Wednesday Journal 101321

W E D N E S D A Y

October 13, 2021 Vol. 42, No. 11 ONE DOLLAR

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JOURNAL

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@oakpark

of Oak Park and River Forest

Switch to ‘honors for all’ OPRF freshmen, coming up for vote

Partners in parish education Page 7

FRISBEE FOCUS

Goal is to offer all frosh opportunities within ‘rigorous’ curriculum

By F. AMANDA TUGADE Staff Reporter

Oak Park and River Forest High School District 200 is looking to make another wave of changes to its freshmen curriculum, which could take effect by the next school year, if approved by the school board.

Director of Student Learning Laurie Fiorenza will be leading a presentation on the updates to three freshmen courses: history, English and world languages. The changes – which must be sanctioned by the school board and will be up for vote at the Oct. 28 meeting – are part of D200’s stop and start effort to restructure its freshmen program to improve equity outcomes.

To put it simply, the district wants an end to an “earned honors approach” and instead promote an “honors for all” strategy for incoming freshmen, Fiorenza said. She said having a tiered system – one that places first-year high school students into one of three course levels – does not “ensure equity for all.”

That system is a barrier for students, as it disallows them from learning about themselves and what they could possibly accomplish, she said.

The district plans to remove that tiered system and build one rigorous curriculum for freshmen.

See D200 on page 12

ALEX ROGALS/Staff Photographer

Seventh-grader Elliot Engebreston demonstrates proper passing technique on the field behind Julian Middle School during Ultimate Frisbee Club practice last week. See story, more photos, on page 14.

Plan Commission hears 7 Van Buren proposal Unclear where commissioners stand on ResCorp’s net-zero project

By STACEY SHERIDAN Staff Reporter

The Oak Park Plan Commission got a crack at the plans to build a net-zero, accessible and affordable housing complex at 7 Van Buren Street during the project’s hearing Oct. 7. Aside from commending

the Oak Park Residence Corporation for making the building net-zero, they gave little indication of whether they intend to recommend the village board approve the project for construction.

The plan for the six-story, 45-unit complex was presented to the commission by David Pope, currently ResCorp execu-

tive director, and previously Oak Park village president, village trustee and plan commission member.

ResCorp has long owned the site which is currently occupied by a two-story motel-style apartment building. ResCorp is See 7 VAN BUREN on page 18

OAK PARK BANK IS NOW OPEN AT 151 N. OAK PARK AVE. | OAK PARK Oak Park Bank is a branch of Hinsdale Bank & Trust Company, N.A.

bankoakpark.com

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RFMC Breast Cancer-Oak Pk Journal ad.pdf

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On Columbus, Washington, and the purpose of civic forgetting

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“The great Jeffersonian system that had n 1983, the political scientist Benedict Anderprevailed in the first decades, with western son famously pointed out that communities subjects semi-colonized, simply could not “are to be distinguished … by the style in which they are imagined.” hold,” Immerwahr points out. “There were too And in a similar vein, John Betancur and many Daniel Boones. The government gave up Janet Smith wrote in their 2016 book, Claimprosecuting squatters by the 1830s and instead ing Neighborhood: New Ways of Understandlet them buy their land. In the 1860s it began ing Urban Change, that “language is both a giving away parcels of public land as ‘hometool used to describe space and a means to steads’ to nearly any citizen willing to live on generate space.” them.”

Take George Washington, for instance. The The operative word, in this case, is “citizen.” father of American independence favored Before the close of the 20th century, whites “enforcing a British-style settlement boundlike Boone who had been considered savages ary” in order to secure “large tracts of and “banditti” would be reimagined as “piowestern land” that constituted much of his neers.” And once wild, untamed and unruly Commentary wealth,” Daniel Immerwahr writes in his 2019 frontier would slowly transform into governbook, How to Hide an Empire: A History of the able states. Citizenship for Blacks and natives, Greater United States. however, was largely foreclosed.

Washington’s putative ownership of the land meant That’s how a country, a legally defined territory, nothing if he couldn’t control its sale and settlement, became a nation, which is the style by which a country and that meant fighting off the threats of encroachment is imagined. The U.S., the history clearly shows, was posed by “white savages,” “banditti” like Daniel Boone, imagined and shaped as a white settler state. And that’s “who took land without consulting its eastern owners.” the nation we currently inhabit.

Washington and other landed elites despised people In his 2019 work, Neither Settler Nor Native: The Maklike Boone, who were appraised to be ungovernable, wild, ing and Unmaking of Permanent Minorities, Mahmood lawless — just like the western land that these elites were Mamdani provides a rather concise breakdown of the struggling to control. Washington had tasked his cousin, historical contour that Immerwahr shapes in his book.

Lund Washington, with keeping watch over his vast The whites who inhabited this country that would evenwestern holdings, but under “Lund’s less than entirely tually become the U.S. were not merely immigrants. watchful eye, squatters took up residence” on the Found“Immigrants join existing polities, whereas settlers ing Father’s property. create new ones,” Mamdani writes. “If Europeans in the As he did upon learning that one of his cherished United States were immigrants, they would have joined slaves, Ona Judge, had escaped to freedom, Washington the existing societies of the New World. Instead they set out on a warpath (in the case of his Kentucky holddestroyed those societies and built a new one that was ings — quite literally). reinforced by later waves of settlement. The conflation “Washington rode west across the mountains, this time of settlers and immigrants is essential to settler-colonial to quash a rebellion,” Immerwahr writes. “In the end, the nation-state projects such as the United States and Israel. uprising dispersed before Washington’s forces arrived.

Through this historical error, settlers wrongly justify But the episode remains, as the historian Joseph Ellis their claims to the land and their positions in society on has observed, the ‘first and only time a sitting American the basis of a rule of law.” president led troops in the field.’”

The dispute between the Boones and the Washingtons Despite the failed uprising, squatters like Boone had of late-18th century America was only resolved when a key advantage over the Founding Fathers — numbers. might joined imagination — and the resolution would From 1790 to 1890, the population of the United States favor white settlement, which is premised on a specific “increased sixteenfold,” doubling every 25 years, Immerimaginative order (fixed into place by white landowning wahr notes. men). The rule of law is merely the means to that end.

Roughly during that period, in order to deal with unMamdani explains that the cultural foundation of the tamed land and untamed people like Boone, the Founding white settler state that would eventually become the U.S. Fathers styled themselves a nation through the language empire (it’s hidden, in large part, because Americans are of statehood and citizenship, and in laws and policies conditioned to think they don’t live in one, Immerwahr like the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 and the Louisiana notes) was built in 1492, the year “Columbus sailed the Purchase of 1803. ocean blue” (as the age-old grammar school poem goes) Washington and other elites imagined a political catand the year that Mamdani pegs as “the founding moegory for the frontier called the territory. According to ment of the modern state.”

U.S. policy, territories were basically frontier lands that By marking 1492 as the founding of the modern state were equivalent to dependent colonies, inhabited “not by (instead of 1648, the year of the Treaty of Westphalia, ‘citizens of the United States’ but by its ‘subjects’ (‘white which ended years of warfare and supposedly created the Indians’ is how one of the territorial judges described modern state through religious tolerance and mutual sovthem).” ereignty), the author attempts a course correction and an A territory could cross into statehood, which put it on opportunity for a potential imaginative reckoning with equal footing with the original states of the union, only the ugly truth of the past. The nation-state was actually if it met the following thresholds: “five thousand free born of two developments in Iberia, he argues. men, and they could have a legislature; sixty thousand “One was ethnic cleansing,” which is what the Castilfree inhabitants (or sooner, if Congress allowed), and ian monarchy carried out in order to create a homogthey could be states.” enous national homeland for Christian Spaniards like The Founding Fathers’ goal of keeping the country’s Christopher Columbus by “ejecting and converting” expansion at a “stately pace” with this territorial policy, Moors and Jews. The other development was “the taking however, ultimately failed in face of the growing white of overseas colonies in the Americas by the same Castilpopulation, which Immerwahr writes “would explode the ian monarchy that spearheaded ethnic cleansing.” founders’ vision of the country.”

Nationalism and modern colonialism “were born

MICHAEL ROMAIN

“Portrait of a Man, Said to be Christopher Columbus,” by Sebastiano del Piombo, 1519. together,” they were “co-constituted,” Mamdani argues.

Territorial expansion, domination, slavery, genocide, conversion, cultural homogeneity — these all comprise the essence of the modern nation-state, Mamdani argues. In this sense, Columbus prefigures Washington.

In our American democracy, citizenship, if you can buy it, requires a conversion ritual not altogether unlike that forced onto the natives by Columbus. In the American case, white settlers like Boone (and in later generations white ethnic immigrants from Europe) underwent a ritual “forgetting” (of the particularities of their ‘savage’ pasts, of prior injustices) in order to be welcomed into civilized society. They were baptized into the amnesia of whiteness, so to speak.

“In the act of reconstituting the self into a civic self, forgetting becomes a rite of passage and as such a condition of membership,” wrote the late philosopher Sheldin Wolin.

Even remembering serves the purpose of forgetting.

We commemorate Columbus in order to forget the brutal world he and his ilk imagined into existence and in order to avoid confronting the ugly truth about how the U.S. was actually constituted.

This is why some people are so afraid of current efforts to “cancel” Columbus Day and to remember indigenous people. This revisionist wave to remember the past differently is a threat to the social structure of white settlement.

“A civic celebration organizes forgetfulness so as to ward off the return of the repressed, which, though overcome or rejected, is still perceived as threatening,” Wolin writes.

History is written by the victors, but when they feel this capability is under threat, they get very mad and show their true colors — like Washington on a warpath.

CONTACT: info@vfpress.news

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Wednesday Journal, October 13, 2021

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BIG WEEK Oct. 13-20 Blackfriars Gala

Register now; Oct. 22, 6 p.m., Drury Lane Fenwick High School’s annual Black Tie optional event raises tuition-assistance funds for talented, deserving students. The evening includes cocktails (6 p.m.), dinner (7:30 p.m.), live auction and paddle raise (8:30 p.m.) and more. Celebrate alumni Dennis Marani (‘72) and Ron Van De Walle (‘60), this year’s Hall of Fame inductees. Latest mask guidelines followed. $350. Tickets/more: fenwickfriars.com/ blackfriarsgala. 100 Drury Lane, Oakbrook Terrace.

GriefShare Tuesdays, 7 to 8:30 p.m., Through Jan. 11, Grace Lutheran Church Attend a support group and seminar that is open to join anytime. More: 708-366-6900, gracechurch@graceriverforest. org, griefshare.org. 7300 W. Division, River Forest.

Socktober Through Oct. 31, Children’s Services Desk, Main Library Warm souls and soles by contributing new socks to benefit the clients of Housing Forward. Socks are among the most requested items at shelters. More: oppl.org/ calendar. 834 Lake St., Oak Park.

Dr. Donna Carroll Address Wednesday, Oct. 20, 5:30 p.m., Zoom with Women Leaders in Philanthropy Hear President Emerita of Dominican University share her perspective on a variety of topics, including the intersection of leadership and philanthropy, addressing innovation, agility, vision-setting and community-building. In her nearly 30-year career at Dominican, Carroll expanded the notion of “living in community,” setting the foundation for dynamic collaborations with River Forest that have benefited the community at large. Free; all welcome. https://tinyurl.com/WLIPDrCarrollEvent

Ranky Tanky Sunday, Oct. 17, 7:30 p.m., Dominican University

Rooted in the Gullah culture derived from slave descendants in South Carolina and Georgia who maintain their own dialect, food traditions and music, Ranky Tanky’s repertoire includes jazz arrangements, spirituals, dance music and children’s rhymes. The band’s second album, Good Time, won a 2020 Grammy for Best Regional Roots Music Album. $27 - $42.

Tickets/more: dom.edu/arts-minds. 7900 Division St., River Forest.

Side Yard Sounds

Fair Oaks Market

Friday, Oct. 15, 7 p.m., Compound Yellow See Chad Kouri and Jeremiah Hunt. Kouri is a Chicagobased working artist known for his intuitive, vibrant compositions that utilize the holistic properties of color and abstraction. Hunt is a sought-after bassist who has performed in top performance spaces across the world. $15. Tickets/more: facebook.com/compoundyellow. Or, at the door with Venmo, PayPal, cash or check. 244 Lake St., Oak Park.

Saturday, Oct. 16, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., Fair Oaks Presbyterian Church Shop for handcrafted items by local artisans. A percentage of the proceeds benefit Sarah’s Inn and the 2022 Senior High Mission Trip. Featuring a Kribi Coffee Pop-Up Shop, plus one-of-a-kind locally made items including Jeremiah’s Jams, Einnim home and body products, WhooooNew up-cycled handbags, Hiyo crochet, Soul Sister Creations stitched and felted wares, DermaPhilia natural skin care products, Radek homemade skin care and more. Free admission. Info: fairoakspres.org/fairoaks-market. 744 Fair Oaks Ave., Oak Park.

Telescope Night: Full Hunter’s Moon Queen Elizabeth II Monday, Oct. 18, 1:15 p.m., Ballroom, Nineteenth Century Club and Livestreamed

Historian Leslie Goddard, Ph.D., explores the life of Britain’s famous monarch, from her childhood, her World War II service, and her struggle to balance her roles as queen, wife and mother. Get to know her sense of humor and savvy intelligence.

Brought by The Nineteenth Century Charitable Association. Socially distanced seating; masks required. $15, requested donation; free, members.

Register for livestream: nineteenthcentury.org.

178 Forest, Oak Park.

Friday, Oct. 20, 8 p.m., Barrie Park Join NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador Mark Benson for a night of telescope viewing and a discussion of current and upcoming NASA missions and discoveries. Bring a telescope if you can. Weather permitting. Up next, Friday, Nov. 12, 7 p.m. at Mills Park: Saturn. More: pdop.org/ events/telescope-nights. 1011 S. Lombard, Oak Park.

Gardener’s Melody Wednesday, Oct. 20, 2 to 3 p.m., Virtually with the Oak Park Public Library Hear jazz vocalist Petra van Nuis and guitarist Andy Brown create an auditory landscape with flower- and tree-themed tunes from the Great American Songbook.

Register: oppl.org/calendar.

Dig in the Dirt

Barktoberfest: Trivia Edition Thursday, Oct. 14, 6 to 9 p.m., One Lake Brewing Support the Animal Care League while enjoying trivia, food and brews. Form a trivia team and compete to win a tour and tasting at One Lake Brewing and exclusive Animal Care League swag. Also, try your luck in the pickyour-prize raffle. $35, includes entry and trivia game.

Food/beverage and raffle tickets extra. Tickets/more: barktoberfest2021.funraise.org.

Saturday, Oct. 16, 10 a.m. to Noon, Thatcher Woods Join a welcoming space for kids/families, and anyone wanting to connect with their playful side. The event is accessible to individuals with disabilities. Happens rain or shine. Wear weather-appropriate clothing, be ready to get dirty. Bring a reusable water bottle. Light snacks will be available. Brought by Nature120, committed to providing trauma informed, inclusive, anti-racist/ anti-ableist nature-based holistic wellness and play experiences; and Kinfolk CoLab, which provides a physical space in service to those who are working for justice, equity and belonging in Oak Park and beyond. Free.

Questions: connect@kinfolkcolab.org. Register: bit.ly/ diginthedirt. 8030 Chicago Ave., River Forest

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Wednesday Journal, October 13, 2021

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ART BEAT

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More stories from ‘Lost Chicago’

locations, such as the starting new and expanded edition of Lost Chicago, the point of Route 66. popular history of buildThe new portions of the book ings and institutions were written before COVID bethat are gone from the gan, but publication was stalled Chicago scene, has just been reby the pandemic. It is in stores leased. The original edition was now. published in 2012 and has been I joke that my book is what you such a popular book that the give your father when you aren’t publisher, Pavilion Books from certain of the right gift. An Amthe United Kingdom, decided to azon reviewer wrote, “I bought release a new version with adthis for a friend that recently ditional stories and more color turned 100. He was in tears from images. memories of Chicago in his Guest Author I wrote 10 new chapters to add youth.” Inside Chicago’s Beyond to the existing sections about the the Boat Tour writes that Lost Great Chicago Fire, the Columbian Exposi- Chicago “is an immensely entertaining and tion, and many stories detailing the famous, beautifully illustrated book with great arbut lost, ballparks and train stations. The chival photography.” new book includes many lesser known but Lost Chicago is a nostalgic look at the interesting stories such as the infamous cherished places in the city that time, progNymph Fountain at the Art Institute and ress and fashion have swept aside. It looks the time when Chicago was the ice skate back in loving detail at many of the things racing capital of the world. that have helped create a city’s unique idenThe new book gave me a chance to in- tity and have since disappeared — the streetclude stories that even longtime Chicago cars, the shops, the parks, the churches, the residents might not know. I was especially amusement parks, even the annual parades. happy to be able to write about legendary It looks at the architectural gems that failed

JOHN PAULETT

to be preserved, the hotels that could not be adapted and fell to the wrecking ball, and the novelty buildings.

I teach theology full time at DePaul College Prep in Chicago. The high school is on the site that once housed Riverview Amusement Park, which appears in Lost Chicago.

I was a resident of Oak Park for almost 15 years but recently moved to Skokie. While in Oak Park, I was often better known as the husband of the artist Sabina Ott. She was known for creating Terrain Exhibitions, now a worldwide movement still based in Oak Park.

This new edition of Lost Chicago has strong Oak Park roots. All the additional sections were written at Fairgrounds Coffee on Lake Street. I sat at a long common table and drank coffee as I wrote the stories.

I don’t think I am the only writer who likes to be out of the office while writing.

I loved Oak Park and miss it now. Recently, I worked on the campaign of Village Trustee Ravi Parakkat and am especially proud of the work I did on that. I enjoyed being able to make an impact at a grass roots level.

Paulett holds an M.F.A. in Creative Writing from Antioch University and an M.A. in

File

New and expanded edition of “Lost Chicago” Theology from Felician University. In addition to his writing, he co-hosts a daily political podcast, “Sibling Talk.” Before COVID, he collaborated on a Chicago theater blog, a project that is resuming now. He is currently working on a book in theology. He has published four other books, mostly on Chicago history. “Lost Chicago” is available locally at The Book Table, 1045 Lake St., Oak Park, booktable.net.

Facing Apartheid in Israel/Palestine Sunday, October 17 1 – 2:30 p.m. Central Time Via Zoom Directly to Your Home from Ramallah and Jerusalem In 2021, two major human rights organizations published landmark reports: • Israel’s leading human rights organization, B’Tselem: A regime of Jewish supremacy from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea: This is Apartheid.

• Human Rights Watch: A Threshold Crossed: Israeli Authorities and the Crimes of Apartheid and Persecution.

Hagai El-Ad, Executive Director B’Tselem, The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories

Join us to hear about the situation on the ground and to ask questions of two extraordinary leaders on the front lines in the struggle for a just and lasting peace. Register for Zoom through a QR code by taking a picture on your phone.

Inès Abdel Razek, Advocacy Director Palestine Institute for Public Diplomacy

The Committee for a Just Peace in Israel and Palestine (CJPIP) is a community-based organization founded to develop and support activities that further the cause of peace and justice in Palestine and Israel. Community education and dialogue events featuring a broad range of perspectives are a vital part of our mission. All events are subject to change without notice. Speakers do not necessarily represent the views of CJPIP.

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Wednesday Journal, October 13, 2021

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Two alleged hate crimes in local Jewel lots move through courts Felony charge dropped against local RF developer; Oak Park professor headed to court

By STACEY SHERIDAN

place.

Conditional discharge is a lesser version of probation. The defendant is placed under the Some 15 months apart and in Jewel Food supervision of the court rather than under parking lots in both River Forest and Oak a probation officer. Wednesday Journal has Park, white men have faced hate crime charg- reached out to Palley for comment on the rules for their alleged actions against Black ing.

In the viral video, posted at 10:43 a.m., June women. In one case felony charges were dropped last summer, replaced with a guilty 3, 2020, a man identified as Palley was walkplea to a misdemeanor. In the more recent ing to his car in the Jewel parking lot when the woman filming says, “I’m in Starbucks case, court proceedings are just ramping up. getting my coffee and this man Felony charges were dropped calls me a Black bitch and tells me against the man who accosted and this is why everyone’s dying.” appeared to attack a Black woman Footage shows the man did not last year in the parking lot of the immediately respond to the womRiver Forest Jewel Osco grocery an, who then confronted him, askstore. Cell phone footage of the ing, “Do you have anything to say incident, which occurred during for yourself now?” the height of civil unrest followThe woman repeated the quesing the murder of George Floyd, tion two more times before Palley went viral across social media turned around, stared at her with outlets. his hand on his hips, then seemed River Forest resident Robert ROBERT PALLEY to grab or swipe at the woman’s Palley, a notable real estate develphone, which she was using to oper, was charged with one count of committing a hate crime and one count video record the incident.

“You touch me, I’m going to beat your ass,” of aggravated battery by the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office for the June 2020 in- the woman responded to him.

The video does not capture the events that cident.

Palley, who ultimately pleaded guilty to a followed, but it would appear as though a misdemeanor battery charge, was sentenced physical altercation broke out.

Amid sounds of struggling, the woman to 18-months conditional discharge, 200 hours of community service and payment of court can be heard yelling, “Don’t f—–g touch me,” fees by Judge Geary Kull. The felony hate then, “Don’t f—–g put your hands on me!” crime and aggravated battery charges were The cell phone then seems to have fallen to dropped. Kull issued the sentence on June 11, the ground.

A man in the background is heard sayalmost one year exactly after the event took Staff Reporter

ing, “Hey, hey, hey,” in what might have been from the Cook County State’s Attorney’s ofsounds of bystanders breaking up the appar- fice, yelled, “Move your [expletive] car,” folent altercation. lowed by a racial slur. When she motioned for Following an investigation by the River Friedmann to drive around her, Friedmann Forest Police Department and prosecutors, reportedly exited his car and approached the the Cook County Felony Review Unit recom- woman’s vehicle, continuing to yell racial mended the felony charges against Palley, slurs at her and her young daughter. writing in a statement that the exchange beHe then repeatedly pushed her door tween Palley and the woman “according to closed, as she attempted to exit her vehicle, the victim and witnesses, was racially-moti- and spat in the woman’s face. The court document states that Friedmann then told vated.” the woman the reason he spat at A similar incident involving her was because “he doesn’t like a Black woman allegedly being Black people.” harassed by a man broke out in Once the woman exited her September at another Jewel Osco car, Friedmann then tried to hit parking lot – this time at the grocery chain’s Oak Park location on her with his Jaguar, but narrowMadison Street. ly missed her, according to the Oak Park resident Alberto bond proffer.

Friedmann faces a hate crime The court filing states Friedcharge and an aggravated assault mann then struck the rear drivcharge after reportedly hurling er’s side bumper and driver’s racial slurs at a Black woman, ALBERTO FRIEDMANN side front door of the woman’s spitting on her and attempting to car, causing damage, at which hit her with his vehicle during a point witnesses began to interSept. 17 altercation over parking. Friedmann vene. Shortly after, Friedmann was taken will return to court Oct. 29 in Maywood. into police custody.

Court documents state the woman, along This is the first arrest for Friedmann, with her 7-year-old daughter, was sitting in whose LinkedIn page states he was a proher vehicle, parked along the traffic lane be- fessor at the National University of Health tween the parking aisles and the store, but Sciences and that he is “looking to continue not obstructing traffic, while waiting for the making the lives of others better and helpwoman’s mother to finish shopping, when ing to improve our country and our world.” they heard Friedmann, 53, in a Jaguar honkNBC reported Sept. 27 that Friedmann ing and shouting from behind them at around had tendered his resignation from the uni4:33 p.m. versity. His LinkedIn profile appears to have Friedmann, according to the bond proffer been deleted.

Oak Park reports two more COVID deaths Plus 44 new positive cases

By STACEY SHERIDAN Staff Reporter

The village of Oak Park announced Oct.7 the deaths of two people who had tested positive for COVID-19. The news of these fatalities comes less than two months after the village’s last reported death – a woman in her 60s, according to the village’s Aug. 25 announcement.

The most recent deaths were that of a woman and a man, who were both in their 70s. The COVID-19 virus has claimed the lives of 11,624 Cook County residents since March 16, 2020 – including 65 Oak Park residents and three River Forest residents, according to the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office.

In addition to the two deaths, Oak Park also reported that 44 residents have tested positive for COVID-19 in the past week. The newest batch of cases, according to the village, brings the number of positive cases among Oak Park residents to 3,788 since the first reported diagnosis on March 18, 2020.

Wednesday Journal, October 13, 2021

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While future of St. Catherine-St. Lucy Parish is uncertain, school finds generous partners Alliance between Fenwick, SCSL starts with rebuilt gym

By F. AMANDA TUGADE Staff Reporter

After seven months of renovations, St. Catherine-St. Lucy School (SCSL) unveiled its refurbished gym, but as Mike Doody, one of the project’s foremen, stood amidst the finished product, he said there’s more to this story than meets the eye.

During a dedication ceremony Oct. 7, Doody spoke in front of nearly 100 guests about the years it took to get the renovation project off the ground, offering gratitude to the many people who donated their time and money.

The over $200,000 project – which is expected to wrap up by the end of this month – included the installation of new flooring, windows, ceiling lights, bleachers and scoreboards.

“I didn’t really know what I was in for. I didn’t know where we’re going,” said Doody, as he stood behind the lectern and tried to piece together the project’s start five years ago. “What I did know was that an amazing school was serving an amazing community.

[St. Catherine-St. Lucy] was really a hope for this community.”

The project also comes at a time when the school experienced a dip in enrollment and its parish faces significant changes. St. Catherine-St. Lucy parish, one of four Catholic parishes in Oak Park, is moving toward the decision-making phase of the Chicago archdiocese’s Renew My Church project. Facing declining church attendance, weakening finances and an aging and shrinking number of priests, parishes across the archdiocese are being grouped for potential mergers and closures.

In Oak Park there are currently multiple scenarios for how SCSL, Ascension, St. Edmund and St. Giles may be reconstituted.

Among those scenarios, only SCSL faces potential shuttering of its church at Austin and Washington boulevards. It has also been stated that SCSL school will continue to operate though possibly in conjunction with another local Catholic School. Decisions on the future of the Oak Park parishes are expected soon.

“I do not know what the Renew My Church efforts are going to bring,” Sharon Leamy, SCSL principal, said in an interview with Wednesday Journal before the ceremony. “We hope that our church stays open in some format. It’s a beautiful space.”

Like most educators, Leamy described the last 19 months of the pandemic as a “rollercoaster,” and potentially losing the school’s parish church just tacks on another obstacle.

But one thing she has learned, especially the last year and a half, is that moments of uncertainty call for flexibility.

“You’re almost hesitant to predict what the future would be,” Leamy said. “Even this summer, we were a little bit worried about

ALEX ROGALS/Staff Photographer

PARISH PARTNERSHIP: Rev. Richard Peddicord, of Fenwick, blesses attendees during the gymnasium dedication ceremony at St. Catherine-St. Lucy Parish in Oak Park last week. our enrollment, and then all of a sudden, in August, we saw a huge uptick, and things are really looking good for us.”

“We’re just so grateful for everything that’s happened,” she said. “We’re going to do our best to stay centered in who we are and the mission of our school and moving forward.”

Making big steps Back at the dedication ceremony, Doody shared the journey leading up to last March when the gym renovation project began.

It all started with the late Lauren Heath, a longtime Oak Park resident and mother of six who worked to bring her community and Chicago’s Austin community together. During her lifetime, Heath and her husband, Kent Barnett, led the fundraising efforts for Horizons for Youth, a Chicago-based nonprofit that offers resources for children and families.

Heath was a “tremendous woman,” said Doody, who believed all children deserve a chance to learn, grow and succeed, and

hoped to erase that “divide” – Austin Boulevard, the single street that historically separates suburban Oak Park from Chicago’s Austin neighborhood – and instead, build a bridge.

When Heath died five years ago, Barnett thought of carrying out his wife’s mission and reached out to Doody, a former board member of Horizons, to lead the way. The rest is now history.

What happened next, Doody said, was a series of conversations with Barnett, who later looped in Rick Malnati, a close friend and former Fenwick High School basketball coach. They drafted the plans to revamp SCSL’s gym. Barnett and Malnati, along with other donors, raised over $200,000, and built a “dream team,” a five-member group of volunteers to help iron out the details of the project, Doody said.

On top of that, Fenwick High School partnered with SCSL this spring and matched the $200,000 donation. Those funds were later used to transform the gym’s basement into a tutoring center, while the rest of the

money was pooled into a scholarship fund to help SCSL students attend Fenwick High School.

Doody said Malnati called St. CatherineSt. Lucy a “beacon” and wanted to “take the school to the next level,” and with the project nearly done, a new chapter awaits.

At the ceremony, Leamy leaned against one of the gym’s walls, listening to a choir of SCSL and Fenwick students singing together, their voices folding perfectly in harmony.

“We’re very fortunate to have a lot of people who believe in us and a lot of partners who support us,” Leamy said. “Believe me, without the support of all those partners and without our teachers and staff all coming together and working together, we would not be in this space. There’s a lot of people that have really pushed our school forward.”

“It’s really a powerful feeling just to know that others believe in you and the journey that you’re on, and we’re just going to keep making those big steps,” said Leamy.

8

Wednesday Journal, October 13, 2021

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Top 5: Oak Park’s biggest public projects this year According to Public Works Director John Wielebnicki

By STACEY SHERIDAN Staff Reporter

The Oak Park village board is set to vote to approve and accept its Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) Oct. 18. In lieu of expecting Oak Park residents to peruse the 228-page planning document, Wednesday Journal asked Public Works Director John Wielebnicki to choose the plan’s five most critical projects for 2022.

“Just a caveat on all these projects: These are all subject to change,” Wielebnicki cautioned.

1. Madison Street redevelopment and streetscaping Come fiscal year 2022, the section of Madison Street between Oak Park Avenue and East Avenue will be getting a facelift. Already striped for the Madison Street Road Diet project, the area will receive such updates as new lighting, streetscaping, sidewalk enhancements and improved pedestrian crossings.

The village purposely held off on doing work on this stretch of Madison Street until fiscal year 2022 to coincide with the construction of the American House/REDICO senior residential development and the new Pete’s Fresh Market location, located opposite each other on Madison Street.

“We’re actually taking bids this fall so that construction can start in the spring,” said Wielebnicki. “Because there’s a lot of underground work.”

Such underground work includes construction of a new water main which is expected to cost $1.1 million. The CIP plan lists the project’s total expenditures for 2022 at $5.18 million. The village intends to cover those costs using $1.6 million from tax increment financing (TIF) reserves, about $1.1 million from the village’s main CIP fund and $1.1 million from the village’s water and sewer fund. State infra-

structure grant revenue will account for the remaining $1.3 million.

2. Resurfacing of various streets While listed in the CIP plan as “Resurfacing of Various Streets and Parking Lots,” this project does not include any work being done in parking areas, according to Wielebnicki.

“Parking has created their own resurfacing program, so it doesn’t really show up here,” he said. “It will be the same contract, but it just comes from different funding sources.”

The funding sources that will cover the $2.28 in expenditures for 2022 include $400,000 in Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) revenue and $2.47 million from the village’s main CIP fund.

Wielebnicki told Wednesday Journal the village is already out to bid on the project and the Public Works Department recently had its pre-construction meeting.

The various streets within this project do not have their own individual pages in the wider CIP plan as only portions of the streets will undergo resurfacing.

“When we get into the more local residential streets, it’s just a block here, block there, there a couple of blocks in this part of town,” said Wielebnicki. “We can combine them all to just one project sheet.”

The Public Works Department is working on a map of the street areas that will be resurfaced through this project.

3. Alley improvements Wielebnicki confirmed that the majority of complaints received by the Public Works Department come from residents unhappy with the state of Oak Park’s alleys.

“Everybody uses their alley every day to get in and out of their driveway or garage,” said Wielebnicki.

When deciding which alleys need replacing, the department takes flooding into account. Older alleys have re-

ally poor drainage, so rainwater can fill up people’s yards, which presents a challenge for the department, according to Wielebnicki.

Alley reconstruction happens yearly in Oak Park. Total alley reconstruction expenditures for 2022 are projected at $1.67 million. To cover that cost, the village plans to use $400,000 in CDBG revenue and $475,000 in grant revenue from the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District. A debt service transfer of $800,000 will also go toward alley reconstruction.

4. Residential water meter replacement Water meters are used to keep track of how much water is used per household. The village purchases Lake Michigan water from the city of Chicago then sells it to Oak Park residents.

“When we talk about water loss, we talk in terms of nonrevenue water,” said Wielebnicki. “It’s the difference between how much we paid and how much we sold, so we’re never going to be at zero.”

While the village will never be able to account for every gallon purchased and sold, Wielebnicki told Wednesday Journal the village will ideally lose less than 12 percent of water.

“The villages non-revenue water is currently around 20 percent,” the public works director said.

Meters lose accuracy over time, according to Wielebnicki, and the meters in some Oak Park homes are more than 20 years old. Replacing residential water meters will allow the village to take more accurate readings and on a daily basis.

Currently, the village is only able to read a third of the residential water meters per month.

“What happens sometimes is there’s water leaks, and we could read the meters today and then you develop a leak tomorrow,” said Wielebnicki. “And you might not know that for three months, until you get your next water bill and you’re going to go, ‘Whoa, what happened here!’”

Replacing the meters should help to prevent unwanted billing surprises, while allowing residents, as well as the village, to understand just how much water is being used per household compared to how much is being purchased from Chicago.

Revenue from the village’s water and sewer fund will cover the 2022 costs of $2.3 million.

5. Flood mitigation improvements: Le Moyne Parkway

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The Le Moyne Parkway sewer relief project was among a number of larger relief sewer projects identified in the village’s Combined Sewer System Master Plan Report, according to the CIP document.

“We want to install a larger sewer to reduce flooding and sewer backups on Le Moyne Parkway from East Avenue to Edmer Avenue,” said Wielebnicki.

Once installed, the larger sewer will relieve the undersized sewers on Fair Oaks Avenue, Elmwood Avenue, Rossell Avenue and Edmer Avenue, which are prone to backing up.

The project was meant to be tackled sooner but was deferred due to COVID-19. The village received a $500,000 grant for the project in June 2021. As the project is currently out for bid, Wielebnicki expects the work will begin in either late 2021 or early 2022. For the project’s 2022 costs, $750,000 will come out of the village’s water and sewer revenues and $375,000 will come from grant revenues.

Wednesday Journal, October 13, 2021

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9

First take on Oak Park budget Reset year after COVID-induced budget turmoil

By STACEY SHERIDAN Staff Reporter

Budget season has arrived in Oak Park and Monday night was the first look at the 322page, staff-recommended budget for fiscal year 2022. Members of the Oak Park village board’s Finance Committee reviewed a large portion of the document during its two-and-a-halfhour meeting, Oct. 11.

Staff puts together the recommended budget after facilitating several internal discussions with individual department directors, the village clerk and representatives from the village’s seven nonprofit partners looking to renew government grants in 2022.

An overview of the budget was laid out in the staff ’s introduction letter included in the budget draft.

In recent years, the village board has maintained an increase of only 3% in the property tax levy. The recommended 2022 budget, per the direction of the village board, has called for that practice to continue in the next fiscal year.

“The board’s direction to limit the overall property tax levy increase to 3%, which equates to approximately $1.1 million, only provides additional general operating revenue of $284,000 while approximately $800,000 of this amount is required in order to fund the public safety pensions according to the actuarial recommendation,” the introduction letter reads.

The fiscal year begins Jan. 1 and ends Dec. 31. Upon entering fiscal year 2021, the village’s general fund, which accounts for the majority of operational expenditures, had reserves over the maximum 20 percent target, according to the introduction. The village got into that fiscal position due to COVID-19 necessitating several budget reductions in 2020.

But anticipated revenue shortfalls due to the pandemic were far less severe than the village anticipated, leaving the general fund with an annual surplus of about $2.6 million and accumulated reserves of $16.5 million with the

culmination of fiscal year 2020.

While the Oct. 12 meeting of the Finance Committee was an initial review of the recommended 2022 fiscal year budget, a portion of it — the Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) — is expected to be adopted at the village board’s Oct. 18 meeting. The village recommends approving the CIP to allow the Public Works Department to begin bidding out projects.

Tammie Grossman, Development Customer Services director, hopped in on the meeting to discuss the financial status and necessities of their respective departments. Interim Village Manager Lisa Shelley also provided a brief schedule for budget adoption, which includes a second meeting with the Finance Committee Oct. 21 at 6:30 p.m. The entire budget itself is likely to be adopted by the end of November or early December.

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My daughter sang my favorite song (Landslide), and my sons and Mike all gave speeches about my life and their love for me.

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According to a Harvard University study, loneliness is defined as “the negative feelings that emerge from a perceived gap between one’s

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At the Oct. 11 first review of the recommended budget document, there were more questions asked than discussions had. Steve Drazner, chief financial officer for the village, gave a general overview of budget requirements, historical property and state tax data, and fund accounting, which Oak Park is required to use under state law. Individual department directors, including Public Works Director John Wielebnicki and

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desired relationships and one’s actual relationships.”

A February 2021 study from Harvard found that 25% of respondents reported feeling frequent or constant loneliness.

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A research team from Bhutan’s Gross National Happiness study was asked if there was a single question that would give a good sense of a person’s level of happiness. The team responded with this question; “If you were in real trouble right now, who would you call and know with 100% certainty that person would be there for you?” If someone had an answer to that question, they were more likely to be happy. The research team further found that, if someone could answer the question, “Whose list are you on (in regard to providing support to another)?” there was an even greater chance that person was happy.

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Consequently, creating an estate plan can be a great tool to fight loneliness and provide for a happier life.

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Wednesday Journal, October 13, 2021

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Pumpkin prevails in pie bake-off

First-place finisher used a fresh Farmers Market pumpkin to craft the winning pie

By MELISSA ELSMO Oak Park Eats Editor

After a pandemic pause in 2020, six Oak Park bakers delivered their best pies for judgement at the annual Oak Park Farmers Market bake-off Oct. 9. The pies, laid out on a table covered with a green and white checkered cloth, ranged from traditional apple to unexpected blackberry chiffon. Three judges tasted their way through the homemade pies before naming Monica Fiala’s spiced latte pumpkin pie as the first-place finisher.

Both professional and amateur bakers were encouraged to enter the contest and all pies prioritized the use of farmers market ingredients.

Irrespective of filling choice, all entered pies were required to be hand-made from filling-to-crust. Fiala’s pie featured eggs from Finn’s Ranch and made use of a fresh pie pumpkin from R. Smit’s and Sons.

Oak Park Farmers Market commissioner, Dina Ross, served as event emcee as Jess Green, food Instagrammer jess_in_the_box and farmers market commissioner and Bella Garcia, youth judge and 2019 winner, joined me to blind-taste and judge the six pies entered in the Oak Park Farmers Market pie bake-off. Pies were judged on appearance (25%), taste (50%), and creative use of farmers market ingredients (25%).

The Pakistani Perfection (Apple Pie) made by Azmer Khan finished second, while a French Apple Cream Cheese Pie made by Demetri Sianis took third place honors. Fiala’s winning pumpkin pie took top honors because of its creative use of farmers market ingredients, appealing slice and rich seasonal flavor profile. The judges noted the pies were all a treat to eat!

PHOTOS BY SHANEL ROMAIN/Contributor

CAN’T BEAT PUMPKIN: First-place winner, Monica Fiala (above), shows off her trophy for spiced latte pumpkin pie.

First-place spiced latte pumpkin pie

Recipe courtesy of Monica Fiala and the Oak Park Farmers Market

Pie Crust: 1½ C graham cracker crumbs, finely crushed 1½ Tablespoons white sugar 1½ Tablespoons brown sugar 6 Tablespoons melted butter ½ teaspoon cinnamon Pie Filling: 1 pie pumpkin (need 2 Cups pureed pumpkin) 14 ounce can evaporated milk 2 eggs ¼ C brown sugar 1½ teaspoons cinnamon ½ teaspoon ginger

¾ teaspoon nutmeg ½ teaspoon salt Dash of ground cloves

Espresso ganache: 4 ounces bittersweet chocolate ½ Cup heavy cream 1 teaspoon instant espresso powder

Instructions Pie Crust: 1. Set oven to 375 degrees 2. Mix all ingredients until combines and press into pie pan. Bake five minutes in oven.

Pie: 3. Keep oven at 375 degrees 4. Cut pumpkin in half and remove seeds. Place pumpkin cut side down on

baking sheet.

5. Put pumpkin in oven and roast for about one hour, or until pumpkin is tender.

6. Puree the pumpkin in a blender or food processor and measure 2 cups.

7. Mix pumpkin with remaining ingredients until smooth. Pour into pie crust.

8. Bake 40 minutes or until pie is set.

Ganache: 9. Heat cream (do not boil) in a small saucepan.

10. Add in espresso powder and mix.

11. Remove from heat and pour cream into a bowl.

12. Add in chocolate and mix until smooth.

13. Let cool until ganache is cool to touch, but not hardened, then pour over the top of the pie as desired.

A meeting, if not of the minds, on Al’s Grill and its ‘patio’ Al’s will seek zoning variance to use parking lot as outdoor dining

By MELISSA ELSMO Oak Park Eats Editor

After controversy erupted surrounding the installation of a permanent fence without a permit around the outdoor dining area at Al’s Grill, 1100 Madison St., Bill Loutos, owner of Al’s Grill, met village officials including Tammie Grossman, director of community

and economic development at village hall, Sept. 23. The parties discussed concerns about the fence installation and the request that owners disassemble the restaurant’s outdoor dining area housed in the restaurant’s parking lot by Oct. 31.

According to both parties the meeting went “as well as could be expected.”

Loutos agreed to submit a variance application requesting a reduction in the number of required parking spaces at Al’s Grill. The application must be submitted on or before Oct. 31 in order to be considered by the Zoning Board of Appeals. If the application is submitted to Craig Failor, village planner, on this

timeline the village will extend the temporary permit granted to Al’s Grill for their outdoor dining space until the board of appeals meets to act on the petition for a zoning variance. If the petition is approved Al’s will be able to keep their outdoor dining area intact.

Grossman indicated previously the Zoning Board of Appeals holds a “historically high bar” when it comes to granting approvals.

This appeal process was outlined in a letter sent to Al’s Grill dated Sept. 27 and signed by Grossman. The same letter went on to detail village expectations regarding the non-permitted fence installation. Loutos is expected to share the name of the company which

installed the fence with Steve Cutaia, the village’s chief building official. Cutaia will reach out to the company to educate them on the permitting process and to discuss the fines associated with the non-permitted installation. Adjustments may need to be made to the fence to bring it up to code and ensure it is compliance with all Americans with Disabilities Act laws.

Pete Mourtokokis, Al’s Grill manager, said they are “in the process of looking for a lawyer to help them through the zoning variance application process” and acknowledged they will likely have to pay a fine related to the fence installation.

Wednesday Journal, October 13, 2021

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Leadership Lab extends borders for participants

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Oak Park-River Forest Community Foundation program extends beyond its eponymous communities

By STACEY SHERIDAN

nectivity outside.”

Not all cohort members sit in public office either. Some are community advocates, such When it comes to its Leadership Lab, the as Austin’s Bertha Purnell, the former chair Oak Park-River Forest Community Founda- of Cook County Commissioner Richard tion is really putting an emphasis on com- Boykin’s task force against violence. Folmunity. The foundation has made a con- lowing the death of her son to gun violence, centrated effort of late to have more people Purnell founded the free and confidential from outside Oak Park and River Forest rep- support group Mothers Ona Mission28 for resented in the annual 10-month leadership survivors of such violence. program.

People from Oak “We wanted to be Park and River Forvery cognizant of est have not been designing a program left out either. The that was inclusive of Oak Park Economic the great leaders that Development Corpowe have throughout ration’s Eric Mazethe community,” lis is a member, as said Leadership Lab are Nina Bernacet co-mentor DeRondal and Monnette BariBevly. el, both of Beyond DERONDAL BEVLY ERIC MAZELIS When recruiting Hunger, and Lalema participants for the Bakate, of Housing 2021-2022 Leadership Lab Cohort, the founForward. River Forest village trustee Kathdation made a point early on to reach out to leen Brennan is also a part of the cohort. organizations and contacts in neighboring Mazelis told Wednesday Journal he beareas including Maywood, Berwyn, Austin lieves that he, and the wider community, and Forest Park, according to can only stand to benefit from Bevly, who previously took part interacting with more people in the program. outside of village limits. While “That’s something that we the 2021-2022 cohort is only were very intentional about this about one month into the proyear,” he told Wednesday Jourgram, he said the group has nal. already served to diversify his And so far, that effort has perspective. yielded positive results. The “To engage with each other, program’s 24-member 2021-2022 as opposed to having a border, cohort boasts people from all is a really powerful thing,” Maover the western Chicagoland zelis said. area, including Maywood village ERIC MAZELIS This cohort will help the trustee Isiah Brandon and forOak Park Economic Leadership Lab continue to exmer Growing Community MeDevelopment Corporation pand its range during the next dia editor Maria Maxham, who was appointed to the Forest Park round of recruitment, accordboard of commissioners this ing to Bevly, himself a Forest past summer.

Park resident.

“We have a tremendous “We’re very proud of the men and womamount of talent in the west Cook [County] en that we were able to put together in this suburban region,” said Bevly. “By adding class,” said Bevly. “And we’re already startdifferent perspectives into the formal mix, ing to get some some inquiries about parit helps extend the conversations and con- ticipating in the next class.”

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“To engage with each other, as opposed to having a border, is a really powerful thing.”

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Board votes Oct. 28 on new frosh curriculum from page 1 Sophomores, juniors and seniors are excluded from this potential academic change and will continue to be offered honors-level or Advanced Placement (AP) courses. Last fall, the board approved similar changes to its freshmen science courses.

“What we believe is that we are able to provide everyone with a high-level honors curriculum, and with scaffolding supports instruction, we believe our students can achieve honors-level work,” Fiorenza said.

“They can do honors-level work.”

On Oct. 14, Fiorenza plans to discuss the data that would support the district’s need to revamp its freshmen program. One key finding pointed out that 80% of students taking a college prep English course ranked in the 50th percentile on the PSAT 8/9 exam, she said. That means, those students “are capable of honors-level work,” she said.

Those students are either not choosing to take the honors classes or not being recommended by their teachers, she said.

Fiorenza said the concept of restructuring the freshmen program is all about allowing students the chance to grow and to try.

Without changing the program, this idea of “perceived ability” remains – that “we can just know what you’re capable of,” she said.

“By restructuring this curriculum,” Fiorenza said, “we’re making sure that all of our students as freshmen get exposure to

this high-level curriculum so that they can discover their capabilities, their [identities] as an academic learner, thereby increasing that opportunity at the sophomore level and beyond for honors and AP classes.”

Board President Sara Dixon Spivy said if the board were to approve the curriculum changes for the history, English and world languages classes, the division heads for those courses plan to host multiple sessions for families with incoming freshmen. Those sessions could possibly take place in early November, immediately following the Oct. 28 meeting.

Teachers have been refining, polishing and finishing draft units, and their work has been rich and encouraging, Fiorenza said.

Spivy said while she can’t predict how the board will vote, she shared that the district, for years, has struggled to repair the opportunity gap for students. She noted that Superintendent Greg Johnson, who previously served as assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction, has led the charge on restructuring the freshmen program and believed that this may be the “fairest” way to “address differences in achievement.”

Spivy said it’s important to also remember that these potential changes will impact freshmen only and involve a select number of classes that administrators feel are best suited to this structure.

As for Fiorenza, she said changes to the freshmen program, if approved, move the district’s equity mission forward.

“As educators, we have a collective responsibility and a collective belief that we are educators because we can change student outcomes,” she said. “That’s why we’re here.”

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13

Before he was ‘Sandwich King,’ Mauro was a hard-working OPRF kid

Grad comes back to talk to students about food, fun, family and more food

By F. AMANDA TUGADE Staff Reporter

Jeff Mauro is a lot of things: He’s the winner of Season 7 of “Food Network Star” and co-host of the Emmy-nominated series, “The Sandwich King.” He’s a celebrity chef who’s made his rounds on the “Today” show and “Good Morning America,” author of a new cookbook, podcast host, comedian and entrepreneur.

Accomplishments aside, Mauro, who spoke to dozens of students at Oak Park and River Forest High School Oct. 8, wasn’t shy to reveal all the twists and turns on his long road to success. Last Friday morning, Mauro, who graduated from OPRF in 1996, returned to his alma mater for a cooking demo and Q&A with students from the business incubator and family and consumer science courses.

“The first job I ever had was at a butcher shop on Lake Street, and they paid me $3.62 an hour to scrub fat off pans – dream job – and then, I went to a deli,” said Mauro, 43, who lives in River Forest. “I always worked in food, but I [also] performed here at the high school. I always wanted to meld my two loves – food and performance.”

Inside the school auditorium, Mauro was onstage, underneath the bright lights he once stood under many years ago, and fielded questions from eager business and culinary arts students. Mauro shared stories about moving from Chicago to Los Angeles to pursue stand-up comedy, going to tryout after tryout and not getting a callback, juggling jobs and auditioning four times before landing the spot on the “Food Network Star.”

“I left my family for two-and-a-half months to live in a house with strangers – 24/7 videotaping me brushing my teeth, getting out of the shower (with a robe on), waking up, going to sleep, cooking, competing [and] all that stuff,” Mauro said about being on “Food Network Star” in 2011, which ultimately propelled his career forward, giving him his own show and opening the doors to other opportunities.

For Matt Prebble, an OPRF business teacher, inviting Mauro

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CULINARY CLASS CLOWN: Celebrity chef Jeff Mauro, OPRF alum, addresses Matt Prebble’s business class at Oak Park and River Forest High School on Oct. 8.

and allowing him to talk about his personal journey was a ben“They taught me not only the recipes, but just the power eficial experience for his students. He, along with food and con- of the importance of communal eating and [that] food is alsumer science teachers, Kristina Belpedio and Jackie Morris, ways better when you make it from scratch,” he said. thought Mauro could shed light on various career pathways Moments before Mauro appeared onstage, he stopped by apart from attending college or four-year universities. the cafeteria and led a cooking demo on an egg parm sand“Working hard pays off. Failing also pays off,” Prebble said. wich. There, surrounded by faculty and students, Mauro There were moments in between where Mauro, whose bois- joked around, while coating the sliced eggplant. He leaned terous voice boomed throughout the audi- on his sous-chef, as well as family and consumer science torium, talked about attending OPRF and teachers, Jackie Morris and Kristina Belpedio, for help, and now returning to his hometown of River engaged with students. He laughed, poking fun at the cafeteForest to raise his son, Lorenzo. ria food and asked students to shout out their favorite area When asked where his passion for food pizza joints. came from, Mauro “I am a former class clown,” said Maukept his answer simro during a brief one-on-one interview ple: His large Italianwith Wednesday Journal after his preAmerican family. sentation in the auditorium. “I love get“Food is the epicenting laughs from people. I was a decent For more on celebrity chef ter of every celebrastudent, but I always aimed for extra Jeff Mauro, visit comeonover. tion or event,” Mauro credit whenever I could.” com/. said. “Happy or sad, As Mauro sat on a makeshift theater we’re eating. We’re prop, he opened up more, disclosing always surrounded by one piece of advice that he’s learned trays of eggplant, trays of lasagna and throughout his career. big, beautiful food whether it’s a gradua“Surround yourself with real people, not cheerleaders,” tion party or a funeral.” said Mauro, who credited his wife, Sarah, for keeping him Mauro can still recall watching his grounded and focused. He said she always asked him, “What grandmother, mother and aunts cooking, are you doing today to make it realistic … to help give you and he drew upon those fond memories exposure, an opportunity?” for his latest book, “Come on Over: 111 “You need support” from those kinds of people and to PROVIDED Fantastic Recipes for the Family That truly succeed in life, you have to “find what excites you the KING OF SANDWICHES: Mauro prepares an egg parmesan sandwich.

Cooks, Eats and Laughs Together.” most,” he said.

More on Mauro

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Wednesday Journal, October 13, 2021

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Frisbee isn’t ultimate until it’s co-ed

Julian’s team is working to raise girls’ participation

By F. AMANDA TUGADE Staff Reporter

Around 3:30 p.m. on a Friday, Nell Irvine and her four friends headed for the turf field behind Julian Middle School. They quickly dropped off their backpacks by the fence and tightened their shoelaces before joining the rest of their teammates — a group of 30 boys were already dispersed around the green lot.

What the boys didn’t know was that this afternoon practice was Irvine and her friends’ second workout of the day. Earlier, she and her fellow sixth- and seventh-graders, met up with Coach Stacy Fifer for GUM (Girls Ultimate Movement), an offshoot of the school’s co-ed Ultimate Frisbee team, created for girls only.

Of the 127 players in Julian’s Ultimate Frisbee Club, 15 are girls. For girls like Irvine, GUM provides, especially those new to the sport, the chance to learn the game, ask Fifer questions, and play together without the boys hovering over them. Those extra sessions are meant to boost the girls’ confidence and allow them time to work on their skills, Fifer said.

“You get to learn about what’s happening in the practice after school,” said Irvine, 11, a sixth-grader. “It’s definitely easier than just learning it right away.”

Audrey Talbert, a seventh-grader and friend of Irvine, jumped in: “Like this morning, she’s like, ‘OK, show me your position.

Show me what to do.’ She’s like, ‘OK, show me your stance and then your grip.’ With [the afternoon practices], she can’t come

ALEX ROGALS/Staff Photographer

FLIPPING OUT: Seventh-grader Isadora Conour passes during Ultimate Frisbee practice outside Julian Middle School. around.”

Fifer and coach Andrew Seymour noted that Ultimate Frisbee, which does feature co-ed teams, is still widely male-dominated.

In recent years, USA Ultimate, the sport’s

ALEX ROGALS/Staff Photographer

FRISKY FRISBEE: Students battle for control during Ultimate Frisbee practice last week.

official organization, has worked to recruit and highlight more female players and grow the women’s division, an effort that Fifer and Seymour have taken to heart for their middle-school team.

Representation matters, and girls need to see other girls playing alongside the boys, Fifer and Seymour agreed. Fifer was once captain of an Ultimate Frisbee team and landed an opportunity to go to the USA Ultimate National Championships twice; Seymour, too, playing ultimate frisbee competitively, went to Nationals with one of his teams and also played for club teams throughout the years.

Fifer and Seymour, both of whom continue to play Ultimate Frisbee and are part of the Over-40 Division, said they want their young players to know this is the kind of sport they can pick up time and time again. And at Julian, where the Ultimate Frisbee Club is inclusive, all students, no matter their skill level or experience, are welcome. It’s their chance to try something new.

“Everybody gets to play every position,” Fifer said. “Everybody gets to try everything because we have no idea who these kids will end up being as a high school player or a college player.

“You can’t really predict when somebody first starts a sport who’s going to be the

best player.”

“It could be that the most athletic kid out there is not going to be the best Ultimate player,” she added. “So we really tried to make sure we had a big focus on equal playing time. Everybody’s treated the same.”

Seymour said he, Fifer and other coaches also make a point of reminding players about the “spirit” of the game. In Ultimate Frisbee, there are no official referees, so it’s up to the players to hold each other and themselves accountable. They have to be honest about scoring, stepping out of bounds and more.

“You have to have spirit,” said Talbert about what she loves most about the game.

Seventh-grader Lucinda Reeb and sixthgraders Aubrey Hunterling and Grace Jurek echoed their friend Talbert. The three said Ultimate Frisbee has brought out their competitiveness, pushed them out of their comfort zones, and given them the chance to meet new people.

That’s what Fifer wants her players — her girls, especially — to walk away with.

What it all comes down to, she said, is embracing that spirit.

“I think the fact that you can play a highly competitive, very physical game that is physically demanding and have that level of respect and citizenship is incredible,” she said.

Wednesday Journal, October 13, 2021

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Family Caregiving and Dementia: Emotional Challenges and Opportunities

Thursday, October 28, 2021 ALEX ROGALS/Staff Photographer

Faith Julian, who lives in the home on North East Avenue that her father, Percy Julian, purchased in 1950, says she’s in danger of losing the property, which is tax delinquent and must undergo significant repairs.

Julian home avoids tax sale, but clock’s still ticking Faith Julian recently updated her GoFundMe to clarify that her home won’t be on the November tax sale, but the need to pay back taxes is still urgent

By MICHAEL ROMAIN Equity Editor

The Oak Park home of famous chemist Dr. Percy Julian will not be included in the Cook County Tax Sale scheduled to begin Nov. 5, after all.

Faith Julian, Percy Julian’s daughter, had created a GoFundMe campaign on Sept. 20 in order to raise money to help pay down the back taxes on her family’s famous home and for other living expenses.

At the time, she said she was led to believe that her home would be included in the annual sale of properties with delinquent taxes. Julian said she owes about $118,000 in unpaid property taxes on the home. The delinquent taxes are from the 2018, 2019 and 2020 tax years, she said.

On Oct. 1, however, she updated the GoFundMe, announcing that the home will not be included in the tax sale.

During an interview on Oct. 12, Oak Park Township Assessor Ali ElSaffar confirmed that his office helped Julian file for a disability exemption in March 2020, which also included the 2018 tax year.

By law, if a certificate of error exists for a designated year, then the county treasurer must remove the property from the sale.

A list of properties in Oak Park Township scheduled to be on the upcoming tax sale did not include the Julian home.

“This is just buying time,” ElSaffar said,

adding that the Julian house will likely go to tax sale in May 2022, when the tax sale for delinquent 2019 taxes will be held.

“But that doesn’t mean she’ll lose her house in May 2022,” ElSaffar said. “For owner-occupied homes, there are a lot of protections. The house probably wouldn’t be sold to a tax buyer for two-and-a-half years after May 2022.”

During that period, ElSaffar said, Julian will have the opportunity to redeem the taxes on the home, but that won’t come without additional costs.

“The longer it takes [for Julian to redeem the taxes], the more interest, charges and fees,” the assessor said.

In an interview on Oct. 11, Julian said she’s doing everything she can to avoid the May 2022 tax sale.

“I certainly don’t want to have to pay somebody [very high] interest to buy my house back,” she said. “I’ve reached out to a lot of organizations and I have some friends reaching out for me to different organizations, but nothing has come of that yet.”

As of Oct. 12, Julian had raised over $17,000 of her roughly $1.2 million goal, which includes not only the amount required to pay down the taxes, but also funds needed for home repairs and medical expenses accumulated after suffering a decline in her health in 2017.

The Julians were among the first Blacks to integrate Oak Park, when they purchased their East Avenue home in the village in 1950. Shortly after they purchased the home, there were two attempts to set it on fire. Dr. Julian, however, refused to move.

“I know that my parents — they’d be turning over in their graves at the thought of this house going up for tax sale,” Julian said, during a phone interview with Wednesday Journal in September.

CONTACT: michael@oakpark.com

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River Forest adopts Climate Action Plan

Village board also awards contracts for green energy projects aimed at achieving climate goals

By ROBERT J. LIFKA Contributing reporter

River Forest officials took two additional steps toward becoming a more environmentally friendly community at the Oct. 11 Village Board meeting, adopting a resolution endorsing the 2021 Climate Action Plan for the Chicago region and voting to award contracts for green energy for the village’s streetlights and pumping station.

The Climate Action Plan was unveiled in July by the Metropolitan Mayors Caucus and created in partnership with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate & Energy, with support from the European Union, the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning and the Metropolitan Planning Council.

The Climate Action Plan resulted from an assessment of regional climate-related risks and calls for reducing greenhouse

gas emissions by at least 80 percent from 2005 levels by 2050.

While the scope of the plan is regional, encompassing 280 municipalities and almost 9 million people, all of the actions called for can be scaled to the municipal level, said Edith Makra, director of environmental initiatives for the Metropolitan Mayors Caucus, of which River Forest is a member.

According to a press release issued in July when the Climate Action Plan was unveiled, municipal governments are a critical cog in the wheel, because they “are uniquely positioned to lead, enact policies and encourage others to take action.”

Trustee Katie Brennan stressed the importance of the mitigation goal of net zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and adaptation goal of persistent, equitable climate adaptations, along with related targets and objectives.

“By adopting this resolution this is what we will do and what we should do,” she

said.

Mitigation targets are to reduce GHG emissions from 2005 levels by 50 percent before 2030, by 65 percent before 2040 and by at least 80 percent by 2050. Adaptation targets are climate-resilient governance by 2030, resilience across jurisdictions by 2040 and cohesive, resilient communities by 2050.

In response to a question from Trustee Bob O’Connell regarding 2005 baselines, Trustee Lisa Gillis said the Sustainability Commission has baselines from 2007.

Village President Cathy Adduci thanked Brennan for her leadership in pursuing environmentally friendly solutions, dating back to her tenure as chair of the Sustainability Commission.

“We’ve done quite a bit,” she said. “I think this is a wonderful commitment.”

The board voted to award three-year electricity supply contracts to two different energy providers, replacing current three-

year contracts that expire in December.

The contract for the pumping station was awarded to Dynegy Energy Services for $0.06603 per kilowatt hour, up from $0.061 under the expiring contract. The contract for street lighting was awarded to AEP Energy for $0.04363 per kilowatt hour, up from $0.031 under the expiring contract.

In a memo to the board, Jeff Loster, director of public works and development services, explained that the rates were obtained through the collaborative efforts of the Metropolitan Mayors Caucus and energy sources provided by Satori Energy Inc. Satori provided rates for energy pricing if sourced from green energy providers in addition to standard energy pricing, providing the village with an option tied to the Sustainability Commission’s goal of reducing the carbon footprint of the village through the use of renewable sources of energy, Loster said.

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C R I M E

Armed suspect arrested in Oak Park carjacking

According to the Oak Park Police Department, two victims were approached at their car on the 900 block of Madison Street by two subjects who had just exited an automobile. The offenders showed firearms and demanded the victims’ property. The victims handed over a cell phone and the keys to an orange Dodge Charger. The two offenders then fled in the victims’ vehicle, which was observed traveling in Forest Park by a River Forest police officer. The offenders then crashed the stolen vehicle in the area of Circle Avenue and Roosevelt Road in Forest Park.

The 16-year-old offender was apprehended by officers from Oak Park and Forest Park following a short foot chase. Police recovered a handgun, and a custodial search revealed the juvenile was in possession of heroin, a controlled substance. The second offender has not yet been located.

Motor vehicle theft

■ An unlocked and unattended gray 2022 Hyundai Tucson was removed at around 12:23 p.m., Oct. 1 in the 7000 block of Roosevelt Road.

■ The vehicle was recovered unoccupied at 6:53 a.m., Oct. 2 in the 300 block of Woodstock Drive in Bolingbrook and the owner was notified.

■ A 2008 black Ford Escape was removed between 5 p.m., Oct. 3 and 8:30 a.m., Oct. 4 in the 300 block of South Austin Boulevard.

The estimated loss is $8,000.

■ The vehicle was recovered without apprehension at 3:48 p.m., Oct. 5 in the 6600 block of West 21st Street in Berwyn.

■ An unlocked silver 2006 Ford Fusion, with the keys left inside, was removed between 12 p.m., Jun. 1 and 11:21 a.m., Oct. 4 in the 500 block of Home Avenue. The estimated loss is $15,000.

Home intruder ■ An

unknown man entered the victim’s residence through an unlocked rear door then was confronted verbally by the victim and exited through the rear door and fled in an unknown direction at 6:02 a.m., Oct. 3 in the 400 block of Home Avenue.

Burglary ■ Someone broke the padlock on a garage service door and took from inside the garage a DeWalt table saw, a chain saw, two Milwaukee reciprocating saws, a Black & Decker 7-inch circulating saw, a CRAFTSMAN socket wrench set, a DeWalt jigsaw, a tri-pod construction light, 120-piece drill bit set, a Makita heavy duty construction sander, a PORTER CABLE hand sander, two DeWalt cordless power drills, three rechargeable batteries, two charging stations and two black containers, one empty and one containing electrical supplies, between 11:45 p.m., Oct. 4 and 6 a.m., Oct. 5 in the 300 block of South Grove Avenue. Estimated loss is $3,000.

■ A black and green RYOBI lawnmower and an orange DuPont leaf blower were taken from an unlocked garage in the 900 block of Fair Oaks Avenue between 6:30 p.m., Sept.

27 and 5 a.m., Sept. 28. The estimated loss is $220.

■ Someone entered a garaged by prying open a south-facing window then removed a black “Pelican” case containing several pieces of audio equipment, a space heater and a black and white Cannondale mountain bike between midnight, Oct. 2 and 4:41 p.m., Oct. 3 in the 800 block of North Ridgeland Avenue. Estimated loss is $8,016.

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Recovered stolen vehicle ■ The black 2014 Volkswagen Passat reported stolen Sept. 25 in Oak Park was recovered by the Chicago Police Department at 12:57 p.m., Oct. 4 in the 6300 block of West Highland Avenue in Chicago.

Theft catalytic converter was cut from a silver 2016 Mitsubishi Outlander parked in the 300 block of South Oak Park Avenue between 1 p.m., Oct. 6 and 5 p.m., Oct. 7.

■ Someone removed the rear license plate to a 2019 black Toyota RAV4 while parked in the 200 block of Randolph Street between 8 p.m., Oct. 6 and 1 p.m., Oct. 7 ■ Someone stole a student’s saxophone from the music room of Percy Julian Middle School, 416 S. Ridgeland Ave., between 12 p.m., Sept. 22 and 12 p.m., Sept. 30. The estimated loss is $1,000.

All video links will be posted and archived, and there is no charge to view any of the interviews.

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■ The

Criminal damage to property ■A

patio table was broken, and potted plants overturned in the backyard of a residence in the 100 block of Forest Avenue between 3 p.m., Oct. 2 and 1:30 a.m., Oct. 3.

Estimated damage is $125.

These items, obtained from the Oak Park Police Department, came from reports Oct. 1 through Oct.8 and represent a portion of the incidents to which police responded. Anyone named in these reports has only been charged with a crime and cases have not yet been adjudicated. We report the race of a suspect only when a serious crime has been committed, the suspect is still at large, and police have provided us with a detailed physical description of the suspect as they seek the public’s help in making an arrest.

Compiled by Stacey Sheridan

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7 VAN BUREN

Clean Energy Community Foundation to fund construction.

Commissioner Lawrence Brozek, wanted to know if the solar panels, right now set for placement at 15 feet above the roof, could be from page 1 put on the roof itself, as well as if some of the parking could be put below grade. a local nonprofit which partners with other However, Pope said lowering the solar local agencies, including the village of Oak array would create a detrimental shadow Park, and focuses on diversity in apartment effect. housing in Oak Park.

“You end up in a situaAs planned, the proposed tion where you can’t actubuilding requires seven ally generate the level of zoning allowances, includsolar energy that’s necesing in height from the maxisary to be able to achieve mum 45 feet permitted by the thresholds that are revillage code to 71.85 feet quired to get to net-zero,” and a decrease in parking he said. spaces provided from 34 Project architect Charles slots, as required by village Swanson hopped in to tell code, to 17. OPRC has also the commission they had petitioned the village for suggested moving the solar permission to vacate a porpanels down and vetted the tion of Van Buren Street idea “thoroughly” before right-of-way abutting the ultimately deciding it was PAUL MAY property at a length of 122.5 “unfortunately not viable.”

Plan commissioner feet and 15-feet wide.

As for moving some parkIn accordance with the ing below grade, Swanson village of Oak Park’s insaid due to the size of the clusionary housing ordisite, it is difficult to ramp nance, ResCorp intends to let 20 percent of down and within the building. the building’s units to families of low in“To accommodate the ramp on the site come. Sustainability has been prioritized; coming in from the alley, you’d be losing as designed, the building will be net-zero additional parking spaces,” Swanson said. equipped with solar panels. ResCorp reCommissioner Jeff Clark also was curiceived a $2 million grant from the Illinois ous about the building’s parking situation.

Public comment on Nov. 4

“I would suggest there be some consideration to taking off the top living level, and stepping it back and giving those units a terrace rather than a balcony.”

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He asked if ResCorp could bring back a more detailed plan for the first floor to see if the lobby’s size could be decreased to add more parking spaces.

Swanson called it a “terrific question,” before explaining that the first floor lobby on the northeast corner is already on the smaller side and the common amenity spaces were moved to the second floor to allow for parking.

“We’ve gotten about as much parking on the first floor as we can,” he said.

Clark asked that Pope consider putting a condition in the tenant rental agreements that prohibit tenants from applying for overnight street parking, which Pope said he was willing to do.

Despite the drawback of reduced parking, ResCorp made accessibility a priority in designing the building. The plans include an elevator, which will allow residents to age in place, and all common areas will be fully accessible, according to Pope, while still ensuring the building is both beautiful and contextual to its neighborhood. Based on the building’s proposed location, Pope told the commission that its construction poses an opportunity to bridge the communities of Oak Park and Austin.

Commissioner Nick Bridge was curious if the floor heights could be lowered slightly to bring the building’s overall height down, which he also thought would help to decrease the cost of building materials.

Pope told Bridge that doing so was not viable for “a number of reasons,” but did not share any of those reasons.

“Right now, the floor heights are really where they need to be for the functionality of the building,” said Pope.

Iris Sims felt ResCorp and its architects

needed to address the building’s lack of fresh air, citing COVID-19. The chair said she had been following COVID-19 “every day for the last two years” and looking at data from “experts from all over the world.”

“With an airtight building that doesn’t have fresh air, the question becomes: How are you going to purify it?” Sims asked.

Purification will occur through the building’s energy recovery ventilator, the sole purpose of which is to bring fresh air into units and extract exhaust air out, according to project manager Denny Burke of Tom Bassett-Dilley Architects.

Wanting to hear first from the public, Commissioners Jeff Foster and Jon Hale opted to save their questions until the next meeting, while Commissioner Paul May shared concerns over the building’s massing and thought the structure itself “a bit blocky and ominous.”

“I would suggest there be some consideration to taking off the top living level,” said May. “And stepping it back and giving those units a terrace rather than a balcony.”

He suggested stepping that floor back by about seven feet. He also proposed stepping back the level holding up the solar photovoltaic panels. May asked that ResCorp look into moving some of the panels onto the roofs of surrounding buildings.

Pope said the Illinois Clean Energy Community Foundation grant requires recipients to place the panels on the building itself, not others nearby. Moving them offsite would result in OPRC losing the funding for the building.

Due to time, the public comment and cross examination periods for the project were postponed until the next commission meeting, scheduled for Nov. 4.

Wednesday Journal, October 13, 2021

OAKPARK.COM | RIVERFOREST.COM

A dancer performs at a celebration of Indigenous Peoples’ Day at Pottawattamie Park in Chicago on Oct. 11, where First District Cook County Commissioner Brandon Johnson spoke about his proposal to replace Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples’ Day. Johnson’s district spans Oak Park.

PHOTO BY PAUL GOYETTE

Johnson’s county bid to end Columbus Day hits snag

Cook County commissioner’s Indigenous Peoples’ Day proposal delayed

By MICHAEL ROMAIN Editor

An attempt by a county lawmaker to replace Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples’ Day has stalled in committee.

First District Cook County Board Commissioner Brandon Johnson, whose district spans Oak Park and Forest Park, introduced the proposed resolution during a Cook County Legislation and Intergovernmental Relations Committee hearing held virtually on Oct. 5.

In a voice vote, committee members decided to defer the proposed resolution, which had overwhelming support from people who offered public comments during the hearing.

Several commissioners who spoke out against the proposal said they appreciate the dialogue the proposal has sparked, but thought it was too divisive.

“This debate has turned sour with many people unwilling to listen and discuss the essence of this issue,” said Commissioner Frank Aguilar (16th). “You don’t have to take something from another group [in order to] make yourself stronger.”

West Side Commissioner Dennis Deer, whose 2nd District includes parts of Austin, West Garfield Park and North Lawndale, said he didn’t want to “rob Peter to pay Paul,” adding that he wanted more dialogue to happen.

“As I talked with individuals who were on

both sides of the equation, I asked several times, ‘Have you all come to the table to talk?

Have you all come to the table to see what you agree on and disagree on?’ I kept hearing, ‘No.’” Cook County Commissioner Sean Morrison (17th) said he “didn’t appreciate the vitriolic rhetoric” that was included in the multiple drafts of the resolution.

“I would like to see the same amount of vigor, the same amount of communication, the same amount of discussion and debate over the violence that’s taking place in Cook County at this moment, violence that has many causes, but also is due to the experimental social justice policies” implemented by Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx and Cook County Circuit Court Chief Judge Timothy Evans.

“I think what Commissioner Sean Morrison has indicated is exactly why we’re having these conversations. The acts of violence against people of color is a very common trend over the course of history,” Johnson said.

He added that the systemic violence of genocide, colonization and white supremacy addressed in the resolution and the violence on the West Side shouldn’t be considered separate issues.

In a statement, Johnson said that if Cook County had passed the resolution, it would have followed “14 states, nine counties, over 165 cities and towns, and a few dozen universities and school districts — including Chicago Public Schools, Evanston, Oak Park, Skokie, and Niles Township — that already have made the change.”

Johnson said during an interview on Oct. 7 that the delay “is really an extension of our

trauma,” adding that celebrating Columbus is inconsistent with other progress that’s been made at the county level.

“In 2020, the Cook County Board unanimously passed an ordinance recognizing Juneteenth as the day we celebrate Black America’s emancipation from slavery,” Johnson stated.

“But while we celebrate slavery’s end in June, five months later, we honor the man who made the original sin of slavery possible,” he said. “It makes no sense, and it is a slap in the face to our county’s Black, Latinx and Native people.”

Johnson said there were nearly 200 written testimonies submitted in favor of the resolution “and maybe four or five submitted in opposition.” That’s not including the “thousands of emails” sent to county commissioners from “almost 180 organizations,” Johnson said, adding that the groups represented “not just people of color, but Italian Americans.”

“We at the Italian Heritage Society of Chicago are disappointed that the commissioners once again let a small group of racially intolerant Italian Americans insist on a position that numbers us among the backward counties of the nation, instead of one of the progressive ones where we belong,” said Gabriel Piemonte, the founder and president of the Italian American Heritage Society, in a statement.

“Columbus sailed for Spain and did not even know what Italy was in his lifetime,” stated Charlie Klepac, an Italian American who lives in Cook County. “Italy didn’t exist as a nation until the late 1870s. He had nothing to do with Italian American immigrants.”

CONTACT: michael@oakpark.com

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Pumpkin-Palooza Returns on Saturday, Oct. 16th A pumpkin patch, hayrides, ghost stories, sweet treats, and pumpkin painting—it’s all back in the form of Pumpkin-Palooza at McAdam Nursery & Garden Center on Saturday, October 16th.

Scott McAdam Jr.

In the same family-friendly falltime tradition that has marked prior festivities this time of year, Pumpkin-Palooza is from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in our garden center at 2001 Des Plaines Ave. in Forest Park.

Every child who comes will receive a free pumpkin, and everyone—kids and adults alike—are encouraged to come wearing their costumes.

As we have done since the onset of COVID-19, we are adhering to public safety standards.

During the event, we will also offer huge fall discounts on all trees, shrubs, and perennials that are in stock.

For those looking to know what they can still plant, professionals will be on hand to give tips on how to winterize your garden. Particularly with plants that have been growing in the same containers all year long, this is a good time of year to landscape.

This is the point when they have gotten full-sized and are ready to plant. It’s very beneficial, before next summer’s heat comes around, to give new plantings as many as six to eight months to get established.

Hope to see you on Saturday!

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Hungry for more?

Follow @oakparkeats on Instagram for more tasty morsels!

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21

SPORTS OPRF golfer cements top 10 state finish with career best round

Bibbey’s 69 was third-best single round ever for Huskies in state finals

By MELVIN TATE Contributing Reporter

Oak Park and River Forest High School golfer Nate Bibbey saved his best for last in the IHSA Class 3A state finals held on Oct. 8 and 9 in Bloomington at The Den at Fox Creek Golf Course.

The senior finished his career as a state medalist, placing seventh with a score of 143. After shooting a 74 on Friday, Bibbey followed up on Saturday with a 69, finishing 1-under par for the weekend and only six strokes behind the Class 3A champion, Jason Gordon of Glenbrook North.

“I was pretty confident going into the weekend. Everything started to click for me and my ball-striking was on point,” said Bibbey. “I wasn’t really expecting a whole lot to happen, but I also felt I was at my best.”

Saturday’s round was played in windy conditions, which made Bibbey’s score more impressive. OPRF coach Bill Young served as Bibbey’s caddie, and Bibbey thought that helped him.

“We were talking through every shot, trying to figure out our numbers and what we should do,” he said. “Once we found that number, we committed to it, and everything worked out for us.”

According to Young, Bibbey’s score is the third-best ever for an OPRF golfer in the state tournament.

“In his final round, he had seven birdies,” Young said. “He displayed amazing confidence and composure, and it was a magical finish to a great four-year career. Nate had never shot below 70, and he chose his final round as a high school golfer to shoot his best score on the biggest stage.”

Young felt Bibbey’s showing was a byproduct of his season-long efforts.

“It’s just absolutely remarkable,” he said.

“Nate worked really hard and earned every bit of it, and he’s going out like a champ.”

The Huskies wound up with two golfers in the top 30 in state as senior Liam Spillane’s two-round total of 151 was good for 30th place, something Young said was a great achievement.

The good showings by Bibbey and Spill-

PROVIDEDt

OPRF golfer Nate Bibbey shot a 143 over two days at the IHSA Class 3A state finals in Bloomington last weekend, including a careerbest 69 on the tournament’s final day. ane capped what Young felt was a very good season for OPRF, led by his four seniors, Bibbey, Spillane, Niko Haas, and Maddox Neumann.

“This was a great step forward for the program,” he said. “I’ve had this core group of four boys the last four years, and they’ve worked really hard and been a joy to coach.

It was really cool that Maddox and Niko came down to support their teammates, especially Niko, who just missed qualifying by one stroke. They’ve set the standard for the younger golfers to follow of what it means to work hard and together as a team.”

Bibbey was also appreciative of Haas and Neumann cheering him on because that’s an example of the strong bonds he has with his teammates.

“It was fun. They were always there for every shot, and it’s nice to have your teammates come down and support you,” he said. “This is the best season we’ve ever had, and this could be the best one we see in a while.”

Bibbey is undecided as to where he will play in college. But he’s likely to go down as one of the best boys golfers OPRF has ever had.

Three Friars compete at state finals Fenwick junior Nick Scudder shot a tworound total of 152 (74-78) to finish tied for 28th place in the IHSA Class 2A state finals Oct. 8-9 in Normal at Illinois State University’s Weibring Golf Club.

In girls action, the Friars had two individuals compete in the Class 2A state finals held in Forsyth at Hickory Point Golf Course on Oct. 8 and 9.

Senior Lillian Bateman finished tied for 60th with a score of 186 (86-80), while junior Charlotte Bateman tied for 66th with a 168 (86-82).

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Wednesday Journal, October 13, 2021

OAKPARK.COM | RIVERFOREST.COM

Trinity volleyball looks for strong postseason run Blazers are No. 2 seed in IHSA Class 3A Nazareth Sectional

By MELVIN TATE Contributing Reporter

The Trinity High School volleyball team has had a strong season, entering this week with a 19-8 record and in contention for the Girls Catholic Athletic Conference White Division title.

The Blazers’ performance has pleased coach Ken Uhlir, who admitted he didn’t know how his team would fare.

“It’s going better than I anticipated. At the beginning of the season, we weren’t sure what to expect,” said Uhlir, who recorded his 150th victory at Trinity on Sept. 30. “We’ve got a really strong defense that keeps us in games. Early on, our offense struggled because we had a lot of young kids playing, but they’ve picked it up and things are starting to balance out.”

Defense is Trinity’s strength, anchored by libero Eileen Weger, who Uhlir describes as hard-nosed and solid.

“She goes down and gets the ball,” he said.

On offense, outside hitter Meagan Murphy and middle hitter Maddie Breunig have increased their proficiency, and that has played a large role in the Blazers’ recent successful stretch.

“Meagan is thumping the ball and contributing a lot,” Uhlir said. “And Maddie has picked up her offense. At the beginning of the year, her hitting percentage was around .100, but I would say that over the last 12 matches or so, she’s hitting .400. She’s

CAROL DUNNING/Contributor

Trinity middle hitter Abigail Casey spikes the ball against DePaul Prep in Girls Catholic Athletic Conference action Oct.7. The Blazers defeated the host Rams 23-25, 25-14, 25-18. really turned it on, and that has led to offensive success.”

Trinity has been able to sustain its good run despite a lack of size. At 5-foot-10, Breunig is the tallest Blazer.

“We’re small but efficient,” said Uhlir. “[Size] was a struggle at the start of the season. In a match against Nazareth Academy, we had a hitting percentage of -.04. You can’t win

like that. But recently, we’ve been hitting positive numbers.”

Now in his eighth season, Uhlir has had a good career at Trinity, but he is quick to credit the student-athletes for his success.

“I’m blessed,” he said. “I got blessed that [the late school president] Sister Michelle [Germanson] hired me when she did, and I’ve had great kids to work with. For me, the wins are a direct result of the hard work these girls have put in.

Every year, we go in not knowing what expect, but they consistently work hard to have success.”

Looking ahead, the Blazers are seeded second in the IHSA Class 3A Nazareth Academy Sectional. With quality teams such as top-seeded St. Ignatius, the host Roadrunners, Fenwick and Payton Prep participating, Uhlir knows Trinity is in for a challenge.

“In our sectional, there are five or six teams that will compete for the title, and we got stuck playing one of them [Payton] in a regional final,” he said of the Blazers’ draw.

“We’re focused on Payton right now. And if we get past that, we’re likely facing Nazareth in the sectional semifinal. There are no free passes, but we’ll be ready and hopefully can get it done.”

Before the postseason begins, there’s a not-so-small matter of winning the GCAC White championship. Trinity hosted Resurrection on Oct. 12, after Wednesday Journal’s press time. If the Blazers prevailed, they would clinch the title for the second time under Uhlir.

“The key to success is a balanced offense and a strong defense, and we’ve been having both,” Uhlir said.

OPRF in the swim at R-B invitational Huskie girls also defeat rival Fenwick in dual meet

By MELVIN TATE Contributing Reporter

OPRF’s solid swim showing so far this fall includes winning the Riverside-Brookfield Invitational and beating crosstown rival Fenwick in a dual meet, Sept. 21, 106.50 to 78.50.

“So far, the season has gone well,” said veteran OPRF head coach Clyde Lundgren.

“The girls are managing the change to being back to full days of in-person school. There have been rough patches for some, but mostly people are moving successfully.”

The Huskies are led by senior Teagan Osga. A Northeastern University recruit, she won the 100-yard butterfly and the 200yard individual medley at the Leyden Township Sectional last fall and would have advanced downstate had the finals not been canceled due to the pandemic. In the dual meet with Fenwick, Osga won the 200 individual medley in 2:12.26 and the 100 backstroke in 59.79. She also was part of two winning relays — the 200 freestyle and the 400 freestyle.

Other top performers this season are junior Victoria Kouris and freshmen Jessica Li and Sadie Murphy. With a young team, Lundgren is focusing on daily development and improvement this season.

“The goal is always the same: to grow and develop as a person,” he said. “The hope is to use swimming and diving as context to achieve that goal. If we’re growing as people, the fast swimming and good diving take care of themselves.”

OPRF has experienced much postseason success in recent years, and Lundgren is hoping for more of the same, given the hard work the Huskies have put in.

“The training and practices are going well, and I look forward to the championship season when we get to showcase what we’ve been working on,” he said. “We’d love to get a couple of relays and several swimmers qualified for the state meet.”

Fenwick In coach Stephen Thompson’s second year at the helm, Fenwick has put together several noteworthy performances in the pool, led by senior Lindsey Drumm, a defending sectional champion in the 200-yard freestyle.

“Lindsey has been consistent all year,” Thompson said of his senior leader, who recently committed to Dartmouth College.

“She’s versatile and we can usually match her up well in our dual-meet lineups. She’s every coach’s dream; she’s a great leader who does what you ask her to do.”

The Friars also have depth of experi-

ence, including juniors Kailyn McHugh and Baileigh Racky. In the dual meet with OPRF, Sept. 21, Drumm won the 50-yard freestyle and 100-yard butterfly, while McHugh was victorious in the 100-yard freestyle and 100yard breaststroke.

“Baileigh and Kailyn are important for our relays. They have sectional experience and have contributed wins so far this season,” Thompson said. “They’re everything you want in student-athletes; they’ve got great personalities and are competitive as well. It’s nice to have some of your fastest swimmers understand the responsibility of bringing people up in the program.”

Moreover, Fenwick has gotten contributions from a large and talented freshman class that features Anna Doherty, whom Thompson says “is a versatile swimmer who gives us a lot of options.”

Given their tradition-rich history, the Friars are perennial contenders in both the Metro Catholic Aquatic Conference and IHSA meets, and this season figures to be no different. After participating in the MCAC championships at Loyola Academy, Oct. 23, Fenwick will aim for its 22nd consecutive sectional title as it hosts the sectional, Nov. 6.

OPRF is expected to be the Friars’ main sectional challenger, and Thompson is looking forward to meeting the Huskies again.

“We want to put it all together at sectionals,” he said. “OPRF is going to challenge us, and we’ll make each other better. Clyde’s done a great job with his kids, and it should be another fun meet with them.”

Trinity Trinity has enjoyed success this season in the pool while setting a pair of new school records along the way.

At the Fenwick Invitational, Sept. 18, freshman Sarah Falkenholm established a new standard in the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 28.72. Then at the Fremd Relay Meet, Oct. 2, Falkenholm teamed with junior Madeline Halloran, sophomore Katarina Krysan, and sophomore Emily Boyd to set a new mark in the 200 freestyle relay with 1:26.54.

“The season is going great at this point,” said Trinity coach Mary Gibson. “We’re working very hard, staying healthy, and having fun as a team.”

The Blazers have two meets remaining before the MCAC meet — the Maine East Relays, Oct. 16, then Senior Night with Resurrection, Oct. 19. Gibson wants her young team to focus on swimming their best at the end of the year.

“Our goals are to finish the season with our best times and to have fun doing it,” she said.

Wednesday Journal, October 13, 2021

VIEWPOINTS

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

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Celebrating diversity p. 25

The practice of magnanimity

‘Y

ou guys should try to practice magnanimity and not be so petty.”

I was talking to my 11- and 13-yearold stepchildren soon after my wife Madeleine and I entered a second marriage for both of us 40 years ago. The children were arguing about a small task in the kitchen, like whose turn it was to empty the dishwasher. I was trying to be a good stepdad.

My words fell on deaf ears. Of course they did. I wasn’t realizing that such a task for them was not a small matter.

As I was writing this article, I asked both of them if they remember the incident. They don’t, but I sure do. This small failure in good step-parenting has led me to seek a deeper understanding of magnanimity.

My introduction to the virtue of magnanimity came when I was studying Aristotelean philosophy during my six years in the Dominican Order.

Thomas Aquinas, the great Dominican theologian who wrote the Summa Theologica, borrowed from the philosophy of Aristotle. Aristotle defines a magnanimous person as having a great soul (great spirit, great heart) who deserves a lot and claims a lot.

In Aristotle’s view all virtues, including magnanimity, are located in the mean or middle between two extremes. Magnanimity lies between a person who is deficient and claims little but deserves more — I would call this state of mind “false humility” — and a person who is excessive, claims a lot but deserves little. When I look at the latter, it is very hard for me to not think of our previous national leader.

Merriam-Webster’s definition of magnanimity is “loftiness of spirit enabling one to bear trouble calmly, to disdain meanness and pettiness, and to display a noble generosity.”

In re-examining Aristotle’s concept of magnanimity, I noticed how much valuing one’s self is essential to its practice. A person who lacks magnanimity is much more than simply smallminded. He also doesn’t think much of himself.

Modern Aristotelian thinkers, like Alexandre Havard (Created for Greatness: The Power of Magnanimity) emphasize that the practice of magnanimity, a crowning virtue, is grounded in four other basic virtues. If you don’t practice all of these, you can’t be magnanimous.

■ Prudence: the capacity to make right decisions.

■ Justice: the capacity to give to each person what they deserve.

JOE MCDONALD One View

See MCDONALD on page 26

PROVIDED

A tempting cupcake, frosted in guilt, at Whole Food Market.

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It was just a little icing

n the shelves at Goldie’s, the corner grocery store about a half-block from our house, the fresh, creamy, vanilla-topped cupcakes looked so good! Impulsively, I ran my right forefinger through the gushy topping on one, and licked it off before anyone could see. Yum. Then I sauntered casually up to the counter, bought a pack of baseball cards for 5 cents, said goodbye to Goldie, walked out the door, and tramped home on 15th Street.

I was probably 9 or 10 years old. And in this dense Catholic world of my Berwyn neighborhood in the early 1960s, it didn’t take long for the guilt to set in. Conflicted thoughts slid through my consciousness: It was just one lick, right?

But wasn’t indulging in that one sugary slurp still stealing? Didn’t I ruin the cupcake for someone else? Maybe now Goldie wouldn’t be able to sell it. And if she had sold it, it carried my germs!

Stealing was forbidden by the 7th Commandment, a voice inside reminded me. Sister Mary Armella’s image hovered, glowering.

I’ve kept the incident mostly to myself. But almost 60 years later it’s still a live memory, especially when I get near fresh pastry sitting on a store shelf. That internalized moral world with its do’s, don’ts, sanctions and rewards, is still active inside me; counseling, warning, admonishing and sometimes, forgiving.

I’ve perused plenty of fresh pastry since, including savory items on the shelves of bakeries and cafes around the U.S., in Mexico, Puerto Rico, Europe, and Ethiopia. And all that time, since that day at Goldie’s, I’ve kept my fingers off icing that I haven’t already paid for.

So here I am at Whole Foods, paused by the cupcakes. It’s the calories now that keep me from picking them up. I’d

certainly pay for them if I did. In their plastic and foil containers, they’re a little harder to get at, but I could still get away with a stealthy swipe and lick. I’m right back in Goldie’s, reliving those seconds in which I did, in fact, indulge.

I think the memory I share is unfinished: I never apologized to her. I never owned up to it.

I never made it right. I never gave her a chance to forgive me.

That might sound like I’m attaching a lot of significance to such a small transgression. But something in me thinks it’s not just about a pilfered dollop of frosting. It’s a bigger deal because unlike the unseen manager here at Whole Foods, Goldie was an important person to me, my family and neighbors who shopped in her store.

I went to school and played in Little League with her son. My uncle knew her older son from their high school days. This was her family’s corner business. They lived at least part of the time in the attached apartment behind it. I’d see them back there from the aisles, sitting at the kitchen table. Her husband, who co-managed the shop, was a friendly, warm, fatherly guy. He called me, “Richie.”

I think my deeper self is reminding me that I violated a friend’s, even a community’s, trust by committing that small sin. Maybe I wouldn’t have felt the same had I scooped the icing off a donut at a larger grocer, like Jewel, Certified or Hillman’s.

That corner place meant something to me. In a neighborhood where pretty much everyone knew everybody, and accountability to each other mattered, a tiny transgression against her and her store felt like a bigger deal. Maybe I’m not too late.

Goldie, I’m sorry.

RICH

KORDESH One View

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Wednesday Journal, October 13, 2021

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V I E W P O I N T S

V I E W S

Painless transparency

t has now happened three times in the course of just a few months. An elected official in Oak Park stepped down from their post — took a new job, died, or, in the odd case at the library, won election but then declined to serve.

Remaining board members needed to appoint a replacement, the call was made for applications, and then, in a positive change at District 97 public schools and at the library, the names of the applicants were made public, and the candidate interviews were held in public. Strong appointments followed.

This is an approach we have long advocated but seldom seen. We applaud both the school district and the library for understanding why this approach should be standard procedure. We hope the township and other local elected bodies are watching closely and will adopt this simple but foundational approach to transparency the next time a vacancy occurs.

The argument in the past has been that naming the applicants would somehow be embarrassing to those not chosen. Embarrassing how?

Why would one be embarrassed in putting their name forward as a volunteer for public service? All credit is due to each person who takes such a civic-minded step.

If you put yourself forward in an election, your name is public, you win or you lose, your life goes forward. The community is always enriched by competitive elections. Someone appointed to an elected board has the same power and responsibility. A version of public vetting is all to the good.

In these dark times as we see malevolent and anti-democratic forces burrowing into local elected bodies to promulgate their conspiracy theories, it is more important than ever that every path to such service — through election or appointment — be a public process. Too often we have seen these inroads come on public school and library boards specifically. Whether it is anti-vaccine or masks being argued in a school district, or limits on what books or programs a library can have, these can be two levels of local government where dangerous emotions can fester.

Don’t fall for the “it can never happen here” theory. It can happen here. Our job is to protect our public bodies. And, as always, the answer is more light on the process.

Building a future for SCSL school

This is a moment for St. Catherine-St. Lucy Catholic Church and its school.

A historic anchor at Washington and Austin boulevards for both Oak Park and neighboring Austin, this church and school is at a crossroads as the Archdiocese of Chicago figures out how to shrink its footprint while not abandoning or driving off a declining base of members.

SCSL is a unique circumstance. It straddles two communities once profoundly linked but over the past 40-plus years separated in nearly every aspect by fear and race. Its small congregation remains somewhat integrated while the school has long served Black children, mainly from the West Side.

But the future of this weakened-but-still-vital institution will be as part of Oak Park’s soon-to-be realigned, reduced, merged four Catholic parishes. Among the current “scenarios” coming out of the Renew My Church process, we know that only SCSL Church faces possible closure and absorption into another parish. It was also made clear early that the school will survive, although how it might be aligned with another parish — Ascension and St. Giles have elementary schools — is to be determined.

Even as this drama unfolds, we have the joy of watching as St. Catherine-St. Lucy School takes on new and generous allies from Fenwick High School. Alumni donors have raised money to refurbish the gym, create a tutoring center and fund a scholarship program that will welcome SCSL grads to Fenwick.

Joined with the elementary school’s audacious spirit and service over decades, it tells us that, despite an uncertain road, this school will thrive. For that we are grateful.

T

You are not alone

hey burst off the bus, happy to be up at them like Greek gods and, in answer home from school and happy to to their queries, I hear Bryce say, “second see me — I think, I hope, (still?) grade” as if he were some grizzled, seasoned — even though they’re 8 now, veteran. As they show off their improving as of last Sunday, and growing jungle gym skills to the current kindermore complex with every year. We all garteners, I wander over to the window of develop a dark side as we get older. I Bryce’s former classroom because I have wonder what theirs will be like. We’re fond memories here, too, and spy a figure just beginning to get acquainted. hunched over a computer in the corner, so I But at the moment it’s all sweet light, wave the boys over to take a look. and the world is still warm, and the “It’s Mrs. Scheptock!” Bryce says like daylight lasts till 6:30, even on a grey Scrooge being shown his schoolyard days October day, and they have a plan. of yore by the Ghost of Christmas Past. He “We know what playground to go knocks on the window and, sure enough, his to today,” Tyler says, as if they were former teacher opens the window and recogplotting this on the bus, “the one at our nizes him immediately. Delight fills his face old school.” That would be Cloverdale and voice as she comes out and gives him a School, as idyllic a name as one could append to an hug. They happily gab and catch up. Mrs. Scheptock institution of lower learning, the kind of name that says her partner teacher, Miss Scardina, has moved would be considered “corny” if it appeared in a novel, to Connecticut and we learn that Tyler’s former but befitting an outlying suburb like Carol Stream, teachers, Mrs. Miller and Mrs. Lally (who alternate which is not named days), now teach first for a river running grade. The boys share through, but for a what they remember and little girl, whose last tell her about their new name was, indeed, school.

Stream, daughter of I haven’t seen the boys the founding developthis animated in some er, who named it not while. After Mrs. Schepafter his own ego, as tock retreats inside, some might, but for Bryce’s long-legged lope a little girl, who died has real bounce as he just a couple of years and Tyler run to check ago at a ripe age. out more windows. No “We can’t do one is in Tyler’s former anything until you classroom, but they keep get through your looking and finally he checklist and we spots Mrs. Lally, who have dinner,” I say comes to the window and with manufactured the animated exchange sternness. Mom has is renewed. It’s so nice posted a checklist to see them, she says; of things to do each they’ve gotten so tall. day after school The boys chirp like before actual fun PROVIDED inspired birds, never is allowed. The list running out of things to Bryce and Tyler, into the woods at Morton Arboretum begins with “Wash say, and Mrs. Lally probhands.” I stand over ably wonders if she’ll it, prepared to bark ever get to tie up her tasks and head home, but she is out each task like a drill sergeant, but Tyler says, “I generous with her time, as you would expect from a know the list” and off he goes without a whine, word dedicated teacher. Finally they say goodbye — a real or whimper of complaint. farewell this time, not some virtual, pandemic-clipped They complete the list lickety-split and I warm up ending. the pumpkin pancakes that Mom has made as an It’s almost a cliché, but people say teachers never reOctober treat, so there’s none of the usual fussing ally know the positive impact they’ve had on students about the food, with wailing and gnashing of teeth because most never return to tell them. The boys about how “I don’t know if I’ll like it,” while I finish aren’t seasoned enough to put that impact into words, the sentence with “until you try it,” like a scratched but Mrs. Scheptock and Mrs. Lally could see it in their LP. The pancakes disappear in an eye-blink and off we faces and their voices. I certainly did. There is nothing go to the playground behind their old school, where quite like the appreciation that infuses a parent or they spent kindergarten, cut short by the pandemic, so grandparent who sees that their kids were happy in a they never really said a proper goodbye before going school that once served as an indispensable partner in remote, then moving to a new school last fall for first their upbringing. grade.

We return home, aglow, and the boys tell Mom about We pull into the Cloverdale parking lot at 4:30, an their coup, then help her stretch the cottony cobwebs hour past dismissal, and even though a number of over the bushes in front of the house to complete cars remain, I tell them I don’t know if any of their this year’s Halloween decorating. teachers are still around.

Life isn’t always idyllic when you’re 8 and getting As they get reacquainted with the playground apolder, but on this day the light was bright, even in parati, little ones from the after-school program look the gathering dusk of a grey October day.

KEN

TRAINOR

V I E W P O I N T S

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Celebrating disability awareness

ctober is the month especially set aside to celebrate and recognize various disabilities, including Down Syndrome Awareness Month and Augmentative and Alternative Communication Awareness Month.

My brother uses a communication device to speak, so this month is dear to my heart.

I don’t just celebrate because of him and his friends, but because communities are much richer when everyone is part of them. We raise awareness because people don’t always realize whose voices are missing.

Here I share a few ways to celebrate, from my perspective as a children’s librarian at the Oak Park Public Library: The library offers inclusive programming all year long, but especially in October. On Sunday, Oct. 17, we’re hosting a viewing of the animated storybook Calvin Can’t Fly, which features voiceover, American Sign Language, enhanced text, music, and sound effects to make it accessible to a full audience of children. It’s followed by fun, interactive theater games with sign language.

This program has something for all children. Register at oppl.org/calendar.

Every October, we refresh our Disability Reads bibliography for kids. The books selected for this list feature disabled kids telling their stories and experiences, in ways that acknowledge that disabled children are part of reading audiences. Many of them were written by disabled creators.

My favorite new book this year is We Move Together by Kelly Fritsch. It’s an accessible and engaging story for kids, with and without disabilities, that celebrates disability culture and also calls out societal barriers and how everyone can push back on them.

We also have a handout to use together to determine if a book about a disabled character features good representation, or if it is harmful to a disabled reader and perpetuates stereotypes. The handout is for families, caregivers, and teachers, and children as young as preschool have successfully used it to analyze books.

You can find both of these resources, plus articles and videos I share, at https://bit.ly/ OctDisability.

So often, people limit themselves to reading about “others” during special months or, perhaps, only reading books with disabled characters when they or their child will interact with a disabled child. These books are most often about a disabled character, without being from their perspective.

This does everyone a disservice, disabled or not. The best awareness is to meet and know disabled people, in real life and in books. To understand that everyone can be a hero, it’s important to read books where people who do not look or live like you are the heroes.

Shelley Harris is a children’s librarian at the Oak Park Public Library. She also holds a B.S. in Speech and Hearing Science.

SHELLEY HARRIS One View

ADUs are important for aging-in-place At their Oct. 7 meeting, members of the Plan Commission voted to approve an amendment to the Zoning Ordinance to authorize the creation of Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) in Oak Park. ADUs have been used in many areas of the country as a means of developing important additional housing opportunities for our burgeoning older population.

We, along with many other Oak Parkers, have been following this issue since the commission began considering it last June. We enthusiastically supported the draft ordinance as initially proposed. However, in an 11th-hour amendment to the ordinance that was adopted without community input or even full discussion by the commissioners, the Plan Commission gutted the proposed ordinance amendment. The plan commissioners voted 5-3 to eliminate the possible development of ADUs in the basements or attics of existing Oak Park homes.

What is left in the proposed ordinance is the more costly option of developing coach house dwellings or stand-alone structures built in the back or side yards of existing properties.

This decision is not in the best interests of Oak Park.

ADUs are a popular option for older people to use to create a new apartment for a family member or caregiver so that the owners can continue to reside in their

current home while they age in place with appropriate care. In other instances, some older owners have built new accessible units in their homes in which they can reside, while the main dwelling unit is sold or leased to a family member. ADUs are a powerful tool that can greatly assist in the aging process.

As now written, the regressive proposed ordinance amendment will shortly go before the Oak Park Village Board for possible inclusion in the Zoning Code.

Regretfully, we recommend that the village board reject this flawed ordinance amendment and send it back to the Plan Commission for full discussion that also allows for input from the public. To decide this important issue without full public discussion and input is contrary to Oak Park’s standards of open government.

If you are interested in learning more about ADUs and how they have been used creatively in other parts of the country, we recommend that you read The ABCs of ADUs which is available for download from the AARP website. Both Evanston and Chicago have recently adopted ordinance revisions that permit the development of ADUs within existing structures. We believe that Oak Park should learn from their example.

Marc Blesoff, Betsy Kelly, Brooke McMillin, Sandra Sokol, Edward Solan, Susan Stall Arbor West Neighbors

Wednesday Journal, October 13, 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 Equity Editor/Ombudsman Michael Romain Digital Publishing and Technology Manager Briana Higgins Staff Reporters Stacey Sheridan, F. Amanda Tugade Staff Photographer Alex Rogals Viewpoints Editor Ken Trainor Real Estate Editor Lacey Sikora Food Editor Melissa Elsmo Arts Editor Michelle Dybal Columnists Marc Blesoff, Jack Crowe, Doug Deuchler, Mary Kay O’Grady, Kwame Salter, John Stanger, Stan West Design/Production Manager Andrew Mead Editorial Design Manager Javier Govea Designer Susan McKelvey Business Manager Joyce Minich Marketing Representatives Marc Stopeck, Lourdes Nicholls Development Manager Mary Ellen Nelligan Development & Sales Coordinator Stacy Coleman Circulation Manager Jill Wagner E-MAIL jill@oakpark.com Chairman Emeritus Robert K. Downs BOARD OF DIRECTORS Chair Judy Greffin Treasurer Nile Wendorf Deb Abrahamson, Gary Collins, Darnell Shields, Sheila Solomon, Eric Weinheimer

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V I E W P O I N T S

Wednesday Journal, October 13, 2021

Cuts in senior programs are disheartening

I am writing to call your attention to actions the Oak Park Public Library has taken this week. By removing an hourly employee, they have abruptly cancelled programs largely, although not exclusively, attended by older adults. These programs were flawlessly held on Zoom during the pandemic and have provided knowledge and pleasure to all who have attended. The elimination of the Brown Bag

Mystery book and the genealogy group are losses to the community and I am dismayed. A skilled leader takes these programs to a higher level than self-run programs. There are many programs for children and it is disheartening to see older adult programs cancelled precipitously.

MCDONALD

the pursuit of the good life.

On a wider level, magnanimity compels us to bring out the best for those in our community. We seek to bring it out in them and wish it for them, even those with whom we have differing opinions.

We need to be a “team of rivals,” as opposed to political enemies — to be open to the possibility that their ideas and actions have the same good intentions as ours. Would not a communal sense of magnanimity bring us closer together at this time?

As James Fallows puts it in his 2017 article “Our Town” in the Atlantic, “But the underappreciated and potentially useful news of this moment is the extent of locally based renewal and experimentation, directed at many of the same challenges that now seem practically hopeless from a national perspective.”

I wonder how we in Oak Park stack up to Fallow’s words — if he were to visit us, much like he did other communities?

Of course, in Congress, magnanimity is sorely missing. Who is trying to understand and work with those holding opposing views? Where is the spirit of Lincoln today, not just in the highest office but also in Congress? Do they scorn or reach out to the “opposition”? The best quote on this subject is Vaclav Havel’s, the poet, playwright, and political leader who brought the Czech Republic out of communist totalitarianism in 1989: “What the modern world needs is a greatsouled citizenship, courageous magnanimity, willingness to do the right thing even at the cost of all sorts of harm, but with the humility of the wise” (quoted by Mary Keyes from her aforementioned talk).

Doesn’t Havel capture the essence of practicing magnanimity, as well as humility, in our contemporary world?

When I used the term magnanimity with my stepchildren, I wasn’t the person with a “great soul,” I viewed them inaccurately, using inappropriate concepts with an 11- and 13-year-old.

I wasn’t confident in my role as a stepfather in that early stage of our new family’s formation.

Luckily, they don’t remember what I said to them in our kitchen 40 years ago.

Joe McDonald is a longtime Oak Park resident.

Humility magnifies magnanimity from page 23 ■ Self-control: the capacity to direct passions and emotions.

■ Courage: the capacity to stay the course or show audacity.

Pretty good stuff to be grounded in.

Thomas Aquinas amplifies the virtue of magnanimity by introducing another virtue: humility (Mary Keyes, professor of political science at Notre Dame University, from “Greatness of Soul: Aristotle and Thomas Aquinas on The Virtue of Magnanimity” a speech she gave at Emory University, YouTube). Although the two seem headed in different directions, both are necessary for practicing magnanimity. These twin virtues keep one in a rational balance with regard to great, difficult honors, and also with regard to treating others in terms of their worth. Magnanimity disposes one to think well enough of oneself to live up to one’s potential.

Humility helps us recognize our deficiencies on the one hand, and on the other, honors others and esteems them. Humility opens one’s eyes to see and appreciate the gifts of others, just as magnanimity does for one’s own self.

In Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln, Doris Kearns Goodwin gives an example of these two virtues in a political context.

She describes Lincoln’s “greatness of soul” and his humility, which enabled him to bring out the positive value of his rivals. Instead of seeing them as his political enemies he appointed them to his cabinet.

How can the practice of these twin virtues be applied to our lives today, on personal, community and nation levels?

On a personal level, how do we practice magnanimity with our spouse, our children, grandchildren and friends? We want what is best for them and to bring it out in them. We try to feel good about the successes of our friends. These people in our lives are not “rivals.” They are our companions in

Angela Skalla River Forest

Emailed every Friday morning!

OAKPARK.COM | RIVERFOREST.COM

What’s in it for Manchin and Sinema?

The two Democrats who are holdouts against the Build Back Better legislation both benefit from opposing it. The legislation would be paid for by a tax on the ultra-rich. Arizona Senator Kyrsten Sinema has been raising funds from the ultrarich and the pharmaceutical firms who benefit from her opposition to

the legislation.

The legislation will cut fossil fuel subsidies. Joe Manchin and his son own coal mines.

We cannot allow these two Democrats to benefit personally by their opposition to this legislation.

Tom Ard

Oak Park

Durbin to speak at Third Unitarian

U.S. Senator Richard Durbin will deliver the annual Reverend Donald H. Wheat Lecture, “Toward Justice for All,” at Third Unitarian’s 11 a.m., Oct. 17 online service via Zoom. The lecture honors Rev. Wheat as minister emeritus. A Q&A will follow the service.

Sen. Durbin has served Illinois in the Senate since 1996 and as Senate Majority Whip since 2005. He is chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee as they consider immigration and criminal justice reform, work to combat hate crimes and domestic terrorism, and oversee the nominations process for our nation’s federal courts, up to and including the Supreme Court.

Durbin is the first Illinois senator in more than a quarter-century to serve on the powerful Senate Appropria-

tions Committee, a position that allows him to advocate for federal priorities important to Illinois. He is also a member of the Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Committee.

Most recently Durbin, with U.S. Rep. Brad Schneider (D-10th), introduced bicameral legislation aimed at reducing gun violence by preventing the theft of firearms from federally licensed gun dealers.

To receive information to join the online service, complete the brief form on the Third Unitarian website: https://www.thirdunitarianchurch. org/wheat-lecture More information on Sen. Durbin is at https://www.durbin.senate.gov/ about-dick-durbin.

David Boulanger Oak Park

Thanks for helping us build our dream

Despite the rain, over 100 guests gathered last week to celebrate the dedication ceremony of Maguire Hall. The gorgeous voices of the St. Catherine-St. Lucy (SCSL) and Fenwick choirs combined to uplift and inspire, the story of our journey was magnificently shared, donors who made the day possible were heartfully acknowledged, and our spaces were blessed by Rev. Peddicord.

We are so grateful to those who were able to attend and to those who sent love and well-wishes. It was a beautiful day and we cannot wait to hear that first basketball bounce on the court and the first meaningful exchange between tutors and students.

Our Dream Builders turned a wish into a reality. Today, Maguire Hall is poised to become a beacon for our community. We may now welcome in one and all to enjoy athletics, theater, and community building events. SCSL and Fenwick students will learn and grow together in a mutually enriching experience in the Fenwick Center for Educational Excellence.

We continue to link the past and build a bridge to the future. To mail a donation: 27 Washington Oak Park, IL 60302 Attention: Dream Builders

St. Catherine-St. Lucy Parish Oak Park

V I E W P O I N T S

OAKPARK.COM | RIVERFOREST.COM

Wednesday Journal, October 13, 2021

Tale of the Roaring ’20s Tombstones

The 30th Annual “Tale of the Tombstones” walking tour of Forest Home Cemetery is next weekend on Sunday, Oct. 17 beginning at noon. The annual tradition, begun by The Historical Society of Oak Park & River Forest in 1992, is a guided walking tour through the historic burial ground, coupled with costumed actors sharing the stories of some notable folks buried there.

This year’s theme is “Happy Days Are Here Again?!” a riff on the 1929 song that represents the Roaring ’20s, which might be said to represent the hopes we all have for a postCOVID world.

This year’s performances all have stories tied to the 1920s, but also have resonance today: ■ Billy Sunday, couldn’t shut Chicago down ■ Grace Hall Hemingway, more than Ernie’s mom ■ Frank Pellegrino, charter member of the Communist Party USA ■ Hannah Beye Fyfe, artist and crusader for women’s rights ■ Adam Heyer, unlucky gangster ■ William Grunow, made a fortune in radios and chickens

Those Black schools that are best

I believe success begets success. In recent times, Chicago’s South Side, 99% Black, Earhart Elementary School students scored 70th percentile in reading and 80th percentile in math. Eighty percent of the kids qualified for free or reduced-price lunch. This is one of many Black school successes that are highlighted in the essay “Black Education”

by Thomas Sowell in his well-documented book Black Rednecks and White Liberals.

Sowell says these various successful schools have only two things in common: work and discipline. Why have the TV news, educators and Black activists ignored these successes?

In 1899, M Street School, now Dunbar High School, students scored higher in standardized tests than two of three nearby white schools. The parents were laborers, messengers, janitors, and one doctor. Dunbar students exceeded national norms in the ’30s, ’40s and ’50s. At one point some selective colleges enrolled Dunbar graduates just upon the school’s reputation. Dunbar graduates include the first Black Annapolis grad, female Phd, full university professor, federal judge, general, Cabinet member, senator, plasma pioneer, poet laureate of the District of Columbia, etc. Why aren’t there documentaries about these educational successes?

New England’s somewhat Puritan culture brought the best educational achievement to Black students. W.E.B. DuBois was a New Englander. A few years after emancipation, 2,500 northern teachers were in the South educating Black children. Graduates of New England cultural influence included Langston Hughes, Mary McLeod Bethune, Thurgood Marshall, Martin Luther King Jr., James Weldon Johnson, Walter White, A. Phillip Randolph, and James Farmer.

Robert Sullivan Oak Park

All ticket sales ($20/$15 members) will be done via oprfmuseum.org or by phone, 708848-6755. Visitors should wear comfortable shoes, dress for the weather, bring a mask, and be ready to hear the fascinating stories of the folks buried in this historic burial ground in Forest Park.

Through the decades, hundreds of volunteers have acted, written scripts, directed traffic, made costumes, and led the tours for this unique annual event.

Frank Lipo

Executive Director Oak Park River Forest Museum

Venting grievances

Re: Michael Romain’s Oct. 6 column, “When the cost of racial integration is too high.”

Is there a point to this self-absorbed, stream-of-consciousness screed other than for Mr. Romain to vent his grievance and victimhood? His anti-white bias which is as dark as the bias he decries? If I had a subscription, I’d cancel it.

James Jenkins Oak Park

River Forest

FOOT CLINIC

7351 Lake St. (Just west of Panera Bread)

Do you have diabetes?

I

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

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

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Dr. Linda Lambert

amputation than those who do not seek treatment.

Medicare and some private insurances cover 1 pair of diabetic shoes and 3 pair of protective insoles each calendar year. Dr. Lambert has been a supplier of diabetic shoes since 2002. The shoes come in 30 different styles each for men and women.

These include boots, lightweight colorful athletic shoes, and dress shoes. Even patients who are not diabetic love the look and comfort of the footwear. Diabetic socks, slippers and compression hosiery are also available.

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

Aetna, AARP, Blue Cross PPO, United Healthcare, Healthspring, Humana, PHCS, Medicare Assignment & most other insurances accepted • CIGNA PPO

26 Years’ Experience • Se Habla Espanol • Free Parking

708.366.FOOT (3668)

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Wednesday Journal, October 13, 2021

Mary Ellen Matthies, 82

O B I T U A R I E S

Yvonne Cisco, 74

Oak Park Regional Housing Center mainstay

Founded Cisco & Cisco Productions

Mary Ellen Matthies (nee Leavitt), 82, died peacefully in her sleep on April 10, 2021. Born on May 17, 1938 to Eloise and Charles Leavitt, she grew up in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and Cedar Falls, Iowa. She graduated in 1960 from the State College of Iowa. After teaching four years in Davenport, she married the late Rich Matthies in 1965 and they raised their family in Oak Park. She worked at the Oak Park Regional Housing Center. She played an integral role in the founding of this acclaimed agency, which discovered ways to prevent blockbusting and promote integrated housing in the western Chicago suburbs. She also served in leadership positions in various League of Women Voters chapters and was a member and enthusiastic volunteer at various Unitarian Universalist churches. In their later years, she and her husband lived in Downers Grove. The last few years of her life, she loved living at Brookdale in Lisle.

Mary Ellen and Rich were devoted parents and grandparents. She is survived by her son, Kent (Kristin), and their two sons, Micah and Ellis; her daughter, Kristin (Mark) Angel, and their daughter, Juliet; and her sister, Patricia Cook. Mary Ellen was predeceased by her husband in 2019.

A memorial service was held on Oct. 9 in the Le Jardin Room at Cantigny Park, 1 S 151 Winfield Road, Wheaton, IL 60189.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the Oak Park Regional Housing Center or the League of Women Voters of Chicago.

Yvonne Cisco, 74, died peacefully on Oct. 5, 2021. Born on Feb. 25, 1947 in Louisville, Kentucky, to Catherine Cash and George Hipps, she graduated from Illinois State University in 1971 and spent the next 12 years as a teacher in Los Angeles and Chicago, before moving into social work, health advocacy and consultancy, and later earning a master’s degree in Human Services Administration, and a doctorate of Christian Education in Administration.

She was a 35+ year, multiple-bout, cancer survivor, and served as national spokesperson for the West Cook Region of the American Cancer Society, chairperson for the American Cancer Society Patient Navigation Services, and in 2011 she founded Cisco & Cisco Productions, a nonprofit organization focused on health care and education advocacy. She was listed in 2000 Notable American Women (eighth edition), was the Midwest Regional Winner of the Outstanding Child Welfare Worker Award, and served as spokesperson for numerous American Cancer Society events, such as the Making Strides Against Breast Cancer Soldier Field Walk.

Yvonne was caring, strong, loving, wise, impactful, kind, and full of faith.

She was the beloved wife of Taylor Cisco Jr., formerly of Oak Park; the mother of Taylor Aaron and Catherine; and grandmother to August and Avery.

OAKPARK.COM | RIVERFOREST.COM A memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. on Saturday, Oct. 16 at the Indiana Avenue Pentecostal Church of God, 3520 S. Indiana Ave., Chicago 60653. Flowers, gifts, and other condolences may be sent to Robey Park Manor Funeral Home (robeyparkmanorfuneralhome.com).

Suzanne Larocca, 87 Public school teacher in Bellwood

Suzanne Q. Larocca (nee Quinlan), of Oak Park and Marco Island, Florida, died on Oct. 4, 2021.

Born on Sept. 25, 1934, she graduated from Trinity High School in River Forest, and the College of St. Teresa in Winona, Minnesota. She taught fifth grade for 25 years at Lincoln Elementary in Bellwood.

Suzanne was the wife of the late Thomas D. Larocca; the mother of Dan (Teresa), Mary Pat, Lynn, Nancy (Dan) Schmidt, Tim (Lisa), and Michael (Mary); grandmother of Connor, Kathryn, Sarah, Michelle (Blake), Jack, Tom, Matt, William, Mark, Patrick and Abby; sister of the late Patricia (Jerry) Ochota; and the aunt of Suzanne and Patricia O’Neill.

Services were held on Oct. 8 at Ascension Church, with interment at Queen of Heaven Cemetery.

In lieu of flowers, memorials to Ascension School (www. school.ascensionoakpark.com) or Trinity High School (www.trinityhs.org) are appreciated.

Arrangements were handled by Conboy-Westchester Funeral Home.

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Wednesday Journal, October 13, 2021

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BY PHONE: (708) 613-3333 | BY FAX: (708) 467-9066 BY E-MAIL: EMAIL@GROWINGCOMMUNITYMEDIA.ORG

HELP WANTED Forest Park Public Schools District 91

Outstanding Local JOBS:

School Bus Drivers Needed

Pay Rate is $26.60 per hour, 4 hours per day guaranteed, 4-5 days per week depending on school calendar.

Cadre Substitute Teacher

Provide a stimulating teaching-learning environment, making use of a variety of instructional tools and teaching aids to deliver rigorous, relevant curriculum, facilitate student participation, and opportunity for students’ mastery of learning standards in assigned classrooms.

Qualifications: Professional Educator’s License registered in Region 6. SALARY & BENEFITS - Per FY2022 New Teacher Salary Placement Schedule. Benefits as provided for a new teacher.

Substitute Teacher

Starting rate of pay 110.00 per day.

Discover 20+ jobs available in Downtown Oak Park!

Line cook, servers, sales, and more.

Visit downtownoakpark.net/ job-listings for details.

CIRCUS INSTRUCTOR The Park District of Oak Park is looking to hire a Circus Instructor to instruct circus classes and workshops to children and adults.

Classes vary between one day workshops and 6-12 week long classes that meet once a week.

Must have at least 2 years of Circus or instructor experience and experience in aerial skills. Experience with the following circus skills recommended: hoop,unicycle, globe, diabolo/Chinese yo-yo, juggling and tumbling.

This is a part-time position, $13.00/ hour. To review the complete job description and apply online go to www.pdop.org/jobs https://www.paycomonline.net/ v4/ats/web.php/jobs/viewJobDetails?job=41090&clientkey=41D8300184906117978771C10E755DC6 The Park District of Oak Park is an Equal Opportunity Employer!

LEGAL SECRETARY The Village of Oak Park is seeking qualified candidates for the position of Legal Secretary in the Law Department. This position will perform a variety of responsible and advanced legal secretarial and clerical duties in support of the Law Department; perform complex clerical duties within the assigned work unit; and provide secretarial and administrative support to Law Department staff. Applicants are encouraged to visit the Village of Oak Park’s website at http://www.oak-park.us/jobs.

Interested and qualified applicants must complete a Village of Oak Park application no later than October 22, 2021.

The Village of Oak Park is seeking qualified candidates for the position of Part-Time Community Service Coordinator (up to 10-15 hrs./ week) in the Adjudication Department. This person monitors individuals who have been ordered to provide community service in the Village, coordinates with organizations that provide community service opportunities, etc.

Applicants are encouraged to visit the Village of Oak Park’s website http://www.oak-park.us/jobs.

First review of applications will be October 22, 2021.

CHILDCARE WORKER The Village of Forest Park has immediate openings for before and after school program. Part-time hours are M-F 2-6 p.m. Must be at least 18 years old, have a driver’s license and pass drug screening and background check. $11.00/Hour.

Apply in person at Howard Mohr Community Center, 7640 Jackson Blvd., Forest Park. 708-771-7737.

FULL-TIME BUS DRIVER The Village of Forest Park has immediate opening for a responsible full-time PACE Bus Driver to transport senior citizens, disabled residents and school children. Must have a valid Illinois C Class CDL license and attend PACE training.

In addition, must be physically fit and submit to criminal background check, annual physical exam and drug and alcohol testing. M-F Days Full Benefits.

Apply in person at Howard Mohr Community Center, 7640 Jackson Blvd., Forest Park. 708-771-7737.

POLICE DESK CLERK FOREST PARK, IL The Forest Park Police Department, seeks a Full-Time Police Desk Clerk.

Eligible candidates will be required to pass an aptitude test and an extensive background check. Qualifications include computer skills, the ability to work under pressure and meet deadlines, good knowledge of English language, general office skills, including handling non-emergency calls and walk-up customer service, and good verbal and written skills.

HOLIDAY, EVENING AND OVERNIGHT HOURS ARE MANDATORY. Starting salary $31,222 annually.

Open until filled. Applications are available at Village Hall, 517 Desplaines Ave. or at www.forestpark. net and should be returned Attn: Vanessa Moritz, Village Clerk, Village of Forest Park, 517 Des Plaines Avenue, Forest Park, IL 60130.

Email: vmoritz@forestpark.net

PARKING ENFORCEMENT OFFICER FOREST PARK, IL The Forest Park Police Department, seeks a Full-Time Parking Enforcement Officer. Eligible candidates will be required to pass an aptitude test and an extensive background check. Qualifications include high school diploma (or equivalent), a valid driver’s license, knowledge of basic parking regulations, and good verbal and written skills.

EVENING AND OVERNIGHT HOURS ARE MANDATORY. Starting salary $31,222 annually. Open until filled. Applications are available at Village Hall, 517 Desplaines Ave. or at www.forestpark.net and should be returned Attn: Vanessa Moritz, Village Clerk, Village of Forest Park, 517 Des Plaines Avenue, Forest Park, IL 60130.

Email: vmoritz@forestpark.net.

The Village of Oak Park is seeking qualified candidates for the position of Parking Enforcement Officer in the Police Department Field Services Division. This position will perform a variety of duties and responsibilities involved in the enforcement of Village parking regulations; and to provide general information and assistance to the public. Applicants are encouraged to visit the Village of Oak Park’s website http://www.oak-park.us/.

Interested and qualified applicants must complete a Village of Oak Park application.

The Village of Oak Park is seeking qualified candidates for the position of Environmental Health Supervisor in the Health Department. This position will direct, manage, supervise, and coordinate assigned activities with other Village departments, divisions, and outside agencies; and to provide highly responsible and complex administrative support to the Public Health Director. Applicants are encouraged to visit the Village of Oak Park’s website http:// www.oak-park.us/jobs.

Position opened until filled.

Top rated firm Alpina Manufacturing LLC founded in 1992, locally owned beautiful campus in Galewood, near Mars candy, 3 blocks north of Oak Park. We build and sell display framing systems to customers nationwide including Wal-Mart, Verizon, Circle K, Hospitals We are seeking to fill the following positions, all in Galewood, no travel. Full time, Part time, Flex hours for working parents or students. We train, no travel, work in Galewood. Open to any backgrounds. Excellent pay, salary, benefits, friendly caring management. National Accounts Rep, Production Manager or Trainee, Packaging Specialist trainee Display frame Production trainee, Office/Bookkeeping Assistant trainee.

Visit www.fastchangeframes.com/careers for more details 6460 W Cortland St Chicago, IL 60707 Manufacturing The Forest Park Police Department, seeks a Part-Time Civilian Information Management Call Taker.

Pay is $17.19/hr. Eligible candidates will be required to pass an aptitude test and an extensive background check. Qualifications include high school diploma (or equivalent), good verbal and written skills, working knowledge of the computer and Windows, ability to type accurately, a good working knowledge of the English language, the ability to treat customers and co-workers in a polite manner and the ability to work under pressure and meet deadlines.

Data entry skills and experience answering telephones/operating a switchboard are preferred. EVENING AND OVERNIGHT HOURS ARE MANDATORY. Open until filled. Applications are available at Village Hall, 517 Desplaines Ave. and should be returned Attn: Vanessa Moritz, Village Clerk, Village of Forest Park, 517 Des Plaines Avenue, Forest Park, IL 60130.

Email: vmoritz@forestpark.net.

HELP WANTED The Village of Oak Park is seeking qualified candidates for the position of Health Education Manager in the Health Department. This position will take the lead on developing the community health needs assessment; develops health education programs and health awareness campaigns; implements and coordinates these programs/campaigns etc. Applicants are encouraged to visit the Village of Oak Park’s website http://www.oak-park.us/jobs.

Position opened until filled.

PART-TIME ELECTRICIAN’S HELPER

CROSSING GUARD The Forest Park Police Department is seeking qualified individuals for the position of Crossing Guard.

This position requires flexible hours during days when schools are in session. A background investigation and drug screening will be conducted prior to consideration for the position. Applications available at Village Hall, 517 Desplaines Avenue or on-line at www.forestpark.net and should be returned to Vanessa Moritz, HR Director, at Village Hall. For additional information, contact Dora Murphy at 708-615-6223 or write dmurphy@forestpark.net.

CALL 708-738-3848

Applications accepted until position is filled. EOE.

Must have own transportation.

For more information



VILLAGE OF RIVERSIDE SEASONAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY

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 October through the end of December. 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.

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

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

This newspaper will not knowingly accept any advertising for real estate which is in violation of the law. All persons are hereby informed that all dwellings advertised are available on an equal-opportunity basis.

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

Wednesday Journal • Landmark • Forest Park Review

Starting a New Business?

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.

  

Publish Your Assumed Name Legal Notice in • Austin Weekly News • Wednesday Journal • Forest Park Review • Riverside/Brookfield Landmark

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Wednesday Journal, October 13, 2021

CLASSIFIED

BY PHONE: (708) 613-3333 BY FAX: (708) 467-9066 BY E-MAIL: EMAIL@GROWINGCOMMUNITYMEDIA.ORG

MARKETPLACE WANTED TO BUY

ITEMS FOR SALE

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

PIANO FOR SALE

YARD SALE Oak Park

YARD SALE 1036 N. EUCLID AVE. SAT 10/16 10:00AM-4:00PM No early birds.

Huge salesman sample sale with gift items in original packaging. Gently used household items: Nambe, Soap, Candles, perfume, LEGO, holiday items, jewelry, accessories, Pet, Microwave, reading glasses, linens, fancy dish towels, outdoor table w/ chairs, lamps, Van Gogh posters, gadgets, baskets, crafts, games, kitchen and more!

R E N TA L S & R E A L E S TAT E CARS WANTED

SUBURBAN RENTALS

Chickering 1938 grand piano, 5’4”.

Good condition. Refurbished and restrung in the past. Buyer must move.

Reasonable at $1000.

DOWNTOWN OAK PARK 2BR APT 2BR, 1BTH apartment for rent.

Hardwood floors. Renovated and freshly painted. Small, vintage building. No smoking. No pets.

Parking included.

Call 312-339-2370

GARAGE SALE Oak Park

TOOL, HARDWARE & GARAGE SALE 448 BERKSHIRE SAT-SUN, OCT 16 & 17 9AM-3PM

50+ years of tools and hardware!

POWER & HAND TOOLS: Electric, plumbing, woodworking, lawn care, lighting and automotive. Table saw, lathe, jointer, snowblower, freezers, large tool chests, metal and wood. FURNITURE: Chairs, tables, couch, dressers and filing cabinets.

OFFICE: Monitors, mice, blank CDs, disk storage and more. Some housewares.

CASH ONLY & YOU CARRY: Buyer responsible for removing large items. Bring your own MASKS (required) and bags.

CLASSICS WANTED CLASSICS Restored or Restored or Unrestored Unrestored Cars & Vintage Motorcycles Cars & Vintage Motorcycles Domestic / Import Import Cars: Cars:

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

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Apartments offered with an occupancy of one to four persons. Properties feature modern kitchens, include appliances, and offer onsite maintenance. Austin Renaissance will accept requests for application packages by U.S. Mail postmarked no later than , September 15, 2021. Send or email a written request for an application package that includes your name, mailing address. Daytime telephone number, Email address, and the number of persons in your household to: Town Center Realty Group LLC, PO Box 64, Huntley IL 60142-0064 or Email requests to mrpaul.tcrg@gmail.com Application packages available by mail or email delivery only. No walk-ins accepted.

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Wednesday Journal, October 13, 2021

CLASSIFIED

31

BY PHONE: (708) 613-3333 BY FAX: (708) 467-9066 BY E-MAIL: EMAIL@GROWINGCOMMUNITYMEDIA.ORG

Let the sun shine in...

Public Notice: Your right to know

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

PUBLIC NOTICES

PUBLIC NOTICES

NOTICE TO BIDDERS Sealed bids will be received by the Park District of Oak Park for the following project: OAK PARK COMMUNITY RECREATION CENTER GROUND UP CONSTRUCTION, OAK PARK, IL 60302 Bid Group 1: 1A – Concrete, Bid Group 1B – Masonry & Air Barriers, Bid Group 1C – Structural Steel & Misc. Metals, Bid Group 1D – General Trades, Bid Group 1E – Spray Insulation, Drywall & Acoustical Ceilings, Bid Group 1F – Metal Panels, Bid Group 1G – Membrane Roofing, Bid Group 1H –Glazing, Bid Group 1I – Ceramic Tile & Flooring, Bid Group 1J – Wood & Athletic Flooring, Bid Group 1K – Polished Concrete, Bid Group 1L – Painting, Bid Group 1M – Elevators, Bid Group 1N – Fire Suppression, Bid Group 1O – Plumbing, Bid Group 1P – HVAC, Bid Group 1Q – Electrical & Audio Video Systems, Bid Group 1R – Excavation, Bid Group 1S – Site Utilities Bids will be received until 2:00 p.m. prevailing time on November 5, 2021 at the Park District of Oak Park Administrative offices, 218 Madison Street, Oak Park, IL 60302, and will be publicly opened and read at 2:15 p.m. prevailing time on that date. Virtual bid opening via zoom https://us02web. zoom.us/j/84605230188?pwd=a1 FrVmpuSFhmdnVxMXV1WVh0Sm pXdz09.

Bids shall be submitted in an opaque sealed envelope clearly marked: Park District of Oak Park 218 Madison Street, Oak Park, IL 60302 Attention: Bulley & Andrews Project: PDOP COMMUNITY RECREATION CENTER BID GROUP 1 – Package 1 (trade submitting)

Scope of work for Bid Package 1 generally includes, but is not limited to: Concrete, Masonry & Air Barriers, Steel, General Trades, Millwork, Drywall & Acoustical Ceilings, Spray Insulation, Metal Panels, Roofing, Glazing, Ceramic Tile & Flooring, Wood & Athletic Flooring, Polished Concrete, Painting, Elevators, Fire Suppression, Plumbing, HVAC, Electrical & Audio Video Systems, Excavation and Site Utilities All bids must be submitted in accordance with the bidding instructions contained in the Bidding Documents for the project. Bid security in the form of a bid bond in an amount equal to ten percent (10%) of the base bid amount shall be submitted with the bid. Should a bid bond be submitted, the bond shall be payable to the Park District of Oak Park, 218 Madison Street, Oak Park, IL 60302. All documents and information required by the bidding instructions contained in the Bidding Documents for the project shall be submitted with the bid. Incomplete, late or nonconforming bids may not be accepted.

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

The Bidding Documents for the project (which include the bidding instructions for the project and other related documents) will be available October 15, 2021 and may be purchased from Springer

Blueprint Services – 1640 S. Western Ave. Chicago, IL 60643 – 773-238-6340.

The Bidding Documents are available for viewing/download online without cost or purchase at the link below.

Please copy and paste the URL: https://www.pdop.org/bids-andrfps/ The Board reserves the right to reject any or all bids or parts thereof, or waive any irregularities or informalities, and to make an award that in the Board’s sole opinion is in the best interest of the District.

A non-mandatory site visit will be coordinated with Bulley & Andrews, LLC. Interested parties may inspect the existing conditions and site logistics. Site visit will be held on October 20, 2021 at 11am.

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

For additional information on the project, contact Alex Mantel of Bulley & Andrews, LLC at amantel@ bulley.com or 219-678-8383.

Published in Wednesday Journal, October 13, 20, 27, November 3, 2021

PUBLIC NOTICES

PUBLIC NOTICES

PUBLIC NOTICES

PUBLIC NOTICES

PUBLIC NOTICE OF COURT DATE FOR REQUEST FOR NAME CHANGE

PUBLIC NOTICE OF COURT DATE FOR REQUEST FOR NAME CHANGE

PUBLIC NOTICE Notice of Vacancy and Procedures to Fill Vacancy Riverside Township hereby gives notice that a vacancy will be declared for the position of Township Trustee at the October 13th Regular meeting of the Riverside Township Board. At that meeting, the Board will accept the September letter of resignation of Trustee Tom Morrissey, who has been appointed as an associate judge of the Cook County Circuit Court.

PUBLIC NOTICE VILLAGE OF RIVERSIDE, ILLINOIS NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING

STATE OF ILLINOIS, CIRCUIT COURT COOK COUNTY.

STATE OF ILLINOIS, CIRCUIT COURT COOK COUNTY.

Request of Panipak Bumrungkwaen Case Number 2021CONC000986 .

Request of Nga-Ting Sin Case Number 2021CONC001430.

There will be a court date on my Request to change my name from: Panipak Bumrungkwaen to the new name of: Modear Bumrungkwaen LeClair

There will be a court date on my Request to change my name from: Nga-Ting Sin to the new name of: Wendy Nga-Ting Sin

The court date will be held: On November 18 at 10:30am at 50 W Washington St, Chicago, Cook County in Courtroom # 1707 Published in the Wednesday Journal September 29, October 6, 13, 2021

PUBLIC NOTICE OF COURT DATE FOR REQUEST FOR NAME CHANGE STATE OF ILLINOIS, CIRCUIT COURT COOK COUNTY. Request of Jose Luis Rodriguez Case Number 2021CONC001466.

There will be a court date on my Request to change my name from: Jose Luis Rodriguez to the new name of: Jose Luis Flores The court date will be held: On December 27 at 1:30pm at Via Zoom: Meeting ID: 914 0410 9299/ Password:407193 Cook County in Courtroom #1702 Published in Wednesday Journal October 6, 13, 20, 2021

LEGAL NOTICE STATE OF ILLINOIS) COUNTY OF COOK )ss Circuit Court of Cook County, County Department, Domestic Relations Division.

In re the marriage of Maria E. Corbbins, Petitioner and Christian Ivan Corbbins, Respondent, Case No. 2021D008641.

NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING VILLAGE OF OAK PARK ZONING BOARD OF APPEALS HEARING DATE: November 3, 2021 TIME: 7:00 p.m. or as soon thereafter as the Agenda permits CALENDAR NUMBER: 17-21-Z APPLICATION: The Zoning Board of Appeals (“Board”) will conduct a public hearing on an application filed by the Applicant, LaRose & Bosco, Ltd., seeking a variance from Section 8.3 (Table 8-1: Use Matrix) of the Oak Park Zoning Ordinance, which section prohibits office uses from being located within the first 50 feet of the street lot line at grade level or on the ground floor of any building within the DT-1 and DT-2 Sub-Districts of Downtown, to allow LaRose & Bosco, Ltd., a law firm (office use) on the ground floor within 50 feet of a street line at the premises commonly known as 1011 Lake Street, Suite 100, Oak Park, Illinois, Property Index Number 16-07-126-012-0000; 013; 014; 015 and 016 in the DT Downtown Zoning District.

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

The Board will conduct the public hearing remotely with live audio available and optional video. The hearing will be streamed live and archived online for ondemand viewing at www.oak-park.us/commissiontv as well as cablecast on VOP-TV, which is available to Comcast subscribers on channel 6 and ATT U-Verse subscribers on channel 99. The remote public hearing is authorized pursuant to Section 7(e) of the Open

Meetings Act. The Village President has determined that an in-person public hearing is not practical or prudent due to the COVID-19 outbreak during Governor JB Pritzker’s current disaster proclamation. It is also not feasible to have a person present at the public hearing due to public safety concerns related to the COVID-19 outbreak.

All interested persons will be given an opportunity to be heard at the public hearing. Interested persons may provide written evidence, testimony and public comment on the application by email to Zoning@oak-park. us or by drop off in the Oak Park Payment Drop Box across from the entrance to Village Hall, 123 Madison Street, Oak Park, Illinois, to be received no later than 5:00 p.m. on November 3, 2021. An individual’s name and their testimony or comment will be read aloud into the record at the public hearing if received no later than 30 minutes prior to the start of the public hearing. Interested persons may also participate in the hearing to cross examine the applicant and its witnesses, present evidence, testimony or public comment by emailing Zoning @oak-park.us before 5:00 PM on the day prior to the public hearing to sign up. Individuals who sign up to participate in this manner will receive an email from Village staff with information about how to join the hearing online through Zoom web-conference means or by phone.

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

Published in Wednesday Journal October 13, 2021

The requisite affidavit for publication having been filed, notice is hereby given to you, the above named Respondent, that a Petition has been filed in the Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois, by the Petitioner, for Dissolution of Marriage and for other relief; and that said suit is now pending.

Now, therefore, unless you, the said Respondent, file your response to said Petition or otherwise make your appearance therein, in the Office of the Clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois, Room 802, Richard J. Daley Center, 50 West Washington Street, in the City of Chicago, Illinois, on or before November 12, 2021, default may be entered against you at any time after that day, and a judgment for Dissolution of Marriage entered in accordance with the prayer of said Petition.

DOROTHY A. BROWN, Clerk.

Published in Wednesday Journal October 13, 20, 27 2021

The court date will be held: On 12/27/2021 at 9am Via Zoom: Meeting ID: 965 2561 6475/ Password: 553663 at 50 W. Washington, Chicago, Cook County in Courtroom # 1704 Published in Wednesday Journal October 13, 20, 27 2021

LEGAL NOTICE STATE OF ILLINOIS) COUNTY OF COOK )ss Circuit Court of Cook County, County Department, Domestic Relations Division.

In re the marriage of MARIA GUADALUPE SOTO GUZMAN, Petitioner and MANUEL LEMA, Respondent, Case No. 2020 D 007780.

The Board invites letters of interest, with resumes, to fill the vacancy.

Resumes must be submitted no later than 3PM on Friday, October 29, 2021.

- In Person, during business hours M-Th 9 AM to 4 PM, or Friday 9 AM to 3 PM at the Township Office, in the Town Hall, 27 Riverside Road, Riverside, first door on the left.

- By Mail to Vera A. Wilt, Supervisor, Riverside Township, 27 Riverside Road, Riverside, IL 60546 - By Email to Supervisor@riversidetownship.org The Board will interview interested parties by appointment on Tuesday evening, November 2, at the Town Hall.

Published in RB Landmark October 13, 20, 2021

The requisite affidavit for publication having been filed, notice is hereby given to you, the above named Respondent, that a Petition has been filed in the Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois, by the Petitioner, for Dissolution of Marriage and for other relief; and that said suit is now pending.

Now, therefore, unless you, the said Respondent, file your response to said Petition or otherwise make your appearance therein, in the Office of the Clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois, Room 802, Richard J. Daley Center, 50 West Washington Street, in the City of Chicago, Illinois, on or before November 5, 2021, default may be entered against you at any time after that day, and a judgment for Dissolution of Marriage entered in accordance with the prayer of said Petition.

DOROTHY A. BROWN, Clerk.

Published in the Wednesday Journal October 6, 13, 20, 2021

LEGAL NOTICE The Village of Oak Park will receive sealed bids from qualified vendors at the Public Works Center, 201 South Boulevard, Oak Park, Illinois 60302 Monday through Friday, 7:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. local time until 9:00 a.m. on Thursday, October 28, 2021 for the following: Village of Oak Park 2022 Water & Sewer Repair Parts and Materials Bid Bid Number: 22-101 Bid documents may be obtained from the Village’s website at http://www.oak-park.us/bid.

For questions, please call Public Works at (708) 358-5700 during the above hours.

Published in Wednesday Journal October 13, 2021

Public Notice: Your right to know • In print • Online • Available to you 24/7/365 PublicNoticeIllinois.com

LEGAL NOTICE The Village of Oak Park will receive sealed proposals from qualified drinking water laboratories at the Public Works Center, 201 South Boulevard, Oak Park, Illinois 60302 Monday through Friday, 7:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. local time until 3:00 p.m. on Wednesday, October 27, 2021 for the following: Village of Oak Park Drinking Water Laboratory Services Project Number: 22-102 Proposal documents may be obtained from the Village’s website at http://www.oak-park.us/bid.

For questions, please call Public Works at (708) 358-5700 during the above hours.

Published in Wednesday Journal October 13, 2021

Notice is hereby given to all interested persons that a public hearing before the Planning and Zoning Commission of the Village of Riverside will be held on Wednesday, October 27, 2021 at 7:00 p.m., or as soon thereafter as the business of the Planning and Zoning Commission may permit, in the Riverside Township Hall Council Room 4, 27 Riverside Road, Riverside, Illinois, to consider an application for a variation from Section 10-7-4-Table 7 (Permitted Encroachments) of the Village of Riverside Zoning Ordinance to allow the construction of a (2) two story (3) three season room on an already existing deck.

Due to the ongoing public health emergency and consistent with the Governor’s most recent emergency declaration, various Executive Orders entered by the Governor, and the recent amendments made to the Open Meetings Act in Public Act 101-640, this meeting will be conducted electronically. Public comments are welcome on any topic when received by email or in writing by the Village Planner prior to 5:00 p.m. on the day of the meeting.

Emailed comments may be sent to Village Planner Francisco Jimenez at fjimenez@riverside.il.us. Written comments may be submitted to the attention of the clerk at 27 Riverside Road, Riverside, Illinois.

Public comments may also be made live during the meeting by persons participating via Zoom. For those wishing to view the meeting or make public comments via Zoom, a Zoom link will be made available via the Village’s website at https://www. riverside.il.us/165/Planning-Zoning-Commission no later than 4 p.m. on October 27, 2021. If you have questions regarding communication to the Commission during the meeting, please contact Village Planner Francisco Jimenez at 708-447-2700 ext. 326.

Application No.: PZ21-03 Petitioners: Perry & Nicole Montgomery Property commonly known as: 178 Maplewood Rd PIN: 15-35-202-052-0000 The variation is sought from the following Section of the Riverside Zoning Ordinance: Section 10-7-4-Table 7 (Permitted Encroachments) which states that no enclosed or unenclosed porches shall encroach into a side yard.

The Petitioners seek this variation to build a (2) story (3) season enclosed room with a roof deck on an existing deck in the rear of the property that encroaches into the side yard on the southeast portion of the property.

Copies of the variation application are available for inspection at the office of the Village Clerk, 27 Riverside Road, Riverside, Illinois 60546.

Copies may also be obtained by emailing the Village Planner Francisco Jimenez at fjimenez@riverside.il.us or by telephone at 708447-2700 ext. 326, or the Village Clerk at 708-447-2700 at any time prior to the meeting. The public hearings may be continued from time to time without further notice, except as otherwise required under the Illinois Open Meetings Act. Dated this 6 th day of October, 2021.

Jill Mateo, Chairperson Planning and Zoning Commission Published in Wednesday Journal October 13, 2021

32

Wednesday Journal, October 13, 2021

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Oak Park Bank is a branch of Hinsdale Bank & Trust Company, N.A. 1. General Bonus Information. These Total Access Checking and Statement Savings account bonus offers are valid for new accounts opened January 1, 2021 through December 31, 2021. These Total Access Checking and/or Statement Savings account bonus offers are not available to existing or closed checking and/or savings account customers of Wintrust Financial Corporation (‘WTFC’) and its subsidiaries or its active employees. Limit 1 bonus payment per customer, regardless of the number of accounts opened. If you qualify for this Total Access Checking and/or Statement Savings account bonus offer, you are ineligible to receive the same bonus offer or any other interest rate offer in the same product from any other WTFC location. 2. Free ATMs. There is no WTFC transaction charge at any ATM in the Allpoint, MoneyPass, or Sum surcharge-free networks. Other banks outside the network may impose ATM surcharges at their machines. Surcharge fees assessed by owner of other ATMs outside the network will be reimbursed. Reimbursement does not include the 1.10% International Service fee charged for certain foreign transactions conducted outside the continental United States. 3. Total Access Checking Account Bonus Information. If you qualify for any other WTFC savings offer it may be combined with this Total Access Checking account bonus offer. Your new account must be open, in the same product, and have a balance greater than zero to receive the bonus payment. Balance is determined as of the end of each Business Day as the funds currently in your account including deposits and withdrawals made in the Business Day. The $300.00 bonus payment is subject to IRS 1099-INT reporting and may be considered income for tax purposes for the tax year in which the bonus was paid. 4. Total Access Checking Account Bonus Qualifications. (i) Open a new Total Access Checking account, (ii) tell us you are aware of this Total Access Checking account bonus offer at account opening; (iii) have at least monthly occurring direct deposits totaling $500.00 or more each month made to your new account for 2 consecutive calendar months after the calendar month your new account was opened (‘Qualification Period’). For example, if you open your new account in January, you would need to have “Direct Deposits” made to your new account in February totaling $500 or more and in March totaling $500 or more; and (iv) enroll in online banking and activate e-statements within the Qualification Period. A direct deposit is defined as any payment made by a government agency, employer, or other third-party organization that is made via an electronic deposit. A direct deposit does not include teller/ ATM/mobile or remote deposits, wire transfers, online banking/telephone transfers between accounts at WTFC, external transfers from other accounts at other financial institutions or ATM/debit card transfers and deposits. After you have completed all the above bonus qualifications, we will deposit the bonus payment into your new account within 30 calendar days after the Qualification Period. BANKER INSTRUCTIONS: Enter offer code WFC00DMTA300 during account opening. 5. Statement Savings Account Bonus Information. If you qualify for this Statement Savings bonus offer, you are ineligible to receive this Statement Savings bonus offer or any other savings interest rate offer from any other WTFC location. If you qualify for any other WTFC checking offer it may be combined with this Statement Savings bonus offer. Your new account must be open, in the same product, and have a balance greater than zero to receive the bonus payment. Balance is determined as of the end of each Business Day as the funds currently in your account including deposits and withdrawals made in the Business Day. The $200.00 bonus payment is subject to IRS 1099-INT reporting and may be considered income for tax purposes for the tax year in which the bonus was paid. 6. New Money. New money is defined as money not held at any WTFC location. 7. Statement Savings Account Bonus Qualifications. (i) Open a new Statement Savings account; (ii) tell us you are aware of this Statement Savings account bonus offer at account opening; (iii) deposit $15,000.00 or more of new money, defined as money not held at any WTFC location; and (iv) maintain a minimum balance of at least $15,000.00 on the last business day of each of the 3 consecutive calendar months following the calendar month your new account is opened (‘Qualification Period’). After you have completed all of the above bonus qualifications, we will deposit the $200.00 bonus payment into your new account within 30 calendar days after the Qualification Period. We will use your balance in your new account as of the last business day of each of the 3 calendar months to determine if the minimum balance requirement was met. Fees may reduce earnings. A maintenance fee of $5.00 will be imposed every month if the daily balance on any day of the month falls below $200.00. Transaction limitations may apply. BANKER INSTRUCTIONS: Enter offer code WFC00DMSA200 during account opening. A listing of WTFC locations can be found here: wintrust.com/locations.

Property transfers p. B11

Homes October 13, 2021

Architect spotlight on Charles Kristen

Austrian immigrant designed more than 100 homes in Oak Park

By LACEY SIKORA

T

Contributing Reporter

he big names get a lot of attention in the near west suburbs: Frank Lloyd Wright, William Drummond, E.E. Roberts. Local architecture aficionados and amateurs alike are familiar with their designs, and the mother of all housewalks, Wright Plus, features their oeuvre every year.

Less well-known, but widely prolific, Charles Kristen is another architect who left a mark on the village that is quite substantial.

Kristen was born in Austria in 1890 and came to the United States as a teenager. He studied at the Ohio Mechanical Institute, now part of the University of Cincinnati.

In his twenties, he moved to Chicago, where he worked as an architectural draftsman for the firm Marshall & Fox.

ALEX ROGALS/Staff Photographer

CHARLES KRISTEN

In 1927, developer Joseph Wassell hired architect Charles Kristen to design the 20 homes he was planning to building on the east side of Fair Oaks Avenue between Greenfield Street and North Avenue. Above are photos taken last week of two homes pictured in a Chicago Tribune illustration of the planned development (the two on the right) from 1927.

PROQUEST HISTORICAL NEWSPAPERS: CHICAGO TRIBUNE

Frank Lipo, executive director of the Oak Park River Forest Historical Society says Marshall & Fox were one of the preeminent firms in the city. They designed hotels such as the Drake and Blackstone and buildings such as the South Shore Country Club, now the South Shore Cultural Center.

While many architects were not formally trained at this time, Lipo said that Kristen was the real deal. He had education, training and was a member of architectural associations. Lipo calls him “a serious architect.”

Marshall & Fox closed in 1926 when Fox died. Shortly thereafter, Kristen took on See KRISTEN on page B4

October 13, 2021 ■ Wednesday Journal/Forest Park Review

B1

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CONGRATULATIONS TO...

CATHERINE SIMON-VOBORNIK On her second year as the Oak Park Area Association of Realtors President and being named the 2021 OPAAR REALTOR® of the Year

On being named the 2021 Walter R. James Memorial Distinguished Member for Community Service, for her longtime work with many local organizations

SWATI SAXENA

ED BELLOCK

On completing her second two year term as a Director of the Oak Park Area Association of Realtors

Baird & Warner Oak Park | River Forest 1037 Chicago Ave. Oak Park, IL 60302 708.697.5900 | oakpark.bairdwarner.com

#1 OFFICE IN OAK PARK IN 2021

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B2 View more at OakPark.com/Real-Estate ■ October 13, 2021

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On being installed as a Director of the Oak Park Area Association of Realtors

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901 N Oak Park Ave Oak Park | $750,000 Keller Group Chicago

944 N Euclid Ave Oak Park | $740,000 Lois Bonaccorsi

509 Fair Oaks Ave Oak Park | $699,900 Anne Ferri | Kim Wojack

310 N Cuyler Ave Oak Park | $679,900 Patricia McGowan

428 S Grove Ave Oak Park | $599,000 Hannah Gillespie

426 & 428 Hannah Ave Forest Park | $549,000 Liz O’Connell

830 N Euclid Ave Oak Park | $549,000 Jack Lane

1405 N La Grange Rd La Grange Park | $525,000 Kevin Kirby

1310 Marengo Ave Forest Park | $475,000 Heidi Rogers

1524 Highland Ave Berwyn | $419,000 The Dita Group

320 S Maple Ave Unit D Oak Park | $389,000 Liz O’Connell

130 Frank Lloyd Wright Ln Oak Park | $344,000 Bobbi Eastman

3435 Home Ave Berwyn | $340,000 James Salazar

1022 Troost Ave Forest Park | $285,000 Carla Taylor

1313 Clinton Ave Berwyn | $239,000 The Dita Group

204 N Kenilworth Ave 1N Oak Park | $190,000 Catherine Simon-Vobornik

844 Harvard St Unit 3 Oak Park | $170,000 Bobbi Eastman

1136 Ontario St Unit 1D Oak Park | $169,900 Swati Saxena

7234 W North Ave 1804 Elmwood Park | $163,000 Linton Murphy

1544 Ashland Ave Unit 1 River Forest | $162,000 Donna Marcuccilli

Baird & Warner Oak Park/River Forest | 1037 Chicago Ave. Oak Park, IL 60302 | 708.697.5900 | oakpark.bairdwarner.com Source: BrokerMetrics® LLC, 1/1/2019 - 12/ 31/2019Detached and Attached only. Chicagoland PMSA

October 13, 2021 ■ Wednesday Journal/Forest Park Review

B3

KRISTEN

When the Great Depression hit, Kristen turned his hand to writing and penned newspaper stories on how to update the traditional home. During this era, he wrote about small remodeling jobs and exterior makeovers, from page B1 which could change the character of a home.

Lipo said that this ability to pivot when there more of a leading role in his next endeavor. was no longer a market for expensive homes An October 1927 Oak Leaves article, titled shows Kristen’s motivated character. “$500,000 Home Development,” detailed the Kristen covered how thoughtful updates 20 homes planned by developer Joseph Was- could improve a home inexpensively. One sell and designed by architect Kristen. The article used his own home’s small entryway homes were planned for the east side of Fair an example of a space that could be updated Oaks Avenue in Oak Park, between Green- with lighting and art glass. Some of his stofield Street and North Avenue. ries were illustrated with drawings showing A Chicago Tribune article on the develop- before and after makeovers. One article was ment notes that just four years earlier, the site illustrated with renderings showing a River was a “howling wilderness.” The Forest farmhouse with a wraparticle noted that an interesting around porch transformed into a feature of the development was Tudor Revival style home. that each home would be a differHe also suggested that rejuveent design. nating one’s home could give jobKristen’s designs included Engless carpenters some work. lish, Tudor, Colonial and Norman By the late 1930s, he was back style homes. Lipo notes that these designing new homes and was the designs were typically modified architect for larger homes such as with the word “revival.”

1205 Ashland Ave. and 1323 Jack“In every era, people want son Ave. in River Forest, which he something modern,” Lipo said. designed for the Buurma Broth“In this era, there was a lot of talk ers, who were building the home FRANK LIPO about revival styles which implefor H.G. Fisher.

Executive director mented design elements of the In 1940, he designed 214 S. Euof the Oak Park River Forest past with different technological clid Ave. in Oak Park in the Art Historical Society advancements.”

Moderne style. The home reKristen, who with his wife and mains one of the few local homes two daughters lived in a bunin this style. galow at 701 N. Lombard Ave., “Kristen came out of the highdesigned over 100 homes in Oak end world of Marshall & Fox, Park, with numerous homes north of Divi- adapted to the Depression by moving into sion Street and south of North Avenue on Eu- remodeling and writing, and then moved clid, Kenilworth and Linden avenues. back to high end homes,” Lipo said. “With His design at 408 S. Austin Blvd., the Poley the house on Euclid, he’s still trying out new Building, was billed in the press as a “sump- ideas.”

Kristen died in Oak Park in 1948, and his tuous” apartment building in 1929. He also designed numerous homes in Galewood, Lin- obituary was published in the New York Times. His wife Margreta lived in their colnwood Sauganash and Park Ridge.

Prolific architect

“The cumulative sum of all of these houses is greater than just one design.”

ALEX ROGALS/Staff Photographer

The building at 408-410 S. Austin Blvd. (The Poley Building) home until her death in 1971.

Former Oak Park Historic Preservation Commission Chairman Christopher Payne shared photos of Kristen’s work on the Preservation Oak Park Facebook page and says Kristen wasn’t known for one specific style, but that his ability to work in many styles produced a lot of homes worthy of esteem.

PROQUEST HISTORICAL NEWSPAPERS: CHICAGO TRIBUNE

“This is one of those stories that’s not told enough,” Lipo said. “It’s so easy to focus on the big, celebrated architects, but every generation, there’s a lot of individually talented architects here. The cumulative sum of all of these houses is greater than just one design. … Even without superstar status, the whole body of work makes it interesting.”

GOOGLE MAPS

Charles Kristen also designed many apartment buildings, including the one that stands on the northeast corner of Washington Boulevard and Maple Avenue (above right).

The Chicago Tribune reported on its impending construction and published a rendering (above left) of the development in a 1928 article.

B4 View more at OakPark.com/Real-Estate ■ October 13, 2021

830 N Kenilworth Ave, Oak Park 4 BR, 2.1 BA Stunning Oak Park home that was thoughtfully expanded with the highest level of craftmanship in the Frank Lloyd Wright Historic District. 50 x 168 lot. ................................................... $798,000 Laurie Shapiro | 708-203-3614 Laurie.shapiro@cbrealty.com

Just Listed!

147 N. Euclid Ave, Unit 501, Oak Park 3 BR, 2.1 BA plus den Rarely available top floor with private roof top deck! This artful urban residence has high-end finishes, custom lighting and amazing views. 2 garage spots included $875,000 Lisa Andreoli and Meredith Conn 708-557-9546 or 708-743-6973 teamgo2girls@gmail.com

Price Change!

225 S. Scoville Ave, Oak Park 5 BR, 2.1 BA Magnificent E.E. Roberts with exquisite leaded glass windows, spacious open rooms, a current kitchen/family room addition, and a master suite. Plus! a 3-car garage, and a center of town location ................................................... $895,500 Stephanie Eiger | 708-557-0779 Stephanie.eiger@cbexchange.com

Under Contract while on the PLN! 101 Bishop Quarter Lane, Oak Park Love working with both buyers and sellers.

Call me today and let me help you too!

424 Pleasant St, Oak Park 6 BR, 3.1 BA Hidden Gem! Amazing layout, corner lot and lots of space!...................... $689,000

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

Michelle Miller | 708-334-5833 michelle.miller@cbexchange.com

Just Listed!

7428 Washington St, #501, Forest Park 2 BR, 1 BA Freshly painted and updated condo ideally located near Madison St and Blue Line.

Features include hardwood floors, SS appliances, in-unit laundry, and parking! ................................................... $140,000

Just Sold!

128 N. Lombard Ave, Oak Park Under contract in less than a week for overasking price! I can do the same for you!

Contact me to discuss how to prepare your home and price it right for a quick sale at the highest possible price.

Just Listed!

1200 Columbian Ave, Oak Park 3+ BR, 3.1 BA

Shea Kiessling | 708-710-5952 shea@cbexchange.com

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

Gorgeous brick home offers bright and beautiful open rooms and unforgettable architectural style. Primary suite, full finished basement, fenced in yard.

Move-in ready!

Lisa Grimes I 708-205-9518 lisa.grimes@cbrealty.com

Over 25 years experience. A multimillion dollar producer.

Under Contract!

803 S. Cuyler Ave, Oak Park 5 BR, 2 BA Represented Buyer. Call me for a smooth home buying experience!

Patty Melgar Hooks | 708-261-2796 patty.melgarhooks@cbexchange.com

Just Sold!

1123 N. Ridgeland Ave, Oak Park Clients were thrilled that their great Oak Park brick ranch sold within days!

Call me to see how I can help you with your real estate needs too.

Under Contract!

1201 N. Harvey Ave, Oak Park This big beautiful 4BR/2.1 BA in ideal NE Oak Park location has new homeowners on the way. ..................................... $525,000 More listings coming soon!

Sara Faust | 708-772-7910 sara.faust@cbexchange.com

Sara Faust | 708-772-7910 sara.faust@cbexchange.com

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

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

October 13, 2021 ■ Wednesday Journal/Forest Park Review

B5

HOT NEW PRICE!

OAK PARK

2 BR, 1 BA .....................................$228,900 Greer Haseman or Chris Curran 708-606-8896 or 708-366-0400

OAK PARK

OAK PARK Charming Two-Story with great front porch!

3 BR, 1.1 BA .................................................................................................................. $299,900 Gabe Caporale • 708-473-7334

FIRST FLOOR UNIT!

OAK PARK

3 BR, 2 BA .....................................$294,000

Amazing 3-story + roof deck townhome with pristine hardwood floors, modern comforts, and open concept.

3 BR, 2.1 BA .................................................................................................................. $378,000 Steve Scheuring • 708-369-8043

Linda Rooney • 773-297-3473

OAK PARK

3 BR, 2 BA .....................................$395,000 Joelle Venzera • 708-297-1879

OAK PARK

OAK PARK

Beautiful 2-level duplexed condo in the heart of downtown Oak Park!

Loads of sunlight and modern updates.

Classic American 4-Square with tons of potential, loads of bright windows and vintage details.

3 BR, 2.1 BA .................................................................................................................. $312,000 Steve Scheuring • 708-369-8043

OAK PARK

3 BR, 2 BA .....................................$479,000

3 BR, 1.1 BA .................................................................................................................. $250,000 Steve Scheuring • 708-369-8043

A.J. Chandler • 708-705-8700

Want to see your listings in Distinctive Properties?

Contact Marc Stopeck at 708.613.3330 or marc@oakpark.com B6 View more at OakPark.com/Real-Estate ■ October 13, 2021

OAK PARK

3 BR, 3.1 BA ..................................$559,000 Greer Haseman or Chris Curran 708-606-8896 or 708-366-0400

OAK PARK

3 BR, 2 BA .....................................$595,000 Joelle Venzera • 708-297-1879

OAK PARK

6 BR, 4.1 BA ...............................$1,179,000 Kathy & Tony Iwersen • 708-772-8040

OAK PARK Bright and beautiful open concept townhome is in the heart of downtown Oak Park!

3 BR, 3.1 BA .................................................................................................................. $540,000 Steve Scheuring • 708-369-8043

OAK PARK

3 BR, 2.2 BA ..................................$639,000 Greer Haseman or Chris Curran 708-606-8896 or 708-366-0400

NEW PRICE!

RIVER FOREST

4 BR, 2.1 BA ..................................$834,000 Kathy & Tony Iwersen • 708-772-8040

RIVER FOREST

6 BR, 5.1 BA ...............................$1,475,000 Shea Kiessling • 708-710-5952

House Hunting?

Find a Realtor.

Find a home.

Get a list of Open Houses.

OAK PARK

Every week, every day in

OAK PARK

Pristine oak floors, gorgeous custom corner banding and modern conveniences grace this space.

Magnificent E.E. Roberts with exquisite leaded glass windows and spacious open rooms.

3 BR, 2.1 BA .................................................................................................................. $580,000

5 BR, 2.1 BA .................................................................................................................. $898,500

Steve Scheuring • 708-369-8043

Stephanie Eiger • 708-557-0779

Want to see your listings in Distinctive Properties?

Contact Marc Stopeck at 708.613.3330 or marc@oakpark.com October 13, 2021 ■ Wednesday Journal/Forest Park Review

B7

830 ASHLAND AVENUE, RIVER FOREST

830ASHLAND.INFO

1101 N ELMWOOD AVENUE, OAK PARK

1101NELMWOODAVENUE.INFO

Beautiful River Forest Estate features a wonderfully detailed stone and brick

Incredible, updated center-entrance home. Amazing yard, blue stone paved

exterior leading to a timeless Interior.

patio, sprinkler system and new fence.

$1,399,000

AUGUST/PARKS

•

DAN HALPERIN

•

$1,995,000

708.848.0200

•

danhalperin@atproperties.com

•

708.432.0200

elizabethaugust@atproperties.com

1011 SOUTH BOULEVARD

936 CHICAGO AVENUE, OAK PARK

936CHICAGOAV.INFO

413 DIVISION STREET, OAK PARK

413DIVISION.INFO

New color palate (2021) inside and out enhances this 3-story Farmhouse

Handsome and spacious 1938 white brick New England Georgian with

Victorian in the heart of Oak Park.

newer Pella windows throughout. Close to CTA and METRA.

HASEMAN/CURRAN

•

$729,000

708.606.8896

•

greer.gps@atproperties.com

CINDY RISCH

•

312.545.5415

•

$799,900

cindyrisch@atproperties.com

Stop looking, start finding® atproperties.com

B8 View more at OakPark.com/Real-Estate ■ October 13, 2021

Saturday, October 16 • Sunday, October 17

CONDOS SINGLE FAMILY HOMES

ADDRESS

1544 Ashland Ave, Unit 1, River Forest . . .

130 Frank Lloyd Wright Lane, Oak Park . .

844 Harvard St, #3, Oak Park . . . . . . . . . . .

3001 N Oriole Ave, Unit 102, Chicago. . . . .

830 N Euclid Ave, Oak Park . . . . . . . . . . . . .

944 N. Euclid Ave, Oak Park . . . . . . . . . . . .

310 N Cuyler Ave, Oak Park . . . . . . . . . . . . .

5305 N Austin Ave, Chicago . . . . . . . . . . . .

5305 N Austin Blvd, Chicago . . . . . . . . . . . .

1108 S Lombard Ave, Oak Park . . . . . . . . . .

1108 S Lombard Ave, Oak Park . . . . . . . . . .

ADDRESS

OFFICE

LISTING PRICE

TIME

OFFICE

LISTING PRICE

TIME

Baird & Warner. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $162,000 Baird & Warner. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$344,000 Baird & Warner. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $170,000 Baird & Warner. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$230,000

Baird & Warner. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $549,000 Baird & Warner. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$740,000 Baird & Warner. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$679,900 Baird & Warner. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$350,000 Baird & Warner. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$350,000 BHHS Chicago. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$325,000 BHHS Chicago. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$325,000

. . . . . . . . . . . . . Open Sun 12-2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . Open Sun 12-2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . Open Sat 12-2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . Open Sun 12-2

Growing Community.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . Open Sun 12-2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Open Sun 1-3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Open Sun 1-3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Open Sat 10-1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . Open Sun 12-2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Open Sat 1-3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Open Sat 1-3

This Directory brought to you by mrgloans.com

Providing financing for homes in Oak Park and surrounding communities since 1989.

Conventional, FHA, and Jumbo mortgages Free Pre-approvals

6821 W. North Avenue Suite 201 Oak Park, IL 708.452.5151

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October 13, 2021 ■ Wednesday Journal/Forest Park Review

B9

P R O P E R T Y

T R A N S F E R S

Oak Park home sells for $1,040,000

The following property transfers were reported by the Cook County Recorder of Deeds for the month of June 2021. Where addresses appear incomplete, for instance where a unit number appears missing, that information was not provided by the recorder of deeds.

OAK PARK ADDRESS

PRICE

SELLER

BUYER

235 Wesley Ave 721 Columbian Ave 939 N Elmwood Ave 850 N Elmwood Ave 1101 N East Ave 458 Berkshire St 633 Garfield St 420 Home Ave 850 Washington Blvd 407 Wesley Ave 414 S Elmwood Ave 42 Washington Blvd 1033 Ontario St 208 N Kenilworth Ave 1025 Randolph St 1437 N Harlem Ave 934 Washington Blvd 1033 Ontario St 410 S Austin Blvd 720 Washington Blvd 1138 Home Ave 332 Wesley Ave 726 S Lombard Ave 216 S Maple Ave 830 N Austin Blvd 300 N Oak Park Ave 216 S Maple Ave 1170 S Humphrey Ave 936 Clarence Ave 923 S Taylor Ave 1016 S Maple Ave 1006 Home Ave 927 S Humphrey Ave 221 N Kenilworth Ave 629 S Lyman Ave 615 S Euclid Ave 1021 S Humphrey Ave 127 S Scoville Ave 105 N Kenilworth Ave 627 Jackson Blvd 204 S Elmwood Ave 1118 S Lombard Ave 831 Linden Ave 26 S Austin Blvd 1109 Wenonah Ave 1132 S East Ave

$1,040,000 $1,070,000 $1,105,000 $1,110,000 $1,190,000 $1,399,000 $104,000 $112,000 $120,000 $133,000 $141,500 $145,000 $152,500 $160,000 $175,000 $185,000 $188,000 $190,000 $199,000 $2,675,000 $225,000 $235,000 $260,000 $265,000 $300,000 $305,000 $308,000 $321,000 $326,000 $336,000 $340,000 $349,000 $351,500 $351,500 $353,000 $353,000 $375,000 $375,000 $385,000 $390,000 $398,000 $399,000 $400,000 $400,000 $405,000 $410,000

Chicago Title Land Trust Co Tr 3801 Accrete Inc Clarke David G Tr Jr Donoghue Laura L Leibig Lee Cogan Jeffrey Amaro Ivonne Moreno Claudia Schlegel Matthew J Clayton Marcia J Tr Garcia Ricardo J Ramirez Miguel A Rohlfing Ruth Tr Heisler Adam B Steele Donna Quane Abigail Berning Annette M Boulet Ruth Findlay Jeanne 720 Washington Llc Fischer Paul F Neu Victor G Tr Hadac Arline Tr S&J Kolar Llc Loisi Daniel Ramirez Katherine Kiefer Maul Peter L Rei Co 10 Llc Talianko Rosemary L Trice Kareem Pych David L 1st Midwest Fin Inc Moss Don Krysan Carole A Tr Gentile Michael D Tr Shanahan Marie H Watts David Mccammond Matas Marion Hua Po Chausse Laurence A Nelson Ellen Extr Gerace Jason Chicago Title Land Trust Co Tr 2528 Kennedy Jerry Allen Casser Noah C Foytik Ronald J Tr

Frisbie Megan Diehl Seth Welch Kevin Tr Glover Robin Odunsi Ayotunde Crilly Amy M Tr Rivera Altagracia Novikas Nijole Sanghera Jasmeet Barney Madeline Pleasant Aisha Kia Chawnelle Galvez Teresa Battaglia Susan L Ibanez Ariana Kaperick Cynthia Gawne Luke Solorzano Christian Samuelson Charles R Gray Amber L Nautilus Investments Llc Second City Eaurty Llc De Ley Balthazar All In 800 Llc Moutinho Shannon Di Pirro Kelsey Ettedgui Jose Mccammond-Watts David M Whitehurst Richard Ditola Jospeh Hanrahan Margaret Melesio Victor Jr Tka Chicago 1 Rlty Llc Obrien Maggie Deuchler Douglas Ettedgui Laura Senn Matthew Stern Wendy Br Tr Rutherford Tarryn L Ennis Jacob Stromberg Meghan E Kerrins Martin P Tr Bitner Kendra Marie Kemp Eric Sherman Daniel Stine Matthew Vanek Allison Brown

B10 View more at OakPark.com/Real-Estate ■ October 13, 2021

235 Wesley Ave., Oak Park

OAK PARK ADDRESS

PRICE

SELLER

BUYER

709 S Euclid Ave 949 Columbian Ave 1172 Clarence Ave 704 S Highland Ave 1131 S Lombard Ave 925 Wenonah Ave 826 N Ridgeland Ave 928 S Kenilworth Ave 925 S Taylor Ave 540 N Cuyler Ave 1035 Mapleton Ave 434 S Kenilworth Ave 836 N Cuyler Ave 1101 N Humphrey Ave 600 S Harvey Ave 1000 N Humphrey Ave 612 N Harvey Ave 517 S Scoville Ave 424 S Harvey Ave 605 Belleforte Ave 625 S Lombard Ave 235 S Marion St 1045 Hayes Ave 829 Home Ave 1107 Woodbine Ave 1204 Rossell Ave 949 N Lombard Ave 700 N Harvey Ave

$410,000 $420,000 $427,500 $427,500 $428,000 $429,000 $430,000 $433,000 $440,000 $440,000 $440,000 $443,000 $450,000 $460,000 $462,000 $475,000 $485,000 $486,500 $500,000 $500,000 $507,000 $531,000 $537,000 $540,000 $555,000 $565,000 $575,000 $591,000

Trower Jeffrey Storto Richard L Tr Fronza James M Paulett John M Tr Meza Lou Espinosa Gustavo Tr Engebretson Craig Done Done And Done Inc Rodriguez Gary Tr Snyder Dustin Ginsberg Deborah I Tr Santoyo Yazil I Aceron Dennis Lesniak John R Anderson Matthew Downey Paul Hay George W Downing Tracy A Tummalapalli Tarun Kumar Conry Peter Reynolds Andrew J Graham Meredith Alencar Bruno Viollt Kevin D Kowalski Anna L Tr Boone Lisa L Shanley Patrick K Perez Javier

Boone Lisa L Bostwick David E Deurance Graham Kogel Daniel Eichhorst Courtney L Varner Brian Hindelang Anna Shelly Benjamin M Gerig Salerno Suzanne M Beresheim Amy Catherine Jackson Kendra C Shaye Jacqueline C Villasin Rene Fougere Bruce Joseph Joassin Jean-Marie Rayford Nicholas M Wagner Jeffrey S Reed Joshua C Lashmet Kara Patdy James Joseph Neville Robert Myerson Daniel Weber Ojo Oluwatobi P Carr Charles Cleaveland William Padish Jonathan Price Allison Meredith Hall Terrance

See PROPPERTY TRANSFERS on page B12

P R O P E R T Y

T R A N S F E R S

OAK PARK ADDRESS

PRICE

SELLER

BUYER

409 Division St 512 Carpenter Ave 1007 Home Ave 1137 Wisconsin Ave 540 Gunderson Ave 1020 N Oak Park Ave 230 S Cuyler Ave 824 N Austin Blvd 910 N Grove Ave 219 S Grove Ave 1009 N East Ave 913 South Blvd 232 S Kenilworth Ave 202 S Harvey Ave 629 S Highland Ave 644 N Oak Park Ave 948 N Oak Park Ave 1115 Paulina St 1339 N Harlem Ave 1013 Belleforte Ave 1045 Wesley Ave 1000 N East Ave 129 S Elmwood Ave 724 Linden Ave

$605,000 $622,500 $632,000 $660,000 $675,000 $685,000 $685,000 $69,000 $690,000 $694,000 $713,000 $722,500 $730,000 $735,000 $742,500 $745,000 $799,000 $799,000 $84,000 $846,000 $850,000 $860,000 $950,000 $980,000

Theodore Jane L Gay Vincent Bauer Matthew J Hovde Matthew Kropitzer Craig S Lewis Lisa M Campos Maria Galvez Arlene Nio Joseph V Prudence Geoffrey H Welch Kevin Tr Papciak Michael Scheck Edward A Kennedy Colleen A Hunt Bryan Barrett John A Trook Jason Eleven Paulina Dev Llc Danese Magda Ramesey Paula Reiter Richard R Brown Timothy F Ho Meghan R Jordahl Eric A Tr

Davis Drew Semenyuk Roman Meil Kevin Ratzabi Hila Rubin-Wills Daniel Zurilla Stephen J Lazary Zachary A1 Corp Rogers Jason A Williams Michael N Martin Bryce Bishop Levant M Casale Mia Oconor Rachel Marie Hoops Mehmet Peters Timothy Michael Winkler Stephen J Shultz James R Taboada Agustin Hines Eric Kumi Camile Lindsay Porfilio Dale Steven Brokaw Stephen Jorgensent Rina

FOREST PARK ADDRESS

PRICE

SELLER

BUYER

115 Marengo Ave 115 Marengo Ave 300 Circle Ave 7248 Dixon St 7429 Warren St 234 Elgin Ave 1224 Elgin Ave 230 Elgin Ave 7531 Brown Ave 7226 Elgin Ave 1039 Ferdinand Ave 7429 Warren St 7242 Roosevelt Rd 1026 Ferdinand Ave 1511 Marengo Ave 7521 Brown Ave 632 Elgin Ave 1037 Elgin Ave 830 Lathrop Ave 617 Circle Ave 908 Thomas Ave 534 Elgin Ave 1318 Elgin Ave 919 Marengo Ave 447 Circle Ave 850 Des Plaines Ave

$108,000 $110,000 $112,500 $155,000 $214,000 $235,000 $267,000 $275,000 $280,000 $285,000 $289,000 $298,500 $320,000 $325,000 $330,000 $343,000 $362,500 $365,000 $375,000 $382,500 $430,000 $440,000 $475,000 $489,000 $525,000 Unknown

Pigoni Nancy J Tr Chicago Title Land Trust Co Tr 118492 Fesi Michelle L Pitts Patricia B Scharama Helen R Tr Kubat Gregory 1st Midwest Fin Inc Enright Danny Tr Forester Mary Tr Mathews Mary C Knoell David M Sciaccotta Raymond J 7242 Roosevelt Llc Ashcraft Miciiael N Tr Arcturus Cap Mgmt Llc Maxted Erin E Depriest Andrew Otoole Thomas Andrew Sweeney Matthew Levrant Jeffrey Petersen Todd Bagri Shelley Tr Campbell Timothy Shelton Matthew A Best Andrew Judge Of The Circ Crt Of Cook County

Echegaray Josue Martin Stephanie Fowich Justin R Overall Bria N Sciaccotta Raymond J Washington Erika Koby Reil Llc - F3 Series Petersen Jessica R Sullivan Cara E Belk Ryan C Pramuk Jordan Carlson Keith A Oil Roosevelt Llc Polito Guy Matthew Germany Tamera Patnott Hallothon Arthur Riven Hunt Phillip D Gore Vicky Engonopoulos Nora K Spencer Cameron Dorsey Kita Watkins Cameron Campbell Carol Verticchio John Wehrs Jonathan S State Bk Of Texas

See PROPERTY TRANSFERS on page B12

Special - First Class only $10!

YogaSix Oak Park 1006 Lake St. Oak Park, IL (708) 328-3780

Congratulations to YogaSix Oak Park on their opening!

Get membership & class details at: yogasix.com/location/oak-park Celebrants: Monica Campbell, Denice Jordan, Abigail Gaward, Katherine Knoepke, Eartha Campbell, & Charlotte Bandele, YogaSix; Sam Yousif & Min Acharya, Fuller Health Group; Liz Holt & Mark Walden, OPRF Chamber; Carla Taylor, Baird & Warner; Lisa Soto, Oak Park Bank; Brian Durbina, OPRF High School; Jimmy Chen, Poke Burrito; Jason Rosado, Distinctive Coaching; Fionna Bezaire, OPRF High School Booster Club; Eric Mazelis, OPEDC; Darien Marion Burton, D.M. Burton; Michael Glab & Mia Tornatore, Nutriquity; Kelsang Chogo, Kadampa Meditation Center; Lita Selmon, EINNIM; Teri Miller, Beyond Hunger; Cam Davis, Village of Oak Park. Photos: Todd Bannor, Bannor & Bannor

October 13, 2021 ■ Wednesday Journal/Forest Park Review

B11

P R O P E R T Y

T R A N S F E R S

Continued from page B11

NEW PRICE

946 JACKSON, RIVER FOREST :: $834,000 :: 4 BED, 2.5 BATH Buurma-built home. Great location.

NEW PRICE

UNDER CONTRACT

139 S GROVE, OAK PARK

646 N GROVE, OAK PARK

$1,179,000 :: 6 BED :: 4.5 BATH

$349,000 :: 2 BED :: 2 BATH

Majestic Victorian in central Oak Park Historic District.

Bungalow in great location.

KATHY & TONY IWERSEN 708.772.8040 708.772.8041 tonyiwersen@atproperties.com

“Unfamiliar enough to be surprising, and yet familiar enough to provoke swinging hips and nodding heads… It’s

the best of both worlds.”

—Paste Magazine

10.17.21 RANKY

TANKY

“Ranky Tanky” translates loosely as “Work it!” or “Get funky!” In this spirit, the South Carolina-based quintet brings to life the soulful songs of the Gullah culture – a bone-deep mix of spirituals and gutbucket blues that mark the low country mainland and Sea Islands.

SUNDAY, October 17, 2021 | 7:30 p.m.

Tickets starting at $27 BOX OFFICE (708) 488-5000 • FREE PARKING 7900 West Division Street • River Forest, IL 60305

B12 View more at OakPark.com/Real-Estate ■ October 13, 2021

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1046 Franklin Ave., River Forest

RIVER FOREST ADDRESS

PRICE

SELLER

BUYER

1023 Ashland Ave 1127 Ashland Ave 922 Lathrop Ave 1447 Bonnie Brae Pl 1046 Franklin Ave 1112 N Harlem Ave 406 Franklin Ave 1535 Monroe Ave 8009 Lake St 7348 Lake St 7348 Lake St 407 Franklin Ave 435 Williams St 415 Franklin Ave 415 Franklin Ave 14 Lathrop Ave 547 William St 29 Thatcher Ave 1135 Thatcher Ave 1522 Park Ave 1514 Bonnie Brae Pl 1323 Ashland Ave 7205 Iowa St 719 Bonnie Brae Pl 554 Park Ave 7200 Oak Ave 47 Gale Ave 750 William St 1519 Park Ave 1415 Jackson Ave 130 Gale Ave 935 Bonnie Brae Pl

$1,150,000 $1,175,000 $1,375,000 $1,450,000 $1,730,000 $105,000 $115,000 $145,000 $150,000 $170,000 $215,000 $245,000 $250,000 $260,000 $270,000 $410,000 $500,000 $530,000 $585,000 $600,000 $602,000 $609,000 $648,000 $650,000 $705,000 $72,500 $723,000 $725,000 $725,500 $775,000 $785,000 $855,000

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