Employees sound alarms after midwives and family medicine doctors are told they can no longer deliver babies at the hospital
By JESSICA MORDACQ Staff Reporter
Medical professionals at West Suburban Medical Center continue to decry worsening patient safety at the hospital after midwives and family medicine doctors were told Nov. 18 that they would no longer have birthing privile ges at the hospital. They said they were told that the move is because of
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$32,000
In just the last week, our reporters have been hard at work on stories with deep meaning and impact on these communities we call home. Three stand out.
Reporting for Austin Weekly News and Wednesday Journal, Jessica Mordacq has continued her in-depth coverage of the challenges of new ownership at West Suburban Medical Center. This critical safety net institution needs the attention of an independent local newsroom and we are there to provide it.
Wednesday Journal has been focused on our coverage of the remembrance of Det. Allan Reddins, the Oak Park officer who died in the line of duty on the day after Thanksgiving. From breaking news to coverage of his wake and funeral, the Journal has been present. Reporters Luzane Draughon, Greg Voss and photographers Sam Tucker and Todd Bannor have reported for us – and for you.
Trent Brown, our Riverside-Brookfield Landmark reporter, unpacked the data on how residents voted in the November presidential election. What was the same as recent national elections and what shifted a bit? While the percentages of support for the Democratic and Republican candidates remained quite steady overall votes cast dropped notably from four years ago.
This important work our hard-working nonprofit newsroom creates is what community-focused and community-supported local journalism is about.
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Now we are looking at the next 14 days. The final 14 days before our end-of-year fund drive closes on Dec. 31.
And we have a final goal, a final ask of our readers who understand that local news, based in facts, crafted by actual reporters working in our communities and always provided without a paywall, will only continue with your support.
To set us up for 2025, a full year of local news, we need to raise $32,000 directly from readers by New Year’s Eve. That’s a lot of money. But there are a lot of GCM readers spread out from Riverside to Oak Park to the West Side.
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By LUZANE DRAUGHON Staff Reporter
The Oak Park Area Lesbian & Gay Association +, or OPALGA+, might change its name in 2025 to help meet the needs of a diverse community and ensure everyone feels welcome and included.
The proposed name, “Out with Purpose,” is contingent on a vote from members of the organization in January 2025. Anyone looking to join can do so online, and those who renew membership for 2025 will be able to vote.
“[We’ re] just making sure that everybody who wants to be feels welcome and included and does not feel as though, maybe, there is any sort of barrier to that,” said Cas Scaman, co-chair of the OPALGA+ board of directors. “We have heard from some people that … the name especially is something that might be a barrier to them where they don’ t feel explicitly welcomed.”
OPALGA+ is one of the largest LGBTQ+ membership organizations in Illinois, according to its website. T he org anization’s mission is “To promote full equality for and positive attitudes toward the LGBTQ+ community. To provide a positive community f amily for our members through social activities, civic engagement, and community activism.”
included in the current name or feel uncomfortable being part of the organization under that name.
“[In 2019], there still was not much done within the organization to continue outreach to people who are not part of the binary lesbian and gay communities,” Scaman said. “There was a lot of work that needed to be done.”
So, the current board began to consider a change.
According to OPALGA+, the organization’s mission is clear, but perceptions of it may have changed. Potential members and current members alike have said the organization could do more to promote inclusivity and better position it to grow.
idea of having a “driving purpose.”
That purpose ties to the scholarship progr am, she said, where the organization provides financial support for LBGTQ+ students and allies in colle ge or other programs.
Scaman said they also tried to stay away from words or phrases that might be overused, because the organization wants a long-lasting name that won’t soon need to be changed again.
Most focus group members understood a name change is in the organization’s best interest, Scaman said, but there was some pushback within the organization. Overall, feedback has been more positive than ne gative, she said.
In 2024, the OPALGA+ b oard decide d to wo rk with a marketing firm, Famous Vi c tor y, to c onduct c ommunity sur ve ys and analyze the cu rrent name and brand . T he b oard then started a task forc e, with three member s, including Scaman, to review results.
Members and non-members alike can attend OPALGA+ events, including potlucks, group outings, volunteer opportunities, advocacy at rallies and marching in parades.
T he organization was originally established in 1989 and was named the Oak Park Lesbian and Gay Association at the time. T he name was chosen then to highlight both men and women, according to OPALGA+.
In 1995, “Area” was added to the name due to the organization growing beyond Oak Park. And in 2019, a plus sign was added to include a variety of identities.
But Scaman, daughter of Village President Vicki Scaman, said some community members have expressed they don’t feel
Only about 40% of survey respondents said they felt “completely re presented” by a “Lesbian and Gay Association Plus,” the rest saying they felt not re presented, only somewhat re presented or neutral. So, the task force recommended to the board that OPALGA+ change its name.
Scaman said the task force then created options for a new name and conducted two focus groups with OPALGA+ members and non-member s. The groups largely favored the proposed name “Out with Pur pose.”
This name, Scaman said, was chosen because people of various demo graphics all seemed to gravitate toward the idea that being “out” was important to the organization. And the focus groups liked the
“We’ve also had a lot of people reach out to us saying that they are joining the organization for the first time because of this,” Scaman said.
The OPALGA+ board unanimously approved the name this month, but that’s not the last step.
The entire membership of OPALGA+ will vote on the potential name change in January 2025. If approved by a simple majority, the organization will start taking steps to implement the change.
Scaman said, if approved, it might take several months to a year to transition to the new name completely, but that it will be well communicated and honor the history of the organization. T he organization would launch a new logo, website and social media channels during this time Throughout the transition, the OPALGA+ name would still appear alongside the new name to help build understanding.
In addition to the name chang e, the org anization has been working to diversify its board members and do more diverse progr amming, Scaman said. For example, in 2024 OPLAGA+ had an event with TaskForce Chicago, an organization working to promote HIV prevention in youth.
“The original purpose of the organization had a lot more to do with advocacy and outreach,” Scaman said. “That’s something we’re going to continue to do and hope to do even more in the new year.
of Oak Park and River Forest
Editor Erika Hobbs
Digital Manager Stac y Coleman
Digital Media Coordinator Brooke Duncan
Sta Repor ter Luzane Draughon
Viewpoints Editor Ken Trainor
Real Estate Editor Lacey Sikora
Assistant Editor, Ar ts & Enter tainment Dalal Or fali
Contributing Editor Donna Greene
Columnists Marc Bleso , Jack Crowe, Mary Kay O’Grady, Kwame Salter, John Stanger
Shrubtown Cartoonist Marc Stopeck
Design/Production Manager Andrew Mead
Editorial Design Manager Javier Govea
Designers Susan McKelvey, Vanessa Garza
Marketing & Adver tising Associate Ben Stumpe
Senior Media Strategist Lourdes Nicholls
Business & Development Manager Mary Ellen Nelligan
Circulation Manager Jill Wagner
Special
Wednesday, Dec. 18, 7 p.m., R Titus Designs
Enjoy a curated selection of wines from Anfora while shopping for last-minute gifts at R Titus Designs Studio. Enter to win ra e prizes with purchase (*see details in-store). RSVP at pp.events/rtitusdesignswinetasting. 143 S Oak Park Ave., Oak Park
Sunday, Dec. 22, 3 p.m., Forest Park Public Library
Celebrate Shelly’s “birthday” with a reptile show by Crosstown Exotics. Discover fascinating creatures and learn all about them in this, family-friendly event. Perfect for kids of all ages. 7555 Jackson Blvd., Forest Park
Friday, Dec. 20, 7 p.m., Good Shepherd Lutheran Church
Celebrate the season with an evening of live jazz, thoughtful readings, and a carol sing-along. Enjoy refreshments at 7:10 p.m., followed by the service at 7:30 p.m. All are welcome 611 Randolph St., Oak Park
Friday, Dec. 20, 11:30 a.m. - 1 p.m., Rustico
Join the Chamber for a casual sit-down luncheon with small group networking. Enjoy Spanish-Italian fusion dishes like tapas, wood- red pizzas, and homemade pastas while connecting with fellow members. 155 S Oak Park Ave., Oak Park
Saturday, Dec. 21, 10 a.m., Oak Park
Bring the whole family to this free holiday event. Enjoy photos with Santa, wish list letter writing, and festive treats like hot cocoa and cider. Fun for all ages. 824 S. Oak Park Ave., Oak Park
Monday, Dec. 23, 1:30 - 6 p.m., Robert’s Westside
Join us for a festive afternoon of bowling with Santa. Wear your best Santa suit or holiday out t and enjoy two games, shoe rental, pizza, and access to pool tables at Circle Lanes 7321 Madison St., Forest Park
This is our nal Big Week page. Don’t worry! We have more events coverage coming soon. For a sneak peak, and to submit events to be included in our new calendar, visit oakpark.com/events
Monday, Dec. 30, 6 - 8 p.m. Oak Park Public Library
Honor the Black American Harvest celebration with dance, drumming, poetr y, and storytelling. Enjoy performances by Hassani Cannon on drums and Kuumba Kids dance, local cuisine, and a Libation Ceremony led by Ade Adeyeme. Open to all. Register at oppl.org/calendar. 834 Lake St., Oak Park
Friday, Dec. 20, 6:30 - 10:30 p.m., Robert’s Westside
Kick o the holidays with Chicago Funk Ma a’s mix of originals and covers. Featuring special guests Henry Alden Carpender on trombone and Rufus Parenti on saxophone. Boost your holiday cheer—don’t miss this festive night of funk. 7321 Madison St., Forest Park
Sunday, Dec. 22, 3 p.m., First United Methodist Church of Oak Park
Join the Apollo Chorus of Chicago for Handel’s Messiah. Sing along or simply enjoy as an audience member
Admission is free, with a free-will o ering bene ting Housing Forward. Musical scores available for $10 at the door. Accessible entrance on Oak Park Ave. D etails at rstumcoakpark.org. 324 N. Oak Park Ave., Oak Park
Tuesday, Dec. 24, 10 a.m. - 4 p.m., Compound Yellow
Discover a vibrant selection of unique items, including hot sauce, ceramics, and apparel, at the Multiple Goods Fair Celebrate the season with Compound Yellow and explore the creativity of local makers. 244 Lake St., Oak Park
Saturday, Dec. 21, 6:30 - 10:30 p.m., Robert’s Westside
Enjoy a night of Tom Petty hits per formed by The Hear twreckers. General admission tickets are $20, with reser ved seating available for $30 per seat (sold in groups of 4-6). Seating is rst come, rst ser ved for General Admission. Don’t miss this tribute concert. 7321 Madison St., Forest Park
Sunday, Dec. 29, 7:30 p.m., Robert’s Westside
Experience a live per formance of Miles Davis’ Birth of the Cool, a groundbreaking jazz album released in 1957. This per formance will feature the innovative arrangements of Davis’ nonet, blending Afro-American and classical music techniques. Tickets: $20. 7321 Madison St., Forest Park
By LEAH SCHROEDER Contributing Reporter
After an invitation from local environmental nonprofit Seven Generation Ahead, a long day of travel and a 10-hour time change, Oak Park Village President Vicki Scaman arrived at the annual United Nations Climate Change Conference in Baku, Azerbaijan last month.
Upon arrival at COP29, Scaman said she immediately took note of the beautiful representation of the nearly 200 countries present at the climate change conference.
“When you arrive at the conference, there’s an area that is just where all of the countries are represented, and it’s absolutely beautiful,” Scaman said. “You’re seeing all these different stages, platfor ms of different countries where they’re highlighting their culture, but they each have a message why they’re there.”
ture leaders to roll back without harming the job market and industry, Scaman said.
“The clear statement from those elected officials was that they were going to continue to be strong advocates,” Scaman said. “Even if Trump himself is going to pull out from a Paris Climate Agreement, which everyone does anticipate, that they were going to be stepping into the roles of continuing that advocacy strongly, and then we also heard from other countries that they were going to be ready and anticipating stepping up.”
The messages included advocacy about themes of climate change, environmental justice and reparations, Scaman said.
Among the youngest advocates in attendance were high school students from the Chicago area, including some “very impressive” students from Oak Park River Forest High School, according to Scaman.
“Their voices were very, very influential in the advocacy for what this is all about,” Scaman said. “With the presence of young people, you couldn’t help but to take it very seriously. That’s the most affected population and their leadership was one that I sought out.”
Other prominent voices included Senator Ed Markey, Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm and For mer Vice President Al Gore. Scaman said much of their discussions revolved around what the incoming Trump administration would mean for environmental issues.
A key theme of their messaging was the progress of the Biden administration toward creating new jobs in the area of sustainability and energy that would be difficult for fu-
Scaman echoed a similar sentiment of commitment to sustainable progress and plans to use the information she learned at COP29 to inform environmental policy going forward.
Oak Park is an environmental policy leader in the Midwest, being the first Midwest municipality to create an ordinance that all new buildings have to be completely electric, with a few exceptions, and Scaman said she plans to continue advancing policy to protect the environment.
“Spending this amount of time to take a real deep dive into where the future of a sustainable action plan exists is a commitment,” Scaman said. “I hope it is as impactful as it was inspirational for myself.”
The greatest lesson from the conference, Scaman says, is to work toward 100% renewable energy. Other takeaways include ensuring collaboration is genuine and engagement is meaningful.
Above all, Scaman hopes the community will unite as one with a common purpose: fighting climate change.
“This is not a village agenda,” Scaman said. “This is a municipal agenda. This has to be owned by all of us, as residents, as churches, as businesses, as schools, as libraries, as parks [and] as every sector of our community, participating in the way that we live and our policy direction. Moving everything towards renewable energy is kind of that guiding light.”
The cour ts, Don O’Brien says is where ‘everyone knows your name
By HOPE BAKER Contributing Reporter
Age has not slowed down longtime Oak Park resident Don O’Brien.
At 95, O’Brien is a regular on the pickleball courts at Euclid Square Park morning with a group that meets se a week, as long as the courts are dry and the temperature is not unreasonably cold
“It’s just something to get my bo in the morning,” O’Brien said. “It’s something to do and to look forward to.”
The vibrant and welcoming clid Square Park is composed of players of all ages and skill le ing to Oak Park resident Tim Bannon, the group was for med during the COVID-19 demic and has organically gr
“One thing about this gr that we are very democratic, “You don’t need an invitation. need to know somebody to join, and you don’t need to be at a certain level. Everybody is welcome.”
Like many of the players at Euclid Square Park, Bannon is impressed by O’Brien’s athleticism and dedication to the sport.
“Don is 95 years old and here he is playing a solid game of pickleball,” Bannon said. “It’s remarkable.”
O’Brien’s commitment to pickleball is particularly evident on mornings after it rains. He keeps a squeegee and a broom in his car, and is known for arriving early in order to dry the courts and make sure they are playable by the time the rest of the group gets there.
“He’s here every single day,” said Hooi Lim, an Oak Park resident who plays with the group.
In November, Lim org anized a celebration for O’Brien’s 95th birthday When O’Brien arrived at the courts, he was greeted by more than 30 pickleball players who sang “Happy Birthday” to him. T he group also presented him with a big cake and a new lawn chair to relax in, inbetween matches
“At 95 years old, I hope I can still walk properly let alone play pickleball,” Lim said. “He’s awesome.”
For O’Brien’s birthday, Lim and her teenage daughter also made O’Brien a custom t-shirt. It’s a blue, long-sleeved shirt that says “95 Years Young and Still PickleBalling …What’s Your Excuse?”
Prior to picking up pickleball just two years ago, O’Brien was a tennis player. He first learned to play tennis in 1948, while serving in the U.S. Air Force Reserve when he was 19.
Although he always enjoyed tennis, O’Brien did not play very much during the years when he was working and raising his five children with his wife, Margaret Mary. After retiring in 1991, he joined an open tennis group at Taylor Park and began playing three or four times a week.
“I played with them for many years — actually, 30 years,” he said. “During that time, people in the group came and went.”
See PICKLEBALL on page 13
By ROBERT J. LIFKA Contributing Reporter
The River Forest Village Board took a step last month toward installing five electric vehicle charging stations in the village, unanimously approving a $78,670 contract with Christopher B. Burke Engineering Ltd. for design services for the project.
The contract covers the electrical and civil design services at three village-owned properties for the installation of EV charging stations and concept design of two future locations.
EV charging stations will be installed at the village-owned portion of the CVS Pharmacy lot, 7929 W. North Ave.; the parking lot at 400 Thatcher Ave.; and the parking lot at 418 Franklin Ave. The project also includes concept design services for future EV charging stations at Village Hall, 400 Park Ave., and the Public Works facility, 45 Forest Ave.
“It was prudent to get all five,” Jack Bielak, director of public works and engineering, told officials
In August, the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency awarded a $370,000
grant to the village for the three EV charging stations. Bielak said staf f members hope to use a ComEd rebate program to supplement funding.
CBBEL and five other firms submitted proposals in September and October and staff members interviewed three of the firms in November, eventually determining CBBEL to be the firm “best suited to complete the project,” Bielak and Seth Jansen, management analyst, said in a memo to Matt Walsh, village administrator. They explained that this project is “ideal” for a design-build approach. Under the design-build approach, the design and construction of a project is contracted through a single vendor, which can result in a shorter timeframe for project completion.
In a letter to Jansen, John P. Caruso of CBBEL explained further
“Upon approval of the design-build proposal equipment procurement may commence and construction activities will proceed, thus expediting equipment procurement over the traditional design-bidbuild delivery method,” he said. “Typical lead times for Direct Current Fast Charge vehicle charging stations are 12 to 16 weeks
after shop drawing preparation and review.”
Utilizing this approach, CBBEL will solicit bids from electrical contractors who are certified EV charging station installers, Bielak and Jansen said in the memo.
Bielak told officials that the next step in the project will be to solicit bids for construction. According to a proposed project schedule, work is expected to begin in December with data collection with completion anticipated in September. Awarding of a contract is expected in March or April with construction to take place in July through September
He said the intention is to return to the Village Board once design has started and contractors have been engaged to seek approval of the equipment and construction of the charging stations. The total cost of the project will not be known until then.
In recommending the contract be awarded to CBBEL, Bielak and Jansen said the firm has “significant experience” with EV charging installation projects, including navigating IEPA grant requirements and the ComEd rebate program. They also noted that CBBEL has performed similar work for the village in the past.
Driving a Cleaner Illinois is the Illinois EPA’s grant program developed to distribute funding for various types of mobile source electrification projects. The program receives funding from a variety of sources, including the Climate and Equitable Jobs Act; the Volkswagen Environmental Mitigation Trust; and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Diesel Emission Reduction Act Program.
The Climate and Equitable Jobs Act includes provisions to phase out carbon emissions from the energy and transportation sectors. The Illinois EPA is directed to provide funding, consistent with Illinois Commerce Commission-approved Beneficial Electrification Plans, to public and private organizations and companies to install and maintain publicly available Level 2 or Level 3 charging stations. Up to 8 percent of the cost of the installation of charging stations may be funded. Additional awards may incentivize charging infrastructure in eligible communities.
River Forest will receive funding through the second round of Driving a Cleaner Illinois grant program.
The Foundation was created by the community, for the community. Join us to build a racially just society in which all members of our community thrive and prosper. Together we can invest in real change.
Please give to our annual fund today.
By ANDREW ADAMS Capitol News Illinois
IBM, the tech giant known for revolutionizing computing over the past 70 years, ting up shop on Chicago’s South Side to de velop what could be the field’s next big leap: quantum technology
It’s part of a multi-year effort from Go Pritzker, state officials and economic de opment groups to turn Illinois into a hub for quantum computing and research IBM announced Thursday it will open facility known as the National Quantum Algorithm Center that will bring together experts and researchers to focus on ways to combine quantum computers and traditional computers to solve complex problems. It will also house IBM’s Quantum System Two, a quantum computer that can be upgraded as the company develops its technology further Quantum technology uses quantum mechanics – the sometimes-counterintuitive physics of very small particles – to perform calculations and do other computing tasks very quickly, some of which would take a traditional computers thousands or even millions of years.
Gov. JB Pritzker watches as IBM CEO Arvind Krishna describes his company’s plan to set up a state-of-the-art quantum computer at the Illinois Quantum and Microelectronics Park on Chicago’s South Side.
and make preparations to house IBM’s new quantum computer.
As part of its initial commitment to the state, IBM said its development will bring 50 permanent jobs to the park in addition to construction work
still feels the absence of U.S. Steel’s plant.
“We’re a very unique and diverse community with a lot of talent, but there’s been a lot of disinvestment,” Vanessa Schwartz, a born-and-raised resident of the Southeast Side, told Capitol News Illinois in a late-Noember interview. “That property alone has had a lot of investors with plans that have allen through, so there’s some kind of retience with the community to see if this is going to be something like that.”
Schwartz, who now runs the Metropolitan amily Services’ Southeast Chicago Center, said residents in her community feel wary of the potential environmental impacts of the project and are worried they will lose access to a lakefront park at the site
“The real fear is what’s going to happen to the local residents and the local neighborhood,” Schwartz said. “Will they be priced out, will rents increase?”
Schwartz said there have been several wellattended community meetings held to discuss the development, but much of the information provided to residents so far has been in “broad strokes” and been “too vague.”
IBM is the latest organization to join the state’s efforts to make Illinois a quantum computing hub. Over the past year, several quantum computing organizations have made Chicago a go-to destination for quantum researchers and businesses, capitalizing on Pritzker’s goals for the research park
In July, the federal Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA, announced it was going to launch a program meant to serve as a “proving ground” for quantum technologies – testing how useful they could be in real-world settings.
The same month, the state unveiled its plans for a quantum research and business park – with $700 million in tax incentives, grants and other financial support The Illinois Quantum and Microelectronics Park, or IQMP, is set to open in about two years with California-based PsiQuantum as its first anchor tenant.
DARPA and IBM will also have facilities at the quantum park, with the state kicking in $25 million to purchase equipment
IBM CEO Arvind Krishna said Thursday he expects the company’s overall investment in the facility to be in the tens of millions or low hundreds of millions. He said he expects that figure – and the number of jobs generated by the project – to grow as the company begins to host student intern programs, graduate fellowships and university faculty for research projects.
“Being at the forefront of this industry holds the potential to deliver long-term, broad-based economic prosperity for our people,” Pritzker said Thursday.
The IQMP is being built at the lakefront site of a for mer U.S. Steel plant on Chicago’s South Side. That plant closed in the early 1990s, but at its height of its operations was the source of tens of thousands of jobs and significant economic activity for its surrounding neighborhood
Some local residents are worried that the benefits of a high-tech research and business facility won’t reach the neighborhood that
Pritzker and others on Thursday defended efforts to meet with the community and address these concerns. He noted a “real commitment” from himself and many of the groups involved in the quantum park to address concerns from residents
Rep. Curtis Tarver, D-Chicago, represents the district where the IQMP is being built and he said his office has received calls with concerns that are “very relevant,” but that he didn’t think a for mal community benefits agreement was necessary for the project.
Still, he applauded the community engagement efforts he’s seen so far.
“I’ve been around a long time. I used to work for Mayor [Richard M.] Daley’s office almost 20 years ago,” Tarver said. “This is as much engagement as I’ve seen on a project in quite some time. It really is.”
Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service that distributes state government covera ge to hundreds of news outlets statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation.
Right now or very soon, most likely you’re on vacation. If so, there’s an even better chance you didn’t wait till the last minute to plan what you’d like to do during this special window of time.
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from page 1
liability insurance issues, although they have been performing labor and deli services there for more than 20 years.
And in a new turn, the week after the midwives and family medicine doctors’ last day on Dec. 6, West Suburban Manoj Prasad said that they may return, although with changes to the contract. He said this had been an option all along.
The midwives and family medicine doctors dispute that account.
T hey operate out of the PCC Communi ty Wellness Center, which contracts with West Suburban to provide services. Dur ing the past two decades, PCC providers have delivered most of the babies at Suburban. Last year, midwives and medicine providers delivered about babies at West Suburban and the Birth Center, according to a statement from PCC Community Wellness Center
Medical professionals say that ing midwifery services is an issue of bir th equity
“To us, it’s access, it’s birth equity, it leaving a disenfranchised community in the lurch,” Annette Payot, director of wifery for the PCC Community Wellness Center, previously told Growing Community Media, the parent company of A Weekly News and Wednesday Journal.
In Chicago, the maternal mortality rate is nearly six times higher for Black women than white women. Of about 500 patients that midwives and family medicine doctors cared for, about 43% are Hispanic/ Latino, and 44% are Black, according to Dr. Kate Rowland of the Illinois Academy of Family Physicians.
West Suburban resident doctors picketed in June for better patient safety and investment in their education. ose concer ns have not been allayed.
Midwives help reduce rates of cesarean sections, premature births and newborn morbidity, according to the American Colle ge of Nurse-Midwives, offering potentially lifesaving care for those whom the health care system often leaves behind, like people of color.
PCC providers said that Prasad originally told them that they would not be allowed birthing privileges to help these patients because the hospital’s liability insurers warned that if Prasad did not make a change, securing insurance in the future would be dif ficult.
Prasad said there was more to his message Last week, Prasad said he sent a letter to PCC midwives and family medicine provid-
ers saying they can deliver at the hospital under the supervision of an OB/GYN, but not with a PCC physician.
He added that he verbally explained this offer to Paul Luning, PCC’s chief medical officer and a family physician, on Nov. 18. Prasad added that Luning immediately declined the of fer.
Luning did not respond to an interview request by the time of publication.
But Luning earlier said that West Suburban violated the Illinois Licensing Act when it only gave 11 days’ notice, rather than the required 15 days. And the group of the dismissed midwives and doctors filed a complaint with the Illinois Department of Public Health because of the short notice ahead of a major change in their jobs.
But midwives and family medicine doctors said that delivering under the supervision of an OB/GYN was never part of the original offer.
Last week, West Suburban posted a photo on Instagram with a caption that appeared to provide a comment about the situation.
“Our offer to have PCC midwives work with our highly trained OB/GYNs to continue to provide care stands and we are hopeful they will accept.”
Dozens commented on the post, many saying that they were never told this was an option.
“That’s so strang e. Maybe you lost all of our addresses,” one Insta gram user wrote. “No one in our group received this of fer in writing.”
“Offers should come in the form of writ-
ing – specifically after the only written documents provided to the midwives stated they had no delivery privileges,” another Instagram user said.
In a Nov. 20 email, Prasad told GCM that he told PCC midwives they could no longer deliver babies because of information he received from the hospital’s professional liability insurers.
“I recommend eliminating baby deliveries by family practice physicians altogether and only allowing midwives to deliver if under the supervision of a qualified obstetrician gynecologist,” according to a document a West Suburban spokesperson sent to GCM. The name of the insurer was redacted.
“Without implementation of my recommendation, I believe securing future professional liability insurance coverage will be severely limited, if possible at all.”
If West Suburban didn’t follow this advice, it would leave the hospital to self-insure liability claims in the future, according to the document.
In a statement, Carolyn Fitzpatrick, the hospital’s chief medical officer, said “in the past decade alone, West Suburban has paid out more than $126 million in claims against the OB/GYN department under PCC’s leadership.”
“This is not just a financial problem for the hospital,” Fitzpatrick added. “It means patients are not receiving the outcomes from West Suburban that we all believe they should.”
PCC providers could not be reached for comment by publication.
Medical professionals who have worked on the labor and delivery unit also pushed back, saying that the lack of midwives and family medicine doctors could be dangerous Births that two weeks ago were assisted by two attending physicians, a midwife and resident doctors are now administered by just an OB/GYN and resident doctors.
“Certainly, we didn’t feel overstaffed with our last model,” Payot previously told GCM. It is not yet clear whether the workload can be handled without PCC staf f.
There are still three PCC OB/GYNs delivering babies in labor and delivery, along with providers from OBHG, a national hospitalist group that Prasad hired in July. He said OBHG shares concer ns about of fering equitable labor and delivery services.
“This team is made up of predominantly African American women OBs who are especially committed to advancing the birth equity goals we all share,” Prasad said in his letter to PCC providers.
This isn’t the first time that West Suburban employees have said that patient safety is at risk, since resident doctors org anized a demonstration in May, picketed outside the hospital in June, and later wrote an open letter citing additional concerns. Following the changes in the labor and delivery unit, more medical professionals are coming forward with new complaints about how the hospital is run.
They say:
■ The neonatal unit has not had baby bracelets for over two months. The baby bracelets have alarms that go of f if the baby leaves the unit or the tag is removed
by someone – not necessarily a random person, but more likely an abusive partner or support person that those in labor bring with them to the hospital. In lieu of the bracelets, there’s a security officer on the floor at all times
■ One floor of the hospital’s overhead intercom system is broken, so staf f can’t hear when there’s an emergency.
■ For two weeks, the OB floor’s operating room was too hot.
DECEMBER4-24,2024
■ The hospital’s lobby is closed on the weekends, so visitors enter by the ER, where they have access to the entire hospital, which staf f says is a security and infection- control concern.
■ Because an elevator is broken and has yet to be fixed, staf f cites a case of calling the fire department to carry patients up the stairs to dialysis.
Although some staf f members said they used to have an internal system to re port patient safety concerns, they also said the hospital’s risk management employee was let go and re placed with a part-time employee. Prasad did not respond to a request for comment by publication.
The community surrounding West Suburban – concerned about recent complaints, the future of the hospital and how this move affects birth equity on the West Side – are pushing for answers.
“We have to do everything we can to work together to ensure West Sub is operating in excellence and that our community has accessible options for mothers, such as midwifery delivery services, infant care, and prenatal and postpartum care,” said Emma Mitts, alderwoman of the 37th Ward, in a statement. “This is bigger than all of us. These two institutions are saving lives, and we need them. So, we must do everything we can to help them maintain their commitment to our communities.”
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Here’s ev you need to know about Downtown Oak P holiday tradition
By Assistant Edito
‘Tis the season the Holidays event to return to the corner of Marion and La Oak Park This event has a lot of holiday cheer to spread, offering free horse-drawn car local vendors, themed food course, will be taking some time the North Pole to meet the visitors and join them for holiday photos.
“Home for the Holidays has been happening for over 20 year the Downtown Oak marketing director. The downtown organization organizes this event which takes place on Dec. 21.
This year’s celebration features a long and delicious list of local food and entertainment options, but Dellos is especially excited for the return of horse-drawn carriages. “This is the first time they’re back since COVID, and they’ll be departing on Marion Street,” Dellos said.
Come hungry! There will be a selection of signature local food vendors and amazing coffee shops from all over Oak Park Crepas Culichi is offering sweet and savory crêpes and holiday inspired drinks such as the Cindy Lou Who Hot Chocolate, and The Gingerbread Iced Latte. Vigo Coffee will offer a variety of drinks inspired by recipes from their Mexican heritage, and Kribi Coffee will bring their air-roasted coffee beans. Another standout is Wise Cup whose signature coffee and Chai spot highlights the owner’s Indian heritage. All these vendors are offering a free cup of hot cocoa for visitors.
Still shopping for a few last-minute gifts or a holiday outfit? Home for the Holidays is promoting a lot of local businesses with
Smiles with Santa at the Home for the Holidays event in Oak Park
a variety of offerings, including clothing, retro toys, novelty, jewelry, candles, and soaps. Dellos highlighted a few local shops: Scratch ‘N Snif f, Pumpkin Moon, Ten Thousand Villages, and Wells Street Popcorn, which is selling beautiful refillable holiday themed popcorn tins.
“It’s so heartwarming to get the Oak Park community into the holiday spirit,” Dellos said. “It’s so much fun for us to see generations of families -- grandparents, parents, and their kids – coming out and celebrating this season, talking to Santa Claus and taking pictures.”
Home for the Holidays will take place Saturday, Dec. 21 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the corner of Marion and Lake streets in downtown Oak Park. The event is free and accessible to the public.
More information about the ev ent is provided at Downtownoakpark.net and Downtown Oak Park Business Alliance’s social media platforms.
By LUZANE DRAUGHON Staff Reporter
Pete’s Fresh Market is expected to start constructing the shell of its building, or its exterior walls, at 668 Madison St. after receiving the appropriate permit Dec. 4.
The long-awaited grocery story is expected to open by December 2025, based on a 16-month extension the village board ap-
from page 6
It wasn’t until 2021 that pickleball sparked O’Brien’s interest.
“At Taylor Park, I saw people on nearby courts playing this new game, pickleball,” he said.
proved during its July 30 meeting. T he developers claimed the COVID-19 pandemic, supply chain issues and utility work as some timeline setbacks.
Construction was underway in October, when Eugene Grzynkowicz, the project manage r, said earth retention system work was 70% complete. Mass excavation work was also about 70% complete in early October, according to Grzynkowicz. That included site preparation work to create a space for construction.
At the time, Grzynkowicz said the project was three weeks ahead of schedule.
Since O’Brien noticed that all serves in pickleball have to be made underhand, he was intrigued. Ten years prior, he had torn the rotator cuff in his right shoulder, which left him unable to serve overhand.
Serving underhand was appealing. The smaller court size was also appealing. It looked like the people were having fun.
Soon after, he lear ned about a group that played pickleball just two blocks away from
Grzynkowicz did not respond to a Wednesday Journal request for comment on the current progress of the project.
T he new building permit comes after Pete’s received permits for the earth retention, foundation and parking lot construction, according to village officials
T he shell permit was submitted Oct. 14, according to Dan Yopchick, the village’s chie f communications of ficer
“The permit process has no effect on their timeline,” he wrote.
But Pete’s developers will also need to acquire an i nterior buildout pe rm it fo r
his house, at Euclid Square Park, so he dropped by and gave it shot.
“The convenience was too appealing, so I started playing there almost every day,” he said.
“I just really enjoy the game. I love it.”
In a ddition to playing pickleball, O’Brien also enjoys singing. He has b een involved in c ommunity theater over the years and was also a member of a barbe r-
wo rk including the HVAC , electric and p lumbing systems. T he entire pe rm it c ost is $159,063.63, including for the i nterior wo rk pe rm it, Yo pchick told We d nesday Journal.
T he building is expected to have three levels, the basement, main floor and mezzanine or staf f support areas, according to Yopchick. T he first floor is approximately 51,515 square feet.
T he construction work is ongoing, and it’s unclear whether or not winter weather will delay it.
shop q uartet up until 2020. In a dditio n to their five children, he and his w ife of 71 years also have 10 gr andchildren and four great gr andchildren.
Describing the atmosphere on Euclid’s pickleball courts each morning, O’Brien said it reminds him of the theme song from the 80s/90s sitcom “Cheers.”
“It’s a place where everybody knows my name,” he said.
Genaro Balcazar says honor is a ‘collective e ort’
By GREGG VOSS Contributing Reporter
Genaro Balcazar, recently named a Notable Latino Leader by “Crain’s Chicago Business,” says the honor isn’t about him – that it’s about a lot of other people.
“It’s a collective ef fort,” said Balcazar, chief operating officer and senior vice president of Dominican Unive in River Forest. “It’s tireless work we do. I have the privile ge of working with some talented people who want to provide access to higher education. ”
He added, “They are the ones at the forefront with the eng agement with the students we serve. If there is any recognition, it goes to them.”
Make no mistake – Balcazar is a busy man who often works 18-hour days.
He directs the university’s enrollment management and marketing division, overseeing marketing communications, university admission and enrollment services, financial aid, athletics, campus experience and the Stars Connect student services office. He also oversees the new Office of Hispanicserving Initiatives, along with the university’s strategic plan priorities.
That’s not all. He serves on the boards of directors at the West Cook YMCA and Cristo Rey Jesuit high school, both university partners.
“We’ve served children of immigrants from the beginning. The school was created to ser ve the children of then-immigrants from Europe. We’ve continued to work on that mission.”
GENARO BALCAZA R Dominican University COO
That’s why Balcazar, who is Mexican-American, was nominated as a Notable Latino leader by Dominican University president Dr. Glena G. Temple.
In a news release, Temple noted that “under Genaro’s leadership, we have enhanced our enrollment management systems and developed more targeted communication. His ability to think strategically, create a vision for prospect management and student recruitment, and build a team of experienced enrollment management profes-
sionals has led to our record-breaking enrollment trends.”
Record-breaking enrollment numbers include a shade under 700 new first-year students this fall. It was the third year in a row with its largest freshman class.
For any executive, Balcazar said, the key to being efficient and managing multiple responsibilities is not only deleg ation to his team. There’s something more important, which can be applied to any like position at any business throughout Oak Park and River Forest.
“Part of it is knowing what not to do,” said Balcazar, who lives with his wife, Gloria, and two sons, Avery and Adrian, Orland Park
“It’s not overwhelming the team with 25 different things, but the five or 10 things we want to move forward.”
No doubt that the headwinds in higher education in America may be unprecedented.
Challenges, he said, include leadership turnover, increasing costs just to keep the doors open, and government support of student subsidies. Competition with other in-
stitutions. And the list goes on and on.
“We’ re for tunate in that we are growing, in the face of everything that’s going on,” Balcazar said. “It’s hard work, and it’s chaotic sometimes, but we’re focused on taking it semester by semester and student by student.”
To lead a team to complete that objective takes vision.
To that end, Balcazar’s vision not only looks forward, but harks back to the university’s 125-year history.
“We’ve served children of immigrants from the beginning,” he said. “The school was created to serve the children of then-immigrants from Europe We’ve continued to work on that mission.
“Nowadays, it’s a different population of immigrants. Anything we do is with the student in mind. We fly very close to the flame of the mission, and every ef fort that we undertake is from the student lens.”
To wit, what does Dominican University look like by the end of this decade?
One area of growth will be to embed the university into key communities throughout Chicagoland. It has already done that with its campus in the city’s Pilsen community.
“It’s going where they are,” he said. “We’ re going to engage with the students and the communities they live in
“We are here to provide students community, and how to best create opportunities for themselves.”
A person, whose identity has not yet been released, was struck and killed by an outbound Union Pacific West train around 3 p.m., Dec. 15 in Oak Park
The Oak Park Police Department and Oak Park Fire Department responded to the incident at the 1000 block of North Boulevard, according to Oak Park officials.
Trains on the line were stopped and “extensive delays” were expected after the incident, according to the Chicago SunTimes.
The initial investigation indicated the actions by the individual were intentional. The investigation was turned over to Metra with assistance from the OPPD. If you or someone you know is struggling with mental health, you can call 988, the national Suicide & Crisis Lifeline.
Motor vehicle theft
■ Someone stole an Oak Park resident’s black 2014 Dodge Durango between 4:40 a.m. Dec. 9 and 10:36 a.m. Dec. 14 on the 700 block of Garfield Street. The estimated loss is $10,000.
■ Someone stole an Oak Park resident’s black 2020 Kia Sportage between 2:30 p.m. and 7:15 p.m. Dec. 15 on the 900 block of North Humphrey Avenue. The estimated loss is $24,000.
Between 11 p.m. Dec. 11 and 7:15 a.m. Dec. 12 someone got into a Chicago resident’s 2021 Kia Sportage on the 1100 block of South Kenilworth Avenue. The person stole a 9mm Tarus handgun. The estimated loss is $400.
Between 9 p.m. Nov. 25 and 5 someone broke into an Oak Park locked apar tment on the 800 block of Buren Street. The person stole two gold chains, money and broke a vase. The estimated loss and damage are $1,100.
Between 3:15 p.m. and 3:20 p. someone broke the rear passenger side window to an Oak Park resident’s Kia Forte on the 500 block of North Lombard Avenue. The estimated damage is $500.
■ A 49-year-old Elmwood Park ar rested at 1:41 a.m. Dec. 9 on the 200 block of Lake Street for disorderl criminal trespass to property and resisting or obstructing a peace officer.
■ A 40-year-old Harwood Heights man was arrested at 8:58 a.m. Dec. 10 in Harwood Heights for transmission of obscene messages to an Oak Pa rk resident.
■ A 34-year-old Maywood man was arrested at 6:29 p.m. Dec. 11 on the 100 bloc k of Forest Avenue and charged with driving under the influence of alcohol. He was given a citation and notice to appear and released.
■ A 39-year-old Maryland woman was arrested at 9:02 p.m. Dec. 14 on the 400 block of South Lombard Avenue for domestic battery to an Oak Park resident.
These items were obtained from Oak Park Police Department re ports dated Dec. 9 – 16 and re present a portion of the incidents to which police responded. Anyone named in these re ports has only been charged with a crime and cases have not yet been adjudicated. We re port the race of a suspect only when a serious crime has been committed, the suspect is still at large, and police have provided us with a detailed physical description of the suspect as they seek the public’s help in making an arrest.
Compiled by Luzane Draughon
‘We want to do it right,’ Village President Adduci says to divided board
By ROBERT J. LIFKA Contributing Reporter
A divided River Forest Village Board was unable to reach a consensus Monday on moving toward placing a term-limit referendum on the April 1 ballot.
More than 25 people attended the village board meeting that evening with 10 of them supporting placing the referendum on the April ballot during the public comment portion. Each speaker’s comment was supported by applause.
Although Trustees Erika Bachner and Katie Brennan advocated asking staff members to work with the village attorney on creating a draft referendum to be presented at either the next regularly scheduled village board meeting on Jan. 13 or a special meeting before then, Trustees Lisa Gillis, Bob O’Connell and Respicio Vazquez cautioned against moving too quickly. Trustee Ken Johnson did not attend.
Lance Malina, village attorney, told officials that Jan. 13 is the last day for a munici-
pal government to place a referendum on the April 1 ballot but noted action taken that evening would still meet the deadline.
“I don’t want to rush,” Vazquez said. “If we’re going to do it, we should hear from everybody.”
“We should do this like we do everything else,” O’Connell said. “Give it to staf f members who do the research and present it to the board.
“I don’t think we are hurrying,” Bachner said in advocating for a special meeting.
“There was significant interest expressed by residents,” Brennan said while ag reeing with Bachner. “There’s an impact to putting this of f.”
Comments by residents and discussion by officials included reference to the attempt earlier this year to place a term limits referendum on the Nov. 5 ballot by citizen petition. The River Forest Electoral Board voted Sept. 4 that the proposed referendum petition was invalid primarily because the language was too vague and ambiguous
After questioning village Clerk Jonathan Keller, who was on the electoral board, about the decision, Bachner implied that staff time could be saved by using the failed referendum as a guide and just “cleaning up” the language.
Also mentioned often by residents was their desire to let voters decide the question of term limits and how term limits would lead to more turnover, fresh faces on the board and new ideas
“We want to do it right,” village President Cathy Adduci said. “We don’t want to put something together then realize we didn’t do it right.
“We want to move the ball forward but there’s a lot to think about.
She expressed a desire to obtain input from Johnson, who is unavailable until after the holidays. She also expressed concerns about the holidays impacting other people’s time whether it would be for a special meeting or a public hearing.
“In the past we’ve been accused of not informing the public,” Vazquez said. “We
want to get public input.”
Malina explained that term limits cannot be applied retroactively, meaning those elected or re-elected April 1 would not be subject to term limits if the referendum was on that ballot and was approved. In that scenario, the first officials affected would be those elected or re-elected in April 2027.
“If term limits won’t take effect until April 2027, why rush?” Vazquez asked, noting a referendum on the March 2026 primary ballot or the November 2026 ballot would have the same effect.
Concerns also were expressed over the wording of the referendum, specifically whether it would apply only to the village president but also to trustees and clerk and whether officials would be limited to two terms or a different number of terms
“We’re not pushing this off, but I don’t think we’re ready,” Gillis said. “I want to understand what I’m voting for.”
“Do we want to talk more about it?” Adduci said. “I think we do.”
By PETER HANCOCK
Capitol News Illinois
More than five years after Illinois began issuing permits for legal production of industrial hemp, Gov. JB Pritzker said Friday he now favors legislation to bring the industry under tighter regulation.
At a news conference in Chicago, Pritzker said in the short time since both the state and federal governments leg alized hemp production, a new industry has emerged in which chemicals are extracted from hemp plants to produce intoxicating and potentially dangerous products that are currently unregulated.
“Commonly known as intoxicating hemp, this industry is selling hemp-derived products such as delta-8, and they’re using deceptive advertising tactics to market them directly to minors,” Pritzker said. “These products have an intoxicating effect, often to dangerous levels. They’re untested and unregulated and are widely available and accessible to young people.”
Illinois lawmakers passed legislation in 2018 to allow the commercial production of hemp, the same year Congress leg alized hemp nationwide through the 2018 Farm
Bill. The crop was once commonly used in the United States to make rope, textiles and other products, but it was effectively banned decades ago because of its close botanical relationship with marijuana.
The legislation legalizing hemp anticipated it would again be used to make industrial products, but also for the production of CDB oils that can be extracted from the plant. Those oils, and products made with them, have become popular due to the belief that they have multiple health benefits.
But the recent boom of intoxicating hempderived products has raised new concerns about the need for additional re gulation.
House Bill 4293, which originally dealt with re gulation of massage therapists, passed out of the House last spring and was sent to the Senate where it was stripped of its original language and re placed with new language re gulating intoxicating hemp-derived products.
The bill would not ban such products but would impose limits on the amount of the intoxicating substance THC they can contain, and it would re gulate how those products can be marketed and advertised. It also limits the manufacture and sale of those products to licensed businesses.
The amended bill passed out the Senate 54-1 in May and was sent back to the House where no further action has been taken.
“It is vital we move forward towards regulation of hemp and delta-8 products and do so in a way that is equitable and provides opportunities within the evolving industry,”
Senate Majority Leader Kimberly Lightford, D-Westchester, said during the news conference. “We support the hemp industry. This is not an effort to bash the hemp industry. We want the hemp industry to survive and thrive and continue evolving.”
The push to impose new limits on the production and sale of intoxicating hemp comes at the same time the Illinois Department of Agriculture has been working to develop new state re gulations to bring the Illinois industry into compliance with new federal re gulations.
The legislative Joint Committee on Administrative Rules, which oversees the administrative rulemaking process, gave its approval to those rules Tuesday. That came after extensive ne gotiations with the Illinois Hemp Business Association, a lobby group that re presents many small, minority-owned hemp businesses.
In a statement, the association said this
week it was satisfied with the final negotiated version of the administrative rules, but still had significant concerns about the new hemp re gulation bill. The association said it “threatens the industry by potentially banning beneficial components of the hemp plant.”
But the Cannabis Business Association of Illinois, which re presents the cannabis industry, issued a statement Friday supporting the legislation.
“We applaud Gov. JB Pritzker’s call to protect consumers and rein in the gray market,” the group’s executive director Tiffany Chappell Ingram said in a statement. “We urge lawmakers to take swift action, as Illinois is already falling behind other states that have adopted meaningful re gulations.”
Lawmakers are expected to consider the bill during an upcoming lame duck session, which is tentatively scheduled to begin Thursday, Jan. 2.
Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service that distributes state government covera ge to hundreds of news outlets statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation.
‘Allan
was not just a hero,’ his friend Schenita Stewart said.
‘He was a mighty hero.’
By LUZANE DRAUGHON Staff Reporter
Supporters and loved ones remembered Oak Park Det. Allan Reddins as a “hero” and “family man” as they bid their final goodbyes to him last Thursday. His visitation and funeral services last week drew hundreds of supporters in person and online who gathered to mourn the officer who was shot and killed in the line of duty Nov. 29.
His death sent shockwaves throughout Oak Park community and the state. An officer here has not been killed in the line of duty since 1938. Dignitaries and police officials rushed to offer their condolences on social media, and Illinois ordered flags to be flown at half-staf f through sunset Dec. 12. Oak Park held a vigil for Reddins and police held a processional to the funeral home ahead of services Thursday.
At his funeral at the Apostolic Chicago of God on Chicago’s South Side, family, friends and officers gathered around his casket, where Reddins was laid out in his dress uniform with an American flag tightly fitted over the bottom half of the casket. The casket read “Detective Allan Marcus Reddins, Badge #442.”
Rev. Jamie Fluker prayed for the family’s peace, reminding them, by quoting 1 Corinthians, that hope awaits.
“The dead will be raised, incorruptible, and we shall all be changed,” she quoted. “Death is swallowed up in victory. Where, O Death, is your victory?”
Schenita Stewart and Schonella Stewart, twins with whom Reddins was close friends, described their pain of losing him.
Schenita, the first female chief of police for Evanston Police Department, recalled his life and work, calling him an “extraordinary father.” Reddins never missed an opportunity to brag about his son, Jayden, she said.
“A hero is someone admired for their courage, achievements or noble qualities,”
e hearse carrying the casket for Det. Allan Reddins pulls out of the parking lot at the Apostolic Church of God at 6320 S. Dorchester Ave. on Dec. 12. A large procession of police, family and friends drove to a cemete ry for a pr ivate burial.
Schenita said. “Allan was not just a hero. He was a mighty hero.”
Schonella, a member of the Oak Park Police Department, said Reddins was affectionately known as “Bear.” He embodied “love, honor, loyalty and integrity,” she said.
One speaker asked for mer Harlan High School students to stand. Reddins graduated from Harlan in 2002.
“[Harlan] will remember Detective Allan Reddins as a true hero whose le gacy will inspire future generations to serve with compassion, courage and integrity,” she said amid applause.
A family friend read a poem written by Johnny Bradberry, Reddins’ brother, saying that while attendees were reminded of the fragility of life, Reddins also reminded them to find beauty in imperfect moments and joy in simple ones.
“The day you left felt like my soul was gone,” she read. “Without you, who else can I look up to now? Never thought I would lose you so soon. Never had I cried so many tears.”
Oak Park Police Chief Shatonya Johnson said that this is a difficult time for the Oak Park community and for law enforcement. She said as she did Reddins’ background investigation when he applied for the OPPD, she knew he would be an asset to the department. His commitment to service was unparalleled, she said.
“Two weeks ago, to the day, we were giving thanks, and today is no different,” she said. “We are giving thanks for the life he lived … Allan was our quiet storm in a world of chaos.”
She urged law enforcement officers to wear their badge not as a symbol of authority, but as one of honor.
“We are unbreakable,” she said. “We all must remember the impact that Allan had on our lives. The sacrifice he made, the legacy he leaves behind. We must use that as our ‘Why?’ Why do we do this job? Why do we serve Oak Park with compassion? Why must we carry on? I guarantee you, we will emerge stronger and wiser.”
An assistant pastor, Isaac Hayes, gave a eulo gy for Reddins. He reminded attendees that “where there is darkness, God gives light.” Reddins was a family man and a natural-born leader, Hayes said.
“He is a hero,” he said, echoing other sentiments shared. “[He] gave his life in service to the general public by responding to danger instead of running from it.”
Hayes said “we live in a world where people lack compassion.” People become callous, but God has compassion, he said. He spoke about how mourning is part of the human experience, and “reminds us that there is something greater and better that we hope for.” But sin, he added, is the reason Reddins had to go to work every day.
“We mourn for a better society,” Hayes said. “We mourn for a better world.” Reddins’ obituary is available online. For more coverage of his services, visit https://www.oakpark.com/
His death is under investigation. Chicago man Jerell Thomas was charged with first-de gree murder after re por tedly shooting him on the 800 block of Lake Street. Thomas was also shot.
St. John Evangelical Lutheran Church
305 Circle Avenue, Forest Park (708) 366-3226
www.stjohnforestpark.org Wheelchair Access to Sanctuary Christmas Eve Service
Christmas Eve, Tuesday, December 24
Christmas Eve, Tuesday, December 24
3:30 pm Mass, Schola Choir | Ascension Church
3:30 pm Mass, Ascension Schola | Ascension Church
4:30 pm Mass, St. Edmund Choir | St. Edmund Church
4:30 pm Mass, St. Edmund Choir | St. Edmund Church
5:30 pm Mass, Choristers and String Ensemble | Ascension
3:00 pm Mass | St. Giles Church
3:00 pm Mass | St. Giles Church
5:00 pm Mass | St. Catherine of Siena-St. Lucy Church
5:00 pm Mass | St. Giles Church
5:00 pm Mass | St. Catherine of Siena-St. Lucy Church
5:30 pm Mass, Choristers and String Ensemble | Ascension Church
11:00 pm Mass, Ascension Choir | Ascension Church
Carols begin at 10:30 pm
11:00 pm Mass, Ascension Choir | Ascension Church
Carols begin at 10:30 pm
9:00 am Mass with organ, instruments | Ascension Church
7:30 pm Family Mass | St. Giles School Gym
5:00 pm Mass | St. Giles Church
7:30 pm Family Mass | St. Giles School Gym
Carols begin at 7:00 am
Carols begin at 7:00 am
10:30 pm Mass | St. Giles Church | Carols begin at 54:44 pm
Christmas Day, Wednesday, December 25
10:30 pm Mass | St. Giles Church | Carols begin at 10:00 pm
Christmas Day, Wednesday, December 25
9:00 am Mass with organ, instruments | Ascension Church
11:00 am Mass with organ, instruments | St. Edmund Church
11:00 am Mass with organ, instruments | St. Edmund Church
Tuesday, December 31
9:00 am Mass, Praise Choir | St. Catherine of Siena-St. Lucy
10:30 am Mass | St. Giles Church
9:00 am Mass, Praise Choir | St. Catherine of Siena-St. Lucy
10:30 am Mass | St. Giles Church
Feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph, Sunday, December 29
Christmas Season
Regular Weekend Mass Schedule
Feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph, Sunday, December 29 Regular Weekend Mass Schedule
5:00 pm Mass | St. Edmund Church
The Solemnity of Mary, The Holy Mother of God
Wednesday, January 1
e Solemnity of Mary, e Holy Mother of God
Mass of anticipation hosted by the Catholic Community of Oak Park
Tuesday, December 31
5:00 pm Mass | St. Edmund Church
Mass of anticipation hosted by the Catholic Community of Oak Park
9:00 am Mass | Ascension Church
9:00 am Mass | St. Giles Church
Wednesday, January 1
Prayer in the Spirit of Taizé for World Day of Peace
7:30 pm | Ascension Church
9:00 am Mass | Ascension Church
9:00 am Mass | St. Giles Church
The Epiphany of the Lord, Sunday, January 5 Regular Weekend Mass Schedule
Prayer in the Spirit of Taizé for World Day of Peace
7:30 pm | Ascension Church
Baptism of the Lord, Sunday, January 12 Regular Weekend Mass Schedule
e Epiphany of the Lord, Sunday, January 5
Regular Weekend Mass Schedule
Baptism of the Lord, Sunday, January 12 Regular Weekend Mass Schedule
For additional information about parish and Catholic Community of Oak Park liturgies, including livestream schedules and links, please see one of our parish websites. ascensionoakpark.org stgilesparish.org
For additional information about parish and Catholic Community of Oak Park liturgies, including livestream schedules and links, please see one of our parish websites.
ascensionoakpark.org stgilesparish.org
By LACEY SIKORA Contributing Reporter
Like a lot of local designers, Kathryn Humphreys’ interest in interior design grew exponentially when she moved to Oak Park in 2003 and took on an older home that needed a lot of work.
On that first house, she remodeled her kitchen and redecorated much of the home.
Despite her newfound interest in home design, she ke pt her day job as the education director for Hubbard Street Dance.
Humphreys says that understanding how a space ts a person’s needs is her ‘superpower.’
Gradually, her friends started asking her for design help in their houses, and she started taking design classes. “I realized that this was something I was interested in and good at,” she says.
She eventually transitioned to a fulltime design career around 2018 when she for med an LLC and hung out her shingle as Kathryn Murphy Interiors.
Over the past six years, she has built a client base throughout the western suburbs and Chicago, with the occasional remote project for clients in far-flung states
or with nearby vacation homes
Humphreys says that her long tenure in the world of dance continues to inform her work.
“It helps a lot with this career. Understanding how people move in spaces and managing projects with multiple stakeholders are skills that I use in every project,” she said.
For everyone dreaming of a design career and envisioning days built around wallpaper samples and fabric swatches, Humphreys pointed out: “The pretty stuff is about 5% of
the job. Managing the project and listening to people is the bulk of the work.”
Humphreys said that a large part of her work, particularly in the area’s older homes, is looking at a space and understanding how she might be able to maximize it or adjust it.
“Walls are not always as solid as we may think,” she said. “One of my superpowers is thinking how space can meet people’s needs. I’ve spent my life thinking about
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how people move through space.”
She acknowledged that design can be overwhelming for a lot of people. With the proliferation of images on the internet, clients can worry about things being too trendy or aren’t sure how they can apply what they’ve seen into their own homes.
In Oak Park and River Forest, the homes have very distinct styles, and even the architecturally significant homes are not what people see in design magazines, Humphreys pointed out.
“People here don’t want cookie cutter. People can put together Pinterest boards, but it’s my job to interpret that for their space.”
Recognizing that design is a luxury service, Humphreys offers several different package choices for clients on her website: https://www.kmurphyinteriors.com/.
“Some of this reflects my not-for-profit background,” she said, noting that not everyone can af ford or needs a full “soup to nuts” design process.
She offers full-service renovation guidance, which can take 6 to 12 months, and full-service furniture services, which can take 3 to 6 months. On the other side of the design spectrum, she offers one-day intensives and consultations that are designed to help clients work their way through specific questions.
No matter which package a client chooses, Humphreys stressed that her firm’s cli-
ents drive the design process.
“It’s really fun to sit with people and help them think about how to make their lives better, about the possibilities of how they can live in their homes in a way that is authentic to them.”
When asked to choose a favorite project, Humphreys demurred.
“My favo rite project is the one I j ust finished.”
That said, one continuity in her work is the use of color. In addition, her portfolio tells the story of how to adapt older homes into what people need to live their lives today.
In one case, Humphreys turned an awkward space into a ‘destination study.’
For a client’s vacation home in Michigan, Humphreys said the project, which focused on light and color, also needed to accommodate wet swimsuits on the furniture. The project presented a challenge in fabric choices, but she said the end result was a home that works for the beach location while bringing in the blues and greens of the outside landscape.
In an Oak Park home, she rethought a space in an awkward addition that had windows looking out onto an air-conditioning unit. With statement yellow wallpaper and a vintage-inspired fireplace that looks original to the home, she remade the room
into a destination study.
In another Oak Park project, she took an older home with a surplus of bedrooms and created the second-floor laundry space of the family’s dreams, complete with blue cabinets and fanciful wallpaper.
At the end of the day, Humphreys said, that her clients’ happiness is what furthers her career.
“If we do it right, people want to recommend us.”
Her team consists of four people, and there is plenty to look forward to in the new year with plans to open a Kathryn Murphy Interiors studio in Forest Park in 2025.
DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSIONS IS FRIDAY 5 P.M.
Call Viewpoints editor
Ken Trainor at 613-3310
ktrainor@wjinc.com
Let’s talk for a minute about health-care insurance and monopolies:
Insurance companies have been in the news lately, since the reprehensible gunning down of the United Healthcare CEO in New York. That unfortunate event has prompted a discussion.
Federal antitrust law is designed to increase competition in general and prevent monopolies in particular industries and markets because monopolies lead to higher prices and poorer service.
Think of Andrew Carnegie’s US Steel and President Teddy Roosevelt’s “trustbusters” who broke up consolidating and conspiring steel manufacturers. For strange historic reasons, only two businesses remain exempt from federal antitrust laws. One is Major League Baseball, because of an idiosyncratic U.S. Supreme Court decision in the 1920s. As a result, owners of Major League Baseball teams can conspire all they want to limit expansion to other cities, to the detriment of players and fans
The second? The insurance industry — especially health insurance companies — because in theory (but not practice as we will see), they are regulated by the states. In fact, most states have handed health insurance companies a monopoly. As an extreme example, the state of Alabama has only one insurance company. In Illinois, we have an 800-pound gorilla called Illinois Blue Cross Blue Shield. It has the majority of insureds in Chicagoland, and the majority of Illinois Affordable Care Act policyholders. As a monopolist, Illinois Blue Cross acts exactly the way you would expect a monopolist to act. Premiums are higher and policy coverage is more limited.
By midnight Dec. 15, those of us with health care coverage under the Affordable Care Act had to commit to an insurer for 2025.
Here is one little example that is affecting me: I have a complex and relatively rare medical issue and so I receive care at the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio. I signed up for my Illinois Blue Cross Affordable Care Act policy early after making sure my providers in Cleveland were covered. But on the after noon of December 14, my friendly Oak Park postal employee delivered to me a letter from Illinois Blue Cross dated Dec. 8.
That letter stated, under the policy I had already signed, any out-of-state treatment, including at Cleveland Clinic, would be excluded from coverage, effective January 1, 2025.
You might ask, how can an Illinois insurer in good faith send a notice eliminating coverage that arrives on the afternoon of the last day that it’s possible to change insurers?
Because that’s what monopolists do
You can’t expect an 800-pound gorilla to act rationally when bananas are around. And you can expect an Illinois health-care insurer to behave badly when it can reduce coverage
One solution? One that would strike fear in any partially blocked arteries of health-care insurance executives at Illinois Blue Cross/Blue Shield?
Remove the exemption from federal antitrust laws for health insurance companies and let them compete fairly like any other business
Jack Crowe works with Cristo Rey Network, Year Up Chicago and the Oak Park Family Transitional Shelter.
We call this the holiday season, the time between Thanksgiving and Christmas. But for many of us, “the world is too much with us,” as Wordsworth put it in a poem decrying the denatured, materialist world he lived in. For us, it means facing the naked threat of hate and aggrievement winning out over love and acceptance, of craven loyalty to an aspiring autocrat over dedication to the rule of law without fear or favor, to name only a few of the Trump election’s disastrous consequences.
Special Oak Park Hanukkah edition
moment, they were not weapontoting enemies, but fellow human beings who, in most cases, shared the Christian tradition of celebrating the birth of the Prince of Peace, the baby Jesus. It was a precious moment of divine light in what came to be a fouryears-long night of devastating, demonic darkness
e Illust rated London News illustration of the Christmas Truce.
In 1914, World War I’s early days, the clash between the mighty forces of imperial Ger many and Allied forces, battling on the so-called Wester n Front, ground down, literally, into trenches separated by narrow No Man’s Lands. Each could hear the others’ voices and even smell each others’ cooking and other odors. Days and months of futile immobility, yet constant, deadly danger, wore on the spirits of the front-line foot soldiers, far removed from the high commands who plotted lofty strategy in secure war rooms. Their fate was totally beyond their control. They were expendable, powerless pawns in a cruel, deadly chess game But then came what was later called the Christmas Truce (search the inter net for details). What happened — there have always been widely varying accounts — is far less important than that it unquestionably did happen. One of the most affecting versions is that, in the latenight hush of Christmas Eve, a lone voice singing “Stille Nacht” — or perhaps “Silent Night” — soared over No Man’s Land, joined soon after by those on the other side singing it in their language. During the hours that followed on Christmas Day, they met person to person, open hands clasping open hands, smiles answering smiles, sharing food and drink. In that shining
Over those 1,418 days, all notions of heroism, nobility, grace, and glory died in this grinding, gruesome, grotesque conflict that took the flower of youth from those on all sides. In the aftermath, as is their calling and their gift, some poets took to discerning and distilling the truth of the horrendous matter Most memorable are W.B. Yeats’ words that have rung true for me in trying past times, but at no time so much as now. They are in his poem, “The Second Coming.” While his vision of a Second Coming is contrary to the Christian hope of Jesus’ promised second coming, his description of the current crisis rings ever so clear: “Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold; / Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world, / the blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere / The ceremony of innocence is drowned; / The best lack all conviction, while the worst / Are full of passionate intensity.”
Fellow citizens, his diagnosis of what is lacking is implicitly a call to action — our concerted action — to flip the script: Commit to the fair and equal rule of law; commit to genuine constitutional commitment; stand against violence of every kind; foster justice for all, without discrimination.
It will take clarity, courage, and long-haul commitment.
But what choice do we really have, as true patriots?
Fred Reklau, a minister, is a resident of Oak Park.
usan Buchanan, an Oak Park village trustee, is right. As Oak Park’s gover nment and the Housing Forward nonprofit continue talking about how best to move the unhoused from local streets into at least temporary shelter and also how to fund that effort, Buchanan said at a recent board meeting, “The goal is to actually get shelter for unhoused people.”
That was in response to Trustee Ravi Parakkat’s concern that the continued presence of unhoused people along the Metra tracks in downtown Oak Park is disconcerting to some and might hamper investment in the community. Parakkat’s comments were wrapped in his expressed desire to find holistic solutions that are also affordable for Oak Park.
As cold weather and the holidays arrive, Housing Forward’s Lynda Schueler has asked the village to consider spending some $800,000 to pay for expansion of two programs that might help move people off the streets. One program would double to four the number of outreach staff the agency directs to Oak Park to make direct connections with unhoused individuals as a necessary step to finding shelter. The other investment, she said, would speed the move of people from temporary shelter — think the old PADS model of over night cots and meals — into interim housing solutions, and those in interim housing into per manent housing. This is currently the bottleneck in the system.
Schueler acknowledges these are not foolproof solutions but are critical investments. While the proposal has supporters on the board — Buchanan, fellow trustees Enyia, Wesley and Straw and President Vicki Scaman — the board took no immediate action. The topic will likely retur n to the board table in January.
We are supportive, too. But we don’t dismiss Parakkat’s concer ns or find them simply insensitive. One can be troubled by the presence of unhoused people downtown and still have compassion for their situation and seek remedies. And there is the reality that Oak Park by itself cannot solve this societal failing.
Back in 1989 an alliance of the LGBTQ+ community was for med in Oak Park. The Oak Park Lesbian and Gay Association (OPLGA) was progressive for its time and had great impact through both advocacy and presence in making the village an active and welcoming destination for new LGBTQ+ residents.
That success was reflected in 1995 when the group added the word “Area” to its name as confirmation that the village was no longer an island of welcome. And just a few years ago, in 2019, a plus sign was added to the group’s name to acknowledge the growing number of identities needing inclusion.
Now we report that in 2025 OPALGA+ is likely to fully change its name. Its leaders acknowledge that some have found the current name too limiting and not inclusive enough.
The proposed new name: Out with Purpose
In a moment when the rights of some, including trans and nonbinary people, are attacked from places of fear and hate, when those voices are being elevated and turned into legislation, being out with purpose is a powerful message
Last Saturday, Christmas paid a visit. You never know when it’s going to show up. All you can do is create the conditions. Sometimes Christmas just needs an invitation. First I drove out and picked up my two most reliable seasonal collaborators, the boys whom Christmas seems to follow around most of the year. Halloween throws Christmas of f track momentarily, but that’s only because the boys are in disguise. This year Tyler was a leprechaun and Bryce a hot dog (in a bun). Once the costumes come off, though, they break out the Santa hats and wear them nonstop from Thanksgiving on. To school, to bed. Wherever my grandsons are, Christmas isn’t far behind, so I invited them to help me pick out a tree, put it up and trim it. Some kids shovel snow for spending money. Tyler and Bryce could decorate Christmas trees for a living. But first we had to acquire said tree. I do it later than most. Ten days out. If you buy a tree too early, it dries out by Christmas. The boys tell me that some people still wait till Christmas Eve.
While I make lunch (my famous bowtie pasta with bacon), they start hanging ribbons and stockings and dangling trinkets from every available knob and drawer handle, then stand on the radiator cover to outline the living-room windows with the extra lights. Bryce also lines up my extensive collection of Christkindlmarket mugs in chronological order, creating an attractive centerpiece for my dining room table.
We pause to eat and the reminiscing begins. We can’t put up a tree without resurrecting all the other trees, retrievable or remindable, from our shared memory bank. In my case that’s a lot of trees. The memories multiply as the hanging of ornaments ensues. Some have achieved iconic status. The typewriter ornament, which they gave me because I’m a writer, goes on first. Then the maple syrup bottle (also their gift), a nod to my inviolable rule that we use only real syrup on our pancakes whenever we go out to breakfast.
We drove to Rehm Park, where Joe Dombrowski and his troop from Michigan’s Upper Peninsula set up each year, sleeping in their camper. It just doesn’t feel right to grab a wrapped tree from some large chain store. We prefer browsing through a small forest of unfurled firs. After salivating over the over priced Frasers, we settled, as always, for a slightly less overpriced Balsam. After a good 10 minutes of careful perusing, we found our “home run” tree. One of the guys put it through the meshwrap dispenser and tied it on top of our car. We love being part of the tree-topped motorcade cruising up the avenue in mid-December.
The boys are big enough now to carry the tree upstairs to my apar tment, leaving behind the telltale trail of needles. They’ re also strong enough to screw the tree into the stand as I hold it upright. I spin some Christmas tunes while they invade the living room closet to excavate the ornament boxes and sundry seasonal accoutrement, including the lights, which they unsnarl and test and begin feeding me as we circle the tree, fitting the wiring over branches to anchor them. Tyler sings Christmas carols as we wind around.
After that, it’s a free-for-all, with running commentary provided because ornaments are reflections of our personal preferences and histories (animals, food, birds, cartoon characters, etc.). Bryce is intrigued by the three penguins on a sled wearing knit hats because he and Tyler joined the Crochet Club at school this year (along with Drama Club and Band). They keep busy. We plumb the mystery of ornaments of indeterminate origin — and appreciate the charm of glittering baubles (reflecting their evolving aesthetics). At the end, it’s Tyler’s turn to plant the star on top, which Bryce will remind us about next year. When all is done, and in some cases redone, we stand back in admiration, take a few photos, then I serve up mugs of hot chocolate, while they clean up the boxes and wrappers. We inhale the piney scent and they discuss their theories on how Santa will gain entry to my fireplace-less abode.
The tree looks radiant, I thank my lucky stars to have such wonderful assistance, and at some point during all of this I notice that Christmas has quietly joined us.
It must have something to do with creating the conditions.
With a big boost from two very able enablers.
SHRUB TO WN by Marc Stopeck
Local is important to both of us. Local dining, local shopping, local coffee shops, local news We are fortunate to live in a community that is educated, infor med and engaged. We also are lucky to live in a community with continual, active news coverage from the reporters of Wednesday Journal. We are lucky because active community news coverage is rapidly disappearing in other towns and cities throughout the country. In fact, in some communities, it simply no longer exists. According to the Northwester n University 2024 Medill State of Local News Report, more than 3,200 papers nationwide have been lost since 2005. In Illinois alone, 36% of news outlets disappeared in that timespan. While serving in leadership roles within our home communities of Oak Park and River Forest — Bob as village trustee on the Village of Oak Park Board, and Kristin as President/CEO of the Oak Park-River Forest Community Foundation — we witnessed the significance of our local news outlet, even when we may not have agreed with every editorial.
Where else would residents receive for mal, professional reporting to lear n about the topics, votes, and, sometimes, controversies from the village board meeting? What better
single source exists to highlight the impact of local nonprofits or educate community members on how to volunteer for local causes? Although our current day jobs require us to focus on broader issues in the Chicago region, we each continue deep involvement in the communities we call home. Each of us relies on Wednesday Journal’s weekly print publication, regular email updates, and timely breaking news notifications to stay infor med
We and our spouses, Vicki Tucker and Shawn Vogen, subscribe to Wednesday Journal. We contribute annually to Growing Community Media, its parent nonprofit organization, because we support its critical mission to publish authentic, independent, local community news across seven communities on the West Side of Chicago and its suburbs. We believe in community journalism now more than ever. Friends, neighbors, and community members: Please join us. We invite you to go local and include Growing Community Media in your year-end giving (oakpark.com/donate).
Kristin Carlson Vogen
Former CEO, OP-RF Community Foundation
Bob Tucker
Former Oak Park village trustee
of Oak Park and River Forest
e goal of the Viewpoints section is to foster and facilitate a community conversation and respectful dialogue. Responsible community voices are vital to community journalism and we welcome them. Space is at a premium and readers’ attention is also limited, so we ask that Viewpoints submissions be brief. Our limit for letters to the editor is 350 words. For One View essays, the limit is 500 words. Shorter is better. If and when we have su cient space, we print longer submissions, but when space is limited — as it o en is — we may ask you to submit a shorter version or hold the piece until space allows us to print it.
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This year ended tragically with the loss of Detective Reddins in the line of duty. Let’s keep him, his loved ones, and his colleagues in our hearts
We have a diverse and talented village board, and I’m proud of the progress we’ve made on some important initiatives:
■ Adoption of a housing study to address community housing needs
■ Development of the Oak Park Avenue streetscape plan
■ Launch of the Alternate Call Response pilot program and Vision Zero for pedestrian and bike safety
■ Advancements in energy efficiency benchmarking
■ Inclusive DEI events and expanded language access
■ A 3.5% tax levy increase, maintaining fiscal responsibility over the past four budgets, which I supported (3%, 0%, 3%, and 3.5%)
These accomplishments hold promise, but our broader progress has been hindered by a distracted agenda lacking focus and prioritization. The figure below highlights recent examples to illustrate my concer ns and most importantly, their impact on you.
Missteps and missed opportunities
2024 highlighted the village’s well-intentioned but inefficient and inequitable migrant response. While 200 individuals were rehoused, the process consumed six months of staff time, neglecting critical board goals and essential functions
This lack of focus and prioritization left us with unproductive board meetings, no CFO, no racial equity assessment, no economic vitality plan, no long term financial plan and an unresolved homelessness crisis
The critical need for a new police facility has been delayed by over two years due to its misguided linkage to an unnecessary, $150 million Civic Center proposal. Construction costs have risen, and community safety remains compromised with 30% of police positions unfilled. This misstep underscores the need to prioritize and separate the police facility discussion from a broader village hall discussion where an average Oak Parker spends less than 5 minutes a year E ective use of tax dollars
High taxes should ensure excellent ser-
I appreciated the anguish Tara Meyer Dull described after a political yard sign was pulled out and the tires of three cars slashed in her driveway [What else is in your toolbox? Wednesday Journal Viewpoints, Dec. 10]. It’s alarming and potentially withering that we are now in this space where political disagreements are expressed through violence and property assault. I too have been spending time trying to figure out my personal and public response to the changes in our social-political culture over the past decade or so Self-care strategies seem essential. Ms Dull’s description of what is in her Emotional Toolkit helped to expand my list. And I am impressed by her journaling — a discipline I have long aspired to develop I am acutely aware that a public approach is also required, and I am restless and tor n about my outward-facing response to the times we find ourselves in. One response, however, has been clear, unequivocal, and mandatory in our time of fragmentation and conflicting realities.
vices, but recent decisions have fallen short. A rushed overhaul of leaf collection resulted in a less sustainable, costlier system that disproportionately impacts seniors and disabled residents Staff resources were redirected to migrant support, while local homelessness and panhandling in parks and business districts remain unaddressed. Additionally, $1 million was hastily allocated in the 2025 budget to acquire and/or renovate Percy Julian’s private home without transparency or planning, while also increasing village board compensation to the highest in the region.
In 2023, we dissolved the Oak Park Economic Development Corporation (OPEDC) but failed to replace it with a new plan or tools for promoting growth. Consequently, investment in our community has stagnated, impacting future economic vitality
Rising taxes are making it harder for middle-income families and seniors to stay, eroding Oak Park’s economic diversity. Eq-
uity initiatives, while passionately pursued, have yielded little measurable progress, and the racial equity assessment remains delayed due to a distracted agenda.
Are we on the right track?
No. I believe Oak Park residents deserve leadership with a clear vision and focused on issues most important to the community That’s why I’m running for village president. My priorities for the next four years include:
■ Attracting $500 million in private investments to strengthen our economy
■ Making Oak Park easier, equitable, and sustainable for residents and businesses
■ Implementing Vision Zero and the Berry Dunn police reforms, including building a cost-effective police facility
■ Protecting socio-economic diversity through prudent fiscal decisions
■ Strengthening community bonds and vitality through art, architecture, music, events, entertainment, and tourism
With innovation, focused leadership, and community support, we can move off the hamster wheel and achieve real progress. Let’s get it done — together
Ravi Parakkat is an Oak Park village trustee
An essential component of anyone’s toolkit, emotional or otherwise, is to have the resources that Growing Community Media (GCM) offers through its four publications: Wednesday Jour nal, Austin Weekly News, Forest Park Review, and Riverside-Brookfield Landmark. It’s a basic first step.
Public squares are vital to the life of communities. More than ever, we need a source of reliable information about our community, one that fosters a shared sense of place and connection, and sustains the underpinnings of our democratic processes, including gover nment oversight. Let’s work together to make sure ours does not wither:
1. Subscribe to one of Growing Community Media’s publications; and
2. Contribute routinely and annually to Growing Community Media (oakpark. com/donate).
As a nonprofit, GCM relies on all of us to contribute financially, year in and year out to survive and to thrive.
Carolyn
Newberry Schwartz, Oak Park
A community newspaper tells us everything to know about its community. It is representative of the people who lived and live there. It tells stories about its residents, recent happenings in town, and plans for events ahead The editorials speak to issues we’re facing, and its viewpoints share voices of those with something to say.
In Oak Park, Wednesday Jour nal is our connection to everything — the people who live here, local events, neighbors in need, problems to solve, resources to find, and the support systems we crave. It tells us about the YMCA after-school program, the library, our church communities, Far mers Market, parades, Porchfests, community meetings, school concerts and sports, historic Oak Park celebrations and opportunities to get involved, finding solutions and creating change when and where necessary. We can see signs of a great community in Oak Park through the pages of Wednesday Journal.
It’s so easy to take for granted the hard
work and resources needed to produce this weekly one-stop-shop we know as Wednesday Jour nal, as well as the other three community papers published by Growing Community Media: Austin Weekly News, Forest Park Review, and Landmark. They all serve as vital hubs connecting residents and fostering informed engagement on local issues
This is community-supported jour nalism at its best. And as a nonprofit organization, Growing Community Media relies on the support of readers.
I encourage you to consider the key role community news plays in your life and in the vitality of our communities. Please consider making a financial contribution to ensure its sustainability and to fuel its mission (oakpark. com/donate) — especially now as we ready for a new year when our voices will be needed more than ever!
Robyn Ziegler Member of the Growing Community Media Development Steering Committee
Why are women still fighting for equality in 2024? The gender pay gap persists Reproductive freedoms are under attack postDobbs. Women across the U.S. face unfair treatment in pay, health care, and beyond. The election empowered forces adamantly opposed to women’s rights. There is no time to lose: we must demand action now
The Equal Rights Amendment states: “Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex.” It has met every requirement to become the 28th Amendment to the Constitution. In 2020, Virginia became the 38th state to ratify it, fulfilling the process outlined in Article V.
Yet the ERA remains unpublished — blocked by a non-binding advisory opinion from Trump’s Dept. of Justice Without the ERA, there’s no clear constitutional protection against sex-based discrimination. Women remain vulnerable to exploitation, inequality, and erosion of our rights. The ERA would provide a powerful legal foundation to address unfair treatment in pay, health care, and beyond In states with their own ERAs, courts have used the amendments to strike down unjust laws, showing how a federal ERA could help fight sex-based discrimination nationally.
President Biden has the power to fix this. He can direct the archivist to fulfill their legal duty and publish the ERA, enshrining sex equality in the Constitution. Every day he doesn’t act is a failure of leadership.
What You Can Do:
1. Flood Biden’s Office: Write to him every day. Email, call, send letters. Demand action.
2. Light Up Your Networks: Share this message on social media, with friends, family, and your communities. Start conversations and amplify the urgency. Encourage everyone you know to do the same. Together, we can create a movement too powerful to ignore.
Republicans wouldn’t hesitate to amend the Constitution if it served their agenda. So why should we hold back? The ERA is our sword and shield in an era of open hostility to women’s rights This is about our future. Our freedom. Our equality. Demand the publication of the ERA. The time is now.
Molly Hall Oak Park
I understand how dif ficult it is for the River Forest Park District to deal with parents and coaches in what was described in Wednesday Jour nal recently as a “contentious” meeting. However, I wish they would have made the decision without acquiescing. Not many people attend park board meetings, so those in attendance were there with a particular but (I believe) misguided perspective.
How exciting it would be for young River Forest softball players to be able to play on a Division 3 college softball field. They would be able to go to games, get to know the players and coaches, and maybe aspire to play at Dominican. And they would benefit from the improved quality of the field
We are a community and Dominican University is an important part of our
community. There is also an issue of sexism in sports Take a look at high school facilities and you will notice boys have easy access to fields while girls are given whatever space is left. Sending the Dominican players to Rosemont is unfortunate when a much better alter native is right in their backyard.
College softball schedules end in May, which is when girls’ softball is just starting their season. With no disrespect intended, I do know that Little League coaches have a reputation for being territorial about field usage. However, the parks do not belong to them — they belong to the community. According to the Jour nal article, Dominican would pay River Forest $20,000 a year (with a renewable 3-year contract).
Despite arguments to the contrary, it
seems there would be little disruption to Little League scheduling. During practice, Dominican players would be of f the field by 4:30. If there are Little League games in May, Dominican could play doubleheaders on Sunday, when the Little Leaguers do not play.
I offer this perspective as one with no skin in the game, so to speak. I have no connection to Dominican and I have no children who would be impacted. My interest is simply as a member of the community who would like to see the park board approve this mutually beneficial proposal. I hope the River Forest Park Board will reconsider this proposal and support female athletes
Rose Meyer stood tall, in word and deed
“I am standing,” the barely 5-foot-tall Rose Meyer would declare during her campaign for village trustee at age 80, a gentle jest that captured both her wonderful sense of humor and indomitable spirit. While Rose may have been small in stature, her presence in our community towers without limit.
That she would wage a passionate campaign for trustee at 80 speaks volumes about her dedication to Oak Park. Though she didn’t win the election, her campaign embodied something far more valuable than victory — it showed us that civic engagement knows no age limit, and that fighting for one’s community is a lifelong calling Rose was a vital force in Oak Park’s New Leadership Coalition, often presiding over meetings with wisdom and grace. She understood deeply that thoughtful development didn’t mean choosing between progress and preservation. Through her work with the coalition, she championed a vision of Oak Park that honored both our architectural heritage and the need for
careful evolution. She believed our village could embrace change while protecting the historical integrity that makes Oak Park unique — particularly its architectural legacy and commitment to the public good.
Her fierce opposition to the Whiteco development stemmed from this nuanced understanding of responsible community stewardship. She didn’t just disagree with the project; she saw how it failed to honor our community’s rich historical character and potential. For Rose, preserving Oak Park’s heritage wasn’t about stopping progress — it was about ensuring that progress enhanced rather than diminished our village’s special character
to her character, informing how she approached both personal interactions and complex political issues. She understood that treating others with dignity and pursuing justice weren’t just abstract concepts but daily obligations.
Rose’s legacy as a neighbor, advocate, and coalition leader reminds us that true leadership combines wisdom with kindness, and that one person’s dedication to community can uplift us all. She was smart, funny, knowledgeable, and above all, kind — qualities that made her not just a passionate civic activist but a beloved member of our community.
What truly set Rose apart was her genuine interest in people. She never rushed through conversations, taking time to truly listen to residents’ concer ns. Her Jewish heritage and its values were fundamental
Though we have lost Rose’s physical presence, her impact on Oak Park endures. She showed us that when we stand for our principles while respecting others, we stand tall indeed
I was devastated by the front-page story last week, that the board was unsure whether Oak Park could af ford $800,000 for Housing Forward’s clear and detailed plan to address the homelessness crisis in the village. Imagine then my surprise to tur n the page and see that we can
af ford $1 million to preserve a private home with absolutely no plan of how that money will be spent. There is certainly good reason for the village to financially support restoration or back taxes on the home, given the family’s history in the village, but given the scope of work that’s
likely needed, perhaps it’s time for passionate and dedicated preservationists (like groups at the Hemingway Birthplace and the Wright Home & Studio) to start a nonprofit to fund that work.
Beth
Dr. Marilyn Janice Grow-Maienza (Janice Grow), of River Forest, died recently. She was a dedicated professor of education, who devoted her life to the study and advancement of elementary school curriculum. A staunch believer in the transformative power of education to better one’s life, she worked tirelessly to instill this belief in others.
Born in Wichita, Kansas, in 1933, she married Antonio Maienza, and they raised three sons in River Forest, where they benefited from one of the finest public school systems.
She then embarked on her own academic journey, earning her master’s and doctoral de grees from the University of Chicago in the 1970s. She taught and conducted re search on the Rosebud Reservation in Mission, South Dakota; in Jakarta, Indonesia; and in Pusan, South Korea. Eventually, she joined Truman State University as a professor of Education, where she found both her professional home and her life partner, Charles Chamberlain Frost.
ents, Cecil and Ruby, along with many other members of the Grow fami ly, are buried near Hogansburg, close to Messina, New York. A celebration of her life will take place during the Grow Family Reunion on July 4th in Saratoga, New York at 1 p.m. Interment will be held at St. Patrick Cemetery, Hogansburg, New York on July 3rd at 10:30 a.m
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Maienza Family Scholarship Fund at Oak Park and River Forest High School. Go to: //DonorBox.org/legacy-of-learningthe-maienza-scholarship-fund. Established by her three sons with an endowment left in her honor, and guided by her grandchildren, this fund ensures Dr. Grow’s passion for learning continues to inspire future generations and create a lasting “Legacy of Learning.”
Dr. Grow’s research and publications were groundbreaking, focusing on adapting the Korean mathematics teaching model for elementary school students in a Western curriculum. Her work bridged cultural and educational practices.
She leaves behind her husband, Charles; her three sons, Michael (Susan), John (Gregg Wilson), and Charles “Chuck” (Jenni); her grandchildren, Meredith (mother of Emma), Michael, Cathryn, and Paul. Her great-granddaughter was a special joy in her later years.
Janice will be laid to rest where her pa
Joseph Anthony English, 80, formerly of Chicago’s Austin Village neighborhood, died after a brief illness on the morning of Aug. 19, 2024, in the company of trusted friends and caregivers at his vacation home in the Caribbean nation of the Dominican Re public.
Born on March 17, 1944, he received a B.A. (Cum Laude) from Colorado University and an M.A. from Rice University, which he attended on a Woodrow Wilson Fellowship. He went on to teach English for 16 years (Mr. English taught English!) at Triton Colle ge in River Grove. Having a lifelong interest in housing and social issues, in 1988 he founded Oak Park Real Estate Inc., committed to providing decent,
safe, and af fordable housing and working tirelessly to do so. He owned and managed apar tment buildings throughout the West Side of Chicago, Oak Park, and Chicago’s western suburbs, serving as a member of the Board of Directors for Austin Bank of Chicago for 13 years.
He was a 50-year resident of the Austin neighborhood, which he loved deeply. He was fond of saying, “The West Side is the Best Side!” and was instrumental in founding the annual Austin Village House Walk tour.
A strong supporter and believer in the Learning Network, an independent neighborhood elementary school, he was an “out of the box thinker,” who would often find a creative way to do things that others thought not possible, to the amazement of his associates! He loved traveling and surrounding himself with people. He was particularly attached to Jamaica, visiting there more than a hundred times throughout his life. A lifelong lover of language, he wrote often and profusely. His writings on housing issues have been published in the Chicago Tribune, the Chicago Sun-Times, and the Reader newspapers. For a time, he was published re gularly in the Austin Weekly News under “Austin’s English.” An accomplished author, his late-in-life writing included the novel Somebody Else’s Troubles.
Joe was preceded in death by his parents, George and Sophia; his sisters, Sally and Celia; and his life partner, Joe Towe. He is survived by his brother, George English; his sister, Annette (Edward) Salomon; his son, Aaron English; his daughter, Carmen English; and his nieces, Ashley Salomon and Claire Salomon.
A private celebration of his life was held in Sosua, Dominican Re public.
Joe’s advice, kindness, and generosity will be remembered well and he will be much missed.
Questions may be directed to Joe’s longtime Business Par tner, Paul Godlewski of Town Center Realty Group LLC by email to mrpaul.tcrg@gmail.com.
Frances R. Crumpler, 80, died at her home in Louisville, Kentucky on Nov. 5, 2024. Born on Aug. 22, 1944, she grew up in Oak Park, graduated from Oak Park and River Forest High School in 1962 and earned her bachelor’s degree from Illinois Wesleyan in 1966. She received her master’s degree in Education/Learning Disabilities, taught middle school, and was a horse trainer and riding instructor. Her deep love of horses began at a young age during her many visits to her grandfather’s horse farm Over the years, she received many awards and served as chairman of the USEF Saddlebred Committee for 17 years, chairman of UPHA Equitation Committee, USEF licensed judge and clinician for USEF judge’s classes. She was preceded in death by her parents, Paul and Claire Davis Rauth, and her brother, Paul Rauth Jr. She is survived by her husband, Kim Crumpler, whom she married in 1987; her sister and brother-in-law, Phyllis and Ray Sells; her stepson, Ehren Crumpler; her stepdaughter-in-law, Becca Crumpler; her grandsons, August & Aspen Crumpler; her nieces and nephews, Glen & Kelly Rauth, Paul Frederick Rauth, Margi Brown, Tom & Tamara Sells, and Yvonne & Carl Park; her great nieces and nephews, Selena Beers, Kris Rauth, Jenifer Cox and Taylor & Chance Spaulding; and numerous extended family members. Funeral services were held on Nov. 23 at the Middletown United Methodist Church, 11902 Old Shelbyville Road, Louisville, KY 40243. Arrangements were handled by Shannon Funeral Home in Shelbyville
Expressions of sympathy may be made to Wayside Christian Mission, P.O. Box 7249, Louisville, KY 40257 or Hosparus Health, P.O. Box 35425, Louisville, KY 40232.
By BILL STONE
Contributing Reporter
Caroline Mann and her Oak Park and River Forest High School girls gymnastics teammates have experienced plenty of changes.
After graduating five senior standouts from last year’s varsity lineup, Mann is the only senior in the program who has seen varsity and junior varsity I competition.
I have a lot of help from the juniors, who all take a lot of leadership roles.”
Juniors Alexis Henderson and Maisie Hoerster are the only returnees with significant varsity experience. Also on the varsity roster are juniors Claire Garnett and Teagan Lucas, sophomore Zoe Schwartz, and freshman Reese Hardy.
“It’s kind of special being the only senior,” Mann said. “It’s definitely really interesting. I’m all by myself and it’s hard to try and lift up the team by myself like I’m supposed to do, but
The Huskies posted a seasonhigh 125.90 points at Lyons Township (134.30), Dec. 11, and were seventh at Hinsdale Central’s Kim Estoque Invitational Saturday with a 125.525.
At Hinsdale Central, Henderson (8.35) and Schwartz (8.25) tied for 13th and 16th on floor exercise and Hoerster was 19th on balance beam (7.95). Henderson (8.35) and Schwartz (7.625) had top scores on vault and uneven parallel bars. A firstyear high-school gymnast, Schwartz has been among the top performers.
“We’ re re-creating a new varsity squad.
It’s kind of who wants this bad enough,” OPRF coach Kris Wright said. “It’s kind of a newer group but the junior girls are stepping up and we’ve got a lot of new faces coming in at the JV I level.”
It’s also a new training and competition setup. With construction at the high school, the gymnasts now are practicing at Tri-Star Gymnastics in Forest Park, where Wright also is one of the club coaches
Working with Tri-Star’s class schedule, the Huskies take a bus and practice there after school or at night. They will have one home meet, Jan. 23, against Morton to honor Mann.
Hoerster competed varsity as a freshman but missed all of last season with a partially torn posterior cruciate knee ligament, suffered right before the first meet.
“It’s kind of hard because we don’t have the [OPRF] gym, keeping at it with this new, different and kind of weird schedule, but we’ve all been doing great,” Mann said. “I think our energy is the best part of our team. We just have so much energy and so much fun that it’s making the team environment great.”
Last year’s season-high score was 134.70. At regionals, Henderson was among the five all-arounders for the Huskies (131.525) who just missed advancing to sectionals as a team for the sixth straight season.
“[Last season] was sad but that makes it even more special this year,” Hoerster said. “I’m back and I’m not injured anymore, so I can just do everything fully and it’s really fun. I missed it.”
The Huskies opened the season Dec. 7, taking sixth at the Rolling Meadows Invite (63.40). Eight gymnasts per team competed on one event each and two per event.
Junior Taylor Mathias-Edwards was seventh on vault (8.5), and Henderson 10th on uneven bars (7.75) at Rolling Meadows. Consuelo Emano Garcia also was promoted to compete on vault. Against Lyons Township, Schwartz was third on uneven bars (8.8) and Henderson tied for third on floor (8.1) and was four th in all-around (32.00).
Mann competed in varsity exhibition routines.
“It’s really fun helping out Caroline. It’s just special since there only is one senior,” Hoerster said. “We get to create a stronger bond with her.”
By MELVIN TATE Contributing Reporter
Earlier this month, Fenwick girls basketball alum Katie O’Grady (now Cunningham) received word that she will be inducted into the Illinois Basketball Coaches Association (IBCA) Hall of Fame. The ceremony takes place at CEFCU Arena, Illinois State University in Normal on May 3.
“It was really great and a nice surprise,” she said in a phone interview with Wednesday Journal.
O’Grady was a four-year varsity player at Fenwick from 1996 through 2000. Her 2,536 career points rank second in program history behind Tricia Liston. During her four seasons, the Friars won four consecutive East Suburban Catholic Conference championships, sharing the first two with Benet Academy and winning the final two outright, while compiling a record of 102-30. She made the All-ESCC Team all four years and was voted the conference’s Most Valuable Player three consecutive times. She also made the IBCA All-State Team her final three seasons, getting Class 3A/4A First Team honors in 2000 and Third Team honors in 1998 and 1999.
Raised on Chicago’s Northwest Side in the Jefferson Park and Portage Park neighborhoods, O’Grady, who attended elementary
COURTESY OF FENWICK HIGH SCHOOL
Fenwick guard Katie O’Grady (#12) makes a move during a game from the 1999-2000 season. O’Grady will be inducted next year into the Illinois High School Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame.
school at St. Robert Bellarmine, has fond memories of her Fenwick days.
“Oh God, there are so many,” she said. “We had a lot of battles against Benet; those were always really fun games to play. We beat
Marshall my senior year. And just the day in, day out practicing with my teammates; coach [Dave] Power made it a lot of fun.”
In O’Grady’s senior season of 1999-2000, Fenwick advanced downstate for the first time, finishing third in the IHSA Class AA state tournament with a 35-3 record. In her final high school game, O’Grady poured in 27 points to lead the Friars to a 63-44 victory over Galesburg in the third-place game
“We were going for first place,” O’Grady said. “It didn’t work out, but getting third place was good for the team and program at the time.”
Power, who is already in the IBCA Hall of Fame, calls O’Grady one of Fenwick’s alltime great players.
“Katie was captain of the first Fenwick team to go d ownstate,” he said. “What’s great about her is that she never cared about points, she just cared about her teammates and winning. Some kids can suck the air out of a team like a balloon. But some can blow it up in a positive way, and that’s what Katie always did. She was such fun to coach.”
O’Grady, who played collegiately at Marquette University, credits her success to Power as well as her teammates.
“Coach Power had an offensive mind for basketball that’s enviable,” she said. “With his plays and my teammates’ ability to get me the ball when I was open, that’s how
[the-then school record for career points] happened. It was a great environment to be around, and coach Power was great. I learned a lot about the game from him; he’s such a wonderful person who’s always there for you.”
While thrilled with the impending Hall of Fame induction, it comes at a challenging time for O’Grady, who is mourning the recent loss of her father
“It’s a little bittersweet,” she said, “but I know he’ll be there in spirit. He was my biggest supporter and he really loved girls’ and women’s basketball.”
She appreciates what the sport has meant to her.
“I never expected to make the Hall of Fame,” O’Grady said. “I just love the game of basketball; it’s such a fun sport to play There’s nothing like knowing that you’re going to have a game that day, the energy that you feel. But no, I didn’t think it would translate into this. It’s a really nice feeling.”
“It’s such a deserving honor for her to be inducted into the Hall of Fame,” Power said. “She’s a fun-loving girl, and it’s because of her success that a lot more players started coming to Fenwick. Katie was the beginning of our great run of success (16 consecutive ESCC titles and two AA state titles in 2001 and 2007 respectively). I’m so happy for her.”
By MELVIN TATE Contributing Reporter
The Oak Park and River Forest High School girls wrestling program looks different from recent years as a few familiar names — Sarah Ephstein, Tif fany and Trinity White among others — have moved on due to graduation. But there are several returnees looking to make a name for themselves, and second-year coach Patrick Woulfe likes how things have gone so far for the Huskies.
“The season is going as well as can be
expected,” he said. “Our strengths are that our girls love to compete and love the camaraderie of being on the team together.”
OPRF returned 12 from last year’s squad: seniors Kemaria Freeman (190 pounds), Pearl Lacey (120), and Lyra Schaafsma (155); juniors Caliyah Campbell (170), Maggie Herman (120-125), Michelle Kpekpe (130), Isabella Miller (140), Sofia Nicolosi (120-125, who missed the majority of the past two seasons with injuries), and Aliyah Siordia (105-110); and sophomores Maria Brennan (130-135), Kayla George (155), and Sophia Hinojosa (115-120). Campbell and Miller are the two returning Illinois Wres-
tlers Coaches Association All-Staters. Newcomers for the Huskies include freshmen Kai Henderson (190) and Elliana Martinez (190); sophomore Anna Rinaldi (140-145), and juniors Nerissa Blue (170), Cora Brown (145), and London Barnes (140145).
“We wouldn’t be the team we are without the ef for ts of coaches Phyllis Nash and Cam Neuman,” Woulfe said. “Their hard work and dedication really drive the successes of the girls.”
OPRF started this decision solidly, placing 13th out of 32 schools with 81 points at the Niles West Invitational, Nov. 30. Hino-
josa (12-12) placed fifth in the 120 lb. class; Lacey (16-11) was fourth at 125; and senior Meg an Barajas was fifth at 170.
The Huskies have some major upcoming invitationals: at Conant, Jan. 11; at Hoffman Estates, Jan. 17; and the West Suburban Conference championships, Jan. 25, at Addison Trail. In addition, OPRF hosts its own invitational, Jan. 22, and welcomes Mother McAuley for Senior Night, Jan. 30.
“The girls are learning a lot of wrestling and competing hard,” Woulfe said. “We’ve been hit pretty hard by the injury bug, but I’m excited to see where the girls are toward the end of the season.”
LEGAL NOTICE
NOTICE TO THE PUBLIC
Join the Conversation!
The Board of Education of Oak Park Elementary School District #97 will receive a sealed software application bid for District 97 schools located in Oak Park, IL, 60302, until 3:00 p.m. on Thursday, January 23, 2025. At this time sealed responses will be publicly opened and read at the meeting at 3:00 p.m.
LEGAL NOTICE
The front of the envelope should be clearly marked “Unified Communications/Phone System RFP - District 97 Schools”.
Additional information may be obtained by contacting Mr. Michael Arensdorff at (708) 5243015 or marensdorff@op97.org.
Faxed or electronically submitted bids will not be accepted. Any faxed or electronically submitted bid will disqualify vendors.
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 3:00 p.m. CST until 3:00 p.m. on Friday, January 10, 2025 for the following: Village of Oak Park UPM COLD MIX PATCH MATERIAL Bid Number: 25-107
Bid documents may be obtained from the Village’s website at http://www.oakpark.us/bid. For questions, please call Public Works at (708) 358-5700 during the above hours.
Published in Wednesday Journal December 18, 2024
LEGAL NOTICE
The River Forest Township Board of Trustees has approved the following meeting dates for 2025: RIVER FOREST TOWNSHIP BOARD OF TRUSTEES REGULAR MEETINGS
Tuesday, January 14, 2025
CALENDAR NUMBER: 21-24-Z
HEARING DATE: January 8, 2025
TIME: 7:00 p.m. or as soon thereafter as the Agenda permits
LOCATION OF HEARING: Room 201 (Council Chambers), Oak Park Village Hall, 123 Madison Street, Oak Park, Illinois, 60302
Downtown. Sun Wellness Corp., d/b/a/ Massage Envy, a massage service establishment, plans to operate on the ground floor of the building within 50 feet of Forest Avenue and Lake Street lot lines.
NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING
VILLAGE OF OAK PARK ZONING BOARD OF APPEALS
CALENDAR NUMBER: 22-24-Z
HEARING DATE: January 8, 2025
TIME: 7:00 p.m. or as soon thereafter as the Agenda permits
LOCATION OF HEARING: Room 201 (Council Chambers), Oak Park Village Hall, 123 Madison Street, Oak Park, Illinois, 60302
A copy of the application and applicable documents are on file and are available for inspection at Village Hall, Development Services Department, 123 Madison Street, Oak Park, Illinois 60302, Monday through Friday between 8:30 a.m. and 5:00 p.m.
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.
Follow us on Facebook and Instagram for local news you can use. @wednesdayjournal
Tuesday, February 18, 2025
Responses Due Date: Thursday, January 23, 2025 at 3:00 P.M.
Only those responses complying with the provision and specification of the response will be considered.
The Board of Education reserves the right to waive any informalities, qualifications, or irregularities and/ or reject any or all responses when in its opinion, such action will serve the best interest of the Board of Education of Oak Park Elementary School District 97.
Lonya Boose, Board Secretary Published in Wednesday Journal
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Meetings will take place in person at 6:00 PM at the River Forest Civic Center Authority (RFCCA) building. 8020 W. Madison Street, 2nd Floor, River Forest, IL 60305.
The River Forest Civic Center Authority Board of Managers approved the same meeting dates. The meetings of the River Forest Civic Center Authority Board of Managers will take place in the same location immediately following the River Forest Township Board of Trustees meetings.
Any changes in time, date or location as well as Zoom remote participation information will be posted in advance on the River Forest Township website (www.riverforesttownship.org), at the River Forest Civic Center Authority Building and at the River Forest Library.
Published in Wednesday Journal December 18, 2024
APPLICATION: The Zoning Board of Appeals (“ZBA”) will conduct a public hearing on a special use permit application filed by the Applicant, Sun Wellness Corp., d/b/a/ Massage Envy, to operate a massage service establishment pursuant to Section 8.3 (“Table 8-1: Use Matrix) of the Oak Park Zoning Ordinance at the property located at 971 Lake Street, Oak Park, Illinois, Property Index Number 16-07-128-031-0000, in the DT Downtown Business Zoning District.
In addition, Section 8.3 (Table 8-1: Use Matrix) prohibits massage service establishments 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
All interested persons will be given an opportunity to be heard at the public hearing. Interested persons may also sign up to participate in-person in the hearing to cross examine the applicant and its witnesses by submitting a cross-examination form or by emailing Zoning@oak-park.us before 5:00 PM on the day prior to the public hearing.
The public hearing may be adjourned by the ZBA to another date without further notice by public announcement at the hearing setting forth the time and place thereof.
APPLICATION: The Zoning Board of Appeals (“ZBA”) will conduct a public hearing on an application filed by the Applicant, Sergiy Zamula, seeking a variance from section 9.3 (B)(8)(a) of the Oak Park Zoning Ordinance, which section allows a basement accessory dwelling unit on a zoning lot within a singlefamily dwelling unit, to permit the construction of a basement accessory dwelling unit in the building of the existing twofamily dwelling unit by variance at the premises commonly known as 820 S. Maple Avenue, Oak Park, Illinois, Property Index Number 16-18-127-007-0000 (“Subject Property”), in the R-350 Single-Family Zoning District.
Published
All interested persons will be given an opportunity to be heard at the public hearing. Interested persons may also sign up to participate in-person in the hearing to cross examine the applicant and its witnesses by submitting a cross-examination form or by emailing Zoning@ oak-park.us before 5:00 PM on the day prior to the public hearing.
The public hearing may be adjourned by the Board to another date without further notice by public announcement at the hearing setting forth the time and place thereof.
LEGAL NOTICE
OF OAK PARK, ILLINOIS HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMISSION
PUBLIC NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that a public hearing will be held by the Village of Oak Park Historic Preservation Commission on January 9, 2025, at 7:30 p.m. in Council Chambers at the Oak Park Village Hall, 123 Madison Street, Oak Park, Illinois on the Historic Landmark nomination for 1132-42 Lake St, Oak Park, Illinois (P.I.N.: 16-07119-014-0000).
The public hearing is being held in accordance with the requirements of the Oak Park Historic Preservation Ordinance. The Historic Preservation Commission will take public testimony during the hearing and make and forward their recommendations to the Village Board of Trustees following the conclusion of the public hearing.
For further information on this matter contact the Department of Development Customer Services, Planning Division, Village of Oak Park, 123 Madison Street, Oak Park, Illinois Monday-Friday 8:30AM-5:00PM in person, by telephone at (708) 358-5443, or by email at historicpreservation@oak-park. us.
Weekly New Old Stock Tool Liquidation #16 Bidding Open NOW, Ending December 21st, 5PM 10307 South Michigan Ave Chicago, IL 60605, old stock tool liquidation brands like Starrett, Scherr Tumico, Klein, Rigid, Dewalt, Milwaukee, Makita, Machine & Regular shop tools and many more! See link on our auction calendar page for terms and conditions. https://www.taylorauction.net
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 3:00 p.m. local time until 3:00 p.m. on Friday, January 10, 2025 for the following:
Village of Oak Park 2025 Street Lighting & Traffic Control Materials Pricing Bid Number: 25-108 Bid documents may be obtained from the Village’s website at http://www.oakpark.us/bid. For questions, please call Public Works at (708) 358-5700 during the above hours.
Published in Wednesday Journal December 18, 2024