Wednesday Journal 031523

of Oak Park and River Forest Leaf

Chief asks village to hold police accountable

Johnson delivers annual public safety repor t

By STACEY SHERIDAN Staff Reporter

Oak Park Police Chief Shatonya Johnson committed to police department accountability in her annual public safety re port, presented during the board’s March 13 meeting. She also asked that the village and the public continue to hold police accountable.

“My philosophy on policing is to build officers up, to hold them accountable, and to make sure we continue the rich tradition that started long before I even started, which was built on community policing,” Johnson said.

The public safety re port was far more comprehensive and detailed than past public safety re ports, lasting roughly two hours and covering everything from the department being short-staffed by 22 officers to implementing police consultant recommendations and using police body cameras, which the department will have next month. The department will likewise have in-car cameras by the end of 2023.

The report contained a bevy of statistics, including the police department’s removal of 78 firearms from the community and an increase in crime of 11% from 2021 to 2022, the driving factor being motor vehicle thefts. TikTok videos showing how easy it is to steal certain Hyundai and Kia vehicles have caused a major

Trio of OPRF candidates align. But don’t call them a slate

Souders left out as Brisben, Brandhorst, Livingston team up

By BOB SKOLNIK Contributing Reporter

It’s three against one in the Oak Park and River Forest High School District 200 school board race.

Three of the four candidates running for the three seats on the OPRF school board that are open in the April 4 election have teamed up to support each other effectively creating a slate although they are just calling it a partnership. Graham Brisben, Tim Brandhorst and Jonathan Livingston are pooling resources, have joint campaign signs and are boosting each other on their websites

“I would describe it as an infor mal alignment and in doing so with those two gentlemen that’s not a slight at anyone else,” Brisben told Wednesday Jour nal in a telephone interview. “I think that on balance my positions are probably more aligned with theirs.”

Brandhorst denied the partnership was a slate

“We’re not a slate,” Brandhorst said in a statement emailed to Wednesday Jour nal. “We don’t agree on everything, and we don’t have a substantive agenda. We do feel we share a common collaborative approach. And we all three saw the benefit to sharing the costs of the campaign, which are surprisingly (at least to me) high. We’ve all been very careful not to engage in negative campaigning, or to gang up on anyone in a forum, or criticize anyone brave enough to run for local office.”

The alliance leaves the fourth candidate, Brian Souders, as the odd man out.

“I’m certainly disappointed that they decided to band together,” Souders said. “That’s not really, in a lot of ways, how we do things in Oak Park. I don’t know if all the voters will appreciate it very much. But I also know that I have some significant differences between those other candidates and I think that my issues resonate with a lot of voters.”

Brisben, Brandhorst and Livingston decided to team up shortly after incumbent Sara Spivy dropped out of the race in January and endorsed the three of them.

“After filing my petitions last December, I reached out to each of the other candidates in the race and invited each person to meet me for a cup of coffee,” Brandhorst

wrote in his emailed statement. “I knew I’d be spending a lot of time with each person on the campaign trail, and possibly serving together for the next four years, and I just thought it would be nice to have a personal relationship. One candidate declined. The others agreed. I had a long talk with Graham, and another long talk with Jonathan, and hit it off with both of them. They are super smart, impressive, collaborative guys And the conversation evolved from there.”

Souders said he did not meet with Brandhorst because he wasn’t sure, as a first time candidate, if he should meet with an opponent in the race He said he received conflicting advice and decided not to meet with Brandhorst although he did subsequently meet with Brisben who he knew from Boy Scout work in Oak Park Brisben, Brandhorst and Livingston all strongly support Project 2, OPRF’s $102 million plan to demolish and rebuild the southeast portion of the school which houses most of the physical education facilities other than the fieldhouse. All three are comfortable with the current school board deciding how to pay for Project 2, which includes a 10 lane 25 yard by 40 yard new swimming pool, while only Souders says that any borrowing for Project 2 should go to a referendum.

“It’s not really about the money to me, it’s about the principle involved,” Souders said. “The nor m is that large capital projects go to the voters.”

Souders said he is concer ned that spending so much on Project 2 will hamstring OPRF in addressing facility needs in the future and said he would like to take a more comprehensive approach that could also

ddress other areas the building that need to be upgraded

“I think that if we do go to a referendum it shouldn’t ust be for Project 2,” Souders said. “A referendum should be for a comprehenve building program so that we can do one referendum that isn’t just pool and athletics, but also creates a pool of money that can be used for arts, academics, vocational things over the course of, let’s say, an 8 year period.”

Brisben said he and his partners want to get Project 2 done as quickly and cheaply as possible.

“I think we have a little bit more realistic and practical and cleared eyed ideas about how to deal with the much needed infrastructure improvement in the southeast corner of the building,” Brisben said.

Brisben, a for mer member of the Oak Park Elementary School District 97 school board, rejected the suggestion that he and his allies are the candidates of the OPRF establishment.

“Sure I have connections within the community, partly due to my prior service on District 97 but I don’t see how having those connections, relationships and experience should necessarily be viewed as might be implied by the ter m ‘establishment,’” Brisben said. “We’re not on the board now and I don’t see how we are overly supportive or excessively supportive to the administration.”

Brisben, who owns and runs a supply chain consulting fir m, Brandhorst, a lawyer, and Livingston, a colle ge professor and nonprofit consultant, all share a progressive political outlook. Souders, an independent marketing professional who said he is generally center-left in his politics, is outspoken about what he sees as OPRF’s excessive taxation over the past 20 years.

“Right now they’re forecasting surpluses for the next five years of more than $5 million,” Souders said. “For a family like mine

in Oak Park that’s hundreds of extra dollars that they’re taking beyond what they need to educate kids. I don’t think that this is OK.”

Brisben said that he agrees that OPRF’s fund balance, which reached $130 million in 2013 and is projected to be $76 million at the end of the current fiscal year, was allowed to get much too high

“I think I’m with a lot of people in the community that recognize that that was absolutely wrong,” Brisben said. “That never should have been allowed to happen.”

Brisben, Brandhorst and Livingston stress their collaborative spirit and collegiality

“Three candidates for the D200 board possess the collegiality, collaborative spirit and commitment to problem solving that service on the board requires,” states the Brandhorst website. “Tim is delighted to ally with two outstanding candidates, Graham Brisben and Jonathan Livingston and expressly endorses their candidacies.”

Brisben’s website had a very similar statement which mentioned a “commitment to civility” until Brisben removed the statement after Souders, who knows Brisben from their involvement in Boy Scouts, complained to Brisben about it.

“They’re basically accusing me of being uncivil,” Souders said adding that he disagrees with that characterization. “They’re saying that I would be unable to compromise with anybody.”

Souders said that if elected to the board he would be willing to compromise and he says that better decisions are made when all points of view are considered.

“Compromises comes out of discussion and if everyone starts on one side of the issue, I don’t know that that creates the best outcomes,” Souders said. “I think there is a premium put on collegiality more than questioning whether this is the right thing to do.”

Brisben says the alliance with Brandhorst and Livingston is not meant as an attack on Souders.

“There’s nothing the matter with Brian,” Brisben said. “I’ve known Brian for 10 years because we’re both fellow dads in the same Scout troop and I only know him as a high character person and I think that there are a lot of common platfor ms or ideas among the four of us I would just skew a little more along the lines of Jonathan and Tim.”

GRAHAM BRISBEN TIM BRANDHORST JONATHAN LIVINGSTON

BIG WEEK

March 15-22

Celebrating Ramadan Read Aloud & Craf t Hour

Saturday, March 18, 11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m., Oak Park Public Librar y Special celebration of the Ramadan holiday with books and a craft for grades K-8. Ramadan is a month-long obser vance of the Muslim faith, devoted to fasting and coming together as a community, with a special focus on gratitude, sharing, empathy, compassion, generosity, and sel essness. Register now at oppl.org/calendar. 834 Lake St., Oak Park

Folk Music Series Performance: Ruth & Max Bloomquist

Tuesday, March 21, 7-8 p.m., Oak Park Public Librar y Ruth and Max have been per forming their style of acoustic Americana, with roots in folk, bluegrass, and traditional country music for 45 years This event is presented in part by the generous suppor t of the Friends of the Oak Park Public Library. Register now at oppl.org/calendar. 834 Lake St., Oak Park

FitzGerald’s Annual St. Patrick’s Day Celebration

Saturday, March 18, 12 p.m., FitzGerald’s All- day event with bagpipers, dancing kids, corned beef with Guinness and Irish co ees, plus live per formances by the Mayer School Stepdancers, the Shannon Rovers, Switchback, Fitz & the Celts, and the Dooley Brothers. $10$20, 6615 Roosevelt Road, Berw yn.

Winter 2023 Ic ‘Step Back in T

Frida

Saturday, March 18, 1 p Sunday, March 19, 1 p

Watch our annual sho par ticipants per soundtracks. T iceshow. 415 La

Salvador Dali: The Image Disappears

Monday, March 20, 1:15 p.m., Nineteenth Centur y Charitable Association

Dr. Onor Ozturk of Columbia College will discuss the life and ar t of painter Salvador Dali, showing highlights of the Art Institute’s new exhibition. Free, but a suggested donation of $15 at the door for non-members is appreciated. 178 Forest Ave., Oak Park

Human Librar y

Monday, March 20, 7 p.m., Oak Park Public Librar y Learn more about social justice issues while engaging with volunteers sharing knowledge. 834 Lake St., Oak Park

Ar t Galler y Studio Nez Presents

‘Desarrollo:’ An Ar t Exhibit About Growing Up Chicano In Chicago

Saturday, March 18, 6-10 p.m., Studio Nez

“Desarollo” means “growing up” or “development,” and this exhibit features works from ar tists dealing with this very topic: Nez, Ramiro Huizar, Frillz, Clue? and Milk Breath. This special exhibition opening features food and drinks cour tesy of El Capitan Snacks.

803 Van Buren St., Oak Park

Wills, Trusts, Estate Planning: The Basics, Adult

Sunday, March 19, 2-3:30 p.m., River Forest Librar y Learn about wills, trusts, powers of attorney probate and guardianship Take the rst step to create or update a plan that is appropriate for you. Attorney Jacob K. Ehrensaft will explain how to ensure your nal wishes can be protected. 735 Lathrop Ave., River Forest

Listing your event

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

■ Send details to Wednesday Jour nal, 141 S. Oak Park Ave., Oak Park, 60302

■ Email calendar@wjinc.com

Nez, “La Tiendita,” 2023, acr ylic on canvas, 12x12”

OPRF adds security a er teachers express safety worries

Student infractions jump by 19% over last year

By BOB SKOLNIK Contributing Reporter

Six new security guards will soon be on the job at Oak Park and River Forest High School. The OPRF school board voted 5-0 on March 9 to approve the new positions. The six new Campus Safety and Support team members is down from the 14 that the administration asked for last month. The school board balked at that number and the administration reduced its request to six new positions

The vote came before a board room packed with teachers and other staf f, many wearing red T-shirts, who suppor ted hiring more security guards Also present was a re por ter and camera crew from local television station CBS2 Chicago which aired a re port about the meeting. Three teachers addressed the school board during the public comment por tion of the meeting asking that the request for more security guards be approved.

“I’ve worked here for 19 years and this year it feels like there are unprecedented safety concer ns that compromise the lear ning environment,” said OPRF history teacher Toni Biasiello Biasiello said teachers and security guards have been injured this year just doing their jobs

“For a lot of us who work here it feels like a matter of not if, but when something worse happens,” Biasiello said.

Third year history teacher Wilson Caraballo expressed similar concer ns

“I wor ry and I get nervous when I come into the building thinking what’s going to

happen today,” Caraballo told the school board. “Am I going to have to break up a fight? Am I going to have to console some kids? Am I going to have to wrangle some kids in who are all jazzed up, because there’s been a fight, and they want to show the video to everyone that they can?”

In a memo to the school board supporting the recommendation to hire six new security of ficers the OPRF administration said that total student infractions have increased by 19 percent compared to one year ago. Hallway infractions are up 50 percent (56 as of March 2 for the current school compared to 38 last year).

“Safety and Suppor t personnel have confronted many ne gative interactions with students who are having dif ficulty re gulating their emotions which manifest in more aggressive behaviors in the common spaces throughout the school including, but not limited to, lack of boundaries, ignoring adult redirection, increased substance use/abuse among students of varying racial groups, risk taking behaviors, etc.,” the memo states Unauthorized de par tures from the school are a particular problem. According to the memo cer tain doors averaged from one to three unauthorized exits per period on two days in February. Each unauthorized exit sets of f an alar m which can disrupt the school day.

One of the new security guards will be assigned to monitor security cameras, another will be assigned to the school’s Welcome Center and four will be assigned, one per floor, to the area by the freight elevator and bathrooms School of ficials have concer ns about vaping and other “unfavorable behaviors” going on near the bathrooms.

In addition two security guards now assigned to the evening shift will be switched to the day shift to provide more coverage

during the school day.

The annual cost of having the six additional security guards is expected to be approximately $288,000 with each position costing $48,000 in pay and benefits. The additional cost this school year could be $60,000 de pending on when the new hires are made. Adding six more security guards will bring the total number of security guards at OPRF to 33.2 full time equivalent positions The school is in the process of posting the positions

Two board members, Ralph Mar tire and board president Tom Cofsky, voted to authorize the new positions but said they wanted the administration to make other cost cuts next year to make the hires cost neutral or close to it.

“I would like to see some semblance of financial balance here,” Mar tire said.

School board members also said they did not expect the new hires to solve all the safety and security problems at OPRF

“I don’t think the addition of six more bodies will eliminate all the concer ns that I saw flagged,” Mar tire said.

Other board members agreed

“I’ ll suppor t it, but we are far from addressing this issue,” said board member Kebreab Henry.

Henry said the school can only do so much and parents have to get more involved with their kids noting that parents spend more time with their children than do school staff.

“It’s not going to be solved solely here,”

Henry said. “Something is happening before the kids g et into the building,”

Board member Fred Arkin was concer ned and wanted a deep dive into the root causes of the bad behavior and what can be done to prevent it and help students

“Are we just putting a band-aid on something and not getting to the root cause and not getting to what is the true problem,” Arkin asked. “When I hear our faculty members come up here and say that they don’t feel safe in the building that concer ns me and as far as I can tell from this re port the reason for that anxiety is student behavior.”

Arkin noted that OPRF has changed its approach in dealing with student misbehavior.

“We know that we’ve moved very quickly, in ter ms of, basically from punishment to restorative practices, etcetera, but behavior still requires consequences,” Arkin said.

Principal Lynda Parker said she suppor ts a deeper dive into the issues underlying the bad behavior but war ned board members that they must be prepared for some uncomfortable findings

“I understand completely about the root cause analysis and then the dee p dive and just ask that we can all be courageous as we dive in because we’re going to find things and I just want to make sure we’re in suppor t of finding them and addressing them,” Parker said.

“I’ll suppor t it, but we are far from addressing this issue.”

KEBREAB HENRY Board member

Putting the WOW in Women’s History Month

Ar ts Distric t event has become a Harrison Street tradition

By STACEY SHERIDAN Staff Reporter

Women’s History Month is in full swing and if you’ re looking for a good way to celebrate, you can do so while also shopping local. This Saturday, the Oak Park Ar ts District is having its annual “Women Owned Works!” event, aka “WOW!”

The Oak Park Ar ts District (OPAD) on Har rison Street is home to many of the village’s women-owned businesses, making it uniquely situated to host such an event. Nine area businesses have so far signed up to participate in WOW, with each featuring some sor t of promotion for shoppers Buzz Café, 905 S. Lombard Ave., is of fering a lunch special of quiche, soup, salad and lemon shortbread cookie for $13, so no one will have to shop on an empty stomach.

“Every single year I look forward to this event,” said Buzz Café owner and OPAD president Laura Maychruk. The whole district will be decorated in yellow this Saturday to match the event’s promotional fliers and posters. The sunny color was chosen to brighten up the bleak

March weather. Maychruk is taking the theme in stride by decorating Buzz Café in yellow, white and black and putting daf fodils on all the tables Even the café’s signature cookies will be yellow.

Val’s halla Records, 239 W. Har rison St. and for merly woman-owned, is of fering discounts on female ar tists Singer-songwriter Cheryl Lynn Tomblin will be perfor ming at the record store beginning at 2 p.m.

The event originated with Elevate Creative hair salon owner Gail Coughlin in 2017, following the inauguration of President Donald Trump, whose attitudes toward women prompted many to believe that the new administration was anti-women’s rights

“The community vibe was that we were disappointed,” said Coughlin, whose salon is of fering deluxe mini-bottles of hair products with all in-store and online purchases

Elevate Creative is at 321 Har rison St

The first event served as a way to uplift and empower women, as well as women-owned business ventures While that sentiment remains, the event has grown each year to become an evolving tradition for ar ts district businessowners, about 90% of whom are women, according to Maychruk.

“It’s just very unique for us to be able to celebrate this with so many women-owned businesses,” she said.

The entire event goes from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., March 18, bu t

hours may vary depending on the individual business More information about participating businesses can be found on the Oak Park Arts District website and Facebook page, but you can also just follow the yellow-decorated road.

Oak Park bans gas-powered leaf blowers

amount of air pollutants as driving a Ford F-150 pickup truck 3,900 miles, according to the Energy and Environment Commission.

banned win for and but ’t go now. outcurvillage the there is The the to de60% by r use presents dispropor impact. Using a gas-powered leaf blower for just 30 minutes releases the same

The campaign to ban the lawncare devices wasn’t led by the village’s sustainability department but by the residents of Oak Park, as Trustee Susan Buchanan noted at the village board meeting. Roughly 1,000 residents signed a petition in support of prohibiting year-round use of gas-powered leaf blowers.

“That’s more people signing a petition than I have seen since my time on the board,” Buchanan said.

What residents hate most about gas-powered leaf blowers is the extreme noise. The noise emitted by a gas-powered leaf blower ranges between 102-115 decibels at the ear of the operator. This level of noise is dangerous. Noise above 70 decibels over a prolonged period of time can damage hearing while noise above 120 decibels can cause immediate har m to the ears, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Use of gas-powered leaf blowers is already prohibited in Oak Park between June 1 and Sept. 30, which will remain the case until the ban goes into effect. For landscape companies reluctant to say goodbye to their gas-powered leaf blowers, the village will be providing some incentives to sweeten the transition to electric. Just what those incentives might be has yet to be decided.

Parking permit fees may be cut for housing voucher tenants

Oak Park considers lower fees to make village more

a ordable

By STACEY SHERIDAN Staff Reporter

The Village of Oak Park is considering creating a new reduced parking permit fee program as part of its ef for ts to boost the af fordability of the village A draft of the ordinance was read to the village board at its March 6 meeting and, if approved, would go into ef fect April 1.

As drafted, the ordinance dictates a reduced fee of $50 per quar ter for eligible applicants that wish to park vehicles in village-owned lots and spaces

“De pending on which permit somebody would purchase, you would save between 57% and 81% of f the nor mal prices,” said Sean Keene, parking and services manager for the village gover nment.

To meet the eligibility requirements, the re gistered owner of the vehicle for which the permit is being sought must be a current participant in the Oak Park Housing Authority’s housing choice voucher program. Village staf f is also investigating broadening program eligibility, but the draft ordinance read March 6 only provides eligibility to housing choice voucher program participants Applicants must submit a form approved by Tammie Grossman, the village’s Development Customer Services director, or the director’s designee. The program is subject to available village-owned spaces.

The Oak Park Housing Authority submitted a Jan. 27 letter to the village board in suppor t of the potential new program, stating that the roughly 500 families in the

housing choice voucher program will benefit greatly from the village board’s consideration of reducing parking permit fees.

The letter, signed by for mer village president and Oak Park Housing Authority Executive Director David Pope, also included the 74 residents of the Oaks, the 21 residents of the Farrelly-Muriello Apar tments and the 198 residents of Mills Park Towers among those who would be positively impacted by such a program.

Residents of those properties, however, will not be included in the program’s first iteration. While the village initially intended to include residents of those properties as part of the program, according to Oak Park spokesperson Dan Yopchick, staf f decided after inter nal discussion to remove them until it could be determined all of the other af fordable housing locations that should be eligible

“Village staf f needs additional time to meet with ownership of these additional properties in order to discuss the parameters and plan for administration of the program for these locations,” said Yopchick.

Pope called this “totally reasonable” and said it “makes a ton of sense and is actually a really positive ste p” to ensure inclusion of all af fordable and subsidiz ed buildings

“I think that is a good decision on their par t,” Pope said.

This program has been entirely an ef fo between the village board and staf f, as fees are not within the scope of citizen commissions. The village board first discussed im plementing such a program at its Feb. 14, 2022, meeting, while reviewing the village parking system, and directed staf f to fu ther develop it. Village staf f infor med the village board Nov. 21 that they would bring for th an ordinance codifying the program for board consideration in the first quarter of fiscal year 2023.

Is

“Depending on which permit somebody would purchase, you would save bet ween 57% and 81% o the normal prices.”

SEAN KEENE

Parking and ser vices manager

All-day kindergarten nally arrives at District 90

Full days to begin for the 2023-2024 school year

By AMARIS E. RODRIGUEZ Staff Reporter

After years of c ommunity i nterest and p etitions, f uture Rive r Fo rest School Dist rict 90 kinder ga r ten f amilies will now be able to join most parents in I llinois with f ull-day kinder ga r ten classes

During the Fe bruary D90 Board of Education meeting, the b oard approved the recommendations of the Kinder ga rten Progr am Review C ommittee (KPRC) , c omposed of 22 member s, to expand the cu rrent model to a f ull-day progr am. Th e c ommittee oversaw the Kinder ga r ten Progr am Review Process, wh ich included research, a c ommunity sur ve y, facility and financial impact assessment, as well as a g eodemo gr aphic analysis, the study of p eople b ased on where they live in the area.

Dr. A llison Hawley, who chaired the c ommittee, said they wo rked closely with a dditional par tner s, including the C ollaboration C enter for Ea rly Childhood and the National Equity Project, along with parents, faculty and others to pu t to g ether an ef fect ive c ommittee for the

review, ensuring they cove red aspects

In p ast year s, the district had on moving to the f ull-day model b eli eved the progr am in p lace to properly a ccommodate the f amilies and students. Since ever, Superintendent Edward who joined the district in 2011, have lear ned more about the their students during the early childhood year s, wh ich p ushed them to the progr am again. C ondon said view revealed that they we re meeting the needs of students anymor

According to C ondon, three things c ontributed to that view: greater understanding of the trauma and the need for the district to be able to a ddress the social and needs of young students, increased derstanding of the academic d emands of children, and an awareness of equity, allowing all students and f amilies to have f ull access to oppor tunities.

“I think any educator g ets excited about the p ossibilities of t rying to ensure that we c an do more or go fur ther to suppo rt the needs of our students and ensure their academic success,” Condon said.

T he f ull-day model will go i nto ef fect for the 2023-2024 school year

According to data analysis by the Il -

linois State Board of Education in 2015, about 79 percent of kinder ga r ten classes in the state are f ull-day, Mond ay through F riday.

During the Fe bruary meeting, many district parents vo iced favo r for the move, including Ro d ney Cl ay ton, a father of two, who said, li ke most local parents, he had to supplement the half-d ay kinderga r ten model with a dditional progr ams, wh ich came with a financial cost.

In a sur ve y sent out to the c ommunity during the review: out of 351 responses submitted, almost 77 percent of parents said they had elected to supplement their child’s for mal kinder ga r ten experienc e with other activities or social progr amming. Additionally, the sur ve y asked pa rticipants whether they b eli eved anyone in the c ommunity was not having thei r needs met by the district’s cu rrent structure. Of 659 responses rece ived, 86.04 pe rc ent answe red ye s.

Fo r the district to f ully meet the need s of all students as well as c ontinue to move forward with their g oal of equity

across the b oard, Cl ay ton b eli eves a f ullday progr am option is needed .

“The b oard has made equity a cor nerstone of wh at we are t rying to do here, ” Cl ay ton said. “I f you want to have an equitable outcome, there are cer tain k ids in the district who do need more i nstruction, and if you are not of fering that as an option, then it is going to make it harder to achieve equity.”

“Those early years are ve ry valuable, ” Cl ay ton said. “There are a lot of c ases, from an equity lens, students that star t of f when they are b ehind, some of them do n’ t catch up.”

According to the info rm ation presented, studies showe d that students who attended f ull-day kinder ga r ten have greater ga i ns in reading and math, have more meaningful i nteractions, have more time to a ddress academic need s, and c an engage for a greater period of time

Diane Ca rroll, district parent, said she first be g an suppo rt ing the local parent effor ts to p ush for the all-day model when her oldest son was in kinder ga r ten, as

she f elt it would help elevate the students’ experienc e.

“I really wanted there to be an equitable and a 21 st-century solution for our children,” Ca rroll said. “We we re bein g left behind.”

Wo rk ing around the half-d ay model, wh ich of fered a morning option and an evening option, was hard for parents to navig at e, said Ca rroll, a dding that the two-and-a-halfhours of class time was not enough for students to g et meaningf ul interactions.

Following the recent review, Hawley said the a dditional time would allow stud ents more time to build those impor tant skills and relationships

“It allows k ids to invest in activitie s over a longer period oftime; they aren’t sw itching activities quit e so rapidly, ” Hawley said. “I t allows them to pers evere in their learning and c ollaborate with their p eers and enhance their social i nteractions across the day. ”

Her youngest child is now a fourth- gr ader, but Ca rroll said f ull-day classes will allow upcoming kinder ga rten parents the o pportunity to create reliable schedules and more structure fo r their families.

“It’s hard to schedule your l ife around a halfday, ” Ca rroll said. “For the parents, it is going to allow them to have a normal schedule. Having that c onsistency will be helpful for their live s, and that g oes through to the employers and c ommunity; everybo dy becomes more productive when you have a schedule you can rely on. ”

Each building has b een allocated spac e for the expansion, with draft floor p lans developed to inco rp orate the a dditional classrooms at Lincoln and Wi llard Elementar y.

At Lincoln, the L ibrary L earning C enter, wh ich underwent re pu rp osing in the p ast, b ased on school need s, was prop osed to be subdivided to create a dditional i nstructional spac e. A long with the removal ofexisting electrical data wireway from the STEM room, the Multipu rp ose Room will be subdivided for a dditional spac e.

At Wi llard E lementar y, Rooms 107 and 109 would be c ombined to allow for one large Special Education room, allowing for kinder ga r ten classes to be ke pt near

each other

According to C ondon, all renovations will be d one by the start ofthe upcoming school year. T he district will be hi ring the equivalent ofthree new f ull-time educators for the f all to ensure they are well staffed for the upcoming school year.

Wi th kinder ga r teners arriving and depa rt ing at the same time as other gr ades, a five - and-a-half-hour day, the I llinoi s School Code requires them to a ccommodate requests by f amilies who still want to pa rt icipate in only half-d ay classes. However, C ondon strongly b eli eves those requests will be minimal, if any.

“We anticipate that the vast majorit y of f amilies will see the b enefit ofa f ull day and that will li ke ly be wh at they subscribe to,” Condon said. “We are wo rk in g to ensure that a child wh o did attend a half-d ay progr am would rece ive a highq uality i nstructional experienc e. ”

Despite the majority suppo rt , the p lan did rece ive p ushback from some c ommunity member s, including Margie C ekander, wh o b eli eves high tax bills will follow and that the p lan, overall, was rushed .

“District 90 Board ofEducation didn’t make a clear c ase for f ull-day kinder ga rten and didn’t include, nor c ommunicate, to the broad c ommunity before i ts vote,” C ekander said. “In 2012 and 2015, D90 Administratio n’s re ported academic b enefits didn’t j ustify f ull-day kinder ga r ten. In 2015, two cu rrent b oard members voted against it. … D90 should have j ustified f ull-day kindergarten to the 75 percent of residents without children in D90 schools.”

But for the district, with the majorit y ofparents seemingly wanting f ull-day classes, the expected p ositive impact will allow children to experience a wellrounded education.

“The social and emotional piece, developmentally speaking, is essential for children this ag e, ” Hawley said. “When they c ome i nto school, it is an o pportunity fo r them to build relationships. … We want to build a p ositive and long-lasting love for school and their p eer s, so the socialization piece is really impor tant. ”

C ondon said the f ull-day kinder ga r ten class model will be another way to ensure their students are not only successful at D 90 but beyond

“It’s hard to schedule your life around a half-day. For the parents, it is going to allow them to have a normal schedule.”

DIANE C ARROLL D90 parent

Kris Sagan Linda Rooney

Kyra Pych

Erika Villegas, Managing Broker/Owner Mike Becker Laurie Christofano Marion Digre Morgan Digre Leticia Cruz Oak Park $220,000 2BR, 1BA Call Marion Oak Park $139,000 1BR, 1BA Call Marion

River Forest $589,000 3BR, 3BA Call Jane

Forest Park $295,000 Vacant land Call Jane River Grove $125,000 1BR, 1BA Call Marion

Chicago $275,000 2BR, 1BA Call Jane

Forest Park $109,900 1BR, 1BA Call Mike

Oak Park $434,000 3BR, 1.1BA Call Kris UNDER CONTRACT

UNDER CONTRACT

Township o ers help for seniors balancing a budget

With costs rising and C

By STACEY SHERIDAN Staff Reporter

With high inflation and the cost of medical care and medications, many senior citizens on fixed incomes are struggling to make ends meet financially. But the senior services division of Oak Park and River Forest Townships is here to ease the burden of budgeting

Through its money management program, trained volunteers are connected to program participants to guarantee financial obligations are met while keeping thei savings stable for the future. Volunteers pay home visits to their clients once a month to help them develop and keep to a budget, while also ensuring all bills get paid and check books are balanced. They can also protect their clients from engaging in financial scams and help them dispute misattributed or unusual charges.

The program is open to any person aged 60 and above, who would like to feel a little more secure in their finances Those who qualify as low-income can participate in the program cost-free Many participants are referred to the program by caseworkers.

The same service is also available for people who do not fall into that income bracket at a fee of $50 per hour. Participants who pay for the program may not need all the services the volunteer assigned to them can provide For this reason, the private pay option tends to be short-ter m for many participants

“It’s kind of a middle ground for the people that might not need a financial planner but need some level of assistance, maybe to get them straight with a budget,” said Vivian Holt, program coordinator

The money management program is surprisingly one of the senior services department’s lesser-known offerings, considering that over 15 million U.S. adults aged 65 and up are economically insecure, with incomes below 200% of the federal poverty level, according to the National Council on Aging Program participation ebbs and flows, but the senior services department is expecting an increase with the decrease in benefits provided through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, for merly known as

A Mild Winter, an Early Spring—

What Next?

JAVIER GOVEA/Sta Oak Park Township Senior Services

food stamps.

Temporary pandemic SNAP benefits ended March 1 in Illinois. With this change, all Illinois SNAP participants can expect to have their benefits cut anywhere from $55 to $255 a month, according to the Greater Chicago Food Depository. Food is hardly inexpensive these days; the U.S. Department of Agriculture reported the cost of groceries increased by 9.9% in 2022.

To make sure participants are not taken advantage of by their financial helpers, Holt trains all volunteers before assigning them to their clients. The volunteers meet with Holt quarterly and the senior services department monitors the paperwork volunteers fill out after meeting with clients. The department also gets audited yearly by the Illinois Department on Aging. Volunteers do not have power of attor ney and cannot write checks on behalf of their clients

With the expected increase in new participants, the senior services department is looking for more volunteers. Volunteers typically work with one client at a time, making for both a diminutive time commitment and a prime opportunity to develop a deeper re-

lationship between volunteers and their clients.

Oak Park resident Valerie Lester, who began volunteering with the program in 2017, still helps out her first client, who moved into subsidized housing in Chicago’s Galewood neighborhood. She helped her client get out of debt after her client’s grandchildren ran up her client’s credit cards.

“I knew she didn’t have family she trusted to know how much money she had,” said Lester “We had worked to pay down her debt and the last little bit of it she was able to pay off with the pandemic stimuli [payments].”

Since the City of Chicago does not offer a similar program, according to Lester, she continues to help that client, submitting paperwork to the state rather than to the townships.

Lester is preparing to take on her newest client through townships and is looking forward to helping that individual become financially stable, as she has with her previous clients

“I love doing this,” she said. “Every client I’ve had has been enor mously grateful for helping them to get stabilized.”

Spring is right around the corner, but this year it feels like winter never really arrived in Chicagoland; most notably, the mild temperatures and continued lack of snowfall contributed to that feeling. What would normally be a transition from snow-covered ground to the first signs of spring warming is instead frost-free soils and the emergence of perennials and bulbs shockingly earlier than expected. I have no recollection of having seen emergence this early in the season. What does that mean for you?

With the mild winter temperatures, it is probable that we will see a higher insect and disease population that results in more damage to your lawn and landscape. Another consideration is earlier onset of weed growth. To protect against that scenario, I recommend, no later than the end of April, that you add a pre-emergent herbicide to your beds and lawn.

A mild and early start to spring also means that our schedules here at McAdam fill faster. The early bird gets the worm, so if you are thinking about getting work scheduled, act sooner than too much later.

Scott McAdam Jr.

Taliaferro heads to a runo

Two candidates tied for third 15th police district council seat

By IGOR STUDENKOV and MICHELLE ME YER Staff Reporter / AustinTalks

Incumbent Ald. Chris Taliaferro (29th) is poised to go into a runoff against activist and for mer supporter C.B. Johnson after the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners counted the write-in votes, shrinking his lead

In order to avoid the runoff, one of the candidates must ear n at least one more vote than 50% of all votes cast. While Taliaferro was above that threshold on Election Day, mail-in ballots and write-in votes that have been counted since then reduced his vote share. With the total of 9,782 votes in as of this issue’s print deadline, the incumbent would need to ear n 4,892 votes to avoid the runoff – and, at 4,868 votes, he is currently 24 votes short. Board of Elections spokesperson Max Bever said told Austin Weekly News that the final results won’t be declared until March 15 because they will need to count all the mail-in ballots postmarked on Feb. 28 that arrive on March 14 – but he didn’t expect those straggler ballots to make much difference.

Meanwhile, the race for the third seat on 15th Police District Council is now undecided. While resident Darius Newsome originally had the third-highest number of votes, with Car malita Earls coming in a close fourth, the difference between them shrank until they were tied at 2,244 votes on

March 10. Neither got any more votes since then. Bever said he was looking into what would happen if the two candidates remain tied, but he didn’t have the answer by deadline. Voters can already submit applications for mail-in ballots. The runoff election is on April 4.

On Election Day, Taliaferro ear ned 50.51% of the vote while Johnson ear ned 40.45%. The third candidate on the ballot, Corey Dooley-Johnson, ear ned 8.95%. The mail-in ballots brought in more votes for all three candidates, but the cumulative effect of it was that Taliaferro’s lead gradually decreased.

Two people mounted write-in campaigns for 29th ward Republican committeeman Walter Adamczyk, who from the race after his nominating petitions were hallenged, and faith leader Lisa Brown Newman. Brown campaigned more visibly, putting up campaign signs and taking part in candidate forums

March 8, Johnson’s campaign issued a press release that it was their understanding that Brown New“well over 139 write-in votes,” which they believed enough to push the race into runoff territory. On the of March 12, he and Cong. Danny Davis (D-7) who Johnson, held a press conference at the Board of offices, urging them to declare the results as soon e.

are 14 days into a runoff, and we have not had any information, so we don’t know which way to go,” said as he stood outside of the city election office at 69 W. ashington St., Congressman Davis at his side.

“We are urging the board to hurry up and give us a clear answer, so that the voters can know that they have the oppor-

tunity to vote again,” Davis said.

The Board of Elections released the write-in totals later that day. Adamczyk got a mere six votes, while Brown Newman got 106 – but that still meant that the candidates on the ballot now had smaller shares of the vote.

As of March 12, there were 634 outstanding mail-in vote ballots in the 29th Ward. Bever previously told Austin Weekly News that he expects that some of those ballots won’t be retur ned. On March 12, he said that he didn’t expect to get many ballots on March 13 and 14.

“We still have to wait until March 14th to accept all late arriving but properly postmarked Vote By Mail ballots, though we don’t expect more than a handful coming back on Monday and Tuesday, and they will be processed and counted as soon as they arrive,” Bever said.

Taliaferro said he doesn’t expect the remaining vote to make much difference.

“Of course, it’s no position any alder man wants to be in, but I look forward to running a strong runoff campaign to continue representing the 29th ward,” he said.

During Sunday’s press conference, Johnson expressed frustration with how long it took to tally up the ballots.

“Voters are calling me every day. They are very concer ned what’s going on, what’s the process, what’s happening, and I can’t tell them because I don’t know,” said Johnson,

He said that, if he were elected alder man next month, he would fight for a change in election voting to a ranking system to avoid runoffs in the future.

“Democracy in action is when the citizens have the opportunity to exercise their right to vote,” Johnson said. “To vote is your voice. Your voice is your vote.”

AustinTalks

Aldermanic candidate CB Johnson and Congressman

Danny Davis (right) outside the city election o ces Sunday

COLIN BOYLE/BLOCK CLUB CHICAG O Ald. Chris Taliaferro

You really should eat this

Khao soi at Forest Park’s Habrae restaurant on Madison

By DAVID HAMMOND Oak Park Eats Blogger

We usually think of comfort food as what we ate — and enjoyed—m when we were kids, like Kraft mac ’n’ cheese, Campbell’s tomato soup, or something your mother always made, like meatloaf, that maybe you got tired of, but which now feels nostalgic.

Many have praised Forest Park’s Habrae restaurant (7230 Madison), including Steve Dolinsky (the Food Guy on NBC) and Louisa Chu (Chicago Tribune). Chu mentioned that Habrae served Thai “comfort food,” and although I never had this dish as a kid, it’s extraordinarily comforting on a cold day.

Khao soi (pronounced cow-soy) is a noodle dish, usually with meat or fish, in a spicy broth, with cilantro stems and leaves, red onions, lime slice, and a tiny bit of Thai pickle The egg noodles are soft and creamy, but there are also fried chow mein-type noodles. There’s a lot going on in the Habrae version: spicy broth, amped up with curry, is balanced by soft egg noodles, which offer textural contrast with the

crunchy noodles, and the whole bowl is warming and good to eat.

There are several spices in this bowl of khao soi that I couldn’t positively identify, but the very fact that there are spices in there is a very good thing. According to an article in the National Library of Medicine/National Institutes of Health, “There is now ample evidence that spices and herbs possess antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antitumorigenic, anticarcinogenic, and glucose- and cholesterol-lowering activities as well as properties that affect cognition and mood.” That’s a lot of good stuff coming in one bowl.

Spices also function as a kind of natural preservative, increasing the shelf life of well-spiced foods. So spices not only make food taste better, they’re also good for your health and they may keep food from going bad, a big consideration in warmer climates, like those in Southeast Asia

Moreover, spices can make food “look” better; the broth of my khao soi was bright red, probably from the addition of curry powder, which is commonly added to the dish.

And yes, spicy food can be literally “comforting,” as Lifehack reports, because spice “causes your brain to produce ‘happy’ hor mones, like serotonin, which makes you better equipped to deal with depression, anxiety, anger, and stress.”

I was first introduced to khao soi in Chang Mai, Norther n Thailand, where the dish is believed to have been brought

in by Muslim traders from China — likely the birthplace of noodles — who came along the Golden Triangle trading route. Basically, this khao soi is chicken noodle soup, which any Jewish mother will tell you is excellent for your physical health and, of course, your soul.

Khao soi is lightly creamy — not with cow’s milk but rather coconut milk — and the richness it provides is balanced with a squeeze of the lime included with every bowl of khao soi, a beautiful soup, well made at Habrae, and you really should eat it

PHOTO DAVID HAMMOND

Khao soi

PUBLIC SAFET Y

from page 1

, mirroring the national trend. Stealing these vehicles is often about the thrill. ested indicated, ‘Hey, we just wanted,’” Johnson said. ssue, the department gave out 104 wners in possession ofthe olice will be hosting another ve the department an additional 104 steering wheel locks three homicides last year, one ypically sees, according to pprehended two individuals in the an-Bledsoe at the BP gas hey are currently awaiting charges. The other two homicides are still under investigation, occurring St. and Dec. 27 at 14 Chicago Ave., he victims ofthose incidents did not re targeted targeted incidents, it’s a little bit Johnson. “We’re utilizesources and partnerships to actively ustice, to provide closure

to the family, and again to keep our streets in Oak Park safe.”

Possibly the department’s most popular member, wellness support dog Pawfficer Howie, also received an honorable mention for his therapy services, including comforting kids at Oak Park vaccination clinics and consoling Highland Park police officers after the July 4th parade shooting

Johnson shared several ofthe department’s “success stories” from the previous year, which included the ban on 24-hour gas stations and convenience stores as well as the intergovernmental safety agreement between the village and school districts 97 and 200, the latter, she said, being the one she was “most proud about.”

“The youth ofOak Park is near and dear to my heart,” she said.

The IGA does not restore the school resource officers. Johnson called the IGA a “collaborative effort” to ensure the police department maintains safety in schools without causing harm to students

Police are also working to gain the trust ofthe community’s children and teenagers. To do so, the department reinstated its Junior Citizen Police Academy last July. Oak Park’s community policing unit partnered with the River Forest Police Department for the week-long program, where children, age 10-15, were taught about different aspects of police work

“It was a success,” said Johnson. “I look forward to doing it this year.”

Oak Park Village Trustee Jim Taglia injured

A painful back injury has caused Oak Park Village Trustee Jim Taglia to miss village b oard meetings and some reelection c ampaign events, bu t he told We d nesd ay Journal he is still ve ry much in the r unning, if a little slowe r.

“While I have had to miss a c ouple of b oard meetings and c ampaign for ums as a result of my injury, I am still ve ry motivated to c ontinue servin g Oak Pa rk and hope to be re-elected,” he said in an emailed statement.

Ta glia injured his lowe r back two weeks ag o, wh ich aused him “excruciating pain” so seve re he was p ut in the intensive care unit at Rush Unive rsity Medical C enter in Chicago where he underwent days of diagnostic tests to determine the c ause of the pain After having a minor procedure, Ta glia appears to be on the mend

“I am already feeling much better,” he said.

— Stacey Sheridan

JIM TAGLIA

Stormwater plan reveals challenges for River Forest

By ROBERT J. LIFKA Contributing Reporter

Addressing flooding concerns in the central section of River Forest looks to be the biggest challenge for village officials after they received their first look at the stormwater master plan they commissioned in 2021.

Jeff Julkowski of Christopher B. Burke Engineering provided that first look at the March 13 village board meeting. In introducing Julkowski, Jeff Loster, director of public works and development services, explained that village staf f members are seeking feedback from the board on the plan.

In a memo to Matt Walsh, interim village administrator, Loster explained that the impetus for creating the plan was “substantial” rainfall events that occurred throughout 2020.

T he main goal of the project is to assess the capacity of the village’s combined sewer system to accommodate rain events of various severity, he said. Additional effor ts would then be implemented to determine what improvements could be made to increase the capacity of the sewer system based on the village’s desired level of protection and available levels of funding.

Identifying the three main drainage areas as the north, central and south sections of the village, Julkowski explained that the types of flooding include overland flooding, yard flooding, riverine flooding, and sewer backup. For the purposes of the River Forest plan, sewer backup was identified as the primary focus and yard flooding was not included.

While the south section has a series of relief sewers to supplement capacity and the 2013 Northside Stormwater project created a new separate sewer system for the north section, Julkowski said the central section has traditional combined sewers with very limited capacity although the Lake Street area has relief sewers that improve capacity.

T he central section “has been very challenging for us,” Julkowski said, noting that it is a large drainage area with few open-space opportunities, limited outfall capacity to the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District, and long distances for sewer se paration.

Potential improvement projects he identified are an expansion of the relief sewer network in the south section at an estimated cost of $6.9 million; completion of Phase 2 of the Northside project at an estimated cost of $11.4 million; and creating underground storage vaults under Keystone Park and Franklin Avenue in the Lake Street section of the central section at an estimated cost of $9.1 million.

For the rest of the central section, ho wever, Julkowski could only present two feasibility concepts, both of which he said would take years to implement. One concept involves creating storage vaults under streets and kee ping combined sewers, at an estimated cost of $80 million, and the other would fully separate the stormwater and sewage sewers at an estimated cost of $67 million.

In response to a question from Trustee Katie Brennan, Julkowski identified the area from Division Street and Oak Street and the full width of the village as the area at highest risk.

In response to a question from Trustee Respicio Vazquez, Loster said officials need to first establish the scope of work After that, each project would be broken down and funding opportunities would be explored.

“Anything we do will improve the situation,” he added.

“We need a multi-prong approach,” Trustee Lisa Gillis said, including promoting green alternatives to alleviate flooding and encouraging individual homeowners to install backfl ow valves or overhead sewers

“This is just the start of the conversation,” Village President Cathy Adduci said. “This is just us thinking ahead.”

She suggested holding community meetings to obtain resident input on the plan.

“All ideas are good,” she said. “We’ll keep talking and do what’s best for the village.”

Central section of the village presents the biggest di culty

Asbestos abatement to clear way for building demolition

Contract awarded for further work on Madison Street structure

ROBERT J. LIFKA Contributing Reporter

Action by the River Forest Village Board at its March 13 meeting is expected to restart the process of demolishing the Lutheran Child and Family Services (LCFS) building at 7612-20 Madison St., but not until next month.

The village board voted unanimously to award a contract to Husar Abatement Ltd. of Franklin Park for $51,719 to remove previously hidden asbestos in the LCFS building, the discovery of which in February led River Forest officials to inter rupt demolition work that beg an in January.

Matt Walsh, interim village administrator, said demolition work cannot resume until after the asbestos removal project is completed, and that will not start until the village receives a permit from the Cook County Department ofEnvironment and Sustainability, which he estimated would take 10 days. Once the permit is issued, he said Husar Abatement would need up to 10 business days to re -

move the asbestos.

Husar Abatement’s bid was the lower oftwo rece Walsh said village staf f members had infor med 20 firms ofthe opportunity to bid but speculated the shortened timeline ofeight days impacted other firms’ ability to submit.

Removal ofknown asbestos, which was completed in November, was based on an inspection in October 2017 that showed the presence ofasbestos but was “preliminary in nature, with no partial demolition to find hidden asbestos.”

Walsh said previously that there still is “a good amount of asbestos” that needs to be removed.

Demolition ofthe LCFS Building and single-family homes at 11 Ashland Ave. and 10 Lathrop Ave. was approved by the village board in September when officials awarded a contract to Anthem Excavation and Demolition of Itasca for $284,000.

The demolition costs will be covered by a grant for up to $350,000 from the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Development. Walsh said previously that the grant would cover the asbestos removal cost as long as it was under $66,000.

The three buildings to be demolished have sat empty since they were purchased by the village, the LCFS building in 2017, 10 Lathrop in 2018, and 11 Ashland in 2019.

The village actively marketed the site for redevelopment, but officials did not receive any viable proposals, leading to the decision to demolish the buildings in the hopes developers would be drawn to the site once it is cleared.

The two houses will be demolished after the LCFS building goes down, he said. Once all three buildings are demolished, topsoil and seed blanketing of the site will take place, weather permitting

e Lutheran Child and Family Services building on Madison Street in River Forest.

‘ is is not a new issue to OPRF,’ students say during Friday walkout

Speaking out against alleged sexual harassment at high school

By AMARIS E. RODRIGUEZ Reporter

Hundreds of students braced the cold weather as they led a walkout on Friday afternoon to protest an alle ged permissible culture of sexual harassment that roams the halls of Oak Park and River Forest’s High School.

In an email sent to OPRF families, Assistant Superintendent and Principal Lynda Parker said they had been infor med about a planned walkout occurring during seventh and eighth period. Parker addressed in the email that the protest was alle gedly in response to an “inappropriate social media post” related to a presentation the school had on Wednesday during an inschool field trip for seniors called “Set The Expectation.” According to their website, “Set The Expectation,” is a nonprofit organization dedicated to ending sexual and interpersonal violence.

During the presentation on Wednesday, Brenda Tracy, founder of “Set The Expectation,” shared her story as a survivor of sexual assault with students and dove into a deep discussion which included a Q & A portion.

“She addressed a group chat where nudes have been shared by boys and she expressed how completely inappropriate that was,” said senior Ingrid Vigsnes. “She didn’t shy away from discussing that, she didn’t cover it up and she didn’t sugarcoat it.”

The presentation by Tracy alle gedly triggered the “inappropriate social media post” on an OPRF barstool page, which while not affiliated with the high school, is alle gedly well-known amongst students.

liams, who took part in organizing the walkout along with other members of SAFE, Students Advocating for Equity, said the post caused an uproar amongst students who saw it

“People need to speak now,” Montes-Williams said, “especially now that I’m seeing all the pain people are going through and how many stories. This went up all the way to the end of the school day because so many people had things to say. Enough is enough.”

Parker said those students who wished to participate in the protest would be allowed to

lowed to exit peacefully,” her email to families read. “Our goal is not to stop students from walking out. They have a right to peacefully protest. We will have campus safety staf f and administrators monitoring hallways to ensure an orderly exit.”

During the walkout, the students opened the me gaphone to those who wished to speak to the crowd of students gathered around the main Scoville Avenue entrance of the high school.

Many students took the opportunity to address the alle gedly toxic culture surrounding situations dealing with sexual harassment or sexual assault at the school.

“If this is the first time you’ve heard of this, I just want to say, you’ re too late,” said a student. “This has been happening. It is all around you.”

something that happens in the hallways every single day; it happens in the locker rooms every single day; this is also something that happens in middle school and elementary schools,” said another student, adding that the issue affects all students, not just women.

Students vocalized their frustration towards administration for not taking a stronger stance on sexual assault and harassment reports.

“Administration does not care; they say they care and then they don’t.” said junior Elliott Sparks, calling for students to get mad about the alleged lack of accountability and discipline those perpetrators have received from the school.

The stories told were not surprising to many students who had joined the walk out.

AMARIS E. RODRIGUEZ

Student Taylor Montes-Williams leads a stude nt walkout at OPRF follow ing an inappropriate social media post, which students say showcased a toxic culture at the high school that permits sexual harassment

“People need to speak now, especially now that I’m seeing all the pain people are going through.”

TAYLO R MONTESWILLIAMS Protest organizer

“It is almost hard to recall specific incidents because it happens so much,” Montes-Williams said.

Josie Tikkanen, a senior, said she took to the walkout in solidarity with other victims of sexual assault.

“I think the culture around it in our school is [explicit],” Tikkanen said, adding that during the presentation made by Tracy, many male students were laughing and making inappropriate jokes. “It is so harmful; everybody knows we need a change.”

While Tikkanen said she did feel support from her teachers to join the protest if that was something she wished to do, she added that she believes faculty feels limited in how they can approach those types of situations.

“I think they absolutely know about it, but I think they feel that they are limited when they are not,” Tikkanen said. “I think there are things they can do to better support survivors and to better punish the predators in the school, but I just think they haven’t done enough about it. They believe they are limited when they are not.”

“As a woman I deal with this every day,” Vigsnes said. “I think it is important that these people that are doing these things, that are sexually assaulting people are

held accountable and that they are uncomfor table, and I hope that this aims to do that.”

In response to the walk out, Parker sent out a follow-up email to OPRF f amilies after the school day, info rming them that the message of the protest was heard by the administration.

“I want to be very clear that as a school community, we hear and understand the reasons behind the rally and walkout,” read the email from Parker. “Both sexual violence and making light about it are re prehensible and unacce ptable. I and other administrators will be working with students to discuss how we can work to g ether to increase the awareness of sexual and interpersonal violence and how to prevent it. All students deserve a safe, affirmative learning environment, and we are committed to ensuring that for everyone in our school community.”

OPRF students seem to be determined to hold administration to those promises.

“I hope that the school knows that if changes aren’t made, we will come back and we will do the same thing,” MontesWilliams said. “And it won’ t be seventh and eighth period; we will start during first [period] and go the rest of the day.”

Indiana man arrested for reckless shooting

A 32-year-old man from South Bend, Indiana, has been arrested for recklessly discharging a firearm and endangering the life of a child this past weekend. No one was injured.

Oak Park police responded to shots fired in the 200 block of Chicago Avenue shortly before 5 p.m., Saturday. A home surveillance camera captured someone firing a single shot into the air. This person was later identified as the man from Indiana, who was re por tedly teaching a juvenile how to shoot a gun, according to Oak Park spokesperson Dan Yopchick.

The man was stopped by police later that evening at 7:02 p.m. and was found to have a firearm in his waistband. He was transported to the police station, where he was processed, charged and held for bond hearings.

Aggravated unlawful use of weapon arrest

A 23-year-old man from Chicago was arrested for aggravated unlawful use of a weapon and possession of a stolen vehicle at 8:33 p.m., March 8, in the 400 block of South Elmwood Avenue. Police found the weapon in the vehicle, which had been taken in an aggravated carjacking earlier that evening at 6:53 p.m. in the 400 block of South Scoville Avenue when two offenders approached the owner of the vehicle while brandishing a handgun and demanded the car.

See POLICE REPORTS on pa ge 22

Knowledge is Power – Beyond Hunger’s Health Ambassador Program

Empowered with extensive skills and knowledge of nutrition education and diabetes management, our Health Ambassadors advocate for healthy cooking and eating habits and work to reduce barriers to nutrition education in their community through workshops, farmers markets, health fairs, and more.

Starting as a grassroots effort in Chicago’s Austin neighborhood, the Health Ambassadors are creating a new health paradigm by impacting nutrition security for generations to come, one neighbor at a time.

What we hear time and again from our Health Ambassadors is that they are now able to teach others because they have a more complete understanding of how to manage the symptoms of diabetes and more importantly, they know what questions to ask and how to get answers. It takes individuals beyond a diagnosis, beyond even individual change, to help make a neighborhood-wide powerful impact

Markesia, for example, was referred to the program through her pastor, Dorin McIntyre, who leads What About Us Inc., an important partner for Beyond Hunger’s Home Delivery program. Markesia, who has her HiSET diploma, CNA, PCT, and phlebotomy certificate, is now pursuing her education in nursing. She has already used her added nutrition knowledge for patient advocacy. It was exactly what she was looking for,

“I’m thankful to God and my pastor,” she says.

“I’m making a change for me and for my kids – the Health Ambassadors program was an answer to my prayers.”

In February, Nina Bernacet, programs manager; Markesia Nelson, health ambassador; and Bri Kellogg, nutrition education and health coordinator (left to right above); shared information with Chicago stakeholders about Beyond Hunger’s Health Ambassador program at the 18th Annual Chicago Food Justice Summit. The summit highlights ways to ground policy in community action and seeks to engage community members in reimagining Chicago’s foodscape in areas such as climate change, labor equity, food access, and urban farming.

POLICE REPORTS

from page 21

Aggravated robbery

Two men threatened to shoot an Oak Park resident while robbing him of his cellphone and wallet at 12 p.m., March 7, in the 100 block of South Wesley Avenue. The two of fenders then fled in a dark blue sedan. The estimated loss is unknown.

Carjacking

An Oak Park woman was carjacked while sitting in her 2021 Subaru Forrester outside The School of Rock, 219 Lake St., at 8:43 p.m., March 6, when a man approached her passenger’s side window and asked to use her cellphone. When she complied, the man reached inside the vehicle, unlocked the passenger’s side door and got inside He then pushed her out of the car and drove off. The vehicle was later located in the 5500 block of West Cortez Avenue in Chicago.

Burglar y

A man took an Apple MacBook laptop, $400 in cash, a wallet and miscellaneous bottles of alcohol from a residence in the 300 block of Nor th Maple Avenue at 1:34 a.m., March 10, and fled when the victim saw him. The estimated loss is $2,870.

Motor vehicle theft

■ A 2019 Hyundai Elantra, parked in the 400 block of Nor th Lombard Avenue, was taken b etween 5:30 and 10:23 p. m ., March 12.

■ A 2017 Hyundai Tucson, pa rked in the 600 block of Ontario Street, was taken b etween 6:30 p. m ., March 10, and 8:19 a.m., March 11. Chicago police reco ve re d the vehicle with d amage to i ts front and rear bumper at 12:27 p. m ., March 11, in the 100 block of Nor th La Crosse Avenue

■ A 2011 Volkswagen Jetta was remove d from the 100 block of S outh Keni lwor th Avenue b etween 9:30 p. m ., March 9, and 8 a.m., March 10.

■ S omeone took a 2016 Hyundai Tucson pa rked on the street in the 700 block of

Nor th Humphrey Avenue b etween 2 and 6:10 p. m ., March 8.

■ A 2017 Hyundai E lantra was taken from the 500 block of Nor th L ombard Avenue b etween 6 a.m., March 5, and 10 a.m., March 7. Illinois State Police recovered the vehicle with a broken p assenger’s s ide wind ow and d amaged steerin g c olumn in the 5200 block of West Pa rker Street, Chicago, at 8:33 p. m ., March 7.

■ A 2016 Hyundai Tucson, pa rked in the 300 block of S outh Home Avenue, was taken b etween 3:04 and 4:04 p. m ., March 6. Chicago p olice recove red the vehicl e, wh ich had a shattered rear wind ow and a d amaged steering c olumn and ignition, at 7:20 p. m ., March 7, in the 4800 block of West Adams Street, Chicago.

■ S omeone stole a 2018 Kia Optima about 3:37 p. m ., March 6, in the 1100 block of Nor th Euclid Avenue

Attempted motor vehicle theft

S omeone broke the rear p assenger ’s s ide wind ow of a 2022 Kia Fo rt e, then d amaged the vehicle’s steering c olumn b etween noon, March 8, and 3:57 p. m. ,

March 10, in the 1100 block of No rt h Humphrey Avenue

Theft

■ The catalytic conver ter was cut from a 2000 Jeep Grand Cherokee between noon, March 9, and 7:07 p.m., March 10, in the first block of Chicago Avenue

■ A package containing an Apple iPhone 14 was taken from the foyer of a building in the 300 block of South East Avenue around 10:45 a.m., March 6.

These items were obtained from Oak Park Police De partment re ports, dated March 7-13, and re present a portion of the incidents to which police responded. Anyone named in these re ports has only been charged with a crime and cases hav e not yet been adjudicated. We re port 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

It ’s time to vote. Here’s what you need to know

All democracy is local

And as Oak Park and River Forest move toward the Spring elections for village and school leaders, library and park o ces Wednesday Journal is o ering you this Election Guide. That coverage comes in print today and, more expansively at OakPark.com.

This year we have pro led almost every candidate in a contested election, held two candidate forums -- live and recorded. One was for school board candidates at Oak Park and River Forest High School, the other, just this week, featured the candidates for the Oak Park village board. Thanks to Charlie Meyerson and Doris Davenport for moderating these discussions

We’ve also sent detailed questionnaires to every candidate in a contested race. The answers to our questions are presented here in this Election Guide which was designed by Javier Govea, our editorial design manager.

Let’s start with the candidates.

There is something brave and generous, only occasionally

ego-driven, that leads a local person to run for local o ce We’ve been watching for 43 years and our observation is that with a dud once in a while, with people we have disagreed with on policy, that in our non-partisan elections almost all candidates run because they care about the high school or the parks, have a vision for the library, are committed to better village services or holding taxes or growing equity. Or all of the above

As you read these pages of questions and answers from each of these candidates know that there is a lot on the line this year.

Your vote truly matters.

Do you plan to early vote? The details on how to do it are just below.

And don’t miss the digital version of this Election Guide on our OakPark.com website. The Q&As are there in longer versions. Thanks to Stacy Coleman, our digital manager, for building out these sites. Finally, this expanded coverage is possible because of a donation to our Growing Community Media nonpro t from

Almost time for early voting

Here’s how and when you can vote

For the April 4 Consolidated Election – school board, village boards, park and library boards -early voting starts March 20 and continues through April 3.

Courtesy of the Cook County Clerk’s o ce we have all the early voting locations in our area and the hours when you can vote

What do you need to vote early?

Voters do not need to provide an excuse or reason why they cannot vote on Election Day.

Government-issued photo ID is not required but is helpful if there is a question about the voter’s registration, address or signature. Providing an ID can also speed up the process because we have ID card readers at every check-in station.

You can also register to vote at all the early voting sites. However,

any voter who needs to register for the rst time or le an address change must present two forms of ID, one of which shows the voter’s current address.

Voting equipment

Early voting is conducted on touch screens that store every ballot style in the county, permitting any voter in suburban Cook to vote at any location. Your ballot will remain secret and securely stored.

Early voting records

The names of all early voters are available to the public and are updated each day during Early Voting. Please call (312) 603-0900 for early voting information.

In-person voting only

Voters who participate in early voting must vote in person.

the Good Heart Work Smart Foundation. It has allowed us not only to fund our election reporting and create this guide but also to widely increase our circulation for this issue of Wednesday Journal.

We are mailing a paper this week to thousands of additional apartments, condos and single-family homes across Oak Park and River Forest. These are people who do not regularly receive the paper. We hope they will be motivated to vote, and, yes, we hope they will consider subscribing to our weekly print edition or become a donor on our digital side.

This election is in your hands. Educate yourselves on the issues and the candidates. And then seize the power of your vote.

Dan Haley EDITOR AND PUBLISHER Growing Community Media

Jessica Mackinnon ELECTION COORDINATOR Wednesday Journal

EARLY VOTING LO CATIONS (APRIL 4, 2023 C ONSOLIDATED GENERAL ELECTION)

OAK PARK VILLAGE HALL 123 MADISON ST OAK PARK, IL 60302 Monday-Friday

MAYWOOD COURTHOUSE ( WHITCOMB BUILDING), ROOM 104 1311 MAYBROOK SQUARE MAYWOOD, IL 60153

BERWYN CITY HALL 6700 W. 26TH ST BERWYN, IL 60402 Monday-Friday

ELMWOOD PARK VILLAGE HALL 11 W. CONTI PARKWAY ELMWOOD PARK, IL 60707

Monday-Friday 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. Mar. 20 - Mar. 24 Mar. 27 - Mar. 31 Apr. 3

Why we no longer endorse candidates

Since 2020 Growing Community Media has been a nonpro t news organization. Because of that change we operate under regulations set by the Internal Revenue Service. Among those IRS require-

ments is the rule that as a nonpartisan 501(c)3 nonpro t that we are no longer permitted to endorse speci c candidates for o ce

That ended our long-standing process of interviewing all local can-

didates and o ering endorsements. In lieu of that we have stepped up our information gathering and reporting on the candidates and are presenting that to voters in this Election Guide.

The early voting locations listed here are for Suburban Cook County voters only. If you live in the City of Chicago please visit chicagoelections.gov for their Early Voting locations

How would you de ne the role and responsibilities of village trustee?

The role and responsibilities of a village trustee are di cult understand for many members of the public and some trustees even after years of board ser

The village board oversees village manager, discusses and determines policy, discusses and determines budget priorities and the amount of the tax levy, passes laws and approves expenditures of > $25,000. Village trustees should not act in a supervisory manner to village sta ; the village manager is their supervisor and is responsible to the board for all of his/her employees

What do you believe is the most pressing issue facing Oak Park and how do you intend to address it?

The most pressing issue facing Oak Park is the same existential crisis that threatens the entire planet: climate change. No other issue has the potential to change our lives to the same degree. Even though the Great Lakes area is not experiencing increased hurricanes, tornados, and forest res, the recurrent deadly heatwaves, ozone action days, increased asthma rates, and ooding are just the tip of the iceberg of how our lives will change if climate change continues unchecked.

I want to do everything I can in my position as a trustee to make sure Oak Park village government is leading in climate change mitigation and prevention. The list below highlights what I’ve done so far and what I hope to do in my next term:

■ Created ad hoc Sustainability group - I became frustrated with the lack of action within village government to spend the village’s Sustainability Fund on projects that lower Oak Park’s greenhouse gas emissions, so I helped create an ad hoc sustainability group recognized by the village board and sta This group of local sustainability experts developed recommendations to

OA K PARK VILL AG E BOARD (5 C ANDIDATES FOR 3 OPEN SEATS )

the village board for the use of the Sustainability Fund. The recommendations passed unanimously in March 2021. Successfully advocated or funding development of Climate Action Plan, energy ciency and solar grants, and second sustainability coordinaor - As a result of the ad hoc group’s recommendations, a greenhouse gas inventory was completed, a consultant was hired to create our Climate Action Plan, and we o er energy e ciency retro t grants to low-income households and solar panel rebates.

■ Stimulated sustainable development - As the village board liaison to the Oak Park Economic Development Corporation, I created expectations from developers to include sustainability elements in their buildings, resulting in solar panels, electrication, green roofs, and native plantings.

Our village government has come a long way in the past two years, but it is extremely important that we continue to move forward toward our goal of reducing our greenhouse gas emissions by 50% by 2030. To assure that the climate action plan doesn’t sit on a shelf, trustees must lead in both policy and budgeting. We must have speci c plans for promoting and funding energy e ciency retro ts for all buildings, change our zoning code to require electri cation of all new construction, apply for grant programs to pay for solar and geothermal incentives, and develop innovative methods to o er EV charging for residents of multi-unit buildings, among many other initiatives that we simply must implement if we are going to meet our mitigation goals. I will advocate for regular reporting to the village board so we can hold village sta accountable to our climate action plan.

As a village trustee, how do you plan to tackle the grow ing rate of gun violence in Oak Park?

Gun violence is a national regional and a local problem. There is no magic answer Scholars identify a “crime triangle.” This consists of: 1) a desir of a criminal to commit a crime; 2) a target of the criminal’s desire; and 3) the opportunity for the crime to be committed. The Village should remove the opportunity as much as possible Individuals should be educated on how to stay safe. A more visible police presence would help deter crime. Studies show that criminals are more deterred by the risk of being caught than by the potential consequences. I will prioritize lling vacancies in the police department with top quality candidates who embrace our community policing model

SIMONE M. BOUTET

Because of the racial wealth gap, Oak Park’s racial diversity depends on a ordability. In my previous term, I advocated for and passed the Inclusionary Zoning Ordinance. The funds collected under this ordinance have paid for the creation of low-income housing, and funded programs that address the housing needs of the most vulnerable. I will continue to focus on housing a ordability in my next term. I also advocated to change zoning laws so that homeowners can create accessory dwelling units on their property This provides additional housing options

What areas did you nd most compelling about the results of the police department assessment and what still needs to be changed?

Crime and policing need to be addressed with a comprehensive strategy. Hiring and police presence is only one part of the equation. I will prioritize the following:

■ Collecting and reporting impartial policing data to build trust and accountability.

■ Providing a civilian response to non-emergency calls for service to reduce the use of sworn personnel. This is cost-effective and it matches the need for service

■ Enhancing the role of the Citizen’s Police Oversight Committee to be more effective accountability partners to the Village board.

■ Training 911 personnel in how to engage with callers who report a “suspicious person” to ensure they are reporting suspicious activity and not just a person.

■ Finding a location for and building a new police station.

How will you work with your fellow board members to ensure Oak Park’s affordability and diversity?

In my previous term, I voted to keep levy increases to a maximum of 3% per year. I will continue to do that to manage the tax burden in Oak Park. I will also look for grants to fund our social goals like the climate plan and examine every expenditure to ensure it efciently uses taxpayer funds to accomplish our goals.

What do you believe is the most pressing issue facing Oak Park and how do you intend to address it?

With four murders in eight months and reports of shootings becoming common, community safety is our top priority. Living a life free from crime is a human right. It is the duty of the Village to create a safe community for all who live here. This requires a multi-faceted approach – both short term and long term crime deterrence and prevention strategies. We have an excellent police department, but there is still a lot to do I would like to build a regional intergovernmental and community-based safety collaborative. The goal would be to address the root causes of crime, determine which agencies are provide services and where the challenges lie, with the goal of assisting young people to make positive life choices and avoid a life of crime

The candidate’s responses have been edited for print. The full unedited responses can be found online at: oakpark.com/election-guide-2023

The candidate’s responses have been edited for print. The full unedited responses can be found online at: oakpark.com/election-guide-2023

SUSAN BUCHANAN

SEE CANDIDATES’ COMPLETE ANSWERS AND BIOS ONLINE

SEE CANDIDATES’ COMPLETE ANSWERS AND BIOS ONLINE

OA K PARK VILL AG E BOARD (5 C ANDIDATES FOR 3 OPEN SEATS )

Oak Park has received the results of a months-long police department assessment. What areas did you nd most compelling and what still needs to be changed?

■ Of the kids (age 18 or less) stopped by police from January 2015 to June 2020, 97% of them were Black. That’s a red ag indicator of bias and this needs to be addressed immediately

■ The OPPD su ers from several technology issues that would help us solve cases better, deploy resources more e ciently, and provide more transparency to the public. This work needs to get started as soon as possible.

■ The recommendation of the creation of an alternate Call for Service plan (non-emergency calls) was called out as a priority and the taskforce that we’ve convened is working on this issue already.

■ We have Village Ordinances that have the potential for disparate impact for marginalized populations Those ordinances have yet to come back to the Board. We should prioritize their return and modify them to remove that impact.

As we move further away from the height of COVID-19, what role do you believe the Oak Park Public Health Department will serve in the future?

First, I think OPDPH, under Dr. Chapple-McGruder, did a commendable job of protecting the village during the pandemic, under the most di cult circumstances one can imagine for that job.

I’m also mindful of the fact that OPDPH is just one of many resources our residents draw on. For example, Oak Park ran vaccination clinics throughout the pandemic, which were extremely valuable to parents, seniors, and other members of our community, but still a lot of our residents were vaccinated at area drug stores.

While I’m open to discussing OPDPH’s role, my priority is to ensure that we’re marshaling all of the resources we have available, public and private, village and county, to provide the

best possible health outcomes for everyone who lives in our village, while avoiding the creation of duplicative service o erings and sta .

That said, one area that I really think the OPPHD can have a huge impact is in the administration of our eventual non-emergency Call For Service implementation. That organization should exist outside of the police department and will likely have a huge part in answering mental health calls for service, it may make sense to have this new organization report up through the OPPHD as it aligns with the mission of public health and service.

What can be done to better serve those who live in rental units?

Oak Park has rental units that run the gamut on economics from a ordable to ‘luxury.’ Some of the things that we should do for some economic levels aren’t necessarily priorities for others. But for everyone, we should maintain our focus on making Oak Park a more a ordable village, increase our parking and transit options, and increase services to help mediate tenant/landlord disputes.

We should recognize that a lot of our rental units exist on the borders of Oak Park and create programs and outreach to create a better experience that’s more similar to the community that exists in our single-family home neighborhoods. To increase our racial and economic diversity, we should increase the availability of a ordable units, both naturally occurring and intentionally created.

And for those who have chosen to live in downtown Oak Park, we should continue to invest in creating a vibrant Oak Park that has a pronounced and welcoming sense of place, an atmosphere that encourages community, and a village that is diverse in the experiences that it o ers so that everyone, no matter the living arrangements that they chose, can feel welcome and enjoy their time here.

The candidate’s responses have been edited for print. The full unedited responses can be found online at: oakpark.com/election-guide-2023

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OA K PARK VILL AG E BOARD (5 C ANDIDATES FOR 3 OPEN SEATS )

In what areas do you belie the current village board has been successful and in what areas has it been less successful?

The current and previous boards have laid the groundwor towards making great strides on sustainability and equity, we must elect Trustees who ar ready to take that action further Climate Ready Oak Park (Oak Park’s Climate Action Plan) and the Cross-Community Climate Collaborative (C4) represent a comprehensive, long-range, regional approach to the ongoing climate crisis which, if fully implemented, will make Oak Park a leader in sustainability. Similarly, the Village’s new Chief Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion O cer, Dr. Danielle Walker, has the expertise and systematic approach to ensure that the Village will be a leader on equity issues in the years to come—so long as Village Trustees consider her expertise in their decision-making process.

BRIAN STRAW

wners from across Oak Park, it has become evident that the illage needs to create a small business concierge–someone who assists small business ownnavigate the permitting and licensing processes, connects them with grant opportunities elevant to them, and advocates or small businesses within the illage. In addition, the Village and the Oak Park Economic Development Corporation can join forces to determine whether there might be opportunities to partner on providing low-interest loans to small businesses that, when paired with professional services available in the community, could support continued growth and prosperity.

What do you believe is the most pressing issue facing Oak Park and how do you intend to address it?

How would you de ne the roles and responsibilities of a village trustee?

First and foremost, a Village Trustee is a duciar y, elected to make decisions on behalf of the people of Oak Park. Making de cisions is challenging because each Oak Parker has a di erent experience, needs, wants, and political beliefs. It is crucial that we trustees listen intently to a many voices and perspectives as possible even seeking out voices that are missing from the conversation so that our decisions are inclusive and e cacious

What areas did you nd most compelling about the results of the police department assessment and what still needs to be changed?

There are at least two issues where Oak Park must act with more urgency: (1) making our streets and sidewalks safer for biking, walking, and public transit and (2) helping small businesses thrive in Oak Park.

The Village Board must prioritize making our streets safe for everyone living, working, and playing in Oak Park–whether biking, walking, driving, or using public transportation. We have seen tremendous ideas proposed by community organizing groups (like Bike Walk Oak Park), but the Village Board has yet to operationalize any of these into a clear vision for transportation safety in Oak Park. The Village Board must act.

Small businesses in Oak Park have had to navigate the pandemic, sta ng shortages, and rampant in ation over the past three years. The Village has a history of providing signi cant incentives to larger businesses and developments, but not o ering the same kinds of support to small businesses. Oak Park must work to ease the process of opening a new business in Oak Park and helping existing businesses in Oak Park thrive.

In my conversations with small business

It is impossible and disingenuous to look at any single issue in isolation. Instead, we have to acknowledge that each of the issues we face as a community are interrelated and need to be faced with a focus on equity, sustainability, and safety. Moreover, Oak Park needs to be proactive in building the Village we want for the next 50 years instead of simply responding to the problems in front of us today.

For example, we can look at the issue of public safety–which encompasses a wide range of issues including gun violence and other violent crime, transportation safety, and environmental issues.

Gun violence and other violent crime is a signi cant and complex issue which requires a nuanced and intentional response. We need to deal with sta ng issues in the Oak Park Police Department; take a regional approach to addressing root causes of violent crime; and address gun violence as a public health issue–as I discussed at length in response to prior questions.

The candidate’s responses have been edited for print. The full unedited responses can be found online at: oakpark.com/election-guide-2023

It was generally understood that our police station was a high priority and needed to be addressed as it does not contribute to e cient or e ective operations. Also, our records management system and our computer-aided dispatch systems have functional challenges. I was somewhat surprised by the lack of consistency and clarity in establishing formal plans/processes for training, recruitment as well as coaching, and mentoring; those issues will need to be addressed too. I support the recommendations for eliminating ordinances that create a disparate impact on marginalized populations as well as pretext stops, which can lead to biasedbased contacts.

ry di cult to rein in spending-- but it ’s possible. Shifting from levies in the 6-9% range down to 3% (and in 2023 it ’s 0%) was not easy. It required both the cooperation of my olleagues as well as the buy-in from Village sta to get it done. he fact that trustees have the authority to tax residents and dramatically impact their personal nances is a responsitake lightly. During this year ’s budget discussions, I felt we should have reviewed expenditures more thoroughly because we ended up spending several million dollars more than last year. As duciaries of resident funds, trustees need to treat public funds with as much care and caution as they do their own. My goal as trustee is to increase a ordability in our village so that those that want to live here can a ord to stay here. I’ve made progress over the past 4 years despite the pandemic and how it impacted our collective nances. I always keep a ordability at the forefront of decision-making at all levels, and I hope I have an opportunity to continue making progress over the next 4 years

SEE CANDIDATES’ COMPLETE ANSWERS AND BIOS ONLINE

How will you work with your fellow board members to ensure Oak Park’s affordability and diversity?

Maintaining Oak Park ’s a ordability is a challenge, but necessary to maintain our diversity. Having a stable property tax levy plan has been a strong policy I have been trumpeting for several years. In 2017 when I took o ce, I set out to be tough on taxes I was told by so many people that in order to stabilize taxes, services had to be cut. What I learned in the process was that it ’s

A ordable housing has also been one of the most important issues in Oak Park for as long as I can remember. Oak Park ’s socio-economic diversity relies on the village taking an active role in maintaining access to a ordable housing in the village. One of my biggest achievements was enacting our Inclusionary Zoning Ordinance. The ordinance covers a signi cant footprint in the village and makes new developments either provide a percentage of the building’s units at an a ordable price or provide a signi cant monetary contribution to the Village’s Housing Trust, which in turn funds a ordable housing initiatives. Since its inception just a few years ago, the IZO has raised well in excess of $3M.

The candidate’s responses have been edited for print. The full unedited responses can be found online at: oakpark.com/election-guide-2023

JAMES TAGLIA

OPRF HIGH SCHOOL D200 (4 C ANDIDATES FOR 3 OPEN SEATS )

What should be the time frame for deciding the scop and nancing for OPRFHS Project 2? Should the curren board make these critical decisions prior to the April election or should a newly constituted board have this responsibility?

My biggest concern with the current Project 2 is that the is so high that it will prevent us from making meaningful, muchneeded improvements to other aspects of the building for a generation. So far, there has been no board discussion of any trade-o s it will require, nor how any of the funding scenarios might a ect the future nancial position of the district.

BRIAN SOUDER

equire voter approval because they are intended for schools to do emergency work before a referendum can be held — like if a boiler breaks

Building a new pool-gym that has been prescribed for ve years is not an emergency, and the only eason no-vote bonds are being discussed is so that D200 can byvoters. It may not be illegal, certainly is unethical. Aren’t we in year 12 of pool discussions because of contentious and dubious tactics by the school over that time?

If we are trading Project 2 pool-gyms for much-needed investments in academics, music, the heavily-utilized eldhouse, special ed, vocational ed, wrestling, gymnastics—things prescribed by the IMAGINE group—for 10, 20 or more years, this requires not only a robust board discussion, but a community one.

I know how badly some folks want to start digging a new pool, but I don’t see how you approve likely the largest single public investment in Oak Park and River Forest history with so little discussion or engagement on its ramications. This needs more than a few 20-minute board meeting discussions in the next two months

If there is any debt component included in nancing Project 2, should taxpayer have the opportunity to vote on this issue via a referendum?

As I said before, this is likely the largest single public expense in our two villages’ history and will determine how much can be invested in academic, arts and other athletics spaces for a generation. So, absolutely, voters must have their say. Full stop. Plus in the 2020 advisory referendum, Oak Park voters overwhelming voted that projects more than $5 million need to go to referendum.

Besides, this should not even be a choice. In Illinois, referendum bonds are for facility building, and the DSEB bonds the administration and others have been pushing for Project 2 are intended for EMERGENCIES. They do not

Project 2 supporters and the administration will tell us the current plan is the only way to meet the needs of our students, it’s legitimate because it was created by a group with community members and th4y will tell us it will have little to no tax impact. Sounds like they have a strong story to tell, so passage should be a slam dunk. Let them make their case and let voters decide.

Some have mentioned there is a cost savings by using no-vote bonds instead of vote bonds. An expert I talked to said that gap can be minimized by more creative referendum bond structuring than what was presented by the consultant, which I think is being investigated by the Community Finance Committee. Even if it does take a little longer or cost a bit more, what will be the cost to the relationship with the community by intentionally bypassing them?

Are you in favor of returning sworn Oak Park and River Forest police o cers to the OPRFHS campus? If so, what would be the best way of doing this?

Quite simply, no. While I’m con dent our local o cers are capable, ethical and sensitive, studies show little to no bene t, and often terrible costs. Let’s keep trusting Principal Parker and her work on school culture, evolving the restorative justice program and taking great care of the school’s civilian safety and security team.

The candidate’s responses have been edited for print. The full unedited responses can be found online at: oakpark.com/election-guide-2023

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OPRF HIGH SCHOOL D200 (4 C ANDIDATES FOR 3 OPEN SEATS )

What should be the timeframe for deciding the scope and nancing for OPRFHS’s Project 2? Should the current board make these critical decisions prior to the April election or should a newly constituted board have this responsibility?

There appears to be unanimity among the current seven board members, and at least three of the four candidates agree: Project 2 should be approved. The current board has been clear in its intention to resolve this issue during the current school year; approving Project 2 and settling on the appropriate funding strategy have been part of the board’s goals since September, and the Board and administration have moved steadily in that direction this entire school year. So, whatever the outcome of the April election, it’s clear that the project will move forward.

There is increasingly widespread community consensus that Project 2 is a necessary solution to the longstanding risks and unacceptable conditions in OPRFHS’s physical education learning spaces. That consensus is due in large part to the tours OPRFHS has conducted over the past year; as hundreds of parents and community members have seen the current conditions, most agree that it’s long past time to solve these facilities problems

The set of solutions in Project 2 were derived from the Imagine OPRF process–a community-led, transparent, needsbased process conducted in 2017-2018 to assess the entire campus and prioritize facilities needs, and a process worthy of the community’s trust.

Are you in favor of returning sworn Oak Park and River Forest police o cers to the OPRFHS campus? If so, what would be the best way of doing this?

I genuinely appreciate the overture of OPPD’s Chief Johnson, and her representation that sworn o cers will act as “visitors in the building.” But, whether in the possession of a teacher, an administrator, or a sworn police ofcer, the risk of having a loaded weapon inside the high school is simply too great. And let’s

be clear: that risk falls disproportionately on one group, young Black men. Except in the case of an emergency/active shooter situation, I am strongly opposed to the presence of weapons inside the high school. Therefore I would be opposed to sworn police o cers patrolling the halls of OPRF

How do you believe the school district will know, and over what timeframe, that the restructuring of the Freshman Curriculum is working?

This is a potentially transformative initiative that cannot be allowed to fail. I support the goals: to maintain academic excellence, and to make sure that every student has true access to that excellence. It will be among the board’s and administration’s highest priorities in the coming years. I would be committed to demanding as much data as possible; to sharing that data with the community as transparently as possible; with providing necessary supports, as well as supporting shifts in strategy dictated by the data; and to evaluating the initiative with candor and integrity. I am committed to ensuring this equity initiative is successful–which will surely require close, careful attention over the next four years (and more) and agile response to key indicators We should track closely all possible data, and try to identify every early lesson we can glean from the data as it appears throughout the school year. The administration would be well-served to publish the most important criteria we expect to use to evaluate progress–even those criteria for which we will not have actionable data until future years (such as AP test results from the current freshman class). This will help the entire community understand the incremental progress being made, as well as to continue to set expectations around the very long-time horizon this initiative anticipates. For the short term, though, the job is to be alert to every possible story the early data tells us, and to consider whether additional or di erent supports or approaches are indicated.

The candidate’s responses have been edited for print. The full unedited responses can be found online at: oakpark.com/election-guide-2023

What should be the time frame for deciding the scop and nancing for OPRFHS’s Project 2? Should the curren board make these critical decisions prior to the April election or should a newly constituted board have this responsibility?

From what I understand, it is anticipated that the current board will be making this decision prior to the newly-elected board members assuming o ce. Assuming this holds true, this is the right call. No one has been more intimately, empathically and critically involved in the Project 2 community-wide process than the current OPRFHS board. As such, I trust that they will act with integrity in making the right decision here.

If there is any debt component included in nancing Project 2, should taxpayer have the opportunity to vote on this issue via a referendum?

Taxpayers should always have the opportunity to vote via referendum if a signi cant debt component should emerge in the nancing of any public project.

Are you in favor of returning sworn police o cers to OPRFHS? If so, what would be

OPRF HIGH SCHOOL D200 (4 C ANDIDATES FOR 3 OPEN SEATS )

the best way of doing this?

I am not in favor of this. Instead, I believe that we need to invest in greater capacity to serve the social, emotional, and mental health needs of our students

How do you believe the school district will know, and over what timeframe, that the restructuring of the Freshman Curriculum is working?

We should start to see what is working by looking at grades and test results by the end of the rst year, but a commitment to meaningfully assessing all signi cant curriculum changes should involve consistently gathering feedback from teachers, students, sta and parents

What is your assessment of OPRFHS’ shift from a more traditional punitive disciplinary approach to a more restorative approach? Do you believe that it is working?

I am thrilled to see that OPRFHS is embracing restorative practice to inform its disciplinary orientation. I am a huge advocate for integrating restorative practice not just when it comes to discipline, but also as a means of improving culture and communication at all levels of the school.

What should be the time frame for deciding the scope and nancing fo OPRFHS’s Project 2? Should the current board make these critical decisions prior to the April election or should a newly constituted board have this responsibility?

I am comfortable that both scope and nancing plan be decided by the existing board. Those current members have all been steeped in the issues for at least two years.

If there is any debt component included in nancing Project 2, should taxpayer have the opportunity to vote on this issue via a referendum?

Philosophically, I believe that the best practice for the funding of long-term infrastructure projects is the use of capital referendum bonds

Are you in favor of returning sworn police o cers to OPRFHS? If so, what would be the best way of doing this?

trying to serve. This would have to begin with the voices of the students, faculty, and administration to ar ticulate the why of such a move. I don’t think the board should make such a decision unilaterally

How do you believe the school district will know, and over what timeframe, that the estructuring of the Freshman Curriculum is working?

The honors-for-all strategy is an iterative process that will take time to evolve. Having said that, my assumption is that the rst point of meaningful data would likely come after the conclusion of the rst full academic year of the strategy’s implementation, and in the form of grades.

SEE CANDIDATES’ COMPLETE ANSWERS AND BIOS ONLINE

We rst have to ask the question of what purpose or objective the return of school resource o cer(s) to OPRFHS would be

What is your assessment of OPRFHS’ shift from a more traditional punitive disciplinary approach to a more restorative approach? Do you believe that it is working?

I would not want to see a return to “traditional punitive” approaches to discipline, which historically have consisted of out-of-school suspensions that do not constructively address the needs and issues of at-risk youth.

GRAHAM BRISBEN

JONATHAN LIVINGSTON

RIVER FOREST D90 (4 C ANDIDATES FOR 3 OPEN SEATS )

Do you support District 90 adopting all-day k indergarten and, if so, why?

Yes, I am in support of adopt ing the all-day k indergar ten in River Forest ’s elementar schools. My strongest argument: generational evolution.

River Forest has evolved from 10 years ago, where it was town of nannies and grandpar ents, to a place where involved work ing parents want to see increased student growth and student interac tions. All-day k indergarten would provide the face-to -face interac tions and actual learning that children lost during the pandemic. All-day k indergarten in River Forest is “ building a better boat.”

What do you believe will be the gr eatest challenges if expanded k indergarten is approved? Costs, nding adequate sta , facilities?

The greatest challenge is preparing for the unknown. We can never truly prepare for the number of students who might enroll in all-day k indergarten classes. If there is a dramatic increase in enrollment, although cost and facilities have been analyzed, the biggest cost would be construction and facility additions Given the nationwide teacher shortages, sta ng is always di cult. Howeve r, R iver Forest and Oak Park are destination districts, and we are hopeful that excellent sta will continue to be acquired.

Do you believe that our children, especially by middle school, are dealing with more concerns over mental health than in the past? What is the public school system’s role in providing mental health services and resources to children and families? How is District 90 performing?

Yes, there are more concerns. Why? Because children have access to phones and social media at birth. Access to social media has created exposure to increased

social pressures in early adolescence. Regardless of the lters and monitoring, children nd themselves involved in viewing and participating in activities that rob their childhood causing increased mental health concerns.

S chool is an institution at which instruction is given in a particular discipline. Why do schools exist? S chools exist to help children learn and grow into productive adults. S chool provides a structured environment in which students can explore their interests and develop skills that will be useful in their future lives. S chool is now also a safe space for children to unpack their thoughts and feelings about the wor ld around them. S chool ensures that children are mentally and developmentally ready for the real wor ld by providing lessons which will bene t them later into adulthood.

Over the past ve years, District 90 has added school social wor kers, psychologists, and school nurses to the sta at all three schools. District 90 is also taking advantage of local nonfor-pro t programs as well as Township Youth Ser vices to provide various resources for the children in District 90.

In the radical transformation in teaching caused by COVID-19, what did District 90 learn or invent that should be retained in teaching?

I think the new learning has paved a way for students to interact more with each other in District 90. Likewise, students can really engage with the content in ways that t their unique learning styles. Teachers in District 90 are creating di erent learning pathways which they can monitor in their small groups and through digital feedback provided to children.

CA LVIN DAVIS

Do you support District 90 adopting all-day kindergarten and, if so, why?

Yes, I believe it is important for River Forest to o er fullday kindergarten. I do not feel the scholastic programing in the current half-day model is adequate.

From my discussions with parents and teachers, one of the major drawbacks of the current half- day model is that families are required to supplement the half-day program with a number of additional scholastic programs available nearby. Therefore, when children arrive in rst grade, they come in at di erent competency levels with di erent educational backgrounds, given the di erent programs they attend in addition to half-day kindergarten. In other cases, children come to rst grade with no additional schooling other than the half-day program which may leave them at a disadvantage. First grade teachers are required, then, to spend an inordinate amount of time bringing students that are behind up-to-speed and harmonizing the various educational backgrounds of students. This time and e ort could be better utilized direc tly on learning curriculum if students arrived with more similar educational backgrounds and experiences.

O ering full-day kindergarten is important from an overall community standpoint as well. I have personally heard from families that have decided not to move to River Forest and decided instead to move to Oak Park and other nearby neighborhoods simply because they do o er full-day kindergarten. So, by not o ering full-day kindergarten, we are putting ourselves at a disadvantage relative to other nearby neighborhoods in terms of attracting new families. If not addressed, this could impact property values negatively over time.

Do you b elieve that our children, especially by middle school, are deal-

RIVER FOREST D90 (4 C ANDIDATES FOR 3 OPEN SEATS )

ing with more concerns over mental health than in the past? What is the public school system’s role in providing mental health services and resources to children and families? How is District 90 per forming?

I believe we are all still recovering from COVID-19 and the recove ry may continue for years. I n addition to COVID, other considerations such as social media usage are having a negative impact on our children’s mental health overall. I t does seem children today are facing more mental health challenges than in the past

Public schools can play a role in addressing children’s mental health concerns but I do not believe we should rely solely on the school system. Communication is an important aspect. I believe teachers, given the amount of time they spend with our children, can help identify when a student may be disproportionately su ering from mental health issues. To the extent parents, teachers, and administrators can communicate more frequently and e ectively on this issue, we should be able to identify children that require additional mental health support and, from there, families can work with schools and other outside providers to get kids the help they need.

I also believe transparency and communication is critical in dealing with children’s mental health issues. I do not think the school system should attempt to deal with speci c mental health concerns without involving parents and guardians. I believe we will be most effective in identifying and dealing with mental health issues, if parents, teachers, and district administrators work together.

The candidate’s responses have been edited for print. The full unedited responses can be found online at: oakpark.com/election-guide-2023

What do you b elieve will be the greatest challenges if expanded k indergar ten is approved? Cost, nding adequate sta , facilities?

I don’t see sta ng availability nor facilities as the issue We h ave proven we can hir great teachers – and we d have enough facilities to a ccommodate full-day k indergar ten, albeit with some recon guration. Cost will be the challenge. It will require some additional one-time costs as current buildings undergo some limited re -tooling. There may be an additional annual cost if district o ces move and lease o -site o ce space (if that option is implemented). But the relevant cost of this change is additional teachers. These additional ongoing operational costs, as a portion of the distric t’s budget, should represent approximately 10% additional personnel expenditures – so most achievable. There are a number of ways that this amount could be covered, and meeting the cost challenge will require exploring all of those mechanisms carefully and perhaps with some cost reduction as par t of the equation.

these e o rt s. Families should ealize that they have a par t to play in recove ry and should be ever more attentive to nding ways to support this. Ma ny already are--through private tutoring, library o e rings and ratcheted-up parent engagement in homework, for xample. Finally, one of the greatest fac tors in increased learning is “ time - on-task .” Now especially -- we should protect the full school day and school year. While the state has guidelines on “Days That Count for Attendance” to meet their minimum requirements, District 90 should have a s our guidepost in this time of recove ry preserving time - on-task. COVID dug a hole that was no one’s fault, and we must climb out of it together I believe we will be able to accomplish this together -with grace and aplomb.

Do you b elieve that our children, especially by middle school, are dealing with more concerns over mental health than in the past?

SEE CANDIDATES’ COMPLETE ANSWERS AND BIOS ONLINE

What do you consider as District 90’s greatest challenges in addressing learning loss during the pandemic and the social impac t of remote learning for, at least, some students?

There has been learning loss, undoubtedly. Mak ing up for lost time will require wo rk on the part of families and the school distric t. We should monitor academic progress and be open about the data that we receive. Teachers and counselors are already identifying individuals’ needs as a result of learning loss. They are already communicating with families and coaching families in order to maximize recove ry. The teachers and counselors should be applauded, and suppor ted in

What is the public school system’s role in providing mental health services and resources to children and families? How is District 90 performing?

The need for wraparound mental health for all students – those with speci c long-term and/or situational needs, and those for whom we want to preser ve and promote mental health wellness—has increased over the last many years, including the COVID years. District 90 and families have collaborated well to identify needs and to increase resources, as well as to p rovide additional training for frontline teachers. I think District 90 has done ve ry well on this front.

The candidate’s responses have been edited for print. The full unedited responses can be found online at: oakpark.com/election-guide-2023

KRISTINE MACKE Y

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RIVER FOREST D90 (4 C ANDIDATES FOR 3 OPEN SEATS )

Do you support D istrict 90 adopting all-day k indergarten and, if so, why?

Ye s. I made a public comment at a school board meeting in favor of full-day k indergar ten in 2015. I’m glad that the school board is seriously considering this option.

Young learners need more time in school to keep pace with the I llinois Learning Standards, which build on the common core standards for English language arts and math. As Lori Suzuki, Lincoln S chool k indergar ten teacher, explained during her comment at the school board meeting on February 7, “expectations have changed.” Ms. Suzuki went on to point out that the half-day program is fast-paced, and that it can be challenging to meet the needs of all students, especially those who have pull-out interventions during the day. I n addition, she noted that children need more time for creative play to i nterac t with each other

What do you b elieve will be the greatest challenges if expanded k indergar ten is approved? Cost, nding adequate sta , facilities?

Expanding to full-day k indergar ten will double the number of k indergar ten teachers, and we need to b e honest about the fact that the additional funding needed fo r salaries—already the largest cost for a school distric t—will be the most signi cant long-term cost. At the February 7 board meeting, the principals of Lincoln and Willard schools laid out plans for creating the necessary classroom space, and District 90 has historically been able to attract talented teachers to ll vacancies.

Overall, the bene t of full-day k indergar ten likely outweighs the additional cost. A 2014 study by D r. Chloe Gibbs used a randomized controlled trial—the gold standard for education research—to measure the bene ts of full-day k indergar ten

on literacy at the end of k indergar ten. Compared to half-day indergar ten, Dr. Gibbs found that full-day k indergar ten had a positive impact large enough to be cost-e ec tive. I n 2017, in a separate study, Dr. Gibbs found that the bene ts of full-day k indergar ten persist through seventh grade for English language arts and through eighth grade for math.

Do you b elieve that our children, esp ecially by middle school, are dealing with more concerns over mental health than in the past? What is the public school system’s role in providing mental health services and resources to children and families? How is D istric t 90 performing?

Ye s, I believe that today’s children are dealing with more mental health issues than in the past. While R oosevelt M iddle S chool is far more dynamic today than when I was a student there in the 1980s, with, for example, more clubs, more activities, and more sports to engage students, at the same time today’s students have endured both the social isolation of the pandemic and the unrelenting scrutiny of the smar tphone. Bullying existed then as it does now, but it was not supercharged by technology. So, in the 2022 I llinois Youth Sur vey for R oosevelt S chool, a f th of eighth graders repor t that in the past year they drank alcohol, about a quar ter report being bullied, and a quar ter report being depressed. B ecause mental health issues can interfere with learning, schools should alleviate p roblems that students experience at school. District 90 has a strong core o f social workers who have helped many students, but they are stretched thin by the demands placed on them.

The candidate’s responses have been edited for print. The full unedited responses can be found online at: oakpark.com/election-guide-2023

ERIC ISENBERG

Oak Park names 2022 Preser vation Award winners

Homeowners, businesses, individuals recognized for achievements

By LACEY SIKORA Contributing Reporter

In February, the village of Oak Park reco gnized homeowners, businesses and individuals in its annual round up of Preservation Award winners. The village’s Community Design Commission reco gnized 15 Cavalcade of Pride Award winners. Five Preservation Awards were handed out by the Historic Preservation Commission and 14 Green Awards were distributed by the Environment and Energy Commission.

from page 35

Oak Park Sustainability Coordinator Marcella Bondi Keenan says that the Green Awards, which will be rebranded Sustainability Awards in 2023, are wideranging. Most of this year’s winners were reco gnized for their ef for ts in support of the Climate Ready Oak Park, the village’s long-range plan in response to the climate crisis.

T here we re three residences and two non-residential Historic Preservation awards for 2022. C alvary Memoria l C hurch was reco gnized for restoratio n

wo rk , a ided by Filotto Roofing, Space Haus and BP Productions. Oak Pa rk F riends School won an award for adaptive reuse for wo rk d one in c onjunction with Studio Inte gr a at its Roosevelt Road c ampus.

On the residential side, homeowner Matthew Eade along with architect Kimberlee L. Smith and Montero Renovations were reco gnized for their restoration work on Eade’s house at 828 Gunderson Ave.

At 520 N. Oak Park Ave., JMG Remodeling, Jesus Gomez, architect Lucio Nuñez, Jeanette Hussemann and Zachary Saucier won an award for residential rehabilitation, while the home at 318 S. Harvey Ave. won reco gnition as a new construction home for Mark Meagher and his company

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PRESERVATION AWARDS

Maher Development Inc., architect Michael S. Cox, Rosilie Hernández and Michal Markowski.

Susie Trexler, urban planner in historic preservation for Oak Park, says that the Historic Preservation Commission saw a large number of Certificate of Appropriateness applications during the pandemic and points to a number of exciting projects that are underway among the village ’s historic housing stock. She anticipates the 2023 awards will be especially exciting

Cavalcade of Pride Awards are given out in nine districts throughout the village and reco gnize property owners who have done an exceptional job of maintaining and improving the exteriors of their homes and businesses.

Village Planner Craig Failor notes that the awards have been given out since 1973

to thank residents and business owners who put in the time and money to improve the aesthetics of the village

T he Community Design Commission considers only the exteriors of properties, and properties are reco gnized for a variety of reasons from improvements to a home, landscaping, lawn or anything that improves the overall appearance of the proper ty

2022 Preservation Award winners

Historic Preser vation

Cavalcade of Pride

Residential:

Green Award

Manolo Avalos

Washington Irving

Non-residential

In the past, the awards were commissioner-initiated. T he commissioners walked the nine zones of the village and made a list of nominees, but recently the process was opened up to public. While only a handful of public nominations came in this year, Failor recommends that villagers feel free to nominate those who are going above and beyond to make Oak Park a beautiful place to live.

Links for nominations are available on the Village website, at oak-park us/ village-services/planning/historic-preservation/preservation-award-winners.

Failor notes that the committees g enerally start seeking out and evaluating potential awardees in the summer months, when it is easiest to evaluate landscaping and exterior updates. T he nomination process typically closes in mid-October.

Adaptive

Residential

Alex Skinner

Jim Babcock

Don Burk

David Pope

Takeout 25

Anthony Clark

Gary Arnold

from page 36 2023/24

Sean O’Connor

Beyond Hunger

Community Foundation

Buchanan

SPORTS

OPRF badminton hopes there’s strength in numb ers

Despite key losses to graduation, Huskies see wa of new

By MELVIN TATE Contributing Reporter

There are 40 spots available in the Oak Park and River Forest High School badminton program. So, when 79 girls tried out, it made for dif ficult decisions for OPRF coach Paul Wright. On the other hand, he thought it was a nice problem to have because of the culture the Huskies have developed.

“Our senior leaders last year did a wonderful job in creating it,” said Wright, in his 11th season. “I’m really grateful for the parent support in hosting pasta parties and events for our athletes.”

OPRF retur ns five players from last year’s team, which finished second at the IHSA Conant Sectional and had both doubles teams advance to the IHSA state finals Seniors Katherine DeHaan and Caroline Raducha won their first-round state match before losing the next two, while junior Lilianna Jasinska and Amelia Hoog won a consolation match.

“Caroline and Katherine are our captains this year,” Wright said. “They look to speed up their play and placement. Lilliana brings a wealth of knowledge in making the top 20 in doubles two years in a row.”

The Huskies also retur n seniors

Lucy Brownlow, Olivia Lee and Fiona

O’Connor Sophomore Annika Gupta is

expected to be Jasinska’s doub ner this spring. OPRF also contributions from juniors Emerson stutz, Ella Papandreou, and Elsa lis. But inexperience could be early in the season.

“We look young with half the ing never played a single varsity said Wright, who lost Hoog and players to graduation. “Our there, but we need to work on of play and power.”

Wright believes Hinsdale Central favorite in the West Suburban ence’s Silver Division, with behind them. Both the Red Dukes have several year-round ers.

Beyond Hinsdale Central and battle for third place seems with the Huskies vying with Grove North, Glenbard West Township.

“Downers Grove North, Hinsdale tral, and York have been been top 10 programs and pla in conference has helped teams every year for state,”

“We look to qualify a singles two doubles teams.”

OPRF’s season opener is March 15 at Leyden Township. The Huskies then participate in a quad March 18 at Oswe go before having their home debut March 20 versus Lincoln-Way East.

Fenwick JV hockey team wins DiCristina Cup

First time since 2010 Friars have won the Catholic League

By MELVIN TATE

Contributing Reporter

The Fenwick High School boys junior varsity hockey team won the DiCristina Cup Feb. 20 with a 4-1 victory over St. Ignatius at

Fifth Third Bank Arena in Chicago, sweeping the best-of-three finals

It’s the first time since 2010 that the Friars have won the DiCristina Cup, which is the JV equivalent of the Kennedy Cup awarded to the Chicago Catholic League varsity cham-

pion.

Fenwick (34-13-4, 13-1-2) had five area players: freshman goaltender Addison Boehm and sophomore forward Dean Vijuk from Oak Park and senior forward Anthony Balesteri, junior forward Matthew Brown and

junior defenseman/alter nate captain Christopher Godellas from River Forest. Brown had a goal and Godellas three assists in the Friars’ 3-1 Game 1 victory over St. Ignatius Feb. 19 at Ridgeland Common.

See HOCKEY on pa ge 42

SARA JANZ

OPRF senior Katherine DeHaan (above) is one of four Huskies badminton players returning in 2023 with state meet expe rience. DeHaan and her doubles partner Caroline Raducha are this season’s team captains.

Get great Mexican at Gringo and Blondie

A treat you’ll want on repeat

By STACEY SHERIDAN Staff Reporter

Massa Café Italiano is temporarily closed for renovations, but that doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy delicious food from its sister restaurant, Gringo and Blondie, also conveniently located on Elmwood Park’s Restaurant Row at 7514 W. North Ave.

The two restaurants are owned by husband-and-wife Angelo and Giovanna Lollino, and while Massa specializes in Italian food, Gringo and Blondie offers an array of delicious Mexican fare bursting with flavor, plus brunch on Saturdays and Sundays.

Not sure what to order? You can never go wrong with a quesadilla and the ones served at Gringo and Blondie never disappoint. The al pastor quesadilla is a particular favorite, filled with melted chihuahua

cheese and juicy marinated pork. With sour cream and pico de gallo on the side, this is one quesadilla that is sure to satisfy even the pickiest palates. Take your meal to the next level by ordering a side of house-made guacamole.

Vegetarians, or anyone looking to take a break from meat, will delight in the Blondie Burrito, which is positively bursting with poblano and bell peppers, portobello mushrooms and crunchy lettuce with a healthy helping of cotija and queso fresca cheeses. You won’t even miss meat.

No meal is complete without something to drink. The flavors featured in the restaurant’s tacos and quesadillas are complemented by its agua de horchata, a dense and creamy rice drink with hints of cinnamon. The horchata is slightly sweet and incredibly refreshing.

Gringo and Blondie also serves Mexican sodas, including a variety of flavors of Jarritos, but if you’re looking for something a little stronger, the restaurant’s got you covered there too. The bar carries several Mexican and American beers, as well as top-shelf liquor for those who prefer cock-

Gringo & Blondie offers burritos wrapped in a tortilla, as is tradition, but you can also have it unwrapped in a bowl with rice.

tails.

No trip to a Mexican restaurant is complete without a margarita, as the folks at Gringo and Blondie are well aware. Whether you order a classic margarita or opt for something a little more adventurous, such

as the mango frozen margarita or the guava frozen margarita, you will feel instantly transported to the sandy beaches of Mexico – no passport required.

Wonderful burritos and quesadillas from Gringo & Blondie.

all pics | Stacy Sheridan Francia Garcia Hernandez

- Keith Huizinga, Kinslagher

Sip

at Kinslahger.com/

Local dining

All-area teams tie bow on basketball season

As we move into the spring sports season, I thought I’d take a brief look back at the bask ball season and of thoughts as well as my We day Jour nal All-Area teams

This was a historic year as the first time ever, all five high school varsity progr were led by African American coaches: Kim Coleman (Trinity) Phil Gary (Oak Park and Ri Forest boys), Lenae Ferger son (Fenwick girls), Carlton Rosemond (OPRF girls) and Tony Young (Fenwick boys). say that this is impressive diverse community like Oak Pa Forest would be an understatement. While no one advanced downstate, there were several notable successes. In girls

HOCKE Y

from page 39

’

basketball, Fergerson, in her ear replacing Dave Power had the unenviable task of havplace seven players lost aduation from last year’s IHSA Class 3A supersectional r.

Fergerson got the Friars back to this year’s supersectional, losing to eventual IHSA Class 3A champion Nazareth Academy y, which lost to Fenwick in the Trinity Sectional title , won 23 games and got the top seed in a sectional for the second consecutive season. oung guided a sophomore-laden Friars boys’ team to 21 wins and a Class 3A sectional final.

While Gary and Rosemond struggled with their respective Huskies’ teams this winter, each team has plenty of promising y

talent which should mean better days are around the corner for these proud programs

On a personal note, it was nice to experience packed gyms again. The COVID-19 pandemic wreaked havoc the past two seasons, but the worst seems to be behind us, as the noisy atmospheres I saw attest to.

That said, I’m pleased to announce my Wednesday Jour nal All-Area basketball teams. I saw plenty of each school and feel I can make fair assessments. Stats are important, but what’s more valuable in my opinion is how the all-area players impacted their teams beyond the scoresheet. I’m talking about energy and effort, which always factor into a team’s success.

Without further ado, here are my choices:

Girls basketball

Player of the Year: Lauren Miller, Jr.,

Starting Five: Lauren Miller, Jr., Trinity; Ciarra Richardson, sr., Trinity; Sophia Rodriguez, sr., Trinity; Cam Brusca, sr., Fenwick; Grace Kapsch, jr., Fenwick

Off The Bench: Raina Ford, sr., Fenwick; Allie Heyer, sr., Fenwick; Keira Kapsch, so., Fenwick; Libby Majka, sr., OPRF; Chloe Santos, fr., Trinity

Boys basketball

Player of the Year: Darshan Thomas, jr., Fenwick

Starting Five: Justin Bowen, so., OPRF; Nate Marshall, so., Fenwick; Rodney Murphy, sr., OPRF; D.J. Porter, so., Fenwick; Darshan Thomas, jr., Fenwick

Off the Bench: Dominick Ducree, so., Fenwick; Jaziah Harper, jr., OPRF; Kamron Hogan, so., Fenwick; Max Johnson, jr., OPRF; J.T. Pettigrew, so., Fenwick

“It felt great,” said Godellas. “We worked so hard this year. We knew we had the talent to win; it just took a lot of work from the boys. It’s something Fenwick hasn’t done in a while, and it feels good to put the school back on the map.”

Winning the DiCristina Cup over rival St. Ignatius capped a splendid debut season for Fenwick junior varsity head coach Calvin Burkhart.

“St. Ignatius has a really good organization,” he said. They’re tough, but [Fenwick varsity head coach] Nick [Fabbrini] gave me some good insight as far as their structure, implementation, and tactics. That was tremendously valuable.”

Player development is always important on the lower levels of any high school sports program, but Burkhart feels it’s not just about physical growth.

“Psychology is important,” he said. “We tell the kids to just think of themselves as hockey players, not junior varsity players. They’re representing Fenwick, their towns and their families, and that’s the attitude they need to take into practices and games. We did a good job of that.”

Fabbrini couldn’t have been more pleased with what Burkhart and his team accomplished this year

“We’re really proud of them,” he said. “I thought they had a great season pretty much from start to finish. The expectations for that team were really high this year, and it’s a credit to them for coming through.”

Fabbrini anticipates several of the junior varsity players moving up to varsity next season as the Friars pursue the Kennedy Cup and state tournament success

“We’re really counting on a good number of those guys to make contributions to the varsity next year,” he said.

Godellas, who was on varsity last year, plans on being one of those players Fabbrini refers to. He admitted it wasn’t easy being told to go down to junior varsity, but he also knew it was important to set aside his disappointment.

“It was definitely tough,” Godellas said. “I had to deal with the cards I was dealt and make the best of it.”

Now he’s eager to help Fenwick’s varsity, which won the Paul Hruby Cup over crosstown rival Oak Park and River Forest High School this year, experience a lengthy postseason run next winter.

“We’re looking really strong,” he said. “We’ve all been together since freshman year, and I definitely think we have a chance to win the Kennedy Cup. I’m excited.”

‘Great season

e Fenw ick High School boys junior varsit y hockey team poses with the DiCristina Cup Feb. 20. e Friars swept the best-of-three nals against St. Ignatius to win the Cup for the rst time in 13 years.

DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSIONS IS FRIDAY 5 P.M.

Call Viewpoints editor

Ken Trainor at 613-3310

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Hijacking a narrative

Ithought that as time progressed from what seems a few short years ago of not having an inter net, to today where we live on the inter net, the way we track nar ratives and gather information would get better Medicine has gotten better, technology has gotten better, and a lot of the ways we do things have gotten better. So why hasn’t news re porting gotten better?

In a saturated information age, it has only become easier to hijack a nar rative. Let’s say the inter net was a black woman. Let’s call her Ebony. Ebony has to deal with her nar rative being hijacked all the time. Why? Because she is a black woman. The world bullies black women — even though no one today would exist without a black woman. Mitochondrial “Eve” was the mother of all cur rent races, re gardless of color.

African American women are falsely seen as ang ry. If a Black woman walks down the street with a serious face, she is perceived as an ang ry, oppressed person, who probably has a chip on her shoulder. But Ebony may, in fact, be quietly walking down the street with a pensive face because she is figuring out a chemistry equation in her mind — like Marie Daly, the first African American woman who ear ned a doctorate in Chemistry in the U.S.

Alter nately, if a white woman or man, or even a Black man, walked down the street doing the same thing, it would be assumed they had something on their mind but were not ang ry or hostile. I include the Black man in this because many Black men have also bullied and made assumptions about the nar rative of the African American woman.

I saw a video of an Asian woman talking about how Black women are constantly assigned false nar ratives and vilified. False nar ratives don’t resolve problems Case in point: Oak Park and River Forest High School had a walkout last week. The walkout was about sexual harassment. CBS Chicago was the only news station to re port about it. On air, on multiple platfor ms and thirdpar ty news outlets, it was re por ted that the walkout was about fights at the school. Going online to read the re port, only then can you see that the walkout was about sexual harassment and rape culture concer ns

Only Wednesday Jour nal got it right from the be ginning. The nar rative about fights rings louder than the real concer n about sex abuse and rape culture. The

I’m writing in response to the article “The Children’s School faces an uncertain future” [News, March 8]. It is clear that the Archdiocese of Chicago, and the pastors of the combined Catholic parishes in Oak Park, Rev. Rex Pillai and Rev. Carl Morello, forgot to ask themselves a critical question: What would Jesus do?

The Children’s School (TCS) has leased property from the Archdiocese for over 16 years, first at St. Mary of Celle and then St. Edmund, and has been an exemplary tenant. TCS be g an contacting all parties in March 2022 to discuss the upcoming lease renewal, only to receive no response or to have the Archdiocese and the pastors defer to each other — until late

January 2023, when they gave TCS five months to vacate the premises and find a new building for an entire school community, refusing to entertain any alter natives proposed by TCS to allow them to remain just until they had secured a new space for the school.

The Catholic Church, once again, isn’t practicing what it preaches. Instead, it is acting as a “slumlord” — in essence evicting TCS with no war ning and no time to find alter native housing. And the building, which had come to life with the joyful sounds of children lear ning and growing, will sit idle, not serving the community in which it resides

Scaman endorses three for Oak Park Village Board p.

OUR VIEWS

All-day K nally in D90

It has long been curious that River Forest’s elementary school district was reluctant to bring all-day kinderg ar ten to the village The topic has been raised, surveyed and debated multiple times over many years and, until now, the result was the same. Not necessary. Not enough space. Too costly.

But something changed and, through a thoughtful and inclusive process, the District 90 school board in February approved full-day K starting this fall. The district had created a 22-member committee to study the issue and that committee, in tur n, reached out to other organizations, including Oak Park-based Collaboration for Early Childhood and the National Equity Project, to reassess the situation.

Ed Condon, now a dozen years into his role as D90 superintendent, told our Amaris Rodriguez the three things that moved the district to all-day K. A need for more time to help young children address social and emotional lear ning. Growing understanding of the opportunity for academic growth in the early years. And the district’s broadening realization that limited kindergarten was an equity issue that needed to be addressed to give all students and families full access to opportunities.

This is good work and the right outcome for a district that has the resources to accomplish this goal and which has, over time, come to see that equity is a genuine issue even in a school district as affluent as these River Forest schools

‘Enough is enough’

Good for the hundreds of OPRF students who staged a walkout Friday to express their frustration and exasperation at unchecked issues of sexual harassment and a school culture which these students say allows it to continue

The protest followed a Wednesday presentation at the school, which tackled that issue directly. “Set the Expectation” is a program from a nonprofit org anization that focuses on ending sexual and inter personal violence. During a Q&A por tion, the group’s founder, Brenda Tracy, took on re por ts out of OPRF about a group chat that included sharing of nude images among students

While the presentation was strong, the response among some students was juvenile, painful and damaging. That’s what led SAFE, a student-led group advocating for equity, to org anize the walkout. And it led Taylor Montes-Williams, an org anizer, to say, “Enough is enough.”

“People need to speak now, especially now that I’m seeing all the pain people are going through,” said Montes-Williams.

Going into the planned protest, OPRF’s principal, Lynda Parker, emailed parents saying students would be allowed to exit the building safely. “They have a right to peacefully protest,” Parker wrote And then before the day ended, Parker wrote again to both students and families saying the school’s administration had heard the students’ message loud and clear. She pledged to work with them to focus on these hard and pain-filled assaults on the well-being of every student.

That’s good. We are cer tain it is genuine. But continuous pressure, asser ting the will of the wide majority of students that OPRF must do better, will be essential.

Is the world a good or bad place?

If you had to choose, would you say that the world is a good and safe place or a bad and dangerous place? You might respond, “It depends on the circumstances,” and that is no doubt (sometimes) true, but go deeper — to your core or “primal” belief

That was the question posed by Hidden Brain last Sunday, the NPR show hosted by Shankar Vedantam, which replaced On Being last year. Each week, I’m becoming more and more of a fan of Hidden Brain. Sunday’s episode, “How Your Beliefs Shape Reality,” was particularly good Psychologist Jer Clifton, Vedantam’s guest, posited the intriguing notion that our beliefs about the world are not forged by our experiences so much as our “primal beliefs” deter mine how we inter pret those experiences. If our primal belief is that the world is basically a good and a safe place, we will likely find positives in even the most dif ficult circumstances (as indicated by the testimony of concentration camp survivors). If our primal belief is that the world is a bad and dangerous place, on the other hand, it will color or call into question our inter pretation of even the most positive life experiences

It’s not that people who think the world is good don’t reco gnize, and aren’t unsettled by, the bad in life (and vice versa). It’s more that our primal belief ultimately prevails, often in spite of evidence to the contrary.

Are positive, optimistic people unrealistic, looking at the world naively through “rose-colored glasses”? And are the negative, pessimistic people incapable of seeing the beautiful side of life?

It’s not that simple. I’m aware of both sides active within me at various times and in various settings. I veer ne gative when I’m driving, for instance. Often I also see the dark side in our political situation and grow pessimistic about our prospects for saving the Earth. Those who read my column on a re gular basis are aware of this, but you’ve probably also noticed that I wax almost ecstatically positive about other realms of life

My hunch is that all of us are a mix, but that, thanks perhaps to our primal orientation, one side ultimately wins out. The old proverb about the two wolves inside each of us ultimately asks, “Which one wins?” The answer is, “The one you feed.” Which is true … to a point. In many, the ne gative wolf may be fundamentally stronger, but might we also have the capacity — through

awareness and practice — to change our default setting and strengthen the positive wolf ?

In some cases, we start out in life as a positive person. Traumatic suffering and dire disappointments may tur n us ne gative, but not in every case and not necessarily forever. One person may encounter suf fering and become a cynic, afraid to believe in the possibility of anything better. Another may be equally shocked by suf fering and become the Buddha (or a bodhisattva), responding with compassion and becoming a better, fuller, more “evolved” human being who reco gnizes the interconnectedness of all living things. Obviously, we need more of the latter if we’re going to save the Earth.

Research, by the way, according to Jer Clifton, indicates that those who see the world as (generally) a good and safe place tend to do better in life. Recently, I attended a Zoom discussion with a group that meets to consider matters of faith. The topic was the theology/philosophy of Teilhard de Chardin, a Jesuit priest and scientist, who extended Darwin and developed a theory of spiritual evolution. He believed humanity is evolving toward an “ome ga point,” a remarkably positive, optimistic view, captured in the following grand, visionary passage:

“Some day, after we have mastered the winds, the waves, the tides and gravity, we shall har ness for God the energies of love. Then, for the second time in the history of the world, we will have discovered fire.”

When I first came across that passage in colle ge, it immediately appealed to the primal belief in me that humanity will prevail — not just surviving, but ascending to a higher level of consciousness

Some may read that, roll their eyes, smirk and think, “Dream on,” and I most assuredly will, even as I cuss out other drivers and question their very character, despairing of humanity evolving, when I’m behind the wheel of a car. But I will also continue posing this question, probably a challenging question for a lot of people: “Do you believe that we (that you) are capable of spiritually evolving and that, as a species, we are capable of har nessing the energies of love and discovering something akin to a fire in our soul?”

And if you do believe that, then “How do we get there?”

Humanity’s survival very likely de pends on how we answer those two questions

PIERRE TEILHARD DE CHARDIN

SHRUB TO WN by Marc Stopeck

ese candidates are ready to serve

Under my leadership, the Oak Park Village Board operates with a shared set of core values that serve as a foundation for how we reach our ag reed upon goals. We adopted these core values in 2021 after my election to the of fice of village president. Those values are: to be community-centered in our thinking and fiscally responsible with public resources, to build trust through respectful dialo gue and board actions, strive to be transparent and accountable, and communicate and collaborate with colleagues and community par tners. Our board goals are focused around the key areas of af fordability, community safety, racial equity, suppor ting vibrant and diverse neighborhoods, and investing in a sustainable future.

My role as village president includes driving that agenda with my colleagues at the board table and guidance and implementation from a professional village manager. We appointed Village Manager Kevin Jackson one year ago today While we still have considerable work to do, and not every ste p has been without room for improvement, I am very proud of the progress we have made.

On Dec. 5, 2022 we passed a budget that includes significant investment in all areas supporting our board goals while maintaining a flat tax rate for 2023. The next two years will be crucial to advancing our work

with a community-wide climate action plan with a regional approach to supporting implementation; a community safety study and task force driving innovative new approaches to serving all residents; a housing study to guide our agenda for meeting af fordable housing needs; investment in new technology for transparency, accountability, and community eng agement; a vision zero plan to address traf fic safety concer ns; investment in biking and walking infrastructure; a village-wide racial equity assessment; and investment in human rights, vibrant neighborhoods and more.

On April 4, you have an oppor tunity to elect three trustees ready to serve and assist us in meeting the needs of all residents. Trustee Susan Buchanan, Trustee Cory Wesley, and candidate Brian Straw are thoughtful, forward-thinking individuals dedicated to listening to residents, responding to community concer ns, and pushing for change in productive and efficient ways so that we reach the goals we collectively identify and invest in.

Early voting star ts on March 20 at Oak Park Village Hall with Election Day at your neighborhood polling place on April 4. I hope you will look into, and vote for, Susan Buchanan, Cory Wesley, and Brian Straw.

Vicki Scaman Village president

WEDNESD AY

JOURNAL

of Oak Park and River Forest

Editor and Publisher Dan Haley

Senior Editor Bob Uphues

Digital Manager Stac y Coleman

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Columnists Marc Bleso , Jack Crowe, Doug Deuchler, Harriet Hausman, Mary Kay O’Grady, Kwame Salter, John Stanger

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BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Chair Judy Gre n Treasurer Nile Wendor f Deb Abrahamson, Gary Collins, Steve Edwards 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, re you to action

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What is the data on voucher programs?

This is in response to “Sunset the Invest in Kids Act” letter in the March 1 Viewpoints

I value the Oak Park and River Forest chapter ofthe League of Women Voters. In fact, I recently listened to the D90 Candidate Forum hosted and moderated by the LWV. I thank them for their service and contribution to our community

However, I feel they missed the mark in their commentary on the Invest in Kids Act. The article stated, “Research shows that voucher programs do not improve student outcomes.” Is that universally true for all students in our state? I believe the situation in the Chicago area is a much more nuanced story. LWV, please share the research you noted for our state and let’s have a discussion with the hopes ofincreasing outcomes for our youth.

How do financially struggling families in Chicago, whose kids have been assigned an unsafe and subpar public school, feel about school choice while receiving tuition sup-

Supporting Taglia for trustee

port? Personally, I have been impressed with the various programs, leaders, and schools in the Chicago area who support this work on behalf of families.

Oak Park and River Forest families are fortunate. We historically have had safe and academically solid public schools. We all hope that continues. However, the reality is, many Chicago public schools are failing. Why shouldn’t all families in our state have the option and support to send their kids to quality schools like we have had? While the state tries to turn around failing public schools, school choice programs offer a solution now. Ifthese programs help families increase opportunity for their kids (some nearby on the West Side of Chicago), shouldn’t our state and Oak Parkers and River Foresters support them?

Who are we to judge and remove choice and opportunity?

Ross Lissuzzo Oak Park native, current River Forest resident

We, the neighbors on the 400, 500, and 600 blocks ofNorth Taylor Avenue, strongly support Jim Taglia for village trustee. Between October 2021 and October 2022, we helped organize the advocacy ef fort that led to the nighttime closure of gas stations and 7-Elevens between midnight and 5 a.m. Jim’s early response and engagement with us were vital to the successful passage ofthe new ordinance last September

Our neighborhood had experienced multiple shooting events over the past several years. We worked to get the village to respond with common-sense changes that would decrease the opportunity for violent events on our blocks, stemming from activity at the gas station at Taylor and Chicago avenues. Our sense ofurgency and outrage increased dramatically after the tragic death of Jailyn LoganBledsoe last June

Jim embodies attributes that make him an especially strong trustee. He was willing to meet with us se the summer and fall and was always

able to answer our questions, share his thinking, and explain the legislative process and protocols of the village board.

He was honest about his stance on various traffic-calming measures we wanted for our blocks, clearly conveyed his principles, and took on a leadership role to ensure that the ordinance closing gas stations for five hours during the night was passed expeditiously.

Being Oak Parkers, we hold different viewpoints from each other on any number of issues, as we do with Jim Taglia. But we also know that he is someone who responds to calls, and emails, and takes his role as trustee very seriously, giving issues and residents the time and care we deserve.

Carolyn Newberry Schwar tz, Laura Smith, David Schwartz, Karen Burke, Georgina Swanson, Barb Shulman, Diane Ratekin, Denis Roarty, Karl Leonard, Brad Ferris, Sean Smith, Dan Lesser, Carmelita Nicks, Melvin Nicks, Caitlin Roukin, Kim Vulinovic, Tom Yates, Mary Ann Mason, Sophia Burke, John No

Low-income kids bene t from school options

Invest in Kids is a cost-ef fective way for Illinois to help more children access a high-quality education. In 2017, my wife and I were part of a community effort to launch The Field School in Oak Park. The school was for med as a response to the widespread racial and socio-economic segregation of Chicago-area education. This segregation hurts us all, but children in poverty suffer the most.

Half of the seats at The Field School (now based in Austin) are reserved for children from low-income homes Almost 70% of the school enrollment is children of color The school is staffed by Christians, but families do not need to have any religious identity to attend. And last year, supported by small class sizes, a rigorous holistic curriculum, and parent resourcing, 77% of students were proficient in math and reading. It is hard to overstate the benefits of this education in the lives of these students and their neighborhoods, both today and for decades to come

The Field School launched without the help of the Invest in Kids program, but we have benefitted from it since becoming eli-

gible. This is a good investment from the state’s perspective. It is far less expensive to give tax credits subsidizing a scholarship at our school than to educate that student directly. And thanks to lots of volunteer help, an intentionally low-tech approach, and staff willing to work for less than they would make in public districts, The Field School is able to sustain a perpupil cost between half and two-thirds that of District 97.

This trend is true across Illinois, and it ultimately spurs innovation. Not long ago, the directors of the public early childhood education program in Detroit visited The Field School to observe how we support lear ners from different backgrounds.

Many families on the West Side of Chicago support the Invest in Kids program because it empowers them to pick a school that suits their needs. Public schools, religious and non-religious private schools, therapeutic day schools — all of us, especially children, benefit when all options are supported

Jeremy Mann Head of The Field School

Souders understands challenges facing D200

As an Oak Park resident and for mer member of the District 200 school board, I endorse Brian Souders as a candidate for the April 4 D200 school board election.

When I served as a member of the high school board from 1993 to 2003, I was proud to be part of a board committed to maintaining the “tradition of excellence” at Oak Park and River Forest High School and committed to fiscal responsibility and transparency to the residents of Oak Park and River Forest.

This was not a simple task then, nor is it a simple task 20 years later Residents of Oak Park and River Forest want, and deserve, a public high school that offers a challenging and diverse academic curriculum and a highly competitive athletic program.

These two goals present dif ficult issues How much of the school’s resources should be allocated for academic programs, ar t, music, classroom renovations, etc.? How much should be allocated for athletic programs and related projects such as locker room renovations and new athletic facilities?

What is a reasonable and prudent time-

Vote for Brandhorst for D200

I first met Tim Brandhorst in 2019 when I was running for the District 90 Board of Education. He attended a candidate mixer at a fellow River Forest resident’s home. Although we had never met, Tim’s reputation preceded him. I knew he was one of the individuals who was instrumental in advocating for River Forest to become a Welcoming Village.

During the Q&A, he pushed the candidates to think a little deeper about D90’s equity work. He shared his support for the work but highlighted the need for accountability and continuous analysis to deter mine what is working and where we can do better It was clear he had done his homework, understood the nuance involved, and was not going to just accept a surface answer.

From experience, I know the skills necessary to productively serve on a local school board. He has what it takes. He is thoughtful, solutions-based, and will work collaboratively to find a path forward for D200.

Tim has been an active community member, serving on the Imagine team, OPRF Community Council, the board of Applause, and the River

Forest Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Advisory Group He supports Imagine Project 2 and wants our students to lear n in facilities suitable for 21stcentury lear ning. He has been part of the process, has spoken to stakeholders, and knows it is time to move forward with updating our school. He embraces equity, supports the Honors for All curriculum initiative, and will closely track the available data to provide what is necessary for it to succeed in the long ter m.

Tim’s broad range of community experience, coupled with his background as an attor ney with a career that has been devoted to public service, nonprofits, and social impact makes him an ideal candidate for the D200 Board of Education. He will keep our students at the forefront while working to ensure that we retain and attract high-quality teachers.

I wholeheartedly support Tim Brandhorst’s candidacy for D200 and encourage our community to vote for him on April 4.

Katie Avalos D200 parent & Ri v er Forest resident

line for implementation of these improvements? More impor tantly, how do you pay for these improvements in a way that is financially responsible, transparent, and acce ptable to the taxpayers of our communities? There are no easy answers to these questions An infor med and capable board must tap into the rich knowledge and resources available both in and outside of our communities to tackle these complex issues.

Brian Souders has a good knowledge of many of the issues facing OPRF as an involved parent of two OPRF students He is also aware of many of the broader social, political, and economic issues affecting our communities through his interactions with various community leaders and through his community involvement. Brian has some thoughtful and progressive ideas for the issues facing OPRF in the coming years and is keenly aware of the need for community involvement.

I endorse Brian Souders for the District 200 school board.

John R. McCulloh Former District 200 board member

D200 would bene t from Brandhorst on the board

T he students and community served by District 200 would benefit greatly by the addition of Tim Brandhorst to the school board. After many conversations with him about OPRF High School, I am more than confident he has a deep understanding of the challenges and oppor tunities we face in raising our school’s perfor mance to be among the best in the state.

He believes that a lear ning environment is highly influenced by the quality of its facilities and suppor ts Imagine Project 2. He also understands the importance of attracting and retaining the best teachers available, and that in order to be a great place to lear n, it also has to be a great

place to work.

Tim has been a valuable asset to many org anizations and has served OPRF and the community in many ways: a member of the Imagine OPRF working group; OPRF Community Council; the board of Applause; and the River Forest Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Advisory Group. Most impor tantly, he knows how to work in a board environment and can g et things done He listens to and considers all viewpoints and works collaboratively I am voting for Tim because he will work for what is in the best interest of our students.

Mark S uchomel Ri v er Forest

Was Jesus part of the ‘woke’ mob?

People who say “good” people are often bad are targeted these days T hey g et the snarky label of a “woke mob ” in speeches by Gov. S anders of Arkansas and Gov. D iSantis of F lorida Many on the p olitical right have seize d on that label gleefully.

But notice that they do n’ t give spec ific names. Here’s help: “Christians,” who venerate the Bibl e, need to be

reminded that the first ones in that “woke mob” are in the Bibl e. Th e “mob” is not the hostile foreigners — Eg yptians, A ssyrians, Bablyonians, Philistines, or Romans It ’s their ow n prophets — A mos, Hosea, Micah, I sai ah, Je remiah, Ezekiel, and others in pre-Christian times, and John the Baptist and Jesus later — who c all p eople to wake up

T hough their hearers claim status as God ’s p eople, their actions b elie that claim. Any who d oubt that judgment j ust need to read any or all of thei r w ritings T hey may find themselves chastened, humbled, and impelled to a new way of thinking and a new, more compassionate path in life.

Fred Reklau Oak Park

Do you have DIABETES?

If you do, you should know how important foot care is. Over time, diabetics risk developing foot complications. When the nerves are damaged from chronic high blood sugar, feet can become numb or painful with burning or tingling. is is called diabetic neuropathy. When diabetes a ects the arteries, circulation to the legs and feet may be compromised. Either of these conditions may lead to serious problems including ulceration, even amputation.

e key to prevention is early diagnosis of diabetes, and regular foot exams from a podiatrist. Diabetics who receive regular foot care, including paring of calluses and debridement of thick fungal toenails, are almost four times less likely

Tim Brandhorst for D200 Board of Ed

I am very pleased to endorse Tim Brandhorst as a candidate for the District 200 Board of Education. Tim and I worked together as members of the 2017-18 Imagine Team, which was responsible for developing the facilities master plan for the OPRF High School campus

to undergo an amputation than those who do not seek treatment.

Medicare and some private insurances cover 1 pair of diabetic shoes and 3 pair of protective insoles each calendar year. Dr. Lambert has been a supplier of diabetic shoes since 2002. e shoes come in 30 di erent styles each for men and women. ese include boots, lightweight colorful athletic shoes, and dress shoes. Even patients who are not diabetic love the look and comfort of the footwear. Diabetic socks, slippers and compression hosiery are also available.

Protecting your feet with appropriate footgear is an important aspect of preventive care for diabetics.

Tim is a hard worker and a person who reliably delivers on his commitments He is a good listener and worked collaboratively to resolve many of the complex issues we faced. He was a major contributor to the organization of the Imagine team’s final report and recommendations to the high school board, producing excellent documentation which is still being referenced today

In addition to the Imagine team, Tim has served our community as a member of the River Forest diversity, equity, and inclusion advisory group; the OPRF Community Council; and the board of Applause.

Tim will be a valuable asset to the D200 board. He will work effectively with both the incumbent remaining board members and the administration of the school to continue the fine progress they have made during the last several years. I know Tim will always act in the best interests of all the students at the high school

This is another important election for our community. Please join me in voting for Tim Brandhorst for the D200 Board of Education.

Mike Poirier Oak Park

Why she supports Brandhorst for D200

Tim Brandhorst understands the need for interventions to solve critical issues related to students’ and staf f’s mental health.

Andrea Cohen-Agrimonti Ri v er Forest

7351 Lake St. (Just west of Panera Bread)

Dr. Linda Lambert

End-of-life planning is a blessing

In my career as a physician, I witnessed, firsthand, both good and bad end-of-life decision-making by patients and their families T hose who had prepared for the inevitability of death by advance planning and had hope for their life’s meaning beyond the pain and distress of death were able to better acce pt and handle the realities of dying.

On the other hand, the dying process was often chaotic and resulted in prolonged suf fering for those who had not embraced the joy of their lives and had not under taken discussions or ste ps to ensure their dying wishes would be car ried out.

When my wife, Nell, was diagnosed with incurable, advanced cancer at age 74 in 2021, we were blessed that we had discussed our dying wishes with each other and our daughters and had made plans for the transition to end-of-life well before Nell’s illness. Nell had also found a spiritual peace and meaning in her life through her f amily, her career as a scientist, and as a teacher, which provided comfor t in her final days

Steps we took to facilitate end-of-life decisions:

1) Moving into an apar tment after our retirement, which made it much easier to care for Nell and avoided the hassle of disposing of our house after her deat h

2) Setting up estate-planning documents, including a healthcare power of attor ney if we were unable to serve as our own advocates

3) Discussing with family our priorities for quality of life

As a result of these advance planning measures, our entire f amily was in ag reement about Nell’s end-of-life care We eng aged hospice and home care services early, allowing us to provide comfort care in our apar tment without need for hospitalization. Nell passed away peacefully on Aug. 31, 2021. I miss her every day, but I receive solace knowing that we provided Nell with the type of dying experience she wished.

Compassion & Choices, the national nonprofit org anization dedicated to end-of-life choices, provides free, comprehensive planning tools available online at:

I encourage everyone to take advantage of this valuable resource

John Lurain MD Oak Park

We’re voting for Brandhorst, Brisben & Livingston

My husband and I have lived in Oak Park for over 30 years. Although we have no children, we feel strongly that our community continue to suppor t our school system. We are grateful for the thoroughness of the OPRF High School Imagine team’s work and we are in suppor t of the district moving forward to improve the schools Candidates Brandhorst, Brisben, and Livingston will receive our vote.

Kim Cella Oak Park

Taxpayers want a vote on OPRF Project 2

Some advocates of OPRF High School’s Project 2 suggest that residents want to fund the $102 million project without a referendum to expedite construction. Their assertion is spurious Most of us want to vote on indebtedness for the project. Consider that:

■ In 2015, more than 4,300 Oak Park and River Forest voters successfully petitioned to put a $17.5 million bond issue on the ballot. (The D200 board had previously voted to issue non-referendum bonds to funding a controversial multimillion-dollar pool project. Sound familiar?) Consider that 4,300 signed the petition in just over three weeks

(https://www oakpark .com/2016/01/26/how-thepool-petition-drive-was-won)

My experience was that people signed the petition without hesitation, including those favoring the project. What’s changed since, other than the proposed project’s size and the amount of indebtedness required to help pay for it?

■ In 2020, more than 77% of Oak Park voters agreed in an advisory measure that capital expenditures of $5 million or more should be subject to a binding referendum.

(https://www oakpark.com/2020/11/13/oak-parkvoters-pass-referenda)

The $5 million limit may be too low, but $102 million certainly is large enough to require a vote.

Moreover, it is only right to seek consent from those who would be taxed well above what’s required for ongoing operations I would hope that both those who support and oppose Project 2 can agree on that, and I thank the D200 Community Finance Committee members who voiced referendum support at their last meeting (https://www.oakpark.com/2023/03/07/some-members-of-citizen-finance-group-at-oprf-favor-project-2-referendum)

Judith Alexander Oak Park resident for 41 years

Michael Romain’s exceptional work

Thank you for publishing and editing Wednesday Journal, of which I have been a subscriber for years. Also for addressing in Viewpoints readers’ concerns about your prior columnist Michael Romain. Weekly I read his erudite page as I opened your Journal. I learned from and enjoyed his intense, thoughtful pieces. When I was last in Oak Park where family reside, as do I, part-time, I remember talking to Trevor, an actor I met at Sugar Fixe on Marion Street, about Mr. Romain’s work. Trevor assured me he would open the Journal and read that piece.

As a reader of The New Yorker, the LA Times and the recipient myself, of the California Psychological Association’s Best Newsletter Award in 2017, I believe and know exceptional quality work

I noted in a recent piece that Mr Romain alluded to, as I recall, some bias against persons who were of LG-

BTQIA persuasion. He also addressed racial exclusivity in a nearby “suburb of tranquility.” I wonder, are those sentiments, or expressed opinions, too authentic for your readership?

I actually wrote to Mr Romain at his email, prior to his leaving your publication, expressing appreciation for his work I learned new words, saw different perspectives, and was so proud to be part of the Oak Park/ River Forest community in that he was a member of such.

Now I feel that a wrong has occurred. Maybe Mr. Romain and others interested in top-rate journalism could start our own bi-state (California and Illinois) newsletter If you publish this letter, maybe Mr Romain will read it and consider it

Thanks for your attention.

Mar ne Ann Trevisano, Oak Park and California

Rendering of OPRF’s Project 2 pool proposal.

SERUMAGA False vs. real narrative

from page 43

real narrative was stolen, making their walkout mission less effective on such an incredibly important concer n. This is how things don’t change. It is when false nar ratives about individuals or groups are perpetuated and, as with Ebony (our African American woman) and the

kids at OPRF, when you have had enough, you take a stand and push back. There should be more accountability for creating narratives that cause damage and oppression within groups and individuals

Another example: Some of you may not care about Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, but one thing their narrative teaches is that the internet, and news outlets who have their own agendas, are guilty of hijacking a personal nar rative (theirs). It has caused damage to their lives and mental health. They have combatted this with several lawsuits. When they

went to tell their own story, people were less inclined to hear it because it was told over and over incorrectly by other people for personal gain. Their nar rative was hijacked. In my opinion, a story as serious as sexual harassment and rape culture at the school needs more attention and their narrative autocorrected. I am proud of the kids who walked out to express their concer n and take an ethical stance. We owe it to them to listen and understand the real problem — the real narrative EL Serumaga is a resident of Ri v er Forest and founder of ecovici.com.

from page 43

Romans 13:10 states, “Love does no har m to a neighbor; therefore, love is the fulfillment of the law.” It seems the Archdiocese/pastors have forgotten this — as their actions are har ming the students/parents, who will lose their beloved school; the teachers/staff, who will lose their jobs; and the entire community, which will lose a vital educational resource

In a U.S. Catholic article from February 2019, Daniel Rhodes poses a relevant question when discussing the extensive yet underutilized real estate holdings of the Catholic Church: “What might it look like to move toward a new kind of institution, not one so structured on free-market privile ged for ms of property … but rather one using physical capital, especially ne glected physical capital, to build real, tangible relationships with those living in its communities, Catholic and nonCatholic alike?”

What a novel idea, and one that would have allowed for collaborative problemsolving between the Archdiocese/pastors and TCS in finding a path forward that would do the least har m.

Instead, TCS is left with no options, and a real threat of closure, due to the lack of transparency, bureaucratic inefficiency, and total lack of professionalism exhibited by the Archdiocese, combined with the pass-the-buck attitude of the pastors.

So back to that critical question: What would Jesus do? Jesus would give TCS the time it needs to find an alter nate space for its school, working in par tnership with them to find a shared solution that would meet the maintenance needs in the shor t ter m until they have secured a new home

Let’s hope the Archdiocese of Chicago, Rev. Rex Pillai, and Rev. Carl Morello remember who their true “boss” is and reconsider their decision.

Maureen Pulick Me yer of Oak Park is a TCS alumni parent.

United, we stand

Every day we’re exposed to the ugliness of hate and war. What was once beautiful Ukraine is now the scene of death and destruction. Most extraordinary is the strong unity and loyalty the Ukrainian people have, no matter the sacrifice.

I have seen too much of the damage humans have heaped upon each other. Hate and fear, fueled by re petitive racist and bigoted rhetoric, have caused great division between people. Add to this greed and the desire for power, and you have the for mula for violent action and possibly even war.

HAUSMAN

I was extremely alarmed over the weekend of Feb. 25, lear ning that a “National Day of Hate” had been proclaimed. It was organized by domestic violence extremists, including, but not limited to, neo-Nazi and white supremacist groups. I was especially shocked because this was the anniversary of the first bombing of the World Trade Center. In 1993, six people were killed and more than 1,000 were injured.

Some years later, at the same site, the 9/11 hor ror took place, killing 3,000 people and injuring thousands more. Andrew Collabelle, who worked in the building, personally experienced both of these tragedies. Poignantly, he said, “These events should be instilled in our hearts and minds to think united and be united.”

Following the traumatic 9/11 events, Americans seemed to come together. We were more united than at any other time, according to sociologists studying this. Of course at that time, we had a common enemy — Islamic extremists led by Osama bin Laden — whom we could collectively damn. We stood proud and courageous; our democracy was strong. We embraced the Statue of Liberty, the symbol of our nation, re presenting love and open arms.

It is difficult for me to understand the mindset of Americans who hate. Who are these haters and what motivates them? We certainly know of two groups that spew hate — neo-Nazis and the Proud Boys. They boast about their racism and bigotry. Along with them, of course, I must include ex-President Trump who made vicious and demeaning rhetoric commonplace. Trumpettes, such as elected member of

the House of presentatives lor Greene have d his lead. I believe her anti-constitutional ideas qualify as treasonous. She declared our United States rce” and become , red states and

Did she forget the oath she took when elected to office? hold the Constitution and be loyal to the United States of America. Greene is also accepting payment from our gover nment, which she is not supporting. Is this fair?

She is not alone in her extreme radicalism and hate. There are other members of our legislature who follow these footsteps. In my opinion, all should be removed from office. These anti-Americans have created mistrust in our elections, furthered hate toward people of color and immigrants, spread lies, and caused more disunity. Do these folks really desire a militaristic, autocratic dictatorship for their gover nment?

I believe they could use some of my dear mother’s advice. “Be careful what you wish for. It just might come true.” The consequences of their wishes would be disastrous, and they would certainly miss the freedoms democracy offers

One of the tragic incongruities for me is that these hate-based leaders identify themselves as Republicans. The once proud and conservative GOP is being destroyed by the hate-mongering Trumpers. I refuse to call them “Republicans.” Our forefathers and writers of the Constitution planned that our nation would have opposing viewpoints, and would debate them in respect and support of our democracy. They trusted that the oath of office would be a sufficient pledge of loyalty to the nation.

Shamefully, in recent years, the oath of office has been trivialized. Truth has been abused and some consider our principles to be valueless. Our nation cannot survive with these eroding circumstances

I should probably apologize to my readers for acknowledging that a “day of hate” was designated. However, I found it so appalling and antithetical to our nation’s ethos, I felt compelled to write about it. May honest and open-minded people, who are the vast majority of folks in our nation, nurture our democracy, support unity among people, and truly love our neighbors

Linus (“Ron,” “J r. ”) O’Connell, 93, of Westchester, from a longtime St. Edmund Parish f amily with ties to Oak Pa rk and Rive r Fo rest, died on March 13, 2023.

93 CPS teacher and principal

Born on April 26, 1929, he retired as a Chicago Public School principa l of Schmitt & McDade Elementary and a for mer teacher at Herzl E lementar y. He helped many stud ents become successful in year member of the Divine Infant Golf League and the T uesd ay L unch Group at Doc Ryan’s, his favo rite job was as a Gold Coat at Arlington Race C ourse, teaching many how to b et the p onies. He would talk to everyone and make them laugh with his wit and dry sense of humor.

Linus was the husb and of the late Mary Ellen (nee C ahill); father of Mar ga ret L. “Peggy ” (Bud) O’Connell-Katamay, Ju dith A., Richard R. and John M. O’Connell; brother of the late Dolores (late Jack) and the late Dennis; c ousin of E leanor (Lou), Eileen (Frank), Je rr y (Janice), Don (Chris) and Alice (the late Don); uncle of Dan and Mi ke and many others; and friend to many.

Vi sitation will be held on T hursd ay, March 16, from 3 to 8 p. m. at C onboyWestchester Funeral Home, 10501 W. Cermak Road, Westchester. Funeral Mass will be c elebrated at 11 a.m. on F riday, March 17 at Divine Infant C hurch in Westchester, followe d by i nterment at Queen of Heaven Cemetery.

HELP WANTED

The Village of Oak Park is seeking qualified candidates for the position of Human Resources Generalist in the Human Resources Department. This position will perform a variety of professional and technical functions in support human resource management including orientation, hiring, employee testing, classification analysis, compensation analysis and benefits administration. Applicants are encouraged to visit the Village of Oak Park’s website http://www. oak-park.us/jobs. Position opened until filled.

HELP WANTED

IT OPERATIONS SPECIALIST

The Village of Oak Park is seeking qualified candidates for the position of IT Operations Specialist. The ideal candidate is responsible for the effective operation of information technology services and support across the organization. The IT Operations Specialist serves as a technical expert for the implementation, maintenance and support of systems and networks. The IT Operations Specialist plans and carries out various complex assignments and develops new methods and approaches in a wide variety of IT specialties. Evaluates new and enhanced approaches to deliver IT services; test and optimize the functionality of systems, networks, and data; and define technical requirements. The IT Operations Specialist is responsible for providing various forms of computer-related technical assistance and improving the efficiency of the work of the staff through the use of technology. Interested and qualified applicants can visit our website at http://www.oakpark.us/ for more details.

VILLAGE OF RIVERSIDE SEASONAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY

The Riverside Department of Public Works is seeking energetic, responsible, and motivated applicants who enjoy working outdoors. This is a part-time, seasonal position lasting from approximately May through September. Applicants will be expected to work up to 40 hrs. per week or as scheduled by staff. Primary tasks will include, but not limited to: cutting grass, maintaining athletic fields, general facilities maintenance, flushing hydrants, reading water meters, installing water meters, cleaning/televising sewers, assisting full-time employees, and other duties as assigned.

Applicants must be 18 years old, possess a valid Illinois driver’s license and high school diploma or equivalent. Applicants will be subject to a criminal background check, pre-employment physical and drug/ alcohol screening.

Applications can be downloaded from the Village website at www. riverside.il.us or picked up at the Riverside Village Hall located at 27 Riverside Rd, Riverside, IL 60546. Completed applications should be submitted to the Riverside Village Hall or the Riverside Public Works Department, 3860 Columbus Blvd, Riverside, IL 60546. Applications will be accepted until all positions are filled. Pay rate is $18/hr.

The Village of Riverside is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

GARAGE/MOVING SALE

Moving Sale!

Saturday March 18th. 8-1 Midcentury Modern Furniture, kitchen, what not 1146 S. Scoville,OP

CARS WANTED

COLLECTIVE IMPACT MANAGER

The Village of Oak Park is seeking qualified candidates for the position of Collective Impact Manager in the Village Manager’s Office. Under the general direction of the Chief Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Officer, the Collective Impact Manager will be responsible for building and assessing racial equity impact needs and developing a strategic plan to support those needs. This includes driving the initiatives focused on the Racial Equity Action Plan through community assessments, community engagement, data functions, and overall internal and external functions. Applicants are encouraged to apply online at https://secure.entertimeonline. com/ta/6141780.careers?ApplyToJob=537117711 or visit the Village of Oak Park’s website at http://www. oak-park.us/jobs. Interested and qualified applicants must complete a Village of Oak Park application. Open until filled.

Real Estate Acquisitions Associate (Chicago, IL) Conduct demographic analysis of secondary & tertiary mkts to identify potential real properties that meet the Co.’s acquisition criteria. Direct the acquisition process incl fin’l evaluation, negotiation, due diligence, investment structuring & bldg architectural planning. Provide fin’l forecasts & strategic budget plans for prospective acquisitions. Reqd: Master’s in Real Estate or Finance & 1-yr exp as Project Mgr in Real Estate or Architectural Dsgn industry & knowl of real estate capital mkt & proficiency in ARGUS & skilled at reading architectural plans. Mail Resume to: CapRock Management, 65 E Wacker Pl, #820, Chicago, IL 60601.

Operations Product Manager sought by Chowbus, Inc. in Chicago, IL to be end2end owner of operations platform supporting internal tooling. Telecommuting permitted in commutable distance to office. Reqs: MS in Managing Info Tech, Comp Sci or rltd field & 1 yr exp in job offd or rltd role. Must also possess coursework or work exp w/data mining; info system dvlpmt; info security; & project mgmt. Apply online at: https://www.chowbus.com/careers

CLASSICS WANTED

CLASSICS WANTED

Restored or Unrestored

Restored or Unrestored

Cars & Vintage Motorcycles

Cars & Vintage Motorcycles

Domestic / Import Cars:

Domestic / Import Cars:

Mercedes, Porsche, Corvette, Ferrari’s, Jaguars, Muscle Cars, Mustang & Mopars

$$ Top $$ all makes, Etc.

Collector James • 630-201-8122

Mercedes, Porsche, Corvette, Ferrari’s, Jaguars, Muscle Cars, Mustang & Mopars

$$ Top $$ all makes, Etc.

CLASSICS WANTED

Collector James

Restored or Unrestored

630-201-8122

Cars & Vintage Motorcycles

Domestic / Import Cars:

Mercedes, Porsche, Corvette, Ferrari’s, Jaguars, Muscle Cars, Mustang & Mopars

$$ Top $$ all makes, Etc.

Collector James

630-201-8122

BRICKWORK

Maggie Professional Cleaning with 20 years experience, good references. Homes, Apartments, Condos and more.

WOODWORK

PUBLIC NOTICES PUBLIC NOTICES

PUBLIC NOTICE

SUMMONS (Family Law)

CITACIÓN (Derecho familiar)

CASE NUMBER (NÚMERO DE CASO): HF22130927

NOTICE TO RESPONDENT

(Name): AVISO AL DEMANDADO (Nombre): ANGELO C GALLARDO

You have been sued. Read the information below and on the next page.

Lo han demandado. Lea la información a continuación y en la página siguiente.

Petitioner’s name is: Nombre del demandante: MERCEDITA M. GALLARDO

You have 30 calendar days after this Summons and Petition are served on you to file a Response (form FL-120) at the court and have a copy served on the petitioner. A letter, phone call, or court appearance will not protect you.

If you do not file your Response on time, the court may make orders affecting your marriage or domestic partnership, your property, and custody of your children. You may be ordered to pay support and attorney fees and costs.

recibido o visto una copia de estas órdenes puede hacerlas acatar en cualquier lugar de California.

FEE WAIVER: If you cannot pay the filing fee, ask the clerk for a fee waiver form. The court may order you to pay back all or part of the fees and costs that the court waived for you or the other party.

EXENCIÓN DE CUOTAS: Si no puede pagar la cuota de presentación, pida al secretario un formulario de exención de cuotas. La corte puede ordenar que usted pague, ya sea en parte o por completo, las cuotas y costos de la corte previamente exentos a petición de usted o de la otra parte.

1. The name and address of the court are (El nombre y dirección de la corte son): SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, 24405 AMADOR STREET, HAYWARD, CA 94544 - FAMILY LAW DIVISION

2. The name, address, and telephone number of the petitioner’s attorney, or the petitioner without an attorney, are: (El nombre, dirección y número de teléfono del abogado del demandante, o del demandante si no tiene abogado, son): SATNESH S. PRASAD, 607 LONGWOOD AVE., HAYWARD, CA 94541

On-site

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!

NOVENAS

PRAYER TO ST. JUDE May the Sacred Heart of Jesus be adored, glorified, loved & preserved throughout the world now & forever. Sacred Heart of Jesus, pray for us. St. Jude worker of miracles, pray for us. St. Jude helper of the hopeless, pray for us. Say this prayer 9 times a day for 9 days. By the 8th day your prayer will be answered. It has never been known to fail .Publication must be promised. Thank you Jesus.

Thank You St . Jude. R.R.

For legal advice, contact a lawyer immediately. Get help finding a lawyer at the California Courts Online SelfHelp Center (www.courts.ca.gov/ selfhelp), at the California Legal Services website (www.lawhelpca.org), or by contacting your local county bar association.

Tiene 30 días de calendario después de haber recibido la entrega legal de esta Citación y Petición para presentar una Respuesta (formulario FL-120) ante la corte y efectuar la entrega legal de una copia al demandante. Una carta o llamada telefónica o una audiencia de la corte no basta para protegerlo.

Si no presenta su Respuesta a tiempo, la corte puede dar órdenes que afecten su matrimonio o pareja de hecho, sus bienes y la custodia de sus hijos. La corte también le puede ordenar que pague manutención, y honorarios y costos legales.

Para asesoramiento legal, póngase en contacto de inmediato con un abogado. Puede obtener información para encontrar un abogado en el Centro de Ayuda de las Cortes de California (www.sucorte.ca.gov), en el sitio web de los Servicios Legales de California (www.lawhelpca.org) o poniéndose en contacto con el colegio de abogados de su condado.

NOTICE—RESTRAINING ORDERS

ARE ON PAGE 2: These restraining orders are effective against both spouses or domestic partners until the petition is dismissed, a judgment is entered, or the court makes further orders. They are enforceable anywhere in California by any law enforcement officer who has received or seen a copy of them.

AVISO—LAS ÓRDENES DE RESTRICCIÓN SE ENCUENTRAN EN LA PÁGINA 2: Las órdenes de restricción están en vigencia en cuanto a ambos cónyuges o miembros de la pareja de hecho hasta que se despida la petición, se emita un fallo o la corte dé otras órdenes. Cualquier agencia del orden público que haya

Date (Fecha): OCT 21, 2022 CHAD FINKE, Clerk, by (Secretario, por) SARAH GOUVEIA, Deputy (Asistente)

[SEAL]

Published in the Wednesday Journal March 1, 8, 15, 22, 2023

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: Y23010237 on February 27, 2023

Under the Assumed Business Name of DOUG MCGOLDRICK PHOTOGRAPHY with the business located at: 1034 WISCONSIN AVENUE, OAK PARK, IL 60304. The true and real full name(s) and residence address of the owner(s)/partner(s) is: DOUG MCGOLDRICK 1034 WISCONSIN AVENUE, OAK PARK, IL 60304.

Published in Wednesday Journal March 1, 8, 15, 2023

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: Y23010231 on February 23, 2023

Under the Assumed Business Name of BTE MOBILE NOTARY SERVICES with the business located at: 5927 W. CHICAGO AVE, CHICAGO, IL 60651. The true and real full name(s) and residence address of the owner(s)/partner(s) is: ERIN WILLIAMS 5927 W. CHICAGO AVE, CHICAGO, IL 60651

Published in Wednesday Journal March 8, 15, 22, 2023

PUBLIC NOTICE

FIRST NATIONAL BANK OF BROOKFIELD

NOTICE OF SPECIAL MEETING OF STOCKHOLDERS

Notice is hereby given that, pursuant to call of its directors, a special meeting of stockholders of First National Bank of Brookfield (the “Bank”) will be held at the Bank’s main office located at 9136 Washington Avenue, Brookfield, Illinois, on April 19, 2023, at 2:00 p.m. to consider and vote whether an agreement and plan of reorganization, whereby a holding company, to be named Brookfield Bancshares, Inc., located in Brookfield, Illinois (the “Company”) would be created, making the Bank its wholly-owned subsidiary under the provisions of the laws of the United States, shall be ratified and confirmed, and to vote upon any other matters as may properly come before the meeting. A copy of the agreement and plan of reorganization, approved by a majority of the directors of the Bank and the proposed holding company, is on file at the institution and may be inspected during business hours.

First National Bank of Brookfield

Phillip Richard President and Chief Executive Officer

Published in RB Landmark March 15, 22, 29, April 5, 2023

PUBLIC NOTICE

The Village of Oak Park will receive bids from qualified pest control service providers for pest management services at Village buildings. Bids will be accepted at the Public Works Service Center, 201 South Boulevard, Oak Park, Illinois 60302, or via e-mail at fgutierrez@oak-park. us until 11:00 a.m. local time on Friday, March 31st, 2023.

Request for Bids

RFB 23-118 - Village of Oak Park Pest Control Services

Issuance Date: 3/15/23

Bid forms may be obtained by calling 708-358-5714 or by e-mailing fgutierrez@oak-park.us between the hours of 7:30 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. M-F. The Village of Oak Park reserves the right to issue proposal documents and specifications only to those contractors deemed qualified. No proposal documents will be issued after 4:00 p.m. on the working day preceding the date of proposal opening.

THE VILLAGE OF OAK PARK

Published in Wednesday Journal March 15, 2023

PUBLIC NOTICES PUBLIC NOTICES

NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING

VILLAGE OF OAK PARK ZONING BOARD OF APPEALS

CALENDAR NUMBER: 03-23-Z

HEARING DATE: April 5, 2023

TIME: 7:00 p.m. or as soon thereafter as the Agenda permits

LOCATION OF HEARING: Room 201 (Council Chambers), Oak Park Village Hall, 123 Madison Street, Oak Park, Illinois, 60302

APPLICATION: The Zoning Board of Appeals (“ZBA”) will conduct a public hearing on a special use permit application filed by the Applicant, Mel Garland, on behalf of Think Big Academy, to operate a day care center pursuant to Section 8.3 (Table 8-1: Use Matrix) of the Oak Park Zoning Ordinance at the property located at 845-847 Madison Street, Oak Park, Illinois, Property Index Numbers 16-18106-012-0000 (“Subject Property”) in the MS Madison Street Zoning District.

A copy of the application and applicable documents are on file and are available for inspection at Village Hall, Development Customer Services Department, 123 Madison Street, Oak Park, Illinois 60302, Monday through Friday between 8:30 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. All interested persons will be given an opportunity to be heard at the public hearing. Interested persons may also sign up to participate in-person in the hearing to cross examine the applicant and its witnesses by submitting a crossexamination form or by emailing Zoning@oak-park.us before 5:00 PM on the day prior to the public hearing.

The public hearing may be adjourned by the ZBA to another date without further notice by public announcement at the hearing setting forth the time and place thereof.

Published in Wednesday Journal, March 15, 2023

NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING VILLAGE OF OAK PARK ZONING BOARD OF APPEALS

CALENDAR NUMBER: 06-23-Z

HEARING DATE: April 5, 2023

TIME: 7:00 p.m. or as soon thereafter as the Agenda permits

LOCATION OF HEARING: Room 201 (Council Chambers), Oak Park Village Hall, 123 Madison Street, Oak Park, Illinois, 60302

APPLICATION: The Zoning Board of Appeals (“Board”) will conduct a public hearing on a special use permit application filed by the Applicant, SunFlower/Acupressure Massage Spa, to operate a massage service establishment pursuant to Section 8.3 (“Table 8-1: Use Matrix) of the Oak Park Zoning Ordinance at the property located at 6340 Roosevelt Road, Oak Park, Illinois, Property Index Number 16-17-324-035-0000, in the RR Roosevelt Road Form-Based Zoning District.

REAL ESTATE FOR SALE REAL ESTATE FOR SALE

The Village of Oak Park will receive sealed Bids from qualified contractors at the Public Works Center, 201 South Blvd., Oak Park, IL 60302 Monday through Friday, 7:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. local time until 11:00 a.m. on Wednesday, April 5, 2023 for the following:

Village of Oak Park

CDBG Water Service Replacement Program - 2023

Bid Number: 23-114

Bid forms may be obtained from the Village of Oak Park website, http:// www.oak-park.us/bid. Bid documents may be viewed at the Public Works Customer Service Center at 201 South Boulevard, Oak Park, Illinois between the hours of 7:30 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. Information is also available from the contact person, Water and Sewer Project Manager, James Eggen, jeggen@oak-park.us. This project has a mandatory Pre-Bid Meeting requirement. The Pre-Bid Meeting will be held at The Public Works Customer Service Center on Tuesday, March 28, 2023 at 10:30 A.M. All bidders will be required to submit Bid Security in the form of a Certified Check, a Cashier’s Check or a Bid Bond in the amount of Ten percent (10%) of the Base Bid, payable to the Village of Oak Park.

The successful bidder will be required to post performance security and to provide a certificate of insurance as set forth in the bid package. This contract shall be subject to the provisions of the Prevailing Wage Act (820 ILCS130/1 et seq.) to the extent required by law. This is a Federally-funded project, funded with Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds and is thus subject to all applicable Federal rules, regulations and guidelines, including Davis-Bacon and Related Acts. The Village of Oak Park reserves the right to issue proposal documents and specifications only to those vendors deemed qualified. For more information call the Public Works Service Center at 708.358.5700.

IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF COOK COUNTY, ILLINOIS COUNTY DEPARTMENT - CHANCERY DIVISION NATIONSTAR MORTGAGE LLC; Plaintiff, vs. JOHN PRABHAKAR PULUKURI; 929 OAK PARK CONDOMINIUM ASSOCIATION; BANK OF AMERICA, NA; UNKNOWN OWNERS AND NONRECORD CLAIMANTS; Defendants, 22 CH 5256

NOTICE OF SALE

PUBLIC NOTICE IS HEREBY GIV-

EN that pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale entered in the above entitled cause Intercounty Judicial Sales Corporation will on Monday, April 17, 2023 at the hour of 11 a.m. in their office at 120 West Madison Street, Suite 718A, Chicago, Illinois, sell at public auction to the highest bidder for cash, as set forth below, the following described mortgaged real estate: P.I.N. 16-18-307-034-1008.

Commonly known as 929 South Oak Park Avenue, Unit 2SW, Oak Park, IL 60304.

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

A copy of the application and applicable documents are on file and are available for inspection at Village Hall, Development Customer Services Department, 123 Madison Street, Oak Park, Illinois 60302, Monday through Friday between 8:30 a.m. and 5:00 p.m.

All interested persons will be given an opportunity to be heard at the public hearing. Interested persons may also sign up to participate in-person in the hearing to cross examine the applicant and its witnesses by submitting a crossexamination form or by emailing Zoning@oak-park.us before 5:00 PM on the day prior to the public hearing.

The public hearing may be adjourned by the ZBA to another date without further notice by public announcement at the hearing setting forth the time and place thereof.

Published in Wednesday Journal, March 15, 2023

EQUAL HOUSING OPPORTUNITY

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

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

is newspaper will not knowingly accept any advertising for real estate which is in violation of the law. All persons are hereby informed that all dwellings advertised are available on an equal opportunity basis. Restrictions or prohibitions of pets do not apply to service animals.

CALENDAR NUMBER: 07-23-Z

HEARING DATE: April 5, 2023

TIME: 7:00 p.m. or as soon thereafter as the Agenda permits LOCATION OF HEARING: Room 201 (Council Chambers), Oak Park Village Hall, 123 Madison Street, Oak Park, Illinois, 60302

APPLICATION: The Zoning Board of Appeals (“Board”) will conduct a public hearing on a special use permit application filed by the Applicant, Christopher Bell, to operate a live performance venue (Comedy Plex LLC) pursuant to Section 8.3 (Table 8-1: Use Matrix) of the Oak Park Zoning Ordinance at the property located at 1128 Lake Street, Oak Park, Illinois, Property Index Number16-08-118-0031-0000 (“Subject Property”) in the DT Downtown Zoning District.

A copy of the application and applicable documents are on file and are available for inspection at Village Hall, Development Customer Services Department, 123 Madison Street, Oak Park, Illinois 60302, Monday through Friday between 8:30 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. All interested persons will be given an opportunity to be heard at the public hearing. Interested persons may also sign up to participate in-person in the hearing to cross examine the applicant and its witnesses by submitting a crossexamination form or by emailing Zoning@oak-park.us before 5:00 PM on the day prior to the public hearing.

The public hearing may be adjourned by the Board to another date without further notice by public announcement at the hearing setting forth the time and place thereof.

Published in Wednesday Journal, March 15, 2023

For information call Law Clerk at Plaintiff’s Attorney, The Wirbicki Law Group, 33 West Monroe Street, Chicago, Illinois 60603. (312) 360-9455. W22-0188 ADC INTERCOUNTY JUDICIAL SALES CORPORATION intercountyjudicialsales.com I3215203

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

Simone Boutet Susan Buchanan Jim Taglia Cory Wesley Brian Straw

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3.99% APR is a promotional fixed rate for the first 12 months. After promotional period, APR will adjust monthly based upon changes in the Index (the highest Prime Rate as published by the Wall Street Journal). APR will never be lower than 3.99% or higher than 18.00%.

After 12-month 3.99% APR fixed rate period, qualifying accounts may receive a 0.25% “auto-pay” discount to the APR. To qualify, automatic payments from an eligible Forest Park Bank deposit account must be established at the time the HELOC account is opened.

HELOC has a 30-year term, with a 10-year draw period and a 20-year repayment period. During the draw period, monthly interest only payments are required. After the draw period, the outstanding balance will be amortized over 20 years and monthly payments of principal and interest will be required. Payments are subject to change based upon changes in the APR.

An annual fee of $50 (waived the first year) will be assessed. Closing costs paid by Forest Park Bank are limited to those for appraisal, credit report, flood determination, document recording, tax monitoring, and title insurance. If HELOC is closed within the first 3 years, a cost recovery fee of no greater than $1,500 may apply. Consult your tax advisor regarding the deductibility of interest.

CLAUDE L’HEUREUX VICE PRESIDENT SANDY WASILIAUSKIS VICE PRESIDENT