ForestParkReview_042617

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GROWING COMMUNITY WEDNESDAY JOURNAL, INC.

Vol. 100, No. 17

$1.00

CELEBRATING 100 YEARS

F O R E S T PA R K

REVIEW

More on Jackie than you ever read in her column PAGE 4

Police officers honored PAGE 3

APRIL 26, 2017

@FP_Review @ForestParkReview

Ultra Foods to close its doors in June Forest Park location one of nine to be shuttered by parent company By THOMAS VOGEL

U

Contributing Reporter

ltra Foods in Forest Park Plaza, 7600 Roosevelt Road, will close, the store’s parent company announced April 18. The grocery store will close around June 18, Derek Kinney, a spokesman for Strack and Van Til, Ultra Foods’ owner, said in an email to the Review on April 20. The store employs 92 workers and, according to Forest Park Village Manager Tim Gillian, brought in $130,000 in sales tax revenue in 2016. The announced closure comes just as Home Owners Bargain Outlet signed a lease for the former Kmart space in the plaza. The mall’s owner, Forest Park Plaza LLC, a for-profit entity of Living Word Christian Center, now has another vacancy to fill. Gillian said Forest Park Mayor Anthony Calderone has reached out to Living Word and will work with them to find a new tenant. “We are working very hard on it,” Gillian said. “It will be a team effort.” Kim Clay, spokeswoman for Living Word, indicated it was too early to say when or who might be able to fill the large retail space. “We just got notice at the end of the day yesterday. We don’t want to make an official statement yet,” Clay said when reached by phone. “There are converSee ULTRA FOODS on page 10

WILLIAM CAMARGO/Staff Photographer

ANCHOR AWAY: Ultra Foods in the Forest Park Plaza shopping center is slated to close in mid-June, its parent company announced on last week.

D209 superintendent lays out strategic plan Rodriguez says the 9-month process thus far has been without precedent By MICHAEL ROMAIN Staff Reporter

The 2017-18 academic year at Proviso Township High Schools District 209 will be radically different from years past,

IN Big Week . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9 THIS Classified . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 ISSUE Crime . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7 Opinion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Obituaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

based on changes Supt. Jesse Rodriguez outlined during an April 20 meeting at Proviso Math and Science Academy, 8601 W. Roosevelt Rd. in Forest Park. Rodriguez convened the meeting to present the foundation of a long-term

strategic plan at the district that his administrative team is in the process of creating and that the board will be expected to approve in the coming

Retail challenges in wake of Ultra closing

CROP Hunger Walk history

EDITORIAL, 14

PAGE 11

See D209 PLAN on page 10

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