Wednesday Journal 013124

W E D N E S D A Y

January 31, 2024 Vol. 44, No. 31

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JOURNAL @oakpark

of Oak Park and River Forest

Galen Gockel remembered

Viewpoints, page 23

Oak Park seeks nearly $2 million in grants for asylum-seeker services

Village staff intends to submit the application Jan. 24

By LUZANE DRAUGHON Staff Reporter

PROVIDED BY KELLY DIAZ

OPRF’s ASPIRA Club aims to build a sense of community among Hispanic students.

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Oak Park’s village board of trustees unanimously approved the submission of a grant application for more than $1.94 million to provide aid to asylum seekers in the village.

About $11 million in Supporting Municipalities for Asylum Seekers Services funds is available exclusively to municipalities outside of Chicago, according to an Illinois Department of Human Services news release.

The funds cannot be used, however, to transport the migrants to another municipality.

See GRANTS on page 9

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Wednesday Journal, January 31, 2024

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D97 hosts Migrant Resource Night to help families build connections Growing diversity in the district has increased the need for community partners

By AMARIS E. RODRIGUEZ Staff Reporter

During their Migrant Resource Night, Oak Park Elementary School District 97 provided a judgment-free space where migrant families would be able to find various local organization resources, one of the ways the district hopes to continue to plug their new community members into the rest of Oak Park.

The event was held at Holmes Elementary School on Tuesday, Jan. 23 and was organized by the Multilingual Parent Advisory Committee – a D97 alternative to the required Bilingual Parent Advisory Committee. The Illinois State Board of Education mandates such committees when there are 20 or more English learner students of the same home language.

With the diversity found in the student body population at D97, Marta Barriga, a member of the MPAC, said Oak Park is not a bilingual community, but rather a multilingual and multicultural one composed of people from various backgrounds and languages.

MPAC helps facilitate communication between the district and parents who are not native English speakers and provides translation services.

According to the 2023 Illinois Report Card, the English learner population at D97 has increased in recent years, going from 2.6% in 2022 to 3.2% for the 2023 report. In 2021, the district had 2.4% of their students as English learners- students whose primary language is not English. In 2023, the state’s average for English learners was 14.6%, up 1.7% from 12.9% in 2021.

“We are working together to be a bridge and support the newcomers in anything that they need,” Barriga said. “Navigating the system. We work closely with the district, the administrators to make sure if registration is translated, do they understand what they need to enroll their kids.

Anything that can come up to help them navigate the system.”

This is the second year that D97 has hosted a Migrant Resource Night. The first was last May. The inception of the idea began when the district saw an influx of new families, many of whom were migrants. In partnership with the Diversity committee, MPAC and multilingual teachers across the district began reaching out to various organizations for participation in hopes of bringing as many of the resources they could under one roof.

In attendance were various organizations including Children’s Clinic, the Oak Park Public Library, Brown Elephant, Beyond Hunger, Shriver Center for Poverty Law, and the Collaboration for Early Childhood Education.

Kelly Andrew Stiles, store manager of The Brown Elephant Resale Shop, was present at the event to help people learn more about the local thrift shop and how they work in connection with Howard Brown Health Center, which offers various ways of helping fund healthcare for the uninsured and under-insured.

“I feel like the message of Howard Brown Health Care is to be a way for people to get a leg up and help those who are often ignored,” said Gilbert Vivas, an employee of Brown Elephant. “I feel like this is an easy way to do that locally and more directly.”

Audrey Greffin, the director of grants and outreach at Oak Park River Forest Infant Welfare Society Children’s Clinic, said it is important to be an active part of the Oak Park community and offer great resources to those who need them.

Greffin said the organization also participated in last year’s event and they met multiple families who expressed need in their service – which they offer medical, dental, mental and behavioral services for children up to the age of 21 years old.

AMARIS E. RODRIGUEZ

D97 held their second Migrant Resource Night at Holmes on Jan. 23.

The need for these types of events is increasing.

“The influx of new families is big,” Barriga said. “I think Oak Park always attracts people from everywhere, it has always been very diverse. But definitely in the last six months there has been an influx related to the influx in the country.”

A mom, who for safety concerns asked not to be named in the article, said her two children attend schools in D97 and she was invited to the event to learn more about possible assistance; she arrived with her children on Nov. 7 on a bus from Texas.

“I am very grateful,” she said. “It has been a huge help, what Chicago has given us, and the district. We are truly grateful.”

And families are arriving all over the world. Barriga said they have had families from various backgrounds, including Russia, Ukraine, Brazil, Venezuela, among others.

Luis Fernando De Leon, assistant superintendent of middle school for D97, was also in attendance and raved about the sense of community that these types of events instill not only in the district but in Oak Park as a whole.

“When you come into a community or you move into a community you want to be

connected,” De Leon said. “Our connectedness is what is very unique about Oak Park.

Having the opportunity to have this access and how these connections are available to you is one of the biggest assets.”

Supporting those connections and “links” to organizations is a top priority for D97.

But having an event where families can come and eat together also creates a time for them to create connections amongst themselves and start building their own connections. The district provided dinner and had childcare for children to watch a movie while parents received more information about possible resources.

“It’s no longer just about knowing a place, it’s about actually knowing the person and the needs,” De Leon said. “Our commitment is with the opportunity to really welcome families and really provide that access and opportunity.”

C O R R E C T I O N

A story titled “Backstroke to the future” that ran Jan. 24 in Wednesday Journal misspelled the name of a swimmer. He is senior Adan Pedraza.

We apologize for the error.

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Wednesday Journal, January 31, 2024

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BIG WEEK January 31-February 7

The Julian Legacy Museum Reception Sunday, Feb. 4, 1 – 4 p.m., Oak Park Public Library This year, the library is honoring the contributions of Drs. Percy L. Julian and Anna Johnson Julian. Join in for a few words and take a tour of the Julian Legacy Museum. Light refreshments will be served. Register for the event here oakpark.librarycalendar.com.

834 Lake St., Oak Park.

Safe Streets Workshop

Van Gogh’s Sunflowers Workshop Friday, Feb. 9, 1 – 4 p.m., Kidcreate Studio Vincent Van Gogh’s sunny sunflower painting brightens anyone’s day. At this event you will learn about and be inspired by this famous artist as you paint your own sunflowers on a real canvas board. For ages 4 - 9, register at www.kidcreate.com.

200 Harrison St., Oak Park.

Saturday, Feb. 3 from 2-4 p.m., Oak Park Conservatory’s Rubinstein Room Stop by to share ideas for improving traffic safety and learn more about Vision Zero and eliminating traffic deaths and serious injuries on the roadways. The free family-friendly event will include crafts for kids, light snacks and beverages and raffle for workshop participants. More information is available at www.engageoakpark.com/visionzero. 615 Garfield St., Oak Park.

Repair Cafe Saturday, Feb. 3, 10 a.m. – 1:30 p.m., Fox Center & Park The Oak Park Repair Café meets the first Saturday of the month, at the Fox Park field house, in Fox Park, 624 S. Oak Park Ave. Repair coaches will be available to help you fix anything from small appliances to torn clothing. Please bring one item in for repair. 624 S. Oak Park Ave., Oak Park.

Cole Brandt at The Onion Roll 2024 New Year Tastings Saturday, Feb. 3, 6 – 10 p.m., Wild Fork At Wild Fork, the customers can celebrate with free tastings at the stores.

Visitors are able to immerse themselves in the experience where premium centerpiece proteins are presented, aiding them in making informed shopping selections. 435 N. Harlem Ave., Oak Park.

C&NW Railroad History Sunday, Feb. 4, 2 a.m. – 4 p.m., Oak Park River Forest Museum Craig Pfannkuche, archivist at the archives of the Chicago and North Western Historical Society, will discuss the evolution of the Chicago and North Western, now the Union Pacific, railroad through the Oak Park area. He will talk about the reason for the double tracking of the main line, the elevation of the track bed through the area, and will give a series of reasons for the nature of rail traffic in the area. www.oprfmuseum.org 129 Lake St., Oak Park.

Chili Cookoff to Nourish ... and Warm Your Body and Spirit Sunday, Feb. 4, 11 a.m. – 12 p.m., Unity of Oak Park Experience the aroma of simmering pots, the friendly competition, and the joy of community as people come together to celebrate their love for chili. Bring your appetite and be prepared to sample a variety of mouthwatering chili creations, each with its own unique twist.

If you would like a chance to participate in the chili cookoff, sign up here or visit tinyurl.com/ ydbawuar. 405 N. Euclid Ave, Oak Park.

Family Story Time and Play Friday, Feb. 2, 10 – 11 a.m., River Forest Public Library Join the library staff for stories and songs, then stay and play and make new friends! For kids ages 0 through 6 with a caregiver. 735 Lathrop Ave., River Forest.

Saturday, Feb. 3, 10 a.m. – 2 p.m., The Onion Roll Cole Brandt, a musician based in the Rockford/Chicago/Madison/Lake Geneva areas, will be performing.

He specializes in pop/rock/jazz/classical acoustic music and electronic dance music. 6935 W. North Ave., Oak Park.

Listing your event Wednesday Journal welcomes notices about events that Oak Park and River Forest groups and businesses are planning. We’ll work to get the word out if you let us know what’s happening by noon Wednesday a week before your news needs to be in the newspaper.

■ Send details to Wednesday Journal, 141 S. Oak Park Ave., Oak Park, 60302 ■ Email calendar@wjinc.com

Wednesday Journal, January 31, 2024

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OPRF backs off on proposed change to school calendar

school year later in August and having ter to free up more instructional time.

First semester will end The first day of school for freshmen next first semester final exams after the winter year will be Wednesday Aug.14. The first break. But many did not like the idea of before Christmas next year, having final exams after winter break, say- day of school for sophomores, juniors and that would spoil, or at least add stress seniors will be Thursday Aug. 15. Teachalthough school officials say ing ers will report to work for the new year on to, the break for students.

Monday 12 for an Institute Day. First Parents, staff and others were informed changes are still possible of the decision in an email sent out by semesterAug. final exams next year will take

By BOB SKOLINIK Contributing Reporter

After receiving pushback from school board members and parents, administrators at Oak Park and River Forest High School have decided not to make any significant changes in the school calendar next year, but they are leaving open the possibility of changing the calendar in the future to equalize the length of the semesters.

Under the current calendar, the second semester is longer than the first semester.

In December, administrators, acting on the recommendation of the school’s calendar committee, proposed starting the next

OPRF Executive Director of Communications and Community Relations Karin Sullivan Jan. 23. At the Jan. 25 meeting, Supt.

Greg Johnson read from the letter and expanded on it a bit.

“As discussions about the calendar have unfolded though it became evident that we need and want more time to gather feedback and explore new options,” Johnson said. “As a result, it has simply become too late in the process to change next year’s calendar.”

For the 2024-25 school year, OPRF will make internal adjustments, such as moving some events that are typically held in the first semester, such as the Tradition of Excellence Assembly, to the second semes-

place between Dec. 18 and Dec. 20.

Although the schedule remains unchanged, next year, administrators will continue to study the issue and gather information about how other school’s handle their school calendars. Johnson made it clear that the idea of having the first semester end after Winter Break is not dead.

“We are not backing away from the challenges that caused us to bring this proposal to the board to begin with and it is still a very real possibility that we will bring a proposal forward for the 25-26 and the 26-27 calendars that will in fact recommend that we shift the end of the semester to January as we proposed” Johnson said. “But we have some work to do.”

OPRF school board approves geothermal for Project 2

Wells will be dug under the football field

By BOB SKOLNIK Contributing Reporter

The Oak Park and River Forest District 200 Board of Education has given the go ahead to install a geothermal heating and cooling system for the new portion of the school that will be built over the next two years.

In a unanimous vote, the school board approved the scope for a geothermal heating and cooling system for the new Project 2 space that is projected to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by about 442,500 pounds each year compared with a natural gas system. The annual reduction in carbon

emissions is equivalent to the annual emissions of a car driven about 500,000 miles in year, according to report prepared by the company that OPRF will contact to install the geothermal system. The annual energy savings for OPRF is projected to be 18% annually over a conventional natural gas boiler-based system.

The geothermal system is projected to cost about $10.3 million, although the exact cost won’t be known until OPRF hammers out a contract with Phoenix based Veregy, a leading provider of energy efficient solutions. The initial cost is projected to be offset by receiving $7.3 million in government grants under the Federal Inflation Reduction Act and $6 million in reduced energy costs over 30 years.

“The total economics of this project are actually in our favor,” said school board member Graham Brisben before the vote,

noting the life cycle costs of the geothermal project are projected to be nearly $350,000 less annually than a natural gasbased system.

About 240 wells will be dug to a depth of 500 feet under the football field at Oak Park Stadium. The wells are projected to provide 606 tons of total capacity, a little bit more than needed to heat and cool the new Project 2 space because the soil under the football field has very good conductivity.

Heat pumps will transfer the air from deep underground into the building to provide heating in winter and cooling in summer as the temperature below ground remains much more stable than the temperature above ground. The artificial turf of the football field will be removed to dig the new wells and then a new turf field will be

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Pilgrim church goes big with Black History Month celebration

with song and dance, attention Congregation celebrates willAlong be paid to health matters during the with area hospitals and other inte150th anniversary, will hold a event grative health care providers and practices partnering for the event.

2-day extravaganza “I was determined that we would bring

By DEBORAH BAYLISS Contributing Reporter

in the two hospitals in Austin, right on the edge of Oak Park,” Simmons said. “I reached out to Loretto [Hospital]. I know a couple of people there, but I had to convince them that it was important that they be a part of this and also West Sub-

Oak Park’s Pilgrim Congregational Church is gearing up for a big culturefilled Black History Month celebration as it also marks its 150-year anniversary.

“This is a celebration of our Blackness,” said Josephine Simmons, a long-time member of the church who planned the Black History Month event. “It’s threepronged. We’re going to celebrate the gifts of our young people with song and dance.

We’re going to celebrate entrepreneurship…our Black and indigenous people of color vendors in our community. We’re going to talk about health from the perspective of the need for attention on healthcare in our community.”

Themed “Showcase of Black History, Culture and Entrepreneurship, the free, two-day event is scheduled for 10 a.m. to 4 p.m, February 24 and 25 at Pilgrim at 460 Lake Street.

COURTESY OF IMANI SPENCER Austin youth are included among the talent show- Children’s book author Imani Spencer cases that also feature the Just Cause Dancers from Forest Park.; the Betty Shabazz Kuumba Soul Singers and Drummers; urban [Hospital]. We’re very blessed that Uniting Voices of Chicago (formerly Chi- those hospitals agreed to get involved and are now very excited about it.” cago Children’s Choir).

Free clinical services include cardio“The people who will be performing are just amazing,” Simmons said. “They’re vascular, blood pressure screening, womages five to maybe 12 or 14 and they are so en’s health discussions. disciplined.”

See BLACK HISTORY on page 9

Wednesday Journal, January 31, 2024

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River Forest board salutes New Year…

Business… teenage DEI advocate New Let’s Get Started!

Recognition follows White House honor

By ROBERT J. LIFKA Contributing Reporter

It may not have been as prestigious as being honored by First Lady Dr. Jill Biden at the White House (she was), but Anja Herrman of River Forest was recognized by her hometown village President Cathy Adduci for her contributions to the village Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Advisory Group at the Jan. 22 Village Board meeting.

Herrman was unable to attend the meeting to accept the proclamation in person, but appeared via Zoom.

“I want to thank the board for taking time out to issue this proclamation,” said Herrman, who at 17 is the youngest member of the DEI advisory group and an Oak Park-River Forest High School senior.

“I love working with the DEI commitANJA HERRMAN tee,” Herrman said before signing off to do her homework.

In the proclamation, Adduci noted that International Day of the Girl. Karin JeanHerrman was one of 15 young woman lead- Pierre, White House press secretary, and Jeners selected by the White House Gender nifer Klein, the director of the White House Policy Council, also spoke.

Policy Council to be honored Herrman was in Washingat the inaugural “Girls Leadton, D.C., for 24 hours. She ing Change” event in October went bowling with the honorand congratulated her for ees before the event. She said her “commitment to raising she started developing friendawareness about disability ships with them and plans to rights and her role as an advokeep in touch. cate for diversity, equity and The proclamation also noted inclusion.” how the White House highTrustees Erika Bachner and lighted Herrman’s role in Ken Johnson, co-chairs of the “grassroots disability advocaDEI advisory group, joined ERIKA BACHNER cy work, including as a memAdduci in offering their conTrustee ber of the Personal Protective gratulations.

Equipment for People with “If we listed all her accomDisabilities Coalition, which plishments, we would be here helped secure personal protecall night,” Bachner said. tive equipment for people with “She always entertained different perspectives that I never considered,” disabilities during the COVID pandemic.”

In addition, the proclamation mentioned Johnson added.

The proclamation noted that Herrman how the White House recognized Herjoined the DEI Advisory Group “to work rman’s authorship of “a white paper that with others to ensure that River Forest re- highlights the need for school shooting mains a welcoming community for genera- plans that account for the safety of students with disabilities through a fellowtions after me.”

The first lady spoke near the beginning ship program at the Disability EmpowHer and end of the 30-minute event, held on the Network.”

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Wednesday Journal, January 31, 2024

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River Forest loosens zoning rules Daycare centers are now allowed in C-3 District as special use

By ROBERT J. LIFKA Contributing Reporter

Action by River Forest officials at the Jan. 22 village board meeting moved operators of Mosaic Montessori Academy closer to their plan to open a second location in the village.

Calling the vote a “welcome decision,” Ranier Ramos, Mosaic business office administrator, said the action only “brings them to first base.”

The five trustees at the meeting voted unanimously to approve an ordinance amending the village code to allow child daycare centers to operate in the C-3 Central Commercial District as a special use.

Bob O’Connell did not attend.

Before the vote, child daycare centers were prohibited from operating in every zoning district except for PRI, village administrator Matt Walsh explained in a memo to officials. In the PRI district child daycare centers are allowed as a special use, he added.

With passage of the ordinance, child daycare centers also will be allowed to operate

in the C-3 central commercial district with a special use permit.

Ramos first approached the village board in November, explaining that Mosaic was considering opening a second center at 7777 Lake St., which is located in the C-3 district, where at that time, day care centers were not allowed. The 7777 Lake center would be in addition to the current location within the River Forest United Methodist Church at 7970 Lake St., where Mosaic has operated since 2007.

In November, officials referred the matter to the Zoning Board of Appeals and the Economic Development Commission.

Following a public hearing in December, the zoning board voted unanimously to recommend approving the text amendment.

However, on a split vote, the economic development commission voted against recommending approval.

Walsh explained that the three commission members who voted against recommendation were concerned about River Forest already having limited commercial space and felt that allowing this use could fill up the limited space with businesses

that do not generate sales tax. The two members that voted in favor felt that the special use process would deter many daycare centers from coming to town and felt that they do provide a valuable service for residents, he added.

Ramos explained that Mosaic operates three classrooms in the church, two primary classrooms for 3- to 6-year-olds, and one toddler classroom for 2- to 3-year-olds.

The center cannot expand in the church because of space limitations and has a growing waiting list, mainly for toddlers.

He said operators are hoping to lease space at 7777 Lake that would allow them to create two more toddler classrooms.

“We want to stay in River Forest,” Ramos said, noting that 95% of the center’s families are village residents.

Ramos was supported at the Jan. 22 meeting by Laura Maychruk, a parent of former Mosaic students, and Joey Szynal, a parent of a current Mosaic student. Maychruk also addressed the board in November.

“It makes all the sense in the world to fill a property that’s sat vacant for years,” Maychruk said of 7777 Lake.

Szynal explained that he has two children in day care, one at Mosaic and the other at another center, and expressed his desire to have both at Mosaic.

Citing the waiting list, Trustee Katie Brennan expressed support for the request, saying, “This is filling a need.”

The next step in the process is filing an application for a special use permit, which Ramos said the property owner will need to do. Ariel Pang, the Realtor for 7777 Lake, said at the November meeting that the property owner is “in full support” of the Montessori school.

Walsh explained that, in addition to the application, the special use process requires a public hearing and zoning board recommendation prior to village board consideration.

Ramos noted another step in the process will be obtaining licensing by the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services.

“Assuming we’re lucky enough to get approval of the special use permit, we still will need DCFS approval,” he said. “Now the hard work begins.”

Facility Review Committee to recommend village hall renovation Oak Park Village Board previously considered demolishing the historic building

By LUZANE DRAUGHON Staff Reporter

Oak Park Village Board of Trustees’ July proposal to demolish and rebuild historic Village Hall fell flat and a Facility Review Committee is now working to present an alternative option to refurbish it instead.

The original idea was to tear down the almost 50-year-old building and construct a new police station and village government headquarters in its place. The estimated cost would be between $118 million and $124 million, but demolition was met with

strong public opposition.

It’s still a possibility, said Daniel Roush, co-chair of the Facility Review Committee, but refurbishing the existing structure by moving the police station to another location and making changes to support the municipal government’s modern needs is another option.

“We are a village that cares about history, and we care about the environment,” Roush said. “Those two things are embodied in the building that’s there. So, to maintain that building, at least as I see it, is aligned with the village values.”

Oak Park has engaged Johnson Lasky Kindelin Architects to evaluate Village Hall on a historic preservation and architectural level, according to the committee’s documents. JLK is examining the feasibility of renovating Village Hall to meet building, accessibility and energy codes, as well as to address security issues and functionality.

The committee plans to present its findings regarding feasibility and associated costs to the village board within the next couple months. If the board decides to adopt this alternative plan, deciding how to pay for it would be up to them, Roush said.

“The best place to start was ‘How the community will use the building?’” Colette Lueck, the committee’s co-chairperson said. “The building really belongs to the community, not to staff.”

The history and architecture of Village Hall makes the building interesting and essential to maintain, Lueck said, but remodeling will take time to complete, if the village board goes that route.

“Everything has to be welcoming to the community, places have to be safe,” she said. “People have to have accessibility to all places in the building except places that are set aside specifically for staff to do their work.”

Village Hall’s location also has a historical significance that is important to preserve, Roush said. The establishment’s location was intended support racial diversification and discourage any segregation between neighborhoods, he said.

“The building is a historical monument to Oak Park’s efforts to be a racially diverse and a tolerant community,” Roush said.

The police station has a lack of training and interview space in addition to a crammed system of storing evidence and records. This creates an intimidating environment, Lueck said.

“It would be much better for the people of Oak Park, across the board, if the police presence was visible and it was kind of a welcoming, or at least not a hostile circumstance,” Roush said.

Deciding where the new police station might be will not be part of the commitSee VILLAGE HALL on page 17

Wednesday Journal, January 31, 2024

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GRANTS

Transition funding from page 1 If granted, the money would allow Oak Park to help support migrants’ transition out of temporary shelter. The application will be reviewed by the Metropolitan Mayors Caucus, whom IDHS is partnering with to distribute the available funds.

An approval of this grant funding would be expected within five days, said Kira Tchang, human resources director and assistant village manager. Village staff intends to submit the application Wednesday.

City of Chicago officials have said it would be best for migrants in Oak Park to remain where they are rather than being transported to Chicago’s “landing zone,” Tchang said.

“Last time we spoke with representatives from Chicago, they indicated that shelters were full,” she said.

Asylum seekers staying at The Carleton of Oak Park Hotel and West Cook YMCA

BLACK HISTORY

Minority-owned businesses from page 6 Black History Month is an opportunity to honor the achievements of African Americans, which includes Black-owned businesses. Highlighting them is also an opportunity to point out the ongoing challenges many of them face.

Black-owned and other businesses/vendors from the surrounding communities,

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execute an agreement with the must leave by Feb. 29, an extension the vil- applying for asylum, temporary Metropolitan Mayors Caucus lage granted at the end of December. Offi- protected status or employment without board consideration, cials had previously expected migrants to authorization.

In addition, $300,000 will fund if the grant application is apleave by Jan. 31. short-term rental proved.

The grant would provide An emergency declaration access to shelter, traditional assistance, with allows the village to remain housing, food, legal assis$40,000 going toeligible for related funding as it tance and other services ward administrabecomes available, Tchang said. such as mental health care tive expenses.

The migrant situation continor translation assistance.

The grant term ues to be an emergency, espeVillage staff recommended is January 16, CORY WESLEY cially considering the recent exways to spend the grant 2024, to June 30, treme winter weather, she said. funding, if received.

2024, according “I’m not sure how long this crisis will In those recommendato officials. The Metropolitions, about $1.2 million tan Mayors Caucus can also continue and I feel like we should start will fund a local nonprofit choose to fund only a portion normalizing it,” trustee Cory Wesley said.

VICKI SCAMAN The village so far has received $400,000 in to operate a temporary shelof the money requested.

Village president ter for four months. The The village board also SMASS grant funding and used $650,000 in shelter would be intended voted to extend the village’s unspent American Rescue Plan Act fundto aid about 80-120 asylum emergency declaration un- ing to aid migrants in the emergency shelseekers, Tchang said, with til Feb. 29 in a 6-1 decision. ter program. Cook County’s Department a priority focus on women, children and Trustee Ravi Parakkat was the only dis- of Emergency Management and Regional families. This portion of the grant would sent to the decision. Trustee Lucia Robin- Security also provided additional funding also include food, transportation and other son said while she voted in favor of an ex- in the amount of $350,000.

“Our community has stepped up,” said services such as language access. tension, she will not continue to if another village president Vicki Scaman. “We have Another $360,000 will fund legal services, extension is requested. such as legal fees and attorney retainers Because the declaration was extended, set a solid example for how communities that would be in effect while a migrant is the village manager, Kevin Jackson, can can really work together.”

“Our community has stepped up. We have set a solid example for how communities can really work together.”

event. Actively engaged on which include Austin, will be social media, the upbeat enon hand to sell and showcase trepreneur works hard and their products and wares. rarely misses an opportunity “Most of them are working to bring attention to her prodfull-time jobs,” Simmons said ucts as well as others. of the vendors taking part in “Opportunities like these are the event. “They have a passion especially important to Black for what they’re doing. We’re entrepreneurs because a lot not going to charge anybody to of us don’t know how to start come in. Vendors also are not a business nor do we have the charged a fee to take part.”

Keena Renee Bonds, owner KEENA RENEE BONDS finances to start one, “ Bonds said. “Throughout our history, of Spread the Love Body Butters and Scrubs with Essential Oils LLC, banks have been known not to loan Black is one of the vendors taking part in the entrepreneurs money to start a business.

Also, these events give us an opportunity to introduce our products to the [public] before deciding if starting a business is something we want to do.”

Imani Spencer, Simmons’ daughter and Black children’s book author, also will take part as a vendor at the event. With The Kink in My Hair and The Kink in My Hair, Too, Spencer writes to empower Black children and recognize their coily, kinky hair is something to be proud of.

For more information about the Black History Month celebration, contact Josephine Simmons at 773-206-9485 or email or her at josimmons234@yahoo.com.

Way Back Inn, a local nonprofit organization treating individuals seeking recovery from gambling and substance use disorders, is seeking potential bids for a backup generator for our Oak Park recovery home located at 412 Wesley Ave, Oak Park, IL 60302.

Please contact Anita Pindiur, Executive Director 708-345-8422 ext. 125 • anitap@waybackinn.org

This is a Federally funded project, with the money coming from Oak Park Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds and thus is subject to all applicable Federal rules, regulations, and guidelines, including Davis-Bacon and Related Acts. Preference is given to qualifying Minority- and Women-Owned Business Enterprises (MWBE).

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Wednesday Journal, January 31, 2024

OAKPARK.COM | RIVERFOREST.COM

Dominican University partners with program aimed at CPS students

Hope Chicago now partners with five Chicago schools

By AMARIS E. RODRIGUEZ Staff Reporter

Dominican University in River Forest announced a new partnership with a Chicago-based organization focused on helping high school students and their parents succeed through debt-free college opportunities.

Hope Chicago, a two-generation economic mobility program offers debt-free college opportunities to Chicago Public School high school students and their parents.

The partnership with Dominican University, along with five other higher education institutions, was announced earlier this month.

“This is exactly who we are, who we serve, and what we are all about,” said Jason Harmon, assistant vice president for undergraduate enrollment at Dominican University. “The synergy is there.”

Hope Chicago is a two-generation economic mobility program that offers debt-free college opportunities, along with workforce opportunities, to Chicago Public School graduates and their parents. The collaboration between Hope Chicago and Dominican will help expand higher education access to “residents in some of Chicago’s most systemically disinvested neighborhoods.”

When participating students enroll in college, it unlocks the opportunity for a parent to continue education, which can take different forms from finishing a GED degree or even trade programs and work certification base programs.

“This is an all-inclusive situation here,” said Michele L. Howard, chief program officer at Hope Chicago. “One unlocks the other, but they have to do it together.”

Howard said the program currently works with students from Benito Juarez Community Academy in Pilsen, Al Raby School for Community and Environment, in Garfield Park, Morgan Park High School, in Morgan Park, Noble Johnson College Prep, in Englewood, and Farragut Career Academy in Little Village.

Harmon said the program is excited about the new partnership with Dominican, which aligns with the university’s expansion location in the Pilsen neighborhood that

PROVIDED BY HOPE CHICAGO

Chicago Public School students at Hope Chicago’s 2023 Goalgetters Conference at Kennedy King College. was announced in August 2023.

The university will occupy Resurrection’s La Casa Residence Hall, on South Paulina Street in Chicago, and the neighboring Resource Center, for a variety of programs, as well as for on-campus housing for students.

“A lot of the families that we have in the city want to stay in or close to the city so even traveling outside of Chicago can become difficult,” Howard said. “So, when we see an institution like Dominican that is working to circle back and make sure that they have access both in the city and outside the city in River Forest, we think that is going to create a greater dynamic for students and families to have access.”

According to Harmon, the university will ensure the scholarships and financial aid offered by the school, along with those offered by Hope, give students the opportunity to attend Dominican debt-free.

“The hope is removing the hurdles for students, in terms of that financial hurdle, which is significant for many students but particularly for these high schools, many of the students are low-income and financial aid is often something that stops their options for college,” Harmon said.

“It is the commitment of the University that we will help make sure that financial aid is not going to be an issue for the students.”

Dominican University has a pretty “sizable scholarship fund” along with other options such as grants, both state and federal, to help cover the cost of attending, said Harmon.

Students would also have access to a point person at the university that can help guide them through the process as well as connect them with other resources, both in and off campus.

“We are always looking for ways of how we can best serve the community and continue to live our mission,” Harmon said.

Hope Chicago launched in 2022, and Howard said they have witnessed many success stories and have seen the positive impact of what helping in this way can have for not only students but their families.

“It has been a phenomenal experience,” Howard said.

“In the first year we saw an immediate 30% increase in enrollment and similar in the second year. We only have two solid cohorts of traditional age students right now and about 90 parents who are engaging in higher educational workforce opportunities.”

Adding the newest university partners only continues to show the great post-high school education opportunities that exist in Illinois, Howard said.

“We knew that a high percentage, over 80% of students stay in the Chicago or Great Lakes region, students who graduate from Chicago Public Schools,” Howard said. “It was really important for us to have our state schools on board … now we have opened to more offerings.”

This partnership will help bring services that Dominican University offers students to the forefront, Harmon said.

“Dominican does an incredible job at offering wraparound services for the students,” Harmon added. “Hope is very interested in those continued support for students. Schools that provide opportunity for high school students, many who are of color, low-income or first-generation, and those are often a lot of the students that we serve and serve really well, in terms of providing support from beginning to end.”

Wednesday Journal, January 31, 2024

OAKPARK.COM | RIVERFOREST.COM

Club helps OPRF Hispanic students build a sense of community ASPIRA Club will soon be known as ‘Amistad Latina’

By AMARIS E. RODRIGUEZ Staff Reporter

With the growing diversity among students at Oak Park and River Forest High School, one club is working hard to create a sense of community and belonging for Hispanic students.

ASPIRA club, the OPRF chapter of the national organization devoted to education and leadership development of Latinx students, has been transitioning out of its partnership, but much of the goal remains the same: to be a welcoming space for Hispanic students at OPRF. The club hopes to remain and to transition to being called “Amistad Latina.”

Kelly Diaz, co-sponsor of the club since 2009 and Spanish teacher at OPRF, said the OPRF was part of the Chicago chapter of ASPIRA, along with a few Chicago Public Schools and charter schools, but over the years their focus had shifted more toward schools and away from clubs.

“We are kinda doing our own thing,” Diaz said.

And they are doing it well.

The club has been a key player in helping Hispanic students at OPRF feel seen and welcomed, they said.

“Our club provides a safe space and environment to learn about other Latino communities and do fun stuff with other Latino communities where you can feel welcomed and at home,” said Paola Campuzano, a junior.

The club has about 15 members, but numbers are constantly changing throughout the year because of extracurricular activities.

The need for a physical club presence is increasing at OPRF, as OPRFHS has seen an increase in Hispanic students in recent years.

According to the 2023 Illinois Report Card, in 2021,13.1% of the student population identifies as Hispanic, 13.5% in 2022,

and 14.6% in 2023.

“At our school, we have a wide range of people who are third or fourth generation Latino and people who are first generation,” said Sophia Chavez, a sophomore. “I feel like being Latino in a school where you have that wide range within a few students, it is more difficult to feel like you are Latino’ enough.’ Learning about other Latino countries helps us feel community with each other.”

The club hosts events throughout the year to bring together their “comunidad,” and are known to have dance parties during their meetings. They have also recently wrapped up their winter coat drive, collecting more than 85 coats that were distributed to people in need around Oak Park and Chicago.

That sense of community is one that students in ASPIRA wanted to ensure the newly enrolled migrant students were a part of, so they volunteered to welcome the new students and show them around the school.

“They were done on an individual basis,” said Diaz. “The ASPIRA students went above and beyond. They made sure that every student that came in had someone to eat lunch with, and at the high school that is a big deal.”

Diaz praised her students on their efforts to welcome and also make the new students feel like peers and friends rather than just an “I am helping you out.”

“I saw that happen organically, it wasn’t intentional and the newcomers are part of our club now,” Diaz said. “They are so excited to come and I think it’s because they have a safe, comfortable place where they can be themselves and be teenagers.”

Chavez said being able to get to know people and being surrounded by peers who are similar has brought a positive environment to OPRF’s Hispanic community.

“That is what makes it feel really welcoming, especially in our school where there isn’t a large population of Latinos in our school,” Chavez said. “Having the feel of home and not having to code switch or not talk about it, it is a really good feeling.”

REGISTRATION OPENS THIS SATURDAY Feb. 3rd (Feb 10th non residents)

June 10th to 14th @ Taylor Park June 17th to 21st @ Taylor Park June 24th to 28th @ Taylor Park July 8th to 12th @Taylor Park July 15th to 19th @ Taylor Park July 22nd to 26th @ Taylor Park July 29th to Aug 2nd @ Taylor Park August 5th to 9th @ Taylor Park

SUPPORT OUR MIGRANT BROTHERS AND SISTERS! Riverside Foods is collecting needed items for Centro San Edmundo, a migrant-serving facility in Oak Park that serves over 300 migrants each week.

Priority items include: • Coats: small and medium men’s and women’s coats, all children’s coats • Snow boots (all sizes) • Blankets • Women’s leggings (S, M) and men’s jogging or sweatpants (S, M) • Underwear for men, women, and children. Sports bras for women.

• Toiletries including deodorant, shampoo, conditioner, razors, soap, lip balm, etc.

For more information, email: immigrantministry@gmail.com

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Wednesday Journal, January 31, 2024

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Sedgwick legal action continued to March 18 Developer tries to stop the marketing of Lake & Lathrop site

By ROBERT J. LIFKA Contributing Reporter

Legal efforts to prevent the marketing and potential sale of the site of a one-time condominium project at Lake Street and Lathrop Avenue commenced after Lake Lathrop Partners LLC and Sedgwick Properties, an authorized agent acting on behalf of Lake Lathrop Partners LLC, presented a motion to reconsider before the Cook County Circuit Court Jan. 24.

However, no ruling was issued, and a hearing date was set for March 18.

In the meantime, the court-appointed receiver, Ascend Real Estate Group, can proceed with their plans to market the property to prospective developers, according to village officials.

Village officials said they expect Ascend to call for final offers in February but stressed that any proposed development for the site will be subject to village zoning and permitting approval. They also noted that the village is not paying any legal expenses for these court proceedings or for any property maintenance expenses. Because of the village’s subordination to Wintrust Bank in the redevelopment agreement, Wintrust Bank is responsible for these costs, including property tax payments, officials added.

River Forest pulled the plug on the Lake and Lathrop development on a critical Sept. 15 deadline, apparently ending years of frustration for village officials and village residents, especially those who live near the development — but resulting in an unknown future for the site.

FILE

Lake & Lathrop condominium construction project site in River Forest on April 24, 2023.

Sedgwick Properties failed to meet the conditions set forth by the village, according to officials. Construction activity was not to be permitted on the site, they added.

“As of September 15, 2023, at 4:30 p.m., the Village has repealed the building permit for the Lake and Lathrop development at Lake Street and Lathrop Avenue and issued a stop work order to Sedgwick Prop-

erties, the developer,” village officials said in a news release issued at that time.

The project had been on the drawing board since before the village board’s 2016 approval of the proposal by Lake Lathrop Partners LLC to build a four-story, mixeduse development containing 22 condominium units with 14,000 square feet of retail space. Variations on the same project had

lurched and lingered for a decade previously. The original project included another story and eight more units but was scaled back.

The project experienced a series of delays over the years, including environmental cleanup from a dry cleaner originally on the site and a lawsuit involving a tenant who did not want to leave.

Former RUSH Oak Park VP pleads guilty to federal fraud Sentencing for Robert Spadoni will take place in the spring

By LUZANE DRAUGHON Staff Reporter

Robert Spadoni, former RUSH Oak Park

Hospital vice president and chief operating officer, plead guilty to federal fraud for stealing $622,500 in a scheme.

A hearing took place Monday, in which Spadoni plead guilty to a mail fraud charge, according to the United States Attorney’s Office, punishable by up to 20 years in federal prison.

The sentencing will take place April 30, 2024. Spadoni admitted in a plea agreement

that from 2013 to 2021 he defrauded the hospital out of money through a billing scheme.

The former attorney orchestrated the hospital’s agreement with Medical Education Solutions, a company Spadoni created to execute the scheme. The hospital agreed to pay $6,500 a month for services that Spadoni knew would not be provided.

Spadoni pocketed the payments in a bank account opened in a relative’s name,

according to the United States Attorney’s Office. He hid the fraud by paying a hospital employee $1,500 to provide the administrative and compliance services.

In the plea agreement, Spadoni admits to using the money for personal gain such as restaurant meals and hotel rooms, in addition to $225,805 transferred into his 401(k), according to the United States Attorney’s Office.

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Wednesday Journal, January 31, 2024

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Wednesday Journal, January 31, 2024

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What does village board have planned for 2024-2025?

A look at some of the priorities and projects trustees will be reviewing for Oak Park

By LUZANE DRAUGHON Wondering what the Oak Park Village Board of Trustees has planned for the next couple of years? The board adopted a document laying out its goals and priorities for 2024-2025 during its Tuesday meeting.

Here’s a glimpse of what the trustees are looking at.

Trustees stressed the desire to support a diverse, affordable and inclusive community in Oak Park. To do that, the board laid out six goals for 2024-2025: community affordability, community health and safety, racial equity, vibrant, diverse, connected neighborhoods, sustainability and resiliency, and economic vitality. Each goal has a list of associated priorities and plans to achieve those goals.

accountability and transparency between the village board and the community. The 3% tax levy will stay in place until a new levy is set, if the board decides to change it, village manager Kevin Jackson said.

“What I heard in those board goal discussions is we all care about affordability,” Scaman said Tuesday night.

Another one of the board’s intentions is to conduct an equity impact analysis and make recommendations about village housing and commercial building assistance programs, according to the document.

Trustees also aim to seek opportunities to work with Oak Park taxing bodies to lessen the property tax burden.

“The consistent thing that I’ve heard from residents is that they’d like to see our governmental bodies working together better,” Scaman said.

Community affordability

Community health and safety

The priorities associated with this goal are removing economic barriers, limiting the tax levy and pursuing governmental partnerships. During the Tuesday meeting, trustee Ravi Parakkat said while he agrees with most of the board goals, he wants to entertain further discussions about the 3% tax levy and financial policy in order to address affordability for the residents of Oak Park.

The 2024 fiscal year budget, including the 3% tax levy, was unanimously approved by the village board during the Dec. 4 meeting. In 2023, the levy was zero.

Village president Vicki Scaman said the current policy of setting a levy increases

One of the priorities is to reduce crime.

Among the solutions: alternative call response and a violence prevention program.

A taskforce created by the village manager created a report with recommendations on how to respond to calls from individuals suffering from a mental health crisis. The village board allocated $1.1 million in the 2024 fiscal year budget to start a pilot program for alternative response.

The document also includes a proposal to develop a “Gun Buy Back program” to promote public safety. Trustee Susan Buchanan said she disagrees with this program because she has seen that similar programs typically do not work.

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“I am not in favor of our police department developing a ‘Gun Buy Back program,’” she said. “We are allowing nonprofits to have [such programs]. They have to come up with the money to pay for the weapons.”

Jackson said this initiative was included in the document based on prior board direction. Many initiatives still need to be developed and brought back to the board for consideration, he said, especially if there is a financial commitment.

Other priorities associated with this goal include providing for safe mobility and ensuring healthy work environments for village workers.

One initiative associated with safe mobility is to implement a Vision Zero plan, including recommendations for improving safety for vehicles, pedestrians and cyclists. Vision Zero is an initiative intended to eliminate traffic deaths and injuries by making improving mobility safety.

This would also be intended to align with the Climate Ready Oak Park plan, according to the document. Climate Ready Oak Park is a comprehensive plan for community members and organizations to respond to the global climate crisis.

Officials also plan to review how to improve existing village facilities, such as Village Hall and the Oak Park Police Department, plans already under discussion.

Racial equity The priorities for racial equity include addressing historical lack of equity, supporting integration and diverse community entry points and enhancing cultural competency.

Creating a formal language access policy is one plan outlined in the document.

During the Tuesday night board meeting, language translation devices were available to the village board to hear public comment from non-English speakers.

The board also intends to assess racial integration strategies through studies such as the Racial Equity Assessment and to develop a diversity, equity and inclusion education resource bank on the village website.

Vibrant, diverse, connected neighborhoods A few of the priorities under this goal are to support sustainable advancement of affordable housing and rapid response support for unhoused residents.

The village intends to support organizations such as the Oak Park Homelessness Coalition and Housing Forward in rapid response. Potential plans include working with private landlords to allow access to vacant properties, hosting community forums and reviewing related policies.

The village hosted a community forum Dec. 18 related to affordable housing and homelessness in Oak Park, where panel members defined affordability, examined income disparities and emphasized the increasing need for affordable housing in Oak Park.

Sustainability and resiliency One of the priorities under this goal is to implement a climate action plan. In Climate Ready Oak Park, the village’s goal is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 60% by 2030 and reach net-zero emissions by 2050.

The village wants to expand renewable energy, protect biodiversity and to work on implementing sustainable business practices. One plan is to adopt an energy stretch code for major building renovations. This could require electrification and electric vehicle charging access, according to the document.

Economic vitality The village intends to update its formal economic vitality strategy, according to the document. Emily Egan, the incoming development services director, said this is one of the goals she hopes to emphasize in her new role starting Feb. 5.

Officials intend to attract small-, womenand minority-owned businesses, according to the document, as well as supporting redevelopment in priority areas in the village. Another plan is to grow the nighttime economy of Oak Park.

Other priorities and initiatives for the village board can be viewed online.

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Wednesday Journal, January 31, 2024

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Bus: 708-383-3163 Austin Boulevard Jan. 24. One of the men stole the www.colinfane.com victim’s keys and white 2014 Jeep Grand Cherokee. The vehicle was seen fol& Friday 9am-5pm lowed byMonday a darker grey Audi Q7 with two ■ Someone stole an Oak Park resident’s other men inside. Illinois State Police lo- silver 2019 Jeep Grand Cherokee while Tues/Wed/Thurs 9am-7pm cated the Jeep after it was abandoned at it was parked at the 200 block of Thomas 9am-12pm InterstateSaturday 290 and Kostner Avenue in Chi- Street. The person may have got in the car cago. No arrests were made. through an unlocked door. The incident, which occurred between Jan. 26 and Jan. Fane, 27, resulted in anColin estimated lossAgent of $25,000.

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Criminal damage to property Someone broke the 10-foot-by-10-foot window of an Oak Park business’ building located at 1100 block of Lake Street. The incident, which occurred Jan. 27, resulted in estimated damages of $30,000.

Theft Someone used a cutting tool to get through a pad lock of an Oak Park resident’s storage unit on the 1100 block of Holly Court. Once the individual had access, they stole antique pictures, ash trays and art objects. The incident, which occurred between Aug. 25, 2023 and Jan. 25, 2024, resulted in an estimated loss of $23,000.

Aggravated assault A Chicago resident was driving eastbound on Washington Boulevard Jan. 25 when he stopped behind a red Lincoln se-

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These items were obtained from Oak Park Police Department reports dated Jan. 23-29, and represent a portion of the incidents to which police responded. Anyone named in these reports has only been charged with a crime and cases have not yet been adjudicated.

We report the race of a suspect only when a serious crime has been committed, the suspect is still at large, and police have provided us with a detailed physical description of the suspect as they seek the public’s help in making an arrest.

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Wednesday Journal, January 31, 2024

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17

New principal announced for Roosevelt Middle School

Tina Steketee currently serves as assistant principal

By AMARIS E. RODRIGUEZ Staff Reporter

As Roosevelt Middle School says goodbye to their principal who will be retiring at the end of the school year, a new leader is rising from within to be their next principal.

Tina Steketee will begin her new position as the new Roosevelt Middle School Principal effective July 2024.

Steketee will be replacing Larry Garstki, who will retire at the end of the 2023-24 school year.

“We are grateful to Larry Garstki for his dedication to ensuring a high-quality education for a generation of River Forest children,” said Ed Condon, superintendent of D90. “We appreciate his consistent leadership, studentfocus, and caring service to the community.”

For Steketee, Condon had nothing but praises as she moves into her new role in a few months.

“Tina Steketee brings the experience, skill, and commitment that we seek in the next principal of Roosevelt Middle School,” Condon said. “We are fortunate to have a leader with her talent and passion within our school com-

VILLAGE HALL from page 8 tee’s recommendations, Roush said, but he’s heard police officers say it’s essential to be close by and able to regularly communicate with village staff.

Safety is another concern, Lueck said, not only in terms of Americans with Disabilities Act standards, but also in terms of security. For example, the council chamber has seats that cascade down to where

GEOTHERMAL from page 5 installed after the wells are dug.

During the public comment portion of the Jan. 25 school board meeting, four people, including OPRF student Katie Stabb, who attended the United Nations Climate Change Convention with some peers last November, urged the school board to approve the geothermal project. After the

munity, ready to lead.”

Steketee now serves as the assistant principal at Roosevelt, where she began with River Forest School District D90 in 2007. She oversees daily operations and works closely with teachers to “implement best practices, and champions innovative teaching methods.”

In a new release sent Jan. 23, D90 praises Steketee for the role she has played as assistant principal.

“Over the course of seventeen years of service, Ms. Steketee has made many important contributions to the school community, including spearheading programs that nurture the holistic growth of students and creating systems to support the professional growth of faculty members,” the news release said.

Steketee came to the district with a long background in education, which began after she received a master’s degree in education from DePaul University in teaching and learning. She also is a graduate of the Leadership Academy and Urban Network for Chicago at Northwestern University.

According to the news release, Steketee also completed the Universal Design for Learning program at Harvard and is currently pursuing her Ph.D. in educational leadership at Concordia University.

Through her time in education, Steketee worked in Chi-

PROVIDED BY STEPHANIE RATH/D90

Tina Steketee, assistant principal at Roosevelt Middle School, will be promoted in July when she steps into her new position as principal. cago Public Schools for 10 years as an instructional coach to teachers as well as completing an internship with Chicago Principal Associations at Oscar Mayer Elementary and Walter Payton Preparatory High School.

“I am excited to help lead Roosevelt Middle School to new heights of achievement while providing a nurturing, inspiring, and inclusive environment for all students, “ Steketee said.

the board sits. If a situation were to emerge where the village board or other staff needed to leave quickly, they could end up trapped.

Village Hall’s daily energy use is another concern, Roush said, because of the amount it takes to light and heat the building. But building an entirely new structure would emit even more carbon, he said.

“The greenest building is the one that’s already built,” he said.

Local architect and facility review committee member Tom Bassett-Dilley said increasing energy efficiency and decar-

bonizing Village Hall is one of his priorities. In Climate Ready Oak Park, the village has called for a 60% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 and net-zero emissions by 2050. That’s not far away, he said.

Potential improvements include implementing a heat pump system, increasing insulation and installing better windows in Village Hall, Bassett-Dilley said. Some of these changes, however, will likely affect the historic material.

“But in my opinion, some change is necessary to meet our climate goals,” he said.

“I think that we can do it sensitively [and] keep the character of the building.”

Each department in the municipal government has identified its needs for an updated Village Hall, Bassett-Dilley said, which are under consideration for the potential remodel option.

“One of our goals is really to have a building that we are all super proud of and we love to go to and makes us feel good about our community,” Bassett-Dilley said.

The next Facility Review Committee meeting will be at 6:30 p.m., Feb. 21 at Village Hall.

scope of the geothermal project was approved one of those speakers, Macey Majkrzak, a member of the Oak Park Climate Action Network and a member of the Oak Park Building Commission, praised the board’s action.

“I think it is an exemplary action and sets the tone for future decisions,” Majkrzak told the Wednesday Journal.

and OPRF school board President Tom Cofsky received a Green Award from the Village of Oak Park’s Environmental and Energy Citizens Commission. The Green Awards recognize leadership in advancing equity centered climate action, climate resilience, and sustainability action.

Cofsky and Johnson were nominated by OPRF senior Manolo Avalos, the president of the school’s Environmental Club. The school board, working with Johnson and student activists, adopted a policy in 2022 in which the school’s goal is to reduce its

greenhouse gas emissions by the amount of 2012 emissions levels by 2050. OPRF ideally would like to become a 100% electric building which could allow it to reduce to its greenhouse emissions to at or near zero if it received all its electricity from green sources such as solar and wind.

In the short term, OPRF will continue to use natural gas heating for the rest of the building other than the new Project 2 space.

At its Jan. 25 meeting, the school board also approved entering into a new natural gas contract for up to the next five years.

Johnson and Cofsky receive Green Award On Jan. 24, OPRF Supt. Greg Johnson

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Wednesday Journal, January 31, 2024

OAKPARK.COM | RIVERFOREST.COM

Wednesday Journal, January 31, 2024

OAKPARK.COM | RIVERFOREST.COM

Kinetic Energy is Covering Oak Park!

K

inetic Energy’s inception came in 2011 when Ted Stroup’s family settled in Oak Park.

The company was born from an energetic electrician who was ready to make his mark in his new hometown. Today, thirteen years later, Ted and Kinetic Energy have made their mark in Oak Park. We have made our way through nearly every block of this historic, amazing city. That being said, why not hit every block? Check out our list of where we haven’t been. If you live there and have an electrical project you’ve been putting off, now might be the time to give us a call and see what kind of special we can offer you!

We know and love Oak Park homes like the back of our hand. Over the past decade plus our dedicated employees have become experts in the electrical intricacies of 100 year old homes. Trust us, it’s not simple! You need a company who cares about your home, knows your home, and knows Oak Park. We are oriented as a residential outfit but are as flexible as they come. We are cloth wire specialists, and can come to your aid with any request you may have. We offer full 100, 200 and 400 amp service upgrades, installation of EV chargers, compliance sheets, can/ recessed lights, additional outlets and more.

Kinetic is proud to not only continually offer ongoing education, but consistently putting our employees through educational programs that keep them at their optimum level. Also, our owner Ted has his inspector’s certificate, so he can make sure your home and family are safe to the level the Village and state require.

Ted feels so lucky to get to work in this great town with the best employees in the world. Kinetic Energy is part of Ted’s identity, he is proud beyond words of what Kinetic Energy has become; but even more proud to bring quality and reliable service to every home Kinetic walks into... So this note is also a thank you to the wonderful client base Kinetic has established, you allow us to do what we love.

From our Kinetic Family to the great people of Oak Park, give us a call!

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Wednesday Journal, January 31, 2024

Homes

NEED TO REACH US?

email: erika@growingcommunitymedia.com

Oak Park announces 7 historic preservation awards

By LACEY SIKORA

Contributing Reporter

The Village of Oak Park awarded seven home projects with historic preservation awards at an in-person awards ceremony at Village Hall.

Lou Garapolo, chairperson of the historic preservation commission presented the award winners with certificates detailing their accomplishments.

The awards are presented annually, with nominations open to the public in the fall. Awards this year were given in three categories: additions and new construction, renovation, and restoration.

This year’s selection committee included Cade Sterling, from the City of Evanston; Alice Kloska, from Housing Forward and the former Unity Temple Restoration Foundation; and Sarah Doherty, a representative from Oak Park’s historic preservation commission.

Although he did not serve on the selection committee, Garapolo said the projects all came through the HPC review process, and he’s very familiar with each of them.

“Having been on the Commission for a number of years, this group of winners is really quite nice,” he said. “It represents homeowners who have taken quite a bit of extra steps. The end results are really quite spectacular.”

Jaime Gascón of 606 Design + Construction said the porch restoration of 163 N. Ridgeland was a bit of a challenge, but in the best possible way.

“We had to respect the aesthetic and respect the architecture while also making it practical and structurally sound,” he said.

When the house was built, building code was not what it is today, and there were different standards for spindles and railings. The original porch no longer existed as a

PROVIDED

RESTORATION: 163 N. Ridgeland

PROVIDED

PROVIDED

See PRESERVATION AWARDS on page 22

RENOVATION: 154 N. Elmwood Ave.

RESTORATION: 221 S. Scoville Ave.

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Wednesday Journal, January 31, 2024

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PROVIDED

RESTORATION: 238 Forest Ave.

PRESERVATION AWARDS Architectural flair from page 20 reference point for design. The homeowner had researched the home’s history, and when Gascón went before the HPC for approval of the project, the HPC also provided some historic photos that pointed to the home’s original curved front porch design.

In designing railings and spindles that met code and fit the historic home, the HPC and Gascón looked to a “twin” house of very similar design in Austin.

Gascón has worked on other Oak Park homes in the past, and said this is his first local project that required approval by the HPC. He said working with the HPC was helpful in making decisions that were appropriate for an architecturally significant home.

Oak Park homeowners Gina SantangeloNickels and her husband Mike Nickels are from the area and have spent the last couple of years renovating their first personal residence in Oak Park. The pair both work in the construction field and knew when they purchased the house in an historic district that exterior changes that were visible from the street needed to be approved by the HPC. Built in 1920 by architect William Bernhard, their stucco home at 154 N. Elmwood has distinctive windows, shutters and ornamental brickwork. Working with Ener-

gy Matters and Certified Window Systems, they replicated the original windows with new casement windows. When interior renovations in the kitchen and bathroom necessitated changes to window layouts, the used shutters on the exterior to cover a removed window in the kitchen and halved a window in a second story bathroom to provide coverage without changing the location or size of the original windows when viewed from the side of the home.

The couple restored the home’s original Juliet balcony on the front of the house and also renovated the front stairs.

“We put in a lot of effort. We grew up in the area, and historic preservation is important to us,” Santangelo-Nickels said. “We are grateful for the acknowledgement.”

Just down the street, 224 N. Elmwood was also recognized with an award.

Wednesday Journal featured the home remodel in October.

The Beachy House at 238 Forest Avenue also received an award for restoration of the home’s original clay tile roof. WJ featured the home last year mid-renovation after storms felled two large trees at the house.

Nominations for 2024 awards will open on the village website in the fall. Garapolo said that the awards are a nice way to encourage homeowners to get excited about their homes’ architecture. He added that he was impressed with the 2023 winners.

“Most of these folks are in tune with the guidelines and try to do even more than the guidelines require,” he said. “These are all owner-driven projects, which is even more encouraging and pleasing to see.”

The awards were announced Jan. 24.

PROVIDED

RESTORATION AND RENOVATION: 224 N. Elmwood Ave.

2023 Historic Preservation Award Winners Restoration

Addition and Renovation:

163 N. Ridgeland Ave.: Marlon Smith (owner), 606 Design + Construction (architect), Fidelity Property Construction (contractor) 221 S. Scoville Ave.: Patricio Cadena and Kelly Scanlon (owners), Marion Street Services (contractor) 238 Forest Ave.: Alexander Harris and Carollina Song (owners), VonDreele- Freerksen (contractors)

312 N. Taylor Ave.: Kebreab Henry/ Molior Inc. (owner and contractor), Christina Townsend (architect)

Restoration and Renovation 224 N. Elmwood Ave.: Don and Kim Vander Griend (owners), Elements Architecture Group (architect), Manola Construction LLC (contractor)

Addition: 1111 Erie St.: Sergiy Zamula (owner), Red Architects Ltd. (architect), Venger O Inc. (contractor)

Renovation: 154 N. Elmwood Ave.: Gina Santangelo-Nickels and Mike Nickels (owners), Dorota Betancur /Studio BE Design, Inc. (architect), Energy Matters + Certified Window Systems

Wednesday Journal, January 31, 2024

DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSIONS IS FRIDAY 5 P.M. Call Viewpoints editor Ken Trainor at 613-3310 ktrainor@wjinc.com

VIEWPOINTS

Shopping for potato chips at Dollar Tree

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The return of Shrubtown!

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riving along Madison Street, I sometimes swing into Dollar Tree with just one objective in mind: potato chips. Dollar Tree has 2-ounce bags of Cape Cod, Zapp’s, Kettle and other brands for a buck and a quarter a pop, much less than I’ve paid elsewhere.

When I was a kid, I used to go to the Little Big Dollar Store in Portage Park, Chicago, because in those days, it was amazing how far a dollar could go (read: lots of candy). At the Dollar Tree in Oak Park, it’s no longer the case that everything is under a dollar — some of the frozen foods, like Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream, are around $5 — but the prices are still very competitive.

Now admittedly, Dollar Tree and others of its ilk are rather, Local Dining um, down-market. Who cares?

My 2-ounce bags of chips, & Food Blogger bought in bulk, are around half the price of what they’d be elsewhere and, just as importantly, small bags make portion control quite easy.

Dollar stores have always been a good place to shop for deeply discounted cleaning products, sponges, paper plates, and towels, everyday stuff like that. The stores are also a gateway to strange and perversely intriguing merch that some purchasing agent got for a song. For instance, you might find Tapatio Ramen, the perennially popular Japanese noodles seasoned with hot Mexican red sauce; Scooby Doo doggy cleanup bags; holographic duct tape; a raygun-looking toy that makes fart and burp sounds; and a rubberized sea creature that, when you put it in water, grows 600%. Find that at Target!

I’m not buying any of that crazy stuff, but for potato chips, I’m all in.

Dollar Tree is not without critics. Local treasure Charlie Meyerson’s Chicago Public Square newsletter — if you don’t subscribe, do so right now! — recently linked to some downtown critics of Dollar Tree. Those critics include the notoriously righteous Chicago City Council,

DAVID

HAMMOND

See DAVID HAMMOND on page 30

TODD BANNOR

Galen Gockel speaks to a crowd earlier this year that included former Festival Theatre interns in a show of support for the program he co-founded.

Galen Gockel, a key part of Oak Park’s ‘Greatest Generation’

By JESSICA MACKINNON Contributing Reporter

It is not hyperbole to say that Oak Park would not be the progressive village we know today without the countless contributions and unwavering commitment of people such as Galen Gockel, 91, who died Jan. 21 after a period of declining health.

His longstanding dedication to the community has made an indelible impact on politics, education and the arts, as well as social justice. He served as a role model for public service, not only because of what he did, but how he did it, with humility, generosity and integrity.

One of the few people in Oak Park history to be elected to three governing bodies — District 97 elementary school board, village trustee, and township assessor, Gockel also chaired the Senior Citizens Center and Unity Temple Concert Series, served as managing director of Oak Park Festival Theatre, co-founded, with his wife, Marjorie, the

village’s popular Farmers Market, and helped launch Wednesday Journal in 1980.

“Galen Gockel embodied every virtue of citizenship.

He was engaged over six decades in the vital work of Oak Park in its bold experiment to become a racially diverse village. He always came forward to serve as a thoughtful, trusted yet bold voice for what today we’d describe as equity and inclusion. He was a good man. Together with Marge they were one of Oak Park’s great couples — always there, always positive, always adding,” said Dan Haley, publisher of Growing Community Media.

Gockel’s commitment to social justice began in the turbulent 1960s. As a graduate student at the University of Chicago, he participated in the Freedom Summer project of 1964, a pivotal chapter in the country’s effort to expand voter registration among African Americans. He attended a 10-week training session in nonviolent resistance in See GALEN GOCKEL on page 30

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Wednesday Journal, January 31, 2024

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V I E W S

Galen Gockel’s legacy

W

e come to take things for granted. With its many imperfections, Oak Park remains an intentionally diverse village. Has been for more than 55 years. In the late 1960s and into the 1970s that intention focused on racial integration. The village government acted first and forcefully in 1968 when it passed a Fair Housing ordinance that had actual enforcement mechanisms.

A half-decade later there were more Black residents in Oak Park and an increasing number of Black students in the District 97 elementary schools. The challenge, as Oak Park had set a goal of actual integration across the town, was that Black families were largely on the east side of Oak Park and the elementary schools east of Ridgeland were shifting toward resegregating.

It was then that Galen Gockel, relatively new to Oak Park, having arrived in 1969 and soon elected to the District 97 school board, worked with a small group to create the Committee for Tomorrow’s Schools. They did two years of listening and planning before the school board unanimously passed a bold and controversial plan to convert Hawthorn and Emerson schools into junior highs and redrawing the attendance boundaries for the remaining eight elementary schools.

The change took hold. Eventually both Hawthorn and Emerson were rebuilt as actual middle schools and renamed as Percy Julian and Gwendolyn Brooks.

We carry the obituary today for Galen Gockel, who died at 91 after a life devoted to this village. His graceful touch is seen in not only the schools but at village hall, Festival Theatre, the Township Assessor’s Office, the Farmers Market and, yes, Wednesday Journal where he was an early investor and longtime board member.

Gockel is one of the many dozens of brave and wise leaders who rose up in a moment when Oak Park declared its revised values and did the work to make those ideals real. Many have died. Each should be remembered.

OPRF invests in geothermal Oak Park and River Forest High School has been determined in its focus on sustainability. Its leaders have actively set ambitious goals for reducing its carbon emissions and have used the vast capital investments in the Scoville Avenue campus as an opportunity to retrofit the school for climate resilience.

Also notable has been the school’s choice to actively engage its students, specifically members of the Environmental Club in the planning and drive it forward. That would explain why Manolo Avalos, a senior and president of the group, nominated school leaders for the village’s Green Award.

Last week the school signed off on a major investment in geothermal tied to the coming construction of new athletic facilities at the south end of campus. More than $7 million of the $10 million cost will be paid from federal funds.

This is the actual hard work of climate, initiated and made real at the community level. We join the village in applauding OPRF.

G

Drafting in Galen’s wake

alen Gockel is gone. A remarkable man who lived a remarkable life, dedicated in large part to improving his community, which he didn’t hesitate to criticize. He was a constructive skeptic. His involvement covered a wide range — from tax assessment to the arts.

He served on the District 97 school board when we added junior highs and adjusted the feeder elementaries to achieve better racial balance as Oak Park grew into a much more diverse community. That was 50 years ago, and Gockel along with Marilyn Lehman deserve much of the credit, in the face of considerable resistance, for the fact that Oak Park is not the hodgepodge of segregated segments that characterize other towns that tout diversity.

Marge and Galen Gockel landed in Oak Park in August of 1969, a month after we landed on the moon. By the time they sold their house to the village in 1972 to be torn down to build our current village hall, he was in his first term as an elected board member. Thirty years later, he served two stints as village trustee, attending meetings on the site of his old block.

Marge, meanwhile, co-founded Farmers Market and was active in the League of Women Voters and other groups. Galen helped stabilize two turbulent village boards as a trustee in the early 2000s, and then helped save Festival Theatre. In the thick of all that, he nursed Marge back to health when she was diagnosed with multiple myeloma. A lot of people didn’t think she would make it. But she did — and stayed involved.

Both were soft-spoken, but their involvement spoke loud and clear. By today’s standards, they may seem unusual, but back then there were a lot of involved people in Oak Park.

“There was a core of progressives,” Marge said in 2010.

“The civic engagement was attractive.”

And badly needed. Back then Galen said, it was hard not to get involved.

“We were united against rapid racial change, whether you were a Republican or Democrat. The threat was very palpable. Everyone saw it and knew it. Now that glue isn’t holding people together. We don’t have a common task. They think the battle has been won.”

Those who get and stay involved, however, know the battle is never won.

Galen didn’t know much about theater when he joined the Festival Theatre “rescue operation.” He just knew the Austin Gardens outdoor Shakespeare troupe was “a community asset, one of those things from the 1970s, like Farmers Market, A Day in Our Village, and saving the Oak Park Conservatory, that were part of the renaissance of our community.” The Gockels were a renaissance couple.

Why did they stay in the thick of it?

“I wanted to fix things,” Galen said simply.

“We both understand that if you stay home and read your books, you become stagnant, and that’s not good

for your health, or the community,” Marge elaborated.

So they lived a rich, full life and we are a richer, fuller community for it. And they did something even more important: they set an example — of good citizenship — not out of obligation or sense of duty but because it was “attractive,” as Marge said, because it was engaging and stimulating. It was the way they wanted to live.

And there are plenty of people following that example today. Like biking in the draft behind a truck, it pulls you along. One of the last things Galen got involved in was promoting and raising funds for the internship program at Festival Theatre. Helping young people find their way.

There’s another word for that, of course.

Involved.

Right to the end.

But he wasn’t alone. Leafing through the obituaries from the past year, I compiled a list of other communityminded folks, like Galen, to whom we bid farewell: ■ Harriet Hausman, 99, oldest weekly newspaper columnist in the country, ACLU warrior for human rights ■ Anthony Barbato, 79, former president of Loyola Medical Center ■ John Troelstrup, 84, former village trustee, arts supporter, and anti-gun violence activist ■ Bob Haisman, 77, Democratic Party of Oak Park (DPOP) organizer, longtime high school teacher ■ Vic Guarino, 91, dedicated steward of our natural resources ■ Willis Johnson, 86, Lake Theatre owner who led the downtown business district rebirth ■ Lois Tyson, 80, longtime D97 teacher and active DPOP member ■ Bill Troyer, 89, physician and Oak Park Township trustee ■ Don Kalec, 87, architect who helped save and preserve the Wright Home & Studio ■ Joie Pierce, 85, community organizer of Taste the Flavor of Oak Park and the annual village spelling bee ■ Sylvia Menninga, 88, CROP Hunger Walk coordinator and Cluster Tutoring volunteer ■ Doug Wyman, 95, VMA champion, radio talk show co-host, perpetual optimist ■ Laurence Msall, 61, president of the Civic Federation watchdog group promoting good governance ■ Rev. Dennis Bushkovsky, 64, pastor of United Lutheran Church, which hosts the annual Holiday Gift Basket program ■ Charles Simic, 84, U.S. Poet Laureate, Pulitzer Prize winner ■ And Marge Harmon, 93, who went to work after her husband died young and raised her brood, which included future State Senate President Don Harmon.

Who will take their place?

Thanks to the example they set, it’s already happening.

KEN

TRAINOR

V I E W P O I N T S S H R U B T O W N

Wednesday Journal, January 31, 2024 W E D N E S D A Y

JOURNAL of Oak Park and River Forest

Editor Erika Hobbs Digital Manager Stacy Coleman Staff Reporter Amaris Rodriguez, Luzane Draughon Viewpoints Editor Ken Trainor Real Estate Editor Lacey Sikora Digital Media Coordinator Brooke Duncan Columnists Marc Blesoff, Jack Crowe, Doug Deuchler, Mary Kay O’Grady, Kwame Salter, John Stanger Design/Production Manager Andrew Mead Editorial Design Manager Javier Govea Designer Susan McKelvey Marketing Representatives Lourdes Nicholls, Ben Stumpe Business & Development Manager Mary Ellen Nelligan Circulation Manager Jill Wagner E-MAIL jill@oakpark.com Special Projects Manager Susan Walker Chairman Emeritus Robert K. Downs Publisher Dan Haley

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Chair Judy Greffin Treasurer Nile Wendorf Deb Abrahamson, Gary Collins, Steve Edwards Darnell Shields, Sheila Solomon, Eric Weinheimer

About Viewpoints

A

That longing for more

s a grade-schooler in Berwyn in the mid-1960s, I would sit occasionally on our bungalow’s roof at night, looking at the stars and the moon, sensing that even though I had a good family and loyal friends in the world below, there had to be more than the life I was living. Too often people down there were ready to fight over stuff that didn’t matter. The neighborhood could be so closed to others. But at the time, I didn’t know what that “more” could be.

The sparkling stars overhead, the glowing moon, visible but out of reach, seemed to say silently, “This isn’t all there is” to me. They’ve whispered the same to many others, privately as well as through widely shared stories.

Christians recently celebrated the Feast of the Epiphany. As the Gospel relates, the Magi followed a star in the east that led them to Bethlehem, where they encountered the divine child. To keep Herod from knowing Jesus’ location, following God’s instructions in a dream, they didn’t return home the way they came. Jesus was that “more,” a new presence in the world who came to change it.

An epiphany — a sudden realizations or insight — can burst forth from what had been a vague, quiet sense that something was coming. The insight might illuminate a change in oneself or a new direction in one’s life. Such a realization can follow a conscious search, or it might erupt from the unconscious, as through a dream.

My daughter’s birth in 1987 triggered an epiphany — “I’m her father!” — in me. There was something arresting in holding Kathy, realizing what her arrival meant. Two years later, came Tim and David, sick and at-risk at first, struggling. A whole new “more” continued to open. By the time Greg arrived in 1994, it had redefined me.

During the early years of being a dad, a new sense of my calling emerged that changed my relationship with my work. During this time of profound transition, poetry helped express the churning sense that I was changing but didn’t quite know how. One night in 1991, a lit-up body in the sky over Harrisburg, Pennsylvania caught my attention. I responded with a poem.

RICH KORDESH One View

See RICH KORDESH on page 29

Our mission is to lead educated conversation about the people, government, schools, businesses and culture of Oak Park and River Forest. As we share the consensus of Wednesday Journal’s editorial board on local matters, we hope our voice will help focus your thinking and, when need be, fire you to action.

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Wednesday Journal, January 31, 2024

OAKPARK.COM | RIVERFOREST.COM

A tribute to Marge and Galen Gockel

On behalf of the Oak Park Farmers Market Commission, we want to express our condolences to the Gockel family. We were saddened to hear of the recent passing of Galen Gockel, a civic leader and highly respected member of the Oak Park community. Among his many accomplishments was the establishment of the Oak Park Farmers Market with his wife Marge, another beloved community leader [who died in 2020].

The legacy and enduring contribution of the Gockels’ work is something that all Oak Parkers and our broader community still

enjoy. As a commission, we are so proud to carry on the tradition of the popular village institution they started.

With deepest gratitude,

Julia Knier

Chair, Oak Park Farmers Market Commission

Macaire Ament, Britta Cochran, Myndi DeVore, Summer Fields, Jessica Green, Jill Stewart Commissioners

Photo: Galen and Marge Gockel in 2010 in front of their Oak Park two-flat.

Egan is the right person for Development Services

I was absolutely delighted to learn that the village has hired Emily Egan to lead its new Development Services department.

I have known Emily personally and professionally for 10 years; she is one of the most respected municipal planners in the region, and we are lucky to have landed her in Oak Park.

She is a collaborative and humble leader who builds strong Emily Egan and trusting relationships with her staff, her colleagues, trustees, community groups, local business leaders and regional partners.

In her prior roles in Brookfield and Elmhurst she demonstrated a strong commitment to sustainable, equitable development; her passion for climate action and her belief in the value of walkability and bikeability to an economically vibrant community make her a valued partner in advancing the goals of Climate Ready Oak Park.

Bravo to Village Manager Kevin Jackson for making a great choice to lead this newly restructured function and setting it up for success.

And welcome to Oak Park, Emily!

Nicole Chavas Oak Park

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A gem in our midst

he Metro Suburban NAMI (National Alliance for Mental Illness) Drop-In Center, Oak Park stands out amid the community’s valuable assets. I came across this 30-year-old organization at a Triton College senior volunteer fair over a year ago. The Drop-In Center’s program manager invited me to tour the space and consider being a volunteer.

I showed up the next day and met some of the individuals involved with the organization. The offer to volunteer was accepted. After a short period of time, I decided this was a very good place. My impression after more than a year of volunteering is that it’s an exceptionally special place.

The NAMI Drop-In Center caters to those with mental illness who are looking for a safe place where they can just walk in and relax or be social and get support. I started out greeting people as they came in the door, taking attendance, answering the phone, talking with or just listening to others. I was invited to participate in a goals discussion support group.

What an eye opener! I learned so much about these outstanding individuals who are working hard to help themselves and each other. Many have been working on themselves for several years. I have also, from listening to the discussions and participating in groups, learned some new techniques to handle the stress of daily living. I participate in meditation, writing groups and WRAP classes (wellness recovery action plan) — all really helpful. There is much that we can all learn from each other.

Participants’ diagnoses range from anxiety disorders, depressive disorders, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia,

addictions, OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder), PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder), autism, combinations of these disorders and more. Obviously, these are not small or light conditions to have to live with for the rest of your life. These folks are truly brave! Individuals keep showing up and working on their challenges. Impressive.

I am continually learning more about those who attend the center, which is open every day, even holidays.

These visitors often attend day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year.

As my understanding increases, I am struck by the differences in how lifetime physical diseases are treated as opposed to mental illness. Our health system and the public have not yet figured out reasonable solutions to get these individuals through their tough times. The NAMI Drop-In Center actively works to help attendees find some of the answers within themselves. They learn strategies to get ahead of the inevitable episodes and prepare for the most difficult of times.

This is only a beginning.

Looking back over my experience this year at the Drop-In Center, I have been touched by so many individuals, including caring staff and active participants.

I feel privileged that these peers continue to share such sensitive parts of their lives with me; I am excited about all the growth I hear about and observe every time I volunteer.

At the same time, I must come to grips with the fact that reforms to our mental health system are, without a doubt, necessary and shifts in the attitudes that foster the stigmatization of mental disease are imperative.

Judith Litt is a resident of Oak Park.

JUDITH LITT One View

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Wednesday Journal, January 31, 2024

Galen helped save Festival Theatre

In the tributes to Galen Gockel his importance to Festival Theatre was mentioned. I want to affirm that and add some specifics.

In 2002, the theater almost shut down. We had a great deal of debt and the artistic director resigned.

The president of the board announced her and another officer’s impending resignation, and introduced a resolution to suspend production.

I was able to convince them to continue producing, and in fact, expand the season, but there was no money to pay staff. Luckily, we found Jack Hickey and a managing director.

As incoming board president, I knew it was essential that I recruit a strong board to face the challenges of rebuilding. I did not know Galen well at all and considered him a long shot, but knew that not only was he someone who would get things done, his stature in the community would help the status of the board and theater.

When I approached him, he demurred, saying he knew little about theater, but after asking questions in his calm, thoughtful way and thinking about it, he agreed.

Galen became an excellent board member. The following year, our managing director moved out of state, and I found myself in the difficult position

A centennial remembrance

of being both board president and acting managing director. This situation continued for about two years, until Galen approached me one day, and said he would be willing to take on the job of managing director.

It involved an almost full-time job for no pay — except the satisfaction of helping to grow a community asset. He never showed ego as he learned what needed to be done and went on to successfully stay in that position for several years, spending many of his summer evenings in the park. He only left when the theater was on sound financial ground and we could return to paying staff. Even after we both left our formal association with the theater, I was happy to see that he established funding for the college intern program I had started.

In recent years, whenever I would go to see a play in the park, I would see Galen come by for at least a while, standing in the back, checking on how things were going. Even though he was someone who initially was not a theater person, he embraced Festival Theatre and helped in every way he could.

He will be missed.

It’s a special time for my family because 100 years ago, on Jan. 17, 1924, my grandfather, Martin Rupe, was born in Iowa. He grew up in a small city called Ottumwa. The Pearl Harbor attack happened a month before he turned 18. He enlisted in the U.S. Navy and served in the Pacific Theater of World War II. Following the war, he used his GI benefits to attend Washington University and worked for many years as an educator, in various roles, including teacher, guidance counselor, and principal.

He settled in Oak Park across the street from where my grandmother Dorothy lived. They married at St. Catherine-St. Lucy Church and raised their family, including my Mom, on the 1100 S. block of Highland Avenue.

He and my grandma lived there for about 40 years.

He also pursued graduate studies in multiple fields, including counseling, and was always ready to lend a listening ear. Perhaps that’s why one day, an 18-year-old neighbor named Jayne came over to ask him for advice about her life. Surely he gave her good counsel because she married Jim Thompson and became First Lady of Illinois.

My grandfather Martin was an exemplary family man, educator, and community member, a great citizen who contributed much to our society.

So there’s plenty of reason to celebrate, and I might just do so in in the spirit of his “surprise plates” with snacks and treats.

Happy birthday, Grandpa!

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Snow boots vs. razor wire

As a recently minted retiree, I looked for local opportunities to give back, and found the Migrant Ministry of Oak Park. Its mission is essentially to keep new migrants warm by providing free clothes, blankets, and related items. The mission is fueled by a local volunteer force of individuals who gather at St. Edmund School in Oak Park who want to help.

The force, no surprise, is predominantly female and over 50. I am one of the few “guys,” along with a handful of younger migrant men from Venezuela and elsewhere in their 20s who also come to help with some of the heavier lifting. It’s clear they are eager to work.

Our task seems fairly simple: receive and sort a mountain of donations on Mondays for distribution on Tuesdays and Thursdays, week in and week out. It’s a bit of organized chaos, but somehow everyone pulls together to sort the goods, and everybody really enjoys being part of it. The clothes are sorted by size, age, and gender, and either sent to a donation “store” where migrants can “shop” or into labeled garbage bags to quickly replenish the store

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on the fly while it’s open. Old classrooms are repurposed as mini-stores for shoes, blankets, coats, clothes, and more. Toiletry basics, from toothbrushes to tampons, are also distributed. We also provide suitcases, backpacks, and car seats. In the end, it’s all about keeping people warm and safe. Not so easy in Chicago.

I can loosely relate to the immigrants’ drive to find a better life, albeit I am a few generations removed from that. My grandmother emigrated from Sicily in 1908, and grandfather in 1918. Same story: have nothing, want a better life in America. I think most of us have similar stories. And are living that better life they wanted for us.

I often help receive, move, and pre-sort incoming donations from the cars, vans, and trucks lined up in the alley on the Monday drop-off day. I am overwhelmed by the generosity of the donors, which range from those emptying out their closet with greatcondition used clothes, or ordering new items online and shipping directly to the church. We have received boxes of brand new items, such as gloves, snow boots, underwear, diapers, blankets and more.

Jessica Mordacq

St. Edmund volunteers unloading donations One donation came in from Amazon, gift wrapped, with a gift note that said “Welcome to Oak Park. We hope this jacket keeps you warm.” And they signed their names.

Seems Oak Park lines our border with

snow boots and not razor wire. I hope we can make them a little warmer in this cold Chicago winter.

Steve Metro

River Forest

Water, water, but not everywhere

e made it through. After expecting to dodge one of those Arctic winters of a bygone era in the Chicago area, we were hit with subzero temperatures — the only relief coming from the knowledge that these were temporary struggles.

So what do we do in Chicagoland when faced with winter hardships? We bear down, keep calm, and carry on. Immediately going into self-preservation mode, we do the polar vortex checklist. This includes: having enough food, having enough water, charging your car, having enough gas, have a back-up generator, space heaters, and don’t forget to keep water running through your taps so the pipes don’t freeze or burst. This is an identifying characteristic of the Midwesterner — to know what to do in polar vortex weather. You could go anywhere else in the world, and if you know to run water through your faucets on a subzero temperature day, you must be from the

Midwest.

I have friends and family in various parts of the world, so they have different weather and different preps for the ever-changing weather anomalies. I told my friend in South Africa my woes about how cold it was, as they are currently experiencing an unusually hot summer below the equator. I walked her through what a cold day in the Chicago area looks like and the strategies we have for staying stable through extreme cold snaps and weather changes.

So when I told her about the strategy of keeping running water through the pipes so they don’t burst or freeze, I explained how my biggest concern was that the bill for water would be outrageous next month. Subsequently, I got a dose of second-hand shame when she exclaimed, “Oh my God! Where does all that water go? Do you collect it?!”

I paused for a minute as I did a cul-

tural calculation of information and practices in my head.

(She is in South Africa. They have deficiencies of water and electricity from time to time. They are conservationists = have compassion, carry the concern, times = mimic her shock and dismay, divided by, agree with her and echo her concern … now.)

So I replied, “Yeah. Ugh. No, we don’t even collect it. Can you believe that? We just waste the water. Oh my God.” To which she replied, “No! Oh my God!” that is such a waste!” She proceeded to tell me of South Africa’s drought issues.

I felt more and more shame and guilt, thinking about the fact that in our communities, we have so much water that we can waste it so that our pipes don’t burst or freeze. We do not collect our water or conserve it in any way when there are countries and communities that can’t even understand our thinking and strategy and can’t understand how that

EL SERUMAGA One View

makes any kind of sense.

If she had not been so surprised and shocked by knowing we let water drip through the faucets without collecting or conserving it, I would not have even thought about the waste from a conservation perspective. I was focused on the waste of money, but not the waste of water and who that water could help.

And let’s face it, water is life.

So when the next polar vortex comes around, since the Chicago climate is on a warming trend, think about collection and conservation of all that water you’re letting get away. I would say we have time to plan. Our last two Christmases were snowless. But when January comes around, we can rest assured with climate change, we will probably have deeper and deeper deep freezes.

We are fortunate enough to not think about and live in a place of lack, but rather from a place of water abundance.

El Serumaga is a resident of River Forest.

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Wednesday Journal, January 31, 2024

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What my smart car thinks about Oak Park issues

F

or over two weeks from the middle of December through the first few days of January, I parked my car in front of my house, in Oak Park, on the public street. Not much happened.

That’s right: for over two weeks, I parked my car in front of where I live, on a public thoroughfare, and really, it just sat there, not bothering anything or anyone. Nobody was hurt, nothing was damaged. None of my neighbors seemed to have a problem with my car, silent, unobtrusive, parked idly. At least, no one knocked on my door and asked me why my car was parked overnight.

Let us count the ways, and the things, my car didn’t cause a problem with, or create undue harm. It didn’t steal another car’s catalytic converter (my car is electric, it has no use for such devices, nor can it sell the minerals within). My car did not shoplift at Target (though Target is closed

PAUL TURNER One View

overnight, maybe my car wanted to do so), my car did not use the left turn lane or the concrete medians on Roosevelt for a passing lane, as so many other cars (and their drivers) do, and my car did not go off alone and speed down Fillmore at unsafe levels, running every stop sign on the way (as I’ve witnessed other cars do, with seemingly no repercussion).

My car has had nothing to do with seemingly interminable delays of the Pete’s Fresh Market on Madison, though my car is curious why progressive Oak Park continues to bend over backwards for a decidedly non-union grocery store when there are two fine Union stores in Oak Park and another in River Forest.

RICH KORDESH Yearnings stirred from page 25

Hauntingly Glowing orb set in gray, Moon above, silently You emit a note, a pulse, a spray, That in mystery lures me hauntingly.

Hovering globe beyond the clouds, Soul up there, unrelentingly You utter a call, a tone, a sound, That through the quiet draws me dauntingly.

Mystery moon in mystery’s air, Surrounded by mist, temptingly You cast a shadow, a chill, a stare, That in dampness thirsts me tauntingly.

Puzzling, says my car.

Due to my car’s ability to plug into my phone and connect with the internet and run apps on the display screen, it is said I operate a “smart” car. Apparently, PROVIDEDJ my car is so doggone smart it has no opinion on a swimming pool being built, rehabbed, or otherwise not, at OPRF High School. My car told me it has no intention of wading into that fight (haha, isn’t my car punny?).

My car has concerns about property taxes in Oak Park, but is otherwise very content in this village, as am I. But my car wonders, as I do as well, why is it OK to park overnight on the street in front of where I live for two weeks here and there, around this holiday and that, and not always?

The yearnings stirred by celestial bodies are sometimes suggestive of paths that our hearts sense, but our minds haven’t clarified; the nudging can wake us up to what might be possible or already happening.

Last summer, while visiting Navy Pier with friends from California, as I looked south over the calm waters of the harbor, I experienced another one of those alluring views of the moon. There it was, hovering right where the bow of a docked ship seemed to be pointing.

Standing on that venerable pier along our lakefront, spectacular and yet quiet, the realization struck me that, as an older man, my desire for more had been tempered by a feeling that I’d arrived: my ship had come in. In me rested an inner harbor as calm as the one at which I stood.

But that kid sitting on the bungalow’s roof is still awake in me. I see what he saw. I feel the scratchy tiles on which his hands rested. My life in a variety of communities has taught me that he couldn’t appreciate at that point all that Berwyn did give him. But I understand why he, in his time and place, had wanted more.

From Pennsylvania, he would move to Oak Park as a dad; its openness and vibrant, participatory culture gave him some of that more. His children grew up Oak Parkers: On the north side of 12th Street, their dreams then

Some who have lived in Oak Park far longer than my car and me say the overnight parking ban is rooted in racism.

I don’t know enough about the history of OP government to opine on that, but I recently went to village hall and perused the display of past village presidents and discovered there’s enough crackers pictured to fill a case of Premium Saltines, so maybe?

Can someone in Oak Park government explore ending this silly ban? Maybe the residents in fancy north Oak Park (where it seems everyone is auditioning for a Falcon Crest reboot) want to keep it, but I think enough of us down here in the sunny southland below Madison would welcome its removal. So perhaps we can go street by street, or zone by zone, whatever, just get rid of it, or justify its existence, which I don’t think is possible.

My car says we have a lot more things to worry about than where it parks overnight. It is smart. I agree.

Paul Turner is a writer and actor who lives in Oak Park (gladly so).

PROVIDED

POINTING THE WAY: Moon over Navy Pier played out under the same moon on which he had gazed from his perch over 15th Street and Clarence.

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Wednesday Journal, January 31, 2024

Go with the low bid

Upon reading in last week’s Wednesday Journal that the Home Avenue Bridge is going to be replaced [News, Jan. 24], one thought crossed my mind: Can Oak Park, just this one time, choose the cheapest, simplest option?

Don Anderson Oak Park

GALEN GOCKEL

Many roles, all positive from page 23 Ohio and met many of the giants of the Civil Rights Movement, including Bayard Rustin, Robert Moses and Fannie Lou Hamer. During his training, three young civil rights workers were murdered in Mississippi, allegedly by the Ku Klux Klan. Because Gockel had young children at the time, he made the difficult decision not to go to Mississippi that summer — but the experience informed the rest of his life.

Before moving to Oak Park from Chicago’s South Side in 1969, Gockel and his wife acted as “straw buyers” for a Black couple who couldn’t get any realtors to show them a house in the village. They were encouraged by the progressives they met in the village and, shortly after putting down roots here, Gockel was elected to the District 97 school board, with a mission to integrate the village’s elementary schools without sparking white flight.

At the time, Oak Park’s elementary schools were racially imbalanced, with minority students and their families clustered in the east-central section of the village.

Gockel formed a broad-based “Committee for Tomorrow’s Schools,” which included school board president Marilyn Lehman.

After two years of intensive study and extensive public input, the committee created a plan to reorganize the schools’ boundaries to correct disparities in minority student enrollment and converted two of the 10 schools into the junior high schools (later

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DAVID HAMMOND

Who doesn’t want a good deal? from page 23 one of whose members said, “I wouldn’t trust them to serve me a fruit, a vegetable and nothing else because their stores are filthy.”

It is very unlikely that Dollar Tree will start selling fresh fruits, vegetables, and other perishable items, but if you’re concerned about the cleanliness of stores, which to me seem on par with other grocery stores in the area, you can have

into middle schools) that exist today. The plan, which was not greeted with universal approval by residents, was passed unanimously by the board in January 1976.

After retiring from his position as an administrator with the Urban Studies Program of the Associated Colleges of the Midwest in 1996, Gockel devoted more time to his position as township assessor. He had been elected in 1993 and re-elected in 1997, before current assessor, Ali ElSaffar, succeeded him in 2001.

“Galen hired me part-time in 2000 and groomed me for the job,” ElSaffar said. “He was a great mentor — a calm, thoughtful, knowledgeable person, and his confidence in the role served as a calming influence for people at a time when they are typically upset and confused. I learned from Galen that my role could be a community service to educate people — about the tax assessment system and how to file appeals. I’ve tried to continue that tradition.”

Gockel was elected to the village board in 2001 and served one term before being pulled back in 2006 by former village president David Pope to fulfill an open term.

“Galen was a key member of Oak Park’s greatest generation,” Pope said. “He touched so many facets of life in our community and his impact has been immeasurable. As a village trustee, he always did his homework and spoke to people on varying sides of an issue before ultimately coming down on the side that he thought was best for advancing the betterment of our community while keeping in mind those who were most vulnerable. He has inspired me profoundly.”

Gockel also devoted much time and energy to the arts in the village. He became managing director of Festival Theatre in 2005, after

Dollar Tree goods delivered right to your home.

I counted around a dozen Dollar Tree stores in the Chicago area, many serving communities that don’t have a lot of other options. Those who inveigh against such retail outlets seem insensitive to the concerns of folks who rely on such places for the essentials, which go way beyond the urge for the occasional potato chip.

It’s good to have a store like Dollar Tree in Oak Park, particularly for those on a

limited income.

But who doesn’t want a good deal?

Rant over.

PROVIDED

From the left, Ali ElSaffar, Galen Gockel and Bill Shafer, the three Assessors. serving on the board, at a time when the organization was experiencing severe financial and leadership challenges. He helped right the ship and continued to be a stalwart supporter of the organization, including launching a scholarship fund to compensate the theater’s summer college interns.

“Festival Theatre would have been lost without Galen,” said Belinda Bremner, past board chair and a company member. “I admired his indomitable spirit and perseverance when working on a project. He walked the talk and was both practical and visionary. He was a true gentleman, a just man and a kind man to one and all. It will be profoundly sad not to see Galen strolling through Austin Gardens this summer, greet-

ing everyone from staff to audience.”

Gockel’s wife Marge, his “partner in crime,” died in 2020. His son, Andy, said that while his father appreciated the recognition he received for his service, he never courted it. He also is survived by his daughter, Rebecca.

“Growing up, I observed that both of my parents were very busy with meetings and phone calls,” Andy said. “Our basement looked like a campaign office. I knew my father was very dedicated to his work. He wanted to improve the world. He was a humble man — the same person in his later life as he was in his activist years. I got the sense that neither of my parents had any regrets.”

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As other newsrooms shrink, we’re investing in ours

It was a tough week in journalism.

The L.A. Times announced the layoffs of 115 people from its newsroom. With last year’s layoffs — 80 positions — their newsroom has shrunk by onethird.

Time and National Geographic magazine also announced layoffs. Sports Illustrated just eliminated its entire editorial staff. And staffers at Conde Nast held a one-day strike over planned cuts So what lessons do we take from this grim news? Well, being owned by billionaires, as is the case at the L.A. Times and Washington Post, does not protect the news industry. Corporate ownership hasn’t been the solution in local journalism for 30 years.

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Support us today. It’s easy. Hit the donate button at GrowingCommunityMedia.org.

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Wednesday Journal, January 31, 2024

John Polka, 81

Pat Owens, 77

Longtime Fenwick teacher/coach John Polka, 81, a longtime Fenwick High School teacher and coach, died on Jan. 27, 2024, following a battle with cancer.

Born in 1942, the longtime River Forest resident was one of nine educators in his family, including both parents. During his 52 years at Fenwick High School, he taught more than 5,000 students. He retired in 2017 after more than 50 years teaching biology at Fenwick, where he served as chair of the science department and developed the Ecology of the Rainforest and Marine Biology programs, organizing student science trips to countries including Guatemala, Peru and Costa Rica. He was recognized by the National Association of Biology Teachers for his efforts. Former principal Peter Groom said, “The science department developed into one of the finest in the nation” under the guidance of Polka, who “impacted the lives of countless young men and women for decades.”

“Many Fenwick students went on to careers in science because of John’s inspiration,” said faculty emeritus Roger

Finnell, who taught with Polka for five decades. “When Fenwick was considering going co-ed, John was in a group of department chairs who worked hard to show the community the strong support from the Fenwick faculty in favor of coeducation. His many decades of faculty leadership will be long remembered.”

He also positively affected the lives of so many athletes, creating Fenwick’s first-ever cross-country team in 1966.

Former Illinois Governor Pat Quinn was his first team captain. Polka led six teams to Chicago Catholic League titles over 43 years of coaching, and he was inducted into the CCL Coaches Hall of Fame and the Illinois Track and Cross Country Coaches Association Hall of Fame. Later in his career, he served as an Illinois High School Association rules interpreter, consultant and meet official.

“I’ve always felt coaching rounds out the teaching experience,” Polka told the Chicago Tribune in 2001. “As long as it’s fun, there’s no reason to stop.”

A Brother Rice graduate, Polka attended St. Mary’s University in Winona, Minnesota and earned a master’s degree from Chicago State University.

After retiring from Fenwick, he continued to serve as a consultant to the AP Biology College Board and volunteered as a tour guide at Shedd Aquarium.

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City of Chicago chief engineer Pat Owens, 77, of Elmhurst, formerly of River Forest, died on Jan. 17, 2024. A longtime chief engineer with the City of Chicago, he delighted in knowing the city, inside and out, and giving tours to friends and family from out of town.

As a car buff, you never knew from one month to the next what kind of vehicle he might arrive in. He is remembered as the type of friend who was there exactly when you needed him.

His gentle smile and guiding presence will be missed.

Pat was the husband of Katie Newsham; the father of Sheila (Michael) Fitt and Billy Canavan, and a second father to Katie Cunningham (Bill) Davy; brother of Nancy Owens Duerr; brother-in-law of many; and a fond uncle of many nieces and nephews.

A visitation was held at Conboy-Westchester Funeral Home on January 25, followed by a funeral Mass at Old St. Patrick Church the next day, with private interment at Mt. Carmel Cemetery.

In lieu of flowers, memorials to Misericordia Foundation, c/o Billy Canavan, MFA 6182A, 6300 N. Ridge Ave., Chicago 60660, are deeply appreciated.

Arrangements were handled by Peter B. Kennedy & Co., Funeral Directors.

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Wednesday Journal, January 31, 2024

SPORTS

Trinity defense dominates Fenwick

Blazers hold cold-shooting Friars to 5 baskets

By MELVIN TATE Contributing Reporter

Given the emphasis on defense that coaches Kim Coleman of Trinity and Lenae Fergerson of Fenwick have, it’s not surprising that low-scoring games are the norm whenever the girls basketball programs meet.

Such was the case again on Jan. 23 as the Blazers defeated the Friars 43-30 in a Girls Catholic Athletic Conference Red matchup at Dominican University in River Forest.

“It was an ugly one for sure,” Coleman said. “For us, the big focus is defense; if you can’t guard, you can’t play.”

Trinity (15-11) held Fenwick (7-18) without a field goal the entire first half. The Friars did not get their first basket until Kiera Kapsch hit a three-pointer with 3:36 left in the third quarter. Overall, Fenwick made just five field goals in 34 attempts (15% shooting) and 17-of-28 (61%) from the free-throw line.

“I’m not sure why there was such a struggle with the offense,” Fergerson said. “We were missing a lot of layups and free throws, and we didn’t hit any outside jumpers as well. Defensively, we did the job to win the game, but at the end of the

day, we have to be able to put the ball in the hole.”

Despite that, Trinity had trouble pulling away from the Friars thanks to foul trouble. The Blazers saw starters Zaria Goins and Luz Del Rosario Kwiatkowski Perez foul out and another starter, Lauren Miller, finished with four fouls. It’s an issue Coleman said will be addressed.

“We can’t guard without fouling. That’s something we need to work and key on,” she said. “As we head into the playoffs, if we keep putting teams in the bonus each quarter, we’re going to struggle to win because we’re going to run into a good freethrow shooting team.”

Chloe Santos led Trinity with 13 points and eight rebounds, continuing to show improvement as the season progresses.

“She’s starting to feel better and get into better shape,” said Coleman of Santos, a sophomore forward. “She had an injury before the season started, but things are rolling with her and she’s becoming more consistent.”

Miller added 10 points, five rebounds, three assists and two steals for the Blazers, while freshman guard Destiny Sacluti had what Coleman described as “a breakout game” with seven points.

On Jan. 25, Miller had 25 points, five rebounds, two assists, and two steals while Goins added 12 points, 10 rebounds, and three steals in Trinity’s 53-35 home victory over Payton Prep.

In the first round of the GCAC Tourna-

CAROL DUNNING

Trinity forward Zaria Goins (#13, center) goes up for a layup in the first half as Fenwick forward Cammie Molis (left) defends during a Girls Catholic Athletic Conference Red game, Jan. 23, at Dominican University. The Blazers defeated the Friars 43-30. ment, Jan. 29, Miller had 21 points and six rebounds in a 44-36 home victory over IC Catholic Prep, which extended the Blazers’ winning streak to six games.

Miller and Goins were named to the GCAC Red All-Conference team. Miller averages 16 points, 7.3 rebounds, and 2 steals per game while Goins is averaging 11.7 points, 5.4 rebounds, and 2.5 steals per game.

For Fenwick, GCAC Red All-Conference honoree Grace Kapsch had a game-high 14 points, going 10-of-14 from the char-

ity stripe. However, no other player scored more than four points for the Friars against Trinity.

“We will just have to get back to the basics of finishing with contact, making free throws, and having the mindset to keep working to get better,” said Fergerson.

On Jan. 29, Fenwick snapped a threegame losing streak with a 56-49 home victory over Wheaton St. Francis in the GCAC tournament. Cammie Molis had a gamehigh 21 points, Grace Kapsch 15 points, and Kiera Kapsch 9.

Fenwick un-brotherly loved by Brother Rice Second quarter is the dagger that dooms the Friars

By MELVIN TATE Contributing Reporter

There haven’t been many instances this season where the Fenwick High School

boys basketball team has turned in a subpar performance.

Unfortunately for the Friars, that was the case on Jan. 26 at home against Brother Rice.

The visitors shredded Fenwick’s defense for

25 points in the second quarter en route to a 67-51 Chicago Catholic League victory.

“Every quarter was tough,” said Fenwick coach David Fergerson, “but [the second] was the worst we’ve had in a while.

That gave [Brother Rice] an extra boost.”

Marcos Gonzales capped the first half with a buzzer-beating three-pointer from just inside half-court to give the Crusaders (21-3, 4-1 in CCL Blue) a 34-23 halftime lead.

S P O R T S

OAKPARK.COM | RIVERFOREST.COM

Wednesday Journal, January 31, 2024

33

Symphony of success

OPRF senior Jane Walker balances gymnastics and music

By BILL STONE Contributing Reporter

Oak Park and River Forest High School senior Jane Walker thrives on staying busy.

“I’ve tried to limit things before and it actually makes me worse at all of them,” Walker said.

“I find that my best performances are when I do a lot of things. I’ve worked a lot on being focused on each of my individual things separately rather than stressing about all of the things at the same time.”

These days, Walker probably is at her happiest. She is in the midst of her final and best high school girls gymnastics season after being part of the Huskies’ sectionalqualifying teams the past two seasons.

The top-notch student also stays active as a multi-talented musician who is a violinist with the school orchestra and plays with the School of Rock show and regular performance teams.

In a rare instance Dec. 9, Walker missed a Saturday gymnastics invite to play guitar in one of two mandatory School of Rock performances.

“I usually try and schedule things around gymnastics and if I skip things, it’s not gymnastics,” Walker said. “I skip other things and prioritize gymnastics.”

Balance beam and floor exercise are Walker’s favorite events and probably her best chances at reaching her first state meet, along with all-around.

At the West Suburban Conference Silver Meet Saturday, Walker earned two top-five medals by taking fourth on uneven bars (8.85) and fifth in all-around (34.625) and was sixth on vault (9.0). The Huskies (133.425) finished fourth in the final overall standings.

“Right now, I’m really liking floor,” said Walker, whose routine music, “Darkness of Light,” has violin accompaniment.

“When I nail my beam routine, I like that, but it’s harder to do well. I like the challenge of beam.”

As a musician, Walker prefers playing in groups rather

“That was a dagger,” Fergerson said.

“Brother Rice is a really good team. We didn’t play our best game and I don’t know if they did, but I know they played good and solid.”

Rice’s dominance also served as an indicator of the work Fenwick (13-8, 2-3) has to do with the IHSA postseason about three weeks away.

“In order to do what we want to do — contend for the sectional and supersectional — we’ve got to be able to beat a team like [Rice],” Fergerson said. “We’ve got to clean some things up.”

After being down by as much as 17, the Friars gradually chipped away at their deficit.

than solo. Teammates have heard her play violin before meets twice — two years ago with Chloe Kratz for her Senior Night and alone last season.

“One of my teammates told me she’d give me $20 if I did it. And she didn’t give me the 20 bucks,” Walker said, laughing.

In the gym, her dedication is paying off with higherlevel skills gradually being incorporated into her routines.

On Dec. 13, Walker achieved 9.0 on floor, her first “legitimate” 9.0 with the Huskies, other than one caused by a scoring error. She has scored as high as 8.95 on beam.

Despite battling a fever in her season all-around debut, Dec. 6, she scored 35.10 with conservative but well-executed routines.

Seniors Violet Ruff, Gabby Morales and Ellie Wolski also have reached sectionals individually the past two seasons.

The Huskies competed at the Elk Grove Regional on Monday. “[Walker] has such high expectations for herself, whether it’s her studies, extracurriculars,” OPRF coach Kris Wright said. “She’s upped her game. She’s set up some goals and she’s met those goals. Her work ethic and focus is what is allowing her to stay on her path. I think she has what it takes to get [to state].”

Walker began gymnastics when she was 4, leaving the sport briefly before joining the Huskies as a sophomore.

She also began violin lessons around the age of 4.

One benefit from both activities is that her arm strength from gymnastics boosts her endurance during lengthy orchestra pieces.

“The only real similarity I notice is keeping your nerves under control during performances, just making sure you’re really solid in what you’re doing so you don’t mess up in a high-stakes situation,” Walker said.

Whichever school she selects, Walker plans to join the college orchestra and study space science, most likely astrophysics or astrobiology, possibly in relation to plant biology.

She began playing guitar (like her father) in 2021 and

They trailed 59-48 with just over two minutes to go in the game and had possession, but a subsequent turnover, followed by a basket by Tyler Wooten, essentially doused any hope of a miracle comeback.

Wooten (eight rebounds) had a team-high 16 points for Brother Rice, including 10 in the fourth quarter. He shared scoring honors with Gonzales, who had nine of his 16 in the second quarter. Zavier Fitch added 11 points and seven rebounds for the Crusaders.

Ty Macariola had a game-high 17 points for Fenwick. Dominick Ducree added 15 and Kam Hogan 11 for the Friars, who missed several point-blank chances inside and had

PROVIDED

Jane Walker has added the mandolin (like her mother). She sometimes plays bass in a band with her father, her mother, who also sings, and her mom’s husband, who writes songs.

Walker’s favorite symphonies are by Felix Mendelssohn from the 1800s.

“He’s easy to focus to and it’s not too jarring,” Walker said.

But her release comes in the gym.

“I think gymnastics is the best outlet for that kind of stress. When I’m at gymnastics, I don’t really think about many other things.”

a few wide-open looks from the three-point line that failed to connect, particularly in the third quarter.

“We couldn’t hit shots and we couldn’t guard. They beat us in every facet of the game tonight,” Fergerson said. “We’ll have to go back to the board and figure out what we’ve got to do better. We’ve got to start working again, get back to what we do best, and get back on the winning side.”

Fenwick did find the winning side on Jan. 23 with a 57-36 victory at Aurora Central Catholic. Makai Mandley led the Friars with 16 points while Caleb Burgins added 10 and Macariola eight.

Up next for Fenwick is a home game against Providence-St. Mel, Jan. 30 (after deadline) and a road game at De La Salle, Feb. 2.

OPRF Oak Park and River Forest’s losing streak lengthened to five with a 60-47 West Suburban Silver loss at Downers Grove North, Jan. 26.

Justin Bowen and Max Johnson tied for the team lead with 13 points apiece, with Alex Gossett and Joe Halper each adding nine for the Huskies (6-12, 1-5 in WSC Silver).

34 Wednesday Journal, January 31, 2024 Let the sun shine in...

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PUBLIC NOTICES

PUBLIC NOTICES

PUBLIC NOTICES

PUBLIC NOTICE NOTICE TO BIDDERS Sealed separate bids will be received by the Board of Education, Oak Park Elementary School District 97 (the “Board”) for the following project:

to make an award that in the Board’s sole opinion is in the best interest of the District.

PUBLIC NOTICE ANNUAL APPROPRIATION ORDINANCE PUBLIC HEARING

The site will be available for visits by appointment to be coordinated with Bulley & Andrews, LLC. Interested parties may inspect the existing conditions. Schedule an appointment with Michael Damato of Bulley & Andrews in advance if you wish to visit the sites.

NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that the Board of Trustees of the Village of Brookfield will hold a public hearing at 6:30 P.M. on February 12, 2024, at the Village Board Room in the Municipal Building of the Village of Brookfield, 8820 Brookfield Avenue, Brookfield, Illinois 60513 on the Village’s proposed appropriation ordinance, which will serve as the basis for the Village’s 2024 Annual Appropriation Ordinance.

OAK PARK ELEMENTARY SCHOOL DISTRICT 97 SD97 – JULIAN MS GENDER NEUTRAL TOILET ROOMS OAK PARK, IL 60302 BID GROUP 1 – GENERAL TRADES, ELECTRICAL, MECHANICAL, PLUMBING Bids will be received until 2:00 p.m.

CST on Thursday, February 8, 2024, at the Oak Park Elementary School District 97 Administrative offices, 260 Madison Street, Oak Park, IL 60302, and will be read at 2:15 p.m. CST on that date. Bids shall be submitted in an opaque sealed envelope clearly marked: Oak Park Elementary School District 97 260 Madison Street, Oak Park, IL 60302 Attention: Bulley & Andrews Project: SD97 – JULIAN MS GENDER NEUTRAL TOILET ROOMS Bid Opening will be held at 2:15pm CST within the board room: Scope of work for Bid Group 1 generally includes: GENERAL TRADES, ELECTRICAL, MECHANCIAL, AND PLUMBING All bids must be submitted in accordance with the bidding instructions contained in the Bidding Documents for the project. Bid security in the form of a bid bond in an amount equal to ten percent (10%) of the base bid amount shall be submitted with the bid. Should a bid bond be submitted, the bond shall be payable to the Board of Education, Oak Park Elementary School District 97, 260 Madison Street, Oak Park, IL 60302. All documents and information required by the bidding instructions contained in the Bidding Documents for the project shall be submitted with the bid. Incomplete, late or non-conforming bids may not be accepted.

No bids shall be withdrawn, cancelled or modified after the time for opening of bids without the Board’s consent for a period of ninety (90) days after the scheduled time of bid opening.

The Bidding Documents for the project (which include the bidding instructions for the project and other related documents) will be available Friday January 19, 2024 and are available for viewing/ download online without cost or purchase on the Bulley & Andrews, LLC Google Drive, located at the following link. No username or password is required. https://drive.google.com/ drive/folders/19k -upj1_k5Y_Qo2IvAw VDuSHWladZCdZ The Board reserves the right to reject any or all bids or parts thereof, or waive any irregularities or informalities, and

All bidders must comply with applicable Illinois Law requiring the payment of prevailing wages by all Contractors working on public works. If during the time period of work, the prevailing wage rates change, the contractor shall be responsible for additional costs without any change to the contract amount. All bidders must comply with the Illinois Statutory requirements regarding labor, including Equal Employment Opportunity Laws.

For additional information on the project, contact Michael Damato of Bulley & Andrews, LLC at mdamato@bulley. com or 847-602-9512.

The proposed appropriation ordinance will be on file in the Village Clerk’s Office for at least ten (10) days prior to February 12, 2024, and copies thereof will be conveniently available for public examination and copying.

Brigid Weber, Village Clerk .

Published in the RB Landmark, January 31, 2024

Dated: 1/19/24 Michael Damato Bulley & Andrews, LLC Published in Wednesday Journal January 24, 31, February 7, 2024

PUBLIC NOTICES PUBLIC NOTICE OF COURT DATE FOR REQUEST FOR NAME CHANGE STATE OF ILLINOIS, CIRCUIT COURT COOK COUNTY. Request of Dana Louise McKinzie Case Number 2023 CONC 001444 There will be a court date on my Request to change my name from: Dana Louise McKinzie tto the new name of: Dana Louise Allen.

The court date will be held: On March 8, 2024 at 10:30 a.m.at in Courtroom # 12, Zoom link: https://circuitcourtofcookcounty. zoom.us/j/95894921843?pwd=S1RCcmlCZjFpRnVIQUpZU25lRzJFUT09 Meeting ID: 958 9492 1843 Passcode: 226532 Published in Wednesday Journal January 24, 31, February 7, 2024

LEGAL NOTICE The Village of Oak Park will receive sealed bids from qualified mechanical contractors at the Public Works Center, 201 South Blvd., Oak Park, IL 60302 Mon thru Fri, 7:30 am to 4:00 pm local time until 11:00 am on Fri, Feb 23, 2024 for the following: Village of Oak Park Main Fire Station HVAC Replacement Proposal Number: 24-116 Issuance Date: Jan 31, 2024 There will be a mandatory prebid meeting at the Main Fire Station, 100 N. Euclid, Oak Park, IL on Wed Feb 7, 2024 at 8:30 a.m. Bid documents may be obtained from the Village website at http://www.oak-park. us/bid. Design drawings and specifications will be available at the pre-bid meeting. For questions please call Public Works at (708) 358-5700.

Published in Wednesday Journal January 31, 2024

PUBLIC NOTICES

PUBLIC NOTICES

LEGAL NOTICE

LEGAL NOTICE

The Village of Oak Park will receive sealed bids from authorized vendors at the Public Works Center, 201 South Boulevard, Oak Park, Illinois 60302 Monday through Friday, 7:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. local time until 3:00 p.m. on Wednesday, February 14, 2024 for the following: Village of Oak Park ABB Variable Frequency Drives Purchase Project Number: 24-112 Bid documents may be obtained from the Village’s website at http://www.oakpark.us/bid. For questions, please call Public Works at (708) 358-5700 during the above hours.

The Village of Oak Park will receive sealed bids from qualified electrical contractors at the Public Works Center, 201 South Boulevard, Oak Park, Illinois 60302 Monday through Friday, 7:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. local time until 3:00 p.m. on Wednesday, February 14, 2024 for the following: Village of Oak Park Variable Frequency Drive Electrician Hourly Rates Project Number: 24-111

Published in Wednesday Journal January 31, 2024

Published in Wednesday Journal January 31, 2024

Bid documents may be obtained from the Village’s website at http://www.oak-park. us/bid. For questions, please call Public Works at (708) 3585700 during the above hours.

Notice to Prospective Village of Oak Park Federal Grants Applicants The Program Year (PY) 2024 Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) process will begin February 8, 2024 with a mandatory Application Workshop. The application will then be open from February 9, 2024 to March 1, 2024 and will be due no later than 5:00pm on March 1, 2024. PY 2024 runs from October 1, 2024 to September 30, 2025.

Applications for PY 2024 CDBG funds will be available for Public Services and Public Facilities Improvements. Other PY 2024 CDBG funds will be set aside for Village-run activities.

Applications for PY 2024 CDBG funds must be completed online and will be available February 9, 2024 on the Village’s website at www.oak-park.us/cdbg.

The federal CDBG program is a source of funding that addresses local housing and community development needs.

These funds are available to 501(c) (3) non-profit organizations that serve primarily low- and moderate-income (LMI) persons residing in Oak Park. Each proposed activity must meet the CDBG Program National Objective of primarily serving LMI persons and be eligible.

Grant funds are for non-profit agencies, not individuals.

Reasonable accommodations will be made for non-English speaking persons and for people with disabilities. For more information, write to Vanessa Matheny, Grants Manager: vmatheny@oak-park.us

Published in Wednesday Journal, January 31, 2024

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EQUAL HOUSING OPPORTUNITY All real estate advertising in this newspaper is subject to the Fair Housing Act, which makes it illegal to advertise any preference, limitation or discrimination based on age, race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status or national origin, or intention to make any such preferences, limitations or discrimination.

The Illinois Human Rights Act prohibits discrimination in the sale, rental or advertising of real estate based on factors in addition to those protected under federal law.

This newspaper will not knowingly accept any advertising for real estate which is in violation of the law. All persons are hereby

informed that all dwellings advertised are available on an equal opportunity basis.

Restrictions or prohibitions of pets do not apply to service animals.

To complain of discrimination, call HUD toll free at: 1-800-669-9777.

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REAL ESTATE FOR SALE

REAL ESTATE FOR SALE

IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF COOK COUNTY, ILLINOIS COUNTY DEPARTMENT - CHANCERY DIVISION U.S. Bank Trust National Association, as Trustee of the SCIG Series III Trust; Plaintiff, vs.

GAD IKEANUMBA AKA GAD C. IKEANUMBA; 1030-32 NORTH AUSTIN CONDOMINIUM ASSOCIATION AKA 1030 -32 N. AUSTIN CONDOMINIUM ASSOCIATION AND HENRY SILVERMAN LIVING TRUST U/A/D AUGUST 26, 1996; Defendants, 11 CH 33740 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, March 5, 2024 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: P.I.N. 16-05-314-031-1001.

Commonly known as 1032 N. Austin Blvd., Unit 1N, Oak Park, IL 60302.

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 Ms. Mary E. Spitz at Plaintiff’s Attorney, Sottile & Barile, LLC, 7530 LUCERNE DRIVE, MIDDLEBURG HEIGHTS, OHIO 44130.

(440) 572-1511. ILF1810025 INTERCOUNTY JUDICIAL SALES CORPORATION intercountyjudicialsales.com I3237038

For information call The Sales Department at Plaintiff’s Attorney, Diaz Anselmo & Associates, P.A., 1771 West Diehl Road, Naperville, Illinois 60563. (630) 453-6925. 7020194122 INTERCOUNTY JUDICIAL SALES CORPORATION intercountyjudicialsales.com I3236657

IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF COOK COUNTY, ILLINOIS COUNTY DEPARTMENT - CHANCERY DIVISION NAVY FEDERAL CREDIT UNION; Plaintiff, vs.

DONNA EUDOVIQUE AKA DONNA D. EUDOVIQUE; UNKNOWN OWNERS AND NONRECORD CLAIMANTS; Defendants, 23 CH 7029 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, February 27, 2024 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: P.I.N. 15-08-409-001-0000.

Commonly known as 501 48th Avenue, Bellwood, IL 60104.

The mortgaged real estate is improved with a single family residence. If the subject mortgaged real estate is a unit of a common interest community, the purchaser of the unit other than a mortgagee shall pay the assessments required by subsection (g-1) of Section 18.5 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.

IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF COOK COUNTY, ILLINOIS COUNTY DEPARTMENT - CHANCERY DIVISION US BANK TRUST NATIONAL ASSOCIATION AS TRUSTEE FOR CABANA SERIES V TRUST; Plaintiff, vs.

FORREST K. JOHNSON; WYANETTA JOHNSON; 929 OAK PARK CONDOMINIUM ASSOCIATION; UNKNOWN OWNERS AND NONRECORD CLAIMANTS; Defendants, 23 CH 317 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, March 5, 2024 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: P.I.N. 16-18-307-034-1002.

Commonly known as 929 S. Oak Park Ave., 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 Ms. Mary E. Spitz at Plaintiff’s Attorney, Sottile & Barile, LLC, 7530 LUCERNE DRIVE, MIDDLEBURG HEIGHTS, OHIO 44130.

(440) 572-1511. ILF2203044 INTERCOUNTY JUDICIAL SALES CORPORATION intercountyjudicialsales.com I3237044

Available to you 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, every day of the year OakPark.com RBLandmark.com ForestParkReview.com AustinWeeklyNews.com PublicNoticeIllinois.com

Wednesday Journal, January 31, 2024

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Our Community Needs Community Journalism It’s not just about crime reports and board meetings.

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Wednesday Journal, January 31, 2024

OAKPARK.COM | RIVERFOREST.COM

Oak Park Dentist Now Offers Gentle Care To Patients Without Dental Insurance.

Family Dental Care of Oak Park: Where Insurance is Optional, Quality Care is Not!

While there’s no lack of dental practices in Oak Park, River A variety of plans are available based on the degree of Forest, or Forest Park, there is a notable scarcity of practices dental care you want. that provide patients with alternative ways to access quality Our Customized Dental Care Program gives patients dental care. Dentistry is a field of precise measurements and without insurance greater access to care. procedures, yet each patient is unique, as are their financial “We were paying out-of-pocket for dental and it became quite difficult for circumstances. It raises the question: why must all patients us. When Dr. Scapillato told us about his conform to a flawed dental financial model that depends plan we immediately said we we’re in. It has on having dental insurance? This doesn’t imply that those helped us get the preventative care we need.” without dental insurance don’t deserve excellent dental Linda K. - Patient for 50 years. care. However, it does mean they are expected to cover “There isn’t all the hassle like with 100% of the costs themselves, which is unjust. Regrettably, dental insurance. I get what I need... this system often leads people to make suboptimal health it works! And it’s cost effective! I could pay for it annually, but I prefer monthly decisions based on their ability to afford dental care, rather because it fits into my budget. Jim C. than on what is best for their health.

As costs continue to climb, it’s unsurprising that half of Chicago’s population lacks dental insurance. Yet, despite this significant figure, the value of excellent dental care, especially preventative measures, remains undiminished.

The importance of preventive dental care goes beyond brushing and flossing daily. Good oral hygiene and regular dental practices are widely recognized for their role in reducing the risk of severe health issues. For example, it can significantly lower risk of: • Gum Disease • Heart Disease & Stroke When you arrive at a hospital emergency room with a • Diabetes Complications medical emergency, the law ensures you receive treatment • Respiratory Infections regardless of your ability to pay. Why don’t more dentists • Pregnancy Complications provide specialized programs for those lacking dental “Unlike other medical professionals like insurance? Simple. Insurance companies have made podiatrists, dermatologists, immunologists, and treatment more about numbers than care. physical therapists who are directly connected to Dr. Scapillato, founder of Family Dental Care of Oak Park, bodily health, we dentists have traditionally been deeply understands the reasons patients remain loyal: not restricted from discussing the health benefits of only for the consistent, high-quality care and treatment he dental care. This hadn’t changed until recently,” has provided for over half a century, but also for his keen explains Dr. Jim Scapillato, the founder of Family Dental Care awareness of the evolving financial situations of families. He of Oak Park. stands out as an innovator, both in the field of dentistry and Nonetheless, despite the substantial health advantages of in making dental care more affordable, ensuring patients proper oral care, it is not covered by medical insurance. It receive the necessary care to maintain happiness and health. has traditionally been classified as an elective or cosmetic procedure, including even the most fundamental checkups Introducing the Customized Dental Care Program and cleanings.

After 50 years in practice and having treated 4 generations of families, Dr. Scapillato created an in-office People buy insurance products in the hopes they never dental plan for his patients and now offers it to have to use it and the insurance companies sell it in the anyone without dental insurance. hopes you will never use it. Premiums for dental benefits have increased continually over the 70 years since its introduction, The Customized Dental Care Program is not insurance, but not the benefits. This is why 50% of Chicagoans do not rather a program to make preventive care dentistry have some form of basic annual dental care plan. If this is available to anyone who does not have dental insurance. If you, you will be hapy to find out that... you currently do not have dental insurance, this program is for you. If you do have dental insurance, you are not eligible ll entAl Are An e ADe fforDABle for this program, though you likely know someone who would When it comes to your oral health, cost and fees shouldn’t qualify. be your primary concern. Indeed, the financial aspect of Request the free booklet on quality dental treatment matters, but more important is the our Custom Dental Care Program. relationship and partnership you establish with a dentist and Anyone without dental insurance their practice. Your goal should be to identify a dentist and qualifies. Choose from 5 plans. practice to entrust with your care. They become your trusted Gold Plans start as low as $28.75/ ‘go-to’ professional. Likewise, look for a dentist who values a month and include 2 annual long-term relationship with you, rather than just the financial cleanings & exams, 1 emergency aspect. It should be a relationship that benefits both parties. exam, flouride treatment (for kids under 12), and X-rays.

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