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ELECTION NIGHT COVERAGE

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March 31, 2021 Vol. 41, No. 35 ONE DOLLAR @oakpark @wednesdayjournal

JOURNAL of Oak Park and River Forest

OPRF’s inaugural equity director resigns LeVar J. Ammons is ‘leaving to pursue other opportunities’

By MICHAEL ROMAIN Staff Reporter

During a regular meeting on March 25, the District 200 school board accepted the resignation of LeVar J. Ammons, who was hired in July 2019 to be the district’s first executive director for equity and student success.

In a statement released March 26, district officials said Ammon “is leaving to pursue other opportunities.”

Ammons will leave as Supt. Joylynn Pruitt-Adams heads out the door. Pruitt-Adams announced in November that she plans to retire by the end of the school year.

In its statement, district officials lauded the work Ammons has done since he joined the district two years ago.

“During his tenure, Dr. Ammons has made a number of notable contributions to advancing the district’s racial equity work,” district officials stated. “These include writing the 12-part procedure document that supports the district’s racial equity policy, implementing a protocol for reporting racial incidents, and collaborating on professional development focused on culturally responsive teaching.”

“Dr. Ammons also has broadened the reach of the See AMMONS on page 22

ALEX ROGALS/Staff Photographer

THE CRIME OF HATE: Students and community members at Scoville Park on Thursday, March 25 with signs and candles during a vigil for the victims of the Atlanta spa shootings.

Thinking of Atlanta, Oak Parkers protest anti-Asian racism OPRF students organize march, others home in on curriculum

By MICHAEL ROMAIN Staff Reporter

The March 16 Atlanta spa shootings — during which 21-yearold Robert Aaron Long murdered eight people, six of them

Asian-American women, and wounded one — have prompted what could be a national reckoning on the mistreatment of Asians in the United States.

In Oak Park and River Forest, the shootings galvanized residents, Asian-American and non-Asian-American alike, to directly confront the spread of xenophobic and racist attacks directed toward people of Asian descent since the pandemic See VIGIL on page 22

Support local community journalism Support democracy. See page 32 All democracy is local

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Wednesday Journal, March 31, 2021

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OAK PARK VOTES! Stephen Morales

Ravi Parakkat

Lucia Robinson

UNITE OAK PARK WILL BRING ...

PUBLIC SAFETY

FISCAL DISCIPLINE

BOARD EXPERIENCE

INNOVATIVE IDEAS

VILLAGE TRUSTEES

Stephen Morales Ravi Parakkat Lucia Robinson

Punch #5 Punch #6 Punch #7

ELECTION: APRIL 6 EARLY VOTING MARCH 22 - APRIL 6 AT VILLAGE HALL PAID FOR BY STEPHEN FOR THE FUTURE, RAVI PARAKKAT FOR TRUSTEE, AND COMMITTEE TO ELECT LUCIA ROBINSON FOR TRUSTEE

Wednesday Journal, March 31, 2021

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Maze Library branch reopening April 19 With limited hours and restricted services

By STACEY SHERIDAN Staff Reporter

With pandemic restrictions lessening and vaccination opportunities widening, Oak Park’s Maze library branch will reopen next month. Located at 845 Gunderson Ave., the Maze library closed March 13 of last year due to COVID-19.

Over a year later, the branch will resume operations April 19 with limited services and hours, according to an emailed announcement from the Oak Park Public Library sent March 26.

The Maze will open April 6 as a polling site for the municipal election with no library services.

Come April 19, Maze’s new hours of operations will be 2 p.m. to 6 p.m., Monday through Wednesday. Thursday through Saturday, Maze will be opened 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

The library branch will remain closed on Sundays.

The library requires the wearing of masks and encourages patrons to maintain a six-

feet distance apart from others, as well as limiting visits to under an hour. The building has a safety occupancy limit of 40 people. Staff will be available only by phone.

Seating will not be available; neither will access to meeting rooms and study spaces.

In addition, there will be no programs, physical newspapers or laptop checkout for onsite use. However, patrons can check out laptops for use at home at the Main Library on Lake Street.

Resuming services at the Maze include picking up holds, browsing and self-checkout and returning materials with exterior book drops now open. Public computers are available for library cardholders only, who can reserve a spot ahead of visiting by calling the branch. Printing, scanning and copying services are also resuming.

The announcement stated the Dole branch will remain closed until further notice, due to its smaller square footage and lowered occupancy numbers implemented to prevent spread of the virus.

To determine when the Dole branch can resume in-person services, the library is monitoring infection rates as well as the vaccination completion status of its staff members.

g n a H e r e in th k r a P k a O

Oak Park Brewing Company ends hibernation Pizza will be on the menu when the brewery reopens

By MELISSA ELSMO Oak Park Eats Editor

Jim Cozzens, co-owner of Oak Park Brewing, 155 S. Oak Park Ave., announced the restaurant will reopen on Thursday, April 1. It will be the first day Oak Park Brewing will open since the establishment entered temporary, but indefinite hibernation last December in an effort to survive the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We finally got our PPP loan,” said Cozzens. “That made all the difference. We can use the loan to pay our staff and that made it possible to replenish our inventory.”

Beer is a perishable product and the fourmonth closure forced Cozzens to dispose of Oak Park Brewing’s supply of beer. The brewer-owner said it was brutal to part with the supply, but rest assured he has been working hard to replenish a restaurant’s worth of beer in anticipation of reopening.

Patrons should expect to find Oak Park Brewing’s best-loved beers available for consumption on April 1 and Cozzens is looking forward to bringing back all the

summer favorites he was not able to brew last year.

In addition to offering freshly brewed beer and their tried-and-true menu favorites, Oak Park Brewing is introducing a new pizza menu. The brewery recently acquired a commercial grade double deck pizza oven and will offer thin crust pies and a signature deep-dish pizza. Oak Park Brewing’s pizza dough includes the “Helles Other People” lager they brew on-site.

“The beer crust makes our pizza unique,” said Cozzens. “It gives the finished pizza a beery, bready, more yeasty kind of flavor.”

The crust is naturally vegan-friendly and vegan cheese alternatives will be available when the brewery reopens. Cozzens said they are also working on perfecting a gluten-free crust he hopes to make available in the future.

Oak Park Brewing will be open for dinein from Tuesday through Sunday 11:30 a.m. and closing at 10 p.m. The brewery will stay open as late as midnight on Fridays and Saturdays and can accommodate carry out orders. Cozzens hopes to add delivery services down the road.

“We are really, really, really excited to be back,” said Cozzens. “We hope to see everyone soon.”

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Wednesday Journal, March 31, 2021

Community Circle: Identifying the Real Story of Rosa Parks Wednesday, March 31, 6 to 7 p.m., Virtually with the Oak Park Public Library In this all-ages discussion, unpack how what some learned in school may not be the real story. Share stories and together, identify why history gets rewritten, who benefits and what can be learned from this. To prepare, pre-watch The Real Story of Rosa Parks, and register for this event: oppl.org/about/anti-racism

OPRFHS Stage Crew Planter and Outdoor Furniture Fundraiser Order now; Pickup May 28 at OPRF High School Stage Crew members are putting their building, painting and teamwork skills to use to create planters and outdoor furniture for the community. A portion of the proceeds goes to Sarah’s Inn and the remainder goes to fund Stage Crew’s ongoing activities.

Choose from an Adirondack Chair ($80), Two Chairs and Side Table Set ($180), and Planters ($10 - $75). Paint and stain additional charge for each item. More/order: oprfhs.revtrak.net/performingarts/arts-theatre/theatre-stage-crew-/#/list

Living History Project

OAKPARK.COM | RIVERFOREST.COM

Queerios Thursday, April 1, 5 to 6:30 p.m., Virtually with the Oak Park Public Library Join in the first meeting of the year for LGBTQIA+ youth in grades 6 through 12, a safe place for LGBTQIA+ youth and their allies. Meetings include trivia, games and prizes.

Register: oppl.org/calendar

Music Trivia Contest Wednesday, March 31, 7:30 to 8:30 p.m., Zoom and Kahoot with the Symphony of Oak Park and River Forest Test your music knowledge. Be prepared with two devices, one for Zoom and one with the free Kahoot app. Winner will receive a Southwest-themed basket including a 24-can German beer calendar. $10. Register: symphonyoprf.org

Hemingway revealed April 5, 6, and 7 on WTTW Channel 11 at 7 p.m.

Hemingway: A film by Ken Burns and Lynn Novick premieres Monday night on PBS with “Hemingway: The Myth,” followed on Tuesday and Wednesday by “The Man” and “The Writer Revealed.” Series runs April 5, 6, and 7, two hours each night, beginning at 7 p.m. Among the surprises explored: Hemingway’s curiosity about gender fluidity.

Through the month of April, Mondays and Wednesday, 5:30 to 7:30 pm., Virtually with the Oak Park Public Library Youth in grades 6 through 12 learn about the histories of social movements in the U.S. while developing youth leadership skills, such as cultivating social and critical thinking skills, developing research skills and gain public speaking experience. Register for each date individually: oppl.org/calendar

BIG WEEK March 31- April 7 “Strange Fruit”

Monday, April 5, 1:30 p.m., Zoom through the Nineteenth Century Charitable Association

Jazz singer Billie Holiday is known for singing “Strange Fruit,” which she first recorded in 1939, a protest song about lynching Blacks in America. Presenter Jim Madigan is an adjunct professor at IIT where he teaches the course “Songs of Justice and Injustice.” $15, suggested donation; free, members. Register: nineteenthcentury.org

Chicago (Baseball) Classics

Handel Week 2021 Season

Thursday, April 1, 7 to 8 p.m., Virtually with the Chicago Literary Hall of Fame Julia Borcherts and Billy Lombardo host a reading with Pulitzer Prize-winning author Ira Berkow, baseball historian John Freyer, and author Barbara Gregorich. These five authors will share some of their own work and then each will share a Chicago baseball book that holds special meaning. Free. Register: eventbrite.com/e/ chicago-baseball-classics-tickets-139540392069

Through May 31, Virtually with Handel Week Festival Enjoy three concerts recorded from previous seasons. View Sing and Play in Dulcet Tone: The Intimate Handel, Music for Soprano, Mezzo, Two Violins & Basso Continuo; Music for Royal Fireworks and Water Music; and Sing and Play in Dulcet Tone: The Intimate Handel, Music for Mezzo, Harpsichord, Flute and Basso Continuo. $15, each concert; $40, three concerts. To order/more: handelweek.com

Hemingway Shorts Contest Through Thursday, April 15, with the Ernest Hemingway Foundation of Oak Park The 6th annual literary journal short story contest is accepting submissions. One winner and ten finalists will be published. The contest aims to publish new and emerging writers. Entries are reviewed by current and past Ernest Hemingway Foundation Writers-in-Residence. $15.

More/enter: hemingwaybirthplace. com/hemingway-shorts

“Not Afraid” Through April 18, Wednesdays through Sundays, Noon to 4 p.m., Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art See the canvases and sculptures of Oak Park artists Janice Elkins and Gina Lee Robbins. Their abstract art captures “an uncensored psychological response to these restrictive and bewildering times.” 2320 W. Chicago Ave., Chicago.

Wednesday Journal, March 31, 2021

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Y

‘Defund’ vote is a trap

ic and aspirational discussion ou look to elected officials to elevate the conversaof how Oak Park’s pretty good tion, or at least to calm it. police force could become an exIn an epic fail back in ceptional and innovative force.

January, Oak Park’s vilWe’ve squandered that opporlage board voted 4-3 to place tunity.

Trustee Dan Moroney’s provocaAnd, as I’ve said 10 times, the tive and purposeless non-bindchoice to stay with the Defund ing referendum on policing on the Police rallying cry is comthe April ballot. pletely misguided by those on “Shall the village of Oak Park the left, including those on the defund its police department?” left in this town. It is simplistic.

The sole purpose of this ballot It is incendiary. It is inaccurate. question is to create angst and And it sets up exactly the sort of anger, to further sow division in nonsense Oak Park is now expea town ready to be divided. And riencing in this election. the cynical result is playing out exactly how But here we are. Smart town dancing to Moroney, and whoever is whispering in his a tune spun up by anonymous forces usear, intended. There is a, so far, anonymous ing tactics we’ve watched for years out of campaign — website, video, mailer — stirTrump’s demented view of democracy. Tacring upset on social media, in the letters tics the wide majority of Americans fully pages of the Journal, and between two repudiated in November. slates of candidates which had been waging The really smart people in town have a decent campaign on issues of import until come to the right conclusion. This ballot recently. question is a trap. The question has no purNow we are in the final week of the campose but more noise and division. paign and positions are hardening, rhetoric The four men on the village board who is growing more intense, and the outcome voted for this self-inflicted pain bear direct of the election is being shaped by anonymous forces so cowardly they hide. For now responsibility for this mess. And I can’t ignore that this was a straight-up four men vs. they hide.

Who benefits and who loses in this mo- three women on the board decision. Not irrelevant. ment? Damned if I know. VotInterviewed the two caners will decide on April 6. didates for Oak Park village Regardless of the outcome, president last week. We’ve now the next village president will posted those one-on-one conhave a harder job than necesversations at OakPark.com. Eisary in finally leading Oak ther one of them will do a betPark into a genuine discuster job of leading the reshaped sion of policing in the village. village board to crafting a wide WATCH THE VIDEOS AT That conversation is already and thoughtful debate on how OAKPARK.COM 10 months — or 10 years — we reimagine policing in Oak overdue. Certainly it dates to Park. the murder of George Floyd in These are the big conversations Oak Park Minneapolis and the repulsion most people felt in seeing that endless video of four po- was theoretically built for. Not that you could tell this spring as we flop toward an lice officers ending his life.

The protests that swept Oak Park and the election too much centered on fears and dination were the opportunity for a pragmat- vision.

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D200 Culture, Climate & Behavior Committee Member (to improve the culture and climate for students of color and reduce the incidents of inequitable discipline) Parent of D200 graduate and two future Huskies

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Wednesday Journal, March 31, 2021

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ART BEAT

Art installation creates a Moon Bright, Starry Night

By MICHELLE DYBAL Arts Editor

The large moths flutter above snow-covered roof tops in the evening, or perhaps the rooftops peek up into the clouds.

The interpretation is up to viewers, who can conjure their own tales as they drink in the scene now occupying an otherwise empty storefront on Lake Street near Humphrey in Oak Park. The Moon Bright, Starry Night installation has come together for all to enjoy as they walk past from through April 10.

What looks like a scene from a dream is the community art installation envisioned by Jocelyne Adkins and her art team at By Discovery to bring people together to create art while apart. The moths, designed from kits assembled by the

By Discovery team, were painted and pasted by individuals, families, third graders in Oak Park Girl Scout Troop 47187, and Oak Park and River Forest High School TEAM/CITES (Transitional with Access to the Mainstream/CommunityIntegrated Transition Education) students.

By Discovery needed a project, Adkins said. The group provided in-person support during remote learning at Beye and Lincoln Elementary Schools in the fall of 2020, only to pause to take a cautious approach toward COVID due to community spread. They were not able to operate at the schools when classes resumed in January, but they have been holding small e-learning pods at Magical Minds Studio in Oak Park. By Discovery’s roots are in an after-school art program offered at Beye through the PTO since 2011. Its

original name was Beye Discovery.

With the community art project, By Discovery wanted to “boost the emotional health of our community and to spark joy during the pandemic.”

Adkins turned to her artist partners and teachers to collaborate. Pamela Penney, a fiber artist, brought an ecoconscious spin to the project, repurposing cards to make punched “glitter” and confetti, and re-spinning yarn scraps.

Penney also created the first moth on which the other two moth kits were based. Kim Becker, a photographer, designed the lighting for the scene. She also created the rooftops with shingles and windows all fashioned from cardboard. Stacey Grieff also contributed to lighting and moth design.

Adkins collected sticks while walking her dog and her teenager painted them. She also created paint dots to include in the kits – hand mixed temperas with a pearlescent finish. The paint, left to dry, could be used by the creators by activating the dots with a wet brush. She made enough for 75 kits.

Adkins took this painstaking measure of creating paint dots so the colors would coordinate with the cool, ethereal, moonlit feel of the assembled scene.

The kits were designed for all ages. Groups and individuals could work on their own or get a live Zoom lesson with a member of the By Discovery team, who are all Oak Parkers.

While there are three kits for creators to choose from, each moth that is created is unique because a choice can be made in how the materials are used. Moon Bright, Starry Night is meant to be interactive; each kit includes a journal so participants can visit the installation and use the scene

Qualifications and ExpEriEncE mattEr.

Courtesy of By Discovery LLC

‘Moon Bright, Starry Night’, Lake Street near Humphrey. for “imaginative storytelling.” Kits are delivered, moths are picked up upon completion and they will each be returned to their creators at the end of the installment.

The space for the installment was secured at 40 W. Lake St. from Theresa Jurgus, a commercial real estate broker for Baird and Warner. Jurgus’ client, Oak Park Apartments, donated the empty storefront space for the month.

“What I love is families were doing this together,” Adkins said. She’s heard that it has been a special time to spend between a mom and daughter, a way to connect.

n Corporate exeCutive experienCe n MBa in FinanCe n Consensus Builder and deCision Maker n visionary and strategiC thinker

Lowered the village’s portion, which is 11%, of all residential property tax bills. This was achieved by foregoing the Village’s 2.3% CPI tax increase and any property taxes associated with new construction projects. The Property tax decrease was possible due to the strong fiscal policies put in place over the last 8 years.

Worked collaboratively with Illinois Municipal League – where she serves as 2nd Vice President – and Congressional leaders to win $1.34 million dollars for River Forest to aid our COVID recovery and hold the line on taxes.

Committed to protecting the health and safety of our residents and school children by building consensus with the Village Trustees, by a 4-1 vote, to demolish and remediate the dry cleaning contaminants that were leaching toward St. Luke’s and the Ashland condos. Proud to report that the contamination is complete and the development is ready for construction.

Focused on revitalizing our North Avenue and Madison Street corridors to bring vibrant and exciting new businesses into our community and lower our property taxes.

Supported The Sheridan at River Forest (Chicago & Harlem) to expand our Village’s tax base and provide more options for older adults, including those needing assisted living and memory care.

Passed balanced budgets eight years in a row. Earned the Distinguished Budget Presentation Award since 2013 from the Government Finance Officers’ Association.

Attained a AAA municipal bond rating up from AA to lower funding costs.

Implemented a Business Starter Kit to make it easy for anyone to open a business in River Forest. Successful businesses help reduce the property tax burden on residents.

www.CathyForRiverForest.com

VILLAGE PRESIDENT CATHY ADDUCI’S RECORD: PAID FOR BY CATHERINE M. ADDUCI

• Supporting local businesses • Promoting economic development • Holding the line on property taxes

Wednesday Journal, March 31, 2021

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D90 candidate exits race under scrutiny for campaign practices Scott Hall claimed harassment of family, supporters led to his decision

you are no longer a resident of River Forest please disregard this email as it is not a solicitation for your vote.”

In their letter to the district, the parents claimed that, if Hall did obtain their email contacts from AtoZ and were using them for campaign purposes, the usage would

By MICHAEL ROMAIN constitute a violation of D90’s Instructional Staff Reporter Technology/Student Data Privacy Resource A candidate for the River Forest District Guide, which states that the district will take 90 school board who claimed last week that steps to ensure that third parties like politihe was bullied out of the race has resigned cal campaigns comply with laws and regulaas a substitute teacher in the district amid tions concerning student data privacy.

The letter also claimed that such use allegations that he misused a parent database. District officials said they’re currently would also violate board policy, AtoZ’s terms of service, and a range of state and investigating the matter.

Scott Hall announced in a Facebook post federal statutes.

In a letter to one of the parents dated on March 25 that he would be suspending March 26 and obtained by his campaign. Election Day is Wednesday Journal, D90 Supt.

April 6.

Ed Condon acknowledged that “I, my family, my friends and the district launched an investieven local businesses with which gation into Hall’s use of the AtoZ I associate have been repeatedly Directory. threatened, harassed and disparIn the letter, Condon explains aged,” he wrote. that, as part of their investigaA group called Citizens of tion, district officials scheduled River Forest are attempting to an interview with Hall to ask get the D90 school board to “dehim questions about his use of nounce candidate intimidation SCOTT HALL AtoZ and to allow him an opporand abhorrent behavior of cititunity to defend himself against zens,” according to a change.org the allegations, but he declined to participetition they created last week.

The withdrawal announcement happened pate, suspended his school board candidacy as D90 officials were investigating allegations and resigned his position as a volunteer subthat Hall used the district’s AtoZ Directory stitute teacher.

According to Facebook posts and sources to send unsolicited campaign email, which within D90, Hall may have become a subwould violate the directory’s terms of use.

Parents volunteer to add their contact in- stitute teacher within the district after he formation to the directory, which gives them launched his campaign.

Condon explained that, in order to prevent access to the contact information of other district parents who opt-into AtoZ on the any potential abuse of technology that the condition that they only use it to communi- district provides, officials are reviewing the district’s policies and procedures related to cate about school-related matters.

Dawn Simmons, District 90’s communica- student data. tions director, confirmed last week that Hall As of March 30, the change.org petition resigned as a substitute teacher on March had garnered 197 signatures of its 200 signa22. On March 19, the district received a letter ture goal. Hall’s Facebook post announcing from several parents complaining about the his withdrawal from the race doesn’t menemail, which Wednesday Journal obtained tion any specific examples of harassment last week. and bullying.

One email, sent from scott@hallford90.

According to some residents, however, the com, announces a Zoom meet and greet complaints stem, in part, from threatening scheduled for March 17, along with state- letters some of Hall’s supporters said they ments explaining Hall’s candidacy. received that make threatening accusations At the bottom of the email, in small fonts, against Hall and that assail his character. a disclaimer points out that “all advertisMultiple attempts to reach Hall by phone ing and campaign marketing is paid for by this week were unsuccessful. During an inFriends of Scott Hall River Forest which terview last week, Simmons denounced all State Farm files quarterly with the IL State Board of forms Bloomington, IL of harassment.

Elections.

With Hall out of the race, there are now “Emails were compiled from publicly 2001290 four remaining candidates for the four open available sources deemed to be reliable. If seats on the school board.

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Wednesday Journal, March 31, 2021

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TRUSTED LEADERSHIP Endorsed by over 500 community members:

    An Engineer and MBA with business  and board experience, Ravi serves Oak Park on the Energy & Environment   Commission and the Climate Action  Planning Team. He was named an Oak Park Villager of the Year for creating Takeout 25 to support and retain local small businesses.

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Wednesday Journal, March 31, 2021

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Thank you Oak Park

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Wednesday Journal, March 31, 2021

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ART BEAT

Treasured Oak Park Art League celebrates100 A year of dance, music, poetry and visual arts

By MICHELLE DYBAL Arts Editor

There will be dancing, music, poetry and, of course, visual art as the Oak Park Art League (OPAL) celebrates its 100th anniversary.

“I planned the year keeping in mind that our organization has hit all those disciplines at some point in our history,” said Jill Kramer Goldstein, executive director of OPAL. Kramer Goldstein said she took a dive into the archives and found pamphlets showing they danced at OPAL in the 1930s and 1940s (There were notes that said “Don’t dance too hard on the floor.”) and they did poetry readings in the 1970s. “We’re really paying homage to the past, but in a current way,” she said.

Having something for everyone may help attract new faces to the 100-year-old institution. Kramer Goldstein said she still hears of too many people who have never come in.

For a place that is always free, and has a new art exhibition every month, (allowing for being COVID-safe) there has never been a better time to check out or revisit the Carriage House Gallery at 720 Chicago Ave. Classes are still running too.

This isn’t where OPAL got its start, however, and the Oak Park Art League wasn’t even its name. It started in founding artist member Carl Krafft’s Austin home with Chicagoarea artists gathering and creating The Austin Oak Park and River Forest Art League in 1921. It was renamed the Oak Park Art League in 1970.

That’s not all that has changed. It has moved around from former locales like the Frank Lloyd Wright Home and Studio and the Nineteenth Century Club to its current location, an E.E. Roberts design. The Carriage House Gallery, as it is now known, has been OPAL’s home since 1937. OPAL needed a permanent home because of its growing membership,

which included Grace Hall Hemingway, author Ernest’s mother.

To help educate the community about the early years of the art league and about art in the area during the first 25 years of the league’s existence, OPAL has partnered with The Oak Park River Forest Museum for a virtual program on Wednesday, March 31, 7:30 to 8:30 p.m., A Century of Culture: The Creation & Early Years of the Oak Park Art League.

While the history event serves as a kickoff for the centennial, April brings more activity to OPAL. The annual Spring Members Exhibition opening reception is April 9, 1 to 9 p.m. And the installation and dedication of a courtyard bronze statue by OPAL member artist Mike Vest commemorating Oak Parker Bobbie Raymond, who not only was important to OPAL, but to the community with her fight for fair housing, will be unveiled.

OPAL’s May exhibition, Intersection: Art & Word, ties in with the centennial’s quarterly celebration of written and spoken word for April, May and June. This period also includes a Spoken Word event collaboration with Arbor West Neighbors.

“We are reaching out a little bit more,” Kramer Goldstein said.

Other collaborations include A House in Austin, Chicago, and ALEX ROGALS/Staff Photographer Momenta Dance Company, Oak LEGACY: OPAL Executive Director Jill Kramer Goldstein (top). Gallery manager JefPark. frey Jenkins (above) installs artwork for an upcoming show.

In an effort to be accessible to

everyone, the installation of an ADA compliant bathroom is planned this year, too. Events like a courtyard Starry Night evening with live music will help raise funds.

Also new, August brings Antonia Ruppert to OPAL as artist-in-residence. Kramer Goldstein said Ruppert will be “presenting new work, utilizing studio space for programming open to the public, talking about her work and initiatives she’s working on.” Ruppert is currently the artist-inresidence for Chicago’s Austin community.

The September OPAL art show will be a national juried exhibition. An OPAL Centennial Yearbook is expected to be published in November in conjunction with the Artist Member Exhibition, during the final quarter dedicated to dance and movement in the arts.

OPAL will continue to hold classes as it has throughout much of the pandemic, although with lower participant numbers for social distancing and a modified set up in its upstairs art studio space. All visitors must wear masks and other COVID safety protocols are in place. Exhibit openings have been adjusted to accommodate visitors all day instead of the two-hour evening reception of pre-COVID days.

Funding to keep OPAL running and to make up for lost revenue during the pandemic has come from grants, donations and the sale of paintings from their permanent collection.

“If we can get through the centennial and celebrate it in a way that celebrates our past, present and our future, on top of the pandemic, we can do anything,” Kramer Goldstein said while reflecting back on OPAL surviving 100 years.

The Carriage House Gallery is open weekdays 1 to 5 p.m., and Saturdays, 1 to 4 p.m. More on OPAL and the centennial celebration: oakparkartleague.org. A Century of Culture: The Creation & Early Years of the Oak Park Art League is Wednesday, March 31, 7:30 to 8:30 p.m., presented virtually. $10; member discounts available. Tickets/more: oprfmuseum. org/events/century-culture-oak-park-art-league-100

Wednesday Journal, March 31, 2021

OAKPARK.COM | RIVERFOREST.COM

11

Thompson faced COVID on job and at D90

By F. AMANDA TUGADE Contributing Reporter

For over a decade, Nicole Thompson has immersed herself in the River Forest School District 90 community. A mother of four, she started off volunteering. She helped chaperone field trips, became a room parent and organized events such as family math because they love it, and I want us to be a disnight. These small steps inspired Thomptrict that fuels that and feeds that,” she said. son to give more and get more involved in Research shows that instilling the love her children’s schools, and in the last four for learning is critical for children, espeyears, she was able to do just that as a D90 cially for second and third graders, said school board member.

Thompson who also has experience workOutside the district, Thompson, 45, is a ing with elementary students through the physician who practices general anestheUrban Health Program at the University of siology and pediatric anesthesiology. Aside Illinois at Chicago. from her clinical work, she also slips into an Thompson said it’s important to set that educator role and mentors medical students bar of expectations high and let children and resident physicians. know “that you expect great things from So, when the coronavirus pandemic them because they’re capable.” She beerupted last March, Thompson’s two worlds lieves students should feel empowered, and converged. As all of the uncertainty unif re-elected, she would see to it that those folded around her, she leaned on her experiefforts are carried through. ences, which led her now to believe that she While Thompson cited the strides D90 has was “in this role, I think, at the made in recent years, including right time.” creating the Equity Committee “It gave me the perspective of and the Inclusiveness Advisory seeing things on the front line of Board and implementing the the pandemic – and some things universal design for learning, I didn’t necessarily want to see,” she knows there’s more work to she said. “It gave me a realistic be done. There’s always room view of what things really look for growth, she said, especially like for people that were affectwhen it comes to offering more ed by COVID. It gave me a real opportunities for students to be clear understanding on the imheard. portance of safety around this Thompson said she’d like to NICOLE THOMPSON and trying to mitigate risk or see a more collaborative reladecrease risk in any way.” tionship between the board and D90 stuAfter D90 school board hopeful Scott Hall dents. She wants them to have the chance withdrew his candidacy last week, Thompto express their thoughts and provide input. son is now one of four remaining candidates She wants more student-led committees or vying for four open seats in the consolidated students on committees, so they can “really election on April 6. Like Thompson, incumdissect the information and really contribbents Stacey Williams and Katie Avalos look ute in an intentional way.” to retain their positions and serve a fourAs a health provider, Thompson also woryear term. First-time candidate Sarah Eckries about how the pandemic has impacted mann will also most certainly join the board. the district’s young students’ health and wellAs Thompson reflected on the pandemic’s being, and if re-elected, one of her focuses upheaval, she spoke about participating on will be to find ways to help staff and students the district’s safety and operations action cope and heal from the COVID chaos. team, which laid groundwork to bring stu“We’ve been in this over a year now, dents back to school, and on the COVID-19 adand so it may take over a year to recover,” visory panel. Beyond that, she thought about Thompson said. “We really don’t know, but her time on the board, where she served on we really need to be sensitive and be prethe education committee and helped shape pared to address the concerns and whatthe district’s 2020-2025 strategic plan. ever issues the students might have and And, if re-elected, Thompson said she teachers, as well.” can’t wait to continue working on those As Thompson looked back on her first efforts. Her goal as a board member is to term on the board, she couldn’t help but make schools better for students, a place think forward to the possibilities that anwhere they feel welcome, can explore their other four years could bring. She remains curiosities and want to learn. committed and “putting in the time that’s “I want them to have that fire when it needed” to make District 90 the best that it comes to school and just being able to think can be. critically and dive deep into different topics

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D97 candidate says equity anchors her perspective Nancy Ross Dribin, experienced in education research, said she’ll make sure board prioritizes needs of the marginalized

By MICHAEL ROMAIN Staff Reporter

Nancy Ross Dribin said she wants to bring her more than three decades in education research, resource development and nonprofit budget management experience to the District 97 school board.

“My background is part research, part education technology development,” she said, adding that her early career years were spent doing peer education researching classrooms across the country, from Alabama to New Jersey, and observing the implementation of programs, usually related to equity.

Dribin said that, if elected, she’d hone in on ensuring that the district’s equity policy is implemented effectively.

“That is a potentially huge know who is doing the leading transformation,” Dribin said. and who is doing the work, so we “Doing it right could lift all boats really need someone to come in for a long time to come. We could and be part of the community.” truly claim excellence in educaDribin said that equity should tion, and it could make Oak Park also be considered when thinka model for other districts. ing about preparing students “Doing it wrong could impact and teachers to return to school not only the district and its stunext fall. dents, but the makeup of Oak “I’ve heard a lot of people Park,” she said. “We can’t keep NANCY ROSS DRIBIN talk about we’re all in the same failing specific populations of storm, but in different boats. I students, particularly our Black and special think it’s important to recognize that some education students, and expect their fami- of those boats are doing fine,” she said.

“They’re not great, but they’re doing OK. lies to stay in Oak Park.”

Dribin said the person who succeeds out- And some boats are somewhat swamped and going D97 Supt. Carol Kelley should have some boats are trying to keep from sinking.

Dribin said that, if elected, she’d leverage experience in developing similar plans in the data the district is already collecting similar districts.

“I think it’s important to look for a su- on students to make sure that the progress perintendent who has experience both in a of the most marginalized students is being similar district to Oak Park and someone monitored through both qualitative teachwho has experience implementing an equity er data and empirical data, and that their needs are met, particularly as they prepare plan,” she said.

“This person also has to be someone who over the summer for classes in the fall. isn’t going to sweep the existing plan aside, “How do we support them? They have to but who will come in and tweak the current one while communicating those changes to be our first priority,” she said. “How do we everyone,” said Dribin. “Oak Park likes to give them resources over the summer to

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In late February 2020, Cooper was evaluated and referred to Oak-Leyden for Early Intervention to address a gross motor delay. Then the pandemic started and services were put on hold.

After a brief closure, Oak-Leyden’s services reopened virtually in April and Haviva, a Physical Therapist, was connected with Cooper and his family.

Haviva worked with Cooper and his parents weekly, working around their chaotic new schedules, and coaching them virtually on ways to strengthen his motor skills using items that they already had; toys, couch cushions, the stairs, etc.

the slightest concern about their child’s development. Through really difficult circumstances we had a great experience and I’m so proud of the way Cooper has worked to catch up.”

In person and virtually, Oak-Leyden’s Children’s Services takes a unique, individualized, multi-disciplinary team approach to facilitate the holistic development of the child. With support from trained professionals, telehealth services are as effective as in person services and allow Oak-Leyden to meet each family’s needs.

After Cooper turned 2, he had his oneyear evaluation and he has caught up to his peers! His mom wants everyone to know that “I would recommend Early Intervention services at OakLeyden to any parent with even

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make sure some students aren’t coming in at a disadvantage to students who are doing OK? Not great, but OK. Of course, we have to check in on the students who are doing OK, too, because this has been a big mental load on everyone, across the board.”

Dribin said that this focus on equity, even amid complicated situations like a pandem-

ic, anchors her campaign.

“This is why the successful implementation of the equity policy is at the center of my platform, and why I think voters should make sure that candidates truly understand the importance of all of the complex decisions facing the board over the next four years,” she said. “My background in education research gives me the experience needed to successfully oversee this implementation from a board perspective.”

CONTACT: michael@oakpark.com

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You can show your support for our Consortium members and the great work they do by visiting their websites – learn more, donate, volunteer, and follow them on social media. We appreciate your support!

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13

D200 candidate pitches higher education experience Elias Ortega, who leads a theology school, said focus on community, equity will ground his governing perspective

in the work. But there’s also some anxiety in the system, because change is not always easy, especially when there is already a plan in motion.

So, this new person who is hired must be someone who understands that there’s already a plan in motion. They

By MICHAEL ROMAIN need to understand that quickly to be able to Staff Reporter move the plan forward.”

Ortega said that the district’s plans, inElias Ortega, 42, said during a recent including its equity policy, proposed freshterview that he is an “educator first and man curriculum restructuring and Imagine foremost” and wants to bring the perspecOPRF facilities plan, are already in motion. tive he’s gained in that field over the years The new superintendent, he said, should to the District 200 school board. be able to learn what’s happening already Ortega, a native of Puerto Rico who moved while also bringing more voices who may be to Oak Park in 2019, attended graduate affected by those plans into the fold. school at Princeton Theological Seminary, “This person should also be where he obtained his Masters someone willing to ask hard of Divinity degree and a Ph.D. in questions of the system and Religious and Social Ethics. process, and, if necessary, able A former associate professor to put the breaks on certain at Drew University, Theological parts of the process, so we have School, Ortega is now president a clearer, more collective goal,” and professor of Religion, EthOrtega said. ics and Leadership at Meadville Ortega said he supports Lombard Theological School.

Pruitt-Adams’ proposed freshAs an educator, Ortega said he man curriculum restructuring has always been passionate about ELIAS ORTEGA proposal, which he’ll likely have “ways to bring my students into go vote on, if he’s elected. the community to engage social “The curriculum restricting is imporproblems,” adding that higher education “entails a responsibility to giving back to tance, because what we know of our educational system in the United States is that it the community.”

Ortega said that, as a teacher and an ad- is a system that centers the needs and priviministrator, one of his main priorities has leges of white students at the cost of stubeen on exploring ways of engaging a stake- dents of color,” he said.

“We know in our community, particularly holders, ”putting service at the center of the work we do,” and, as someone of color, “find- given the history of Oak Park — and that was [illustrated by the ‘America 2 Me’ docuing ways of removing barriers to access.”

Addressing the board’s attempts to hire mentary] — that we’ve created an educaa superintendent to succeed outgoing Supt. tional model in which Black and Brown stuJoylynn Pruit-Adams, Ortega said that, as dents cannot thrive and succeed at the same an administrator himself, he knows a thing level as white students,” Ortega added.

Ortega, who is the parent of two middle or two about transitioning into a new role.

“You have different challenges,” he said. school students in District 97, said that he “One the one hand, there’s the excitement understands the complexities school disof having a new perspective and new energy tricts are facing as they prepare for yet an-

other pandemic school year.

“As an administrator myself, we are having those conversations,” he said. “How are we bringing students back safely and how are we preparing ourselves?

Also speaking as a parent, I know how students are impacted by these decisions. We have to base our judgement on the best science available, the [Centers for Disease Con-

trol and Prevention] and health department guidelines on safety.

“But it’s also critical to be prepared for crisis and to assume that an outbreak will occur — whether of COVID-19 or the flu,” Ortega added. “And we have to be prepared to engage that crisis … Some of these conversations are fluid, some decisions will be happening somewhat at the spur of the moment, but somewhat quickly. And because of that, there needs to be clear, transparent communication and community engagement.”

LEGAL NOTICE

CORRECTED OFFICIAL NOTICE OF ELECTION CORRECCIÓN AVISO OFICIAL DE ELECCIONES OFFICIAL NOTICE: IS HERBY GIVEN, by

Karen A. Yarbrough, Cook County Clerk that the Consolidated Election will be held in Suburban Cook County on:

Tuesday, April 6, 2021 Martes 6 de Abril 2021

(Correcting the date of the Election in Spanish) (Corregir la fecha de la Elección en español) The Consolidated Election will be held in election precincts under the jurisdiction of the Election Division of the Cook County Clerk's Office.

La Elección consolidada se llevará a cabo en distritos electorales dentro de la jurisdicción de la División de Elecciones de la Oficina del Secretario del Condado de Cook.

The Polls for said Consolidated Election will be open from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m.

En dicha Elección consolidada se podrá votar entre las 6 a.m. y las 7 p.m

Dated at Chicago, Illinois this 31st day of March 2021

Karen A. Yarbrough Cook County Clerk cookcountyclerk.com

Read Step 1. le . Recyc 2 p e t S

14

Wednesday Journal, March 31, 2021

OAKPARK.COM | RIVERFOREST.COM

Four people seeking two full-term Triton board seats

Incumbents Mark R. Stephens and Luke Casson facing challengers Tracy Jennings and Andrew Charles Kopinksi

By MICHAEL ROMAIN Staff Reporter

Four people are running to fill two seats on the Triton College trustee board. Each seat has a 6-year term. Incumbents Mark R. Stephens, who is the board’s longtime chairman, and Luke Casson, an Oak Park resident, are attempting to keep their seats in a race that includes challengers Tracy Jennings and Andrew Charles Kopinski.

A major focus and point of pride for both incumbents has been confronting the number of students entering Triton who have to take remedial coursework while Jennings said he wants to focus on community outreach and ethics.

“I believe in Triton,” Jennings said. “My family and I have attended Triton at one point of time or another.”

Jennings, 55, lives in Westchester and pastors a church, which he founded, in Joliet. A U.S. Army veteran, he said he has corporate experience working at two Fortune 500 companies and has been a state administrator for the Department of Human Services, the Department of Children and Family Services’ legal division, and the Illinois Department of Employment Security.

In 2020, he ran as an independent for the 7th District Congressional seat held by longtime incumbent Rep. Danny K. Davis.

“I know people who work at Triton [and] there seem to be concerns, especially among employees, about how the board operates. They say you have to be in a clique to get anything done and there is the appearance of some unethical things that have taken place.”

Jennings cited as a recent example the March issue of the college’s monthly newsletter, Connect, which included a story about Lisa Bickel, an incumbent appointed to a vacant board seat last year.

“I understand how campaigns work and to basically get a campaign piece to go to every house in the district is a little questionable to me,” Jennings said. “Triton can’t endorse anyone but published the same article they wrote about her last summer when she was appointed.”

Jennings added that, in addition to transparency, he

wants to bring a more robust community presence to the board.

Candidates for the Triton College trustee board “I really want to make it a point for myself to get out into the communities and be an advocate for talking about the benefit of community colleges, especially in areas of color,” he said.

Stephens, 61, and Casson, 55, both touted the recent implementation of the iLaunch Math Lab, a teaching methodology that uses educational software to get students taking remedial courses up to speed.

“Students come to Triton at a disadvantage,” Stephens said. “And the biggest disMARK R. STEPHENS LUKE CASSON TRACY JENNINGS advantage we see are folks who come to us *Andrew Charles Kopinski did not respond to requests for an interview. out of high school who aren’t prepared to do college work. Almost 70 percent of our students have to take some type of immediCandidates to replace former Triton trustee Donna Peluso ate coursework.”

Stephens said the iLaunch Math Lab, which was implemented in 2018, “is enormously important, because it has reduced the remediation our students have to take by 20 percent, which is enormous and we’re going to get better as time goes by.”

“Academically, I can shout from the rooftops the pride I’ve taken in what has gone on in the math department,” said Casson.

“The iLaunch Math Lab is something the whole community can be proud of. The reLISA BICKEL CAROLYN R. WILHIGHT NORMA HERNANDEZ sults speak for themselves.”

Stephens, who owns a cleaning company credit. One of the things we do well is partner with 4-year in Rosemont, the suburb founded by his fauniversities and adopt a lot of their curriculum.” ther, Donald E. Stephens, has been on the Triton board since Stephens said if he’s re-elected to his sixth full term, he’ll 1991. He’s been board chairman since 1992.

Casson, one of two Oak Park residents on the Triton continue working to realize what he said has been a long goal board, is a partner at a law firm he co-founded. He was elect- of his. He said years ago, college faculty and staff presented him with the concept of an institution where students started to his first term on the board in 2015. ing in middle school can, within five years, obtain a high “Oak Park students make up the largest percentage of school diploma and a full associate’s degree without needour students and most people in Oak Park are dumbfounded by that,” Casson said. “They either don’t believe it or they ing to take remedial coursework in college.

“I won’t give up on that dream,” Stephens said. “As a matblame the high school. I have to remind them that it’s not to blame and it doesn’t cast [Oak Park and River Forest High ter of fact, we were able to acquire a piece of ground on the [former Golfland Arcade practice driving range at 1701 S. School] in a bad light at all.”

Casson said Triton College also boasts many high-per- 5th Ave.] at a very favorable price [records show the board forming students and gave an example of a Triton attendee purchased the land in November 2017 for $3.6 million] and who was recently accepted into the University of Michigan. that is the primary reason for the board’s purchase of that “Community college isn’t a predictor of anything other land, because that would be the perfect spot for building that than opportunity,” he said. “I think more kids should use building and getting that school up and running.”

Attempts to contact Andrew Charles Kopinski for comthe Triton system. We teach out of the same textbooks that the lion’s share of 4-year universities use for curriculum ment were unsuccessful.

Wednesday Journal, March 31, 2021

OAKPARK.COM | RIVERFOREST.COM

15

Three in race to fill unexpired term on Triton board Lisa Bickel, Carolyn R. Wilhight and Norma Hernandez look to serve last two years of former trustee Donna Peluso’s term

By MICHAEL ROMAIN Staff Reporter

The race to complete the last two years of former Triton trustee Donna Peluso, who resigned in 2020 after serving on the board for 28 years, is between Lisa Bickel, Carolyn R. Wilhight and Norma Hernandez.

Bickel, who was appointed to Peluso’s seat in September 2020, said she’s still getting acclimated to the position, but said she’ll look to continue focusing on issues at the community college from the perspective of an educator.

Bickel, who grew up in Melrose Park and currently lives in Elmwood Park, has been teaching at Maywood-Melrose Park-Broadview District 89 for seven years.

“I look forward to bringing my teaching perspective to the board,” she said recently.

“I don’t think there’s been another teacher

on the board.”

Bickel, 35, said she’s taken classes at Triton College herself and is impressed by the college’s upgrades and improvements since she was a student there more than a decade ago.

“I’m just excited to be on the board,” said Bickel, who is on the board’s finance committee. “I don’t have a lot to say with my limited time on the board, but I’m just excited to be part of this. I want to give back to the community, which is why I’m a teacher.

I want to continue to make Triton a great place for education for students well into the future.”

Norma Hernandez, 30, attended Proviso East High School in Maywood and studied at Triton before going to Aurora University and securing a degree in social work in 2016.

In 2019, she completed an urban planning master’s degree at the University of Illinois at Chicago and currently works as a community development planner at UIC’s Great Cities Institute.

Hernandez said as a student at Triton not that long ago, she’s witnessed the institution’s challenges firsthand.

“I spent the first two years at Triton doing prerequisites that didn’t garner college credit,” she said. “There were also the hurdles of having counselors tell me, ‘Are you

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sure you want to finish college?’”

Hernandez said the college can do more to help its Black and Brown students feel more welcoming and empowered. She said this reality is, in part, due to the lack of racial and cultural diversity among staff and administrators.

“They’re not giving people who are qualified the opportunity do good work,” Hernandez said, adding that she’s had discussions with Triton faculty members who have complained to her about hiring practices.

Hernandez, who currently lives in Melrose Park, said if she’s elected, she’ll use her background in policy and planning, which she’s already deployed in helping Chicago students understand participatory democracy, at the board table.

Carolyn Wilhight, 55, is a certified public accountant who has 30 years in the financial industry. She served two terms, from 2011 to 2019, on the District 92.5 school board in Westchester, where she lives.

Wilhight said she wants to bring her prior board experience, which includes stints as board president, vice president and secretary, to the Triton board.

“In Westchester, we did retreats and went back to start from the basics,” she said, referencing her time as board president during

critical moments, such as disputes between the administration and the union.

“What is our role in terms of governing?

We setup policies and procedures. We monitor, manage and make sure they are being

sustained. We started there to create better relationships and secondly, we connected with the respective union leaders and inviting them in to have open, transparent conversation as to what they saw.”

Wilhight said she became deeply interested in Triton after her daughter took advanced science courses at the community college while in high school before going off to a university to study pharmacy.

Wilhight said that, if elected to Triton’s board, her priority would be working to ensure that more Black students in Triton’s district know about the gem “north of Westchester.”

CONTACT: michael@oakpark.com

A vote for Cate Readling for Oak Park Village President on April 6, 2021 is a vote for...

I N C LU S I O N

Cate will use her experience championing equity and justice issues to create opportunities for all community members to engage with the Village government and have a voice in our shared future.

She is a listener who examines everything through a lens of equity and inclusion. She is raising her four boys to believe that kindness comes first, that listening is the first step toward solutions, that empathy is the key to growth and the way she will lead.

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As Village President, Cate will be a catalyst, a facilitator, who can work collaboratively with intention and transparency. She will use participatory budgeting to include everyone in the budgeting and decision-making process.

TR A N S PA R E N C Y

Cate is committed to consistent and transparent engagement with the community.

She will create opportunities for all community members to engage with local government and to have a voice in our shared future. Cate will have constructive partnerships with people elected to office and community organizations. Secret alliances and deals made behind closed doors will end. She will prioritize policies and projects that consider the community’s needs, goals, and opportunities first.

PAID FOR BY CATE FOR THE COMMUNITY, PO Box 534, Oak Park, IL 60303, contact@catereadling.org, (773) 726-0781

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Wednesday Journal, March 31, 2021

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A bat mitzvah redo while still in the COVID tunnel

By TOM HOLMES

Contributing Reporter

Only five people attended Alana Slade’s bat mitzvah last March, because of the shelter in place restrictions which the members of West Suburban Temple Har Zion were observing.

It was a big disappointment for the then 12-year-old, but one consolation was that a “repeat performance” was scheduled for March 20 of this year. Renee Slade, Alana’s mother, recalled how the family was thinking about the pandemic a year ago. “This date — March 20 — was chosen because we figured ‘a whole year later -- of course things will be back to normal by then!’”

The Slade family’s pandemic experience is that we are closer to the destination than we were last year, but we’re not all the way there yet.

Expectations, of course, often influence how we respond to disappointments. As Alana reflected on the last 12 months, she said, “When we planned a redo last year, I expected 200 or 300 guests in the temple with a big party that night.”

Instead, only 20 people were in attendance at the synagogue on Harlem Avenue in River Forest to witness what her grandmother Anita Friedman called her “Bonus Bat Mitzvah.” Friedman said, “Even though the out of towners stayed out of town, and local friends and most family also Zoomed again, Alana breezed through the reading of her Torah portion (Hebrew), her Haftarah (Hebrew), and her interpretation of the meaning of the Torah. Nevertheless, the now 13-year-old chose to see the glass as being half full even though it did not turn out the way she had imagined.

“I wish that more family could have come,” she said, “but overall, I am grateful that my grandparents, aunt, cousin, and uncle could come. Not all of my friends and family could

come but some could and that was amazing.”

“Even though last year was weird and no one could come, I felt really special, and I was really happy after my bat mitzvah. Although my hopes for this year were big, I don’t think that anything could be better than how I felt on March 28, 2020. It didn’t matter where I was, I felt accomplished.”

Charlyn Slade expressed her feelings about the past year and Alana’s repeat performance from a grandmother’s point of view.

“Although we have been blessed with good health the past year,” she said, “it has been a very difficult year, staying isolated and not being able to spend our usual time with our children and grandchildren. No sleep overs, no ‘special’ days together, no family dinners, no dance recitals and most of all, no hugs.” ” We did go to Oak Park, weather permitting to spend time in their back yard,” she said, “but of course, it was limited during the winter months. We were able to implement a Zoom family bingo game with our 3 children, their spouses and our 7 grandchildren.

“We are not aware of any other young person taking the initiative to complete a second bat mitzvah, let alone doing it with incredible grace and passion.”

Renee used the word “spontaneous” several times to express how Alana and the whole family made lemonade, if you will, out of lemons. “When we cancelled the party plans a few months ago, we agreed that we would decide about a celebration at the last minute depending on the weather.

The weather report looked like it would be too cold to eat outside, so we didn’t invite the extended family over to eat.

S W E N

“But then it turned out to be beautiful, so spontaneously our good friends came over and we had lunch with them (at separate tables) in the backyard. Dinner was another spontaneous event! I was outside in the backyard in the afternoon when my neighbor Meena commented over the fence at what a beautiful job Alana had done (she was watching on Zoom) and she asked if we were doing sushi “again” for dinner -- we invited them over for dinner on the patio (again, at separate tables). We joked about the “exclusive guest list” for the “party.”

“I felt a little bad that we didn’t plan something with the extended family, since we didn’t expect the weather to cooperate, but we just went with spontaneity, which is basically the story of almost every good thing this pandemic,” said Renee Slade.

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Slurp on this: Kyuramen is on the way to Oak Park Noodle bar headed to Marion Street in Oak Park

By MELISSA ELSMO Oak Park Eats Editor

Ramen fans rejoice — Kyuramen is making its way to Oak Park with a robust menu of miso, shoyu and tonkatsu ramen offerings. Kyuramen is expected to open in the former home of La Notte, 118 N. Marion St.,

by Aug. 1.

The global franchise has more than 120 locations worldwide with more than 100 locations in Japan and six New York City shops.

And now, Hui Zhu and Han Wang are bringing the Kyuramen experience to Illinois for the first time and landing their noodle shop squarely in the heart of downtown Oak Park.

“I love Oak Park,” said Zhu. “It has a very concentrated business area, good design, and good walkability.”

Zhu and Wang considered several communities before deciding Oak Park should be home to Kyuramen. Zhu appreciated the openness to cultural diversity in Oak Park and believes the base population in the area has an appreciation for Asian flavors generally and ramen specifically. They were also attracted to recent development in Oak Park.

The arrival of luxury apartments in the area gave the business owners added confidence there would be an adequate customer base for Kyuramen’s Japanese offerings.

A friend of Zhu’s traveled to Taiwan and experienced Kyuramen first-hand and went on to learn ramen techniques from a Kyuramen master piquing Zhu’s interest in the franchise opportunity and inspiring him to visit New York locations. Though they have some restaurant experience, this is the pair’s first foray into Japanese cuisine and upscale dining.

David King and Associates executed a

long-term lease for the Kyuramen franchise and since signing Zhu and Wang have applied for village permits to remodel the property. Zhu expects the renovations to take between three and four months. Ramen lovers should expect the space to embrace a streamlined Japanese aesthetic with bamboo accents and private dining areas. Zhu makes it clear the Kyuramen experience is about more than great food — it is about being part of an environment.

“People come rushing to this environment to take pictures,” said Zhu. “Bloggers, Instagrammers like to come here for the environment and the food.”

VOTE for Lucia on April 6

Lucia Robinson is a lifelong Oak Parker who will combine compassion, service, and experience to make progress on key issues facing Oak Park. She will build trust in local government by listening to the views of all Oak Parkers.

No one should feel ignored in our Village.

Indecisive food lovers will enjoy Kyuramen’s signature ramen bowl. The serving vessel is divided into two separate compartments allowing diners to enjoy two distinct ramen offerings. In addition to serving broth and noodles crowned with tender pork chashu and a seven-minute egg, Kyuramen will offer a thoughtful assortment of appetizers including steamed pork buns, purple sweet potato fries and heavily garnished pan-fried pancakes known as Okonomiyaki.

A thoughtful bar program, rotating menu specials (think “soft shell crab rice burgers”) and a small selection of rice dishes will round out the menu. Desserts including cherry blossom jelly and layered Japanese crepe cakes in matcha, mango and purple sweet potato flavors will put a sweet finish on any Kyuramen meal.

New York locations are highly rated. Patient Oak Park residents should look forward to ramen worth lining up for later this year.

LUCIA WILL LISTEN TO COMMUNITY AND EXPERT INPUT TO LEAD THE COMMUNITY FORWARD ON THE FOLLOWING INITIATIVES: ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND SUPPORT FOR SMALL BUSINESSES Lucia believes in responsible, context-sensitive economic development. She will support small business recovery through community-wide marketing efforts and reducing barriers for new businesses.

ENVIRONMENT AND CLIMATE CHANGE Lucia will put the $2.6 million Sustainability Fund to work to reduce greenhouse gas emissions using programs proven to make a difference.

INNOVATIVE COMMUNITY POLICING Lucia believes in continuing to improve upon the Village's innovative community policing model.

FAIR AND AFFORDABLE HOUSING Lucia will champion programs that promote integration, address housing insecurity and promote an inclusive and affordable community for all.

Support the Unite Oak Park slate by voting for these Trustee candidates on April 6: Lucia Robinson, Stephen Morales, and Ravi Parakkat LuciaRobinson4Trustee.com ALEX ROGALS/Staff Photographer

From left, Kyuramen partners Xin Hu, Terry Wilson, Hui Zhu and Han Wang

facebook.com/luciarobinson4trustee

Paid for by the Committee to Elect Lucia Robinson for Trustee

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Wednesday Journal, March 31, 2021

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Protecting eggs, nesting hawk attacks RF residents

Village posts warning signs on Clinton

By MARIA MAXHAM Staff Reporter

“Heartbreakingly beautiful,” is how science fiction writer Lois McMaster Bujold describes hawks, soaring and free, in one of her novels. Yet these birds of prey, like many wild animals, will do whatever they can to protect their young, which has led to hawk attacks in River Forest over the past few weeks.

The village of River Forest has put up two warning signs on the 800 block of Clinton.

Between the signs is a tree with nesting hawks that have attacked passersby.

“Caution. Aggressive nesting hawk ahead in tree,” read the signs.

“We love our wildlife,” said Village President Cathy Adduci, “but we need to be careful around any type of nesting wild animal because they will protect their young.”

Adduci said she received an email from several residents about the attacking bird and immediately had the village’s public works department make warning signs. Be-

ALEX ROGALS/Staff Photographer

cause the signs are made in-house, said Adduci, it was done quickly.

Resident Deb Wolkstein knows all too well about the lengths to which hawks will go to protect their young. Her daughter was attacked twice in one day with hits to her head, and Wolkstein posted photos to a Riv-

er Forest residents Facebook group warning people to be careful.

Cara Kuhl, whose family lives on the block, told Wednesday Journal she can see the nest from an upstairs bedroom window.

Kuhl said the mother and father hawk have been in that same nest for three years. Last

year, there were three fledglings, whom her three-year-old named “Uno,” “Dos,” and “Tres.”

Kuhl said she’s seen the mother hawk, who the family calls “Alisee,” give hunting lessons to her young. Currently, Kuhl said, they can see at least three eggs in the nest.

“They really are majestic,” said Kuhl, who reported that last year, they had local bird expert Henry Griffin come by and identify them as Red Shouldered hawks.

Ornithologists we are not, but several types of hawks, including red-tailed and Cooper’s, are commonly found in nearby Thatcher Woods, according to a field guide from the Field Museum.

Hawks feed on smaller birds and mammals, and sometimes reptiles and other small animals.

“They’re beautiful birds, but right now are territorial and protecting their eggs,” Kuhl posted on Facebook. “The hawks are attacking people from behind and hitting them hard on the back of the head. All this to say, proceed with caution at your own risk. In a few weeks their babies will be here and we can enjoy watching their fledglings learn to fly and hunt. But for now, let’s be safe and keep our distance.”

RF president candidates diverge on campaign spending

By STACEY SHERIDAN Staff Reporter

The candidates for River Forest village president have exhibited different philosophies regarding campaign finance.

Patty Henek, whose first term as village trustee ends next month, has prioritized running an inexpensive campaign to unseat incumbent Cathy Adduci, who is seeking a third term.

“I, particularly at the local level, don’t really like the fact that the bar gets raised so high with election spending because not everybody’s in a position to self-fund or have connections to people with money or feel comfortable asking people for money,” said Henek.

Henek told Wednesday Journal that her “grassroots” campaign for village trustee in 2017 cost around $2,000 total. For the 2021 village president race, Henek tried to maintain low campaign costs.

“I, throughout the time of my campaign, was being very conservative and being very mindful of the decisions I was making to try and stay below that $5,000,” said Henek.

Campaign finance law dictates once a campaign exceeds $5,000 in either receipts or expenditures, the campaign must file a Statement of Organization, otherwise known as a D-1 form, with the Illinois Board of Elections.

The campaign contribution or expenditure that carries a campaign over $5,000 becomes the first financial item reported. Once the D-1 is filed, all subsequent contributions and expenses must be reported to the state board of elections.

The decision to buy printed trifold brochures, Henek said, was the expense that put her campaign over $5,000. The brochures were delivered by volunteers, according to Henek.

“It was at that point I filed as an official campaign,” said Henek, who filed her D-1 form March 23.

Henek’s opponent Adduci filed her campaign’s D-1 during the fall of last year.

“I knew this political campaign was certainly going to be more than $5,000,” said Adduci. “I immediately opened up my political campaign well before I spent $5,000.”

Adduci’s reasoning for filing her D-1 before exceeding $5,000 boils down to transparency. She believes all expenditures and donations, regardless of size, should be disclosed.

“If you want to be transparent with our public, you need to report,” Adduci said. “It’s the right thing to do.”

Since she filed, Adduci has garnered $20,500 in campaign contributions, $17,500 of which Adduci herself loaned to her campaign. Media expenditures and advertising make up the majority of her campaign expenditures, having spent, among other costs, $920 with Growing Community Media the publisher of Wednesday Journal for ads and $2,997 on digital advertisements, according to the Illinois Board of Elections.

“I don’t just talk transparency. I am transparent,” said Adduci. “I think that’s important.”

Adduci expects her campaign’s total cost to end up around $17,000, while Henek expects hers will be below $6,000.

“I don’t plan to spend anymore and I’m just under $6,000,” said Henek.

Not filing her D-1 with the Illinois Board of Elections until breeching $5,000 had nothing to do with trying to keep her campaign finances hush hush, according to Henek.

“As soon as you cross that threshold, you have to file; otherwise, they don’t really need to know what you did,” Henek said. “And so, it was a matter of like, did I need to have that extra work of filing the paperwork if I didn’t really need to?”

“I was trying to be as conservative in my spending as possible in order to not discourage future people from running,” she said.

Henek has been able to keep her costs low by utilizing volunteers and social media to spread news of her campaign.

She said she has not purchased any ads to promote her campaign.

She also hired a high school student with aspirations of becoming a photojournalist to take her campaign headshots.

“I paid him 50 bucks to take my headshots. And I gave him credit on my website,” she said.

For Henek’s campaign video, she hired a “young, new dad” trying to get his “up-and-coming” business off the ground.

In both cases, Henek believes the high school student and the small business owner receive exposure through her website and experience.

Despite the election occurring on April 6, Henek and Adduci both have until April 15 to file their campaign’s financial activity for the quarter of January 1 through March 31 with the Illinois Board of Elections.

While Henek told Wednesday Journal she anticipated Adduci would spend more money on her campaign, she feels it is dispiriting how costly campaigns for local office tend to be.

“Why do you feel compelled to spend over $20,000? If you’re a two-term, well known, well accomplished incumbent,” said Henek of Adduci.

Adduci, on the other hand, believes campaigns are costly by nature but that doesn’t bar people without the personal finances from running for elected office. She also does not believe that having the ability to self-fund, partly or wholly, contributes to an uneven playing field. Candidates can fundraise, take in donations or receive financial backing from non-profit groups, according to Adduci.

“I think the playing field is totally leveled.”

Wednesday Journal, March 31, 2021

OAKPARK.COM | RIVERFOREST.COM

Choose Trustee Candidates Who Will

ASSEMBLE THE BUILDING BLOCKS For the Future of Oak Park STEPHEN MORALES is a proud Puerto Rican and active leader in Oak Park with a deep knowledge about healthcare, finance, policy and entrepreneurship. He has volunteered his time on citizen commissions focused on the environment and affordable housing. He has board governance experience and brings business and engineering training from MIT and Duke.

Stephen believes that the next Village trustees will need discipline to keep our property tax levy increases at 3% and that in the near-term Oak Park needs to focus on ensuring a successful vaccine roll out.

www.stephenmorales4trustee.com RAVI PARAKKAT was named an Oak Park Villager of the Year for creating Takeout 25, a ground up movement that has saved local restaurants and jobs during the pandemic.

He serves Oak Park on the Energy & Environment Commission and the Climate Action Planning Team. An engineer and an MBA, Ravi is a forward thinking leader with board room experience, who has spent his career reducing household energy costs and increasing transparency in financial markets at state and national levels.

Ravi believes the strength of his ideas and the depth of his experiences can contribute to Oak Park’s sustainable and equitable economic recovery.

www.raviparakkat.com LUCIA ROBINSON has deep roots in our community. She received her undergraduate degree from Bryn Mawr College and earned her law degree from DePaul University. Lucia has led major financial institutions in creating and implementing legal and compliance protocols.

Lucia believes that Trustees should listen, then lead. As our trustee she will be accessible to residents, this will help her truly understand the issues effecting our neighbors. She believes that no one should feel ignored in our Village.

www.luciarobinson4trustee.com

S t e p h e n

MORALES

PUBLIC SAFETY

R a v i

PARAKKAT

FISCAL DISCIPLINE

Early Voting is Now at Village Hall

BOARD EXPERIENCE

Vote to

L u c i a

ROBINSON

INNOVATIVE IDEAS

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Wednesday Journal, March 31, 2021

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CELEBRATE INTELLECTUAL/DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITIES AWARENESS MONTH When you meet Debbie, the word independent may not spring to mind. Debbie has an intellectual/ developmental disability. She also lost her sight as an infant due to an oxygen problem in her hospital incubator.

She does not have parents to lean on because they are both deceased. With these challenges, living on her own can be complicated.

Even though Community Support Services (CSS) owns and operates eight group homes in the western suburbs, Debbie prefers to live in her own apartment. She describes her life as full, happy, and independent. The truth is that with the support she receives, and the programming offered by CSS, she stays busy most days.

Her week begins with art class at the CSS Day Program where she works on projects with other participants.

They get expert guidance from Cassie Krcmar, the Director of Clinical Services, who is an excellent artist and certified

CONTACT US

Community Support Services (CSS) 9021 Ogden Avenue Brookfield, IL 60513 (708) 354-4547

LIVING INDEPENDENTLY WITH HELP FROM COMMUNITY SUPPORT SERVICES

art therapist. Debbie believes that developing friendships and learning something new are two of the most important benefits of the Day Program.

On other days, she receives support in her home with daily living skills. Trained staff help her check mail, pay bills, keep her apartment tidy, and grocery shop.

She uses technology to check emails by using an audio setting on her tablet.

She makes shopping lists with a Braille typewriter and identifies temperatures and settings on her microwave with puffy stickers that have been placed on the keypad. In her free time, Debbie listens to music, DVDs, audio books, and even does crossword puzzles with friends.

Another option for Oak Park families whose children are younger, or still wish to live at home, is Respite Services.

Caring for a child with a disability can demand round the clock care, and it is important for loving parents to take periodic breaks to recharge. CSS

I/DD CONSORTIUM

matches a trained staff member with a family. The beauty of Respite is that it gives caregivers time for themselves.

Respite care can take place in the family’s home or in the community.

As more and more Oak Park residents are becoming vaccinated, families are eager for their son or daughter to resume Respite activities such as trips to the movie theatre, afternoons at the library, or picnics in the park. Regardless of the services selected, CSS strives to create independence, self-confidence, and a connection to community life for our participants.

Community Support Services cssservices.org Oak Leyden Developmental Services oak-leyden.org Oak Park Township Senior Services oakparktownship.org/senior-services Opportunity Knocks opportunityknocksnow.org PACTT Learning Center pactt.org Progress Center for Independent Living progresscil.org Riveredge Hospital riveredgehospital.com Suburban Access, Inc. subacc.org The Answer, Inc. theanswerinc.org UCP Seguin of Greater Chicago ucpseguin.org West Suburban Special Recreation wssra.net

intake@CSSservices.org www.CSSservices.org

You can show your support for our Consortium members and the great work they do by visiting their websites – learn more, donate, volunteer, and follow them on social media. We appreciate your support!

SUPPORT RETAIL! SHOP LOCAL! Shop for Spring holidays, freshen your home & wardrobe, or gift yourself. Support our amazing retail community.

oprfchamber.org

Wednesday Journal, March 31, 2021

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Photos provided

Samples of crafts found at the Oak Park Makers virtual event to benefit CAASE

Artisans pay it forward Proceeds donated to alliance against sexual exploitation

By STACEY SHERIDAN Staff Reporter

The women behind Oak Park Makers, a local arts collective, know that small gestures of kindness can go a long way. The group has pledged to use their talents for good by selling their creations and donating a percentage of the proceeds to benefit progressive political and social justice organizations.

“We decided that we wanted to give this money where we thought we could do some good,” said Madhurima Chakraborty, an Oak Park Makers organizer and currently a candidate for the Oak Park Public Library board of trustees.

Along with Chakraborty, the other six organizers are Alexandrea Flores, Bianca Bradshaw-Castillo, Brie Maldonado, Dima Ali, Keena Renee and Laurette Stefani Anderson. Wares created by Oak Park Makers artisans include soaps and body scrubs, jewelry and textile goods, as well as glassware and photography, among others.

The group came together and held its first event in February. In honor of Black History Month and to support Black candidates running for village board, the first event benefited the Represent Oak Park political coalition.

For its virtual March sales event, Oak Park Makers chose to donate up to 15 percent of its sales proceeds to the Chicago Alliance Against Sexual Exploitation (CAASE). Over 20 local artisans participated.

The event brought in a total of $1,007, raising $229 for CAASE. Another $50 from sales also went to CAASE from Oak Park Makers vendors that did not sell through the group’s website.

“We know that this is not a lot of money, especially for a wealthy community such as Oak Park that we know is capable of being very generous,” said Chakraborty. “But we do know that $200 is not nothing, and we hope we were able to raise awareness about

CAASE.” A Chicago-based social services organization, CAASE aims to rid the community of sexual exploitation, including sexual assault and the commercial sex trade, by addressing the culture, institutions and people that benefit from it. Its work includes prevention, policy reform, legal services and community engagement.

The March sales event allowed the Oak Park Makers organizers the opportunity to become better acquainted with CAASE as many were unfamiliar with the organization prior, according to Chakraborty.

“We’re hopeful that this has counted for a little something additional,” she said.

A core value of the group is supporting other organizations, but Oak Park Makers is just as concerned with supporting local artisans and promoting their work.

“In Oak Park, there are so many talented women,” said Ali, whose main source of income since the start of the pandemic comes from selling jewelry she makes. “But we are underrepresented. Nobody talks about us.”

Women are also underrepresented in the wider market, according to Ali. “I found there is a huge lack in the market for people like us, women doing juggling kids, juggling life and cooking and filling orders, yet we’re doing it,” Ali said.

Ali hopes one day Oak Park Makers will open a brick-and-mortar store to sell pieces created by local women and hold special shopping events.

“This is the idea of getting us all together in one place and start promoting each other,” said Ali. With the COVID-19 pandemic causing the cancelation of street festivals and art fairs, exposure for the group has been harder to cultivate. Still, the group is undeterred.

Oak Park Makers organizers are already planning on holding events in April and May. While they haven’t yet chosen organizations to donate to, they are interested in supporting groups working against Asian hate and violence.

“We are a group of bada-- women who makes things happen,” said Ali. “We’re small but mighty.”

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• Equitable access to Village Services for all residents • Independence from the Village Board • Continue to improve accessibility to all Village Services and Buildings • Increase Transparency through Community Engagement • Bridge-building with neighboring communities on issues of sustainability

Visit Lou Anne Johannesson for Village Clerk of Oak Park on Facebook RESIDENTIAL — COMMERCIAL — RETAIL — CHURCHES — SCHOOLS

SERVING OAK PARK AND RIVER FOREST SINCE 1976

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Wednesday Journal, March 31, 2021

VIGIL

Gathering at Scoville Park from page 1 began.

Days after the attack, on March 16, community members gathered in Rehm Park, 515 Garfield St. in Oak Park, to show support for the Asian-American community.

And on March 25, a few hundred people attended a vigil for the Atlanta shooting victims held at Scoville Park, 800 Lake St. in Oak Park.

“This horrific crime comes after a year of intense anti-Asian racism in America, which was and still is perpetrated by the media and our government during the pandemic,” Amelia Yu said during the vigil.

“Most importantly, we must remember that anti-Asian racism is not new in America,” said Yu, who is 18 and a senior at Oak Park and River Forest High School.

“We have been called the ‘virus,’ the ‘model minority’ and the ‘yellow terrorist,’” she added. “We have been beaten, killed, rounded up and simply discriminated against.

This is the America we live in, where scapegoating whole ethnicities is normalized for the purpose of maintaining white supremacy.”

Yu, who started the vigil by offering a moment of silence for the 10 victims shot March 22 by 21-year-old Ahmad Al Aliwi AlIssa in a Boulder, Colorado supermarket, is the president of Students Advocating for Equity (SAFE), a social justice-oriented group of student-activists at OPRF. The group took the lead in organizing last week’s vigil.

During a phone interview on March 26, Yu and Zoe Haralambidis, a 17-year-old senior at OPRF who is a member of the Pan Asian

AMMONS

OAKPARK.COM | RIVERFOREST.COM Leadership Society at the high school, said they can both attest to the rise of anti-Asian racism and xenophobia.

“I’ve seen some insensitive social media posts and have heard people called profanities and heard things on the streets,” Haralambidis said.

According to a Pew Research study published last year, nearly 60 percent of Asian Americans reported believing that racism directed toward them has increased.

And data compiled by California State University’s Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism has shown “an alarming trend,” according to experts who spoke to Voice of America.

The center’s study found that “there were 122 incidents of anti-Asian-American hate crimes in 16 of the country’s most populous cities in 2020, an increase of almost 150% over the previous year,” Voice of America reported.

Yu and Haralambidis said that changing the way Asian-American history is taught in schools and changing how the media portrays them may be powerful antidotes to racism and xenophobia.

“The elementary and middle schools, as well as the high school in Oak Park have to create more representation and diversity in the curriculum,” said Yu. What Asian-American history they do remember being taught almost always dealt with oppression, they said.

“The Asian history we do learn doesn’t teach us about our historical figures and what we have brought to America, as opposed to what America has done to us,” said Yu. Amy McFarlane, who teaches fourth grade at Willard Elementary in River Forest and lives in Oak Park, said she attended the Rehm Park gathering with her husband.

Since the George Floyd murder last sum-

District officials are anticipating the board to hire a new superintendent at its regular meeting on April 22.

Before joining D200, Ammon was a counselor at Willowbrook High School, where he helped initiate a racial equity strategic plan. from page 1 In a 2019 interview with Wednesday Jourdistrict’s equity work beyond OPRF High nal, Ammons said D200 appealed to him, School. He has participated on the advisory in part because of the “procedures put in council helping to develop an anti-racism place addressing equity,” such as leadership strategic plan for the Oak Park teams and racial equity coaches.

Public Library, presented to the “These mechanisms allow you Park District of Oak Park’s eqto do racial equity work in ways uity team, and created a nationI had not had access to,” said Amal network of school district eqmons, who has a doctorate in eduuity directors.” cation.

Supt. Pruitt-Adams said AmAmmons’ doctoral dissertation, mons “has added greatly to “Racial Socialization: Relationour momentum with racial eqship between Black Identity, Peruity work” and that the district ceptions of Discrimination, and wishes “him the best in his fuAcademic Outcomes,” examines LEVAR J. AMMONS ture pursuits.” the intersection between “black Pruitt-Adams said the disidentity, perceptions of discrimitrict “will move forward as quickly as pos- nation and academic outcomes,” he said at sible in hiring a replacement,” which will the time. happen after the D200 school board hires her replacement.

CONTACT: michael@oakpark.com

Equity director resigns

ALEX ROGALS/Staff Photographer

GATHERED: Community gathers in Scoville Park March 25 during a vigil for victims of the recent Atlanta spa killings. mer, McFarlane and her colleague, Janeice Millon, have been working to diversify the curriculum in District 90.

“We said, ‘We have to be more deliberate about the learning we’re doing as teachers and the curriculum we’re teaching,’” McFarlane said during a phone interview on March 29.

During the summer, McFarlane and Millon convened a group of teachers and administrators to watch the documentary 13th, which explores the history of Black racism in America.

They’ve also organized discussions around a range of books, such as White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo and So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo, McFarlane said, adding that they’re expanding their reading and learning to include books that explore the collective experience of people of other cultures and ethnicities, particularly Asian Americans.

McFarlane’s and Millon’s group, informally called the Diversity Discussion Group, meets monthly. McFarlane said she also sat in on community meetings convened by local residents in Oak Park to discuss Asian representation in schools.

On March 23, a group of Oak Park and River Forest community members sent a letter to the District 200 school board and OPRF’s administration.

The letter addressed “the extent to which” anti-Asian racism “has become naturalized and taken for granted, to the degree that many Americans do not even recognize discrimination and violence against Asians as a form of racism. This has become abundantly clear in the official response to the Atlanta shootings and the way that race has been pre-emptively dismissed as a factor in the violence.”

The latter point was a reference to, among other examples, the Atlanta Police Department’s swiftly ruling out in an incident report the possibility that the spa shootings

were hate crimes, even though they told the public at the time that they were still investigating the shooting, according to NPR reporting.

“This blindness to and tendency to downplay anti-Asian racism, though, is also inextricably linked to the erasure of Asian Americans from American history and culture,” the OPRF letter stated.

In the letter, community members said many organizations, including Asian Americans Advancing Justice of Chicago, are pushing for the passage of the Teaching Equitable Asian American Community History (TEAACH) Act in the Illinois General Assembly.

The bill would require all public schools in the state to include Asian Americans in their American history curriculum. Community members in Oak Park and River Forest are hoping that OPRF starts pro-actively implementing the requirement “robustly in all grade levels.”

Community members also hope OPRF organizes and holds an event “that would seek to educate both current students and the general public about the reality of antiAsian racism in American society and the discriminatory treatment directed of Asian Americans throughout American history, information that should be part of the regular curriculum.”

On March 19, outgoing OPRF Equity Director LeVar J. Ammons issued a statement about the Atlanta shootings, which included links to resources designed to “speak to the Asian-American experience” and to “bring context and perspective” to the shootings.

“As we move forward into the fourth quarter of the school year, we need to focus our energies on learning and standing with and up for one another so our district and school community can be stronger than ever in these most uncertain times,” Ammons stated.

CONTACT: michael@oakpark.com

Wednesday Journal, March 31, 2021

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C R I M E

Man, possibly armed, carjacks resident A 2014 Chevy Sonic was forcibly taken from an Oak Park resident in broad daylight Monday, March 29. A man approached the victim at 1:10 p.m. in the 600 block of Fair Oaks Avenue, implied he was carrying a firearm and demanded the victim’s vehicle.

The victim complied, and the man was last seen traveling eastbound on Augusta Street in the victim’s Chevy, the loss of which is estimated at $16,000.

Motor vehicle theft

the unlocked front door and took a laptop computer sitting on the kitchen table between 10 a.m. and 1:30 p.m., March 27 in the 500 block of South Kenilworth Avenue. The estimated loss is $400.

Theft ■ Someone removed a package containing a standing desk and a table runner from a resident’s front porch in the 1100 block of Clarence Avenue between 11:46 a.m. and

11:50 a.m., March 19. Estimated loss is $85.

■ A resident’s flag was removed, and their flagpole damaged outside the front of their home in the 500 block of Washington Boulevard between 7 p.m., March 19 and 9 a.m., March 20. Estimated loss is $30.

■ The catalytic converter was cut from a 2020 Toyota Corolla, left unattended and running, in the 100 block of North Ridgeland Avenue at 6:38 p.m., March 22.

■ The front license plate was removed from a Ford Expedition while parked out-

Someone removed a 2011 Land Rover sports utility vehicle, left unattended, unlocked and with the keys inside, between 8:14 p.m. and 8:17 p.m., March 24 in the 100 block of Chicago Avenue. The estimated loss is $18,000.

Criminal damage to property ■ Someone damaged the rear passenger’s side door of a 2020 Ford Escape between 8 p.m., March 25 and 10:30 p.m., March 26 in the 200 block of Elmwood Avenue. The estimated loss is $500.

■ Someone damaged the rear driver’s side door of a 2007 Buick Lacrosse between 6 p.m. and 10:07 p.m., March 26 in the 200 block of Elmwood Avenue. The estimated loss is $150.

These items, obtained from the Oak Park Police Department, came from reports March 22 - March 30 and represent a portion of the incidents to which police responded.

Anyone named in these reports has only been charged with a crime and cases have not yet been adjudicated. We report the race of a suspect only when a serious crime has been committed, the suspect is still at large, and police have provided us with a detailed physical description of the suspect as they seek the public’s help in making an arrest.

Burglary ■ Offenders got into an unlocked 2007 Hyundai Santa Fe parked in a parking lot and removed from inside a black wallet containing an Illinois driver’s license, credit cards and insurance card between 9 p.m., March 22 and 5:29 a.m., March 23 in the 7000 block of Roosevelt Road. Unknown loss.

■ Someone entered a residence through

Compiled by Stacey Sheridan

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Wednesday Journal, March 31, 2021

@ @OakPark

SPORTS

OPRF holds off Lyons Township to notch first win Landis throws two TD passes, Dortch adds scoring run

By MELVIN TATE Contributing Reporter

High school football is back in Illinois for the spring, but during the current COVID-19 pandemic, there is a distinct difference from the usual environment that fills stadiums.

There were no cheerleaders, no drill team, and no Marching Huskies on hand Saturday afternoon for the Oak Park and River Forest High School football team’s home opener against Lyons Township High School. The only spectators in attendance were the family members of the Huskie players.

Despite the lack of a noisy atmosphere, OPRF (1-1) and LTHS (0-1) put on an intense and hard-fought contest that saw the Huskies hold on for an 18-15 victory.

“It’s bittersweet,” said OPRF head coach John Hoerster of the lack of fans. “I feel fortunate that we got to have a home game and we’re playing a season. But on the other hand, this is a community event, and not having the students, band, cheerleaders and drill team, we missed them.

“You take the good and the bad and make the best of it, and I thought our kids did a nice job adjusting and keeping the energy up. The crowd picks you up, and when it’s not here, you’ve got to do it yourself.”

The loss spoiled the delayed debut of new LTHS head coach Jon Beutjer, whose Lions saw their opener last week canceled due to COVID-19 protocols. Nevertheless, he seemed pleased with his team’s effort against OPRF, considering the circumstances.

“We hadn’t played in 18 months, and then we were quarantined. We only had three practices coming out [of quarantine],” he said. “I was really proud of the way they fought and of the energy they had. We hurt ourselves a couple of times, but those are things we can improve on.”

After having a tough debut as the starting quarterback in the previous week’s 42-7 loss at Hinsdale Central, senior Jack Landis bounced back with a solid effort for the Huskies, throwing for two touchdowns, a 31yard strike to Ryan McFadden and a 12-yard toss to Francis Krusinski. Junior Demetrius Dortch had OPRF’s other touchdown, a run from 1 yard out.

Hoerster cited Landis’ experience as the main reason for winning the quarterback job.

“With a really short time to prepare for the season, we needed a guy who had an understanding of what we were doing,” Hoerster explained. “When you have all summer, you can teach a kid how to play a position, but with only two weeks, you really can’t do that. Jack is a senior and has more experi-

OPRF’s quarterback Jack Landis (2), left, hands the ball off to running back Demetrius Dortch (13). ence than the other guys.”

Defensively, Naahlyee Bryant spearheaded a strong OPRF defensive effort, recording multiple tackles for loss. Owen Detmer (interception) and Malcolm Gray (sack and a fumble recovery) also turned in notable performances.

Bryant, a Western Michigan signee, also displayed excellent vocal leadership, showing why he was voted a captain for the past two seasons.

“Naahlyee is a great kid,” said Hoerster.

“We’ve asked him to do a whole lot this year; he’s playing offense and special teams too.

It’s hard to do on a short year like this because the kids aren’t in the same type of shape that they usually are. You can only ask certain types of kids to put in that amount of energy, and Naahlyee is absolutely one of those guys.”

LTHS made things interesting late, as junior quarterback Joey Antonietti threw touchdown passes to senior wide receiver Tommy Asleson on back-to-back possessions, the latter coming with 41.4 seconds remaining. But the ensuing onside kick was recovered by OPRF, dashing any hope the Lions had for completing the comeback.

“It feels awesome to get back out here with all the guys,” Antonietti said. “Coach Beutjer told us to keep hammering, and that’s what the offense finally started to do at the end. I think if we do that [from the start], we can win a lot of games.”

ALEX ROGALS/Staff Photographer

Alex Rogals/Staff Photographer

Ryan McFadden (17) caught a 31-yard touchdown pass to help defeat the Lions and notch OPRF’s first win of the season.

“They’re just happy to be playing,” added Beutjer. “They’re very resilient and have been through a lot. They’ve learned tough lessons at a very young age. We’re going to build off of this, and I feel had we earlier displayed the intensity and aggressiveness on offense, this could’ve been a different outcome.”

Similar to how Beutjer feels about his Lions, Hoerster knows there’s plenty of room for improvement with his Huskies. But he was pleased with the outcome.

“Any time you come away with a win, you’re happy about it,” he said. “We made it out of here against a really good team. The LT staff got their kids ready to go and they did a nice job.”

In observance of the Passover holiday, the next games for both OPRF and LTHS will fall on Thursday, April 1. The Huskies will host Proviso West, which has yet to play due to COVID-19 protocols, while the Lions visit Leyden Township.

S P O R T S

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Wednesday Journal, March 31, 2021

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OPRF field hockey off to strong start Fenwick volleyball competes in powerhouse GCAC Red

By MELVIN TATE Contributing Reporter

Along with football and boys soccer, there are two other Illinois high school traditional fall sports which had their seasons moved to the spring due to the COVID-19 pandemic, field hockey and girls volleyball.

While there will be no postseason play in any of the sports, the expectations of the local schools do not change -- having as much success as possible while developing character in young men and women.

This week, we feature two teams making the transition from fall to spring, the Oak Park and River Forest High School field hockey program, and the Fenwick High School girls volleyball program.

OPRF field hockey Traditionally one of the state’s best programs, the Huskies are off to another splendid start, having won four of their first five matches.

“We were all very excited to hear that we would have the chance to play this season,” said OPRF coach Kristin Wirtz in an email. “It is definitely a unique season with six weeks and new protocols in place, but our team has adapted quickly.

The Huskies returned several experienced players from the 2019 season, and that -- along with playing stellar defense -- has been the key to success this spring, according to Wirtz.

“Our vision on the field has improved significantly as well as our level of game awareness,” she said. “Defensively, we have a strong back line that is hard to get past; it is coming up with block tackles at every turn and distributing the ball well.”

Junior Hailey Nowak leads OPRF in scoring. Nowak, senior Emma Brandt, and junior Tiala Ortega have combined for 14 of the Huskies’ 21 goals on the season. Senior co-captains Tao Tao Stolz and Cate Szpila provide steady leadership and play in the midfield, while standout junior goalkeeper Cate Barkdoll works well with the backfield.

This chemistry was on display March 27 as OPRF defeated conference rival Glenbard West 4-3 in a shootout. Nowak

scored both regulation goals for the Huskies. After a scoreless overtime, the match went into a shootout, where Stolz and Szpila scored on their one-on-one attempts and Barkdoll allowed just one goal to secure the victory for the Huskies.

Newcomers sophomore Lily Rose Drews and junior Leyna Fougere supply versatility and energy for the team.

There won’t be a state tournament this spring, but in order to keep being one of the state’s top teams, OPRF wants to win as many games as possible. Wirtz feels her team has put the time and work in, and that will pay dividends for this season.

This has the ingredients of being another successful campaign for the Huskies’ program, one that has a lasting legacy and a commitment to success, something that Wirtz, a former OPRF player herself, knows all about.

“Almost all of our coaches on the staff are alumni,” she said. They understand the legacy that we believe in. Every year since I’ve been part of this program, we have been working to develop our athletes into not only the best players they can be, but supporting them in being the best versions of themselves.”

Fenwick girls volleyball Under the guidance of head coach Kathleen O’Laughlin, the Friars have been one of the top Girls Catholic Athletic Conference teams over the last several seasons. In 2019, Fenwick went 24-9 and won a regional title.

This season, despite not having a state title to play for, Fenwick is grateful for being able to play a few matches.

“Both the coaching staff and the players were very excited to learn there would be a season played,” O’Laughlin said in an email. “We are all very thankful to all the people who worked so hard to secure an IHSA season for our athletes.”

Senior middle blocker Beau Vanderlaan, who is heading to Brown University this fall, is the top player for the Friars.

A four-year varsity player, she brings leadership and confidence to the floor.

“Beau is an exceptional player and person,” said O’Laughlin. “She’s a threat to any offense with her blocking skills and can attack at a high level both in the front and back courts.”

Vanderlaan sparked Fenwick to a comeback victory on March 23 against visiting DePaul Prep. After the Rams captured the first set, the Friars rallied to take the next two 2521 and 25-13.

Hailey Nowak

Photo by Rick Szpila

Fenwick has 12 matches scheduled for this abbreviated season and will play in the GCAC Red for the first time, facing powerhouse teams such as Loyola Academy, Mother McAuley, and St. Ignatius. O’Laughlin hopes the Friars will be able to compete at a high level while playing with high energy and a lot of heart.

But if nothing else, she’s proud of how well her team has handled the uncertainties surrounding the pandemic, and learned a valuable lesson as well.

“It has taught us to be more flexible and appreciate all the little things along the way,” O’Laughlin said. “We’re excited to be back in the gym with a refreshed perspective on the importance of high school athletics.”

Fenwick falls in home opener to Joliet Catholic

Penalties bog down Friars as Hilltoppers romp 42-7

By MELVIN TATE Contributing Reporter

The long-awaited debut for new Fenwick High School head football coach Matt Battaglia, delayed last week by COVID-19 protocols, came on Sunday evening at Triton College against visiting Joliet Catholic Academy.

Unfortunately, the Hilltoppers spoiled the occasion, setting the tone on the game’s first play from scrimmage with a 71-yard touchdown pass from Aidan Voss to Ja’Arie Mack.

The Friars were never able to recover and fell 42-7.

“We shot ourselves in the foot, and [Joliet Catholic] had a great plan and is wellcoached,” said Battaglia of the outcome.

Junior running back Jordan Anderson had a sensational performance for the Hilltoppers, tallying five touchdowns for the night (1 receiving. 4 rushing). His final touchdown, which came at the 7:55 mark of the third quarter, gave Joliet Catholic a 42-0 lead and necessitated a running clock for the remainder of the contest.

Fenwick avoided a shutout when junior quarterback Kaden Cobb (13-for-30 passing, 157 yards, 1 touchdown, 2 interceptions)

found junior wide receiver Eian Pugh (5 receptions, 45 yards) for a 21-yard score with 5:11 remaining. But for the most part, the Friars struggled to generate any offense, and Battaglia cited penalties as the main reason.

“We would advance the ball, but it’s hard to sustain anything when it’s first-and-15 or second-and-20. We don’t have many plays in the book for those situations,” he said.

Fenwick running back Isaac Novak rushed eight times for 31 yards, while junior defensive lineman Quin Wieties notched a fumble recovery.

Despite the loss, Battaglia was glad Fenwick was able to play after enduring a long

layoff due to the pandemic.

“It was huge,” he said. “This was an opportunity for us to get some game action. We were on two days prep, and it’s not easy to play a team like [Joliet Catholic] in that situation. But, there are no excuses, and they were good competition for us.”

Fenwick’s next game is scheduled for Saturday, April 3. The Friars will travel to Aurora to face Marmion Academy. Battaglia is hoping for improved consistency and execution as the season progresses.

“We’ve got to execute our plays and schemes like we can, and we’ll have success,” he said. “We had some tonight, but, again, we shot ourselves in the foot.”

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Wednesday Journal, March 31, 2021

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Homes

Vintage Home Show makes its debut online

Unity Temple Restoration Foundation and Oak Park Chamber combine to help homeowners

By LACEY SIKORA

W

Contributing Reporter

hen Heidi Ruehle-May, executive director of the Unity Temple Restoration Fund, began brainstorming about ideas for a fundraiser prior to the pandemic, she thought big. She envisioned a local home show modeled along the lines of industry shows held at McCormick Place.

The new Vintage Home Show would take place in the newly-remodeled Unity Temple to show off the space to local homeowners while also providing access to vendors and professionals whose workshops who would highlight the best of local vintage home services.

Alas, like most good ideas scheduled to take place in 2020, the pandemic put her plan on hold.

“The intent was to make it live, but obviously, we had to take it virtual this year,” Ruehle-May said.

The UTRF is partnering with the Oak Park-River Forest Chamber of Commerce to host the first annual vintage home show online on Saturday, April 24, but while it may be virtual, the offerings won’t be diminished.

Preservation architect and UTRF board chair for the event Anne Sullivan says it was a lot of fun to pull together experts and vendors for the event.

“It was an interesting combination of people from the preservation community and the chamber,” Sullivan said of the planning committee. “It was a great group that came at historic homes from all different angles.”

The assembled group will share their expertise with locals, and Ruehle-May says the whole idea is to help owners of historic homes figure out who and how to take

How to attend The Vintage Home Show takes place on Saturday, April 24 from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.

General admission tickets are $35, with early bird pricing of $25 available until April 9.

Details at www.utrf.org/homeshow or by calling 708-260-6661

care of and restore their homes by giving them access to people who specialize in the unique issues that historic homes present.

Sullivan adds that the workshop leaders are very experienced professionals in their fields sharing their knowledge.

“This is a really great way to get access to these people,” Sullivan said. “We’ll have breakout rooms so people can ask their specific questions.”

A few of the workshops Sullivan highlights include Susan Benjamin, an architectural historian who helps people in historic districts take advantage of the property tax benefits available to homeowners in historic districts.

Neal Vogel will share his expertise on restoring and repairing wood and stainedglass windows. Local architect Frank Heitzman will address how to hire a project team for a remodel or restoration project, which Sullivan calls one of the biggest feats local homeowners face.

Oak Park-based mechanical and electrical engineer Mark Nussbaum will talk about heating and cooling issues in older homes.

Sullivan notes that the list of people leading workshops was intentionally crafted.

“There are plenty of tradespeople out there, but not every tradesperson has experience

with older buildings,” Sullivan said.

Coldwell Banker realtor Deborah Wess will be taking part in the event and says that, as the homeowner of a local Victorian home and as someone who specializes in helping people buy and sell historic homes, she has a unique perspective to share.

Wess will speak about how local homeowners can maximize their return when restoring their historic homes.

“We tend to do the things we love to our homes, but your custom upgrade might not be what everyone else loves,” Wess said. “The best thing that people can do to FRANK HEITZMAN increase the value of their older home is to invest in all the unseen things, like the insulation and the HVAC system. It’s really hard to sell a home without central air.”

Elite Tile owner Tony Buttitta will also be presenting as a vendor. He says he’s been working with tile restoration for over 20 years, including work in Oak Park’s Pleasant Home and many local restoration proj-

ects.

“I’ll talk a bit about the history of tile and the craftsmen style of tile that is so prevalent in the area,” said Buttitta, a selfprofessed history and architecture buff. “I’ll also talk about more contemporary applications.”

Buttitta notes that for so many historic homeowners it is about incorporating new tiles that look like older, original tiles. His work sometimes involves reviving original tiles too.

Whether it’s repairing original tile or installing new tile that looks original, he says it’s a really MARK NUSSBAUM rewarding project.

Radio host Peter Sagal created an introductory video for the Vintage Home Show, and in it he sums up the feelings that so many historic homedwellers understand. “[B]asically, owning a home in Oak Park is a lifestyle,” Sagal said.

“It involves exploration and discipline and fun and the occasional frustration, but it’s something you learn to love.”

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Wednesday Journal, March 31, 2021

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March 31, 2021

Education Enrichment

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Spring 2021

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Grace Lutheran, a nurturing and faith-filled environment

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race Lutheran School, at the corner of Division and Bonnie Brae in River Forest, offers a nurturing and faith-filled environment for students from preschool through 8th grade.

Early childhood programs. Preschool and junior kindergarten classrooms at Grace provide flexible morning and afternoon options for families with young children. Three-year-old preschoolers attend morning classes two, three, or five days a week. Fouryear-olds attend junior kindergarten every morning, Monday through Friday.

An afternoon program is available one to five days per week for both 3- and 4-year-olds.

All-day kindergarten. Senior kindergarten, for children age 5, is a full-day program at Grace, focused on academics and social and emotional development.

Grades 1–8. Grace’s students consistently perform above national averages on standardized tests and go on to succeed at competitive high

schools in the city and suburbs. A strong core curriculum challenges children academically while high expectations and appropriate supports help students achieve their best. The faculty includes a full-time resource teacher.

Students of all ages learn about God’s word every day and are encouraged to live out their faith through service. Students participate in art, music, library, P.E., and German classes. Band and orchestra are also available. After-school enrichment classes offer a variety of fun and creative learning experiences. Grace sports teams are open to all and include basketball and volleyball for grades 5–8.

Track and cross country teams are open to students in grades 3–8.

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March 31, 2021

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Special Advertising Section

Building awareness about the importance of early childhood care and education

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n Saturday, April 10, the Collaboration for Early Childhood invites you to a family-friendly drive-in movie screening of the documentary film, Babies, at Triton College. The ticket cost is pay-what-you-want. Coloring pages and other goodies will be given out to families, and we will be accepting diaper donations to support the families with babies in our community. Kick off spring with family and friends in a safe way and celebrate the first years of life! Get your ticket at www.collab4kids.org/events.

River Forest Community Center Early Childhood Learning Center RiverForest Forest Community Community Center River River Forest Community CenterCenter Early Childhood Learning Half-Day & Center Full-Day: Early Childhood Learning CenterCenter Early Childhood Learning Preschool & Pre-K

Half-Day & Full-Day:

Half-Day & Full-Day:  Before and After Preschool && Pre-K Half-Day Full-Day: Preschool & Pre-K

School Care Preschool & Pre-K

 Before and After  Before and After School Care CareCamps School Summer

 Before and After  Summer Camps  Summer Camps School Care  Parent and Tot Programs  Parent and Tot andPrograms Tot Programs  Parent

 Summer Camps Full-Day Infant—Preschool Full-Day Infant—Preschool Infant—Preschool Full-Day Programs at our OPRF HS Programs at our OPRF HS  Parent Programs Programs atand our Tot OPRF HS location location location Full-Day Infant—Preschool 8020 Madison Street 8020Madison Street HS 8020 Street Programs our OPRF River Forest , Madison ILat60305 River , IL, 60305 RiverForest Forest IL 60305 (708) 771-6159 www.rfcc.info location (708) 771-6159 www.rfcc.info Bring in this ad to receive $10.00 off your (708) 771-6159 www.rfcc.info initial registration fee! wj21 Bring in this ad to receive $10.00 off your

Bring initial in thisregistration ad to receive $10.00 off your fee! wj21 initial registration wj21 8020 Madisonfee!

Street

River Forest , IL 60305

In addition to hosting public events that build awareness about the importance of early childhood care and education, the Collaboration works to improve outcomes for Oak Park and River Forest children in their first five years of life. Using an equity lens, we work with local partners to support the families, educators, health professionals and systems leaders that care for our children and help them to thrive. The Collaboration’s work falls into

four key areas: Family Engagement, Early Learning, Community Engagement and Health & Development.

If you are new to Oak Park or River Forest and have young children (-- or are expecting to! --) contact the Collaboration by visiting www.collab4kids.org/contact or calling 708-613-6122. Take a look at the Collaboration’s Early Childhood Resource Directory on our website to see listings of child care centers, music, art, and other enrichment opportunities for children in Oak Park and River Forest.

Oak Park and River Forest provide free, high-quality preschool to children whose families meet eligibility criteria such as veteran status, income level, or if their child has a disability or developmental delay. If you believe you may be eligible for public preschool, reach out to us and we will help you with next steps.

Join the fun in the Early Childhood Program at the River Forest Community Center!

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he River Forest Community Center provides an age-appropriate curriculum designed to encourage positive group interaction as well as foster individual growth.

Our teachers thrive on creating a safe and fun learning environment through play in which children are encouraged to explore and develop their cognitive, language, social-intellectual and motor skills.

Our mission is to provide a hands-on approach to learning which allows the children to explore their environment while enhancing their social, emotional, cognitive and motor development.

Classes start as young as 15 months of age.

The Early Childhood Programs include: • Munchkins • Playschool • Preschool (Half-Day & Full-Day) • Pre-Kindergarten (Half-Day & Full-Day)

• Before & After School Programs The River Forest Community Center is located at 8020 Madison Street in River Forest.

For more information about the Early Childhood Programs, call 708-771-6159.

E D U C AT I O N & E N R I C H M E N T G U I D E

Special Advertising Section

March 31, 2021

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March 31, 2021

E D U C AT I O N & E N R I C H M E N T G U I D E

For Children in Grades K-5

Morning/Afternoon/ Full Day Sessions

By Discovery is inspired by children’s inquisitive and imaginative nature

W

e are kids at heart when it comes to art making. The process can Mann School, be immersive, freeing, playful, Oak Park meditative and revealing. By Discovery’s Week 1: July 19 -23 Summer Adventures Camp will provide students with space for community, Week 2: July 26 - 30 creativity and friendship. Through drawWeek 3: Aug 2 - 6 ing, painting, printmaking, collage, and sculpture, elementary school children Need Based Scholarships will participate in a wonderfully varied art experience. Multiple points of view are 10% Multiple Child Discount valued and we emphasize that there are numerous ways to approach a project.

By Discovery is inspired by children’s inquisitive and imaginative nature and we consistently nurture these attributes.

Contact us! www.bydiscovery.org • jocelyne@bydiscovery.org

Special Advertising Section

By Discovery (formerly Beye Discovery) was founded in 2011 by Jocelyne Adkins, MAAE, School of the Art Institute, Chicago.

She has devoted the past nine years to developing after school art enrichment activities as By Discovery’s Program Director and Lead Educator. Jocelyne has 19 years of teaching experience and is enthusiastic about her work with children.

Stacey Grieff, MSEd, Early Childhood

Education, joined By Discovery in 2019 as a Lead Educator. She emphasizes that creating something with your hands can build confidence, expand problem solving skills and fills one’s heart with joy.

Safety considerations, both physical and emotional, guide all of our interactions and activities. Our program closely adheres to all Covid-safety measures as guided by the CDC. Please visit bydiscovery.org to learn more and to register for summer camp and/or our after school art enrichment programs for the 2021/22 school year.

By Discovery is an after school enrichment program of the Beye & Lincoln PTOs, developed by By Discovery, LLC. Distribution of information by a community group in accordance with District 97 policy does not imply, directly or indirectly, that the group’s program(s), event(s) and/or service(s) is sanctioned, sponsored or endorsed by the district, the Board of Education or the superintendent.

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

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Wednesday Journal, March 31, 2021

VIEWPOINTS

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Candidate One Views p. 40-41

Oak Park progressive?

Not really

am amused, as someone who has lived in the Village for 40 years, to keep hearing how wonderful and progressive we are here.

The past two decades have achieved very little for the average resident but has been a haven for the corporate real estate developers and management firms. We have seen four high-rise apartment buildings go up in the downtown area and now a fifth building to be built in the quaint Pleasant District. No lower rent set asides for the most part was provided for the middle-class residents who have been here for years, but the amounts are placed in a fund that does very little to stop congestion in the downtown area and little evidence of placing poorer folks in any housing. We have got a downtown that’s a mere shadow of its past, and empty storefronts, which are made worse by the empty street-level frontage on most of the high-rises.

Not very inviting for shoppers at all, unless you’re in the market for a pizza.

Added to all this mess that village hall so proudly promotes is the fact that longtime residents are being forced out in droves. The new rental buildings are too expensive for many seniors ($3,000+ for a two bedroom, come on!), and the existing older apartment owners are somewhat upgrading their properties to get on the increased rental cost bandwagon. Rents that were in the $1,200/month range a couple of years back are getting a facelift, and these same buildings are being marketed at the $2,200 range in buildings that are over 50 years old. Where do the people go, especially seniors who may have a decent retirement savings but cannot afford an increase on 70%+ in rents? Higher housing costs are forcing many out of Oak Park and we’re losing some of our most productive and loyal residents as a result.

We hear daily now about why we should vote for one candidate or another and what they will do to improve our village. Terms like equity are thrown around but what of the minority seniors who are facing the same rent pressures as everyone. Contacting the village on this issue I received one decent email response and one with a single line stating Oak Park cannot control rents. No one was asking for rent control, but it appears that the trustees only pay slight attention to the voters, especially seniors when it’s election time.

The village will be the loser here, just as it was in many of its debacles, such as closing then reopening Lake Street.

Our representatives at village hall make their decisions and act all sure of themselves, but it’s the residents of Oak Park who face the consequences for decades to come. The current high-rise surge with the accompanying high rents will play out over the years, albeit with many productive seniors and minorities of lesser means no longer part of the Oak Park community. That’s a real loss for our village.

Progressive? Not by my understanding!

Jim Agin is a 40-year resident of Oak Park.

JIM AGIN

One View

D200 election and racial equity progress

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f anyone doubted that public policy can affect day-to-day living, that skepticism has likely evaporated with experiences of governmental management during the pandemic.

The impact of public policy on day-to-day living is new to only some of us. It is historically and adversely familiar to the disadvantaged at Oak Park and River Forest High School — in particular Black students who suffer under an inequitable tracking system.

District 200 has studied disturbing inequities in school culture, discipline, and achievement in compelling ways in 1991, 2003, and 2011. Board discussion of structural change began in 2016 and formally was incorporated into the 2017 Strategic Plan. For the last five years, concerned parents, citizens, an informed school board, a responsive administration, and a motivated faculty frequently convened to address racial equity holistically, and tracking in particular.

Implementation of the strategic plan’s equity goals, tied to the district’s racial equity policies and accountability procedures, must continue after the April 6 election. D200 has thoughtfully researched, trained, and planned for structural and equitable curriculum change.

Newly elected board members must embrace this breakthrough moment for all our students.

A commitment to the humanity of all students and to justice are moral imperatives. We know, and the research agrees, that tracking is harmful. Student growth, potential, and development, regardless of race, are limited in a segregated environment. Tracking divides the community, fosters a limited view of capabilities, is inconsistent with fairness and opportunity, and has no valid justification from any disciplined scholarship.

Education prepares students for life; the best education cannot be reserved for a select few. The belief that opportunity for all students translates into deprivation for students traditionally found in the highest tracks

promotes an incorrect paradigm of learning. Learning is exponential, not a zero-sum game.

D200 is ready to introduce the Access for All restructured freshman courses in 2022, with a representative spectrum of our community’s demographic. Claiming OPRF is not ready disparages the years of research and preparation, and the expertise of our teachers. Efforts to delay healing brought by racial equity remind us of the words of Rev. Martin Luther King: We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed. Frankly, I have yet to engage in a direct action campaign that was “well timed” in the view of those who have not suffered unduly from the disease of segregation. For years now I have heard the word “Wait!” It rings in the ear of every Negro with piercing familiarity. This “Wait” has almost always meant “Never.” We must come to see … that “justice too long delayed is justice denied.” We have waited for more than 340 years for our constitutional and God-given rights. (Letter from a Birmingham Jail) OPRF extols its motto, “Those Things That Are Best.”

Yet the majority of Black students continue to wait to experience the best that OPRF has to offer. The choice for equitable structural change as opposed to paternalistic remediation has never been more clear. We must elect D200 candidates committed to implementing a vision of racial equity that includes all students, a public policy that benefits all.

To view the positions of D200 candidates, see WJ Voters Empowerment Guide: https://www.oakpark.com/voterempowerment-guide

COMMITTEE FOR EQUITY & EXCELLENCE IN EDUCATION One View

Committee for Equity and Excellence in Education Oak Park Call to Action Suburban Unity Alliance Burcy Hines Wyanetta Johnson

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OPRF jitters

s OPRF enters the closing stretch of this most peculiar year, it is layering on still more uncertainty.

There is an election a week out. And while the six candidates for four open seats have the capacity to bring change, we don’t anticipate a wide diversion from the school’s focus on equity and a hint of financial restraint.

There is the search for a new superintendent to replace the well regarded Joylynn Pruitt-Adams. The sitting board has chosen to hire the next superintendent on its way out the door.

We get the impulse but given the timing of the announcement from Pruitt-Adams it has been a sped-up search process. That is not ideal.

Last week we reported that the school board put the breaks on a substantive overhaul of leadership within the school’s special education department. That entire process, and we recognize that special ed parents are always and rightly attuned to and suspicious of changes, seemed rushed. Good for the board for slowing it down. But we wonder how it got this far without more community input and administrative vetting.

This week comes word that LeVar Ammons, the school’s first Director of Equity and Student Success, is decamping. While he says positive things about his less than two years at OPRF, we are always curious when a school leader leaves without a new job in the offing.

Maybe multiple things will become clearer when the next superintendent is announced. In any case there will be challenges aplenty and we haven’t even mentioned COVID and getting students back to school no later than this fall.

Village and parks, finally

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V I E W P O I N T S

n a surprising turnabout Mayor Anan Abu-Taleb led the way last week for Oak Park’s village board to unanimously approve spending $400,000 from the village’s sustainability fund to match a potential grant for the park district’s proposed community rec center.

In the past, Abu-Taleb, who has had a frosty relationship with the park district since his first days in office, criticized the Madison Street project, fearing it would be paid for out of increased property taxes. For its part, the park district has long pledged to raise the capital for the $22 million construction cost from both its reserves and through its park foundation via private and public donations. So far it reports that $11 million has been earmarked.

Specifically, the park district is applying for a $1.6 million state grant which would augment the building’s sustainable features.

The $400,000 from village coffers would go toward making the building operate with zero emissions.

This page has also been skeptical about the rec center project and its potential impact on property taxes. The funding effort to date though has been impressive. And the park district has been plainspoken in its pledge to both construct the project without adding property taxes and to operate the building at break-even via fees. Its success operating the gymnastics center on Lake Street based on program fees is impressive.

For his part, we’d assume that Abu-Taleb is also eager to fill another gap-tooth spot along Madison Street on his way out of office in April. He can point to considerable success in remaking a desolate Madison Street over his eight years though it has not come without critics.

The parcel where a rec center would rise has long been owned

by Mary Jo and Stephen Schuler who are donating the property to the park district. Mary Jo Schuler is a co-chair of the project. The Schuler’s Good Heart Work Smart Foundation is also a donor to Growing Community Media, the nonprofit owner of Wednesday Journal.

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Our ‘walk the talk’ election

his could be a transformational election for Oak Park — or at least transitional. The last eight years (minus the pandemic) have been about accelerated economic development. Build tall buildings. Business interests in town were deeply frustrated by the lack of progress in the years before that. For the last eight years, they got their way. Didn’t matter much how the buildings looked.

What we got was architectural mediocrity, more residents to spend money here, more tax revenue (not sure how much), a Target and Cooper’s Hawk restaurant to go with the Trader Joe’s brought in by a previous tall building, and two buildings devoted to affordable housing.

Progress? Some, but the big buildings are uninspiring at best. Now another mediocrity has been proposed for the Drechsler funeral home site at Marion and Pleasant, with a second Pete’s Fresh Market grocery store on its way. Did we need another Pete’s Fresh Market? We’ll see.

Progress, but not progressive enough. On Tuesday we will likely see more progressives elected to the village board — and perhaps the two school boards as well. Equity across the boards, sustainability, affordable housing, reinventing policing, and reparations have been discussed.

Will the new village board members and the remaining trustees mesh or will there be conflict, even chaos? Do we need a village president to calm the waters or someone to stir things up? Or do we need some of both? Will we get progress or merely turbulence?

Will new, less experienced candidates channel their youthful energy in transformative ways?

Oak Park lost its progressive edge some time ago. Will we get it back?

Will we have development that demands more from developers and brings more benefits to the village, including architectural aesthetics?

Will the village move from integration and diversity to universal equity?

Will we transform our institutions and become a model of innovative governance again?

I sense a lot of pent-up energy. Maybe this is the moment.

In other words, will we continue to “talk the talk” or finally “walk the talk”? Talk is passive (and cheap). Walk is active (takes courage and skill). When you “walk the talk,” you turn talk into action. I’ve noticed that people often misuse that phrase, calling it “walk the walk,” which is redundant. The original term, “walk the talk” means to take action. In the Civil Rights Era of the 1950s and ’60s, they walked the talk.

At OPRF High School, walking the talk means restructuring the freshman curriculum to bring

opportunity and academic rigor to all students, starting in 2022. Four of the six candidates for the District 200 school board have committed to making that happen, which is an important first step in changing the long entrenched status quo of white privilege being served first and foremost.

The other great misuse of language is “defund the police,” which has been put up for referendum (non-binding) in next Tuesday’s election. Do you want to defund the police? A lot of us want to have a village-wide conversation (Talk) and then reinvent policing (Walk). But if you say “No” to “defund,” it will be interpreted as supporting the status quo which doesn’t want to make any changes to policing. If you say “Yes,” what you mean by “defund” might be very different from what others mean by it. You would also be encouraging misuse of language, and progressives need to cut that out because we’re undermining our credibility. That single word, “defund,” almost cost Democrats the House majority in the 2020 election. Imagine where we’d be if that had happened. And the 2022 mid-terms are looming in the not-too-distant future.

I plan to boycott this referendum. I don’t want to dignify it with my vote.

There are several things about the upcoming election, however, that delight me: ■ The number of young, energized candidates running; ■ The number of people of color running; and especially ■ The number of African Americans running.

I loved the AMENS Group’s full-page ad in our March 17 issue which “proudly celebrates” the nine Black candidates running for village offices (village board, village clerk, township board, District 97 and District 200). And that’s just in Oak Park. I also counted four Black candidates running in River Forest.

And several other people of color are running in both villages. It feels like a new day. If they win, that would be progress … and progressive.

And speaking of progressive, I was happy to hear both Oak Park village president candidates say they favor ditching the “mayor” label, which never felt right and needs to go.

And speaking of labels, decades back, conservatives succeeded in making “liberal” a dirty word. Now they’re trying to do the same with “progressive.” Over that period, of course, they also turned “conservative” into a dirty word, but that was through their own actions (and inaction). In my lexicon, “progressive” means anyone who believes in progress who is willing to do what it takes to make it happen.

I hope all of Tuesday’s winners walk the talk.

KEN

TRAINOR

V I E W P O I N T S

People of color deserve respectful coverage

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n his Feb. 10 column, “To defund or not to defund? That is not the question,” Journal editor Ken Trainor analyzed the upcoming referendum on “defunding the police.”

While I share Mr. Trainor’s concern that clarity is needed around the term “defund the police,” I found his contempt for both the term and the activists who popularized it to be disrespectful, to say the least.

Mr. Trainor referred to “defund the police” as “the worst slogan in the history of slogans” and sarcastically described the black activists who popularized the term as “brainiacs.” If these were attempts at humor, the problem is that the jokes punch down at black activists who face police abuse that Mr. Trainor, who is white, does not. Even if we put Mr. Trainor’s race aside, his decision to mock a term born out of such painful experiences and to denigrate the people whose language reflects those experiences was gratuitous.

He could have disagreed respectfully and said, for example, “I respect that ‘defund the police’ may be a reflection of experiences with police abuse that the black activists who popularized the term have had, but I do not believe that the term will garner support for police reform in Oak Park.”

Mr. Trainor also incorrectly explains police brutality as a consequence of “pressure” faced by police. However, Jon Burge and his accomplices did not sexually assault, beat while yelling the n-word and otherwise torture over 100 mostly black men because of “pressure.”

Derek Chauvin did not kneel on George Floyd’s neck for nearly nine minutes because of “pressure.” Moreover, if pressure was the problem, then police violence would be distributed evenly across the population, not disproportionately used against black, Latino and Native people.

That’s not a “pressure” problem; that’s a racism problem.

This is not the first time the Journal has fumbled its coverage of race. In a previous column, the paper’s publisher Dan Haley dismissively and paternalistically castigated Trustee Arti Walker-Peddakotla, the board’s only woman of color, for calling a white male nominee to the Police Oversight Committee “racist” and “misogynistic.”

The message that these incidents send is that, unless people of color only address racism in ways that white members of the Journal approve of, we will be mocked or castigated by the paper. This message will have a silencing effect on some people of color in the village and, as a result, allow some of the racism that we recognize to proceed unchallenged. Mr. Trainor, Mr. Haley and others can disagree with people of color on race, but doing so with such dismissiveness and hostility is unwarranted and unwise.

To avoid future missteps, the Journal needs to implement equity training. It also needs a clear, standardized, equity-based policy for covering race. People of color in Oak Park deserve more respectful coverage of our opinions and observations on race in this paper.

Alisa Robinson is a lifelong Oak Parker who runs the world’s only comprehensive record of Black Lives Matter demonstrations.

ALISA

ROBINSON One View

Editor’s note: Alisa, you’re right about “brainiacs.”

An unnecessary personal putdown, a function of the frustration I feel about the term “defund,” which I discuss in my column this week (opposite page). Thanks for pointing it out. And WJ did undergo equity training with our entire staff earlier this year.

Do more to show that Black lives matter

I am wondering if we can put a stop to the violence, police brutality, racism, and murder, so we can just be in peace. There is no reason why Blacks should be treated differently from whites. We all are humans who feel the same and do the same things to stay and be alive on this Earth. Black Lives Matter comes to my attention because I am Black and see how Black men and women are being treated because of a different shade of skin than whites. Where there is justice, there is peace with liberty.

We just want civil rights shown and given because we are citizens of the United States of America. Black people like George Floyd are being killed.

There are many solutions that can solve this issue today. A solution can be something that can make Blacks feel like they don’t have to worry about police brutality.

More solutions would include having a protest celebrate Blacks, more recognition for Blacks and how they do what they do, more talks about Blacks, and about the deaths of Trayvon, George, etc. Police brutality needs to stop; there shouldn’t be police killing Blacks because

they are frightened by the color of our skin. Without justice, there is no peace and Blacks will continue to act up, which means we must put a stop to this and put all of our differences to the side and let them be.

This should start happening now and continue on and on for as long as time. There shouldn’t be something where people don’t know how to feel. Blacks shouldn’t have to worry about police brutality when they are getting pulled over by a cop or when a cop asks them to put their hands up. We need to march and make sure that this stops, not now, but forever. We need to come together now and not leave anyone out because everyone is human and has feelings, so leaving someone out because of their race or skin color isn’t going to solve anything and won’t take us anywhere as a community.

We need to do more that involve the statements and movements of Black Lives Matter. Black Lives Matter should be something that is celebrated or acknowledged at least on a weekly basis.

Tayshaun Washington

OPRF High School

Waters for Oak Park Village Clerk

I recommend Christina Waters — without hesitation — for Oak Park Village Clerk. Christina brings intelligence, compassion, humility, a tireless work ethic, a demonstrated and intense commitment to community, a strong and active network, and a wealth of experience (she is already fulfilling these duties in her post as interim village clerk).

She is a lifelong product of Oak Park and represents

the best in us: the desire to build understanding and to collaborate; a value for amplifying unheard voices; and a vision for realizing our village’s promise through its legacy of inclusion and justice. Thank you, Christina, for running! You have my complete support!

Ana Garcia Doyle

17-year Oak Park resident D97 Green Teams, Kinfolk CoLab, One Earth Film Festival

Wednesday Journal, March 31, 2021

W E D N E S D A Y

JOURNAL of Oak Park and River Forest

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

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

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

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

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

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

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

‘ONE VIEW’ ESSAY

■ 250-word limit

■ 500-word limit

■ Must include first and last names,

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

■ Signature details as at left

your connection to the topic

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

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

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C A N D I D A T E

Leadership that truly matters

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t’s a common question I often field and I’ve started thinking about what it means to have experience. Helping to guide a diverse and dynamic village like Oak Park requires so much more than village board-sitting experience. It requires empathy, a yes-I-can attitude, a network of smart people, grit, vulnerability, and vision. I have all of that, and more.

My experience at the Park District of Oak Park is my most immediate and, to some, most relevant work experience. It’s easy to compare its organizational structure with the village since an elected board directs the executive, who then directs the staff. And while this experience certainly aids in my understanding of how government and the board functions, I don’t think it’s what makes me a great leader.

I would count my experience with the Boy Scouts as valuable, without question.

I have taught many Scouts, and other young people, about what it means to be an elected leader — the expectations, the responsibility, how it works, why it’s important.

But more than that, I’ve helped teach them about our community, what it needs, and about the people the village board actually serves. Proximity to a document, or a seat next to another elected official, does not make you a leader. Proximity to people that informs a vision for a better community is the most important thing.

Years of advocating for state and county legislative changes to improve access, quality of life, and funding for our neighbors has provided ample exposure to bud-

getary process and municipal governing.

I’ve heard that we should feel lucky to have “either woman” as village president, implying that the only prerequisite to succeeding in that position is that we’re not male or not like the current board leadership. This statement disregards the vast difference between the two women running.

This belief doesn’t ensure that we’re electing someone who will advocate at the state and county level about issues important to Oak Park, as I have.

It doesn’t mean we’re electing someone who has the will and tenacity to challenge a national organization from within the existing structure to change years of discriminatory rules like I did.

I have policy plans for affordable housing, climate justice, participatory budgeting, and sustainable development, all of which are available on my website, written in collaboration with community members and experts. In fact, leaders in these fields, like People’s Action and Sierra Club among others have endorsed me for this level of experience — for what I can bring to this job.

In this critical moment, we cannot be complacent because the status quo is hurting people. Oak Park needs leadership with vision and the drive to get us there. Join me in voting for the future, for making Oak Park a place that is open for all people. This vision is what Oak Park has traded on and I am dedicated to making that vision reality because I have the leadership experience that truly matters.

CATE

READLING One View

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OAKPARK.COM | RIVERFOREST.COM

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Vote for experience

am running for River Forest Village President. I am the most qualified and experienced candidate to lead a $30M government.

Lake and Lathrop, once a contaminated site, has now been remediated and is ready for construction. The board consciously decided that the village had to set aside money to make this site free of contaminants and vapor from the dry cleaner who dumped toxins into the ground.

The long-term vision of the village was always to clean the site. We learned that the contaminants were beginning to leach toward St. Luke Church across the street and the nearby Ashland Condos.

A developer agreed to buy the property in 2017/18 and demolished the buildings in 2019 so remediation could be done. If anyone tells you that after 11 years, we are still looking at an empty lot, that is simply not true. You cannot demolish buildings or build on a property you do not own. Since that time, the developer has relocated tenants, demolished the buildings, and remediated and cleaned the site. Today, we accomplished our goal of ensuring the health and safety of our community, our school children and residents who live by the contaminated land.

The board voted favorably on an Affordable Housing Planning and Appeals Act (AHPAA) that was recommended for passage by the Village Plan Commission. The Affordable Housing Plan (AHP) will help River Forest exceed the required target of 10%. We are proud of the fact that we have a diverse housing stock. Since I took office in 2013, our affordable housing stock for the middle class grew from 4.4 percent to just over 9 percent by 2018.

Together with Dominican University, the village addressed the growing need to openly discuss diversity, equity and inclusion issues in our community. Due to my initiative and leadership, those discussions with Dr. Carroll and Dr. Radford-Hill from Dominican happened in earnest, and we quickly acted by forming a partnership agreement to work together.

I have used the phrase, “building on the progress,” because that is exactly what we will be doing. I have led the board on three guiding principles and values: 1. Ensure our community is safe and welcoming. Together our community is managing to get through a once-in-a-lifetime pandemic. We created a communication plan, a senior response team to care for our older adults, and we worked with other taxing bodies to ensure the health and safety of our community.

2. Strengthen our quality of life. The village is committed to our older adults and our planet, to building a better infrastructure to mitigate flooding in our community, and working with our surrounding communities to be a better and more efficient government.

3. Stabilize our property taxes. River Forest has balanced its budget for the last 10 years. Recently, the village took the historic action of reducing our property taxes. We must spend within our means, find cost savings, and enhance revenue opportunities.

I will utilize my involvement in the Illinois Municipal League to advocate for grants and other sources of funding to help reduce reliance on property taxes.

I ask for your vote on April 6! For more information, please visit my website at www. cathyforRiverForest.com.

CATHY ADDUCI One View

OPRF can live up to its commitments

y campaign for District 200 Board of Education was born out of my love and appreciation for Oak Park and River Forest High School and the promise of what it can become. I believe OPRF can live up to its commitment to ensure that all students are well-equipped to take on the challenges of our complex, culturally diverse, and ever-changing world. And I believe it can be done in a fiscally responsible way.

My family and I moved to Oak Park 10 years ago and fell in love with the community’s diversity, friendly neighbors, and excellent schools. Our daughter, Breanna, matriculated through Holmes, Brooks, and OPRF, and is now a freshman in the UIC Honors Program. Along

her educational journey, we began to realize that there were many inequities, which became increasingly visible throughout her high school years.

My volunteer involvement at the high school has given me insight into the realities, needs, and possibilities. For the past two years, I’ve served as a member of the D200 Culture, Climate and Behavior Committee where I have been thoroughly engaged in the goal of creating more equitable experiences for our students.

I’m also a member of D200’s Community Council which serves in an advisory capacity to the high school

administration and Board of Education.

My dream is that my two young sons, Kemuel and Khayan, will attend an OPRF that encourages their success, is well along the path of eradicating structural racism and bias, and truly embodies excellence and equity in all facets of student life. My commitment to the residents of Oak Park and River Forest is to strive to ensure that each student has the opportunities and support needed to blossom and thrive.

I also pledge to respectfully and responsibly manage the finances of the resi-

KEBREAB HENRY One View

dents of Oak Park and River Forest. We can find creative ways to meet the needs of our students without continuous tax increases. Holding the line on property taxes is critical if we value racial and economic diversity in our communities.

As a business owner and project manager, I have managed large-scale budgets.

This involves minimizing costs while maximizing efficiencies and impact.

Delivering sound judgment and excellent service has been the key to my continued success. I will bring this same skillset to the school board.

On April 6, I humbly ask for your vote.

With your support, I believe OPRF can, and will be, a stellar school we can all take pride in, where all students are fully prepared for success.

V I E W P O I N T S

OAKPARK.COM | RIVERFOREST.COM

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Transparency is key to being Village Clerk

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y name is Lou Anne Johannesson, and I am asking for your vote for Oak Park Village Clerk on April 6.

The role of the Clerk is to ensure the public has full, easy, and equitable access to their government.

I understand complex municipal governance here in Oak Park and have put that knowledge to work in our community for many years. My passion for Oak Park, work ethic, and attention to detail ensure nothing is overlooked.

In addition to growing up as well as raising my family in Oak Park, my 18 years with District 97, extensive experience with citizen committees and elected boards developed a deep reserve of experience to manage the Office of Village Clerk.

I am offering to serve the public without any affiliation to any candidate and have run without affiliation to any slate or any other candidate in this election. I firmly believe that independence in the role of clerk is vital and serves as a check on the village board. In my current roles for D97 and IGOV, I perform the same duties as the Office of Clerk; record-keeping, enforcement, monitoring of the Open Meetings Act, organizing meetings, support of citizen-led committees, and acting as a centralized point of information.

Transparency is key to the Clerk’s Office. Transparency to me means honesty through communication. Transparency is the government’s obligation to share information in a timely and thorough manner with the public. To that extent, it is the primary responsibility of the clerk, as the official recordkeeper of the village to provide that transparency. I plan to be independent of the board and to strictly focus on the needs of the people of Oak Park. I see the village clerk not as a political position, but as a position that brings support to the people of Oak Park.

I have worked with our Facilities Advisory Committee, Financial Oversight Committee, and our Family Engagement Committee. I have worked for nine years with the D97 CLAIM Committee. We have worked on ideas and legislation developing equity and restorative justice policies, met with legislators in support of or opposition to legislation affecting our district, and hosted the annual Legislators Forum providing a meaningful event between our state legislators, community partners working on behalf of kids and families, and the public who could speak directly to legislators in a town hallstyle format. We worked with legislators on Senate Bill 100, which was passed to implement student discipline reforms.

I brought the students responsible for that legislation, from the group VOYCE, to Oak Park for a powerful evening where we learned the origin of the journey that ultimately resulted in significant legislation that changed the lives of students.

I have made a difference in our community through my ability to organize information and ensure that groups communicate and achieve shared goals. I am asking for your vote to continue to serve this wonderful community, to move forward with meaningful change for all.

LOU ANNE

JOHANNESSON One View

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V I E W S

Compassion-centered leadership

ompassion is an essential element of good leadership. On a fundamental level, compassion requires: listening, serving those in need, and rebuilding trust.

These qualities serve as pillars of good leadership and embody the type of leadership the village needs now; particularly, as our community enters a phase of healing from the pandemic, business and economic recovery, and healing our planet through environmental efforts.

We see the need for compassion most acutely in the context of political discourse.

From the drafting of the Constitution and the heated debates that took place in the Federalist Papers, political debate has been a longstanding tradition in our democracy. Impassioned political discourse is central to the way we communicate viewpoints and understand other perspectives. As a community, Oak Parkers have long held the belief that hearing all sides is an important way to understand the full scope of an issue. In addition, political discourse is a way for candidates to be transparent about their policy ideas and intentions so that voters can understand who they are voting for in the election.

In this election cycle, however, we have witnessed a devolution in the tone and nature of political discourse.

While politics has always had an impassioned and at times heated tone, we have seen political discourse become much more hostile and divisive. If our political conversations are going to be productive and solutionfocused, they need to start with listening. This involves listening with the clear intent to understand another’s

perspective, in a way that is unbiased.

Second, it includes a genuine concern for one another and the willingness to sit in the discomfort of an experience that is different from your own. In addition, it is a rejection of a leadership framework based on power and control. Instead it allows for leadership that is focused on serving the community.

Lastly, compassion-centered politics engages a level of trust-building that is important to gaining traction on the issues that divide us.

When we operate from a perspective of compassion, we encourage even greater participation in political discourse. Segments of our community who are often excluded from the discussion can gain trust by participating in the discourse.

This leads to more comprehensive representation as voices that have previously been silenced or discouraged can now be heard.

Compassion-centered leadership calls us to a higher level of leadership. As we end our current local election cycle, we will look to leadership that is ready to address issues on community safety, environmental responsibility, budget shortfalls and a business community still recovering economic losses. Making hard policy decisions, particularly for a diverse electorate like Oak Park, can be difficult.

Compassion-centered politics gives us a roadmap for discussions to be productive. It will provide a space for disagreement that does not fall into the trap of divisive and polarized conversations. Let us hold ourselves and our leaders accountable for moving us through this phase of divisiveness and elect officials who can lead us toward healing. We all deserve it.

LUCIA

ROBINSON One View

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What I learned running for trustee

have said before that we are in an unprecedented time, and that goes for this Village Trustee election cycle as well — candidates have campaigned almost entirely online, no incumbents ran for office, and inflammatory issues inundated us weekly. I wanted to reflect on what I have learned from the campaign and how it makes me a better trustee for you to elect on April 6.

Through this campaign, I have learned how bright the future of Oak Park can be because of two things — you and the all the great people who have been Oak Parkers before us.

I hope to do justice to you and them.

You are among the so many dedicated villagers in Oak Park. I hear your dedication echoed in the calls to address equity, food insecurity, parking, affordability, and so many other issues.

Your neighbors are powering organizations like Housing Forward, Beyond Hunger, Thrive Counseling Center, and many more throughout the community that impact people every day. But you and others recognize that Oak Parkers set a high bar for how we address marginalized communities. As trustees, we need to stretch to meet that bar. If we set stretch goals of engaging marginalized communities, we can make innovation happen. I welcome the chance to innovate with you and take heart in the wealth of dedication we have in the village to push higher.

In the effort to push higher, we should also applaud the strides of those who came before us and made Oak Park a unique place among municipalities and Chicagoland communities. Oak Park is special because it is one of the most consistently integrated communities around Chicago. But things that are special are often fragile and require nurturing to be successful over the long term. So we should take this time to value the work of pioneers like Bobby Raymond, like Percy Julian, and so many others who have made Oak Park stand out. It is their legacies that I plan to keep in mind as the world pushes and pulls at our 4.7-square-mile village.

Your voice, and the inspiration of those who came before us, are at the foundation of my plans: improving diversity and equity, promoting business recovery and innovation, and reimagining development, our role in climate change, and community safety. I provided visions to cap property tax levy increases at 3% consistently, which will attract businesses and residents to Oak Park. I have suggested how our community policing model should change over the next four years. I have asked that the Oak Park board use the sustainability fund for its intended purpose.

If elected on April 6 to be trustee, I hope to fill the role that will help take us to a brighter future for you, for your families, and for those who came before us.

STEPHEN MORALES One View

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Wednesday Journal, March 31, 2021

A former Adduci stalwart, voting for Henek

proudly voted for Cathy Adduci in 2013 and 2017, even held a coffee for her. And I was pretty pleased with her first term.

It’s been downhill since, her second term the poster child for bad government, politics, and smoke-andmirrors. After witnessing firsthand Village Trustee Patty Henek’s extensive attempts to bring politics-free good sense and transparency to the village board these past four years, I have no doubt that if we elect Patty village president next Tuesday, we can turn this descent into mediocrity around and achieve real progress for River Forest.

While Patty fought to obtain full information and transparency before voting on development proposals, ordinances and plans, Cathy has repeatedly abused her power as village president to obstruct Patty’s good-government efforts. Cathy and her allies on the village board spent months delaying formation of the long-promised Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Commission that Patty championed from the beginning — until just before next week’s election, and then Cathy claimed all the credit.

Patty sought full information on the ill-conceived development proposal for Lake & Lathrop, where condos are priced well beyond the means of 2/3 of River Forest residents. Cathy used the powers of the presidency to consistently restrict access to much-needed information — leading to a series of ill-informed and ill-advised decisions, including subsidizing the developer with $2 million of taxpayer money when the developer told me he would make far more than the $6.5 million profit I was estimating.

Cathy keeps rewriting history to serve her political ends.

At Wednesday Journal’s candidate forum, she asserted that the Plan Commission discussed mandatory inclusionary zoning and decided it’s not a good option for River Forest because there are only one or two new developments every decade. I listened to or attended those meetings and can attest that inclusionary zoning was rejected out of hand in just minutes by a Plan Commission that still has no idea how inclusionary zoning produces affordable housing at no cost to taxpayers while increasing property tax revenues from the development.

Contrary to Cathy’s assertion at another forum, the tepid Affordable Housing Plan does ignore the housing needs of middle-class River Foresters. And let’s not forget how Cathy did all she could to force adoption of the inadequate plan that trustees Henek, Bachner, and Brennan — and more than 90% of residents commenting on the plan — sought to strengthen with protections to preserve the little affordable housing River Forest has and to address middleclass housing needs.

Cathy asserts that River Forest is a disability-friendly community, but since she took office she has declined to eliminate the provisions in the village’s zoning ordinance that blatantly discriminate against people with disabilities.

If River Forest is to really progress, it can no longer afford the smoke and mirrors of bad government characterizing Cathy’s second term. We need a village president who is honest, level-headed, and a stateswoman, not a politician.

That’s why I’ve switched and urge you to join me in voting for Patty Henek on Tuesday to establish good government practices, bring real transparency to River Forest, and give us the excellent government we deserve.

DANIEL LAUBER One View

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OAKPARK.COM | RIVERFOREST.COM

Scaman brings the strength of experience Running for public office isn’t for everyone. The hardest part comes after you win. Vicki Scaman, the candidate I support for Village President didn’t come to her decision lightly. I know because we’ve talked about what it means to run in this present environment. I’m glad she had the foresight to run because, more than ever, we will need a village leader who is independent, highly capable and respected — and most of all, experienced in local government.

There are basically two kinds of candidates: One who runs on what they promise to do, one who runs on the strength of what they have done. Vicki is the latter.

Experience does matter. Past performance is generally an indicator of future performance. We need to know what a candidate can get done, how much we can trust the chances to be effective once in office. Commanding the bullhorn is not the same as having demonstrated and delivered meaningful outcomes.

You should know that throughout the campaign, Vicki has carried out her duties as village clerk, a full-time job, with the same level of integrity and professionalism that

Henek has more to offer

she always has. Numerous people have told me the many quiet ways that Vicki has assisted them over the years.

None of us can argue that Oak Park is grappling with issues that will determine its future livability: budget pressures, affordability, what true public safety means, climate change, racial justice, and, recently, a needed discussion on reparations.

When I think about what it means to be a public servant — and that’s what elected officials are — I remember these lines of a favorite Marge Piercy poem “To be of use”: I love people who harness themselves, an ox to a heavy cart, who pull like water buffalo, with massive patience, who strain in the mud and the muck to move things forward, who do what has to be done, again and again.

That’s Vicki, not seeking the limelight, but always acting for the common good, doing what is right and fair. Again and again. That’s why I urge you to put faith in experience, not slogans or promises, and cast your vote for Vicki Scaman.

Cassandra West Oak Park

Enyia will promote community

I’m amused that people say I’ve changed my mind — or my endorsement — from Cathy Adduci to Patty Henek. It reinforces something I’ve often said: reading is a skill that, sadly, is in short supply. Apparently when I said the following a few days before endorsing Patty, some took it as an endorsement; “Perhaps the chief thing we learned [in a debate] is that Cathy Adduci understands the president’s job as that of CEO while Patty Henek does not. The contrast between them as executives with budget and staff experience was perhaps most striking. Ms. Henek’s experience is quite clearly not as compelling as that of Ms. Adduci. But both of them would do well to have much sharper thoughts about issues and stating them clearly and concisely.” Where in that statement anyone can find an “endorsement” is a mystery. It’s an observation.

After that I talked at length with Patty Henek and said the same thing to her. She said that were she to do it all over again, she would not have said that the village president is not the “CEO.” She very clearly understands what the job is.

I asked Patty directly where she stands on the currently weak diversity declaration, on the embarrassing affordable housing plan and on Lake & Lathrop. I already know that Ms. Adduci is proud of the diversity initiative, no matter that it’s wholly inadequate; and I’ve listened to her on affordable housing enough to know that she has no intention of changing anything about it. Patty agrees that the village must step up in a much more meaningful way on diversity and that, with the current “plan,” no affordable housing will ever appear in our village. As for Lake-Lathrop, she agrees that any observer with any knowledge of the project understands that the developers simply do not have anything close to the necessary financing to build that project. It has to be shut down.

So no. I did not change any “endorsement.” I like Ms. Adduci. But she’s proven in eight years that she has nothing more to offer us.

From this impressive field of exceptional candidates in the coming election, I have chosen to support Chibuike Enyia’s candidacy for Oak Park Trustee. Chibuike remind us that we have much work to do solving the problems that confront us in Oak Park. In the approaching aftermath of our national calamities, our community will need individuals who are able to concisely interpret, communicate and act upon a broad spectrum of issues in the wake of COVID, divided democracy, inequities, ailing businesses and schools — just to name a few. This crop of young and diverse candidates for president and trustees holds promise for intersecting and engaging lingering problems that have all too often been dealt with through dysfunctional performances.

Chibuike presents an opportunity for this community to select a committed individual who has readied himself to take on leadership responsibilities at the board level. He was raised in Oak Park, educated in Oak Park schools, and comes from strong traditions of caring, and sharing. He has made his home here with his wife and children, has worked with youth, mentoring and modeling values modeled for him in his youth to children he hopes will pass it on. He has grown to manhood here, an award-winning worker in the tech industries, started his own business, and has participated in initiatives that have enhanced our community.

His proposals and ideas to address the pandemic, equity, the growth of businesses, and affordable housing deserve favorable scrutiny. Chibuike brings to the table perspectives, skills and experiences that will enrich and hasten deliberations into actions that will hopefully transform the life spaces of our village.

Finally, his plan for Community Engagement in Governing Oak Park lays out a thoughtful and inclusive framework for building successful and harmonious spaces in our village. He comes prepared to serve his community, despite the setbacks heir to all humans who aspire to a successful life. We’ve arrived at a place and time, in which we can no longer ignore the lingering priorities that divide us.

Chibuike will work for us all at the table.

River Forest

Oak Park

Ed McDevitt

George Bailey

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OAKPARK.COM | RIVERFOREST.COM

Odom brings mental health expertise

I am writing to support and endorse Kate Odom for the District 97 school board. Kate stands out among all the candidates (and existing board members) from her professional background as a clinical psychologist. Mental health expertise would be a welcome addition to the D97 board, both right now and, even more importantly, to help guide the district forward and out of the pandemic.

Kate is not only a child psychologist with experience working directly with students, she also has worked at the individual school and broad school district level. From her work at all these levels she has developed vast “person-centered” skills. She can balance opposing views effectively while always helping everyone involved stay focused on what is best for the students.

She thrives in high-conflict situations and is experienced in guiding people with differing opinions to effective and efficient decisions while validating, respecting, and honoring all stakeholders. These skills are imperative moving forward to in-person learning, hiring a new superintendent, proceeding toward more equitable educational practices, and negotiating contracts with the teachers association. She would be an incredibly valuable addition to the board to lead, guide, and support the district through these many upcoming transitions and many other decisions that will have long-term impacts on the education and mental health of our youngest Oak Park citizens and the village as a whole.

Personally, I knew Kate when she first decided to run for the board and we had conversations about the district. She was very interested in a few topics that came from her professional background: understanding the district’s policies on discipline and its impact on equity, accessibility to services for all students, and how to build trauma-informed classrooms that help all students thrive. These were all critical issues that needed someone with her expertise to help guide the district.

Then COVID happened. And while the initial focus was on making decisions for the physical health of our students and community, Kate was focused very early on understanding the impact on the mental health of our school district: students, teachers, staff, and parents. This area has not received enough focus and it is one that does not go away when the kids are back in class. We will be dealing with the mental health impacts and trauma of COVID for years to come and Kate is the ideal person to have on the School Board for those coming years.

She brings a critical and unique perspective to the board that touches every issue, every student, and every adult in the district.

I encourage everyone to vote for Kate Odom for D97 school board.

April Bowgren

Board certified behavior analyst and Oak Park mom

Lester gets things done

I can’t vote for Val Lester for Oak Park Township Trustee, but I sure endorse her! Why? Because I live in River Forest, and we get many of our township services from Oak Park. So Val’s expertise, judgment and fresh thinking will have an impact on River Forest Township services.

I’ve volunteered with Val on a number of strategic planning projects and she is one of the best thinkers I’ve met. She’s an energized “do-er,” reaching out to people in the village to get the facts, opinions and insights on what’s needed in the township. She is especially connected to seniors, one of the most important constituents of Oak Park Township.

Vote for Val Lester for Oak Park Township Trustee and all of us will benefit.

Chris Hauri

River Forest

Wednesday Journal, March 31, 2021

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Ignore false equivalency, vote Readling Oak Parkers on social media have read frequently about “two great women running for village president.” This ignores the candidates’ vastly different qualifications, skillsets, and approaches to community building.

I have asked both candidates tough questions on Facebook. Cate Readling responded honestly and thoughtfully in the public medium and reached out personally.

She didn’t ignore my questions and listened intently before we arrived at consensus. This is the leadership we need, not more of the same.

But this isn’t about interactions with one constituent. I am endorsing Cate Readling based on …

Professional qualifications: Vicki Scaman’s position gives her limited clerical experience inside village government; Cate has been working tirelessly with governing entities to create more equitable and inclusive systems, starting with her work with Scouts for Equality through her work on the Clean Energy Jobs Act, the Coalition to End Money Bond and more.

Lived experiences: Recently, a village trustee candi-

date endured a process where a committee speculated on personal situations instead of objectively considering his obvious residency. Vicki asked racially insensitive questions and repeatedly gave fellow committee members justification to slander a Black man’s character. As a woman of color, Cate is not ignorant of multigenerational living, and she certainly would not have been complicit in this ordeal.

Alignments: Cate has maintained her integrity by recruiting committee members for her campaign who reflect her truly progressive values. She engages in discussions with community members who disagree with her, and whenever she learns better, she does better, to paraphrase Maya Angelou.

Cate has an insider’s knowledge of our community, but as an outsider to the village board, she will not repeat their mistakes from the past four years. We need new yet qualified leadership at the top, and Cate Readling is the only woman for that job!

Asra Syed

Oak Park

Why Readling is Oak Park’s Leslie Knope When Leslie Knope from NBC’s Parks and Recreation said, “If I seem too passionate, it’s because I care. And if I come on strong, it’s because I feel strongly. If I push too hard, it’s because things aren’t happening fast enough,” she was absolutely talking about Cate Readling.

Cate and Leslie have the following five things in common, too: 1. They’re dedicated. We alluded to it above, but Cate doesn’t sleep if there’s work to be done. And when she works, she works tirelessly. The open joke is that she knows everyone in Oak Park because she’s involved in, as she says, “all the things.” She thrives in situations where she has new people to meet, brains to storm and conversations to be had.

2. They care about their towns. These last few weeks, we’ve watched certain people launch baseless attacks on Cate’s credibility. She doesn’t need four years in the dysfunction of village hall to prove she can be a leader in Oak Park. She’s been doing it for years, on the ground working with people to get things done because she loves it here — and she wants to make it better.

3. They form great teams. Working with Cate has been a gift to us because she genuinely cares about what we think. She keeps us focused on what’s really important.

She delegates. And she trusts us. There is no reason to believe she wouldn’t do this with every member of the village board and beyond.

4. They are enthusiastic. If you’ve ever met Cate, you will remember because she will hug you and tell you she loves you. And she means it. Her enthusiasm and passion extend to things most important to her, whether it’s equity and inclusion, or fair housing and sustainability. She works hard to amplify all voices.

5. They run for office. When Leslie Knope said, “Let’s break out a map. Not the old, out-of-date one that shows where we’ve been, but a crisp new one that shows where we might go. Let’s embark on a new journey together, and see where it takes us,” she was definitely talking about Cate. Join us on this new journey and vote for Cate Readling for Oak Park Village President on April 6.

Abbey Lewis & Autumn Hamer Oak Park

Robinson has what it takes This letter is in support of Lucia Robinson for Oak Park Village Trustee. As a Northeast Oak Park resident for nearly a decade, I remember valuing the diversity I saw in the community I was about to move into to raise my daughter. It reminded me of the promise of experiences and conversations that filled my childhood. Kalamazoo, Michigan is diverse, filled with problems, and thoughtful, caring people full of solutions.

I see Oak Park as similar in that manner. Getting to know Lucia and her family for the past (nearly) decade allows me to endorse her. She embodies the promise to help guide our village.

Lucia cares greatly for the community. More importantly, she will instill values such as caring and equity while advocating for initiatives such as fair affordable

housing, strengthening community partners such as Housing Forward, and ensuring fiscal responsibility.

Good decision-making comes from the ability to listen, communicate and execute effective planning. Lucia exudes these qualities.

It is no wonder Lucia is a successful attorney helping organizations craft compliance policy. Her calm demeanor, listen-first attitude helps her assess and ask questions to understand a situation. We need people of Lucia’s quality and temperament to help us through these potentially divisive times.

I hope you support and vote for Lucia Robinson for Oak Park Village Trustee.

Adam Nirenberg Oak Park

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Wednesday Journal, March 31, 2021

Clark, Enyia, Griffin: A shining moment For anyone who has volunteered for a political campaign or cause in the past, you probably know the drill. You are moved by an issue, a candidate, a moment, and you tentatively raise your hand to join that cause and make a difference. For most of us, a tentative handraise (“I can maybe do 4-5 hours per week?”) turns into a full-time side job that lasts for months and pays you nothing (10 p.m. phone calls, frantic text messages, stress and heartache).

It is a wild ride, an emotional roller coaster that offers little feedback throughout the process and becomes a vacuum of hours, energy and anxiety.

But. Sometimes you might be lucky enough to work for candidates who infuse joy and community into everything they do. Such is the case with the Represent Oak Park candidates: Anthony Clark, Chibuike Enyia and Juanta Griffin.

All of the undersigned volunteered in different ways and at different stages along the campaign — a few hours for graphics, a day or two for phone bank-

ing, help with social media support. And along the way all of us have been moved by these candidates, what they stand for and what they will bring to the board table.

Yes, we are notably biased — we’ve been intentionally working to elect these candidates. We’ve been the ones working directly with them, under stressful conditions, for months! We know how they respond to pressure, how they deal with conflict and how they navigate complex situations. We have seen them celebrate and watched them process pain and grief. With that unique insight, we wholeheartedly endorse Anthony, Chibuike and Juanta to join Oak Park’s Village Board of Trustees.

They will bring an incredible blend of education (seven college degrees among them) and experience (armed services veteran, educator, nonprofit leader, small business owner, and multicultural coordinator). They are uniquely qualified to continue their public service journeys into this next chapter. And they are committed to the values we hold

dear in Oak Park — community engagement, equity, service and transparency.

These are three people who are deeply impacted by affordability and public safety in our village — they will be the last people to take either of those issues lightly.

Beyond their stellar qualifications, these candidates bring love, joy, care and community to everything they do. Bearing witness to their dynamic — how they hold one another accountable, how they disagree amongst themselves, and how they bring out the best in each other — has been an honor and a gift.

We volunteered for them, we will vote for them and we hope you will vote for them also.

Makesha Flournoy, Brynne Hovde, Brian Straw, Dima Ali, Shayla Bell, Donnie Biggins, Zerrin Bulut, Ziyad Dadabhoy, Suzanne Feeney, Marcy Grant, Yvonne Judice, Sue Mitra, Elle Morton, Emily Neumann, Erin Sowers, Alison Price, Jacquelyn Rodriguez, Kristina Rogers, Anjali Tekchandani, Wailin Wong

Comparing Adduci and Henek Candidates run on their records, notably because that is generally the best indicator of how they will perform if elected or reelected. And Cathy Adduci’s record as President is one that all River Forest residents can be proud of.

However, there seems to be a lack of recognition that Patty Henek is also a village policymaker. She should be running on her four-year record as village trustee. But she isn’t. She is running on her prior roles relative to Lemon-Aid and Holiday Gift Basket.

So, I offer the following for consideration.

Transparency: Each of the trustees on the current board agreed to tackle a potential village issue. Patty took on the issue of Communication/Transparency. She brought to her fellow trustees only one proposal relative to zoning notices. Based on her inactions as trustee, transparency as a campaign issue is a non-starter.

Leadership and Action: Patty has only initiated one proposal for a board vote in the last four years. She doesn’t understand the leadership role that trustees are to take although her fellow trustees have led by example. She has sought to make alleged board “delay” a campaign issue. One example given is Cathy’s alleged delay in proposing that the village join what was previously Dominican University’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Framework formulated for Dominican only. Patty could have thought of the same idea. But she didn’t. In other words, think innovatively faster Cathy.

Another “delay” is the length of time it took for the Deer Committee to act. But

Patty forfeited her right to complain. She resigned from leading the committee, saying that she did not have time to attend meetings. Quitting the Deer Committee speaks poorly of her leadership and collaborative skills, as well as her commitment to her office.

Her third criticism of delay is the Lake and Lathrop site. Patty, the sole “no” vote on the Redevelopment Agreement, was asked what she would do differently. She stated that any proposals by her would not have been considered because the other board members were “insiders.”

The trustees who voted “yes” are Bachner, Brennan, Cargie and O’Connell. The only group of which they are all members is the Village Board. In that regard, Patty is an insider too. Significantly, her statements indicate that she does not hold a persuasive and collaborative position on the village board. But a village president has to work collaboratively with everyone.

Progress and the Public Good: Another message is that Patty represents change.

But change is dependent on action. Her record as Trustee is one of inaction. In contrast, Cathy has an established record of strong leadership, collaborative work, fresh and innovative ideas, getting things done and an extraordinary commitment to her office and devotion to River Forest and its residents.

Please make an informed vote for Cathy Adduci for Village President.

Carolyn Kilbride

River Forest

Represent Oak Park Core Campaign Team

OAKPARK.COM | RIVERFOREST.COM

Why Adduci should be re-elected We are lucky Cathy Adduci is willing to devote her time and energy to help lead our community.

She has the experience, the business background, and the leadership skills that are so important for this position. She has given our community outstanding service and has shown a dedication to the values important to River Forest. Particularly in this last difficult year, in the midst of a health and economic crisis, her leadership and communication skills have been very important.

Cathy has improved our cooperation with our neighboring communities, worked well with other governing bodies and been a leader in municipal organizations, all for the benefit of River Forest. It is also important to re-elect her because the village will be selecting a new village manager and she has the experience and knowledge to find the right person for this critical position.

For all these reasons and more, I endorse Cathy Adduci for River Forest Village President.

Carlotta Lucchesi

Former member, president of D90 Board of Education Former member, president of D200 Board of Education

Oak Park is at an inflection point For years, I have made a point of declining to make public endorsements in our local elections. I had no intention of breaking my self-imposed rule in the current election cycle, but in light of the recent racist flyers mass-mailed throughout Oak Park by a group that is using the vagueness of election laws to hide in the shadows, I can no longer stay silent.

I will be voting for Anthony Clark, Chibuike Enyia, and Juanta Griffin (the Represent Oak Park slate) for Village Trustee.

All six of the village trustee candidates have skills, experiences, and public service within our community that would be valuable at the board table. The candidates from the Unite Oak Park slate (Ravi Parakkat, Stephen Morales, and Lucia Robinson) have given commendable service on our citizen commissions.

However, we are at an inflection point, and I am voting based on the type of vision our community needs in order to meet this moment.

Last week, I read the initial statements of the Unite Oak Park candidates after the public was made aware of the ad drawing attention to the “Vote No on Defund the Police” website and urging support for the Unite slate. There is a subtle but crucial distinction between “I had no advance knowledge of the ad and I did not authorize it” vs. “I reject the tactics and rhetoric of the group responsible for this ad and renounce their support.”

The group responsible for the ad has since sent mailers with the vilest racist dog

whistles throughout Oak Park. The belated disavowals represent a shift in tone from the Unite slate, but that’s too little, too late.

Our community must make it clear that we immediately and unequivocally reject these tactics. Two of my great fears are that if the Unite candidates are elected, the takeaway from the election will be “racist dog whistles are an effective campaign strategy in Oak Park,” and also that the understandable mistrust will make it impossible for Unite slate to gain the trust of the community that is an essential prerequisite for successful governance.

When I moved to Oak Park 25 years ago, I trusted that Oak Park would provide a nurturing and safe environment for my children, and for all of our children.

We as a community have not adequately grappled with data showing that 94% of the youth stopped by Oak Park police are Black. The negative impact on the well-being and safety of the Black children in our community has been ignored or discounted. This is unacceptable.

More than ever, we need to fight to retain the values that Oak Park professes to believe in. Last night, I attended a vigil organized by OPRF Asian-American students. I was simultaneously moved by their moral clarity, and saddened that there is still so much work to be done.

In order to meet the moment we are in, I am voting for the Represent Oak Park slate.

I hope that you will do likewise.

Carollina Song

Oak Park

OAKPARK.COM | RIVERFOREST.COM

Parakkat: demonstrated leadership

I am voting for Ravi Parakkat on April 6 and I urge you to do the same. Here’s why: Once the campaign rhetoric dies down, trustees have two basic and interconnected tasks: working with staff to develop and then approve the village budget and providing unified and actionable direction to the village manager. Ravi has demonstrated that he has the skills to take on both these tasks. By developing TakeOut 25, he demonstrated that he understands budgets and how fiscal information can drive decisions.

He used data to create a problem-solving approach that engaged thousands of people around a common goal. He showed that he understands a budget is a moral, policy document. That’s leadership.

Ravi was recently named, without his knowledge or consent, in a flyer encouraging a “No” vote on the defund police referendum, which led to quick social media judgments without fact checking. When Ravi and I talked about this, the conversation turned to Ravi’s belief that social media can be a positive tool for community engagement. He was unwavering in his conviction that trustees need to use every strategy feasible to reach out, solicit opinions, and share information. A negative experience is simply a problem to be addressed, a process to be improved. He understands that before providing direction to the manager, every trustee needs to listen with humility — to the community, staff, and other trustees. Only then can one cull the best from all the ideas provided, and work to reach agreement on how to move forward — no matter how difficult the issue.

This is good governance. This is Ravi.

This is why I am voting for him on April 6.

Colette Lueck

Former Oak Park trustee

V I E W P O I N T S

Adduci is the right person to lead

I want to express gratitude for Cathy Adduci’s excellent leadership as village president and my support for her reelection bid. She has a long list of professional and volunteer accomplishments, but today I’m focusing on two of Cathy’s many invaluable attributes: her institutional knowledge and her positive, can-do approach to village issues.

Cathy has served our village in various roles for 14 years. She is the second vice president and board director of the Illinois Municipal League, and she’s built relationships throughout the state that allow her to stay abreast of current municipal issues and effectively advocate for RF. I’ve witnessed Cathy’s institutional knowledge in action at the village board table. She can address basically any question that arises, from her memory and without notes. Want to know how the village reduced our property taxes this year through sound fiscal policies? Ever wondered about the liquor licensing process

or sign ordinances? These are just a few of the agenda items that I’ve heard Cathy address extemporaneously at recent board meetings. It’s rare that someone has an encyclopedic knowledge of municipal issues, and we’re lucky that we have her in our village and she’s running for another term.

I’m also impressed by Cathy’s positive, “how do we fix this” attitude. I’ve heard our neighbors raise issues at village board meetings, and I’ve heard her consistent, enthusiastic response: “Let me get the right people together at the table to address this issue.” She is truly a helper at heart, and if you have a problem, I’m confident she will work with you to find a solution.

I think Cathy Adduci is the right person to lead River Forest during this new chapter. She has my family’s vote, and I hope she will have yours as well.

Corina & Mike Davis River Forest

Bade and Grant for RF Park District A vote for Carl Bade and Mike Grant is a vote to preserve our park green space and put two residents on the board who will represent all of our community.

If you look on the River Forest Park District website, you will see four plans the Park Board is considering to add two platform tennis courts and a paddle hut in Keystone Park. Three of the four plans move the tennis courts or batting cages within feet of Lake Street. The plans will add significant debt that platform tennis fees simply will not pay for.

These plans take away green space and replace it with more asphalt, chain link fencing and tennis court lights. The batting cage height is 16 feet. In plan, the 16foot chain link fence would be very close to

the Lake Street sidewalk.

My understanding is that these plans are being driven by a small group of platform tennis members who have taken over the board, one of whom is up for re-election.

Paving over and installing chain link fence closer to Lake Street will take up precious green space and could hurt property values nearby. Each plan costs more than the next.

Carl Bade and Mike Grant have promised not to support projects that pave over green space at significant expense. They recognize the Park District Community Survey results that list the most important park amenity for our residents is to preserve its green, open space.

The Lake & Lathrop wedge It’s clear the Lake and Lathrop project is being used as a political wedge. It’s amusing how critics are only now raising concerns during this election cycle. The critics are not providing any solutions or alternatives to this project they are just pontificating. In fact, we could not find any huge community outrage or criticism of this development process in the past board meeting minutes.

This would be funny if it weren’t so disingenuous when they talk about “years of excuses” but casually forget how the real estate market was ravaged during the great recession and took years to recover from it, only to run into confirmation the site needed time-consuming environmental remediation, followed by a global pandemic that again brought the economy to a standstill.

As for the recent critic of the Lake and Lathrop project whose letter Wednesday Journal recently

Wednesday Journal, March 31, 2021

Dan Shea

River Forest

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Vicki Scaman has earned our vote

My experience with Vicki Scaman began when I was Township Supervisor. In 2016, I observed Vicki’s success with Steckman Studio youth drumming and how her work supported the Youth Interventionist mission of helping alienated youth experience a strong positive sense of belonging and success.

Later, Vicki was a leader with IMPACT, an Oak Park and River Forest community group addressing underage alcohol use.

As chair of the village’s Liquor Control Review Board, Vicki was key to IMPACT’s efforts to change village laws so offending youth would appear with a parent before the village Administrative Court rather than the county’s Maywood Court. They could then be required to attend a new township course (FACE-IT) on the legal and health consequences of underage alcohol use and to learn better parent-youth communication.

Another outcome was Vicki’s leadership in securing and leading a state Partnership for Youth Development grant to reduce youth alcohol use. Vicki managed the grant, assembling a workgroup of 30-40 Oak Park and River Forest community leaders for advice and support in the workgroup’s areas of influence. The workgroup represented liquor control, libraries, police, fire, parents, private schools, media, mental health, a university, health department, and three school districts.

Her leadership and success led to a larger state grant to address youth substance abuse generally. She left the grant in 2017 when she ran successfully for Village Clerk.

Vicki is well prepared to move up in leadership. She has earned our vote for Village President.

David Boulanger Oak Park

Scaman for Oak Park President

published, he must have a crystal ball that allows him to see a future the rest of us mere mortals can’t perceive. Somehow, he is blessed with selfassurance and firsthand knowledge about the reality of the commercial real estate market and what will and won’t be built.

We may not know what will happen tomorrow, but we know Cathy Adduci has protected River Forest residents by making sure the Lake and Lathrop site is cleaned up and the job was done properly to ensure the public’s health.

And we know she’s holding the developer’s feet to the fire to fulfill his promises.

We will make at least one prediction: Cathy Adduci will continue to do what’s best for River Forest.

Dawn Mizgala, Cathleen Hughes River Forest

I’ve had the pleasure of knowing Vicki Scaman for many years now through her role as chair of the Oak Park Liquor Control Board and through her role as Village Clerk.

I’ve always experienced her to be a straight shooter, a problem-solver, an effective communicator and a rational thinker. She is a bridge-builder, collaborative, and willing to pull back personal ego in the spirit of facilitating best decisions. She also understands that she doesn’t need to know all the answers, and reaching out to others with expertise across issues is one of her strengths.

Vicki’s track record in advocating for equity and strong local businesses

will complement her commitment to a rigorous Oak Park Climate Action Plan — done in a timely manner — which incorporates goals and strategies that address sustainability and equity on a global and local level and incorporate the urgency of our global science-based time frame for dealing with the climate crisis.

She will not be afraid to generate accountability within her sphere of control on this issue, something that the village of Oak Park greatly needs.

I invite you to join me in supporting Vicki Scaman as the next President of the village of Oak Park.

Gary Cuneen Oak Park

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V I E W P O I N T S

Wednesday Journal, March 31, 2021

Scaman’s experience matters I don’t see Cate Readling as having the kinds of experiences and fullness of vision we need in our next village president. She has never served on a commission, let alone been a trustee. I find that poor preparation to become village president. The eight years, two terms of our outgoing president, who proudly ran on his outsider status, certainly has given me an opinion on how electing someone with no governing experience has turned out for our community.

I met Vicki when she represented the village on the Fair Housing at 50 Celebration Committee, and in that time have been nothing but impressed with her commitment to our community. She knows all the issues, the players (and the players behind the players) and equally important to me, has the kind of temperament we need going forward to lead and build coalitions at the board table, so our trustees can start working for us, instead of arguing amongst themselves. Given that three of our next trustees will be new to their role, a first for Oak Park, this ability to effectively lead, rather than only agitate against, has never

been more crucial.

With Vicki Scaman, voters get a 360-degree candidate with no learning curve required. We get someone committed to racial equity, trained in restorative justice, and someone who has already worked to make Oak Park government more transparent for all (e.g. her protection of the FOIA process). We get someone who was asked by La Shawn Ford to organize the BLM march from Oak Park to the 15th District Police Station in Chicago last summer; we get someone who understands that “People before Developers” is a catchy slogan, but a false dichotomy. Lastly, we get someone who doesn’t believe we need to create “participatory government” because she knows we already have it (while also recognizing that the commission system is badly bruised and in need of repair and trust-building).

As we work to come out of COVID challenges and all the other issues facing us, I do think that experience matters, and Vicki Scaman has it. Please join me in voting for Vicki.

Deborah Wess Oak Park

Kovar for D97 school board

Jen Kovar is exactly what the District 97 school board needs.

She is a longtime teacher with deep knowledge of education. She has taught middle school in Riverside for 15 years. In this year of the pandemic, she has been in the classroom since September 2020, teaching her students in-person and over Zoom simultaneously.

We don’t have a professional teacher on the current D97 board, and Jen is the only candidate running who will bring that important voice. When decisions are being made at the board table, she will know how students and teachers will be impacted by them. Her knowledge and expertise in schools will be a huge asset to D97.

Jen is also a big believer in building strong community engagement for all families in D97. She doesn’t just believe it, she’s done it. I know because my daughter and I benefited from an initiative Jen helped spearhead at Lincoln that was immensely helpful to families just starting out in D97. While serving on the Diversity Committee, she co-cre-

ated a mentor program to pair families like ours who were new to Lincoln with those who already had children in the school. We all know that families who are “connected” have informal access to valuable information from peers to navigate the system and advocate for their children. Jen took steps to ensure that those “insider” insights were available to all families and that everyone had an opportunity to contribute their voices.

I served on the Ascension Catholic School Board. While Ascension and D97 operate differently, the ingredients for being a successful school board member are the same. I am confident that Jen has what it takes. She has a positive attitude, a passion for excellent education and a deep knowledge of how schools work, grounded in her many years of experience in the classroom.

Be sure you show up to vote on April 6 and when you do, choose Jennifer Kovar for D97 school board.

Erin Fitzgerald Oak Park

OAKPARK.COM | RIVERFOREST.COM

Readling is the leader for this moment

We are at a pivotal moment as a village. We are nearing the end of a pandemic that has impacted us all while exacerbating inequities in ways that we’ll be dealing with for the foreseeable future. And we are in the midst of a reckoning on racism that has the potential to transform our institutions and policies in just and humane ways.

Cate Readling is the leader that Oak Park needs for this moment and I’m excited to vote for her. I’m excited because she holds dear our values as a village. She is committed to the always unfinished work of making our village a place that welcomes and values all, by our

words and actions.

I’m also excited because Cate is a connector and an enthusiast. If you’ve had the pleasure of meeting her, you know she brims with genuine interest in her fellow community members and is driven by an energy to find connections and possibility among people. I am confident that she can bring us closer as a community while still engaging and grappling with our flaws and challenges.

And I’m excited to vote for Cate because she has concrete plans to turn our ideas and values into actions and policies. She has rightly identified housing, sustainability,

and budgeting as core issue areas that the village has meaningful control over. And she has identified specific strategies that we can take to meet the needs of all Oak Parkers now and into the future.

We are a village that has long prided itself on its progressive and inclusive values. Realizing these values takes effective and unifying leadership, creative ideas, and hard work. I’m confident that she will bring all of these to the table. I hope that you’ll join me in electing Cate Readling as our next Village President.

Gavin Kearney Oak Park

Kovar brings teacher’s perspective

I have lived in Oak Park for the last 43 years and have been Jennifer Kovar’s next-door neighbor for the last 14. I’m also a newly retired teacher who taught in this century and the last one. I’m so excited to support her campaign for the District 97 school board!

Over the years, I have shared many thoughtful conversations about wide-ranging education topics with Jen. Talking over the fence with her recently, we both agreed strongly that the classroom experience for children has changed dramatically from what most adults remember from their own school days and even from when we started teaching.

This is why it is critical to have a highly qualified classroom teacher like Jen Kovar on the D97 school board. As the only profes-

sional educator on the board, Jen will bring a teacher’s voice, better connecting the board with classroom experience.

She has taught for 20 years, the last 15 in sixth-grade Language Arts in Riverside. She is a National Board Certified Teacher, which is one of the highest distinctions for an educator and something we value here in our Oak Park schools. Plus, having dedicated her teaching career to middle schools, I am confident she can help the board direct much-needed attention to Brooks and Julian.

Jen understands firsthand how the pandemic has affected students and their families because she has been on the frontline — teaching in person and remote simultaneously, all while

her two sons attend school in hybrid modes. She knows this experience has highlighted many challenges facing D97 that won’t simply disappear with schools returning to “normal.”

Beyond her background and experience, I am also compelled by Jen’s priorities. As a D97 school board member, she will listen to and amplify historically marginalized voices and strengthen the district’s engagement with the community. Importantly for me as a fellow educator, she will help the board keep students at the center of all its decisions.

For all these reasons, I am voting for Jen Kovar for D97 school board and I encourage you to vote for her too.

Susan Tindall

Oak Park

Scaman: thoughtful, calm, unifying I have known Vicki Scaman for nearly 20 years and have been constantly impressed with her dedication, compassion and skill in every task she took on. Now I am happy to endorse her for Village President of Oak Park.

As a lifetime Oak Parker, Vicki has a deep history of community engagement. Before serving as Village Clerk these past four years, she had managed a local restaurant, led and grown a local music nonprofit while supporting the African drumming program for young Black students in the public schools, worked with the Law Review Committee of IMPACT (a high school parent group) on more equitable laws for youth impacted by drugs or alcohol, and served as township program coordinator for

the Positive Youth Development program.

She also has an admirable record of outreach to neighboring communities. She has served as president of the North-Northwest Municipal Clerks, and has worked with the West Garfield Park Stakeholders, teaching restorative justice practices. Most recently as co-chair of the Chamber of Commerce Women in Business group she reached out to neighboring communities to convene a multi-chamber group. I attended the most recent meeting exploring D97’s Multicultural Resource Center history and impact.

The discussion was powerful and is building strong connections with our neighbors.

Vicki is knowledgeable about all of our local governments through

her past civic involvement. She has also built relationships with many local elected officials and governmental leaders. As clerk she is deeply familiar with the challenges the village faces in this pandemic world and is committed to a fresh look at new solutions to the challenges we face. She already knows the people she will need to work with as village president because of her service as clerk.

Vicki has a tendency not to “blow her own horn” but to listen deeply and thoughtfully in every situation and to consider how her efforts can make a difference. She is the thoughtful, calm and unifying leader we need as Oak Park takes on tomorrow’s challenges.

Teresa Powell

Former Village Clerk

OAKPARK.COM | RIVERFOREST.COM

V I E W P O I N T S

Vote for compassion, collaboration We’re fortunate to have two women running for Oak Park Village President. Both have integrity and extensive community experience. Whoever’s elected will be a big step forward.

I’m endorsing Cate Readling because she’s an amazing community organizer who works tirelessly for social and racial justice. She values action and connection and gets things done. Her approach to participatory budgeting and progressive revenues will result in shared benefits and savings for the entire village. And Oak Park is ready for its first woman of color as village president.

Cate is welcoming and inclusive. I first learned about her 10 years ago when local parents organized an alternative scouting troop, outside the Boy Scouts of America, due to its discriminatory policies. We had scouts and leaders of different sexual orientations, gender identities, races, abilities, and beliefs about religion. Meanwhile, Cate co-founded a different troop — Oak Park Scouts for Equality — working for change from inside the BSA. She rose through leadership, joined others advocating for full inclusion, and eventually prevailed when BSA agreed to allow LGBT youth, then girls, to participate.

Five years ago, I worked with Cate to get local government entities to engage in racial equity training. I’ve since witnessed her work on so many campaigns such as advocating for racially diverse teachers, proposing equity policies and door-knocking to turn out progressive voters.

Last summer, she worked alongside Black community leaders to help organize 1000 people to participate in the “#WalkTheWalk” peace march from Oak Park through Austin to foster cross-community connections and multiracial solidarity.

She’s deeply committed to inclusive justice — all kinds of justice for all kinds of people. You don’t have to rely on campaign promises — she’s already proven many times over her deep commitment to so many progressive causes.

Cate has a big vision and a huge heart. She’s a super-mom — a mother of four, active in our schools and community, her church, and the broader social justice movement. She’s compassionate, collaborative and competent.

Please join me in voting for Cate Reading for Village President.

Terry Keleher Oak Park

Scaman’s decades of contributions Four years ago, during another election, I met Vicki Scaman at a candidates event. It was around this time I began volunteering at YEMBA Inc. where Vicki is on the board. In fact, she was YEMBA’s first collaborative effort with a grant from the Community Foundation. Whenever we spoke, I learned something new about her. She’s brought restorative justice practices to our community and as head of the Liquor Commission she was instrumental in decriminalizing minors getting caught with drugs or alcohol; instead of charges brought against a kid and a huge fine, it was a $30 ticket. Immediate impact on low-income and unconnected families. That’s the road to equity, friends. That is change.

Her work with the local Chamber of Commerce bridges her experience on the civic side and the private sector business side. I can’t think of any way she wouldn’t be an amazing village president.

Vicki has touched so many facets of this community. Her demeanor is calm and careful,

bringing the peace we all need in order to function and move forward. I am not surprised she is one of the two left standing in this election.

She will organize and create a village board that will benefit each and every resident of this community. She already has. She was looking out for us when she protected our village by keeping the Village Clerk’s Office in charge of FOIA requests when the “status quo” she is so often accused of being part of tried to move it from the Clerk’s oversight.

If you want labels, I can toss out buzzwords, but that’s not Vicki’s game. She is simply the best person for the job. When you hire someone,you look at their resume, you look for experience, skills and background. You can’t call for impact and then discount someone who has been making measurable and meaningful contributions to this community for decades. I hope you join me in supporting my friend Vicki Scaman for Village President.

Jennifer Quinlan Oak Park

The readiness to lead matters

Vicki Scaman is the only candidate for Village President who has this much relevant experience for the job. She has: ■ A comprehensive understanding, not only about village government, but also about the other taxing bodies.

■ An unparalleled understanding of the relationship between the village president and the trustees. As Village Clerk, she has attended most village board meetings for the last four years.

■ A well-informed perspective on the relationship between the board and the village manager.

■ Already served on two of Oak Park’s taxing bodies — the village and the township.

■ 30 years of civic and professional engagement in Oak Park.

■ Already held elected office — defeating four other contenders for village clerk.

■ Working relationships with Oak Park’s neighboring municipalities.

■ Firsthand experience both owning and supporting small businesses, and astute insights into the challenges they face.

James Kelly Oak Park

Wednesday Journal, March 31, 2021

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Candidate report card on development

In a landlocked village such as Oak Park, elected officials must address the needs of developers while protecting the residential character of surrounding neighborhoods.

Unfortunately, the village board in recent months has tipped the balance dramatically in favor of developers. In controversial projects such as Rush Oak Park Hospital’s seven-story parking garage, Pete’s Market and the Drechsler funeral home site, the board has paid lip service to residents while granting developers virtually everything they demanded.

On March 18, the Center West Oak Park Neighborhood Association (CWOPNA) hosted a candidates forum on resetting the balance. Both candidates running for village president in the April 6 election and all six trustee candidates participated.

More than 100 residents watched on Zoom, and afterward they were asked to rate the candidates. CWOPNA analyzed the survey results, along with the views candidates expressed in the forum and on their web and Facebook pages, to compile a Candidate Report Card.

There are many critical issues in this election. Our report card grades candidates on one issue: responsible development.

Village President Candidates Vicki Scaman: A Cate Readling: AVillage Trustee Candidates Stephen Morales: A Chibuike Enyia: B+ Lucia Robinson: B+ Anthony Clark: B Juanta Griffin: B Ravi Parakkat: BCandidates generally agree that residents should be engaged earlier in the process, and by giving them more voice, the village can restore a proper balance

between developers and neighborhoods.

The report card’s good-to-excellent grades reflect our confidence that any of these candidates would improve trust and transparency.

We’re especially impressed by the village president candidates, who both recognize the current system isn’t working.

Ms. Readling noted that several recent projects “have disproportionately advantaged wealthy developers. But community voices do matter.” Including neighbors in the development process “always yields a better outcome. The hospital should lean into that collaboration and encourage neighbors to be active in that process.”

Ms. Scaman said developers have received the message “loud and clear” to address the concerns of trustees one at a time until they have enough votes. “That process is not transparent and not consistently in the best interest of the community. … Seeking community buy-in to projects inevitably leads to the best outcomes.”

During the forum, the eight candidates discussed three main reforms proposed

by CWOPNA: Require major developers, including hospitals, to provide the village with a long-term master plan; clarify the standard for compensating neighborhoods for the negative effects of developments; and limit building heights in hospital zones to 50 feet, which is the maximum height allowed in the West Suburban Medical Center hospital zone.

We thank the candidates for participating in the CWOPNA forum, and for their thoughtful and respectful comments.

Whoever wins, we look forward to working with them on this critical issue.

David Burna, John Lamszus, Anne Frueh, David Osta, Rachel Hahs, Jim Ritter, Michael Weik Candidates Committee Center West Oak Park Neighborhood Association

Juanta represents us all Simply stated, Juanta Griffin is Oak Park and I am looking forward to taking my entire family with me to the polls so we can cast our vote for her as Village Trustee. It is time for our village to come together in ways that create bridges across differences, celebrates our diversity and moves us beyond what we currently think ourselves to be as an “intentionally integrated” community.

I have watched Juanta maximize resources, create community spaces where there were none, and drive change and support for all. She brings experience on various levels, including as a fiduciary

but what sets her apart is her ability to bring people together and lead based on the needs of the people. Our village trustees need to be able to create opportunities for all, form bridges across our differences, and cultivate changes that foster a healthy community. That is what Juanta brings as a village trustee. Juanta is a builder — a community builder — with clarity and conviction for seeking real solutions toward the betterment of Oak Park. Join me in supporting her candidacy and vote by April 6.

Gina Harris Oak Park

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Wednesday Journal, March 31, 2021

V I E W P O I N T S

Intelligence, integrity & humility My first exposure to the work of our board was 21 years ago. My observations of board meetings and decisions since have too often included ongoing forms of misogyny and dismissal that do not serve our community well. As I look at the array of folks running for local office, I am seeking a few specific qualities that have been missing from the village of Oak Park Board of Trustees for some time.

There are multiple forms of intelligence.

I am looking for leaders who have a greater capacity for emotional intelligence (both interpersonal and intrapersonal) and linguistic intelligence. Our leaders need the capacity to communicate and work with a broad range of people and not just those like them.

“Fool me once” … integrity matters. I am looking for leaders who walk the talk and don’t just say what we want to hear.

The third one is hard to find. Strength and confidence are attractive qualities in

leadership, but coupled with a lack of humility too often results in leadership unable and unwilling to recognize their own limitations, lacking the capacity to fully utilize our great resource of subject matter experts serving on commissions and committees and the lived experience of those they serve.

Vicki Scaman, Juanta Griffin, and Christina Waters have the knowledge, skills, and experience to fulfill the respective positions of president, trustee, and clerk.

I have worked with all three in various capacities and greatly appreciate the mature form of leadership and outcome focus they bring to any effort. All three have my vote because they exemplify the much-needed qualities of multiple intelligence, integrity, and humility.

I urge you to vote for them, as well.

Linda T. Francis Oak Park

Odom and Connor for D97 board We are writing to endorse District 97 school board candidates Kate Odom and Erin Connor. If your children are back in school, it is likely due in part to the advocacy work they have been leading since the summer. Kate and Erin worked tirelessly to advocate for students in D97 by articulating the challenges children and families faced with remote learning. They used regular, strategic communication with school board members, D97 leadership, and state Senator Don Harmon to share concerns and advocate for science-based return to school. They actively engaged with parents and community members to encourage greater participation in the return to inperson discussion and to improve accountability from D97 leadership.

Kate is a child psychologist. Now more than ever, mental health expertise is critical in decision-making for our schools. She has served schools in many vital roles, as a counselor as well as mediator, providing mediation for schools and families in legal disputes. She possesses a deep understanding of school policy, education law, and special education systems. Her experience uniquely positions her to understand

how school systems function and how to problem-solve to promote the best student outcomes.

Erin is a proactive, action-oriented leader and effective problem-solver. She advocated for live-streaming teaching options in October to allow students to keep their current teachers when implementing a hybrid model. She will apply this tenacity and focus to creating solutions focusing on a return to full in-person learning in the fall. Erin is a community-focused collaborator, whether she is leading a team of managers or a troop of second-grade Girl Scouts. As a board member, we know she would have what it takes to improve collaboration among D97 stakeholders.

The pandemic has brought unprecedented challenges that will require exceptional communication, problem-solving, and leadership in our schools for years to come. We are confident that Kate Odom and Erin Connor have these qualities and many more. It is our privilege to endorse them in their run for the D97 Board of Education.

Mara Maas, Cara Carmody, Kerri Joy, Margaret Nekrosius, Elizabeth Newhart, Rachel Sobel Oak Park

Vote Vicki for Village President Over the course of 30 years, Vicky Scaman has worked in business, village government and local agencies to improve the Oak Park community. Familiar with various village board committees, corporations, commerce and funding groups, she will know how to advance social equity and sustainability for all Oak Park citizens.

Running as an independent, she garnered 600+ signatures and did not seek outside endorsements. There will be no on-the-job training as village president because Vicki has a proven track record.

She has the road map to get us where we’re going. She is Oak Park’s own.

Stasia Jamell

Oak Park

OAKPARK.COM | RIVERFOREST.COM

Fear-mongering is wrong for Oak Park Many households received the postcard from Citizens Against Defunding the Police, urging voters to vote “No” on the ballot referendum stating, “Shall the Village of Oak Park Defund Its Policing Department?”

Their message is clear: Oak Park voters should be scared of the election results unless there is a resounding “No” to defund the police. We should be scared if any trustees, other than the slate on the postcard, are elected. We should be scared and vote to stay “safe.”

I’m angry reading this postcard message promoting fear. The history of this referendum decries an unwillingness to listen and be open to problem-solving.

In August, Black and Brown Oak Park youth promoted the phrase, “Defund the Police.” A resolution (RES 20-201) was proposed, and defeated, that suggested reducing the police budget and using the funds to create a non-police response team for mental health crises, homelessness, and domestic disturbances. There were no specifics on the size of the budget changes.

The proposed resolution voted on by the village trustees last August was a call to

listen and have a conversation.

August’s resolution ended with the following statement: BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Village Board of Trustees commits to work in full support of diversity, equity and inclusion with the participation of the community as we take action to reimagine community safety so that everyone in our village has the freedom to thrive.

The intent of the August resolution was to start the conversation. Oak Park needs the conversation. Let’s work to achieve “community safety so that everyone in our village has the freedom to thrive.”

I can vote for that, but it’s not on the ballot.

Using the current ballot referendum to scare us creates fear for those of us who want to see “community safety so that everyone in our village has the freedom to thrive.” Let’s choose to live into our values of diversity, equity and inclusion by ignoring fear-mongering’s call to influence our vote, and choose to reimagine community safety for all.

Lois Thiessen Love Oak Park

Vote for Duffy to advance equity Why am I supporting Jeremy Duffy for the District 97 school board? I admit, it’s ironic — he is a school attorney, and I have more often been on the other side of the table.

Jeremy’s knowledge of schools and of teaching, however, is critical, particularly at this time. As a school attorney, Jeremy understands: ■ how to ensure that school spending remains as close as possible to student learning through the smart and effective allocation of resources; and ■ how to carry out plans within a school system to move the needle on the opportunity gap.

As a former teacher, Jeremy understands: ■ the importance of meaningful and

practical professional development; and ■ effective supports that students who are returning to school may need.

As a parent, Jeremy understands: ■ the hopes that each parent has for their children; and ■ working with teachers and administrators to ensure that all children are provided the necessary tools to learn at their highest levels.

Jeremy’s professional life has been devoted to educational equity. Support a board candidate with a record of working effectively for students. Please vote for Jeremy Duffy for school board for Oak Park Elementary School District 97 on or before April 6.

Mary Bird

Oak Park

A clarification Last week’s story about the anonymous Vote No to Defund campaign included a reference to me that seemed to imply I was in some way responsible for the campaign’s provocative video. I did place an online ad in support of three candidates and a “No” vote on defund referendum.

An intermediary offered the campaign’s website as a landing page for this ad. It did

not include the video at the time I agreed to use the website for this purpose. Other than the intermediary, I have no connection whatsoever to the anonymous campaign. I agreed with Wednesday Journal’s decision to take down the ad in discussions with its editor.

Judith Alexander Oak Park

V I E W P O I N T S

OAKPARK.COM | RIVERFOREST.COM

Kebreab Henry for D200

As a photographer, I love capturing genuine moments of love and connection within families. Sometimes photographs can document these powerful feelings and sometimes they are visible in the relationships you build with people in your community.

I’ve had the chance to photograph Kebreab Henry with his beautiful family and to get to know him as a friend. His compassion, kindness and love always come through.

I met Kebreab five years ago in our church community and our families became friends. Last year in my family’s moment of need, when my business collapsed because of the pandemic shutdown, he took me to the grocery store and filled up the cart. This is one example of how he has dedicated himself to serving his friends, neighbors, and community.

Now Kebreab is volunteering to serve on the D200 Board of Education. He currently serves on the D200 Culture, Climate and Behavior Committee and the Community Council, a D200 board advisory committee.

He is motivated by his daughter’s experience as a student and graduate of OPRF High School, and by his two sons who will be Huskies someday. But because of who he is, he is also motivated to serve my children and yours. He will be working to make sure OPRF is a place where all can succeed.

I will be so proud when I vote for him on April 6. Proud and grateful for his continued willingness to serve our community for the betterment of all our children.

Clark, Enyia, Griffin align with our values

From engaging in a number of candidate forums for village trustee and scouring policy positions on various voter guides and candidate websites, I feel that all six candidates are qualified to serve on the board of trustees. Yet in the year 2021, I believe Anthony Clark, Chibuike Enyia, and Juanta Griffin are most qualified to lead our village on issues that are in front of us, issues like affordable and inclusionary housing, policing reform, small business economic recovery, a public health crisis, and environmental sustainability.

We know through data and by listening to lived experiences shared with us, that our neighbors, friends and business owners of color are most impacted by these challenges. Our community regretfully chose not to elect any Black candidates to the board in the past two election cycles when there were multiple qualified candidates.

Now I’m inspired to witness this moment of genuine enthusiasm for the Represent Oak Park candidates. We know and believe Black Leadership Matters! Let’s align our actions with our words by voting on (or before) April 6 for Anthony Clark, Chibuike Enyia, and Juanta Griffin, to join with other elected officials at the board table in guiding us towards solutions that truly reflect our values of diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging.

Terrence Roche Oak Park

Henek has the vision River Forest needs

Wednesday Journal, March 31, 2021

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Adduci has had a positive impact We are fortunate to live in communities with many dedicated and remarkable individuals who bring their talent, experience, skills and gifts to leadership and volunteer roles and who advance the special communities we live in. In reflecting on our many amazing community leaders and volunteers, I am reminded of some of the individual giants of our communities who have made a difference in our lives and who continue to inspire me. I am grateful for these individuals and appreciate their contributions to our communities.

With our upcoming River Forest village election, I am drawn to acknowledge and recognize Cathy Adduci. Her relentless passion, her focus on purpose and her steady and tenacious leadership and ongoing village management have made a difference in the River Forest community.

Cathy brings to her leadership role enormous experience in both the business world and in government leadership. She has served in several leadership roles in River Forest for 14 years, building on extensive work as an executive in the business community. Her experience and expertise is driven by mission, vision and values with a focus on making River Forest a welcoming and engaging community for all. She has led a myriad of River Forest initiatives and strategic partnerships. She leads with insight gained from her vast experience. She impresses me with her willingness to dive deep in understanding an issue, including consideration of multiple perspectives and ideas. She has a track record of significant accomplishments in River Forest. As village president, Cathy will continue to lead with inspiration with a focus on making a positive impact.

Join me in supporting Cathy Adduci’s re-election to River Forest Village President.

Jan Pyrce

River Forest

Readling is right for the job

After reading Michael Corso’s critique of the proposed building at 203 S. Marion [Opposing the Drechsler site proposal, Viewpoints, March 24], I want to add some questions of my own.

What need does this very large building (158 units) with inadequate parking (123 spaces) fill in our crowded downtown neighborhood?

Why has the Plan Commission not explained/defended their choices in this new construction?

What other companies have submitted designs that the commission rejected?

I understand that construction companies are focused on profit but what is the primary focus/goal of our very own planning commission?

Lastly, is there any reason to believe that resident input would be valued and welcome in this important endeavor?

One of the enduring civic reminders these past few years is that elections matter — nationally, regionally and locally.

I believe representation matters as well. Growth and progress occur when different views, priorities, personalities, social circles and lived experiences do not just have a seat at the table but are welcomed and respected. Bias and groupthink are mitigated when all viewpoints are valued in informationgathering and decision-making processes. Leadership that is founded in empathy, prioritizes divergent perspectives, fosters genuine trust and is pro-active forms the hallmark of sustainable and high-performing entities. River Forest can be such a village.

Patty Henek bring this leadership to River Forest. Through her life, community leadership and village board experience, she has honed the critical leadership skills that are so often stifled in the status quo of “business as usual.” She repudiates an “establishment culture” and an assimilate-to-advance approach that so many leaders and organizations are struggling to overcome even within our village.

Patty has demonstrated a principled independence, commitment to transparency, dedication to include community voices and an understanding that it is in our actions and policies where we will thrive as a community. It is for these reasons that I believe she is the village president with the foundation and vision that River Forest needs at this time.

I am proud to endorse Patty Henek for River Forest Village President. I believe our community will benefit greatly from her independent and strategic leadership, her informed decision-making and her steadfast inclusive values. Under her leadership, the village board will strategically evaluate and positively impact the well-being as well as the fiscal health of River Forest residents and our businesses, ensuring that our community thrives and grows with intention.

How wonderful to have two women running for Village President!

This is an exciting moment for our community. We are on the cusp of making real, tangible change with who is seated at the board table, how decisions are made and how funding is prioritized. There are important discussions coming up: How to address the affordable housing crisis in Oak Park? How to stem the flow of families of color leaving our community? How to reimage our approach to combating climate change beyond incremental, small projects? These are discussions that the village has had in the past, small steps toward progress have been made, but that is not enough.

Too often, we lean into the thought that those who lead at the board table must have institutional knowledge and experience in government so they can effectively “get the job done.”

I do not agree with this perspective.

Our entire village staff possesses institutional knowledge and has years of village government experience. This institutional knowledge and experience often stifle innovative thinking and change, limiting the progress that we could have achieved. We need leadership at the table who will not be slowed by bureaucratic thinking. We need leadership who knows our community’s needs, can approach those needs with innovative solutions and will not be deterred by the perceived limitations of our government institution. We need someone who will think big and push village staff to move beyond businessas-usual.

Cate Readling is the person for this job. She has relentlessly fought for improving equity in Oak Park, advocating for those who are most marginalized. She is innovative with her approach to our pressing issues and she is unencumbered by entrenched limitations that government experience often brings.

Cate’s leadership and bold vision for our community is the change needed for Oak Park to become a community that is truly welcoming to all, that cultivates and fosters diversity rather than giving it lip-service, that prioritizes sustainability and becomes a community that is a leader among other municipalities.

On April 6, vote Cate Readling for village president.

Oak Park

River Forest

Oak Park

Jamilla Yipp

Oak Park parent

A few more questions

Shelly Uslenghi

Megan Stewart Hodge

Jenna Holzberg

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Wednesday Journal, March 31, 2021

V I E W P O I N T S

Adduci makes the difficult decisions

For the past several years, I have had the good fortune of working with Cathy Adduci on the Thrive Counseling Center Board. For the past eight years, I have also had the good fortune of living in River Forest with her as our village president. In both roles, she has distinguished herself as intelligent, genuine, thoughtful, caring and decisive. As a board member of Thrive, she demonstrates a clear understanding of the diverse needs of our residents, friends and neighbors and advocates for mental health awareness and initiatives.

She knows that focusing on mental well-being is vital to building and maintaining a vital and healthy community. Cathy continues to demonstrate a natural and indefatigable ability to lead by listening and by consensus-building. She is

unafraid to make the difficult decisions that a leader must, despite knowing that she will bear the blame if something should not be perfect.

Her relationships with local, state and national officials, such as the Cook County commissioner, state representatives, Illinois Speaker, state senators, surrounding village mayors and presidents as well as local business leaders and trustees, bring strength and resources to our village, such as the $1.34 million from the recently passed federal stimulus law.

She has the experience and vision to make River Forest an even better place to live, which is why she has already gotten my vote.

James Mizgala River Forest

Scaman goes beyond buzzwords

I waited until the last minute to decide who I would support for Oak Park Village President.

I was happy that two women who cared about our community were the candidates. However, I really struggled with which one would help heal the tremendous acrimony in our village board discussions, would focus on the tremendous financial issues we face in this community, and would be familiar with how complicated our village budget and other processes really are.

I have listened to Zoom calls and Facebook streams on both sides, and I have decided that Vicki Scaman is trying to address these issues.

She has explicitly addressed board culture, the financial issues and the village processes with concrete ideas and not just liberal buzzwords

such as affordable housing, reimagining the police, and promoting sustainability.

I have been very troubled by the lack of listening in our board discussions, the lack of transparency of village staff actions and agenda setting, the lack of listening to our commission experts and the lack of empathy for those of us who are now seniors and want to stay in our own homes as our income declines.

I feel that Vicki really gets those issues and has concrete ideas about how we might address the issues that affect diversity, small business success, and revenue growth in this village. I am proud to endorse Vicki Scaman for Village President.

Leslie Sutphen Oak Park

Schrodt & Arkin make a great team In most organizations, small and large businesses, political, profit or nonprofit boards, or in any long-term relationships, it takes a complementary team to make things happen successfully. David Schrodt and Fred Arkin complement each so well, and we are fortunate to have them on the District 200 ballot to become decision-makers for our unique Oak Park and River Forest community.

Fred coached our son in football some 30 years ago; there are many who have great respect for him as a coach and adviser, not to mention he is my business insurance agent.

I’ve known David for 10 years now and the longer I know him the more I like him. Stefanie, his wife, who is board president of Beyond Hunger (providing over 3,000 meals for many), is super-terrific too, as are their two sons. Both Fred and David and their families are always welcome into our home. They are real, real, real, real.

David is really smart. Believe me, we want him and his brain on our side working for our high school kids, teachers and staff. He is an attorney and a CPA, as well as a keen listener

with a quick wit. He’s even funny sometimes.

Fred is bright and has much love, compassion, and commitment to OPRF High School, and yes he is a graduate of OPRF. He started women’s wrestling in the state of Illinois, started private funding for our OPRF facilities, has consistently demonstrated respect for equality in the decision-making process.

Both Mr. Arkin and Mr. Schrodt dive into the issues, make firm and creative decisions to allow productive things to happen. If you are looking for a big big bag of energy to make those District 200 decisions in the next four years, the Arkin/Schrodt Energy Bag will be overflowing.

We can’t predict what future issues OPRF will face, as the last year has shown us. I know that having David & Fred as part of the D200 board would benefit all of us, regardless of what the issue will be. Please join me and my Oak Park and River Forest friends and vote for Schrodt/Arkin for D200. You’ll be genuinely glad you did.

Paul Beckwith

Oak Park & River Forest cheerleader

OAKPARK.COM | RIVERFOREST.COM

Experience is the key

Past behavior is the best predictor for future behavior, and Vicki Scaman is the only candidate for village president who has demonstrated measurable and meaningful accomplishments in the local government and civic arena.

Vicki understands the village’s budget needs and the various stakeholders’ issues because she is familiar with that work through her role as Village Clerk for the last four years.

I believe Vicki will work to achieve sustainability goals because she has worked with commissions and local groups to understand the baseline data and listen to the experts for best steps to implement now and in the future.

She has successfully managed a local business and nonprofit organization. In each of those jobs, she showed her deep knowledge of the challenges of the local business community and how to overcome them. She brings a collaborative and transparent management style. She possesses a keen self-awareness that allows others to trust her to lead with fairness and compassion.

In 2020, other municipal clerks elected her as president of the North and Northwest Municipal Clerks Association. That, to me, is another indication of the respect she has earned from her colleagues. That tells me Vicki will be the kind of leader that Oak Parkers can respect.

And in her role as village clerk, she attends every meeting, taking the minutes and absorbing the nuances of the countless conversations at the board table. This proximity gives her a window into the dysfunction we all have witnessed over the last several years. I believe she will elevate board discussions to a thoughtful and productive level of civility. This will be the kind of healthy board leadership we want.

At this critical time in our village, we need that track record. We need someone who has the knowledge, demonstrated experience, ability and passionate vision on Day One. This is why I’m voting for Vicki Scaman. I urge you to cast your vote for her as well.

Julia Knier

Oak Park

Arkin is the best for D200

I write about Fred Arkin, District 200 school board candidate. While Fred is a great mentor, friend and colleague, this endorsement is not being written as a favor. The impetus for this endorsement comes from my role as an active community member and father of two young boys. It is important to me not just as someone who loves our communities, but now as a parent who desires to send his sons to a world class school. Knowing Fred intimately for 40 years allows me to write confidently about the unique qualities that will make him a fabulous school board member.

Fred’s personal resume is public knowledge: he is a graduate of OPRF High School and Washington University, a very successful small business owner, and a longtime resident of River Forest and then Oak Park.

Fred’s business acumen alone qualifies him to be a strong school board representative. He is certainly capable of helping guide the school in a time when serious fiscal decisions have come to the table.

He is smart, thoughtful, empathic and will not shy away from making tough decisions.

But what I believe will make Fred an important contributor to the

school board is his years of service in the community and the unique perspective he brings as a result.

He has volunteered as a coach for 40 years. In his time spent as a youth and high school coach, he has mentored thousands of young men and women, myself included. Each young person mentored would testify to the enormously positive impact he had on our lives. Over the past few years, he has initiated a girls wrestling team at the high school.

He has also become a leading advocate for girls wrestling statewide, culminating in the IHSA sanctioning girls wrestling for the first time.

Fred has coached and built relationships with youth and parents from all parts of our villages, all races, all socioeconomic backgrounds. Through all this, he has gained a deep understanding of the needs and wants of all the people of Oak Park and River Forest. He is a candidate who will be able to speak to and take interest in issues that affect everyone.

Please consider casting a vote for Fred Arkin. I firmly believe this community is only as healthy as its high school. We need great people representing us and guiding us. I cannot think of a better candidate.

Michael Powell Oak Park

V I E W P O I N T S

OAKPARK.COM | RIVERFOREST.COM

What does Cate Readling offer?

Unlike 36 other candidates on the Oak Park April 6 ballot, Cate filed her petitions as a Democrat, ignoring decades of nonpartisan filings, reducing her effort for ballot qualification by collecting just 25 valid signatures. Meanwhile, independents and slates were required to submit over 458 valid signatures. Does this represent the hard, on-the-ground work needed to build support?

With no record of public service on commissions or local taxing body boards in Oak Park, she has chosen to bypass Oak Park trustee service and aim for the role of Village President.

Cate’s campaign fundraising goal is $85,000 (WJ President Forum). Despite her commitment to transparency, it is unknown where those funds are coming from until after the election since she has chosen not to provide real-time reporting, as Vicki Scaman’s campaign

does (www.elections.il.gov). Though not required by law, this lack stands in the way of informed voting. What we do know is the Service Employees International Union (the largest bargaining unit in village government) contributed $1,000 to her campaign. Some would define this is as a conflict of interest in the making.

What does she offer? Her campaign seems based on fighting the policies of the outgoing village president and trustees.

Welcome change is coming with the election of a new board on April 6. Vicki Scaman’s experience, proven leadership, and policies, together with the new trustees, create the greatest likelihood of building coalitions and finding muchneeded solutions.

Oak Park

efforts on diversity, equity and inclusion.

I had the great opportunity to serve with Jen on the Disability Access Commission, which advises the village board on policies to ensure our community is fully inviting and inclusive for people of all abilities. During her tenure, Jen helped create the Disabilities Access Awards, which recognizes local businesses and organizations that go above and beyond in making access a priority. Inclusion has been a consistent priority for Jen. In Riverside, she founded her school’s chapter of Best Buddies, the international volunteer program that creates opportunities for one-to-one friendships for youth with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

Jen has a terrific blend of deep experience in education and great passion for community service. Her experience, vision, and commitment are exactly what we need on the D97 school board.

She will bring out the best in all of us.

Scott Kozicki Oak Park

Buis for River Forest Trustee Johann Buis is an excellent choice for River Forest Trustee. He brings a unique combination of experience, passion, and creative collaboration to every endeavor.

In the 20-plus years I’ve known him, he has consistently used vision, kindness

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Vote Unite Oak Park

There is much at stake with Oak Park’s village board election this April. An organized threat to defund our police, which would negatively impact our community’s safety, as well as a critical need for recovery assistance from the pandemic for local businesses top the list of concerns that will face this new village board.

Oak Park needs leaders who are well equipped to reimagine community safety without defunding our exemplary police force and develop an effective plan to help the business community recover from the pandemic and prosper, while limiting property tax levy increases to 3% and putting an end to divisive politics at the board table.

Three candidates have the experience, knowledge and critical-thinking skills needed to address our village’s concerns: Stephen Morales, Ravi Parakkat and Lucia Robinson,

who collectively make up the Unite Oak Park slate of candidates for village trustee. Each possesses an impressive professional background and accomplishments and a commitment to the community, and their collective service on the village board will elevate and inspire Oak Park to do better and be better for all of its residents.

I proudly endorse the positive message and outstanding candidates of Unite Oak Park: Morales, Parakkat and Robinson. Voters can learn more about them on their slate’s website: www.unite-oak-park.com.

Turnout is typically low in off-year elections. Please make the time to vote and cast an informed ballot in the April 6 election. The future of our village depends on it.

Monica Sheehan

Oak Park

Peggy Conlon-Madigan

Kovar will bring out the best in D97 I am thrilled that Jennifer Kovar is running for District 97 school board. I have known Jen since our oldest kids started kindergarten together eight years ago. From the beginning, she struck me as a kind, open and generous person with boundless positive energy.

She says that, as a D97 school board member, she wants to bring out the best in all of us in Oak Park, and I believe it.

Jen is an experienced educator, which is a voice we greatly need on the school board. I have a special interest in our middle schools. My oldest daughter is in seventh grade, along with Jen’s oldest son. As a middle-school teacher herself, I know Jen will bring some muchneeded attention to our middle schools, which often get overlooked.

As important, Jen has also been actively involved in our community. In D97, she serves on the school board’s Committee on Community Engagement, advising the district on how to better communicate and collaborate with Oak Park families. She serves on Lincoln Elementary School’s Diversity Committee, part of D97’s district-wide

Wednesday Journal, March 31, 2021

and positive energy to bring differing parties together. The ability to construct working solutions is needed now more than ever.

Steve Nasralla Oak Park

A bunch of bull … doze So many WJ letters of endorsement for the upcoming OP/RF elections. Great! Citizens and organizations exercising their right to appeal for perceived better governance. The results will soon be finalized. The people will have spoken. It’s the democratic way.

The right way for a governmental body to respect sanctity of the vote.

Ironically, however, one Viewpoints letter invoked a different dynamic regarding the voice of the people. While I’m quite confident whoever wins the vote for local public office will reflect an honest democratic process, Michael Corso’s letter opposing the apparent Plan Commission’s 6-3 thumbs-up vote to replace the Drechsler funeral site with a massive 158 unit apartment building seems to reflect a not-very-democratic process.

As I recall, that vote included negative opinions of the construction, including lamentations over its proposed appearance, its size and its jarring juxtaposition to its surroundings from some who even voted for it.

Really? Then why not vote against it? Follow your instincts. And listen to your constitu-

ents! As Mr. Corso points out, a recent board meeting resulted in 90% of local residents’ letters to the commission opposing the construction. Why is the commission unable to respect that clear opposition? Keep in mind the Oak Park Historic Preservation Commission voted unanimously in disapproval of the proposed construction, a resounding rejection quickly ignored by the village board’s vote of approval. So the board is about moving ahead, not adhering to the past, architectural designs and the adamant concerns of the building blatantly not fitting into its surrounding area’s current charms be damned.

I sense there’s enough money at stake in this matter to warrant the bulldozing of its approval for the voice of the people be listened to, and then respected by acting accordingly.

What’s that expression about money talking and some rather smelly excretion walking?

It’s not bulldoze. Hmm. Bull ... something.

Joe Harrington Oak Park

Our largest mass execution In Robert Sullivan’s letter in the March 17, he states, “America’s largest lynching took 11 Italians in 1891 New Orleans.” He is wrong.

On Dec. 26, 1862, following the U.S.-Dakota War of that year, the federal government hanged 38 members of the Dakota tribe in Minnesota. It was the largest mass execution in U.S. history.

Two days after the Dakota surrendered at Camp Release on Sept. 26, 1862, a military commission began trying Dakota men accused of participating in the war. The rapid trials — some no more than five minutes — of 392 prisoners were completed in November.

According to the Minnesota Historical Society, 303 men were sentenced to death and 16 received prison terms.

After reviewing the trial transcripts, President Abraham Lincoln provided a list of 39 names of prisoners to be executed. One received a last minute reprieve. On the morning of Dec. 26, 1862, in front of an estimated crowd of 4,000 spectators and on a specially constructed mass-hanging scaffold, the men were executed. They were left dangling from the scaffold for a half hour.

Alan Krause

Oak Park

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V I E W P O I N T S

Wednesday Journal, March 31, 2021

OAKPARK.COM | RIVERFOREST.COM

Listen, then act for change Two key issues in the village elections this year are Oak Park’s record of providing affordable living choices and equitable municipal services. We moved here at a time of affordable options and a new emphasis on quality municipal services. We embraced open housing and were committed to integrated living.

A pro-integration realtor listened to our story and helped us find a home on the east side of 800 N. Humphrey, affordable on an assistant professor income. The block was already racially diverse, with friendships and block parties.

In the years 1973-82, as racial resegregation progressed on the Chicago side of Austin Boulevard, a few disturbing issues arose with alley activity. But village Community Relations Director Sherlynn Reid listened at neighborhood meetings, provided calm assurances, and took action.

And we had police responsiveness that assured confidence. As Black families moved nearby, calm settled in and new friendships were born.

In our years since that Humphrey experience, we believed that geographically equal access to village

services, integrated schools, and our pro-integration housing center would bring a smooth transition to integrated living. The current focus on “equity” — greater attention and service where greater need — was not high in our priorities for government leaders.

The challenge today in this election is the strong emotion based on valid concerns, many associated with high-profile national issues of racial justice. The issues require the careful listening and calm deliberation that has succeeded in the past, beginning with listening to data and evidence.

Opponents in this election represent many voters and both sides deserve to be heard.

A successful practice at Oak Park Township when David was supervisor was to invite defeated candidates to apply to serve on Township advisory committees — senior, youth, or mental health. They had shown their commitment to the township mission and had important perspectives to share with the board. The village has many commissions that should be diverse and heard by the board.

David & Mena Boulanger Oak Park

Dear Oak Park police, more tickets please!

Since the pandemic began, we’ve been walking 5-7 miles every day, mostly through the streets of Oak Park. These daily tours of the village have acquainted us with a common motorist’s misstep: failing to stop at a stop sign.

Sometimes drivers will tap the breaks at a stop sign, but we’ve regularly seen cars blast through the stop signs without decreasing speed at all, sometimes while gazing at their mobile devices.

These are not isolated occurrences.

I’d estimate that in Oak Park, more than half the cars do not come to a full stop at a stop sign.

This kind of reckless disregard for traffic signs is especially dangerous for people who ride their bicycles on the sidewalk. When you’re coming up fast on the sidewalk, it’s difficult for motorists to see you coming because though they’re usually looking both ways, but they’re looking at the streets, not the sidewalks.

Of course, people over the age of 10 probably should not be cycling on the sidewalks anyway, though we see it

happening all the time, even in Downtown Oak Park. Obviously, aside from the danger to themselves, bicyclists on the sidewalks crowd out pedestrians, for whom the sidewalks were laid down in the first place. Unless a young child is riding the bike, the bike belongs in the street.

Both motorists who don’t stop for stop signs, as well as people who bicycle on the sidewalks, should be issued tickets. It doesn’t have to be a huge punishing monetary penalty, just enough to make an impression and maybe, just maybe save a few lives by encouraging drivers and cyclists to think a little more about what they’re doing. Or heck, just give them a warning, anything that will make them aware that they pose a significant public safety hazard.

So, Oak Park police, thank you for all you do, but please give out more tickets to scofflaws who don’t stop at stop signs or who cycle on sidewalks.

David Hammond Oak Park

Why manage deer populations?

A

s a non-hunting, vegetarian nature-lover I am in favor of deer. My heart lifts when I see a doe and fawn browsing in the green dappled light of early summer in Thatcher Woods. I marvel at their ability to move quickly through the trees and to seemingly appear and disappear at will. Yet I believe that deer herds should be managed so that their population will fit the available habitat.

In the natural, food-webby scheme of things, deer, as herbivores, are prey animals with high reproductive rates and a need for large areas full of the plants that nourish them. Over the past million years, they’ve co-evolved with their predators; until the 19th century, deer roamed widely, their populations kept in balance by the wolves and Native peoples who depended on them for sustenance. Wolves took what they needed and left the rest for scavengers such as coyotes and crows. Humans used nearly every part of the deer meat — hide, hooves, bones, and antlers — to supply an extremely sustainable, low-waste lifestyle. Deer herds were healthier and plant bio-diversity was high.

When settlers occupied Illinois, breaking the prairies, felling timber, and building cities and railroads, everything changed. They extirpated the wolves and drove out the Native tribes. Deer hunting continued until the population crashed, and hunting was banned between 1901 and 1957. In the Chicago region hunting ceased altogether while habitat shrank. With no predators besides the coyotes that reappeared in the late 1970s, urban deer kept multiplying, foraging for plants, and dying from starvation and sickness, while

severely damaging bio-diverse ecosystems — and people’s gardens.

Like it or not, we are now the apex predators. Because we manage the land and its creatures, I believe we have the responsibility to do so in an ecologically beneficial manner. We’re not about to tear down our neighborhoods and move away so deer can have more habitat. Nor is the thought of wolves roaming Thatcher Woods enticing. So what are the choices? All management must be an ongoing process because deer will always reproduce maximally in response to population decline, no matter the cause. Birth control and other methods are logistically difficult and extremely expensive. Alternatively, professional sharpshooters can cull the herds efficiently at regular intervals — with the processed meat provided to charities.

A smaller herd would give each fawn a greater chance to grow up healthy. Biodiversity would increase and the beautiful wildflowers, shrubs, and trees native to our woods would thrive. Starving animals would not wander the streets, endangering motorists and themselves. Realistically, the deer in a well-managed herd would live more natural lives than the animals in our industrial agriculture system.

Deer are not our pets. Nor are they pests.

They are wild animals trying to live their lives in the context of their biological roles, within a human dominated landscape. We humans have the responsibility to make sure they can do so, in order that they and we can beneficially co-exist.

Adrian Ayres Fisher lives in Oak Park and volunteers with the Forest Preserve District of Cook County.

ADRIAN AYRES One View

Wednesday Journal, March 31, 2021

OAKPARK.COM | RIVERFOREST.COM

V I E W P O I N T S

Opposing white supremacy

M

ost of Donald Trump’s biographers have concluded he has a narcissistic personality, and he holds white supremacy views.

As such, it is understandable that he could take the extreme measure of inciting his followers to attempt a coup on Jan. 6.

He desired overthrowing our democracy and its constitutional laws in order to keep the presidency and become dictator of the United States.

Using his grand lie that he won the 2020 presidential election, he forcefully urged his followers to “stop the steal,” and “to fight” without concern for possible damage, injuries, and death that might result from this “terrorist attack.” Christopher Wray, who Trump had personally nominated to the position of FBI director, described the event as a “terrorist attack,” not simply an insurrection.

Trump’s biographers also agree that the substantial support for Trump’s planned coup was a result of 2 major factors: 1) Approximately 66% of those who participated in the Jan. 6 insurrection claimed to be white supremacists, and 2) Trump’s Pied Piperesque showman personality influenced folks to believe his lie claiming victory in the presidential race. The pattern of Trump’s rise to power truly frightens me as he follows Hitler’s rise to power — establish a grand lie and use scapegoats, both of which Trump did. The racist, white supremacy views were the basis for designating scapegoats here in the United States. Non-whites and immigrants were ideal targets for Trump’s hateful fear-mongering, “inspiring” his followers to commit acts of domestic terrorism.

You must have heard comments as I have: “Black Lives Matter is trying to abolish the police and our laws.”

Hearing these and other hateful statements made me think about what our nation would be without people of color. The contributions and accomplishments of nonwhite people are impossible to fully list. The richness and vast benefits are part and parcel of our culture and daily lives in every realm, including but not limited to, history, politics, science, medicine, inventions, literature, music, sports, entertainment, and so much more, even our food and diet. The diversity of our nation’s population is what makes America unique: our democracy and the vision of equality and justice for all. This is why we must oppose white supremacy and any other view that seeks to diminish and demean any individual or group in our nation.

It is apparent that many, even those in leadership roles, are white supremacists or are sympathetic to their views.

I believe Trump would have been convicted at his second impeachment trial were it not for those Republican senators who are racist sympathizers, and for those who are afraid of revenge from Trump and his base.

In his comments before the Senate, Senator Chuck Grassley tried to compare the pro-tests of the Black Lives Matters movement to the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. Of course, there is no comparison — the Black Lives Matters movement encourages peaceful protests, and certainly never suggested an invasion of the Capitol, in contrast to the vicious raid intentionally planned as a coup.

Unfortunately, the laws we’ve had against this unlawful racist-driven behavior were ignored or removed during the Trump administration. It seems that only through the passage of time, a new administration focused on changing or strengthening existing laws, and education to shift mindsets, can we diminish racism and white supremacy.

My hope is that Trump and his followers, legislators and others, are indicted for their unconstitutional, racist, and treasonous behavior and brought before judges who zealously cling to their pledge to uphold the tenet of equal justice under the law. The challenge to this could come from the numerous judges who Trump appointed during his administration. But I am forever hopeful that we can save our democracy and be an inclusive nation that embraces and respects diversity and extends fair and equal justice to All.

HARRIET HAUSMAN One View

Drechsler, Brown & Williams Funeral Home

Since 1880 Family Owned & Operated Charles Williams, Owner/Funeral Director 203 S. Marion St. Oak Park 60302 708/383-3191

53

O B I T U A R I E S

John Krenzer, 84

Annette Varga, 94

John Krenzer, 84, of Oak Park, died on March 27, 2021, due to complications following a back injury.

Born on May 31, 1936 in Springfield, Illinois, to Orville and Thelma Krenzer, he attended Knox College on an ROTC scholarship, where he met Joan Ross Krenzer, his wife of 57 years.

He studied chemistry, which he loved, and went on to get his PhD in it at the University of Iowa. He served as a first lieutenant in the U.S. Army, and later moved to Oak Park, his wife’s hometown, to raise their family. In Chicago, he worked for Velsicol Chemical Company (where he was granted over 100 patents) and later at the Chicago Board of Options Exchange.

He had a quiet demeanor and a dry humor that had anyone around him chuckling. He and Joan travelled and watched their amazing grandchildren grow up. He loved attending their concerts and sporting events, and hearing about their achievements. He could often be found in the library book stacks, and was well-known for riding his bike everywhere, up until his last few months. He and Joan loved riding their bikes along the lakefront, attending concerts at Millennium Park, and playing bridge with friends. He was the family photographer, taking amazing candid photos of everyone, and developing them in his own dark room. He enjoyed gathering with family at reunions and weddings.

Everyone hoped he would draw their name at family Christmas parties, as his gifts were usually homemade; over the years, he crafted stained glass flowers and ornaments, wooden birdhouses, and other amazing, one-of-a-kind gifts. He was happiest when he could saw, solder, or rig something up. He made a beautiful stained glass lamp for Joan in 1972, which still lights up the dining room years later.

John Krenzer was the husband of the late Joan Ross Krenzer; the father of Julie Krenzer (Glen) Frybarger, John (Alexis Prescott) Krenzer, and the late James Ross Krenzer; the grandfather of Shaina, G, Anna, Jake, Chase and Chance; the brother of Dory (Jerry) Byers, Paul (Donna) Krenzer, and Bud (Doris) Krenzer; the brother-in-law of Suellen (Tim) Lee; the uncle of Elsa Lee (Kurt Nilsson), Tim (Maria) Lee, Scott Krenzer, Art (Kelly) Krenzer, Karen Byers, Mark Byers, Lesley (Jeff) Bush, Alan (Laura) Krenzer, and Kevin Krenzer; and the cousin and friend of many.

Private interment at Chapel Hill Gardens Cemetery.

In lieu of flowers, donations to your favorite charity or cards with memories are appreciated.

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

Annette Varga (nee Blockley), 94, of Downers Grove, formerly of Oak Park, died on March 25, 2021. Born on March 4, 1927, she was a member of St. Catherine of Siena/St. Lucy Parish for over 60 years.

Annette was the wife of the late Michael; the mother of Andrew (Kathy); grandma of Mike and Eric; sister of the late Ted (the late Pauline) Mossman, Joan (the late Frank) Czenski, and Randall (Frances), Cedric (the late Donna) and Charles (Fern) Blockley; the aunt and great-aunt of many; and daughter of the late Charles and Frances Blockley.

Visitation was held March 29 at Drechsler, Brown & Williams Funeral Home. A funeral Mass was celebrated March 30 at St. Catherine of Siena/St. Lucy Church, followed by interment at Queen of Heaven Cemetery.

In lieu of flowers, donations to St. Catherine of Siena/St. Lucy Church are appreciated.

Chemist, options trader, cyclist

St. Catherine/St. Lucy member

James Marshall, 95

Ran juice and ambulance businesses James (Jim) R. Marshall, 95, a longtime resident of Oak Park, died peacefully on March 24, 2021 at his daughter’s home, surrounded by family. Born on March 1, 1926 to Anna (Driscoll) and John Marshall of Dalton, Massachusetts, he attended the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, earning a degree in Chemistry and a masters in Food Technology. In college he met Alice O’Neil, the love of his life. They were married in 1951 and lived happily together for 65 years until her death in 2017. They raised seven children in Oak Park. It was his job with American Can Co. that brought him to Oak Park from Tampa, Florida. In addition, he worked for Home Juice Company until he started his own juice business and an ambulance company, which he ran successfully for almost 20 years. He and his wife were also avid golfers and could often be seen playing at Columbus Park and the Oak Park Country Club.

Jim leaves behind his children, Mary and (Peter Blanc), Frances Marshall, John Marshall (deceased), Anne Marshall and (Angel Kustief), Jim and (Kathi Marshall), Tom Marshall and Paul Marshall (deceased), 12 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. He also remained close to his two sisters back east, Margaret Signer (deceased) and Mary Shultis.

Please consider making a donation to St. Catherine/St. Lucy School in Oak Park or the OPRF Rotary Foundation.

54

Wednesday Journal, March 31, 2021 New local ads this week

HOURS: 9:00 A.M.– 5:00 P.M. MON–FRI

WEDNESDAY

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

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

YOUR WEEKLY AD

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

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

Wednesday Journal Classified must be notified before the second insertion.

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

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

HELP WANTED

BUDGET & REVENUE ANALYST The Village of Oak Park is seeking qualified candidates for the position of Budget and Revenue Analyst in the Police Department.

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

VILLAGE OF RIVERSIDE SEASONAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY

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

Please email resume to: marketing@keatingofchicago.com EQUIPMENT OPERATOR The Village of Oak Park is seeking qualified candidates for the position of Equipment Operator in the Public Works Department. This position will operate construction and maintenance equipment in a variety of street activities including loading, hauling, and related operations.

Applicants are encouraged to visit the Village of Oak Park’s website http://www.oak-park.us/jobs. Interested and qualified applicants must complete a Village of Oak Park application. First review of applications April 6, 2021.

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

SERVER WANTED PAPASPIROS RESTAURANT 708-358-1700

The Riverside Department of Public Works is seeking energetic and motivated applicants who enjoy working outdoors. This is a parttime, seasonal position lasting from approximately April-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, general facilities maintenance, flushing hydrants, reading meters, 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 $15/hr.

The Village of Riverside is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

SUBURBAN RENTALS STUDIO APARTMENTS BROADVIEW Studio apartments for rent. $600/mo and up, all utilities incl. $25 credit application fee.

9200 W. Cermak Broadview 708-715-7292 OAK PARK: ROOSEVELT/ OAK PARK AVE. CORRIDOR 2BR 4RMS close to blue line. On site laundry, parking, heat & water incl. $1200/ month 708-383-9223

CEMETERY LOT

OFFICE SPACE FOR RENT

WOODLAWN CEMETERY LOT 1 lot for sale. Woodlawn Memorial Park Cemetery.

CALL 727-688-7209

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

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

AUTOS FOR SALE 2008 FORD CROWN VIC INTERCEPTOR 62K MILES. $5500, 2013 FORD TAURUS INTERCEPTOR 140K MILES. $5500.

ITEMS FOR SALE

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

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

708-488-8755

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

Many new parts on all Call Pearson 773-540-7650.

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

15”d x 24”w x 24”h. $59.00 708-488-8755

WANTED TO BUY

MUSIC Music: piano scores, concertos, piano trios, flute music violin music.

Variety of composers. $3.00 each.

708-488-8755

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

Call Uncle Gary 708-522-3400

NEW BIKES FOR SALE TANDEM BIKE with all the bells and whistles. Best offer.

THREE WHEELER with 2 baskets and all the bells and whistles. Best offer. Price negotiable.

708-447-1762

Lost & Found, Items for Sale, and To Be Given Away ads run free in Wednesday Classified. To place your ad, call 708-613-3342

SUBURBAN RENTALS

SUBURBAN RENTALS

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

OAK PARK & FOREST PARK

708-386-7355

MMpropMgmt.com

Apartment listings updated daily at:

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

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

Wednesday Classified 3 Great Papers, 6 Communities To place an ad, call: 708/613-3333

CEMENT

MAGANA

HANDYMAN Mike’s Home Repair

C O N C R E T E C O N S T RU C T I O N

Drywall H Painting H Tile Plumbing H Electric H Floors Windows H Doors H Siding Ask Us What We Don’t Do

COMMERCIAL INDUSTRIAL RESIDENTIAL

CURT'S HANDYMAN SERVICE

“QUALITY IS OUR FOUNDATION” ESTABLISHED IN 1987

708.442.7720 '5,9(:$<6 )281'$7,216 3$7,26 67(36 &85% *877(56 6,'(:$/.6 612: 3/2:,1* 67$03(' &2/25(' $**5(*$7( &21&5(7( FREE ESTIMATES LICENSED, BONDED & INSURED

ELECTRICAL Ceiling Fans Installed

ELECTRICAL

A&A ELECTRIC

Let an American Veteran do your work

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

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

• Electric • Heating • Air Conditioning

John Giatras Licensed, EPA Certified

Phone: 708-556-5540 Email: adinstubc@yahoo.com Reasonable Pricing!

PETS

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

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

CEMENT

While you’re away, your pets are okay . . . at home

cat calls

Oak Park’s Original Pet Care Service – Since 1986

Daily dog exercising Complete pet care in your home )PVTF TJUUJOH t 1MBOU DBSF Bonded References

524-1030

        

FLOORS KLIS FLOORING INC.

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

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

708-296-2060

Drywall Repair • Painting Fans Installed • Carpentry Trim Gutter Cleaning • Window Repair

FREE ESTIMATES Excellent References No Job Too Small

708-488-9411

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

773-637-0692 Ask for John

HAULING BASEMENT CLEANING

Appliances & Furniture Removal Pickup & Delivery.

708-848-9404

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

FREE SERVICE CALL WITH REPAIR AND SENIOR/VETERAN DISCOUNT.

708-785-2619 or 773-585-5000 Attention! Improvement pros!

Don’t be caught short… reach the people making the decisions…

Advertise your home improvement business in Wednesday Classified.

Call 708/613-3342

Wednesday Journal, March 31, 2021

LANDSCAPING

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

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

708-243-0571

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

708.749.0011

PLASTERING

PUBLIC NOTICES

PUBLIC NOTICES

PUBLIC NOTICES

PUBLIC NOTICES

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

Oak Park Township is seeking a creative, qualified freelance graphic designer, design firm, or agency to create a strong graphic logo for our organization that represents and encompasses our organization’s diverse social and civic services. We are accepting proposals through April 23, 2021. Please see the RFP at https://oakparktownship.org/ employment-and-volunteer-opportunities/ for details and submission requirements. If you wish to find out more about Oak Park Township and its offerings, please visit www.oakparktownship.org.

NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING REGARDING THE VILLAGE OF RIVER FOREST’S FISCAL YEAR 2021/2022 BUDGET AND APPROPRIATIONS (MAY 1, 2021 THROUGH APRIL 30, 2022)

Notice is hereby given by the President and Board of Trustees of the Village of River Forest, Cook County, Illinois, that sealed bids will be accepted for:

Published in Wednesday Journal 3/24, 3/31, 4/7/2021

McNulty Plastering & Stucco Co.

Small & big work. Free estimates.

Complete Plaster, Stucco & Re-Coating Services

708/386-2951 • ANYTIME Work Guaranteed

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

PUBLIC NOTICES PUBLIC NOTICE Notice is hereby given, pursuant to “An Act in relation to the use of an Assumed Business Name in the conduct or transaction of Business in the State,” as amended, that a certification was registered by the undersigned with the County Clerk of Cook County. Registration Number: Y21006206 on March 11, 2021 Under the Assumed Business Name of AMERICAN DREAMS CLEANING COMPANY with the business located at:1025 PLEASANT PLACE, APT. 2G, OAK PARK, IL 60302. The true and real full name(s) and residence address of the owner(s)/partner(s) is: JEFFREY RUSSELL COLLINS 1025 PLEASANT PLACE APT. 2G OAK PARK, IL 60302, USA. Published in Wednesday Journal 3/17, 3/24, 3/31/2021

PUBLIC NOTICE Notice is hereby given, pursuant to “An Act in relation to the use of an Assumed Business Name in the conduct or transaction of Business in the State,” as amended, that a certification was registered by the undersigned with the County Clerk of Cook County. Registration Number: Y21006244 on March 12, 2021 Under the Assumed Business Name of CHAMBERS ADVERTISING with the business located at: 414 GENEVA AVE, BELLWOOD, IL 60104. The true and real full name(s) and residence address of the owner(s)/partner(s) is: FOSTER CHAMBERS, 414 GENEVA AVE, BELLWOOD, IL 60104, USA. Published in Forest Park Review 3/17, 3/24, 3/31/2021

PUBLIC NOTICE OF COURT DATE FOR REQUEST FOR NAME CHANGE STATE OF ILLINOIS, CIRCUIT COURT COOK COUNTY. Request of Mercedes De La PazBuck Case Number 20214000895 There will be a court date on my Request to change my name from: Mercedes De La Paz-Buck to the new name of: Cedes Delapaz Buck.

The court date will be held: On April 27th, 2021 at 9:30 a.m. at 1500 Maybrook Drive, Maywood, Cook County, IL in Courtroom #0111.

Published in RB Landmark 3/17, 3/24, 3/31/2021

OakPark.com RiverForest.com

55

LEGAL NOTICE The Village of Oak Park will receive sealed bids from qualified contractors at the Public Works Center, 201 South Boulevard, Oak Park, Illinois 60302 Monday through Friday, 7:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. local time until 3:00 p.m. on Thursday, April 22, 2021 for the following:

Published in Wednesday Journal March 31, 2021

OAK PARK TOWNSHIP NOTICE OF ANNUAL TOWN MEETING Please join meeting from your computer, tablet or smartphone. https://global.gotomeeting.com/ join/540393325 You can also dial in using your phone.

United States: +1 (669) 224-3412 (For supported devices, tap a onetouch number below to join instantly.)

- O n e - t o u c h : tel:+16692243412,,540393325# Access Code: 540-393-325

Village of Oak Park Valve Actuator Replacement Project Number: 21-124

New to GoToMeeting? Get the app now and be ready when your first

Bid documents may be obtained from the Village’s website at http://www.oak-park.us/bid. For questions, please call Public Works at (708) 358-5700 during the above hours.

NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN to the legal voters, residents of the Township of Oak Park, County of Cook, and State of Illinois, that the Annual Town Meeting of said Township, will take place on Tuesday, April 13, 2021 at the hour of 6:30 p.m., for the transaction of the business of the Township; and a Moderator having been elected, will proceed to hear and consider reports of officers, and decide on such measures as may, in pursuance of law, come before the meeting, following this agenda:

Published in Wednesday Journal March 31, 2021

ADVERTISEMENT FOR RFQ PROPOSAL The Board of Education of Oak Park Elementary School District #97 will receive sealed copier equipment and the installation of said equipment RFQs at the Administrative Office located at 260 Madison Street – Oak Park, IL, 60302, until 3:00 p.m. on Wednesday, April 14, 2021.

Copies of specifications may be secured at the Oak Park Elementary School District #97 District Office, 260 Madison Street, Oak Park, IL 60302, but only able to be received by emailing Michael Arensdorff (marensdorff@op97.org) to schedule a time, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Responses mailed or delivered shall be marked to the attention of: Oak Park School District 97 Attn. Mr. Michael Arensdorff 260 Madison Street Oak Park, Illinois 60302 The front of the envelope should be clearly marked “District 97 Copier RFQ”. Additional information may be obtained by contacting Mr. Michael Arensdorff at (708) 524-3015 or marensdorff@op97.org. Faxed or electronically submitted RFQs will not be accepted. Any faxed or electronically submitted RFQ will disqualify vendors.

Responses Due Date: Wednesday, April 14, 2021 at 3:00 P.M. Only those responses complying with the provision and specification of the response will be considered.

The Board of Education reserves the right to waive any informalities, qualification or irregularities and/or reject any or all responses, when in its opinion, such action will serve the best interest of the Board of Education of Oak Park Elementary School District 97.

Sheryl Marinier Board Secretary Published in Wednesday Journal March 31, 2021

I. Call to Order II. Pledge of Allegiance III. Procedures for Meeting IV. Supervisor’s Annual Financial Statements V. Election of Moderator VI. Resolutions to Come Before the Electors VII. Adjournment All interested citizens, groups, senior citizens and organizations representing the interests of senior citizens are encouraged to attend.

Oak Park Township does not discriminate on the basis of handicapped status in the admission or access to, or employment in its programs or activities. Those needing special accommodations are asked to provide 48 hours notice.

Given under my hand in the Town of Oak Park, County of Cook, State of Illinois, this 11th day of March, 2021.

Gregory P. White Oak Park Township Clerk Published in Wednesday Journal March 31, 2021

Starting a New Business?

Call the experts before you place your legal ad!

Publish your assumed name legal notice in • Wednesday Journal • Forest Park Review • Riverside/Brookfield Landmark • Austin Weekly News Call Mary Ellen for details: 708/613-3342

The Village President and Board of Trustees of the Village of River Forest (“Village”) will conduct a public hearing to consider the proposed budget and appropriations for the Village’s fiscal year 2021 / 2022, for the period of May 1, 2021 through April 30, 2022, on April 12, 2021, at 7:00 p.m., in the Community Room located in the River Forest Village Hall, 400 Park Avenue, River Forest, Illinois 60305.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the public’s access to, and participation at, this public hearing shall be as follows: (a) Physical attendance at the public hearing is limited to 10 individuals, with priority given to Village officials, Village staff and consultants; (b) The public is encouraged to stay at home and watch and listen to, and participate in, the public hearing via electronic means; (c) Public comments and any responses will be read into the public hearing record; (d) Written public comments may be submitted either by email to sphyfer@vrf.us, or by delivery to Village Hall, 400 Park Avenue, River Forest, Illinois 60305, in advance of the public hearing, by 5:00 p.m. on April 12, 2021; and (e) You may listen to, and participate in, the public hearing by dialing in to a telephone conference call. The telephone conference call number and access code will be made available at https://www.vrf.us/events/ event/1884 on or before April 1, 2021, and by emailing sphyfer@ vrf.us.

Copies of the proposed budget and appropriations are available for inspection by the public at the Village Clerk’s Office at River Forest Village Hall, 400 Park Avenue, River Forest, Illinois 60305 and on the Village’s website at http://www.vrf.us. The proposed budget and appropriations have been available at the Clerk’s Office since at least April 1, 2021.

The above public hearing restrictions are authorized by the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention directive that no more than 10 persons be in physical attendance at the public hearing, and by Section 7(e) of the Illinois Open Meetings Act, 5 ILCS 120/7(e).

If you have questions, please contact Village Finance Director Rosemary McAdams at 708-366-8500.

VILLAGE OF RIVER FOREST Kathleen Brand-White, Village Clerk Published in Wednesday Journal March 31, 2021

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

NOTICE TO CONTRACTORS

2021 Street Improvement Program This project includes the replacement of curb and gutter, sidewalk and driveway aprons, hot-mix asphalt surface removal, frame/lid adjustment, resurfacing, and other associated work.

The bidding documents are available for download starting Thursday, March 25, 2021 at: www.vrf.us/bids Bids must be submitted by Monday, April 19, 2021 at 10:00 a.m. at: Village of River Forest 400 Park Avenue River Forest, IL 60305 The bid proposals will be publicly opened and read at that time. Proposals will be considered not only on the basis of cost, but also on past performance, experience and ability to perform the work.

No bid shall be withdrawn after the opening of the Proposals without the consent of the President and Board of Trustees of the Village of River Forest for a period of thirty (30) days after the scheduled time of the bid opening.

Bidders shall be prequalified by IDOT for: HMA Paving The Village of River Forest reserves the right in receiving these bids to waive technicalities and reject any or all bids.

Published in Wednesday Journal March 31, 2021

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

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

REAL ESTATE FOR SALE

OF SAID SECTION 18), IN COOK COUNTY, ILLINOIS THE WEST 1/2 OF VACATED ELMWOOD AVENUE LYING EAST OF AND ADJOINING LOT 19 IN SUBDIVISION OF BLOCK 3 IN SUBDIVISION OF THE SOUTHEAST 1/4 OF LOT 6 IN B. F. JERVIS SUBDIVISION OF SECTION 18, TOWNSHIP 39 NORTH, RANGE 13, EAST OF TH E THIRD PRINCIPAL MERIDIAN, (EXCEPT THE WEST 1/2 OF THE SOUTHWEST 1/4 THEREOF), IN COOK COUNTY, ILLINOIS. THE EAST 1/2 OF VACATED GUNDERSON AVENUE LYING WEST OF AND ADJOINING LOT 28 IN SUBDIVISION OF BLOCK 3 IN SUBDIVISION OF THE SOUTHEAST 1/4 OF LOT 6 IN B. F. JERVIS SUBDIVISION OF SECTION 18, TOWNSHIP 39 NORTH, RANGE 13, EAST OF THE THIRD PRINCIPAL MERIDIAN, (EXCEPT THE WEST 1/2 OF THE SOUTHWEST 1/4), IN COOK COUNTY, ILLINOIS, WHICH SURVEY IS ATTACHED TO THE DECLARATION OF CONDOMINIUM RECORDED AS DOCUMENT 0617416044, AS AMENDED FROM TIME TO TIME, TOGETHER WITH AN UNDIVIDED PERCENTAGE INTEREST IN THE COMMON ELEMENTS. “MORTGAGOR ALSO HEREBY GRANTS TO THE MORTGAGEE, ITS SUCCESSORS AND ASSIGNS, AS RIGHTS AND EASEMENTS APPURTENANT TO THE ABOVE DESCRIBED REAL ESTATE, THE RIGHTS AND EASEMENTS FOR THE BENEFIT OF SAID PROPERTY SET FORTH IN THE DECLARATION OF CONDOMINIUM” “THIS MORTGAGE IS SUBJECT TO ALL RIGHTS, EASEMENTS, COVENANTS, CONDITIONS, RESTRICTIONS AND RESERVATIONS CONTAINED IN SAID DECLARATION THE SAME AS THOUGH THE PROVISIONS OF SAID DECLARATION WERE RECITED AND STIPULATED AT LENGTH HEREIN.”. P.I.N. 16-18428-043-1019 & 16-18-428-0431064.

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

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

For information call Law Clerk at Plaintiff’s Attorney, The Wirbicki Law Group, 33 West Monroe Street, Chicago, Illinois 60603. (312) 3609455. W18-0641 INTERCOUNTY JUDICIAL SALES CORPORATION intercountyjudicialsales.com I3166129 IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF COOK COUNTY, ILLINOIS COUNTY DEPARTMENT CHANCERY DIVISION QUICKEN LOANS, LLC Plaintiff, -v.DRIKO DUCASSE, UNKNOWN OWNERS AND NONRECORD CLAIMANTS Defendants 2019CH08452 1226 N AUSTIN BLVD OAK PARK, IL 60302 NOTICE OF SALE PUBLIC NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale entered in the above cause on December 17, 2019, an agent for The Judicial Sales Corporation, will at 10:30 AM on April 27, 2021, at The Judicial Sales Corporation, One South Wacker Drive, CHICAGO, IL, 60606, sell at a public sale to the highest bidder, as set forth below, the following described real estate: Commonly known as 1226 N AUSTIN BLVD, OAK PARK, IL 60302 Property Index No. 16-05-127-027-

REAL ESTATE FOR SALE

0000 The real estate is improved with a multi-family residence.

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

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

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

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

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

I3166321

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Wednesday Journal, March 31, 2021

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