a stimulus, right? But how many books could one man buy from Bernie’s bookstore or how many macchiatos from Zaphne could he drink in a year?

He had prayed about it, but the only answer he heard from God was the word “yes.”

As Pastor Mitty gazed back on the one quadrillion gallons of water there in front of him, he concluded that whatever he decided to do with this monetary windfall would be a drop in the lake, so to speak, and that he was in a way burdened with the uneasy freedom to decide how to use it.

And he decided to do a reverse tithe. “That’s it,” he thought, “10 percent for myself, 10 percent to spend on local merchants and the rest to give away.”

TOM HOLMES

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Forest Park Review, April 7, 2021

15

O B I T U A R Y

Sarah Nutley, 85 Wife of Ed’s Way owner Forest Park lost a great lady on March 23, 2021. Sarah Ann Nutley, wife of Ed’s Way owner, Ed Nutley, died peacefully. Easter Sunday would have been her 86th birthday.

Sarah and Ed were married for 65 years.

They have five children, Michael, David, JoAnne, Karen and Edward Jr., 14 grandchildren, and 12 great-grandchildren. Their grandkids are Marissa, Trish, Michael Jr., Kaitlin, Sara, Matthew, Megan, Angela, Kevin, Kyle, Lauren, Mark, Edward III and Peyton. Their great-grandkids are Scarlett, Savannah, Skylar, Terangie, Tyler, Taylor, Tyce, Angelina, Colin, Cruz, Maeve and Nick.

It’s appropriate that Sarah was the matriarch of a large brood because she and Ed both came from big families. Sarah Rycraft came from a family of nine, while Ed Nutley grew up in a family of 15. They were neighbors on the West Side. Ed lived at 2933 Wilcox, while Sarah was at 21 S. Albany. They met at a Halloween party when Ed was 18.

Sarah was two years his senior. They were married on April 14, 1956 and ended up in a home on Marengo Avenue in 1974.

Sarah threw herself into community life by attending St. Bernardine and volunteering to sell refreshments at the Dugout Café.

She loved everything about Forest Park, except the Circle Bridge. She found it exhausting to climb the bridge to get to and from The Park.

The couple started Ed’s Way in 1991. Sarah worked at the deli counter, where she befriended many customers. Unlike her quiet husband, she was a talker and loved conversation. She later retired from working the deli to spend more time with her grandkids.

As much as she enjoyed Forest Park, she discovered a whole new life at their summer home on Peppermill Lake, Wisconsin. She became best friends with a neighbor named Del. In fact, the path she took to Del’s home had a street sign proclaiming it “Sarah’s Way.” They had a motto, “It’s four. It’s time to pour.”

She would enjoy conversation and a few beers with Del. Her favorite activity at Peppermill Lake was sitting around a fire in the evening talking and laughing with family and friends. As Ed said, “She could talk up a storm.” Sarah also had a gift for picking winning racehorses. She was not a gambler and Ed is just a casual bettor but her picks made him a winner. She called it, “helping Ed with his addiction.”

She treasured family gatherings, especially on holidays. Christmas was her favorite.

She’d decorate a giant tree, wrap loads of presents and provide a game for everyone to play. The games were played late into the

night with all of the kids, grandkids and greatgrandkids gathered around the dining room table. She loved to hear their roars of laughter. It made her so happy.

Sarah’s health began to deteriorate about two years ago and she had to retire from cooking for the family. This forced Ed to learn how to cook, but she was still the boss in the kitchen telling him how to make her recipes.

When Sarah died, the family held a wake for her at Woodlawn Funeral Home. They celebrated her life with a funeral Mass at St. Bernardine’s Church on March 30. She was laid to rest at Mount Carmel Catholic Cemetery.

On Easter Sunday, the Nutley family returned to St. Bernardine to celebrate Sarah’s birthday. It was a difficult day for Ed and his family but fortunately they have the warm memories that Sarah left behind. As Ed said

SARAH NUTLEY of the many lives she touched in Forest Park and at Peppermill Lake, “Everyone loved her.”

John Rice

16

Forest Park Review, April 7, 2021

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Forest Park Review, April 7, 2021 New local ads this week

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REACHES SIX SUBURBAN COMMUNITIES: OAK PARK, RIVER FOREST, FOREST PARK, BROOKFIELD, RIVERSIDE, NORTH RIVERSIDE, AND PARTS OF CHICAGO

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Place your ad online anytime at: www.ForestParkReview.com/Classified/

BY PHONE: (708) 613-3333 | BY FAX: (708) 467-9066 | BY E-MAIL: CLASSIFIEDS@FORESTPARKREVIEW.COM HELP WANTED BUDGET & REVENUE ANALYST The Village of Oak Park is seeking qualified candidates for the position of Budget and Revenue Analyst in the Police Department.

This position will Serve the public with professional administrative and analytical duties in the areas of budget preparation, purchasing, payroll, data analysis and process improvement. Provides, prepares and maintains records, and financial and statistical reports and analysis which assist in the Village’s ability to improve business processes and gain efficiencies through better use of technology. Budget duties include assisting in the development, analysis and application of performance measures with regard to Village services and resources; preparing, modifying, tracking and monitoring Village expenses and transfers; and conducting budget-related research and analysis. Applicants are encouraged to visit the Village of Oak Park’s website http://www.oak-park. us/jobs. Interested and qualified applicants must complete a Village of Oak Park application. First review of applications April 12, 2021.

CUSTOMER SERVICE & EQUIPMENT SUPPORT PART TIME Manufacturer of commercial food service equipment in McCook seeks an experienced customer service professional with a mechanical, gas & electrical technical support background.

Please email resume to: marketing@keatingofchicago.com LICENSED ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH PRACTITIONER The Village of Oak Park is seeking qualified candidates for the position of Licensed Environmental Health Practitioner in the Health Department. This position will perform a variety of duties including education and enforcement activities for the promotion and protection of the public health environment. Applicants are encouraged to visit the Village of Oak Park’s website http://www. oak-park.us/jobs. Interested and qualified applicants must complete a Village of Oak Park application no later than April 16, 2021.

SUBURBAN RENTALS OAK PARK: ROOSEVELT/ OAK PARK AVE. CORRIDOR 2BR 4RMS close to blue line. On site laundry, parking, heat & water incl. $1200/ month 708-383-9223

OFFICE & RETAIL SPACE FOR RENT

GARAGE/YARD SALE Oak Park

RIVER FOREST–7777 Lake St. * 1116 sq. ft. * 1400 sq. ft. Dental Office RIVER FOREST–7756 Madison St. * 960 sq. ft.

OAK PARK–6142-44 Roosevelt Rd. * 3 & 5 room office suites FOREST PARK–7736 Madison St. *2500 sq. ft. unit Strand & & Browne Strand Browne 708-488-0011 708-488-0011

MULTI-FAMILY GARAGE SALE 848 N CUYLER SAT 4/10 9AM TO 3PM

Art, vintage, household, clothing, sports, tools.

ITEMS FOR SALE ANTIQUE HALL TREE Antique American Hall Tree, solid oak. Excellent condition. 29”w x 78”h x 11”d, with covered shelf and mirror. $159.00.

708-488-8755

OFFICE SPACE FOR RENT LOCATION LOCATION LOCATION FOREST PARK HIGHLY VISIBLE OFFICE/STORE AVAILABLE FOR LEASE 1350 SF w/ AC & HIGHLY VISIBLE MADISON STREET EXPOSURE. 7607 Madison Street. Village parking lot next door. Bright, clean office.

Great Madison Street exposure! Call Francis 708-383-8574.

ANTIQUE MUSIC CABINET Antique music cabinet with door and five shelves. Standing on four legs.

Mahogany finish. $129.00.

708-488-8755 FRUITWOOD FINISH SIDE TABLE Solid wood side table, fruitwood finish. 1 drawer and 1 bottom shelf.

15”d x 24”w x 24”h. $59.00 708-488-8755 MUSIC Music: piano scores, concertos, piano trios, flute music violin music.

Variety of composers. $3.00 each.

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TANDEM BIKE with all the bells and whistles. Best offer.

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WANTED MILITARY ITEMS: Helmets, medals, patches, uniforms, weapons, flags, photos, paperwork, Also toy soldiers – lead, plastic – other misc. toys.

Call Uncle Gary 708-522-3400

Mike’s Home Repair

BRUCE LAWN SERVICE

2013 FORD TAURUS INTERCEPTOR 140K MILES. $5500.

2005 HONDA CIVIC EX 5 SPD, 170K MILES. $3500.

1986 CAMARO Z28 5 SPD, 73K MILES. $4500.

Many new parts on all

FLOORS KLIS FLOORING INC.

New hardwood flooring installation & pergo. Sanding, re-finishing, staining. Low prices, insured.

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HANDYMAN Roofing Repairs Concrete Repairs • Drywall All types of handiwork Call For Free Estimates

Spring Clean-Up Aerating, Slit Seeding Bush Trimming, Lawn Maintenance brucelawns.com

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PAINTING & DECORATING CLASSIC PAINTING Fast & Neat Painting/Taping/Plaster Repair Low Cost

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PLASTERING McNulty Plastering & Stucco Co.

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PUBLIC NOTICES PUBLIC NOTICE Notice is hereby given, pursuant to “An Act in relation to the use of an Assumed Business Name in the conduct or transaction of Business in the State,” as amended, that a certification was registered by the undersigned with the County Clerk of Cook County. Registration Number: Y21006278 on March 15, 2021 Under the Assumed Business Name of H & C RENTALS with the business located at:705 W 115TH ST., CHICAGO, IL 60628. The true and real full name(s) and residence address of the owner(s)/partner(s) is: ANDREA COLLINS 705 W 115TH ST., CHICAGO, IL 60628, USA Published in Wednesday Journal 3/24, 3/31, 4/7/2021

PUBLIC NOTICE Notice is hereby given, pursuant to “An Act in relation to the use of an Assumed Business Name in the conduct or transaction of Business in the State,” as amended, that a certification was registered by the undersigned with the County Clerk of Cook County. Registration Number: Y21006371 on March 23, 2021 Under the Assumed Business Name of THE PERIWINKLE PEACOCK with the business located at: 59 WASHINGTON BLVD, OAK PARK, IL 60302. The true and real full name(s) and residence address of the owner(s)/partner(s) is: BRIEANNE MARIE MALDONADO-CRUZ, 59 WASHINGTON BLVD, OAK PARK, IL 60302, USA. Published in Wednesday Journal March 31, April 7, April 14, 2021

Attention! Home-improvement pros!

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Advertise in Wednesday Classified. Call 708/613-3342

18

Forest Park Review, April 7, 2021

Public Notice: Your right to know In print • Online • Available to you 24/7/365 ForestParkReview.com | PublicNoticeIllinois.com PUBLIC NOTICE

PUBLIC NOTICES

Riverside Township RIVERSIDE TOWNSHIP – PEDESTRIAN BRIDGE REPAIR

VILLAGE OF RIVERSIDE, ILLINOIS NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING

I. TIME AND PLACE OF OPENING OF BIDS: Sealed Bids for the remodeling described herein will be received at the office of the RIVERSIDE TOWNSHIP, 27 Riverside Road Riverside, IL 60546 until 10:00 A.M., Tuesday, May 4, 2021, and will be publicly opened and read at that time.

Notice is hereby given to all interested persons that a public hearing before the Planning and Zoning Commission of the Village of Riverside will be held on Wednesday, April 28, 2021 at 7:00 p.m., or as soon thereafter as the business of the Planning and Zoning Commission may permit, to consider an application for a variation from Section 10-7-3(A)6.E (Accessory Structures in Residential Districts) of the Village of Riverside Zoning Ordinance to allow the reconstruction of a nonconforming garage of 991 square feet in the same location as the previous garage in the R1-A Single-Family Residence District.

II. DESCRIPTION OF WORK: The proposed work is officially known as RIVERSIDE TOWNSHIP – PEDESTRIAN BRIDGE REPAIR and consists of structural repairs to the approximately 210 long suspension bridge spanning the Des Plaines River behind the Riverside Township Hall. Additionally the existing coatings shall be removed and replaced.

III. INSTRUCTIONS TO BIDDERS: A. Bid documents will be ready after 3:00 p.m. on, Thursday, April 8, 2021. Only General Contractors may obtain bid documents by emailing their request. The email shall include General Contractor’s information of the following: Company Name, Address, City, State, Zip, Telephone, Fax, Contact Person.

Documents will be emailed within 24 hours of the email request.

Documents will not be issued if any the requested information is not received.

Due to the ongoing public health emergency and consistent with the Governor’s most recent emergency declaration, various Executive Orders entered by the Governor, and the recent amendments made to the Open Meetings Act in Public Act 101-640, the public hearing will be conducted electronically. The hearing will be streamed live via Zoom and on Riverside Television, where it will be available on YouTube’s Riverside TV channel. The Zoom Meeting ID and access code will be made available on the Village’s website prior to the hearing. Video of the public hearing will subsequently be posted and made available to the public on the Village website.

Email bid document request to: Ken@api-architects.net

Application No.: PZ21-001

Bid forms are non-transferable. Only those Bids that have been obtained from, and with the approval of, API Architects will be accepted at the bid opening.

Property commonly known as: 209 Millbridge Road

B. Only qualified General Contractors who can furnish satisfactory proof that they have performed work of similar nature as Contractors will be entitled to receive Plans and submit Bids. The Riverside Township reserves the right to issue Bid Documents only to those Contractors deemed qualified.

C. All Bids must be accompanied by a Bid Bond for not less than five percent (5%) of the total amount of the Bid, or as provided in the applicable sections of the “PROJECT MANUAL”.

D. No Bid may be withdrawn after opening of Bids without the consent of the Owner for a period of forty-five (45) days after the scheduled time of opening of Bids.

E. The Contractor will be required to furnish a labor and material “Performance Bond” in the full amount of the Contract.

F. The Contractor will be required to pay Prevailing Wages in accordance with all applicable laws.

IV. AWARD CRITERIA AND REJECTION OF BIDS: This Contract will be awarded to the lowest responsive and responsible bidder considering conformity with the terms and conditions established by the Riverside Township in the Bid and Contract documents. The issuance of Plans and Bid forms for bidding based upon a pre-qualification rating shall not be the sole determinant of responsibility. The Riverside Township reserves the right to determine responsibility at the time of award, to reject any and all Bids, to re-advertise the proposed improvements, and to waive technicalities.

BY ORDER OF: RIVERSIDE TOWNSHIP Published in RB Landmark April 7, 2021

Petitioners: Don & Jeneane Blom

PIN: 15-35-419-034-0000 The variation is sought from the following Section of the Riverside Zoning Ordinance: Section 10-7-3(A)6.E (Accessory Structures in Residential Districts), which states that the combined maximum ground floor area of all detached accessory structures shall be a maximum of twelve percent (12%) of the lot area, to a maximum size of eight hundred (800) square feet.

The Petitioners seek this variation to rebuild a nonconforming garage of the same size as the previous garage (991 square feet) on the existing foundation.

Copies of the variation application are available for inspection at the office of the Village Clerk, 27 Riverside Road, Riverside, Illinois 60546.

Copies may also be obtained by emailing the Village’s Interim Community Development Director Courtney Kashima at planner@riverside. il.us or by telephone at 708-4471241 ext. 238, or the Village Clerk at 708-447-2700 at any time prior to the meeting. Public comments are welcome on the proposed variation that is the subject of the Public Hearing when received by email or in writing by the Village Clerk prior to 4:00 p.m. on the day of the meeting. Emailed comments may be sent to Interim Community Development Director Courtney Kashima at planner@riverside.il.us. Written comments may be submitted via U.S. mail or in the dropbox outside of Township Hall to the attention of Village Clerk Cathy Haley at 27 Riverside Road, Riverside, Illinois 60546. While emailed or written comments are encouraged, public comment may also be made during the hearing by participating through Zoom. The Zoom Meeting ID and access code will be made available on the Village’s website prior to the hearing.

The public hearings may be continued from time to time without further notice, except as otherwise required under the Illinois Open Meetings Act. Dated this 7th day of April, 2021.

Classifieds @ForestParkReview.com

Jill Mateo, Chairperson Planning and Zoning Commission Published in RB Landmark April 7, 2021

PUBLIC NOTICES

LEGAL NOTICE Public Notice is hereby given that the Village of Oak Park Community Development Citizens Advisory Committee will be holding a meeting for applicant Presentations, a funding recommendations determination meeting and a Public Hearing on Program Year (PY) 2021 project proposals submitted to the Village for federal Community Development Block Grant Program funds. PY 2021 will run from October 1, 2021 to September 30, 2022. All meetings will be held on Zoom and are as follows: Presentations, 11 a.m., April 17, 2021; Meeting to determine funding recommendations, 7:30 p.m., April 29, 2021; and Public Hearing to receive comments on proposed funding recommendations, 7 p.m., May 4, 2021. All meetings are open to the public and reasonable accommodations will be made for persons with disabilities and non-English speaking persons, as needed. Meeting specifics are subject to change; please send a message to grants@oakpark.us to confirm details and/or received the Zoom link.

Published in Wednesday Journal April 7, 2021

PUBLIC NOTICES NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING VILLAGE OF BROOKFIELD PLANNING AND ZONING COMMISSION APRIL 22ND, 2021 at 7:00 PM NOTICE is hereby given that the Village of Brookfield Planning and Zoning Commission will conduct a public hearing on Thursday, April 22nd, 2021 at 7:00 p.m. in the Edward Barcal Hall located at 8820 Brookfield Avenue, Brookfield, Illinois for the purpose of considering a request for a Special Use Permit for a church/place of worship (expansion of an existing church) in an A-2 Single-Family Residence District located at 4301-4309 Prairie Avenue and 4301 Forest Avenue, Brookfield, Illinois 60513 (PINs 18-03-404-0570000; 18-03-404-058-0000; & 1803-404-059-0000). The Commission will also consider a proposed Plat of Consolidation for the subject property.

The public is invited to attend the public hearing and present oral and/ or written comments. There will also be opportunities to offer public comment and participate in this meeting virtually. Please check this webpage one week before the meeting for more information: https://brookfieldil.gov/meeting-packets/ The application may be viewed at the Village of Brookfield Village Hall during normal business hours.

Written comments may be provided prior to the public hearing to: Village of Brookfield, Planning and Zoning Commission c/o Mike Schwarz, 8820 Brookfield Avenue, Brookfield, IL 60513 at mschwarz@brookfieldil. gov.

Individuals with disabilities requiring a reasonable accommodation in order to participate in any meeting should contact the Village of Brookfield (708) 485-7344 prior to the meeting. Wheelchair access is available through the front (South) entrance of Village Hall.

By the Order of Chuck Grund, Planning and Zoning Commission Chairman.

Published in RB Landmark April 7, 2021

REAL ESTATE FOR SALE

REAL ESTATE FOR SALE

REAL ESTATE FOR SALE

REAL ESTATE FOR SALE

IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF COOK COUNTY, ILLINOIS COUNTY DEPARTMENT CHANCERY DIVISION DEUTSCHE BANK NATIONAL TRUST COMPANY AS TRUSTEE FOR HIS ASSET SECURITIZATION CORPORATION TRUST 2007OPT1, MORTGAGE PASSTHROUGH CERTIFICATES, SERIES 2007-OPT1; Plaintiff, vs.

CHARLES T. GRANT; JUANITA J. GRANT AKA JUANITA LACOURT; PRAIRIE PLACE AT 6436 ROOSEVELT CONDOMINIUM ASSOCIATION; UNKNOWN OWNERS AND NON RECORD CLAIMANTS; Defendants, 19 CH 14415 Calendar 56 NOTICE OF SALE PUBLIC NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale entered in the above entitled cause Intercounty Judicial Sales Corporation will on Tuesday, May 4, 2021 at the hour of 11 a.m. in their office at 120 West Madison Street, Suite 718A, Chicago, Illinois, sell at public auction to the highest bidder for cash, as set forth below, the following described mortgaged real estate: UNIT 311 AND P-30 IN PRAIRIE PLACE AT 6436 ROOSEVELT CONDOMINIUM, AS DELINEATED ON A SURVEY OF THE FOLLOWING DESCRIBED PROPERTY: LOTS 19 TO 28 BOTH INCLUSIVE, IN THE SUBDIVISION OF BLOCK 3 IN THE SUBDIVISION OF THE SOUTHEAST QUARTER OF LOT 6 IN B. F. JERVIS SUBDIVISION OF SECTION 18, TOWNSHIP 39 NORTH, RANGE 13, EAST OF THE THIRD PRINCIPAL MERIDIAN (EXCEPT THE WEST HALF OF THE SOUTHWEST QUARTER OF SAID SECTION 18), IN COOK COUNTY, ILLINOIS THE WEST 1/2 OF VACATED ELMWOOD AVENUE LYING EAST OF AND ADJOINING LOT 19 IN SUBDIVISION OF BLOCK 3 IN SUBDIVISION OF THE SOUTHEAST 1/4 OF LOT 6 IN B. F. JERVIS SUBDIVISION OF SECTION 18, TOWNSHIP 39 NORTH, RANGE 13, EAST OF TH E THIRD PRINCIPAL MERIDIAN, (EXCEPT THE WEST 1/2 OF THE SOUTHWEST 1/4 THEREOF), IN COOK COUNTY, ILLINOIS. THE EAST 1/2 OF VACATED GUNDERSON AVENUE LYING WEST OF AND ADJOINING LOT 28 IN SUBDIVISION OF BLOCK

3 IN SUBDIVISION OF THE SOUTHEAST 1/4 OF LOT 6 IN B. F. JERVIS SUBDIVISION OF SECTION 18, TOWNSHIP 39 NORTH, RANGE 13, EAST OF THE THIRD PRINCIPAL MERIDIAN, (EXCEPT THE WEST 1/2 OF THE SOUTHWEST 1/4), IN COOK COUNTY, ILLINOIS, WHICH SURVEY IS ATTACHED TO THE DECLARATION OF CONDOMINIUM RECORDED AS DOCUMENT 0617416044, AS AMENDED FROM TIME TO TIME, TOGETHER WITH AN UNDIVIDED PERCENTAGE INTEREST IN THE COMMON ELEMENTS. “MORTGAGOR ALSO HEREBY GRANTS TO THE MORTGAGEE, ITS SUCCESSORS AND ASSIGNS, AS RIGHTS AND EASEMENTS APPURTENANT TO THE ABOVE DESCRIBED REAL ESTATE, THE RIGHTS AND EASEMENTS FOR THE BENEFIT OF SAID PROPERTY SET FORTH IN THE DECLARATION OF CONDOMINIUM” “THIS MORTGAGE IS SUBJECT TO ALL RIGHTS, EASEMENTS, COVENANTS, CONDITIONS, RESTRICTIONS AND RESERVATIONS CONTAINED IN SAID DECLARATION THE SAME AS THOUGH THE PROVISIONS OF SAID DECLARATION WERE RECITED AND STIPULATED AT LENGTH HEREIN.”. P.I.N. 16-18428-043-1019 & 16-18-428-0431064.

Commonly known as 6436 Roosevelt Road, Unit 311, Oak Park, IL 60304.

The mortgaged real estate is improved with a condominium residence. The purchaser of the unit other than a mortgagee shall pay the assessments and the legal fees required by subdivisions (g)(1) and (g) (4) of Section 9 of the Condominium Property Act Sale terms: 10% down by certified funds, balance, by certified funds, within 24 hours. No refunds. The property will NOT be open for inspection.

For information call Law Clerk at Plaintiff’s Attorney, The Wirbicki Law Group, 33 West Monroe Street, Chicago, Illinois 60603. (312) 3609455. W18-0641 INTERCOUNTY JUDICIAL SALES CORPORATION intercountyjudicialsales.com I3166129

QUICKEN LOANS, LLC Plaintiff, -v.DRIKO DUCASSE, UNKNOWN OWNERS AND NONRECORD CLAIMANTS Defendants 2019CH08452 1226 N AUSTIN BLVD OAK PARK, IL 60302 NOTICE OF SALE PUBLIC NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale entered in the above cause on December 17, 2019, an agent for The Judicial Sales Corporation, will at 10:30 AM on April 27, 2021, at The Judicial Sales Corporation, One South Wacker Drive, CHICAGO, IL, 60606, sell at a public sale to the highest bidder, as set forth below, the following described real estate: Commonly known as 1226 N AUSTIN BLVD, OAK PARK, IL 60302 Property Index No. 16-05-127-0270000 The real estate is improved with a multi-family residence.

Sale terms: 25% down of the highest bid by certified funds at the close of the sale payable to The Judicial Sales Corporation. No third party checks will be accepted. The balance, including the Judicial Sale fee for the Abandoned Residential Property Municipality Relief Fund, which is calculated on residential real estate at the rate of $1 for each $1,000 or fraction thereof of the amount paid by the purchaser not to exceed $300, in certified funds/ or wire transfer, is due within twenty-four (24) hours. No fee shall be paid by the mortgagee acquiring the residential real estate pursuant to its credit bid at the sale or by any mortgagee, judgment creditor, or other lienor acquiring the residential real estate whose rights in and to the residential real estate arose prior to the sale. The subject property is subject to general real estate taxes, special assessments, or special taxes levied against said real estate and is offered for sale without any representation as to quality or quantity of title and without recourse to Plaintiff and in “AS IS” condition. The sale is further subject to confirmation by the court.Upon payment in full of the amount bid, the purchaser will receive a Certificate of Sale that will entitle the purchaser to a deed to the real estate after confirmation of the sale.The property will NOT be open for inspection and plaintiff makes no representation as to the condition of the property. Prospective

bidders are admonished to check the court file to verify all information.

If this property is a condominium unit, the purchaser of the unit at the foreclosure sale, other than a mortgagee, shall pay the assessments and the legal fees required

by The Condominium Property Act, 765 ILCS 605/9(g)(1) and (g)(4). If this property is a condominium unit which is part of a common interest community, the purchaser of the unit at the foreclosure sale other than a mortgagee shall pay the assessments required by The Condominium Property Act, 765 ILCS 605/18.5(g1).IF YOU ARE THE MORTGAGOR (HOMEOWNER), YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO REMAIN IN POSSESSION FOR 30 DAYS AFTER ENTRY OF AN ORDER OF POSSESSION, IN ACCORDANCE WITH SECTION 15-1701(C) OF THE ILLINOIS MORTGAGE FORECLOSURE LAW. You will need a photo identification issued by a government agency (driver’s license, passport, etc.) in order to gain entry into our building and the foreclosure sale room in Cook County and the same identification for sales held at other county venues where The Judicial Sales Corporation conducts foreclosure sales.

For information, examine the court file, CODILIS & ASSOCIATES, P.C. Plaintiff’s Attorneys, 15W030 NORTH FRONTAGE ROAD, SUITE 100, BURR RIDGE, IL, 60527 (630) 794-9876 THE JUDICIAL SALES CORPORATION One South Wacker Drive, 24th Floor, Chicago, IL 60606-4650 (312) 236SALE You can also visit The Judicial Sales Corporation at www.tjsc.com for a 7 day status report of pending sales.

CODILIS & ASSOCIATES, P.C. 15W030 NORTH FRONTAGE ROAD, SUITE 100 BURR RIDGE IL, 60527 630-794-5300 E-Mail: pleadings@il.cslegal.com Attorney File No. 14-19-06429 Attorney ARDC No. 00468002 Attorney Code. 21762 Case Number: 2019CH08452 TJSC#: 41-167 NOTE: Pursuant to the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, you are advised that Plaintiff’s attorney is deemed to be a debt collector attempting to collect a debt and any information obtained will be used for that purpose.

I3166321

IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF COOK COUNTY, ILLINOIS COUNTY DEPARTMENT CHANCERY DIVISION

local employees = happy employees!

Hire Local. Place an ad on FPR’s Local Online Job Board.

Go to ForestParkReview.com/classified today!

Contact Mary Ellen Nelligan for more information.

(708) 613-3342 • Classifieds@ForestParkReview.com

P

Forest Park Review, April 7, 2021

INC., REALTOR

(708) 366-8989 7342 MADISON ST, FOREST PARK, ILLINOIS 60130

SOLD!

928 S. Kenilworth Ave. Oak Park ....................$275,000

SOLD!

Property has been owner occupied by the same family for 50+ years. 1st fl has spacious living rm and dining rm, kitchen and 1/2 bath. 2nd floor has three bedrooms and full bath. Stucco exterior and 2 car detached garage.

Great location in south west Oak Park. Needs some updating but livable as-is.

935 Elgin Avenue, Forest Park ........................$489,000 This is a money maker! This early 1970s brick four flat houses two one bedroom apartments on the top floor, a large three bedroom two bath apartment on the first floor, and a large two bedroom two bathroom apartment in the lower level. Tandem parking for 8 cars.

Meticulously maintained by the current owner for several decades.

The numbers work! This one really won't last long.

SOLD!

1117 Marengo Avenue, Forest Park .......................$263,500 What a great opportunity to get into Forest Park at an affordable price! This home offers four total bedrooms, two on the second floor and two on the first floor. The home is in perfect condition!

Living room, dining room, and eat in kitchen, plus a finished basement. Huge deck off the back of the house and a very large two car garage!

SOLD!

Need a helping of

Call Jill at (708) 524-8300 or visit ForestParkReview.com/subscribe

1028 Beloit Forest Park ....................$289,000 This 3 BR, 2.1 BA home has not been available in over 55 years.

It has been meticulously maintained within the same family for that time. This home offers two first floor good sized bedrooms and a large second floor master. Each floor has a full updated bathroom. The first floor living room, with it's vaulted ceilings, fill with sunlight pouring from the front foyer windows.

337 Marengo Avenue, Forest Park ......................$275,000 Fantastic location alert!! Just a stones throw from Madison Street shopping, restaurants, and night life makes this a very desirable piece of real estate! This is two flat is ready for some love and attention. Just stuck in time is all. Or a fantastic de-conversion to single family! So bring your decorating ideas, and be prepared to fall in love!

SOLD!

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Forest Park Review, April 7, 2021

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