Wednesday Journal 021021

W E D N E S D A Y

February 10, 2021 Vol. 41, No. 28 ONE DOLLAR @oakpark @wednesdayjournal

JOURNAL of Oak Park and River Forest

Boutet contacted police after text message from Clark

Former village president candidate asked police to ‘document’ text

By STACEY SHERIDAN Staff Reporter

Prior to dropping out of the village presidential race, sitting village trustee Simone Boutet filed a police report over a text message sent to her by village trustee candidate Anthony Clark. The text message implied that Boutet was involved in the electoral challenge made against Clark’s candidacy.

According to the police report, obtained by Wednesday Journal through the Freedom of Information Act, Boutet wished to have the Oak Park Police Department document the text message, which read: “I know you are behind this & funding [redacted].

So go as far as you would like to go & I will be sure to do so as well. All the truths will be exposed. Good luck with your race.”

Boutet received the text message Jan. 4, four days before she filed the report. The police report states that the responding officer arrived at Boutet’s home at 5:32 p.m., Jan. 8, where Boutet sent the responding officer an image of the text message for documentation. Boutet, who withdrew her candidacy Jan. 17, did not request that the officer contact Clark regarding the incident, according to the police report.

She declined to comment to Wednesday Journal on the text message or police report, however Clark conSee CLARK on page 14

ALEX ROGALS/Staff Photographer

SO VERY COLD: A lone pedestrian, bundled up and brave, makes their way across an Oak Park street during a recent snow.

D200 school board incumbent withdraws from race

Craig Iseli said he needs ‘some chance to reflect’

By MICHAEL ROMAIN Staff Reporter

The race for the four open seats on the

District 200 school board has become a bit less crowded after sitting board member Craig Iseli announced earlier this month that he’s withdrawing from the race.

“It’s been a difficult couple of years and I need some chance to reflect on what’s happening and recharge a little bit,” Iseli said on Monday.

“We’ve accomplished a lot of stuff, but it takes a lot of energy and with so much going on, I need some time to reflect before getting back in the fray.”

With Iseli out of the race, that leaves just one incumbent, board member Tom Cofsky, still in the running. Fred Arkin, See ISELI on page 14

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Thank you, Illinois Legislative Black Caucus

development. Pillar three covers economic acn 1969, Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm — cess, opportunity and equity. Pillar four covers the first Black congresswoman in the counhealth care and human services. try’s history and the first woman to run for In less than a year, the Black Caucus has manthe Democratic Party’s presidential nominaaged to push out seven bills addressing those tion — spoke at Delta Sigma Theta’s founders Four Pillars, which are in the position of likely day luncheon in Brooklyn. Susan Brownmiller, becoming laws that will provide tangible changa reporter for the New York Times, was present es in the lives of many Black and Brown people to write an article that was published in the — changes like ending the cash bail system. paper that year.

I don’t have time or space to go over the “You have no idea what those people in details in all of the bills, but I encourage you Washington with their hands on the power have to research them for yourself at ilga.gov. They been plotting and planning for us,” she said in include: HB 3653, HB 2170, SB 1980, SB 1480, SB her West Indian accent. “Let me tell you. Do not 1608, SB 1792 and HB 3840. be complacent. The Man says he knows we ain’t I know on the surface that this all reads like a never gonna come together.”

Commentary numerical and alphabet soup of abstraction, but Chisholm then facetiously described the beyond the nomenclature is a reality that too “good advice” she’d been receiving from her many of us, Black men in particular, know painfully in our counterparts since ascending to Congress. bones, in our being.

“They tell me, ‘Shirley, you’re just a freshman and you Nearly 40 years after Shirley Chisholm gave that speech have to keep quiet as a freshman.’ … I listen sweetly to in Brooklyn, Kalief Browder, a Bronx teenager, was arthem and then I say, ‘Gentlemen, thank you for your advice.

I understand what you’re saying. But when I get up there on rested for walking in his neighborhood. At the time, he didn’t know what he had done and did not have the stolen the floor of Congress, I’m sure you’ll understand that I am item police claimed to have stopped, searched and arrested speaking with the pent-up emotions of the community’.” him for.

I thought of Chisholm after I interviewed Illinois State Browder was, quite simply, trapped in the Kafkaesque Senator Kimberly Lightford last week about the unprecplot that Shirley Chisholm was talking about — the plot edented package of legislation she’s been able to steer in front of our eyes but that too many white people in through the General Assembly as Senate Majority Leader America are less inclined to believe than QAnon, despite and head of the Illinois Legislative Black Caucus. the overwhelming evidence proving the former.

The senator, who represents parts of Oak Park and River Kalief Browder died by suicide two tormented years after Forest, explained passionately what the caucus has called he was released from Riker’s Island, where he was tortured its “Four Pillars.”

Pillar one covers criminal justice, violence reduction and for three years — by solitary confinement, by grown men assaulting him, by guards who were not guardians — withpolice reform. Pillar two covers education and workforce

MICHAEL ROMAIN

out the state having provided a lick of evidence tying him to a stolen backpack. His bail was $3,000, but his family couldn’t afford to pay it, so he was forced to stay at Riker’s until his trial.

As Lightford read through the long list of reforms included in the caucus’ legislation last week, her pained countenance burdened with the “pent-up emotions of ” her community, she would often pause from the policy speak and talk about the people who may be affected by the Four Pillars legislation.

The unemployed young people she passes on the streets.

Hard-working students struggling to pay college tuition.

Generations of jailed and jobless and just-getting-by breeding more generations of jailed and jobless and just-gettingby. Several times over the last 12 months, at press conferences and in interviews, I’ve seen the state senator break down in tears. The pain is real.

Lightford explained how her caucus, in the wake of George Floyd’s death, unified and collectively resolved to try to bring about tangible racial and economic equity after decades of Springfield fortifying a rigged system — a system that always and forever delays justice and equality and equity for Black and Brown and poor and powerless people.

In order to try ending cash bail, for instance, caucus members had to work in stealth and in tandem, Lightford said, beneath the prying eyes of the police unions and the Downstate Republicans and the other forces Shirley Chisholm channeled in 1969 (the “Man says he knows we ain’t never gonna come together”).

This time, it appears, “we” did. And we have the Black Caucus — whose members worked with grassroots activists and advocates, held hundreds of hours of hearings, combed through research and whipped up the votes — to thank.

Parent wants to get more NK95 masks to teachers

By MICHAEL ROMAIN Staff Reporter

When Josh Vanderberg, the parent of two children who attend District 97 schools, learned that some teachers and community members were worried about the masks the district supplied teachers for students’ return to classes for hybrid learning in February, he acted.

Vanderberg, 49, said he noticed some community members and teachers describing the face masks provided by the district as “tighty whities,” referring to their flimsiness. District administrators said the cloth face masks they gave teachers and students came from the Illinois State Board of Education.

“People were making fun of them because the material [didn’t seem] very effective and I knew we had access to Dave Heeman’s company, which has been importing these higher quality KN95 masks,” Vanderberg said.

“I thought it would be nice for teachers and would give them a level of security.”

Heeman, 46, is CEO of Oak Park-based Paschendale Associates, a packaging company that has a factory in South China. Heeman is a member of Oak Park Coronavirus

Citizen Response, a Facebook group Vanderberg started on March 11.

The group, which allows residents to exchange information and updates on the pandemic, has since amassed roughly 4,400 members (Vanderberg was recognized as one of Wednesday Journal’s Villagers of the Year for his effort).

“I’m in that group and a lot of people have mask questions,” Heeman said, adding that, since March, he’s gotten a reputation as Oak Park’s “mask guy.”

He said his company took a risk way back in February 2020, by shipping masks in bulk “because we saw this coming; that’s our job. … We work a lot in the food industry and many of our customers have these packing warehouses or are working with candy or food products.”

Heeman said Paschendale started supplying the KN95 masks to corporate clients before noticing that his neighbors were in need, too. Heeman’s company, since the pandemic started, has switched from packaging to manufacturing the masks at its South China factory and is able to sell the masks to those who need them at a discounted price.

Normally, he said, the masks would be $2 to $2.25 each, but he was able to supply them

for Vanderberg’s purposes for $1.50 each.

If given more time to fulfill the order, Heeman said, he might have gotten that per unit price down to $1.

A GoFundMe that Vanderberg created on Jan. 27 to raise the funds for the certified KN95 masks, which Heeman said are labtested in the United States, had within a day of its creation garnered roughly $8,200 for a $6,000 goal. A day after the funding was secured, 4,000 KN95 masks made in China were in Oak Park.

Vanderberg said he worked closely with the Oak Park Teachers Association to put the masks in the hands of teachers who want them. As of Feb. 6, according to OPTA officials, roughly half of the masks had been used, he said, adding that the OPTA expects to have them all handed out by the end of this week.

But he’s not done raising funds. On Tuesday, the GoFundMe was at nearly $11,000.

While the community’s show of concern has been inspiring, he thinks the district should take a more direct role in supplying better PPE for teachers.

“I think the community voted with their wallets that teachers need better PPE,” said Vanderberg, whose two children are return-

ing to classrooms this trimester.

He understands that masks, even NK95 ones, aren’t the be-all-end-all when it comes to COVID-19 mitigations, but he thinks the district should consider purchasing more NK95s, in order to make teachers feel safer and more secure in the classrooms.

In an email statement, D97 Communications Director Amanda Siegfried explained that the district “has been preparing extensively for the transition to hybrid learning, making sure to adhere to national and state guidelines to get buildings ready.”

She said the district provided PPE to students and staff based on recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the Illinois Department of Public Health.

“All staff were distributed cloth face masks that were provided to the district by the Illinois State Board of Education,” Siegfried said. “The district also has an extensive supply of disposable face masks (adult and child). Other items distributed upon request include face shields, isolation gowns and gloves. Key staff, including all school nurses, have also been fitted for N95 respirators, as required by OSHA regulations.”

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Wednesday Journal, February 10, 2021

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BIG WEEK

Singing Valentines Order by Saturday, Feb. 13; delivered Sunday, Feb. 14.

Virtually with Pro Musica Youth Chorus (PMYC) Support the chorus while showing someone you care about them with a unique gift — recordings by the students of Pro Musica. Songs to choose from include, “True Colors” by the Harmonia chorus, “Happy Together” by Harmonia, “Count On Me” performed by last season’s Canterini choir and “God Only Knows” by PMYC high school seniors. Each song is accompanied by entertaining videos. $20. Order: ProMusicaYouthChorus.org.

February 10-17

Valentine’s Market

Gather

Online through Friday, Feb. 12, in Person Saturday, Feb. 13, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Oak Park Conservatory Shop for blooming Valentine gifts from the Conservatory’s greenhouse. Choose from orchids, anthuriums, sweetheart hoyas, succulent heart gardens, fresh-cut bouquets and more. Shop online: pdop.org/parks-facilities/oak-park-conservatory/programs-events. In person: 615 Garfield St.

Children’s Animal Valentine Card Craft Pick Up

Henry Fogel Presents: Gaudete Brass Quintet Wednesday, Feb. 10, 7 p.m., Zoom with the Nineteenth Century Charitable Association

This quintet has committed itself to presenting serious brass chamber music through compelling concerts, commissioning new works and adventurous recordings. $15, requested donation.

Register: nineteenthcentury.org

Valentine’s Day Concert Saturday, Feb. 13, 7 p.m., Virtually with Unity Temple Restoration Foundation Join three musical duos performing music of romance pre-recorded at Frank Lloyd Wright’s Unity Temple. Performing are Liba Shacht, violin, and John Sharp, cello; Ariella Mak-Neiman and Adam Neiman, piano; and Duo Diorama: MingHuan Xu, violin, and Winston Choi, piano. Hear music of Maurice Ravel, Reinhold Glière, Edward Elgar, Johannes Brahms, Camille Saint-Saëns, Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Amy Beach and Paul Schoenfield. Audience Q&A follows. $20, per household; $10, students. Event available for viewing for 48 hours after it airs. Tickets/ more: utrf.org/event/valentinesconcert

Autobiography of a Freedom Rider: My Life as a Foot Soldier for Civil Rightss Saturday, Feb. 13, 2 to 3:30 p.m., Zoom with the River Forest Public Library Author and activist Thomas Armstrong shares his first-hand experience in the Civil Rights Movement and discusses his book.

Register: riverforestlibrary.librarymarket.com/events/autobiography-freedom-rider-my-life-foot-soldier-civil-rights

Thursday, Feb. 11 through Sunday, Feb. 14; 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Trailside Museum of Natural History Kids can create a cute animal Valentine’s Day card to give to an animal at Trailside or to their own special Valentines! Pick up a bag at the Museum with all the materials.

Supply your own crayons, glue and scissors. 738 Thatcher Ave., River Forest.

Reception Friday, Feb. 12, 1 to 8 p.m., Oak Park Art League See the newest art exhibition in person. It examines how recent experiences of isolation inform the way artists think and work. Face masks must be worn and social distancing observed. Through Feb. 25. Free. More: oakparkartleague.org/exhibits. 720 Chicago Ave., Oak Park.

Candidate Forums – Oak Park Village Clerk and President Saturday, Feb. 13, Zoom with the Oak Park Public Library Submit questions in advance to lwvoprf1924@gmail.com or during the forums by chat in Zoom.

2 to 3 p.m. - Oak Park Village Clerk candidates: LouAnne Johannesson and Christina Waters 3:30 to 4:30 p.m.: Oak Park Village President candidates: Cate Readling and Vicki Scaman Hosted by the League of Women Voters of Oak Park & River Forest, in partnership with Oak Park Public Library.

Register: oppl.org/calendar

Wright Virtual Visits 2.0 Thursday, Feb. 11, Noon, livestream on Facebook This month, see Allen House (Wichita, KS) & Westcott House (Springfield, OH) in this “side-by-side” monthly virtual visit while many Frank Lloyd Wright-designed public sites are closed. The visits focus on a particular theme, comparing and contrasting how that theme is expressed. Access: facebook.com/events/2614220522209515. Free.

Brought by Unity Temple Restoration Foundation. More and to view archived visits: SaveWright.org/WrightVirtualVisits.

Winter Warmth Concerts Wednesdays, through March 10, 4 to 5 p.m. and after, virtually with the Symphony of Oak Park and River Forest View a local gem performing in a local gem — Pleasant Home. Each week, a new mini-concert is released, performed by members of the Symphony. On Feb. 10, see Bach’s Cello Suite No. 1 in G Major, transcribed for viola. Feb. 17 features Mozart’s Duet for Violin and Viola No. 1 in G Major. The Feb. 24 concert features Bach’s The Art of the Fugue and String Quartet, Mov’t No. 4, written by the Symphony’s Keith Jones, who will also play viola. March 3 brings solo music for flute and tuba along with a Vivaldi Concerto for Two Cellos. The concluding concert on March 10 is Ireland’s Downland Suite. Individual performances: $9, Oak Park residents; $12, non-residents. Series (includes 6 concerts): $54, Oak Park residents; $67, non-residents. Register by 3 p.m. each Wednesday to see the new concert or sign up for the whole series: pdop.org, 708-725-2000.

Wednesday Journal, February 10, 2021

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The shrinking race for Oak Park’s village board

rying to write this column quick before anyone else drops out of contention for a seat on one of Oak Park’s elected boards. Last weekend started with news that Deno Andrews had ended his campaign for reelection to the village board.

On Sunday I heard from Craig Iseli that he had decided against seeking reelection to the school board at OPRF. Add to that the earlier reporting that Simone Boutet had ended her campaign for village president — twice — and that Dan Moroney had similarly chosen not to run for that same office.

Not normal.

That means the trio of rookie candidates elected to the Oak Park Village Board in 2017 all declared for reelection or for higher office and then concluded, “Never mind.”

What happened? Some combination of too toxic, family concerns linked to perceptions of too toxic, not ready for the fight and, says Deno Andrews, “I’ve got a heckuva job offer pending.”

So I called Andrews Monday afternoon to hear him confirm that he is about to leave his consulting days behind him and, he says, take a post with a “large, international company.” He would not offer up the name of the company because he said all details are not final and because he is “Greek and superstitious.”

His take is that, while working as a consultant for 30-35 hours per week allowed him time for both his family and the village board, working “50-60 hours” per week in his new post would not permit him to do three things well.

“I’ve never gone to a village board meeting unprepared. I don’t want to be that absentee trustee,” he said.

Asked if the decision to step away was a tough choice, Andrews said, “It wasn’t an emotional decision.” More just the reality of his life changing, he said.

Andrews said he took “pride in making unemotional decisions, in making factbased decisions.” He is not, he said, a fan

of “the personal drama” often seen on the current village board or the current campaign.

“It’s not easy being an elected official. I’m pretty thickskinned.

Pressure affects people differently, the stress,” he said, discussing his two former running mates, Boutet and Moroney. Calling both friends, he “understands their perspectives; I understand the variables.” But he says his own family is “pretty separated from the politics,” making public criticism easier to take.

Asked if the second two years of his term, with two new members joining, were harder, Andrews’ first response was, “Not any more or less miserable than from day one.” But he went on to talk about the current board and its inability to make headway on racial equity.

He said the current board “can’t even figure out what those words [racial equity] mean. It is hard to write policy when you can’t agree on the meaning.”

Andrews said the sitting board lacks “synergy” on this issue. “Dan and Arti (Walker-Peddakotla) are on different sides of the coin.

We are not in a phase where people are open to listening to others.”

And now we get to the crux of the current chaos in trying to mount a campaign for the village board and village president in 2021. It’s about the failure of the current board and the one before it (OK, and the one before that) to seriously, thoughtfully address equity in Oak Park’s village government.

This isn’t an issue that has snuck up on anyone after all. Village government went from bold leadership on racial integration in the 1970s to either tone deafness or denial of equity issues in this century.

As candidates slough off from the current race, it seems to assure that equity will be defined and debated after the coming election. The failure of the sitting board to make headway, to really listen, means a more progressive village board will do the work, do the defining, make the choices.

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ART BEAT

Fenwick grad goes Hollywood with ‘Bad Cupid’ movie Indie film streams starting Valentine’s weekend

By MICHELLE DYBAL Arts Editor

Not everyone’s Valentine’s Day is filled with love, flowers and chocolates. A new feature film, Bad Cupid, which releases by video on demand on Friday, Feb. 12, goes down a dark road as it follows a man still obsessing over the woman he lost in a break up a year ago. The film is written and executive produced by a team that includes Fenwick alumni Anthony Piatek.

The black comedy features Dave (Shane Nepveu) pining away for his lost love, Denise (Christine Turturro), and his cousin Morris (Briana Marin) who tries her best to get him to move on. When they come across Archie, who is, unbeknownst to them, “Bad Cupid,” things turn terribly dark. Various love interests are lost and found in unexpected ways during the film. Archie is played by John Rhys-Davies best known as Gimli in Lord of the Rings and the Indiana Jones character Sallah.

This is Piatek’s first film.

After graduating from Fenwick in 2000,

he began working full time at the Chicago Board of Trade at age 19, while earning his degree at DePaul. He spent 16 years on the trading floor and still has a career and fulltime job in the financial industry.

His first foray into scriptwriting was based on his day-job experience. “I came up with an idea to create a TV series about the trading floor, so I wrote a TV pilot called, The Trade,” Piatek said. He describes the show as “a dramatic expose of the Chicago Commodities Exchange.”

“After years of trying to learn how to write and even flying out to LA to pitch the idea, I realized that I needed to team up with someone to help make me a better writer and to help make the pilot script stronger,” he said. “Luckily through networking, I met Neal Howard who was an ex-Hollywood TV writer.”

Howard, a Chicagoan, worked with Piatek on the re-write of The Trade and became his “official co-writer.”

“We quickly discovered that we worked very well together and shared a great connection,” Piatek said. “He handed me an old screenplay he co-wrote with his old writing partner, Ira Fritz, … and said, ‘See what you can do with it.’ So I took that script, gutted it and rebuilt it. Neal and I then went back-

Courtesy Bad Cupid Production

HEARTS, NO FLOWERS: Shane Nepveu as Dave and Briana Marin as Morris in ‘Bad Cupid’. through it together. Then Ira got involved.

And it turned out to become the script for what is now Bad Cupid.”

Besides having renewed hopes for The Trade to be picked up post movie release, Piatek said another pilot he cowrote, Sex & the Single Girl, a comedy about dating in the digital age, continues to circulate in Hollywood.

In addition to that, during the summer

of 2020, he and Howard scripted what they expect to be their next film, ScriptFest, “a mockumentary lampooning the con artistry of Hollywood industry pitch fests,” Piatek said.

Stream “Bad Cupid” on Amazon, iTunes, Google Play, YouTube Movies and through cable starting Feb. 12. View the trailer, more on the film and pre-order streaming: badcupidmovie.com.

Richard Ford shares virtual stories in Writing Matters The odd intimacy of Zoom from 19th Century Association

By BILL YOUNG Guest Writer

On Sunday, acclaimed novelist and short story writer Richard Ford will be my guest for the next virtual installment of Writing Matters, held in conjunction with the Nineteenth Century Charitable Association.

Our webinar format began as a stop-gap compromise for the inability to do live in-person events. In fact, Ford was to have been our first in-person Writing Matters program last summer. But this new format has become satisfying in unexpected ways. It brings together a virtual world-wide audience, as well as authors from anywhere. We’ve had readers from as far away as Spain, South Africa and New Zealand.

And, our last author, Rachel Joyce, joined us from her home in England. I’m planning talks with writers from Ireland and Scotland.

In my discussion with Ford, we will be highlighting his latest story collection Sorry for Your Trouble as well as having a conversation about his long and varied writing career.

Sorry for Your Trouble is comprised of nine self-contained stories dealing with late middle age angst over marriage, divorce, sudden death, past relationships and natural disaster.

Beautifully written with uncommon grace and precision, Ford produces a complete character in a snapshot of an incident.

Ford’s novels include the 1996 Pulitzer Prize and PenFaulkner Award-winner Independence Day, which, with The Sportwriter, The Lay of The Land, and Let Me Be Frank with You, comprise a quartet of novels encompassing the 30-year arc in the life of Frank Bascombe, a New Jersey sportswriter turned Realtor. For a brief time, Ford was a sportswriter for the short-lived “Inside Sports” magazine.

Ford’s Canada, published in 2013, won both the Andrew Carnegie Medal of Excellence and The Prix Femina, France’s award for foreign novels. And last year, the author was awarded the Library of Congress Prize for American Fiction.

He’s published numerous short story collections, a memoir of his parents, and his novel, Wildlife, was turned into a film.

While earning his MA from the University of California-Irvine, one of his instructors was novelist E.L. Doctorow. Ford, in turn, has been a professor at Bowdoin College, the

University of Mississippi, Columbia University and Trinity College Dublin. He has formed long friendships with writers including Raymond Carver, Walker Percy, Tobias Wolff and Jim Harrison.

Join Bill Young and Richard Ford virtually on Sunday, Feb. 14, 3 p.m. The event is free. Register: Nineteenthcentury. org. “Sorry for Your Trouble.” Other Richard Ford books are available at The Book Table, booktable.net, 1045 Lake St., Oak Park.

Photo provided

Pulitzer Prize-winning author Richard Ford comes (remotely) to Oak Park.

Wednesday Journal, February 10, 2021

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Equity policy for RF nears consensus and approval Draft resolution expected by Feb. 22

By ROBERT J. LIFKA Contributing Reporter

River Forest officials moved closer to formalizing their internal diversity, equity and inclusion initiative at the Feb. 8 virtual village board meeting, reaching consensus on all but two elements.

Following the Feb. 8 discussion, village officials are expected to receive at the Feb. 22 village board meeting a draft resolution formalizing the initiative, including creation of a resident advisory work group to provide feedback and advice. Also expected at the Feb. 22 meeting are drafts of the group’s application form and list of the group’s responsibilities.

Discussion of the initiative began in September. Although the external component, a partnership with Dominican University in River Forest, is moving forward, the internal com-

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inclusion. Scheiner is the acting village adminponent has not seen the same progress despite being the subject of discussion at numerous vilistrator until the board hires a replacement for lage board meetings over the past six months.

Eric Palm, who resigned to take a similar posiOfficials still are undecided on the size of the tion in Hoffman Estates. advisory group and the length of the application At the Jan. 25 meeting, Palm offered draft purperiod. In a memo to the board, Lisa Scheiner, pose, mission and goals statements. acting village administrator, recommended that The board appeared to accept the purpose the group consist of seven members and the apstatement, “To develop a diversity, equity and inplication be posted online for six weeks. clusion initiative for the village of River Forest,” However, village President Cathy Adduci and but Bachner suggested a change to his proposed Trustee Erika Bachner advocated for 12 memmission statement, “To remove barriers that bers. Trustee Rescipio Vazquez agreed that prevent the participation, engagement and welseven was too few but suggested leaving the coming environment for all our residents, businumber “open for now.” Adduci said the board ness members, visitors, employees in municipal could either delay adopting the resolution until services, community and civic engagement; and, the specific number is determined or adopt the in doing so, build trust amongst all parties.” She resolution without listing a specific number and suggested adding “equitable” to “welcoming enamending it later. Bachner and Vazquez recomvironment.” mended shortening the length of the application Palm’s proposed goals, which included hiring CATHY ADDUCI period with Bachner suggesting four weeks and a consultant to assess village operations and dePresident Vazquez, 30 days. sign a work plan to address diversity, equity and Group members will be appointed by Adduci inclusion, were also generally accepted. A modiwith the concurrence of the village board. Adfied version of a similar document created by duci also will select two co-leads of the group, Bachner and Trustee Katie Brennan will be used a village trustee and the village administrator. Support for Bachner as the trustee co-lead came Vazquez and from resi- as basis for the work group’s responsibilities.

“Based on our conversation, we’ve moved pretty far,” Addent John Grant during the citizen comments portion, who referred to her as “the Tom Brady” of diversity, equity and duci said. “I think it’s going to be great.”

“Based on our conversation, we’ve moved pretty far.”

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few weeks ago, I got into my Ford Flex and drove to Trader Joes. After a little over a mile drive, I arrived safely and parked in the parking lot. I went to unlock my seatbelt and felt a rush of feelings spill over me. Panic because I forgot to wear my seatbelt and gratitude because I made it safely despite being unbuckled. This was an anomaly as I have been buckling up religiously for years. But that has not always been the case.

Growing up in the 1970s my family never wore seatbelts. Frankly, I do not think the car we drove around in as kids even had seatbelts.

It was my grandpa Harney’s little black sedan that we shared with my cousins.

Later, we traded my grandpa’s car for a Vista Cruiser station wagon which was equipped with seatbelts.

However, the only time I remember a seatbelt even being mentioned was

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while my family was on vacation and my mother warned, “Put your seatbelts on kids, your father is driving through the mountains.”

Hilarious, as if our seatbelts would save us from the 5,000-foot drop.

In my young adulthood, nobody wore seatbelts unless we were forced to by the car’s design. Remember the automatic seatbelt that moved around the door to belt us in? That old design trick did not deter my friends and me from remaining beltless. We outwitted that seatbelt by scooching out of its way while it moved then we sat on it, obscuring its use. Genius! What a bunch of idiots.

Nowadays that behavior seems so ridiculous.

So, what changed? Why did I go from emboldened in my twenties to vigilantly cautious in my fifties? Data, education, and community. I could not deny the increasing onslaught of studies and data that wearing a seatbelt could save my life. The lightbulb finally went on. Plus, my friends were beginning to recognize the value of wearing a seatbelt. There is strength in community.

Now I am as vigilant about my family wearing their seatbelts in my Ford Flex as I would be if we were riding a roller coaster. Hence my panic in the Trader Joe’s parking lot.

My view on estate planning is like my view on seatbelts. I am an estate planning true believer. An estate plan may not be able to save your life, but it can save a whole bunch of heartache for your family.

Now that I have the data and education about the value of estate planning, I cannot believe I ever

traveled through adulthood and years of parenting without one. I know the amount of disruption and divisiveness probate can cause. I have seen that a medical emergency can turn into a crisis without powers of attorney. The lightbulb finally went on when my husband Mike had his heart attack.

I am happy to say I no longer have that guilty irresponsible feeling of not having an estate plan when I board an airplane or drive out of town without the kids.

Luckily, today 90.7% of us regularly wear our seatbelts and in 2019 almost 15,000 people’s lives were saved by wearing one. I hope estate planning follows a similar trajectory. Perhaps, one day probate court will be a thing of the past.

Start creating an estate plan today.

708-819-1580

www.theresaclancylaw.com theresa.clancy@theresaclancylaw.com

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Wednesday Journal, February 10, 2021

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PROUD TO PARTNER WITH THE FOREST PARK CHAMBER OF COMMERCE

Feeling the love in Forest Park Celebrate Valentine’s Day in traditional and creative ways on Madison Street

Pay attention lovebirds, Forest Park has everything you need to play Cupid on Feb. 14. No matter if you want to keep things supremely traditional or especially creative the artisans, bakers, tavern owners and restaurateurs on Madison Street have put passion into creating special products for the upcoming lovey-dovey holiday.

Expect to be covered in kisses if you choose to gift any of these thoughtful ValFood Writer entine’s Day treats to the loves in your life!

Keep things traditional and treat yourself or someone you care about to a box of artisan chocolates from La Maison de Bon Bon. The boutique chocolate shop, 7353 Madison St., is a tiny jewel box of a store with room for just a few shoppers at a time. In addition to the silky smooth original French Crème confections they have been whipping up since 1921, La Maison de Bon also offers traditional dark or milk chocolate assortments boasting pink, red and white decorations for Valentine’s Day. Additionally, the shop sells bottles of wine with a quartet of

MELISSA ELSMO

chocolates, house-made caramel, and chocolate dipping sauces, as well as vanilla butter creams, caramel coated popcorn, and peanut butter cups. How sweet is that?

Joe Sullivan, owner of Duffy’s Tavern, 7513 W. Madison St. in Forest Park, is bringing a creative cocktail twist to Valentine’s Day. The wellloved tavern is offering tasting of five whiskey and chocolate pairings in limited quantities and promises loads of delicious fun with every sip and sample. Each combination will allow bourbon connoisseurs and chocolate lovers to come together to experience some intriguing and powerful taste sensations.

Look for a French single malt to pair swimmingly with an intense dark chocolate to evoke the flavor of a cherry cordial and a powerful orange punch in another pair featuring a readily available whiskey. The tasting is designed to be shared and is available via curbside service and must be pre-ordered through Duffy’s website by Feb. 12 and will likely sell out.

“I’ve made heart shaped pizzas a special feature at Jimmy’s Place for Valentine’s Day this year,” said Jimmy Jodoin, owner of Jimmy’s Place, 7411 W. Madison St. The Italian eatery serves up loads of classic dishes, but Jodoin is particularly proud of his pizza. Cooked in a 75-year-old pizza oven every pie, from crust to sauce, is crafted with house-made ingredients and topped with top quality cheeses, meats and veggies. There is no sugar in the sauce at Jimmy’s place, but their pizza is made with Alla Cucina tomatoes and a lot of heart. And now the Forest Park main-

From left: Joana Fisher, owner of Twisted Cookie and her team members including Patricia Bahena and Susan Sawyer have an array of confections ready for you to fall in love with.

Show some love for your Valentine with heart-shaped red velvet cookies from Twisted Cookie in Forest Park.

all photos by Melissa Elsmo

The dark chocolate assortment from La Masion de Bon Bon features flourishes in shades of pink and red.

Valentine’s Day treats are plentiful at La Maison de Bon Bon.

Wednesday Journal, February 10, 2021

OAKPARK.COM | RIVERFOREST.COM

Joe Sullivan’s whiskey and chocolate tasting is a Valentine’s Day treat available from Duffy’s Tavern via pre-order. stay is putting a family spin on a traditionally romantic holiday by serving up 16-inch heart shaped pizzas on Valentine’s weekend. Simply request a heart shaped pie when placing your order — there is no additional charge for the festive shape.

Joana Fischer, head baker and owner of Twisted Cookie, 7401 Madison St., has an assortment of creative Valentine’s Day treats ready to go. You can taste the love in every bite of her red velvet heart-shaped sandwich cookies filled with fluffy cream cheese frosting.

Twisted Cookie is also presenting generously sized cake sticks decorated to honor the holiday. Vanilla or chocolate cake slices are topped with decadent whipped chocolate ganache and dipped in a chocolate coating before being em-

blazoned with messages of love or sprinkled with red candy hearts.

Double decker chocolate chip cookies large enough to feed several folks are stuffed with peanut butter whipped ganache making them an ideal finish to any family-friendly Valentine’s Day celebration. Pre-orders are encouraged at Twisted Cookie, though Fischer welcomes walk-in customers anytime.

Say cheers to love in Forest Park! *All food credited to Melissa Elsmo was ordered via carry-out and plated at home.

photo by Gil Rangel

Jimmy’s Place is offering heart shaped pizzas on Valentine’s Day weekend.

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D90 family members, staff can get COVID test Rapid results available within half an hour

By MARIA MAXHAM Contributing Reporter

River Forest’s elementary school District 90 announced last week that it will expand its COVID-19 antigen testing program to include household members of D90 students, faculty and staff.

In January, D90 began providing testing for symptomatic students, faculty and staff and for those who had been exposed to people positive for COVID-19, and now immediate household members can be tested too.

The district has been using Abbott BinaxNOW antigen tests, which are admin-

istered on-site at Roosevelt Middle School.

Symptomatic or exposed individuals can have tests administered during scheduled appointments three times a week, and the tests are administered by BinaxNOW trained and licensed medical professionals, including school nurses. Results are available within 15 to 30 minutes.

All test results are reported to the Cook County Department of Public Health (CCDPH) and are subject to contact tracing.

According to the release from the district, antigen tests, such as those being run in D90, are not as accurate as PCR (polymerase chain reaction) tests, though results are more quickly obtained. Therefore, it is possible that someone who tests negative can, in fact, actually be positive for COVID-19.

Anyone with symptoms will be instructed to

consult a doctor, regardless of whether the test result is positive or negative.

The tests cost the district nothing; according to the press release, they are being obtained from the CCDPH through the Illinois Department of Public Health.

Testing must first be approved by a D90 school nurse, infection control officer or administrator. Students must have a signed authorization for testing from a parent or guardian and a signed authorization allowing results to be shared with the child’s physician and with the school district. Adults will need to sign consent forms as well.

The test center uses a drive-up model, though walk-up testing can be made available if necessary. Testing is done curbside, keeping potentially infected individuals from entering the school building, and those

being tested are asked to leave the area immediately after testing. They will be contacted with results.

Extra cleaning and disinfecting protocols are being followed, and accommodations have been made for the disposal of medical waste.

The goal, said the district in a release on Feb. 3, is “to abate the spread of the coronavirus and prevent potentially infected individuals from entering the school building.”

“The district is enthusiastic about the role it will play in assisting students, families, and staff members in mitigating the risk of COVID-19 transmission within the D90 community, and by extension, the entire community,” reads the release.

Learn more on the district’s website at district90.org.

Deer committee narrowly votes to recommend culling Group will finalize report next month; dissenting reports will be allowed

By MARIA MAXHAM Staff Reporter

A heated meeting of the Ad Hoc Deer Committee on Jan. 19 ended in a vote narrowly in favor of recommending culling to the River Forest village board.

The final vote was 8 to 6, with chair Tom Cargie’s pro-culling vote questioned by at least one committee member since he is also a village trustee, and whether he should get a second vote on the issue when it goes before the board was brought up.

With the pro-culling vote, the committee will prepare a report recommending the village of River Forest contract with sharpshooters from the Illinois Department of Natural Resources (IDNR) to control the deer population in Thatcher Woods. The report will be finalized at a March 9 meeting of the committee, after which it will be presented to the village board.

Dissenting opinions and reports will be allowed, Cargie said.

The committee recently gathered and published results of a survey of River Forest residents on the deer population. Results are available on the village website here: https://www.vrf.us/boards/board/20.

The survey included responses from 1,514 River Forest residents. Results were about 50/50 in response to whether the respondent had experienced any “deer issues,” with 49 percent reporting none and 51 percent reporting yes.

Of those who responded they had seen issues with deer (836 people), the three biggest problems were damage to vegetation (87.3% had experienced this), feces in yard (62.1% experienced this) and the idea that deer had become “too tame,” a notion that nearly 50 percent of respondents to the question supported.

As for culling, survey responses were as follows, based on a total of 1,509 answers to the question regarding solutions to the deer overpopulation problem: ■ Do nothing and leave deer alone: 22.8 percent (344 responses) ■ Prefer non-lethal (no killing deer) options (i.e. more traffic signs, education): 27.8 percent (420 responses) ■ Prefer lethal (killing of deer via professional sharpshooting): 22 percent (332 responses) ■ Prefer a combination of both options above for managing issues: 18.6 percent (280 responses) ■ No opinion/do not care: 2.2 percent (33 responses) ■ Other: 6.6 percent (100 responses) “We’ve done our due diligence,” said committee member Don Hollenbach in response to the survey results. “Now it’s time to listen to the people. You can see it right here on this graph.”

Julie Armstrong said she disagreed with Hollenbach’s assessment, because although people are finding feces in their yards and their plants are being destroyed, “there is really no evidence saying and citing that we have life or death situations; the life-ordeath situation here is for the wildlife.” If there were more traffic accidents attributed to deer, she said, it would be a different story.

Other anti-culling members of the com-

mittee, too, tried to steer the meeting’s discussion toward doing more research or even another community survey, including Laurie Gillard, who shared information about how other communities have dealt with similar issues.

On the pro-culling side, though, some committee members said they were tired of the same arguments coming up time and time again.

“One year later, I still believe that the people that don’t want to cull the deer is that it’s down to an animal rights thing,” Cathleen Hughes said. “I’ve heard quotes from committee members, ‘death is permanent’ … I respect other people’s feelings.” However, said Hughes, we live in a world “where animal consumption is widely acceptable.”

According to documentation from the IDNR, venison from the culled deer would be donated to the Greater Chicago Food Depository.

Hughes also argued against the characterization of those who support culling by some anti-culling committee members as “the people that want their plants are jerks, and they want to kill deer.”

“I mean, it’s a population management system, not deer eradication; it’s not something that we’re just, you know, looking to kill off Bambi and his mother and, you know, call it a day,” Hughes said, adding that controlling the deer population would help prevent chronic wasting disease, something that would benefit the herd.

Ron Lemar said he, too, was tired of the same issues being brought up over and over.

“I believe that there’s several members of this committee who filibuster the same points over and over again at every single committee meeting,” Lemar said. “Laura

[Gillard], you keep bringing up sterilization.

I think we know that that is not an option.

We’ve been told that’s not an option. But yet it comes up at every single meeting for some reason, and you keep going on and on about it.”

“If I hear the argument about birth control one more time, I think my head is going to explode,” Hollenbach said at another point of the meeting.

After the heated discussion, Cargie said the close vote indicated the committee was doing its job and was well-selected to represent the issue.

“It’s reflective of our village,” Cargie said.

“I mean, it’s a testament to the village president’s ability to balance a board. But it’s where we’re at.”

Committee member Annette Madden, however, disagreed. “I was just going to say in response to yours about our village president doing such a wonderful job picking a committee. I would have to say that I think the exact opposite … I am not against a cull.

I actually came on to learn about the deer, learn about our committee. And all I really learned about was is exactly how our governments run. And it is rigged from the beginning. And I’m embarrassed to be a part of this group.”

Members who voted in favor of culling were Dan Hollenbach, John Roeger, Cathleen Hughes, Ron Lemar, Jack Flynn, Tom Cargie, Dawn Mizgala and Joel Leuking.

Those who voted against were Annette Madden, Julie Armstrong, Marta Kozbur, Ingrid Liu, Laurie Gillard and Katherine Christmas.

Wednesday Journal, February 10, 2021

OAKPARK.COM | RIVERFOREST.COM

Deno Andrews drops out of Oak Park trustee race Sitting trustee withdraws

By STACEY SHERIDAN Staff Reporter

As April 6 nears, the candidate pool for Oak Park village board continues to narrow. Sitting trustee Deno Andrews announced on Facebook late Friday, Feb. 5 that he was no longer seeking reelection, feeling he has “done his duty.”

“Serving this village first as a Board of Health Commissioner for six years, and as a Trustee these last four years, has genuinely been an honor and privilege,” Andrews wrote.

“I will save the official goodbye note for when my term is up the end of April.”

He joins fellow board members Trustees Dan Moroney and Simone Boutet, both of whom had launched campaigns for village president, in bowing out as candidates in the consolidated municipal election. All three were elected to the village board in 2017.

Andrews cited work constraints as his reasons for stepping out.

“Over the course of the last several years I have had the privilege of a flex-

ible work schedule, which will not be the case moving forward,” Andrews wrote.

If reelected, Andrews’s new work schedule and travel load would require him to miss either too many board meetings or time spent with his family; neither of which he was willing to do, according to the statement.

“I was really looking forward to debating the many issues facing Oak Park. But alas, at this time there are other priorities in my life,” Andrews wrote.

Andrews closed out his statement by thanking those who helped circulate his campaign petition, noting how challenging the COVID-19 pandemic made obtaining signatures.

“Your dedication to helping me get on the ballot is truly humbling,” said Andrews. “I owe you all and will absolutely be there for you when you need my support for one of your projects.”

Who’s still in the race?

With the departures of Simone Boutet and Dan Moroney from the race for village president, with Deno Andrews decision to drop his bid for reelection as a trustee, with the decision of the local electoral board to leave Anthony Clark and Chibuike Enyia on the ballot in the trustee race, here’s a handy guide to who is left in the running in the April election.

“ I was really looking forward to debating the many issues facing Oak Park. But alas, at this time there are other priorities in my life.”

DENO ANDREWS Village Trustee

Candidates for Oak Park village president: Choose one Cate Readling Vicki Scaman Candidates for Oak Park village trustee: Choose three Anthony Clark Chibuike Enyia Juanta Griffin Stephen Morales Ravi Parakkat Lucia Robinson Candidates for Oak Park Village Clerk: Choose one Lou Anne Johannesson Christina Waters

Babygold Barbecue making its way to FitzGeralds Notable Chicago chef to join forces with Berwyn music venue Despite the pandemic, Will Duncan is breathing new life into FitzGeralds, 6615 Roosevelt Rd. in Berwyn. He is teaming up with acclaimed Chicago chef and Berwyn resident, John Manion, to bring Babygold Barbecue to the restaurant space housed on the grounds of the historic live music venue.

Babygold Barbecue will replace the now closed Capri Ristorante Italiano at 6613 Roosevelt Rd. and is poised for a spring opening. Chef Manion is the well-respected owner of El Che Steakhouse in Chicago and promises to deliver an Americaninspired menu of smoked meats and creole dishes synonymous with the FitzGerald’s brand. Babygold promises to be a top-quality restaurant sure to please food and music lovers in Berwyn and the surrounding communities.

Melissa Elsmo, Oak Park Eats Editor

Courtesy David Kindler

Will Duncan, Fitzgerald’s owner (front left) and Chef John Manion (right) accompanied by back row left to right Michelle Larson, assistant general manager, Grace Jackson, marketing and design manager, Donnie Biggins, head of music.

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Oak Park board discusses sustainability issues

Village board discusses sustainability actions

By STACEY SHERIDAN Staff Reporter

Sustainability and environmental initiatives took the spotlight during the Oak Park Village Board’s Feb. 8 meeting, The meeting began with the village board passing a proclamation declaring 2021 “The Year of the Butterfly,” as proposed by the Oak Park environmental club Earth Action Team. The proclamation is part of the mayor’s “Monarch Pledge,” first taken in 2017, which entails planting milkweed and nectar plants to create a healthy habitat for monarch butterflies and to assist them during their annual migration period.

Discussions of the village’s sustainability efforts took up a large portion of the meeting, with the ad hoc Oak Park Climate Action planning group sharing their recommendations for immediate expenditures.

The recommendations were presented by Laura Derks, who leads the group of volunteers and serves as chair of the village’s Environment and Energy Commission. The group of volunteers includes trustees Susan Buchanan and Simone Boutet.

The recommendations address the vil-

lage’s largest source of greenhouse gas emissions, prioritize an equitable and inclusive approach to climate change, and provide cost-efficient options, according to the group.

The group recommended implementing a public relations campaign to spread awareness about building energy use, which is the highest contributor of greenhouse gasses, including a website that provides climate change information, the village’s initiatives, and resources for energy audits, among other items. Buchanan noted that many energy audits are free of charge.

Trustee Deno Andrews felt the campaign idea would prove ineffective, believing that Oak Park residents do not have the means currently to make changes and would not want energy auditors pointing out areas for improvement in their homes.

“People in general don’t have the money to make these capital improvements on their homes,” said Andrews. He suggested financial help from the village would motivate people more to address energy inefficiency in their homes.

Coincidentally, the group’s recommendations included the creation of a grant, worth between $2,000 to $5,000, to help residents implement energy efficiency changes identified during energy audits, as well as the creation of a program to incentivize installation of solar power.

The Climate Action group suggested hiring a one-time, short-term consultant to help develop a comprehensive climate action plan and a full-time staff person to help implement the plan and carry out future climate action goals.

While other municipalities have hired staff dedicated to climate action, Andrews was “cautious” about hiring a new full-time staff person in Oak Park.

“I don’t know how much these other municipalities with their increased staff have actually moved the needle because of the increased staff,” he said.

Village Manager Cara Pavlicek said she needed to know the board’s goals and preferred time frame for accomplishing them in order to determine whether another staff person was needed. She noted that staff currently has large workloads.

“We are stretched pretty thin, and especially in terms of sustainability,” she said.

Trustee Dan Moroney favored taking a more piecemeal, project-based approach with “less bureaucracy” and “more of a community benefit” rather than having a comprehensive plan to address climate change and greenhouse gas emissions.

“I don’t want to rain on the parade of the work that’s been done. It’s interesting and it has merit,” said Moroney. “I want to hear more.”

The mayor directed staff to review the recommendations and return to the village board in March.

The board voted to defer the green alley improvement project instead of constructing it using the sustainability fund and then reimbursing the fund in 2022 although deferring the project risks the loss of a $475,000 grant from the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District awarded to help pay for the project.

While green alleys lower flooding risks by capturing larger amounts of rainwater — at least 220,000 gallons of water per rainfall of 1 inch or higher, according to Village Engineer Bill McKenna — concrete alleys cost less and last longer.

McKenna stated that a north-south concrete alley costs about $120,000 and lasts 75 to 80 years, while a north-south green alley costs $180,000 and has a lifespan of 30 to 50 years.

Boutet worried that the incoming board, given the financial impacts of the pandemic, might be unwilling to reimburse the sustainability fund and didn’t think going forward with the project was “the right thing to do,” while Trustee Jim Taglia did not want to risk losing the grant money.

Boutet, Andrews, Buchanan and WalkerPeddakotla voted against using the sustainability fund with Taglia, Moroney and AbuTaleb voting in favor using it.

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Sedgwick Perseveres to Overcome Challenges, Move Forward at Lake and Lathrop Developing a high-quality residential project is difficult enough even when everything comes together as planned.

Add unexpected problems and a complicated process becomes even harder.

T

hat’s what has happened for years at the site on the corner of Lake and Lathrop in River Forest. The history of the property and its challenging environmental circumstances would have scared away most developers or defeated others.

Despite a problematic environmental history of the site, legal challenges, an economic meltdown that wreaked havoc on the commercial development and housing markets, and now a global pandemic, Sedgwick Properties, the developer of RF-Lake Street that acquired the multiple sites at Lake and Lathrop in 2017, has persevered to achieve key milestones and is moving toward project groundbreaking in 2021.

The southwest corner of Lake and Lathrop site was the location of dry-cleaning businesses going back to the early 1920s. When the last drycleaning business closed its doors, they left behind environmental contaminants close to residences, businesses, schools and a well-attended church that were the by-product of an era when environmental regulations weren’t as strict as they are today.

Faced with environmental problems and low developer interest, River Forest officials designed a creative plan to transform an under-performing and functionally obsolete property into high-

quality residential condominiums that would generate millions in long-term tax revenue for River Forest.

The village determined proceeds from a successful tax increment financing (TIF) district could be used to encourage development of the site and finance environmental clean-up. It had the potential to create a win-win situation.

From there, the village issued an RFP for developers to present their best ideas to develop the site. But while the location of the property is ideal and the technology was available to remediate the site to ensure public safety, the timing was terrible when that plan ran into the Great Recession of 2008.

Only one developer responded to the RFP, River Forest-based Keystone Ventures, which stepped up to enter into a pre-development agreement with the village in 2009 to create an economic model that enabled River Forest to preserve $2 million from the successful Lake and Harlem TIF for future development. With that financial framework in place, next came the tangled process to acquire the Lake and Lathrop and adjacent properties, which required negotiating with holdout property owners and vacating tenants who did not want to move. That long, expensive process stretched into 2017, when Sedgwick entered the development project with

Keystone Ventures.

From 2017 to 2019 Sedgwick acquired the parcels but not all commercial tenants were willing to leave, which resulted in an eviction process that delayed demolition activities. Once legal issues were resolved, demolition was completed in early 2020, which is when Sedgwick bought out Keystone Ventures. Next on the agenda was no-shortcut environmental cleanup in which Sedgwick worked closely with the village and the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency to clean up the site and prepare it for RF-River Forest, a high-end condominium project that will be the first of its kind in River Forest.

The combination of the most environmentally challenging project in River Forest history, an economic calamity, litigation and, to top it off, a worldwide virus that plunged most commercial development into a standstill would have been enough to cause a less determined developer to throw in the towel. Sedgwick’s persistence is leading toward groundbreaking in mid-2021.

Sedgwick’s commitment to the project is generating consistent buyer interest and sales, with many homes now under contract. Preconstruction pricing is available from $699,000 to $1.475million at RF-Lake Street’s two-, three- and four-bedroom homes.

Each single-floor residence will offer private, walkout spaces with covered terraces running the length of the combined living and dining rooms. Second-floor homeowners will enjoy an additional 1,100 square feet of south-facing terrace, while penthouse homeowners can benefit from access to private rooftop patios. Each condominium will deliver two parking spaces, private elevator access, a chef-quality kitchen and high-volume ceilings.

Showroom hours have been reestablished from 10 a.m. to 12p.m. on Saturday/Sunday and by appointment during the week. Despite COVID-19, interest and excitement regarding the project have remained strong. The suburban home sales market has gained momentum in recent months, as homebuyers look to move away from densely populated neighborhoods in the city.

This trend along with empty nesters has provided a new influx of single-family homeowners eager to downsize to a maintenance-free community like RF-Lake Street.

Corwin Partners at Jameson Sotheby›s International Realty is leading the sales and marketing efforts. Call 312-335-5354 or visit www.RF-LakeStreet.com to schedule a private appointment or virtual presentation.

Wednesday Journal, February 10, 2021

OAKPARK.COM | RIVERFOREST.COM

Proposal for Dreschler site gets mixed reactions at Plan Commission Will return to Oak Park Plan Commission Feb. 18

brought to you by

By STACEY SHERIDAN

Your 5-Step Plan to Spring Into Action

Staff Reporter

The proposed seven-story residential complex at 203 S. Marion St. received differing feedback from the Oak Park Plan Commission during the project’s hearing Feb. 4.

Commissioners’ reactions ran the gamut, with some commissioners having the direct opposite opinion as other members of the commission.

“We anticipate that this will take multiple meetings,” said Chair Iris Sims. “I don’t know if it will take two or three, but, at a minimum two.”

Focus Development has requested to build an 84-foot-10-inch apartment building on the Drechsler Brown & Williams funeral home property, located on the corner of Marion Street and Pleasant Street in the Oak ParkRidgeland Historic District. Zoning code dictates a maximum height of 60 feet. As proposed, the building will have 159 rental units, including six two-story maisonette apartments on the ground floor.

The building will have 123 enclosed parking spaces and Focus has committed to providing electric car charging in 10 percent of the parking slots. Amenities include an outdoor terrace with pool, a dog spa, bike storage, fitness studio, work from home spaces and a coffee shop. Focus Development hired former Plan Commission chair David Mann, of Booth Hansen, as project architect.

Commissioner Tom Gallagher was pleased that Focus had scaled the project back ahead of its Plan Commission hearing but would have liked more apartments in the building.

“I wish we could have more units,” said Gallagher.

Other commissioners were still concerned about the mass, including Commissioner Nick Bridge, who thought the overall size “disruptive to the character of the area.”

Commissioner Jon Hale felt differently.

“I’ve seen very little evidence over the years that new and larger buildings detract from the overall feel of Oak Park,” said Hale.

Hale wanted to see the developers seek higher sustainability certification and wanted the developers to seek out a minority-owned business to operate the coffee shop.

Concerned about the “massiveness of that building in that area” and the limited green space, Commissioner Lawrence Brozek proposed eliminating the middle units.

Commissioner Jeff Clark agreed with Brozek, saying, “I was anticipating a taller building than the underlying zoning is; what

I wasn’t anticipating is that there would be no green space.”

The lack of green space, Clark called, “disappointing.”

Clark suggested removing three of the maisonette units to make a public green space.

“I think the maisonette thing is a great idea,” said Commissioner Jeff Foster. “I know how hard it is to rent that retail space and I don’t think we want that retail space.”

For Clark, allowing first-floor units would necessitate considerably more compensating benefits than Focus is offering to offset the height increase and unit increase.

“First floor units aren’t even allowed in current zoning and would require a variance,” said Clark.

Compensating benefits, according to Focus, include resurfacing the alley at the west side of property, putting a green roof on the building, providing public art and the creation of five full-time jobs for property management staff.

“A lot of them aren’t really compensating benefits; they’re just part of building a new project,” Clark said of Focus’s compensating benefits.

Focus has also committed to working with non-profits to hire five Oak Park minority residents to participate in construction and receive construction job training. The development company intends to work with neighbors to create a car sharing program housed in the development as well.

In lieu of setting aside units to be leased at a lower rate, Focus will pay $1.25 million to the village of Oak Park’s affordable housing fund. Focus representative Courtney Bower said that, if built, the building will generate an additional $750,000 of property and sales tax annually.

“The real estate tax benefit is only 14 percent to the village,” said Gallagher. “But the

sales tax benefit to the community is enormous.”

Citing the small size of units, Gallagher said renters will not do much cooking, preferring to go to local restaurants.

Brozek felt otherwise, saying, “I don’t really see the compensating benefits besides the additional taxes.”

The financial benefits provided by the development outweighed concerns over the building’s design for Commissioner Paul Beckwith, who stated he was for the project “big time.”

“This is a great opportunity even though I’d like for it to be a better architecture building,” said Beckwith.

Commissioner Paul May, who didn’t mind the massing or scaling of the project, felt the architectural style appears “a bit corporate,” while Foster wanted Focus to consider using more “eclectic” surface treatments.

Sims worried that traffic from the building would negatively impact the safety of pedestrians.

“Common sense dictates that we need to be concerned about how the pedestrians are crossing that intersection down Marion Street and in between the Carleton [Hotel] and the development,” said Sims. “It makes absolutely zero sense to me that that wouldn’t be an all-way stop.”

The Plan Commission will resume the hearing for the proposal Feb. 18. Potential subsequent meetings regarding the Focus project have not yet been scheduled, however Beckwith felt proceedings should be delayed as little as possible, given the nearness of the April 6 municipal election.

“My concern too is how this is going to flow in light of the upcoming election,” said Beckwith. “The further we delay this, we’re going to have a new village board and I don’t know if they’re going to be as informed as the present one.”

We are past winter’s midway point, so now is the time to start planning your landscape project or new design. You can spring into action with this five-step plan: Scott 1. Dream – McAdam Jr. What does your dream landscape look like? A great landscape extends your living space to the outdoors. Think about your dream landscape’s “feel,” including amenities.

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Wednesday Journal, February 10, 2021

CLARK

Text message from page 1 firmed he had sent the message to Boutet, whom he said he considered a colleague.

“I’m disappointed and disheartened to hear that the police were contacted based upon a private message that I sent a colleague,” said Clark.

Clark told Wednesday Journal he believed he and Boutet had a cordial working relationship and that they previously met on multiple occasions to discuss issues facing the community.

He revealed that the redacted name in the police report belonged to Kevin Peppard, the man who filed a challenge to Clark’s trustee candidacy. The challenge was ultimately dismissed by the local electoral board.

Clark said a village trustee, whose name he would not share, had told him that Bou-

ISELI

Surprise withdrawal from page 1 who served a term on the board before narrowly losing his re-election bid in 2017, is

OAKPARK.COM | RIVERFOREST.COM tet, a municipal attorney by training, was helping Peppard in his campaign challenge against Clark and that he sent the message to inform Boutet.

“How is that a threat?” Clark said. “I’m a Black man. [She] literally called the police on a Black man.”

Boutet never responded to the message, according to Clark.

“Based upon the systemic issues that exist in our country, anybody looking at this through a diverse and critical lens, the last thing you should do, particularly when the message is nowhere near threatening, is contact the police,” said Clark.

Clark took issue with Boutet for preaching racial equity but calling the police over a text message. He also said Boutet did not reach out to him after a brick carrying a racial slur was found outside his shared campaign headquarters.

Beyond the account from the unnamed trustee, Clark said some members of the community have long conjectured that Peppard, who has challenged several candidates

the only other candidate with previous experience on the D200 board.

Iseli, who has served one term on the board, ran successfully for a seat in 2017, after having served on the District 97 school board for two years. He was appointed to that board in 2015 to fill the seat left vacant after the untimely death of Peter Traczyk.

over multiple election cycles, was receiving assistance in carrying out his cases.

“Where there’s smoke, there’s fire,” Clark said.

Peppard also filed a challenge this year against trustee candidate Chibuike Enyia, which was dismissed as well. As both Clark and Enyia are Black men, many have speculated that the challenges were racially motivated, which Peppard has categorically denied. Peppard has, in past years, challenged the petitions of both Black and white candidates.

While he has no concrete evidence linking Boutet to Peppard, Clark said he has screenshots of public posts made by Peppard that indicate the two are in sync – one of which was a comment Peppard posted on the Wednesday Journal website.

“If Simone Boutet filed paperwork for her new party listing its officers, which I recommended,” Peppard’s comment began.

Peppard posted the comment Jan. 17, in response to the article announcing Boutet had withdrawn from the village presidential

race and refers to Boutet’s slate of trustee candidates. Wednesday Journal has since moved to a new website model that does not support reader comments.

Peppard did not respond to requests for comment.

Clark also said that his election lawyer, Ed Mullen, believed that Peppard’s closing arguments made during Clark’s challenge hearing were not written by Peppard.

He maintained that the text message sent to Boutet was nothing more than him letting her know that he believed she was working with Peppard.

“It was not a threat; I essentially informed her what I was told by a colleague of hers,” said Clark.

If the situation had been reversed and Boutet had sent the message to him, Clark said he would have handled it differently.

“One thing I definitely wouldn’t do is contact an agency that systemically throughout history has been shown to have adversarial relationships with my demographic.”

Iseli declined to discuss his decision in too much detail, adding that he’ll have more to say at his final meeting as a school board member.

With Iseli out of the race, there are now six candidates vying for a seat on the board. Along with Cofsky and Arkin, those candidates include: David Schrodt,

Mary Anne Mohanraj, Kebreab Henry and Elias Ortega.

Iseli will likely have a say in the selection of Oak Park and River Forest High School’s next superintendent. Iseli, who is the CEO of a Chicago company he co-founded, will also have a hand in helping the district navigate the current hybrid learning landscape.

CRAIG ISELI

CONTACT: michael@oakpark.com

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Wednesday Journal, February 10, 2021

OAKPARK.COM | RIVERFOREST.COM

15

Keep safe in cold weather Where to find emergency shelter and how to keep safely warm

By STACEY SHERIDAN Staff Reporter

As the deluge of arctic conditions and extremely low temperatures continues in Cook County, Oak Park’s Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, located at Randolph Street and East Avenue, is providing emergency overnight shelter.

Housing Forward, the Oak Park Homelessness Coalition and Good Shepherd organized the emergency shelter, which will run through this week and likely through the weekend, depending on need and weather.

Due to COVID-19, the maximum capacity in the emergency shelter is restricted to 12 people.

“We are looking for volunteers for the emergency overnight shelter,” said John Harris, of the Oak Park Homelessness Coalition, “But we really want to get the word out to the community so people know there is a safe place to go this week.”

Rush Oak Park Hospital and West Suburban Medical Center are also operating warming centers, with respective capacities of 12 and six people.

Those fortunate to have permanent shelter of their own should note that space heat-

ers, candles and winter storms contribute to an increased risk of home fires, which occur more often in winter than any other season, according to the Oak Park Fire Department.

The fire department advises people to keep anything flammable at least three feet away from heat sources, such as fireplaces, wood stoves, radiators and space heaters.

Along with home fires, winter also presents an increased risk of carbon monoxide poisoning, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The fire department recommends keeping safe by installing carbon monoxide alarms and testing the alarms once a month.

Other home fire prevention tips include blowing out lit candles when leaving the room or going to bed, as well as plugging only one heat-producing appliance into an electrical outlet at a time.

To keep pipes from freezing, Oak Park Public Works Director John Wielebnicki recommends letting water trickle out of faucets, particularly those near or on outside walls.

Wielebnicki directs Oak Parkers experiencing water problems to call public works at (708) 358-5700 before contacting a plumber.

Refuse collection will continue in Oak Park regardless of the temperature.

“Residents and building owners are reminded to clear snow away from refuse and recycling containers to avoid a missed collection,” said Wielebnicki. “If the container is not accessible, it will not be emptied.”

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16

Wednesday Journal, February 10, 2021

OAKPARK.COM | RIVERFOREST.COM

Webinar focuses on tall buildings Oak Park trustee candidate panel asks if high-rises are good enough

By STACEY SHERIDAN Staff Reporter

Oak Park residents have big opinions, especially when it comes to big buildings. Focusing on the future of Oak Park development, village trustee candidate Stephen Morales hosted a webinar, Feb. 4, to discuss the possibilities of using innovative architecture to tackle sustainability, equity and affordability without sacrificing style.

About 160 people tuned in to the panel to hear local architects Antony Wood and Tom Bassett-Dilley share their views on existing Oak Park high-rises and how they believe the village can move its reputation as an architecture hub into the future.

“I think the high-rise developments that have happened in Oak Park, if I’m being polite, are lacking in complete ambition on any level,” said Wood, CEO of the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat, who believes there is a need for increased height and density in Oak Park but felt strongly about the buildings that seek to address the need.

“They are 100 percent, in my view, commercially-driven and they play to no other agenda than a maximum financial return on a plot of land,” he said, before showing examples of buildings throughout the world that pioneered sustainability, color use, communal space, sky gardens and vertical farming.

“Density doesn’t have to come at the expense of amenity or even public space,” Wood said.

Bassett-Dilley said the examples Wood shared were “really fabulous projects and inspiration.”

“It really goes to show that if you have the vision and desire and drive, great things can happen,” he said.

Developers can do more to address energy efficiency in design at marginal upfront costs, according to Bassett-Dilley, president and founder of Bassett-Dilley Architects Ltd., a firm focused on sustainability. But developers do not care to pay those costs because it doesn’t help their bottom line after selling the building.

“That’s a problem with the model of profit being the priority,” he said, urging the community to look beyond the present and envision what it wants the future of Oak Park to look like and identify how that shared vision addresses

equity, sustainability and the village’s character.

“Without vision, we don’t get greatness,” he said.

While he works primarily in the private sector with environmentally-minded clients, Bassett-Dilley noted that some neighborhoods in Seattle are designated eco-districts to guide development priorities. Other municipalities have very specific commitments to affordable housing for each residential project.

“We, as a village, can develop our metrics for success that are reflective of a master plan,” said Bassett-Dilley.

The village’s master plan did not foresee the scale of the high-rise apartment complexes, Albion and Vantage, at Lake and Forest, which he found disappointing.

“It’s not that tall buildings are necessarily bad,” he said.

Wood agreed that without vision and local government standards, “There’s no carrot, there’s no stick, there’s nothing, and so the developer is going to do pretty much what they want to.”

If Oak Park’s goal is to provide greater density, BassettDilley suggested widening streets next to tall buildings, so more light can shine down and allow trees to grow. He also stated that density doesn’t necessarily equate to adding 30 or 40 stories to buildings; it could mean building more fourand five-story buildings in the right places.

Hiring an architect to create a master plan allows the village to address infrastructure and avoid building projects that could initiate the designation of areas as higher or lower income.

“What I’m afraid of is if we start to segregate along economic lines,” Bassett-Dilley said. “That’s not a good model.”

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Please join our community forum, which will be conducted online using Zoom Webinar. You have two options to participate: • To join via Zoom: Go to bit.ly/D200SupSearch • To join by telephone: Call 312-626-6799. Webinar ID: 811 7649 4360

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Wednesday Journal, February 10, 2021

OAKPARK.COM | RIVERFOREST.COM

17

C R I M E

Two roadway shootings in one day Oak Park saw two vehicular shooting incidents Feb. 6.

The first occurred at 2:23 p.m. when the victim’s vehicle was struck with multiple bullets while driving west on Madison Street across Austin Boulevard. According to police reports, an unknown offender fired the shots from a gray sedan which was last seen traveling east on Madison Street. The victim received no injuries from the discharged firearm. The shots damaged the glass door of the nearby Madison-Austin Currency Exchange, located at 2 Madison St. A similar shooting occurred that evening, at 11:40 p.m. in the 400 block of South East Avenue, when another unknown offender discharged a firearm at a man’s vehicle, after he had reversed out of an alley and almost hit the offender’s white automobile. The victim left the area and later noticed his vehicle had received damage from the shooting.

Burglary ■ A man posing as a repairman was let into a residence and once inside, directed the victim to check the water in the basement; the victim later discovered numerous pieces of jewelry were missing in the 900 block of Forest Avenue between 5 p.m. and 10:52 p.m., Feb. 3. The estimated loss was unknown at the time of report.

■ Someone broke into a residence under construction and removed copper piping from inside between 5 p.m.,

computer from inside between 4 p.m. and 5 p.m., Jan. 31 in the 600 block of Washington Street. The estimated loss is $500.

Motor vehicle theft A white 2013 Ford Fusion that was left unlocked, unattended and running was removed from the first block of West Randolph Street between 8:45 a.m. and 8:50 a.m., Feb. 1. The estimated loss is $10,800.

Theft Jan. 29 and 6 a.m., Feb. 2 in the 1100 block of South Elmwood Avenue. The estimated loss is $1,900.

■ A leather bookbag, containing a black Smith & Wesson M&P handgun, was taken from an unlocked vehicle in the 900 block of South Humphrey Avenue between 9 p.m., Feb. 1 and 9 a.m., Feb. 2. The estimated loss is $675.

■ Someone removed a snowblower from an unlocked garage in the 500 block of Woodbine Avenue between 11 a.m., Feb. 1 and 4:06 p.m., Feb. 4. Estimated loss is $381.

■ A snowblower was removed from an unlocked garage in the 1000 block of North East Avenue between 10 p.m., Feb. 1 and 4:13 p.m., Feb. 4. The estimated loss is $950.

■ Someone broke into a vehicle and removed a laptop

Someone cut the catalytic converter from a 2008 Toyota Prius parked in the 400 block of South Lombard Avenue between 2 p.m., Jan. 30 and 3 p.m., Jan. 31. The estimated loss is $2,000.

These items, obtained from the Oak Park Police Department, came from reports Feb. 1 – Feb. 8 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.

Compiled by Stacey Sheridan

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Wednesday Journal, February 10, 2021

OAKPARK.COM | RIVERFOREST.COM

Young artist makes his mark on Black History Month Hasani Cannon’s artwork displayed on Dark Matter Coffee bags

By MICHAEL ROMAIN Staff Reporter

Up-and-coming Oak Park artist Hasani Cannon is making his creative presence felt in the community during Black History Month.

His art is currently on display inside Forest Park National Bank, 7348 Madison St. in Forest Park. He also designed a special edition Black History Month coffee bag for Dark Matter Coffee, which has partnered with YEMBA Inc., a nonprofit that serves Oak Park-area young people.

Cannon, 20, graduated from Oak Park and River Forest High School in 2019 and participated in YEMBA as a middle school student.

He has also been involved in the Oak Park Area Arts Council’s Off the Wall Program, a summer youth employment program that pairs young people with master artists to create mosaic and bricolage murals in Oak Park and surrounding communities, such as neighboring Austin.

“Hasani was always very visual, inquisitive and thoughtful,” said Edward Redd, YEMBA’s founder. “Every time I saw him in the class, he was always drawing something. At the end of our season, we always have a commencement ceremony. I gave each kid a gift that represented them and at the time I gave him some color pencils and

a pad because I knew he was very talented and art was something he was very passionate about.”

Camille Wilson White, executive director of the Oak Park Area Arts Council, which curates the exhibition space inside Forest Park National Bank, said she recalls Hasani furiously pedaling his bike on South Boulevard in order to get to work on time.

White said Cannon was instrumental in the creation of several murals around town, including the Black Lives Matter mural installed on Scoville Avenue and the mural on the Randolph side of the West Cook YMCA, 255 S. Marion St. White said the Arts Council operates three galleries in the area. Due to the pandemic, the one inside Forest Park National Bank is the only one currently open. This past summer, she said, the Off the Wall program took a hiatus due to the pandemic, but she’s hopeful the program can return this summer and that she can hire Cannon to work as a senior apprentice.

“Hasani has grown into a tremendous arts leader in the community,” White said. “I’m looking forward to having him back.”

Cannon, who currently attends the University of Illinois Springfield, said he honed his skills at OPRF, evolving from an aspiring comic book artist and superhero fan to a more serious and astute fine artist.

“One of the biggest things that really showed me I can actually do this for a living was my high school art teacher [Tracy Van Duinen], who recognized my skills at the time,” he said.

“He really opened my eyes to seeing art as art, and recognizing the characteristics and

fundamentals of it. He reintroduced me to the fundamentals of color pencils. He also showed me techniques and videos to watch to enhance my skills.”

The exhibition in Forest Park and the Dark Matter Coffee bag feature Cannon’s evolving perspective, one grounded in African representation. The essential theme of the work, he said, is rooted in Afrocentrism, a perspective he gained through studying the history of Western art and what it leaves out.

“I often see that African art really isn’t represented as I’d like it to be, and oftentimes the Western perspective of art is usually taken as the quintessential perspective,” he said.

“I wanted my art to reflect the past and my experiences growing up. I was surrounded by a lot of African culture, African masks.

My mother is an African dancer and I do African drumming,” he explained. “So the culture has always been prevalent in my life.”

But as much as he culls from the past, Cannon also steeps his work in contemporaneity, namely the personalities around him.

One of his works, “The Concealed One,” illustrates the face of Cannon’s brother, which is concealed by an Afrocentric mask.

“The mask is covering up most of his face, but that mask represents how I view him in a way,” he said. “He’s very concealed, keeps a lot of stuff to himself, but there’s nothing

wrong with that; it’s just his personality. In fact, there’s a regal sense about him.”

Cannon said his artwork is made from recycled materials, such as plastic wrappers and cardboard. The process mirrors his general philosophy, which is rooted in the idea of regeneration and place.

“I’m very passionate about the arts and about imparting what I learn and receive,” he said. “I want to give back to people and enhance whatever community I’m part of.”

While standing in the lobby on Monday, Donald Offerman, the senior vice president at Forest Park National Bank and former OPRF High School superintendent, raved about the color Cannon’s work brings to the facility, especially on an overcast winter day.

“We’re delighted to have the art on display here,” Offerman said. “It’s consistent with our values and with the celebration of Black History Month.”

You can view Cannon’s artwork during Forest Park National Bank’s lobby hours: Monday and Tuesday, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.; Wednesday, 1 to 5 p.m.; and Thursday, Friday and Saturday, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. The exhibition will run through the months of February and March.

To pre-order the YEMBA/Dark Coffee special edition Black History Month coffee bag featuring Cannon’s work, visit yemba-inc. org. All proceeds will go to YEMBA. CONTACT: michael@oakpark.com

Photo provided

ARTISTIC HERITAGE: (Left) Cannon’s artwork on a Dark Matter coffee bag, a special edition Black History Month bag. The proceeds will go toward YEMBA. (Right) Artwork at Forest Park National Bank.

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

T

Democracy threatened, justice denied?

here are some advantages to living a long life and having the good fortune of a reliable memory. Let me explain.

The media has compared the domestic terrorism of Jan. 6 to other dreadful days that threatened our democracy, but in truth I believe there is no situation that was as serious as this. This was an attempted coup, planned to cause disruption, destruction, possibly death and injuries — whatever was needed to take the presidency from Biden and hand it to Trump.

There is no doubt this insurrection had advanced planning. None of Trump’s efforts to block Biden’s win previous to the election were successful. So Trump devised and persisted in a grand lie that he won the election. On Jan. 6, the day scheduled for finalizing the electoral vote, a “Don’t let them steal the election rally” had been planned. Trump was involved in its every detail, from selecting speakers, down to choosing the musical play list. Trump stoked the crowd and urged them to march to the Capitol. There was even more advanced planning. For example, pipe bombs had been set the previous night, and there had been unusual meetings between “visitors” and some of the legislators who supported Trump’s election victory lies, to tour of congressional offices (on Jan. 5). Lastly, about a week earlier, Trump tweeted, “Watch for Jan. 6th. It will be wild!”

There were reasons to be concerned about Jan. 6 and what might occur to disrupt the final elector’s count. However, few could have contemplated that even demonic Trump would devise a coup attacking our democracy in an effort to regain his autocratic presidency. The coup attempt resulted in horrorifying and terrorizing destruction of our treasured Capitol building, and the death of police and serious injury to others. This uncontrolled, vicious mob even constructed a gallows with plans to hang Nancy Pelosi and Vice President Pence. These marauders waved their Trump and Confederate flags, and also used them as weapons, to the extent of gouging out a policeman’s eye! Certainly, the National Guard could have helped stop this terror, but President Trump did not summon them until several hours had passed. Once the National Guard arrived, the mob hurried to leave, trampling many on their way out.

The destruction was far more severe than was apparent that day. Our democracy, the Constitution and its lawful guidelines, and our very way of life were challenged. Trump and his mob of followers had a temporary win, having interrupted the final electoral count, but it was short-lived.

Then came a remarkable ray of light and hope that demonstrated that our democracy was not defeated. Although Trump’s insurrection attempt had interrupted the electoral

HARRIET HAUSMAN One View

See HAUSMAN on page 26

Wednesday Journal, February 10, 2021

VIEWPOINTS

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19

Defund or defend the police? p. 20

It takes a village … of volunteers

ow many times have we heard the phrase “It Takes a Village”? In the case of River Forest, it’s true.

River Forest is a well-run village and our success is due to the great people who serve and support here. We’re small at roughly 2.5 square miles and a population of about 11,000 — or 1/5 the number in Oak Park. We don’t have the large pool of residents interested in serving in governmental roles as other communities may have.

We’re fortunate to have President Cathy Adduci, a smart, astute and caring leader who serves without pay, and our dedicated board of six trustees, who also serve without pay. In advisory roles, we have several boards and commissions, with residents who volunteer their time — that means without pay. The members do a great job, and their positive contributions shouldn’t be overlooked. With our small population, we’re very lucky to have the level of interest and talent in those who wish to serve.

I became a member of our Historic Preserva-

tion Commission after attending several regular meetings and hearings. The commissioners have served anywhere from many years to just a few. All are knowledgeable, enthusiastic and dependable.

Over the years I’ve attended many other governmental meetings and hearings to understand how our village functions and at times to make my voice heard. Those members approach their responsibilities the same way.

It helps to first go to the website tab, “Boards and Commissions,” to see what River Forest has. The main page features an address by President Adduci, twice providing the link to a Volunteer Application to serve on a board or commission. Click a board or commission on the Menu to the right for description, members and meetings and, again, a link to the volunteer application. Interested parties submit an application to the President’s Office, checking off commissions of interest. Application review is done by the president. By ordinance, the president is given the power to make the Board/ Commission appointments.

At the board meeting, the trustees approve or reject the president’s appointments.

I didn’t have to search far to discover that our process to approve volunteer board or commission members is general standard practice in Maywood, Forest Park, Elmwood Park, and Elmhurst to name a few. It works in our communities. Switching to Oak Park’s model would merely add more process steps, costing us more time and money without reward.

Let’s not try to fix what’s not broken.

I believe the Village Board of Trustees will continue to focus on policies and practices, and our volunteer boards and commissions will continue to advise our trustees effectively.

With the strong leadership of President Cathy Adduci making sure everything stays on track, River Forest will continue to be a well-run village. It always takes a village.

Janet Saeger is a member of the River Forest Historic Preservation Commission.

JANET SAEGER One View

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Wednesday Journal, February 10, 2021

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V I E W P O I N T S

V I E W S

River Forest’s higher gear on equity

W

hile Oak Park has turned racial equity policy into a controversy and campaign issue, River Forest keeps moving forward on its plans to elevate this critical issue both internally within the walls of village hall and externally with the community and surrounding communities.

So far, the work is focused on building a framework for future progress but is a solid effort.

Before the month is out, the village board is expected to adopt purpose, mission and goal statements. It will have a process for appointing a resident advisory committee focused on equity issues. There is also a discussion underway of hiring a consultant who would audit the internal operations at village hall and assess its current practices as they relate to equity.

And consider the covenant River Forest has signed with neighboring Maywood to seek active and multiple ways they might collaborate after decades of mistrust.

This is a notable initiative that needs to be made more real. The village has also aligned its equity efforts with Dominican University, a leader on issues of inclusion and equity.

This is purposeful work, intentionally planned. And it is commendable.

Crafting a climate agenda Something is percolating in Oak Park regarding climate action. A phalanx of citizen leaders and small, focused organizations are aligning to pursue an environmental agenda for the village.

Monday evening’s virtual meeting of the village board was almost entirely focused on climate-related topics.

From the welcome designation of 2021 as the “Year of the Butterfly” to more substantive and, for the moment, contentious discussions of constructing green vs. concrete alleys, to an education and grant program to build momentum for home energy audits and upgrades, to a perceived need to hire a staff member at village hall to focus entirely on climate, it was a jam-packed meeting.

And it ended, as many such meetings in Oak Park do, with decidedly mixed results.

The reality though is that Monday’s meeting was mainly a preview of what might come depending on the outcome of the April election for village president and three open trustee seats. Among the remaining candidates for trustee, several are highly focused on climate.

And Susan Buchanan, a sitting trustee, has made plain that environmental action is critical to her goals on the board.

An infrastructure of citizen leadership seemingly stands at the ready to craft an agenda and to lend urgency to local action on climate.

Post-election, we may see some real, and welcome, movement on this issue.

S

To defund or not to defund?

That is not the question

o, do you want to defund the police or defend the police? As all of us know, but only some will admit, “defund” is a misleading term — like massively misleading. “Defund” doesn’t actually mean what the word clearly denotes, which would be “removing all funding.” Not many people are in favor of removing all funding from our police department. Hey, there’s something the vast majority of us can actually agree on! How about that?

Which makes one wonder why the word “defund” was chosen, since those who espouse it mean something other than “defund.” Defunding the police doesn’t exactly accentuate the positive, as the old Johnny Mercer song goes. Police departments nationwide need a lot of improvements and have a lot to answer for, but emphasizing the negative won’t attract a lot of allies.

Then again, accentuating the positive, if it only means “defending a bad situation,” is just a reverse negative.

It reminds me of the former quibble over the labels “disabled” and “differently abled.” Differently abled accentuates the positive, eliminates the negative.

So, do you want to “defund” the police or “differently fund” them? “Defund” connotes punishment, deprivation. “Differently fund” suggests reforming, reinventing, and improving police departments, something the police themselves might welcome (since we ask them to do too much), and giving them help might actually make their jobs — and themselves — more humane.

“Defend” is just as misleading as “defund.” Are we really defending the police if we merely, mindlessly defend a status quo that sucks (even according to the police)? Most of us support our police because they have tough jobs, which they mostly do pretty well, but not always.

So, do you want to “support” or “differently support” our police?

Actually, we have three options: 1) Defund — or differently fund — the police 2) Defend — or differently defend — the police or, 3) Differently fund and differently defend the police?

We are, to our detriment, a highly binary society, still mired in an “either/or” approach to life. “You’re either with us or against us” is inherently negative. We need to take a “both/and” approach to our problems.

We can, in fact, differently enable police by reinventing policing, which is inherently positive.

We can make policing better by making it better for everyone — in particular unarmed Black men and women.

But also for police officers, who obviously are under way too much pressure and melting down dramatically — and homicidally — and doing completely inexplicable and inhumane things under all that pressure.

Personally, as the father of a cop, I don’t believe most police officers want these things to keep happening, but here’s the thing: They do keep happening. Meltdown cops are the canaries in the mine shaft.

They are telling us something is terribly wrong, not just with isolated cops, but with the system itself. That system needs to be thoroughly re-examined, repaired, reformed and reinvented.

In other words, we want our police to be “differently abled.”

But that isn’t the option offered in the referendum on the ballot this April. That’s because it’s not really a referendum. It’s a “connivance.” It asks, with misleading simplicity, if we want to “defund the police.” The brainiacs who came up with this connivance are the flip side of the brainiacs who came up with “defund the police,” which, as I have said before, is the worst slogan in the history of slogans, lending credence to the old adage that liberals are their own worst enemy. On the other hand, conservatives clearly are also their own worst enemy, as indicated by this referendum.

The word “unconstructive” springs to mind.

That leaves voters with an unappealing range of options: 1) Ignore the connivance, as it so richly deserves.

If voters largely refrain from voting on it and the referendum wins with a massive majority of the paltry few, it will be discredited.

2) Vote to “defund” even though that’s not what you truly believe or because you know what it really means and you want to see the department differently funded and improved.

3) Vote No because you dislike the word “defund,” which will only allow those who want to keep the status quo to do their little end zone dance and claim that everything is just hunky-dory and no changes are needed. Which was no doubt the goal of the connivance in the first place.

But there is another option: Put a similarly nonbinding referendum on the 2022 midterm election ballot, when turnout may be higher, which asks the un-conniving question: Shall we, as a community, in partnership with the police department, explore ways to reform and reinvent policing that roots out systemic racism where it exists; improves training to make law enforcement more efficient, effective, equitable and humane; and gives police greater access to resources that benefit both officers and the people with whom they come in contact?

Maybe others can improve on that wording. But do me one favor.

Whatever you do, don’t use the word “defund.”

KEN

TRAINOR

Candidate One Views and letters of support

With the election approaching, we need to set the ground rules for making use of our Viewpoints pages.

As in past years, we will allow each candidate running for office one official One View essay of 500 words to discuss their candidacy. Since the election is April 6, candidates may want to wait till we get closer to Elec-

tion Day, but they can also run it earlier if they wish.

Letters in support of candidates should be 350 words tops. If we receive too many for our limited space, we’ ll run the overflow online.

Ken Trainor

Viewpoints Editor

V I E W P O I N T S

What was and what might have been

I

n the predawn of a midwinter night, I woke up startled.

My heart raced, my body quivered, and I felt a shortness of breath. Soft diffused light from the window filled my bedroom. A deep breath relieved my quivers. As I struggled to become oriented, seemingly out of context, in my mind I heard, “Does that starspangled banner yet wave?”

I rolled onto my side, relaxed, and snickered. Yes, of course the banner still waves.

My nightmare was induced by the Jan. 6 onslaught of the U.S. Capitol building in Washington D.C. I could not go back to sleep and spent the morning pondering what was, what might have been, and what should never come to be.

The demonstration in Washington was to appear as a protest of the outcome of the presidential election.

It was to force the U.S. Senate to disregard the votes of the Electoral College and thus restore Trump to four more years of presidency.

But it was a protest planned to go bad. Long before the “march,” the mob voiced its intentions to harm or kill members of the opposition and execute Vice President Pence.

Their destructive anarchy, shown in the news, was not spontaneous. The mob did not become carried away by its own frenzy. The violence was preplanned. President Biden called it “domestic terrorism.”

Mob action was weaponized, but it fell short of being a coup. The extremists’ threats to kill Democrats and Vice President Pence remain idle.

The security police of the Capitol were outnumbered and overwhelmed. The numerous security cameras throughout the Capitol building provided no security for the members of either house. The cameras were not designed to prevent violence or crime. But they did record evidence of the insurgents’ criminality.

Whisked out of harm’s way, the legislators and Vice President Pence were escorted to safety in the

FRED NATKEVI One View

W E D N E S D A Y

JOURNAL of Oak Park and River Forest

MARTIN FALBISONER, CC BY-SA 3.0

underground of the Capitol building. The imagery of their flight causes me to pause. Memories of countless times, my mother and I rushing to an air raid shelter in Germany during the Second World War, swarm in my mind.

The anarchists’ riot might have been used as cover for a commando-like strike by a relatively small number of combatants to inflict the threatened unspeakable “carnage.”

Recruits for such a mission are abundant. There are many former members of special forces among extremist Trump supporters who could carry out such a mission. News reports of the National Guard members having been recalled from their duty in Washington verify that there is a source of operatives for a murderous mission waiting in reserve.

In an interview, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi called them “enemies within.”

Greek democracy lasted about two hundred years.

Autocracy followed. The Trump administration attempted to move our American democracy toward a similar fate.

The incursion of the U.S. Capitol by Trump-roused extremists is an indication of how imperiled our democracy can be. In spite of an appearance that it can survive anything, it is fragile and vulnerable.

Any overly ambitious Trump-like populism must be prevented from ever posing a threat to it.

Fred Natkevi is a longtime Oak Park resident who grew up in Eastern Europe during World War II.

D97 kids need more arts, music and language

This week District 97 families who chose to return to school are finally having the opportunity to see their teacher for the first time. But while D97 has created a much needed return-to-school plan, the district has sacrificed its award-winning music, arts and foreign language programs.

Prior to in-person learning, my fourth-grade girls had 5½ hours a week of live specials — arts, music, foreign language, library and PE with their teachers.

Now under the Return to School Plan, they only have 90 minutes of live specials a week. They also had group instrumental lessons 30 minutes a week, which have now been cut to 15-20 minutes a week. An hour weekly art class is now 20 minutes a week. Spanish is cut from 90 minutes a week to 20 minutes.

Yes, we needed to send our kids back to school, but why are we sacrificing our arts, music and foreign language programs?

What are we saying about the value of art and music in Oak Park? Instead of having our certified and trained teachers teach art, music and foreign languages, they

Wednesday Journal, February 10, 2021

are serving as teacher assistants and taking temperatures. We can do better, Oak Park, and we should.

When it was time to sign up for the instrumental program this past fall, I wondered how would my fourthgraders learn a brand new instrument via Zoom. Was it worth the money to pay for the monthly rental program? To my surprise, it has been wonderful. They treasure their instrumental time as something special during this pandemic. It broke my heart to tell them that their class period is even shorter than before. Our kids need music, art, library and foreign language more than ever before.

I truly believe that Oak Park can do better. So many families choose to live here for the schools. It is a shame that our beloved music and arts programs are being sacrificed in the return-to-school plan.

As parents and community members, we must ask D97 to do better and find creative solutions to solve this challenge for the third trimester.

Susan Raphael Oak Park

Editor and Publisher Dan Haley Senior Editor Bob Uphues Staff Reporters Michael Romain, Stacey Sheridan, Maria Maxham Viewpoints Editor Ken Trainor Real Estate Editor Lacey Sikora Food Editor Melissa Elsmo Arts Editor Michelle Dybal Sports/Staff reporter James Kay Columnists Marc Blesoff, Jack Crow, Doug Deuchler, Linda Francis, Mary Kay O’Grady, Kwame Salter, John Stanger, Stan West Staff Photographer Alex Rogals Design/Production Manager Andrew Mead Designers Mark Moroney, Javier Govea, Debbie Becker Business Manager Joyce Minich Marketing Representatives Marc Stopeck, Lourdes Nicholls Sales & Development Mary Ellen Nelligan Circulation Manager Jill Wagner E-MAIL jill@oakpark.com Chairman Emeritus Robert K. Downs

Growing Community Media BOARD OF DIRECTORS Chair Judy Greffin Treasurer Nile Wendorf Deb Abrahamson, Gary Collins, Darnell Shields, Sheila Solomon, Eric Weinheimer

About Viewpoints 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.

In a healthy conversation about community concerns, your voice is also vital. We welcome your views, on any topic of community interest, as essays and as letters to the editor. Noted here are our stipulations for filing.

Please understand our verification process and circumstances that would lead us not to print a letter or essay. We will call to check that what we received with your signature is something you sent. If we can’t make that verification, we will not print what was sent. When, in addition to opinion, a letter or essay includes information presented as fact, we will check the reference. If we cannot confirm a detail, we may not print the letter or essay.

If you have questions, email Viewpoints editor Ken Trainor at ktrainor@ wjinc.com.

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

‘ONE VIEW’ ESSAY

■ 250-word limit

■ 500-word limit

■ Must include first and last names,

■ One-sentence footnote about yourself,

municipality in which you live, phone number (for verification only)

■ Signature details as at left

your connection to the topic

Email Ken Trainor at ktrainor@wjinc.com or mail to Wednesday Journal, Viewpoints, 141 S. Oak Park Ave., Oak Park, IL 60302

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ADDRESS 141 S Oak Park Ave., Oak ParkIL 60302 ■ PHONE 708-5248300 EMAIL Dan@OakPark.com ■ ONLINE www.OakPark.com Wednesday Journal is published digitally and in print by Growing Community Media NFP. The newspaper is available on newsstands for $1.00.

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Wednesday Journal, February 10, 2021

V I E W P O I N T S

The process is fundamentally corrupt

Ravi Parakkat knows multiculturalism As a person who grew up in another country, and then moved to the U.S. to work, Ravi Parakkat has significant experience working with people across many cultures to achieve common goals. Ravi knows the value of working with people from different backgrounds, who bring a variety of experiences and viewpoints. He knows that working with people from distinct cultural or ethnic groups is important for a highfunctioning, diverse community.

To do this, a person must be skilled in really listening to people; they need to listen for the meaning beyond the words spoken.

I have personally experienced this kind of thoughtful discussion and listening with Ravi regarding the needs of our community, and the broader community around Oak Park.

Through my own work in international development and U.S. refugee resettlement, and my time working overseas, I have come to more greatly appreciate what it means to be an outsider and the effort it takes to join a new society, while also honoring one’s own culture.

In addition to Ravi’s own inclusion in the U.S. and his professional experiences man-

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aging diversity, he helped to build bridges for his spouse Amy and their daughters to fully integrate with his family in India. This experience in multiculturalism has been part of his personal journey and the transferable skills apply to work in Oak Park. I appreciate his commitment to multiculturalism and its value.

I believe that Ravi’s transferrable experience across cultures, business skills, and his direct volunteer experience as an appointed commissioner with the village’s Environment and Energy Commission make him an excellent candidate for village trustee. We need people who will listen to, and respect, all voices, generate creative approaches to solve problems that also make both social and financial sense, and work to unify our community. I see him as a person who can do this tenfold.

He has that rare combination of compassion, intelligence, creativity, and a desire for justice. He is exactly the kind of person that I hope to see on our Village Board of Trustees. I encourage you to vote, and I encourage you to support Ravi Parakkat for trustee.

Beth Houle Oak Park

Of all the ways to evaluate whether a candidate or referendum is eligible for the ballot, why does Illinois use local electoral boards? What is the basis for thinking that a triumvirate of the top elected, plus the clerk, plus a board member is the best venue for deciding a legal matter?

This system exists so that the people in power at the local level can remove candidates and referendums who challenge their power. Or if they can’t remove the candidates, they can cause challengers to pay legal bills that cut into the challenger’s ability to do direct mail and otherwise campaign.

The process is fundamentally corrupt. A less corrupt process might look something like this: Kevin Peppard has a question about Anthony Clark’s residency and sends it to the election authority, who then informs Anthony Clark who has the option of responding. The package is then sent to the Illinois Attorney General who applies case law and rules, without hearings and all the theatrics

that lead to more billable hours than necessary.

In the Peppard vs. Clark case, the ruling would be easy for the Illinois AG (or other non-Oak Park body). Anthony Clark is clearly more a resident of Oak Park than anywhere else. Accepting Peppard’s challenge would have disqualified Anthony Clark from running anywhere with a specific residency requirement. Ergo, the challenge could not be sustained without jeopardizing Anthony Clark’s rights as a U.S. citizen.

The local electoral boards are a sweetheart deal for the local political establishment throughout Illinois. They are anti-democratic, but they have avoided the scrutiny of federal courts.

So Anthony Clark should be on the ballot. The Illinois General Assembly should get rid of local electoral boards.

And Oak Park needs to work on its racism.

But that’s a whole other kettle of whitefish.

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V I E W P O I N T S

Colin Fane, Agent

Wednesday Journal, February 10, 2021

Here’s the deal. The right insurance should help you feel confident and comfortable.

I’m the right good neighbor for that.

Right Right coverage. coverage.

Call me today.

S Marion Street Fl G ResCorp212 has become Oak Park, IL 60302 708-383-3163 a snowBus: nuisance www.colinfane.com

When snow season comes, I expect slip- off of ResCorp parking lots against their ping and sliding on streets, alleys nar- garage doors, and that neighbors have to rowed by snow, slick sidewalks and hav- spend money to clear away snow dumped ing to shovel or hire somebody to shovel on their property by ResCorp contractors.

If I dumped my snow onto ResCorp’s my walks.

What I never thought I would have to lot, I would be fined. If I did not keep my expect was Oak Park Residence Corpora- front walk cleaned I would be fined. At tion (ResCorp), an agency that owns and one time, ResCorp was a welcome presmanages apartment buildings, would use ence in my part of the village, rehabbing snow removal contractors’ solution to and maintaining classic apartments. They too much snow: pile it on the neighbors’ were good neighbors. property, blocking garage doors, burying Not so any more. garbage cans, and making rented parking It seems hardly fair that some of my tax spots inaccessible. dollars go to underwrite a quasi-public Calls to ResCorp fell on deaf ears, forc- corporation that decreases my quality of ing neighbors whose property is buried life and costs me money to clean up damwith snow from ResCorp apartment build- age they create on my property. ing parking lots to constantly file comAnd now ResCorp is proposing tearing plaints with the village. The village calls down properties that they own and build ResCorp and so their plowing contractor large tall buildings totally out of characleaves the garage open but buries garbage ter for the neighborhood as well. cans and cars parked on private property What happened to their mission to rewith snow hab distressed properties and then sell It hardly seems fair that senior citizens them to private owners to return them to have to dig out their property, that work- the tax rolls?

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Target those stimulus checks I am a lifelong Democrat who worked hard to elect Democrats in 2020. However, I agree with the group of 10 moderate Republican senators that the proposed stimulus checks are not targeted enough. It’s my understanding that households with incomes up to $300,000 could receive some of this money. That’s ridiculous!

Sen. Portman’s suggestion of capping payments at $100,000/household or $50,000/person is much more reasonable.

Better yet, use the money where it’s most needed: to shore up unemployment insurance and the ACA/Medicaid, help those in need to pay rent/mortgages, or rescue businesses from bankruptcy.

Let’s learn from the last round of stimulus checks. Columnist Steve Chapman points out that 90% of Americans got some money — double the number who

say they’ve suffered economically from the pandemic. Not only will the proposed checks go to many who don’t need the money, they won’t do much to stimulate the economy. Only 40% of the first round was used to buy goods and services, per the National Bureau of Economic Research. The rest went into savings or to pay down debt.

Here is a link to Steve Chapman’s column: https://www.chicagotribune.com/ c o l u m n s / s t eve - c h a p m a n / c t - c o l u m n stimulus-payments-biden-1400-chapman20210127-wmplo2424ve7llvh6ecn7sgm6astory.html If you agree that Biden’s proposed stimulus checks are largely a waste of money, please contact President Biden, Sen. Duckworth and Sen. Durbin.

Judith Alexander Oak Park

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Wednesday Journal, February 10, 2021

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S P O N S O R E D

Creative program benefits restaurants and residents in Elmwood Park Elmwood Park government launches creative voucher program to fuel local economy “Small businesses like restaurants are the backbone of our local economy,” said Elmwood Park Village President Angelo “Skip” Saviano. “We are proud of our reputation as a dining destination and we are doing everything we can to support these small businesses during these unprecedented times.”

It is no secret The Village of Elmwood Park understands the value of supFood Writer porting the broad array of eateries situated on “restaurant row” or nestled on “the circle.”

Investing in additional parking, hosting boisterous food festivals, and relentlessly promoting menu specials has helped to

MELISSA ELSMO

make Elmwood Park a dining destination.

And now, creative thinking on the part of village leadership has resulted in the Elmwood Park Eats voucher program designed to benefit both residents and restaurants.

“Restaurants have been hit particularly hard during the pandemic,” said Saviano.

“And they are among our most important businesses, so we’ve worked hard to come up with innovative ways to support them.”

As part of the innovative program, all Elmwood Park residents will receive $5 vouchers good for use on a purchase of $15 or more at participating restaurants. In addition to driving much-needed business to local dining establishments, the vouchers aim to reward residents for their commitment to help slow the spread of COVID-19 in the community and aid in stretching a family dollar farther in the local economy.

“Our hope is that these dining vouchers will also provide relief to our residents, many of whom have struggled during the pandemic,” said Saviano. “The vouchers can be used like cash to buy a meal for the family at one of our local restaurants.”

In a letter sent to residents Saviano encourages community members to use the vouchers to support a new restaurant or indulge in a restaurant meal on a weeknight.

Twenty-four restaurants are participating in the program including local favorites peddling Cuban tostones, Japanese maki rolls, vibrant burrito bowls and indulgent

Keep it traditional with a barbecue roast beef sandwich from Russell’s on Thatcher Ave.

C O N T E N T

The Alpine: The popular North Avenue food shop is participating in the Elmwood Park Eats voucher program.

Satisfying Sushi: Elmwood Park cornerstone, New Star, at 7444 W North Ave, is participating in the voucher program, but anyone from any community can take advantage of their high value lunch specials like this maki roll meal.

Wednesday Journal, February 10, 2020

OAKPARK.COM | RIVERFOREST.COM

An array of colorful dishes from Gringo and Blondie on North Ave. in Elmwood Park. cheeseburgers.

Residents would do well to use a voucher when purchasing an 18-inch Alpine sub, brimming with ham, salami and capicollo, and a pound of colorful primavera pasta salad from the eponymous food shop at 7538 W. North Ave. Alternatively, a hungry resident could use a voucher to add a bowl of chili to their next order at Russell’s Barbecue, 1621 N. Thatcher Ave. Russell’s has been a mainstay in Elmwood Park since 1930 — they serve charming nostalgia in every sandwich and honor their rich history with every slice of brisket slathered in their signature cinnamon-forward sauce, but a bowl of their savory chili is a delightful winter treat.

Stopping by Burger Moovment 7512 W. North Ave., is another option to make the most of having an extra $5 to spend on a restaurant meal. Adding on an all-American burger like the Classic Moov, topped with American Cheese, Lettuce, Tomato, Pickles, Ketchup, Mustard, Mayonnaise on a soft, yet sturdy brioche bun can be a downright economical indulgence.

There are practically endless options to satiate just about any craving in Elmwood Park and village officials are working to ensure the future success of their valued collection of restaurants by making an investment in them today. Their relentless support of bakeries, bars, breakfast cafes and restaurants is reflected in the fact the voucher program is offered at no-cost to participating restaurants. Leaders are excited to see how widely the vouchers are utilized within the community and may consider opening the program to surrounding communities in the future.

“Friends and neighbors want to support their local businesses,” said Saviano. “Our residents have really stepped up over the last year and we are glad to be able to help in any way possible.”

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V I E W P O I N T S

Wednesday Journal, February 10, 2021

An Oak Park poem

On the ancient shores of glacial Lake Chicago Grew a village that one could agreeably argue, Was originally called the Oak Park Spit, Now hailed a socially liberal hit.

From Sac, and Fox and Potawatomi tribes, The first few settlers created lives Culturally diverse, working hand-in-hand, Named World’s Largest Village in the land.

Kettlestring Tavern was the first one to brew, Then dance, food and music at Art dans la Rue, An American Frontier so rich in culture, On tree-lined streets, you’ll find a sculpture.

Hidden rooms, secret tunnels of Machine Gun mobster, Tough Tony sat here enjoying a lobster Hemingway, too, For Whom The Bell Tolls, And Betty White in comedic roles.

Frank Lloyd Wright in his orange red car, Who will be the next rising star?

Churches and steeples, libraries with peoples, Teachers and students, and all of their movements, Coming together, no matter the weather, Apartments and houses, big and little, Owners and renters, we’re in the same pickle.

Police in cars and Segway’s downtown, Firefighters ready to hose fires down, Hospital workers right on your doorstep, Ever close by if your kids get strep.

Stop plowing in legally parked cars!

I am sending this because the village of Oak Park ignores my phone calls.

For the last two days, snow plows have buried my car with snow. I have had to shovel the car out each day.

My car is/has been parked on the “even” side, per village snow requirements. The “odd” days are not to be parked on after 2 inches of snow.

The plows come and angle their blades to force snow on to the “even” side of the street, where I and everyone else are supposed to be parked. This means 3-4 feet of

snow blocking the cars.

I came from a village where, they would angle the blade so that the snow would be pushed to the “odd” side of the street. This is because there should be no cars on the “odd” side of the street and, therefore, no cars that obey the parking regulation get locked in.

If the village will not return my calls, I hope this forum can get some results!

Endorsing Adduci

Equally as important is her support of small business, a vital part of any community. At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, she issued executive orders that helped businesses offset effects of the pandemic. She has been a big booster of Takeout 25, a program that by encouraging residents to spend $25 a week on takeout, has helped local food establishments remain open, saving jobs. It’s important to note our entire region benefits from this kind of innovative approach.

Finally, she understands and appreciates the hard work of the Oak Park-River Forest Chamber of Commerce and realizes that our business communities thrive with a vital Chamber by their side.

The pandemic must be stemmed and our economy must be gotten back on track. With a forward-looking and forward-thinking leader like Cathy Adduci at our side, we will all come out better together on the other side.

I am pleased and honored to endorse Catherine Adduci for re-election as River Forest Village President.

Long before Cathy became Village President in 2013, she garnered a strong business sense. A former executive with a Fortune 500 company, she realized that every community needs to have a thriving business community to offset the tax burden of residents.

Under her leadership, River Forest has formed the Economic Development Commission. This commission harnesses the knowledge of local business people to help trustees find how they can better use underdeveloped land and create commercial opportunities. The village, since then, has created two TIF districts, and a business district along Lake Street that one day will become River Forest’s downtown.

Oak Park

from page 19 vote counting, he did not achieve his goal.

Later that same night, our very courageous legislators, both Republicans and Democrats, returned to the ravaged Capitol.

Amidst the sight of the destruction and the stench of gases, blood, and even urine still lingering in the air, they fulfilled their duty and completed the vote count. They

Oak Park

Ravi Parakkat Oak Park

Thanks for considering your older neighbors

Val Gee

Defending democracy

Kevin Christian

Oak Park has many senior citizens who don’t drive and who walk everywhere to run errands and take public transportation. Cleaning the sidewalks should be no less urgent than cleaning the streets. Oak Park should know what buildings are vacant and have a team that clear those walks within 24 hours of a snowfall.

People who shovel should include the curbs so we don’t have a mountain of snow to climb or a foot-wide puddle. De-icers or traction material such as sand or sawdust helps pedestrians to walk on solid ice. Bus stops should have a path from sidewalk to the street. Thank you for considering your older neighbors.

There’s places you’ll go and right away know If it’s good or it’s bad, happy or sad, But Oak Park’s the one place, A transparent true face, Where you won’t feel alone, A place to call home.

HAUSMAN

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were determined this outrage, perpetrated to stop a constitutional process, would not succeed.

I had hoped the brash mob actions of Jan. 6 would engender solidarity between Re-publicans and Democrats, but that did not occur. Just three weeks later I was disappointed to learn that only 11 House Republicans voted to rebuke Trump loyalist Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, for promoting violence and bigoted hateful statements.

She threatened the life of Nancy Pelosi, and promoted outrageous QAnon theories that school shootings didn’t happen, and that no planes flew into the Twin Towers,

Kath Schulz

Oak Park

etc. All House Democrats, joined by only 11 Republicans, voted to remove Greene from her Congressional committee assignments.

Does the Greene vote signal that Republican Senators will vote to acquit Trump at his impeachment trial when Trump’s very own words convict him? It would be a travesty of justice if the Senators choose to acquit. Our democratic society would sustain another blow to one of the founding statements that “No one is above the law.” If nothing else is determined, Trump should never again be allowed him to run for office or receive the amenities usually provided ex-Presidents. We must demon-

strate to our own citizens and to the world our commitment to the U.S. Constitution and our democratic system of government.

Now is the time for that unusual bravery to resurface, similar to what our legislators demonstrated on Jan. 6. The quality of justice professed in our Constitution would be upheld with the conviction of Trump’s guilt at his impeachment trial. Let us hold fast to our precious democracy and what it represents: truth, diversity with equality, and justice for all.

Harriet Hausman is a longtime River Forest resident and member of the ACLU.

OAKPARK.COM | RIVERFOREST.COM

T

Setting the record straight

his letter is in response to the libelous story written by Stacey Sheridan [Rush Oak Park gets several village board wins, News, Feb. 3], which appeared in the online version of Wednesday Journal and targeted both me and my husband, Everett S. Ward. It is extremely disappointing to be the target of this sort click bait, and it is certainly not the sort of intentionally salacious garbage that enhances the value of having a local news outlet.

I currently serve as chair of the village of Oak Park Plan Commission and during a portion of the time frame referenced

by Ms. Sheridan, I served as a commissioner, while David Mann served as chair of the commission. My husband, who is a partner at Quarles & Brady, serves as a voluntary, unpaid member of the Rush Oak Park Hospital Board of Trustees.

To be clear, this letter concerns the personal aspersions directed at me and my husband and is not written on behalf of Rush Oak Park, which issued their own news release, dated Feb. 3.

Rush came before the commission a total of four times in connection with the matters referenced in Ms. Sheridan’s story. Three times (Nov. 7, 2019, Feb. 20, 2020, and March 5, 2020) were in connection with the new garage proposed. During those commission meetings, David Mann served as commission chair. Rush last came before the commission on Jan. 7 in connection with a Zoning Map Amendment request and during that meeting I served as chair.

Ms. Sheridan implies throughout her story that the public comments received by the commission, Rush and the Oak Park Board of Trustees were part of a pattern complaints from the surrounding neighbors directed at Rush. The fact is that a variety of public comments have been made, about a variety of issues, over a broad period of time, a number of which predate the above referenced commission meetings. Further, after the initial commission meeting on Nov. 7, 2019, several subsequent members of the public made a point of thanking the commission for asking Rush to meet with the community and for working with the hospital to address neighborhood concerns, like the nature of the landscaping acting as a buffer between the residential neighborhood and the area where the proposed new garage will be. In addition, the comments read at the village board meeting on Feb. 1, were entirely new to me and from a new neighborhood group that formed after the last commission meeting.

Ms. Sheridan further implies that I am unable to fairly and independently fulfill my role as either a plan commissioner or as chair of the commission because my husband serves as a voluntary, unpaid member of the Rush Oak Park Board of Trustees. I assure you that I consulted with Plan Commission outside counsel Gregory Smith, prior to the initial commission meeting and again prior to the last meeting regarding compliance with Illinois law and the commission’s Rules of Procedure, and I was advised that no conflict of interest was presented.

Lastly, Ms. Sheridan not only took comments from Chair Mann out of context, apparently based upon snippets of tapes of the commission meetings, as opposed to the official, approved minutes of the applicable commission meetings, but she went on to falsely accuse me of misrepresenting Chair Mann’s position regarding the height of the new garage proposed by Rush. The truth is that I repeatedly stated during the Feb. 1 village board meeting that, notwithstanding the fact that the garage height proposed by Rush was within the existing allowable height standards and not before the commission as a request for a zoning amendment, Chair Mann, in proposing a lower height, was a) trying to be responsive to the surrounding community and b) responding to the input regarding need presented by Rush at the time.

Iris Sims is chair of the village of Oak Park Plan Commission.

IRIS SIMS

One View

V I E W P O I N T S

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Wednesday Journal, February 10, 2021

27

Alternate lenses see alternate realities

hat’s so funny?” Pastor Walter Mitty asked his friend and neighbor Michael Rosenthal, who had started chuckling during their daily check-in and coffee time a few days ago.

“Well, you’re going to have to give a sermon on February 14, right?”

“Yeah. So?” “Walt, that’s Valentine’s Day; then comes Presidents Day; Ash Wednesday is three days after that; it’s in the middle of Black History Month; and the impeachment trial will have begun just the week before. How in the world are you going to cover all of that without going on and on all day?”

“Yeah, I see what you mean,” Mitty replied, taking a deep breath. “And you forgot about the pandemic.”

After ending the call with the usual “take care,” Pastor Walt felt anxiety rising inside. How could a guy make sense of everything going on these days?

“OK, OK,” he coached himself. “Don’t try to swallow the whole pizza at once. Just go at it one piece at a time.”

He decided to begin “making sense” of life by calling Sharissa Hawkins first, then Dominique and finally Miss Rose and asking them what Black History Month meant to them.

“It’s all about remembering the evil of slavery,” Sharissa replied with a hint of anger in her voice, “and getting white people to understand how that and racism constitute America’s original sin.”

Dominique answered Mitty’s voicemail message in an email saying, “Black History Month is an occasion to celebrate how far my people have come.

Twelve years ago a Black president, a couple of weeks ago a person of color sworn in as vice president, and look at me — working in a corner office in the Loop with a view of Lake Michigan.”

“Pastor, you know me. I’d rather sing than talk,” is how Miss Rose answered the question and she began to sing softly over the phone: “Stony the road we trod, bitter the chastening rod, felt in the days when hope unborn had died.”

“Such different perspectives on race,” Mitty said to himself, “and all three are Black. And here I am, a white boy from a small town in Wisconsin trying to wrap my mind around the conundrum of race in this country, and I just heard three people who live in the reality of Blackness giving me three different takes on what it is like to live inside their skin.”

He tried to calm his anxiety. “OK, Walt, you have two whole weeks to get your act together. Let’s see how Valentine’s Day can be related to Black history.”

He felt a little more hopeful when he realized that the theme of Valentine’s Day is love, and surely love is at least part of what it would take to make Dr. King’s dream come true. Thinking about love opened the door of his memory to the music he had listened to on his transistor radio during the ’60s.

What the world needs now is love, sweet love It’s the only thing that there’s just too little of What the world needs now is love, sweet love No, not just for some, but for everyone.

He knew all the words to Jackie DeShannon’s hit single. The next song on his mental jukebox was by the O’Jays: “People all over the world, join hands.

Start a love train.”

Then the New Seekers: “I’d like to build the world a home and furnish it with love. I’d like to teach the world to sing in perfect harmony.”

Mitty smiled. He was young and idealistic in those days. Living in an alternate universe really.

And that made him think of the mob on Jan. 6 and of eight senators who still questioned the validity of the election.

The concept of alternate universes was beginning to emerge in his mind, the pastor of Poplar Park Community Church realized, as he thought about so many Trump voters not believing that climate change is man-made or that masks can save lives.

Thinking about unity and alternative universes caused his mind to segue to a book discussion held at Bernie Rolvaag’s store way before COVID was even a word in our vocabulary. The discussion was centered on Bishop Desmond Tutu’s The Book of Forgiving, where explained that in his Truth and Reconciliation Commission there were four steps to the healing of South Africa after the end of apartheid.

1. Admitting the wrong and acknowledging the harm; 2. Telling one’s story and witnessing the anguish; 3. Asking for forgiveness and granting forgiveness; 4. Renewing or releasing the relationship.

“Forgiveness,” wrote Tutu in the book, “is nothing less than the way we heal the world.”

“I wonder,” thought Pastor Walt. “Was the good bishop also living in an alternative reality, a fantasyland like many of us were attracted to in the ’60s?”

He then brought up on his computer the service for Ash Wednesday and the confession he and his congregation had spoken so many times over the years.

Most holy and merciful God, We confess to you and to one another …

We have not loved our neighbors as ourselves.

We have not forgiven others as we have been forgiven.

Our false judgments, our uncharitable thoughts toward our neighbors, and our prejudice and contempt toward those who differ from us.

Mitty realized that he and Miss Rose and Bishop Tutu lived in a reality that was an alternative to all the others in the spiritual marketplace. That even science can be a good lens for determining facts but can’t explain why medical professionals keep coming to work when following the science would logically lead them to not show up.

“Maybe,” Mitty decided, “no one sees reality clearly, 20/20, without wearing glasses, and we need to view it through multiple lenses in order to see the whole picture.”

TOM HOLMES

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Wednesday Journal, February 10, 2021

OAKPARK.COM | RIVERFOREST.COM

PHOTOS SUBMITTED

ARMED AND WARMED On Monday, someone was kind enough to provide the servicemen on the Scoville war memorial with colorful scarves. Joan Meister, who took the photos and sent them to us, wondered if this was the result of the “return to knitting” movement that provided therapy in the time of COVID.

GIFT LOCALLY! Great digital gift cards to gift & to use at participating vendors.

Available at oprfchamber.org

O B I T U A R I E S

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James Farrell, 45 Comedian with rapid-fire wit

James Franklin Farrell, 45, of Oak Park, formerly of Chicago, died on Feb. 2, 2021. A graduate of Kutztown University in Pennsylvania in 1998, he worked full-time in the restaurant management business, but his greatest passion was performing. He studied long form improv both at Second City and the iO in Chicago. He performed with the Free Associates in Chicago, with the Citadel Theatre in Lake Forest and as a founding ensemble member of Comedy Accident in Chicago.

Also, he often performed at open mic standup comedy events at Chicagoland venues, including Door No.3, Hound Dog Comedy @ 240 Lounge, and Cigar & Stripes BBQ Lounge, in addition to appearing as a guest entertainer on various comedy podcasts.

While attracted to playing humorously dark and very flawed human beings, his favorite characters all shared the common traits of being fiendishly clever, wickedly sarcastic (if sometimes just a bit whiny) and expressing profound respect for the truly absurd. His comedic timing and rapid-fire wit never failed to make all of us laugh. A kind, hard-working, articulate and valued soul, he will be deeply missed by his family, friends, and all who knew him.

James Farrell was the son of the late James and Linda Farrell; the brother of Michele (Tom) Visosky, Andrea Farrell, Kirstin (Kevin) Urland, and Renee (Rich) Remington; and the uncle of five nieces and nephews.

Services will be private. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made

in memorial to either the Chicago Theatre Workers Relief Fund @ https://chicagoplays.com/donate or the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation @ https://www.jdrf. org/donate.

Arrangements were handled by Drechsler, Brown & Williams Funeral Home.

Carole Bergstraesser, 83 Loved art, worked for justice

Carole Heisel Bergstraesser, 83, of Evanston, formerly Oak Park, died on Feb. 1, 2021. Born on Oct. 6, 1937, in New York City, she was the daughter of the late Helga and J. Emil Heisel. Her passion was for art and family. She graduated from Wellesley College with a degree in art history, and later with a master’s degree from the University of Illinois. She taught elementary school art for more than two decades, cultivating a hands-on approach and cherishing her students and the notes many sent her long after they left school.

She met the love of her life, Rev. Edward William Bergstraesser, in 1960. Their life, lived in Rhode Island, Cleveland, Chicago, Elmhurst and Oak Park, was filled with travel, museums, and cathedrals. It was also devoted to gracious parenting and grandparenting.

Carole was not only an aesthete, but also an ethicist. She and Ed marched with Dr. Martin Luther King in the ’60s. She fought for the Equal Rights Amendment in the ’70s.

She supported progressive political candidates with time and energy — and could often be seen driving around town with a

W E D N E S D A Y

JOURNAL

Wednesday Journal, February 10, 2021

hand-designed “Peace Is Patriotic” sign in the back window.

Left with years of fond memories are her sons, Ed and Paul Bergstraesser, her daughter-in-law Michelle, and her grandchildren Amy, Jenna and William. A lot of those memories involve answering the question: What would Carole do?

A memorial service will be held later in the year. News to follow. In lieu of flowers, memorial gifts to First United Church of Oak Park are appreciated.

Bill McNichols, 95

WWII veteran, Ascension member William F. McNichols, 95, a longtime resident of Oak Park and the 600 block of South Elmwood, died on Jan. 28, 2021. Born on Jan. 20, 1926, he was a proud World War II Navy veteran.

He served on the USS Hinsdale, which was lost at Okinawa to a kamikaze attack, and he witnessed the raising of the American flag at Iwo Jima. A graduate of Loyola University, he enjoyed a career in business and finance and was a longtime member of Ascension Parish.

Bill McNichols was the husband of Patricia, nee Sullivan, for 66 years; the father of Bill Jr. (Kimberly), Mary, Tim (Kathi), Jim (Rebecca) and Patty (Mark); grandfather of Brian, Caitlin, Kristin, Michael, Christopher, Hailey, James, Kevin, Daniel, Thomas, Fiona, and McKayla; great-grandfather of Cameron and Grace; and uncle of many nieces and nephews.

A memorial Mass and celebration of Bill’s

29

life will be planned at a future date at Ascension Church.

Arrangements were handled by Gamboney & Son Funeral Directors. Visit PetersonBassi Chapels website to send your condolences.

Gary Osga, 77 Educator

Gary Stephen Osga, 77, of Oak Park, died on Dec. 21, 2020 in Oak Park. The eldest child of Clarence and Pearl Osga, he was born born on April 26, 1943, in Detroit, but raised in Traverse City, Michigan. He attended St. Francis School and high school in Traverse City and attended Northwestern Michigan College for two years before finishing his education at Loyola University Chicago where he received his bachelor’s degree, a master’s degree in labor relations, and completed his doctoral work in education.

A career educator, he worked first as a teacher, then as a principal, then joined the staff of the Illinois State Board of Education from which he retired after 28 years. He loved polka dancing, traveling, James Bond movies, Agatha Christie movies starring Miss Marple and Poirot, water- and snowskiing, and boating and enjoying the house on Long Lake.

Gary Osga is survived by Kristi, his wife of 52 years; his sons, John (Katie) Osga, Aaron (Claudia) Osga, and Adam (Theresa) Osga; and four grandchildren, Owen, Teagan, Vaughan and Tamsen.

He is survived by four siblings, Barbara (Dad) Hubbell, Joseph (Jennifer) Osga, Catherine Osga and Steven (Cindy) Osga, and a sister-in-law Anne Osga. His parents and one brother Jerome Osga predeceased him. He is survived by 10 nieces and nephews, and numerous cousins.

Arrangements were handled by PetersonBassi Chapels.

To run an obituary Please contact Ken Trainor by e-mail: ktrainor@wjinc.com, before Monday at noon. Please include a photo if possible.

of Oak Park and River Forest

Robert P. Gamboney Funeral Director I am there for you in your time of need.

All services handled with dignity and personalized care.

Cell: 708.420.5108 • Res: 708.848.5667

advertise • 708-524-8300 • www.OakPark.cOm

I am affiliated with Peterson-Bassi Chapels at 6938 W. North Ave, as well as other chapels throughout Chicagoland.

30

Forest Park Review, February 10, 2021 New local ads this week

HOURS: 9:00 A.M.– 5:00 P.M. MON–FRI

WEDNESDAY

CLASSIFIED Deadline is Monday at 5:00 p.m.

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

YOUR WEEKLY AD

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

Please Check Your Ad: The publisher will not be responsible for more than one incorrect insertion.

Wednesday Journal Classified must be notified before the second insertion.

The newspaper reserves the right to edit or reject any advertisement.

BY PHONE: (708) 613-3333 | BY FAX: (708) 467-9066 | BY E-MAIL: CLASSIFIEDS@OAKPARK.COM | CLASSIFIEDS@RIVERFOREST.COM HELP WANTED

HELP WANTED

CITY RENTALS DELUXE 3BR APT 5955 W HURON First Floor. Large kitchen, all electric appliances. Near West Suburban Hospital. Near all public trans. $1150/mo.

Call 773-637-8677 for appt.

YOUTH DEVELOPMENT SPECIALIST HEPHZIBAH CHILDREN’S ASSOCIATION PART TIME POSITIONS AVAILABLE The program will follow the safety Hephzibah Children’s Association guidelines of the IDPH regarding is a renowned social service agenface masks, social distancing and cy in Oak Park, IL that has been cleaning & disinfecting. helping children thrive and families Requirements include: flourish through innovative community-based programs.

• Minimum of 6 semester hours in education, recreation, social work, The Day Care Program is accepting or related college courses applications for February – June, • Experience working with children 2021 school year. We seek individuals to provide care and supervision If you are interested please contact: of 5-11-year-old children. Positions are Monday through Friday from Amy O’Rourke, Director of Day Care by email at: 12:15 – 6:00 pm. aorrouke@hephzibahhome.org include letter of interest and resume.

Responsibilities include assisting with and monitoring e-learning, suHephzibah Children’s Association is pervising arts and crafts, activities, an equal opportunity employer. We sports, group games, and indoor welcome qualified applicants from and outdoor play, lunch and snack, all backgrounds to apply. We value, and homework help. advocate for and support diversity throughout our organization. We The program begins in February embrace a respectful, multicultural, and will be in Oak Park, IL serving environment for employees and the 5-11-year-old (K-5th grade) chilclients we serve. dren.

HELP WANTED DEPUTY FIRE CHIEF OF EMS & INFECTIOUS DISEASE The Village of Oak Park is seeking qualified candidates for the position of Deputy Fire Chief of EMS & Infectious Disease in the Fire Department. This position will direct, manage, supervise, and coordinate the programs and activities of the Fire Department’s Emergency Medical Services and Infectious Disease Division; to coordinate assigned activities with other Village departments, divisions, and outside agencies; and to provide highly responsible and complex administrative support to the Fire Chief and Public Health Director when assigned. Applicants are encouraged to visit the Village of Oak Park’s website at http://www. oak-park.us/jobs. First review of applications will be February 21, 2021.

FIRE MARSHALL The Village of Oak Park is seeking qualified candidates for the position of Fire Marshal with the Oak Park Fire Department This position will manage, supervise, and coordinate the activities and operations of the Fire Prevention Bureau. Asist in the development, implementation, and coordination of various programs within the Bureau. Applicants are encouraged to visit the Village of Oak Park’s website at http://www. oak-park.us/jobs. First review of applications will be February 26, 2021.

SENIOR SERVICES SENIOR SERVICES At We All Care Home Care Agency we offer in home care services in senior. We make sure you or your family member safe and comfortable in their home. We assistant with cooking, cleaning, transportation, assistant with vitals, Medication reminder and much more. Feel free to call 773-827-4543 Lost & Found, Items for Sale, and To Be Given Away ads run free in Wednesday Classified. To place your ad, call 708-613-3342

OFFICE & RETAIL SPACE FOR RENT RIVER FOREST–7777 Lake St. * 1116 sq. ft. * 1400 sq. ft. Dental Office RIVER FOREST–7756 Madison St. * 960 sq. ft.

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

SUBURBAN RENTALS

ELECTRICAL Ceiling Fans Installed

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Let an American Veteran do your work

We install plugs for battery-operated vehicles We fix any electrical problem and do small jobs We install Surge Protectors • Home Re-wiring • New Plugs & Switches Added • New circuit breaker boxes • Code violations corrected Service upgrades,100-200 amp • Garage & A/C lines installed Fast Emergency Service | Residential • Commercial • Industrial Free Home Evaluations | Lic. • Bonded • Ins. • Low Rates • Free Est.

708-409-0988 • 708-738-3848 Sr. Discounts • 30 Yrs. Exp. Servicing Oak Park • All surrounding suburbs • Chicago area

CEMETERY PLOTS 4 FOREST HOME CEMETERY PLOTS 4 Forest Home cemetery plots available together or separately. Easy access and exit, in desirable Garden Sec. 61, Lot 342-A spaces 1,2,3,4. $1650 each, transfer costs not included.

Call 847-468-0013 and leave message

WANTED TO BUY

FLOORS

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

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

Call Uncle Gary 708-522-3400

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

Call: 773-671-4996 www.klisflooring.com

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STUDIOS, 1, 2 & 3 BR Best Selection & Service

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708-386-7355

MMpropMgmt.com

Apartment listings updated daily at:

ELECTRICAL

KLIS FLOORING INC.

HANDYMAN Mike’s Home Repair Drywall H Painting H Tile Plumbing H Electric H Floors Windows H Doors H Siding Ask Us What We Don’t Do

708-296-2060

CURT'S HANDYMAN SERVICE Drywall Repair • Painting Fans Installed • Carpentry Trim Gutter Cleaning • Window Repair

FREE ESTIMATES Excellent References No Job Too Small

HAULING BASEMENT CLEANING

Appliances & Furniture Removal Pickup & Delivery.

708-848-9404

HEATING/ AIR CONDITIONING HEATING AND APPLIANCE EXPERT Furnaces, Boilers and Space Heaters Refrigerators Ranges • Ovens Washer • Dryers Rodding Sewers Lic/Bonded 25 yrs experience

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708-785-2619 or 773-585-5000

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HANDYMAN Find your new apartment this Saturday from 10 am – 4pm at 35 Chicago Avenue.

Or call us toll free at 1-833-440-0665 for an appointment.

Selling your home by owner?

Advertise in Wednesday Classified!

Call: 708-613-3342

PAINTING & DECORATING

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

CLASSIC PAINTING

Ask for John

708.749.0011

773-637-0692

Fast & Neat Painting/Taping/Plaster Repair Low Cost

Attention! Homeimprovement pros!

Reach the people making the decisions – your target demographic.

Place an ad in Wednesday Classifieds!

Call 708/613-3342

PLASTERING

PUBLIC NOTICES

McNulty Plastering & Stucco Co.

Small & big work. Free estimates.

Complete Plaster, Stucco & Re-Coating Services

708/386-2951 • ANYTIME Work Guaranteed

Licensed, Bonded, Insured, & EPA Certified Expert craftsmanship for over 50 years

Notice of Invitation to Bid to Visit Oak Park Visit Oak Park will receive Bids from qualified vendors until 5:00 p.m. on Friday, March 5, 2021 for the following: Visit Oak Park Digital Tourism Platform

REFINISHING Terry's

Woodwork Restoration On-site refinishing of wood

and fiberglass since 1977.

Includes doors, woodwork, windows, staircases and new woodwork etc. All work done by hand. NO sanders. Your unfinished project my specialty!

References available.

Contact Terry Seamans at 630-379-7148 or terryseamans@yahoo.com

PUBLIC NOTICES

Visit Oak Park will receive proposals from responsible vendors to provide the Bureau with a digital tourism marketing platform for creating travel itineraries, with features for virtual passports as well as discounted tickets and coupons. A full copy of the RFP is available by contacting Eric Wagner at eric@visitoakpark.com.

Visit Oak Park reserves the right to issue proposal documents and specifications only to those vendors deemed qualified. For more information, call Visit Oak Park at 708-524-7800.

Published in Wednesday Journal February 10, 2021

Notice of Invitation to Bid to Visit Oak Park

Notice of Invitation to Bid to Visit Oak Park Visit Oak Park will receive Bids from qualified vendors until 5:00 p.m. on Friday, March 5, 2021 for the following: Visit Oak Park Digital Marketing Services Visit Oak Park will receive proposals from responsible vendors to assist the bureau in the management and execution of digital marketing services, including the development and execution of the Bureau’s digital marketing campaigns. A full copy of the RFP is available by contacting Eric Wagner at eric@visitoakpark.com.

Visit Oak Park will receive Bids from qualified vendors until 5:00 p.m. on Friday, March 5, 2021 for the following: Visit Oak Park Search Engine Optimization Visit Oak Park will receive proposals from responsible vendors to provide search engine optimization for the Bureau’s website, VisitOakPark.com. A full copy of the RFP is available by contacting Eric Wagner at eric@ visitoakpark.com.

Visit Oak Park reserves the right to issue proposal documents and specifications only to those vendors deemed qualified. For more information, call Visit Oak Park at 708-524-7800.

Visit Oak Park reserves the right to issue proposal documents and specifications only to those vendors deemed qualified. For more information, call Visit Oak Park at 708-524-7800.

Published in Wednesday Journal February 10, 2021

Published in Wednesday Journal February 10, 2021

Illinois Classified Advertising Network EVENTS

GUN SHOW - February 12-14, 2021, Fountain Hall, 8505 Durand Ave. Sturtevant/Racine,WI Friday 3pm-8pm, Saturday 9am-5pm, Sunday 9am-3pm. Large selection of guns & Ammo More info: 563-608-4401 www.marvkrauspromotions.net

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Call Mary Ellen for details: 708/613-3342

P

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Forest Park Review, February 10, 2021

CLASSIFIED

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(708) 613-3333 • FAX: (708) 467-9066 • E-MAIL: CLASSIFIEDS@OAKPARK.COM | CLASSIFIEDS@RIVERFOREST.COM

Let the sun shine in...

Public Notice: Your right to know

In print • Online • Available to you 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, every day of the year OakPark.com | RiverForest.com | PublicNoticeIllinois.com PUBLIC NOTICES

PUBLIC NOTICES

PUBLIC NOTICES

NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING

LEGAL NOTICE The Village of Oak Park will receive sealed bids from qualified 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 24, 2021 for the following: Village of Oak Park Water Distribution System Leak Survey Bid Number: 21-114 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) 358-5700 during the above hours.

Published in Wednesday Journal February 10, 2021

Forest Park Review, February 10, 2021

OAKPARK.COM | RIVERFOREST.COM

LEGAL NOTICE The Village of Oak Park will receive sealed bids from qualified 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 9:00 a.m. on Thursday, February 25, 2021 for the following: Village of Oak Park Large Water Meter Testing Program - 2021 Bid Number: 21-115 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) 358-5700 during the above hours.

Published in Wednesday Journal February 10, 2021

LEGAL NOTICE The Village of Oak Park will receive sealed bids from qualified 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 11:00 a.m. on Wednesday, February 24, 2021 for the following: Village of Oak Park 2021 Master Meter Testing Bid Number: 21-116 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) 358-5700 during the above hours.

Published in Wednesday Journal February 10, 2021

NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that on 1 March 2021, at 7:00 P.M. via a Zoom web conferencing meeting, the Plan Commission of the Village of Forest Park will conduct a public hearing to consider a request for a planned development conditional use permit to allow the construction of a 57-unit residential building in the B-1 Neighborhood Shopping District, on the following described property: PARCEL 1: THAT PART OF THE SOUTH 52.0 FEET 8 INCHES OF LOTS 1,2,3 AND 4 (TAKEN AS A TRACT) IN BLOCK 1 IN THE SUBDIVISION OF BLOCK 1, 11, 12, AND 21 IN JOSEPH K. DUNLOP’S SUBDIVISION OF THE WEST HALF OF THE SOUTHEAST QUARTER OF SECTION 13, TOWNSHIP 39 NORTH, RANGE 12 EAST OF THE THIRD PRINCIPAL MERIDIAN DESCRIBED AS FOLLOWS: BEGINNING AT A POINT ON THE WEST LINE OF SAID TRACT, SAID POINT BEING 2.81 FEET NORTH OF THE SOUTHWEST CORNER OF SAID TRACT; THENCE CONTINUING NORTH ALONG THE WEST LINE OF SAID TRACT, 49.86 FEET TO THE NORTH LINE OF SAID TRACT; THENCE EAST ALONG THE NORTH LINE OF SAID TRACT, 3.01 FEET; THENCE SOUTH ALONG A STRAIGHT LINE, 44.778 FEET TO A POINT WHICH IS

3.00 FEET EAST OF THE WEST LINE OF SAID TRACT; THENCE SOUTHWESTERLY ALONG A STRAIGHT LINE, 6.07 FEET TO A PLACE OF BEGINNING. PARCEL 2: LOTS 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, AND 10 IN BLOCK 1 I COMSTOCK AND DRESSEL’S SUBDIVISION OF BLOCKS 1, 11, 12, AND 21 I JOSEPH K. DUNLOP’S SUBDIVISION OF THE WEST HALF OF THE SOUTHEAST QUARTER OF SECTION 13, TOWNSHIP 39 NORTH, RANGE 12 EAST OF THE THIRD PRINCIPAL MERIDIAN, IN COOK COUNTY, ILLINOIS. Commonly known as 7412 W. Harrison Street, Forest Park, Illinois.

PINs: 15-13-403-001, 15-13-403002, 15-13-403-003, 15-13-403004, 15-13-403-005, 15-13-403041, 15-13-403-007 The applicant is 7400-7412 West Harrison Street Properties, LLC Information regarding how to access the hearing via Zoom can be obtained at http://www.forestpark. net/dfp/. If you have any questions please contact the Director of Health and Safety, Steve Glinke at sglinke@forestpark.net.

Signed: Paul Barbahen, Acting Chair Plan Commission

Published in the Forest Park Review February 9th, 2021.

LEGAL NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING VILLAGE OF BROOKFIELD PLANNING AND ZONING COMMISSION FEBRUARY 25th, 2021 at 7:00 p.m. Regular Meeting NOTICE is hereby given that the Village of Brookfield Planning and Zoning Commission will conduct a public hearing on Thursday, February 25th, 2021 at 7:00 p.m. in the Edward Barcal Hall located at 8820 Brookfield Avenue, Brookfield, Illinois for the purpose of considering a Text Amendment to Chapter 62 of the Village Code of Ordinances to allow first floor offices in the SA-2 District.

The public is invited to attend the public hearing and present oral and/ or written comments.

Written comments may be provided prior to the public hearing to: Village of Brookfield, Planning and Zoning Commission c/o Michael J.

Schwarz, AICP, Director of Community and Economic Development, 8820 Brookfield Avenue, Brookfield, IL 60513, mschwarz@brookfieldil. gov or 708-485-1113. The application is available on file. Please reference PZC Case 21-05.

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

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

Published in Landmark February 10, 2021

LEGAL NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING VILLAGE OF BROOKFIELD PLANNING AND ZONING COMMISSION FEBRUARY 25th, 2021 at 7:00 p.m. Regular Meeting NOTICE is hereby given that the Village of Brookfield Planning and Zoning Commission will conduct a public hearing on Thursday, February 25th, 2021 at 7:00 p.m. in the Edward Barcal Hall located at 8820 Brookfield Avenue, Brookfield, Illinois for the purpose of considering a Text Amendment to Chapter 62 of the Village Code of Ordinances to allow new non-conforming uses.

The public is invited to attend the public hearing and present oral and/ or written comments.

Written comments may be provided prior to the public hearing to: Village of Brookfield, Planning and Zoning Commission c/o Michael J.

Schwarz, AICP, Director of Community and Economic Development, 8820 Brookfield Avenue, Brookfield, IL 60513, mschwarz@brookfieldil. gov or 708-485-1113. The application is available on file. Please reference PZC Case 21-06.

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

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

Published in Landmark February 10, 2021

PUBLIC NOTICES PUBLIC NOTICE Notice is hereby given, pursuant to “An Act in relation to the use of an Assumed Business Name in the conduct or transaction of Business in the State,” as amended, that a certification was registered by the undersigned with the County Clerk of Cook County. Registration Number: Y21005821 on January 28, 2021 Under the Assumed Business Name of KLM ENTERPRISES with the business located at: 1824 E 79TH ST, CHICAGO, IL 60649. The true and real full name(s) and residence address of the owner(s)/partner(s) is: LINDA LEE, 7447 S SOUTH SHORE DR APT 10J, CHICAGO, IL 60649, USA

local employees... happy employees!

Published in RBLandmark 2/10, 2/17, 2/24/2021

PUBLIC NOTICE Notice is hereby given, pursuant to “An Act in relation to the use of an Assumed Business Name in the conduct or transaction of Business in the State,” as amended, that a certification was registered by the undersigned with the County Clerk of Cook County. Registration Number: Y21005947 on February 8, 2021 Under the Assumed Business Name of GUERRERO DESIGN with the business located at 1 E. ERIE STREET SUITE 525-2263, CHICAGO, IL 60611. The true and real full name(s) and residence address of the owner(s)/partner(s) is: JULIO C GUERRERO JR. 2322 LARKIN STREET SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94109, USA. Published in Wednesday Journal 2/10, 2/17, 2/24/2021

REAL ESTATE FOR SALE IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF COOK COUNTY, ILLINOIS COUNTY DEPARTMENT CHANCERY DIVISION WELLS FARGO BANK, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION AS TRUSTEE FOR OPTION ONE MORTGAGE LOAN TRUST 2006-3, ASSET-BACKED CERTIFICATES, SERIES 2006-3 Plaintiff, -v.CHARLES T. GRANT, JUANITA J. GRANT, THE PRAIRIE PLACE AT 6436 ROOSEVELT CONDOMINIUM ASSOCIATION Defendants 2019CH14912 6436 ROOSEVELT RD, 413 OAK PARK, IL 60304 NOTICE OF SALE PUBLIC NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale entered in the above cause on November 5, 2020, an agent for The Judicial Sales Corporation, will at 10:30 AM on March 11, 2021, at The Judicial Sales Corporation, One South Wacker Drive, CHICAGO, IL, 60606, sell at a public sale to the highest bidder, as set forth below, the following described real estate: Commonly known as 6436 ROOSEVELT RD, 413, OAK PARK, IL 60304 Property Index No. 16-18-428-0431030, Property Index No. 16-18428-043-1054 The real estate is improved with a condo/townhouse.

Sale terms: 25% down of the highest bid by certified funds at the close of the sale payable to The Judicial Sales Corporation. No third party checks will be accepted. The balance, including the Judicial Sale fee for the Abandoned Residential Property Municipality Relief Fund,

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

Go to RiverForest.com/classified today!

Contact Mary Ellen Nelligan for more information.

(708) 613-3342 • maryellen@oakpark.com

REAL ESTATE FOR SALE

REAL ESTATE FOR SALE

REAL ESTATE FOR SALE

which is calculated on residential real estate at the rate of $1 for each $1,000 or fraction thereof of the amount paid by the purchaser not to exceed $300, in certified funds/or wire transfer, is due within twenty-four (24) hours. No fee shall be paid by the mortgagee acquiring the residential real estate pursuant to its credit bid at the sale or by any mortgagee, judgment creditor, or other lienor acquiring the residential real estate whose rights in and to the residential real estate arose prior to the sale. The subject property is subject to general real estate taxes, special assessments, or special taxes levied against said real estate and is offered for sale without any representation as to quality or quantity of title and without recourse to Plaintiff and in “AS IS” condition. The sale is further subject to confirmation by the court.

Upon payment in full of the amount bid, the purchaser will receive a Certificate of Sale that will entitle the purchaser to a deed to the real estate after confirmation of the sale.

The property will NOT be open for inspection and plaintiff makes no representation as to the condition of the property. Prospective bidders are admonished to check the court file to verify all information.

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

by The Condominium Property Act, 765 ILCS 605/9(g)(1) and (g)(4).

If this property is a condominium unit which is part of a common interest community, the purchaser of the unit at the foreclosure sale other than a mortgagee shall pay the assessments required by The Condominium Property Act, 765 ILCS 605/18.5(g-1).

IF YOU ARE THE MORTGAGOR (HOMEOWNER), YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO REMAIN IN POSSESSION FOR 30 DAYS AFTER ENTRY OF AN ORDER OF POSSESSION, IN ACCORDANCE WITH SECTION 15-1701(C) OF THE ILLINOIS MORTGAGE FORECLOSURE LAW. You will need a photo identification issued by a government agency (driver’s license, passport, etc.) in order to gain entry into our building and the foreclosure sale room in Cook County and the same identification for sales held at other county venues where The Judicial Sales Corporation conducts foreclosure sales.

For information, examine the court

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

CODILIS & ASSOCIATES, P.C. 15W030 NORTH FRONTAGE ROAD, SUITE 100 BURR RIDGE IL, 60527 630-794-5300 E-Mail: pleadings@il.cslegal.com Attorney File No. 14-19-11626 Attorney ARDC No. 00468002 Attorney Code. 21762 Case Number: 2019CH14912 TJSC#: 40-2378 NOTE: Pursuant to the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, you are advised that Plaintiff’s attorney is deemed to be a debt collector attempting to collect a debt and any information obtained will be used for that purpose.

Case # 2019CH14912 I3163568

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Wednesday Journal, February 10, 2021

OAKPARK.COM | RIVERFOREST.COM

What State Representative Emanuel “Chris” Welch can do for you!

Our office can assist you in navigating a wide variety of state services including, but not limited to: Processing professional license applications with the Illinois Department of Financial & Professional Regulation Referrals for job assistance programs Referrals on college scholarships and financial aid information Assisting veterans with state programs and resources

Rep. Welch frequently offers state seminars and programs to create awareness of resources and opportunities for constituents, including:

• • • • • • • •

Job Resource Fairs Electronics Recycling and Shred Days Property Tax Appeal Seminars Senior Technology Fairs Internship Programs for Students Citizen Advisory Committees Mobile Office Hours Town Hall Meetings

Helping qualified applicants receive care through the Department of Human Services Helping qualified applicants access unemployment benefits Mortgage relief assistance from the Attorney General and the Illinois Housing Development Authority

Emanuel Chris Welch State Representative 7th District

Constituent Service Office • 10055 Roosevelt Road • Westchester, IL 60154 708-450-1000 • emanuelchriswelch.com For more information, please contact Rep. Welch’s full-time constituent service office at 708-450-1000 or email repwelch@emanuelchriswelch.com

Wednesday Journal, February 10, 2021

NEED TO REACH US?

oakpark.com/real-estate email: buphues@wjinc.com

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Homes

Old home lives like new Historic Oak Park residence rehabbed for today

By LACEY SIKORA

S

Contributing Reporter

ome homes in Oak Park wear their architectural pedigree on their sleeves.

Whether through a plaque on the front designating them historic landmarks or a distinctive architectural flourish, they announce to the world that, through their connection with a famous architect or an individual who made a mark on Oak Park, they are a part of local history.

Other homes from the same era might be a little more subtle. Yes, they are old and most likely designed by someone with architectural skills, but their pasts aren’t as well documented.

While they might not garner a stop on famous home tours, these houses are the bread and butter of Oak Park -- the kind of charming historic homes that draw people

to live here.

The house at 215 N. Elmwood Ave. is one of those. Records kept by the Historical Society of Oak Park and River Forest indicate the home was built sometime between 1895 and 1908, and has names but few details on the first owners.

A real estate ad from the 1970s says the house could be an E. E. Roberts design, but there is no corroboration for this claim.

In short, the stately home might have an undistinguished pedigree, but it retains many original details that make it an Oak Park classic. Recently, the owners updated the home for their family’s needs and while they retained the original charm, they created a versatile space for a modern family.

Complete makeover In 2014, Beyond Properties Owner and Managing Broker Erica Cuneen sold the

Photo provided

VINTAGE MODERN: Oak Park is dotted with homes like this one at 215 N. Elmwood Ave. (top), historic structures available to be updated for contemporary living. This property also comes with a 2-bed, 1-bath coach house apartment (above). home to the current owners. It was wellmaintained, but she says of what was then a big blue house, “It had all of these nice vintage features, but it needed a ton of work.”

She says that her clients took the house down to the studs, while taking care to sal-

vage original details like the dining room’s woodwork and leaded glass windows. At the rear of the house, they created an addition to allow space for a mudroom and stairs to the basement.

See LIKE NEW on page 4

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Wednesday Journal, February 10, 2021

OAKPARK.COM | RIVERFOREST.COM

love is sweet.

HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY

Wednesday Journal, February 10, 2021

OAKPARK.COM | RIVERFOREST.COM

JUST LISTED! 409 Lathrop Ave, #1E, River Forest Centrally located 1 BD, 1BA condo with large, updated kitchen including granite countertops and SS appliances. Covered parking included. ...................... $142,000

JUST SOLD! 1422 William St, River Forest Unique and totally stunning. This 3 plus BR contemporary features 3 levels of living space surrounding a private outdoor retreat. .................................... $1,000,000

UNDER CONTRACT! 1020 Harlem Ave, 4B, River Forest Under contract in less than a day!

Sprawling 3 BR condo in desirable elevator building with 2 garage spots. Tons of upgrades and fresh décor make this a truly special home. ............................ $375,000

JUST LISTED! 1120 Thomas St, Unit 304, Oak Park 2 BR, 2 BA. Light-filled, top floor condo with a large balcony, hardwood floors, many closets, in-unit laundry, and 2 parking spaces (1 garage.) A great package in an elevator building! ...................... $330,000

Sandi Graves | 708-752-6540 sgraves@cbexchange.com

Sue Canepa I 312-203-0848 suecanepahomes@gmail.com

Sue Canepa l 312-203-0848 suecanepahomes@gmail.com

Stephanie Eiger | 708-557-0779 Stephanie.Eiger@cbexchange.com

JUST LISTED! 1020 Harlem Ave, #1D, River Forest 2 BR, 2 BA. Beautiful and spacious unit in landers house. New windows, hardwood floors and updated baths. 2 car garage parking, in-unit laundry and huge balcony. ................................................... $339,000

COMING SOON! 101 N. Euclid Ave, Oak Park Easy living 2 BR townhome, plus large bonus area. Recently painted, new hdwd flrs on main level, perfect central location, private garage. Call us for details and access to more exclusive properties!

JUST LISTED! 506 S. Austin Blvd., #1, Oak Park 3 BR, 2 BA. Fantastic first-floor spacious condo near transportation. Beautiful hardwood floors. Bosch stainless steel appliances and washer/dryer in the unit.

Assign parking available. $178,500

JUST SOLD! 501 Fair Oaks, Oak Park The buyers are out there and the inventory is low. Now is the time to take advantage of the market and list your home.

John Haagenson | 773-230-6995 john.haagenson@cbexchange.com

Lisa Andreoli and Meredith Conn 708-557-9546 or 708-743-6973 TeamGo2Girls@gmail.com

Andrea “Bonnie” Routen | 708-544-8440 Andrea.bonnie@cbexchange.com

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Kirstin Gloor | 708-351-8977 Kirstin.Gloor@cbexchange.com

Exceptional Service.

Exceptional Results.

Optimal results.

Seamless experience.

Best year of sales 2020 and 2021 continues strong! Let me help you find your sacred space called HOME!

100% commitment to my clients.

Monica Klinke

Shea Kiessling

Patty Melgar Hooks

Michelle Miller

708-612-3031 monica.klinke@cbexchange.com

708-710-5952 shea@cbexchange.com

708-261-2796 patty.melgarhooks@cbexchange.com

708-334-5833 michelle.miller@cbexchange.com

COLDWELLBANKERHOMES.COM Oak Park 114 N. Oak Park Avenue, Oak Park | 708.524.1100 The property information herein is derived from various sources that may include, but not be limited to, county records and the Multiple Listing Service, and it may include approximations. Although the information is believed to be accurate, it is not warranted and you should not rely upon it without personal verification. Real estate agents affiliated with Coldwell Banker Realty are independent contractor sales associates, not employees. ©2020 Coldwell Banker Realty. All Rights Reserved. Coldwell Banker Realty fully supports the principles of the Fair Housing Act and the Equal Opportunity Act. Owned by a subsidiary of NRT LLC. Coldwell Banker and the Coldwell Banker Logo are registered service marks owned by Coldwell Banker Realty LLC.

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Wednesday Journal, February 10, 2021

LIKE NEW

Move-in ready from page 1 A brand-new gourmet kitchen includes an eight-burner Blue Star range and a walnut island with leathered granite counters. A new butler’s pantry is a nod to what might have existed in the original home, and a walk-in pantry provides extra storage.

The second floor originally had five bedrooms with one shared bathroom.

The owners reconfigured the space to create a huge primary suite, converting one bedroom to a closet and another to the en suite bathroom.

The third floor has three more bedrooms and a full bath, bringing the total number of bedrooms in the main house to six, with three full bathrooms and two half bathrooms.

As part of their work, the owners also built a new three-car garage topped with a two-bedroom, one bathroom coach house.

“The coach house is amazing,” Cuneen said.

The entire space is ADA accessible and includes an elevator, making it versatile as an in-law suite or a great work-fromhome space. Cuneen says the coach house is like a standalone house, with its own heating/cooling systems, kitchen and pa-

OAKPARK.COM | RIVERFOREST.COM tio.

Listed for sale The owners are moving on and have listed the home for sale with Cuneen for $1.7 million.

“Everything is new: the bathrooms, the kitchen, the roof, the gutters, the mechanicals,” Cuneen said. “There is nothing to do but move in.

“They even put in a geothermal heating system, so the cost to heat and cool the house is really low for such a big house.”

The location is a big selling point as well, within walking distance to the farmers market, schools and the el, providing a walkability that Cuneen says buyers are looking for.

While the attributes are appealing, Cuneen says it makes sense to use all of the available technology to showcase the house to buyers who may begin their search for a new home from their computers. She created a video of a drone tour of the property to augment the professional listing photos of the home. Visit tinyurl. com/4azxstyp to watch the video.

At the end of the day, Cuneen says the home might sell to a buyer from the city or to someone local looking for more room for a growing family. She has no doubt they will fall in love with the space.

“It’s definitely such a unique property in that everything has been done,” Cuneen said. “You have nothing to do. And, it’s stunning.”

Need a Need a helping helping of Need a helping of of

Photo provided

LOTS OF ROOM: The home still retains some original features like stained-glass windows adorning the main stairwell, but it’s also is fully ADA accessible and sports amenities like an elevator, new bathrooms, a kitchen with an 8-burner Blue Star range -- all within walking distance to the el and farmers market.

Need a helping of

Need a helping of

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

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

Wednesday Journal, February 10, 2021

OAKPARK.COM | RIVERFOREST.COM

B5

Generations of Excellence since 1958

708.771.8040 • 7375 W. North Ave., River Forest Alisa Coghill DonnaAvenue Barnhisel 7375 West North Kay Costello Anne Brennan MANAGING River Forest, Illinois 60305 Maria Cullerton Kevin Calkins BROKER/OWNERS Julie Downey Tom Carraher 708.771.8040 Kurt Fielder Pat Cesario Andy Gagliardo

Tom Poulos

Joe Cibula Don Citrano

Ramona Fox Laura Gancer

Lisa Grimes Dan Halperin Sharon Halperin Greg Jaroszewski Vee Jaroszewski Noa Klima Jack Lattner

Iris McCormick Vince McFadden Colleen Navigato John Pappas Rosa Pitassi Sue Ponzio-Pappas Jenny Ruland

Laurel Saltzman Laurie Shapiro Tom Sullivan Debbie Watts George Wohlford Nancy Wohlford Randy Ernst • 773-290-0307

611 JACKSON • RIVER FOREST

831 HOME • OAK PARK OPEN SUNDAY 122

702 PARK • RIVER FOREST

1216 N TAYLOR • OAK PARK

N E W LISTI NG!

N EW LI S T I N G!

N EW LI S T I NG!

UN DE R CON TR AC T!

BEAUTIFUL, CENTER ENTRANCE COLONIAL with a large foyer, family room, sunroom, luxury kitchen with eating area AND island seating, tons of storage and pantry space, open floor plan rec room in basement. Tastefully done and impeccably maintained. All you need to do is move in! ..................................................... $1,299,000

RECENT UPDATES for this great move-in ready home! 3 BRs, 1st Fl office, screened-in front porch with new hardwood floors, enclosed back porch that doubles as a mud room, all BRs with hardwood floors, finished basement with large living area, fenced yard, 2-1/2 car garage. ....................................................... $415,000

LOVELY, CLASSIC COLONIAL situated on a sun-drenched oversized corner lot. Features include large LR, sunroom, DR with built-in cabinet, kitchen that opens to back porch and large deck.

Basement offers higher ceilings open space. Many recent upgrades and improvements ...............................................................$619,900

ELEGANT, HIGHLY UPGRADED with a nod to its history.

This exceptional OP bungalow is move-in ready with generous room sizes, tasteful finishes, new mechanicals, natural light, and thoughtful space design. Features include refinished original hardwood, original art glass accents, sleek kitchen. .........$519,900

1120 PARK • RIVER FOREST

ADDITIONAL OPEN HOUSES SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 2021

223 THATCHER • RIVER FOREST

RIVER FOREST 1135 FOREST • OPEN SUNDAY 121:30 1522 PARK • OPEN SUNDAY 23:30

ELEGANT CRAFTSMANSHIP can be found throughout this 5 BR French Normandy home. Sophistication is evident from the moment you walk in the door. Impressive foyer, formal LR with fireplace and built-in benches, family room, separate formal DR, updated kitchen, home office. ............................................................................................. $999,000 UNDE R CO NTRAC T! IMPECABLE BLEND of classic Tallmadge & Watson Prairie style with highest-end contemporary features, finishes, and floor plan.

This level of excellence is rarely found in a historic home. Features include private office, butler’s pantry, sunporch, mudroom, 2nd FL & bsmt laundry room. ..................................................... $1,699,000

1134 ROSSELL • OAK PARK

UN DE R CO NTRAC T! GRACIOUS, VINTAGE BRICK COLONIAL with impressive room sizes, newly finished hardwood floors, substantial crown molding, beautiful French doors, family room, and a wood-burning fireplace. Outside features an awning-covered veranda, back patio, large fenced-in yard............................................................$625,000

Find that New Home!

217 N TAYLOR • OPEN SUNDAY 122

OAK PARK 6436 ROOSEVELT UNIT 212 • OPEN SUNDAY 122

PRICE REDUCED RARELY AVAILABLE, “Cavalcade of Pride” award-winning home on 50 x 170 ft lot. High ceilings, oak staircase, marble fireplace, separate formal dining area, spacious den/family room with stained glass and built-in bookcases, eat-in kitchen, and a large full basement with storage.............................................................. $579,000

RIVER FOREST HOMES

COMFORTABLE SPACE for all your needs and wants in this 4BR brick home. Hardwood floors and many built-ins throughout, a wood-burning fireplace, breakfast room/mudroom, custom deck, and two family rooms! Bring your decorating ideas and make it your own! .................... .................................................................................................... $639,000

STATELY SOUTHERN COLONIAL blends old world craftsmanship with elegant modern updates ideally located. Grand foyer, elegant LR with fireplace, recently remodeled gourmet kitchen, mudroom, family room, large basement with den/office.

Meticulously maintained and ready to move in. ........... $1,599,000 EXPERT DESIGN RENOVATION! The very best in contemporary design, finishes and mechanicals alongside exquisitely restored leaded glass doors and gleaming hardwoods create the ideal blend of old and new. Massive rooms and high end craftsmanship throughout. Oversized lot. .............................................. $1,499,000 GRAND SPRAWLING HOME with an abundance of interior and exterior living areas. 5 BRs, upstairs laundry, 3 full & 1 half BAs, 3 fireplaces, full basement with recreation room. Grand two story family room incorporated into an open plan kitchen. Hardwood floors throughout main level. ............................................ $787,000 MUCH LARGER THAN IT LOOKS! This 3+ BR, 2-1/2 BA brick bungalow is move-in ready! Features include an open LR/DR, eat-in kitchen, reworked basement, new windows, Alpha closets, new washer & dryer, and brick patio and firepit all enclosed by a private back yard .................................................................$729,000

BEAUTIFULLY UPDATED one bedroom, one bath Oak Park condominium. Open, light-filled floor plan. Newer construction building with in-unit laundry and balcony. Exterior parking space. Well managed building with fitness facility and storage. A must see! ............................ .................................................................................................... $179,000

OAK PARK HOMES

U N DE R CON TR AC T! UPDATED VICTORIAN overlooking lush Thatcher Woods! Grand rooms, beautiful wooded vistas, walk to Metra! Upgrades in this 5BR/4.5 BA incl natural stone fplc, fam rm, open kitchen. 3rd FL living space, 2 story-4 car garage, wrap-around porch. Lovely lot, room to grow, move right in! .............................................$849,000

301 S EUCLID • OAK PARK

THREE STORY GRAND VICTORIAN on 100 x 218 lot in the heart of the Frank Lloyd Wright district. This estate features 6 Bedrooms, 2 Full baths, 3 fireplaces, many historic details including double front entry doors sourced from the Historic Pullman Estates section of Chicago. ...................................................................$646,000

CONDOS/TOWNHOMES/2 FLATS RIVER FOREST 2BR, 2BA. Completely updated. ............$264,000 OAK PARK Two Flat ...........................................................$550,000 PRICE REDUCED OAK PARK 3BR, 2 full, 2 half BA. ......$464,000 OAK PARK 2BR, 2BA. Two parking spots. ........................ $379,000 NEW LISTING OAK PARK 2BR, 2BA. .............................. $379,000 OAK PARK 3BR, 2 full/1 half BA. Vintage beauty............$285,000 NEW LISTING OAK PARK 2BR, 1-1/2 BA. ......................$268,500 OAK PARK 2BR, 2BA. Courtyard view. ..............................$249,900

UN DE R CON TR AC T! ARCHITECTURAL INTEGRITY of this 4 BR, 3BA farmhouse has been preserved whenever updates were completed. Double door entry, antique light fixture, hardwood flooring, art glass windows, natural trim work and high ceilings are found throughout this home. ................................................................................... $579,000

Contact a Gagliardo Realty Associates Agent for a free market analysis

Shop for homes online at GagliardoRealty.com

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Wednesday Journal, February 10, 2021

OAKPARK.COM | RIVERFOREST.COM

WE’RE BY YOUR SIDE 107 S Scoville Ave Oak Park | $1,250,000 Keller Group Chicago

940 Bonnie Brae Pl River Forest | $1,139,000 Ed Bellock

232 S Kenilworth Ave Oak Park | $795,000 Jim Gillespie

947 Wenonah Ave Oak Park | $749,000 Swati Saxena

1526 Lathrop Ave River Forest | $635,000 Bethanny Alexander

111 Home Ave, Unit 3 Oak Park | $559,000 Hughes Home Team

40 Ashland Ave River Forest | $549,000 Keller Group Chicago

435 William St, Unit 208 River Forest | $515,000 Ed Bellock

110 S Marion St, Unit 304 Oak Park | $439,000 Patricia McGowan

720 S Ridgeland Ave Oak Park | $385,000 Arrick Pelton

1014 Hayes Ave Oak Park | $379,000 Bobbi Eastman

830 N Austin Blvd Oak Park | $373,000 Heidi Rogers

170 N Marion St, Unit 3 Oak Park | $369,900 Patricia McGowan

3150 N Prater Ave Melrose Park | $315,000 Carla Taylor

411 Ashland Ave, Unit 5C River Forest | $279,000 Mary Carlin

7753 Van Buren St, Unit 318 Forest Park | $259,413 Jim Gillespie

424 Park Ave, Unit 205 River Forest | $240,000 Saretta Joyner

210 S Lombard Ave Oak Park | $219,000 Peggy Letchos

8009 Lake St, Unit 2W River Forest | $157,000 Anne Ferri & Kim Wojack

217 Chicago Ave, Unit 2 Oak Park | $139,000 Catherine SImon-Vobornik

Baird & Warner Oak Park/River Forest | 1037 Chicago Ave. Oak Park, IL 60302 | 708.697.5900 | oakpark.bairdwarner.com Source: BrokerMetrics® LLC, 1/1/2019 - 12/ 31/2019Detached and Attached only. Chicagoland PMSA

Wednesday Journal, February 10, 2021

OAKPARK.COM | RIVERFOREST.COM

Why test yourcan LUCK when you canon depend on top-selling Broker, You depend top-selling Sarah O’Shea Munoz? Munoz!

Broker, Sarah O’Shea SOLD!

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PRICE REDUCTION

UNDER Experienced, Well-Qualified Professional FOR CONTRACT SALE in 1 day!

Responsive, Resourceful & Thorough Efficient, Empathetic & Compassionate

Work with someone who treasures you!!!

538 N. Elmwood SOLD! Oak Park Wonderfully inviting 4BR/2.1 BA…$600,000

FOR SALE 1227 Jackson - River Forest 4BR/ 3.1 BA - $899,000

516 N. Lombard SOLD! Oak Park 3 BR/ 2.1 BA Townhome…$397,700

UNDER CONTRACT in 4 days!

1114 Augusta Oak Park 4 BR/ 3 BA….$697,700

1522 FOREST, RIVER FOREST $849,000 :: 4 BED :: 4.5 BATH Brick Tudor with expansive yard.

JUST LISTED

UNDER CONTRACT in 10 days!

7651 Monroe - Forest Park 5BR/ 2BA 2-flat - $374,977

222 N GROVE, OAK PARK

SOLD!

8019 Lake Street #1S – River Forest 2 BR/ 1 BA Condo…$150,000

SOLD! 936 Forest - River Forest 3BR/ 2BA - $529,000

SOLD! 100 Frank Lloyd Wright Lane, Oak Park 3 BR/ 2 BA Townhome…$333,500

704 Forest River Forest 3+1 BR…$599,000

SOLD!

SOLD!

$199,000 :: 2 BED :: 2 BATH Condo with updated kitchen. Close to everything.

950 Washington #209 – Oak Park 2 BR/ 1 BA Condo…$173,700

SOLD! 415 Franklin #3D & 415 Franklin #2F 3BR/ 2BA $267,000 2BR/ 2BA $269,000

KATHY & TONY IWERSEN 708.772.8040 708.772.8041 tonyiwersen@atproperties.com

River Forest

Under Contract in 307 S. Humphrey 14 days!

Oak Park 6 BR/ 2.1 BA…$565,000

438 Lenox Oak Park 3 BR/ 1.1 BA ….$365,000

With low interest rates, it’s a 838 N. Elmwood - Oak Park 643 Garfield #3 - Oak Park to- $134,900 Buy & Sell!

3 BR/ 2.1 BA - $594,900 SWEET time 2BR/ 1 BA Contact Sarah to plan for your next real estate transaction!

Sarah O’Shea Munoz

ASP (RE), CNE, e-PRO, GRI REALTOR®

Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Chicago SOMunoz@BhhsChicago.com OSheaMunozHomes.com

708.359.1570

©2021 BHHAffiliates, Affiliates, LLC. An operatedoperated franchisee of BHH Affiliates, LLC. Berkshire Hathaway andand theaBerkshire HomeServices symbol are © BHH LLC. An independently subsidiary of HomeServices of America, Inc., a BerkshireHomeServices Hathaway affiliate, franchisee Hathaway of BHH Affiliates,LLC. Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices and theof Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices symbol are registered service marks of HomeServices of America, Inc.® Equal Housing Opportunity. registered service marks Columbia Insurance Company, a Berkshire Hathaway affiliate.

Equal Housing Opportunity.

ASSISTED LIVING • SHELTERED CARE • MEMORY CARE • SKILLED NURSING

Now safely moving new residents to our small, wooded campus.

A safe & smart choice.

Choosing a community you can trust has never been more difficult.

Our community has an impeccable record of safety during the COVID-19 crisis and we will stop at nothing to make sure it continues.

We would be honored for your family to be part of ours.

CONTACT US FOR AN OUTDOOR VISIT 2800 Des Plaines Avenue, North Riverside, IL 60546 (708) 477-5092 | CaledoniaSeniorLiving.org

Limited availability!

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Wednesday Journal, February 10, 2021

RIVER FOREST Pristine oak floors, custom built-ins and cabinetry and exquisite architectural details grace this magnificent Tudor.

OAKPARK.COM | RIVERFOREST.COM

OAK PARK Magnificent grand Colonial features 4 levels of luxurious living.

5 BR, 3 BA .........................................................................................................................................................$1,125,000

5 BR, 4.1 BA ......................................................................................................................................................$1,290,000

OAK PARK

FOREST PARK

Steve Scheuring • 708-369-8043

Spectacular renovated condo in the very desirable Tara Hall building.

2 BR, 1 BA ............................................................................................................................................................$164,000 Steve Scheuring • 708-369-8043

Steve Scheuring • 708-369-8043

New construction in 2007. Fabulous 2-story brick and stone 2,152 sq ft condo!

2 BR, 2 BA ............................................................................................................................................................$425,000 Michael O’Neill & Bridget O’Neill • 708-267-8995 or 312-337-0200

Want to see your listings in Distinctive Properties?

Contact Marc Stopeck at 708.613.3330 or marc@oakpark.com

Wednesday Journal, February 10, 2021

OAKPARK.COM | RIVERFOREST.COM

CHICAGO

B9

OAK PARK

3 BR, 2.1 BA ....................................................................$849,000 Michael O’Neill & Bridget O’Neill 708-267-8995 or 312-337-0200

3 BR, 3.1 BA ....................................................................$775,000 Denise Sacks • 708-217-2111

OAK PARK Marvelous luxury home completely refurbished. Brand new coach house with elevator!

OAK PARK

8 BR, 6 BA ..........................................................................................................................................................$1,700,000 Erica Cuneen • 708-220-2025

4 BR, 3 BA .......................................................................$670,000 Erica Cuneen • 708-220-2025

OAK PARK

4 BR, 3.1 BA ....................................................................$600,000 Erica Cuneen • 708-220-2025

OAK PARK

2 BR, 2 BA .......................................................................$249,000 Erica Cuneen • 708-220-2025

OAK PARK

4 BR, 2 BA .......................................................................$575,000 Erica Cuneen • 708-220-2025

OAK PARK

5 BR, 1.1 BA ....................................................................$325,000 Erica Cuneen • 708-220-2025

OAK PARK

4 BR, 3 BA .......................................................................$595,000 Jolyn Crawford • 708-860-2510

Want to see your listings in Distinctive Properties?

Contact Marc Stopeck at 708.613.3330 or marc@oakpark.com

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Wednesday Journal, February 10, 2021

y a t S rm! a w rnal u o J y a dnesd w e W t a evie ends R i r k F r r a u P t Yo & Fores

OAKPARK.COM | RIVERFOREST.COM

Wednesday Journal, February 10, 2021

OAKPARK.COM | RIVERFOREST.COM

B11

Opportunity

(op ‘er-too’-ni-te) noun.

Applying persistence to the possibilities.

A chance for advancement.

Sunday, February 14 CONDOS

ADDRESS

OFFICE

LISTING PRICE

TIME

339 Home Ave., 2F, Oak Park . . . . . . . . . . . Baird & Warner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$299,000 . . . . . . . . . . . . Open Sun. 12-2 7313 Franklin St, 2B, Forest Park. . . . . . . . . Baird & Warner. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$359,900 . . . . . . . . . . . . . Open Sun 12-2 320 S. Maple Ave, Unit D, Oak Park . . . . . . Baird & Warner. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $469,000 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Open Sun 1-3

SINGLE FAMILY HOMES

6436 Roosevelt Rd, Unit 212, Oak Park. . . Gagliardo Realty Associates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $179,000 . . . . . . . . . . . . . Open Sun 12-2

ADDRESS

OFFICE

LISTING PRICE

TIME

940 Bonnie Brae Pl, River Forest . . . . . . . . Baird & Warner. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $1,139,000 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Open Sun 1-3 40 Ashland Ave, River Forest . . . . . . . . . . . Baird & Warner. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $549,000 . . . . . . . Open Sat & Sun 12-3 831 Home, Oak Park . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Gagliardo Realty Associates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $415,000 . . . . . . . . . . . . . Open Sun 12-2

Tom Carraher redefines the essence of real estate service.

It isn’t often you find someone who has the vision and knowledge to find and create opportunities where others saw none.

Tom Carraher finds ways to help you capitalize on the myriad advantages that come from making the right move at the right time.

Call Tom Carraher at 708-822-0540 to achieve all of your real estate goals.

Tom Carraher

This Directory brought to you by

Realistic Expectation–Proven Results

mrgloans.com

Providing financing for homes in Oak Park and surrounding communities since 1989.

Conventional, FHA, and Jumbo mortgages Free Pre-approvals

6821 W. North Avenue Suite 201 Oak Park, IL 708.452.5151

Mortgage Resource Group is an Illinois Residential Mortgage Licensee.

NMLS # 207793 License # 1031

7375W. West NorthAve. Avenue 7375 North River Forest, Illinois 60305 River Forest 708.771.8040 708.771.8040

http://tomcarraher.realtor.com

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Wednesday Journal, February 10, 2021

OAKPARK.COM | RIVERFOREST.COM

Growing Community Media & A Tribe Called Aging Present

wabi sabi F I L M F E S T I V A L

Our Covid-19 free gift to the community watch it free on ZOOM in your own home

Appreciating the beauty of impermanence, a quarterly Film Series encouraging everyone to embrace and respect our aging population and the transformation of our society.

Duty

Free

DUTY FREE Friday, February 12 • 10am A FILM BY SIAN-PIERRE REGIS

Rebecca worked every day of her life as a hotel housekeeper to give her two sons, Sian-Pierre and Gabriel, every opportunity life could afford. When it was time for Sian-Pierre to go to college, she even cashed out her 401K to give him the best education possible. But when she was suddenly fired from her job at 75, Rebecca was left with nothing: no savings, no safety net, and no future job prospects. Now, Sian-Pierre is giving her back the life she sacrificed, and helping her to reclaim her future, one bucket-list adventure at a time.

Ageism and Financial Insecurity in America are pervasive. Older folks are invisible in their communities, workplaces, and, sometimes, within their own families. An estimated 25 million won’t have enough money to get through retirement age.

Trailer | New York Times Article | Website | Email

DIRECTOR Sian-Pierre Regis WILL JOIN US FOR A POST-FILM Q+A/DISCUSSION Sponsors

Learn more and register at: eventbrite.com/d/online/duty-free/