The Village Free Press_May 2017

the village free press Vol. I No. III | MAY 2017

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LOOK HERE!: Dominique Wallace and Jon Sylvester Jr. during their prom night in April. The two Proviso East seniors were shadowed the day of their prom by a reporter and two photographers.

Scenes from a dream

Prom is more than just a night, as we saw firsthand

By MICHAEL ROMAIN Editor

Dominique Wallace, a senior track star at Proviso East High School, is the youngest of Evelyn Wallace’s five kids. Her prom date,

Jon Sylvester Jr., is a senior at the school and a track star and the youngest of Lisa Shell’s five kids.

They are both college-bound. And for both of them, April 28 — prom night — is bittersweet.

“I wish his father was here,” says Shell as her son strolls through Wallace’s crowded living room with his track coaches and teammates beaming behind him. Many people in the house, located in Maywood, are seeing Sylvester

suited up for the first time during one of the biggest nights of his life.

Sylvester’s father, Jon Sylvester Sr., died around a decade ago. Wallace’s brother, Erskine Boddy IV, died last September from cancer.

Her grandmother, Janice Johnson, died earlier this year.

“I happen to know part of her story and so I hope she knows why I’m proud,” Wallace’s principal, Dr. Patrick Hardy, tells a small group gathered earlier during the day

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at the high school after it was announced that Wallace had won a prom-related essay contest.

“Everything you accomplish is for a reason and it pushes you to the next notch. It just fills that story up,” Hardy says.

If there’s a beginning to that story, it may well be some three decades ago in a classroom inside of Proviso West High School. Evelyn, a senior, was pregnant with her first child.

SEBASTION HIDALGO/SHANEL ROMAIN/Contributors

“I was in school when my bag broke,” Evelyn says. “I only needed one class to graduate.”

She went to work and then to Triton, taking night classes and working full-time during the day.

She put herself through nursing school. CNA, LPN and RN — in that order. Over that period, she got married and divorce and had more children until she looked up See PROM NIGHT on page 6

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Village Free Press | May 2017

the village free press Editor & Publisher Michael Romain Editorial Designer Claire Innes Strategic Consultant Kamil Brady Advertising Director Dawn Ferencak Advertising Design Support Andrew Mead Publishing partner Dan Haley We’re proud to partner with Wednesday Journal, Inc.

HOW TO REACH US Village Free Press c/o Wednesday Journal 141 S. Oak Park Ave. Oak Park, IL 60302 PHONE: 773-626-6332 FAX: 708-524-0447 thevillagefreepress.org Twitter: @village_free Facebook: @maywoodnews The Village Free Press is published on the third Wednesday of each month by Michael Romain. It is distributed free of charge at locations throughout Maywood. © 2017 Village Free Press “To learn to be human is to develop through the give and take of communication an effective sense of being an individually distinctive member of a community,” (John Dewey).

Movie on Fred Hampton’s life in the works Antoine Fuqua, the Academy Award-win- in a settlement worth nearly $2 million.

The Village Free Press first reported ning director of Training Day, is developing a film about Maywood native and Black about the prospects of a Fuqua film made about Hampton in DecemPanther icon Fred Hampber 2015. ton, according to numerous Hampton’s brother, media reports. Deadline Maywood resident and Hollywood broke the story. park district commis“The untitled movie sioner Bill Hampton, is a passion project for said at the time that proFuqua,” reported Variety. duction conversations “It’s based on Jeffrey Haas’ would begin in January book ‘The Assassination 2016, although he didn’t of Fred Hampton: How the know a precise timeline FBI and the Chicago Police for the film’s completion.

Murdered a Black Panther,’ Hampton said at the time which has been adapted by that the film would be Chris Smith.” loosely based on Haas’ Hampton was assassibook. nated in 1969 by a tactical Hampton said at the unit comprising FBI agents time that he hopes filmand Chicago police officers, ing takes place in Maywho were carrying out wood, as well as in places orders given by the Cook Antoine Fuqua in Chicago. He was also County State’s Attorney. hopeful that the film After his death, a 1982 civil lawsuit, filed by family members of Hamp- would hire local actors. ton and slain Panther Mark Clark, resulted CONTACT: thevillagefreepress@gmail.com

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VILLAGE people

Cassie Dodd, 28, is feeling free Cassie Dodd, a Maywood native, actress and full-time fashion designer, recently hosted a show in Chicago that featured the spring collection of her C. Marie Designs fashion line. Her clothing has also been featured during Black Fashion Week USA, among other platforms. Dodd, who graduated from Northern Illinois University, learned to sew at Proviso East High School, her other alma mater. In a recent email, Dodd explained her motivation and her journey in the world of design.

I learned the basics of sewing at Proviso East, but later I taught myself everything else about sewing and fashion. The class, fashion tech, was so much fun. Other than English, it was one of my favorite classes.

Although I got my bachelor’s degree in political science and public law, and community leadership and civic engagement in advocacy, I transitioned into sewing after college because my desire is to design. I’ve always been creative. As I saw members of my family going off to prom, the more I thought to myself, ‘Hey, I can make their dresses.’ So, in 2014, when one of my nieces started getting ready for prom, I took advantage of the opportunity to show what I could do. It went extremely well.

Right now, I design full-time and work as an extra on TV shows that film in Chicago like “Chicago PD,” “Chicago Justice,” “Chicago Fire,” “Empire” and others (to name a few).

On April 29, I hosted the first show, called The Emancipation of C. Marie Designs, to

feature only my designs at the Douglas Park Ballroom in Chicago. I displayed my bridal collection, summer wear and couture looks.

I drew my inspiration from ancient queendoms and Nubian warriors.

When I create, I’m naturally drawn to patterns and colors that reflect my African ancestors. I love sequin and all things glam, but African prints are my favorite. As Maya Angelou said, “I come as one but I stand as 10,000.”

I came as one, but people need to know that I am standing on the shoulders of the thousands that came before me. The ones who died for all of my opportunities to be educated, fearlessly creative and unapologetically me.

CONTACT: thevillagefreepress@gmail.com

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VILLAGE people

Tammera Holmes, Saved by Aviation

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On May 6, Tammera L. Holmes, a Maywood native and 1996 graduate of Proviso East High School, spoke at a monthly Maywood Youth Mentoring breakfast held at 200 S. 5th Ave. Holmes, a public speaker and aviation consultant, is the founder of AeroStar Corporation — an entity she founded in 2008 in order to recruit more minority young people into aviation, aerospace and STEM [Science, Technology, Engineering and Math] careers.

Holmes, who has garnered numerous accolades and plenty of national media attention, explained to a roomful of young people how airplanes saved her life. Below is a loosely transcribed excerpt of her talk.

In Maywood, there’s a former air field that was called Checkerboard Field, which sits right across the street from Loyola. That’s where Bessie Coleman [the first African American woman to hold a pilot license], flew in shows.

I didn’t find out until I was in my 20’s that Bessie came to my neighborhood and that she took off from the same area where I had my 17th birthday party. That was during the year I fell in love with aviation. I really feel like I share a connection with Bessie and with the land, the legacy and the historic value of Maywood.

But at the same time, I have some bad memories growing up here in poverty. In elementary school, we had the same books our parents had when they were in school. You could tell who had the books before you because there were names signed in them. We would literally find our parents’ names and our aunts’ and uncles’ names in those books.

That’s how old they were. Half of them were missing back and front covers, and were taped together.

But school was really easy for me. Life was hard. I was a really bad kid. I stayed in trouble. I was getting straight A’s but I wasn’t getting any money because of the behavior report on the other side of that report card.

I had a mother and a father at home and was still a plum fool every day I walked out of the house. Once, I got into a fight on 5th Avenue, near where Church’s Chicken, the Gospel Rack and Little Caesar’s used to be. It was a huge brawl — about 30 of us.

That day, I had changed into a mini skirt and some slippery church shoes (my parents didn’t know). I thought I was super cute.

This girl and I had been going at it for years.

She was my arch enemy and it was only a matter of time before it went down. After the fight, the police came and everybody ran except for me. While the police were taking me to the station I clearly heard a voice say, ‘It doesn’t matter how smart you are now, does it?’

I had a weapon on me — a huge chain with a giant lock on the end of it. I kept it on me for protection. I bust the girl’s head with it. I could’ve killed the girl. That fast, I could’ve been in jail. That’s how quickly your life

Courtesy AeroStar Corporation

FLYING HIGH: Tammera Holmes, a Maywood native and founder of AeroStar Corporation. can change if you don’t keep yourself out of those situations. Her mother could’ve pressed charges. The only reason she didn’t was because we went to the same church.

Here we are going to the same church on Sunday but raising hell during the week.

By the time I graduated high school, half of the young men I went to elementary school with were dead or in jail. These were my buddies, my classmates. And to see it happening today? To say that it’s sad is an understatement. We have work to do as parents, as adults, to get our kids back on the right track, because we can’t lose another generation. I don’t know if Maywood will last.

Just three days ago, one of my best friend’s nephews was murdered on 21st and Washington Boulevard in a drive-by in the middle of the day. When I look at the news and see those faces, those are people I know, kids I watched play, babies’ diapers I changed, kids I babysat and pushed in the stroller.

I was fortunate. One day, when I was 16, my mom made me take a plane ride with the Chicago chapter of the Tuskegee Airmen at Meigs Field. I saw all these black guys with air planes giving kids rides and one asked me if I wanted to fly.

I was like, ‘This dude doesn’t know how crazy I am.’ But I did it. We flew over Lake Michigan on the most beautiful day, looking at the Chicago skyline. I told myself then that I may be able do this for the rest of my life. What I knew for sure is that I wouldn’t be in the back seat of a police car again.

Aviation saved my life because it gave me something to pursue, something to lose and something to live for.

Why aviation needs minority young people We’re at a crossroads in the United States, which ranks 20th in science and 27th in math among developed nations. Fifty percent of all freshmen entering high school in the United States won’t graduate on time and only 20 percent have post-secondary pathways that they’ll complete within five years.

That means they won’t get a college degree and they won’t acquire hard skills.

Around 10,500 highly skilled employees are leaving the workforce every day, but we have so many young people and young adults who can’t replace them. Who’s qualified to work those jobs? That’s why each year the aerospace industry gives out 7,100 H-1B visas, which are given to people who come into our country to work. Those 7,100 jobs aren’t going to U.S. citizens.

Boeing put out a report in 2016 saying 1.5 million technicians, pilots and crew are going to be needed by 2035. Where will we get the people to fill them in 20 years? Are our kindergartners going to be able to take those jobs in 20 years? Not if they’re not trained.

Maywood Youth Mentoring holds monthly breakfasts from 9 a.m. until 11 a.m., on the first Saturday of each month, at 200 S. 5th Ave. CONTACT: thevillagefreepress.org@gmail.com

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Village Free Press | May 2017

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Walther Christian, District 88 make major changes

Bellwood places superintendent on paid leave, Walther reconfigures Walther Christian hires new head of school

Walther Christian Academy, 900 Chicago Ave. in Melrose Park, recently announced that it has hired a new head of school to replace Jim Craven, who retired last June. Since then, the school had employed an interim.

Wayne Wenzel Jr. was hired after a nationwide searching and interviewing process, school officials stated in an April 20 release.

Wenzel, who has served in various capacities Luther North College Prep, will start at Walther on July 1.

According to Luther North’s website, “Wenzel graduated from Luther High School North in 1997. He received his B.A. from Northeastern Illinois University, majoring in History and Secondary Education. He received his M.A. from Concordia University

River Forest in educational leadership.”

Wenzel started teaching at Luther High School North in 2002 before becoming social studies department chair in 2004. In 2008, he was dean of students and in 2012, he was assistant principal. In 2013, he was promoted to principal. He has been the school’s varsity baseball coach since 2005.

Recently, Luther North announced that it would suspend its academic operations in June.

“Throughout these difficult times and challenging times, the Luther North family has been appreciative and supportive of Mr. Wenzel’s leadership and actions,” the Walther statement reads.

“The Walther community is excited to have the leadership, integrity and enthusiasm of Wayne Wenzel as Walther Christian Academy positions itself for continued academic excellence.”

Walther Middle School to launch this fall In August, Walther Middle School will make its official debut. The school will serve students in 6th through 8th grades. The middle school will replace Walther’s K-8 school,

which had been located inside of St. Paul Lutheran Church, 1025 Lake St. The middle school will be located within Walther Christian Academy. The St. Paul Lutheran congregation will decide how they’ll utilize the empty space, which Walther had been leasing, said school officials.

“The middle school will offer small class sizes, 1 to 1 Chromebooks, access to high school resources, differentiated learning, high school credit courses and a wide range of electives and athletic offerings,” according to a statement Walther released.

Students who graduate from the middle school will receive a scholarship advantage when enrolling at the high school, the statement reads. The school is looking to enroll between 40 and 60 students, officials said, adding that enrollment is still open.

For more information, visit walther.com or call (708) 344-0404.

Bellwood D88 supt. put on paid administrative During a brief May 8 special meeting, the Bellwood District 88 school board voted 6 to

1 to place D88 Supt. Rosemary Hendricks on paid administrative leave “pending investigation.” Former board president Marilyn Thurmond was the sole dissenting vote.

The board had discussed the pending investigation in executive session before reconvening the meeting.

In addition, the board voted 5 to 2 to appoint Mark Holder, the principal at Roosevelt Middle School, as interim superintendent. Board members Thurmond and Annie Copeland were the two dissenting votes.

The board adjourned the meeting shortly after the votes.

This development had been anticipated by many in the district after new board members Deborah Giles, Maria Perez and Dorothy Clark-Smith, all members of the Bellwood Education Dream Team slate, won seats on the school board.

The new members were all vocal opponents of the policies and practices put in place under Thurmond and Hendricks, whose leave comes two years after she was hired for a third time in 2014-15 school year.

CONTACT: michael@austinweeklynews.com

At Proviso East, YMCA-trained lifeguards revive old pool Lifeguard training, more aquatics instruction result of partnership between school and nonprofit

By MICHAEL ROMAIN Editor

Cameron Wollenschlager, a 17-year-old junior at Proviso East High School in nearby Maywood, climbed soaking wet out of the high school’s long underused swimming pool.

It was the last day of a 5-week Red Cross lifeguard and training certification program provided through a partnership between the Oak Park-based West Cook YMCA and Proviso Township High Schools District 209.

“Before I started this program, I wasn’t that strong of a lifeguard. I didn’t get the basics, but as we progressed it got much easier and the ideas and concepts came much more fluent to me,” Wollenschlager said last Friday, moments before he would receive the certificate that will allow him to interview, and likely land, a lifeguard position at one of the YMCA’s numerous aquatics facilities, or to apply for a lifeguard job somewhere else if he chooses.

But the Maywood resident, along with the program’s 10 other participants, all Proviso East Students, has his sights on lifeguarding inside of his hometown’s sole public swimming pool — the Fred Hampton Aquatic Center.

Since 2011, the West Cook YMCA has operated and maintained the pool for Maywood. And in 2014, the YMCA entered into an agreement with the village to split the costs and profits related to the pool in half.

This year, due to the lifeguard training, the pool is poised to employ more local residents than it has in recent years and, after the district puts a second class of certified lifeguards through training next fall, Proviso East will be able to finally start offering swimming instruction again to a population that needs it the most.

According to a study by the University of Memphis and commissioned by USA Swimming, nearly 70 percent of African American young people, and nearly 60 percent of Hispanic young people, are weak swimmers or can’t swim at all, elevating the rate at which black and brown kids drown relative to their white counterparts.

Proviso East, whose student population is roughly half African American and half Hispanic, doesn’t currently offer swimming lessons because there aren’t enough certified personnel to man the pool during classes, said Tracy McCormick, the PE department chair.

“When I went here, we didn’t have this opportunity,” said Christina Arrendondo, 20, a Proviso East graduate who trained this inaugural class of Proviso East lifeguards.

“I remember one time, a teacher was taking her class down to the pool for probably four weeks. That was the only time I’d seen the pool or been active with the pool out of my four years here.”

Arrendondo, whose mother was a lifeguard, said that the training not only builds skills, but self-trust and confidence.

“They had to trust themselves and

Submitted photo

JOBS AWAIT: Red Cross-certified lifeguards, all Proviso East students, proudly display their certifications. challenge themselves to go down to the bottom of the pool and save someone’s life,” she said. “They all did an amazing job. I’m proud of them.”

“Part of our vision is to embrace partnerships because they add value to the work we do. That’s one of our core beliefs,” said District 209 Supt. Jesse Rodriguez, adding that he hopes to enhance and scale up the program at East to Proviso West and Proviso Math and Science Academy in the future.

Phillip Jimenez, the West Cook YMCA president and CEO, said that his organization’s entry into District 209 will help ease the demand for aquatic space currently felt in Oak Park.

“We’re always struggling to find great life guards, so we said, ‘Why don’t we produce them out of Proviso East?’ It’s not just a

life skill, but it’s also an economic and employment opportunity,” Jimenez said.

He added that the YMCA is also exploring a facility sharing arrangement with the district, so that some of the organization’s aquatics programming, such as family pool time and competitive swimming, can be offered at Proviso East in the future.

Joann Kouba, a registered dietician and faculty member at the high school, said that the partnership between the school and the YMCA came about from a meeting with members from Proviso Partners for Health — a broad coalition of entities brought together by Loyola University Health System to fight childhood obesity — and the school’s community wellness committee.

Kouba said that, during a meeting last fall, someone suggested that utilizing the school’s pool would be a way to provide more physical activity options for students.

“When we learned that the pool wasn’t in use because of the lack of certified and trained staff, we said, ‘Let’s fix that,’’ said Shanika Blanton, a PP4H member.

McCormick said that the lifeguard training program still needs equipment, such as swimming caps and face masks. Two months ago, she started a GoFundMe campaign to try to raise money for the program. The campaign has so far raised $850 of its $5,700 goal. To donate, visit: www.gofundme.com/ ProvisoEastLifeguardingfund.

To read the full article online, visit thevillagefreepress.org.

CONTACT: thevillagefreepress.org@gmail.com

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Village Free Press | May 2017

Metra, UP officials break ground on $100M project

By MICHAEL ROMAIN Editor

Metra and Union Pacific officials joined with elected officials from local, county and state governments at the corner of 5th Avenue and Main Street in Maywood last month to break ground on a $100 million project to install a third track and other safety enhancements along the West Line between River Forest and Melrose Park.

The track will eliminate “two critical bottlenecks along the UP West Line that can be the source of delays for both freight and commuter trains,” according to a joint statement released by Metra and Union Pacific officials.

“The project will add nearly eight miles of third track in the only two remaining segments between Elburn and Chicago,” officials said.

The April groundbreaking marked the first segment of that 8-mile track addition.

The construction of that 1.8-mile section of track between River Forest and 25th Avenue in Melrose Park will start sometime in June and is expected to last for 12 months. During that time, officials said, there won’t be any service disruptions.

“We’ll establish schedules to work around [regular service],” said Bruce M. Marcheschi, Metra’s chief engineering officer. “We’ll start after the rush hour and quit before the

rush hour, so we’ll be working between it.

And we’ll work with our dispatchers to make sure we don’t disrupt traffic.”

Funding for the $100 million project will be paid by UP and Metra. Most of the third track will be built on land owned by UP, officials said.

Donald Orseno, Metra’s executive director and CEO, said that the third track will reduce commuter and freight train delays.

Orseno said that company surveys show that delays are the most common complaint among riders.

According to Metra and UP officials, the improvement project will also enhance overall safety along the tracks, eliminate commuter curfews for freight trains, decrease the number freight trains that idle on the tracks and reduce the amount of time motorists must wait at grade crossings.

“The Metra Union Pacific West Line (UPW) is one of the busiest rail lines in the nation,” stated officials with Metra and UP. “More than 50 freight trains and 60 Metra trains carrying nearly 30,000 passengers share the line each day.”

The construction of a third track will also accompany safety enhancements, such as the installation of an upgraded rail signal system and new crossovers “so trains can switch tracks,” according to officials.

“This has been a long time coming,” said

CONSTRUCTION AHEAD: Metra, UP and local, county and state elected officials break ground on April 21 in Maywood on a project to install a third track between River Forest and Melrose Park.

SPOONER BAUMANN/ Contributor

need to be thinking about,” Blankenhorn said.

“This is how things are going to get done in the future. It’s not going to be IDOT [Illinois Department of Transportation] by themselves or IDOT with one partner,” he said. “It’s going to be multiple partners coming together, finding solutions and finding funding.”

CONTACT: thevillagefreepress@gmail.com

Lance M. Fritz, Union Pacific Railroad’s chairman, president and CEO. “We’ve been working on this project for about 12 years.”

Illinois Secretary of Transportation Randall S. Blankenhorn said that the collaboration between Metra and UP represents the future of transportation investment.

“When we think about investing in transportation, this is the kind of project that we

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Village Free Press | May 2017

7

PROM NIGHT

Layered with meaning from page 1 and was a single mother of four.

She would carry her kids to her nursing classes, “taking them to school with me at night.”

“You know, with each one, my main thing I focused on is God, education and then sports,” Evelyn said.

Her oldest daughter, Enjoli Edwards, 30, was an all-state track star in high school who is now studying law. Erskine, who played college basketball, was an engineer.

Anthony Boddy, 25, played college football and briefly flirted with entering the NFL draft before deciding to focus on engineering. Her second-youngest daughter, Alexis, is studying pre-med. Wallace didn’t say whether or not she played sports, but that can be assumed. Dominique, like her brothers, has an interest in engineering and plans to study the field in college.

Hours before driving to her mother’s Maywood home for her prom sendoff, Wallace sits in the basement of Anthony’s Broadview home, which he remodeled with his own hands (he’s even built himself a movie theater) as Anthony’s wife, Kayla, 23, applies makeup.

Wallace wears a silk gown and layers of stress. She’s thinking about Jon Sylvester’s suit and whether or not it might match her dress, which Anthony designed on his smartphone.

Enjoli is holding Anthony’s and Kayla’s newborn child, Anthony Jr., while grappling with the fact that her baby sister, Evelyn’s youngest child, is going off to prom and, soon, to college, and then, into the world.

CONTACT: thevillagefreepress@gmail.com

Last month, the Village Free Press, with the key sponsorship of the Bellwood, Broadview and Maywood Chambers of Commerce, hosted an essay contest. We urged those students attending prom this year in Proviso Township High Schools District 209 to write a short piece on the following prompt: Describe how attending prom is a highly anticipated milestone that will prepare you for the next chapter of your life?

The students who wrote the three highest votegetting essays received first, second and third place cash prizes of $300, $200 and $100, respectively. The firstplace winner was featured in a full-page photo essay, with a photographer and VFP reporter covering the big day from preparation to prom night.

All five finalists will have their prom sendoffs photographed and will receive free digital access to those photos, some of which were featured online and in the May and June print issues of the Village Free Press.

The winners were: 1st: Dominique Wallace, Proviso East | 2nd: Diana Guzman, Proviso West | 3rd: Daisy Zaragoza, PMSA | 4th: Cynthia Suaste, PMSA | 5th: Joshua Bell-Bey, PMSA

INTO THE NIGHT: Dominique Wallace, above, looks on her phone as she prepares for prom night.

Wallace’s makeup is by her sister-in-law, Kayla Boddy.

Her hair is by Dynastie’s Hair & Co. in Bellwood. Her gown was designed by her brother, Anthony, on his smartphone.

Note: Daisy Zaragoza’s photos will be featured in the June print issue of the Village Free Press, since her prom took place after the print deadline.

SEBASTION HIDALGO/ Contributor

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Village Free Press | May 2017

PROM 2017

SHANEL ROMAIN/Contributor

DAISY’S DAY: PMSA senior Daisy Zaragoza, far right, and her group of friends met in a Lombard park on prom night.

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Village Free Press | May 2017

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PROM 2017

SEBASTION HIDALGOContributor

TODAY’S THE DAY: Joshua Bell-Bey preps for prom inside of his Forest Park home.

10 Village Free Press | May 2017

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M E N ’ S DAY 2 0 1 7

Men meet boys

SHANEL ROMAIN/SEBASTION HIDALGO/Contributor

The second annual Men’s Day at Garfield Elementary School in Maywood on May 17 brought out numerous supporters, including Maywood police officers. The event is organized each year by members of the school’s PTO, including Vernell Brown and Vincent Fields, along with school officials.

D89 student wins national art contest

The work of 4th-grader Isle Saenz was depicted on a Preferred Meals delivery truck

By SCHOOL DISTRICT 89 Community Contributor

Jane Addams Elementary School fourth grader, Isle Saenz, has plenty of artistic talent. She is among 5 national grand prize winners in the 2016-17 Preferred Meals “Healthy Breakfast for a Healthier Me!” Art Contest.

Saenz’s winning design showed “larger than life” on the side of Preferred Meals’ delivery truck at a surprise assembly held at the school on May 11. The traveling billboard will be on display across the city for years to come.

The artistic 4th-grader was recognized and honored at a presentation hosted by special guest Corey Rich (aka Corey the Dribbler). Rich is a 4-Time Guinness World Record Holder that’s been featured on The

Late Show with David Letterman, ESPN First Take, Comcast Sportsnet, Fox News, and is widely considered to be the world’s greatest dribbler. Corey delivered a healthy message to students to reinforce the importance of eating well, being active, and making healthy lifestyle choices.

Preferred Meals, which provides school meals to Jane Addams Elementary in District 89, created the art contest and nutrition plan program in 2012 to educate children and support healthy eating. The contest, available to students in the 3rd, 4th, and 5th grades, provides nutrition education and promotes creativity in a fun and imaginative way.

Winners are selected based on originality of design, theme, message clarity and artistic merit by a special judging committee. First and Second place winners will see their art featured throughout their school meal program and Preferred Meals’ communications in the upcoming 2017-18 school year.

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Submitted photo

SHE’S GOT TALENT: The artwork of 4th grader Isle Saenz featured on a Preferred Meals truck. District administrators showed off the artwork during a May 11 celebration at Jane Addams.

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Village Free Press | May 2017

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BUSINESS roundup

Major food retailers closing in June as smaller establishments crop up

By MICHAEL ROMAIN Editor

Forest Park Ultra Foods to close The Ultra Foods located inside of Forest Park Plaza in Forest Park is closing, according to multiple media reports that reference a company statement that was released on Tuesday.

According to a Shaw Media report: “Other Ultra stores that will close are in Crestwood, Wheaton, Lansing, Chicago Heights, Calumet Park and [Joliet]. Two Ultra stores in Indiana that will close are in Gary and Merrill Point.”

The stores are scheduled to close by June 18. According to the report, Ultra Foods “is part of the Strack & Van Til supermarket chain owned by Central Grocers, a grocery cooperative headquartered in Joliet.”

“Strack & Van Til is based in Highland, Indiana. The company operates stores under the names Strack & Van Til, Ultra Foods, and Town and Country Market.”

Melrose Park Meijer to close According to numerous media reports, Meijer plans to close two of its Chicago area locations this summer due to low sales, according to company officials, who announced the closures in March.

One of those stores is located in Melrose Park at 950 Winston Plaza. The other location is in Berwyn.

The Melrose Park store, which opened in 2011, will close on June 17, according to a Chicago Tribune report, which references a Meijer news release.

“About 300 employees will be affected by the store closings, though some will find employment at other Meijer stores in the area.

Employees were notified Tuesday.”

The Tribune reports that a company spokesman referenced both stores’ “underperforming” sales volume when explaining the closures, “but declined to provide any additional details on why the sites will close. Meijer, headquartered in Grand Rapids, Mich., is a privately held company.”

Maywood Checkers shuttered Less than three years after it first opened in September 2014, the Checkers at 1718 S. First Ave. in Maywood is closed. The store locked its doors for the final time in late April.

Checkers communicated the news to village officials around the same time that the Maywood store closed. Company officials cited low sales as a contributing factor, according to village officials.

In a 2014 interview, Christopher Ilekis, a principal at Vequity, the real estate investment and development company that bought the property before leasing it to Checkers, said that the property, which had formerly been a KFC restaurant, had been in

bankruptcy before his company acquired it in a portfolio sale.

The Maywood store opened on the same day as the Broadview checkers, located at 1617 W. Roosevelt Rd. The latter location is still open. The Maywood store was corporately owned and operated.

The Broadview store is also owned by Checkers itself, instead of franchisees.

Ferrara Candy store reopens after being closed for facelift Ferrara Candy Company’s outlet store at 7301 Harrison St. in Forest Park reopened with a bang last month after several weeks of being closed for remodeling. Numerous elected officials and community leaders converged on the store for an April grand opening that marked the store’s reopening, the Forest Park Review reported.

According to John Conversa, Ferrara’s director of manufacturing in the U.S., the store hadn’t “had much done to it since it opened in the late 1980s.”

“It’s really a charming store that we expanded and spruced up a bit with better lighting, new display cabinets, a larger floor plan and new displays for showcasing our products,” Conversa told Review reporter Tom Holmes.

Holmes reported that the expansion would allow Ferrara to “display more of its major brands like Lemonheads, Chewy Redhots, Trolli Sour Bites, Chuckles, Now and Later, and Rain Blo, along with Brach brands including, Brach’s Doable Dipper, Milk Chocolate Stars, and a gigantic 10-ounce Gummy Bunny for Easter.”

Read more at: forestparkreview.com/ News/Articles/4-18-2017/Ferrara-candystore-celebrates-grand-reopening/.

A grocer looks to open inside of former Maywood Market Less than six months after Aldi — Maywood’s only full-service grocery store — closed, another grocer is looking to move into the village.

Ali Hamden, an entrepreneur who has owned and operated a range of different businesses over the last 25 years, is looking to open a grocery store, Save More Fresh Market, inside of the building that once housed the former Maywood Market, located at 615 S. 5th Ave. Maywood Market closed in 2011 after fewer than two years in operation.

According to a letter of intent filed in January, Hamden has offered to pay $400,000 for the 22,000 square foot building, which is located on a roughly 61,000 square foot paved lot.

Maywood owns both the building and the lot.

The Pearson Realty Group, the village’s contracted broker, suggested that the building and lot be listed at $595,000 and estimated that they could probably fetch

WILLIAM CAMARGO/STAFF

RETAIL TROUBLES: Patrons coming out of Ultra Foods in Forest Park. The store is scheduled to close in the summer, along with several other major food retailers. between $505,000 and $545,000 in a final sale.

Bellwood McDonald’s to get $1 million makeover In March, Ray Nelson, who owns the Bellwood McDonald’s, located at 520 S. 25th Ave., announced that the store would get a $1 million makeover. At a business summit convened in Maywood by Cook County Commissioner Richard Boykin (1st), Nelson said that the Bellwood location, one of five McDonald’s he owns within Boykin’s district, has experienced a significant reduction in business over the last 20 years of its existence.

“A lot of factories in the area have left and our business has decreased by about 25 percent, so to bring more people in with good paying jobs will help me. It will allow me to pay the higher minimum wage in Cook County. To me, that’s a good thing, but I need an increase in cash flow.”

New Bellwood Mayor Andre Harvey, in keeping with Nelson’s sentiments, said during a breakfast hosted by the Bellwood Chamber of Commerce in May that he’s looking to lure more businesses to busy commercial arterials in his village, including 25th Avenue, Mannheim Rd., and St. Charles Rd. “We want to encourage businesses to come to Bellwood,” Harvey said, before adding that a Thorton’s gas station that is currently in development should bring in roughly $300,000 in revenue.

“I can’t raise taxes,” Harvey quipped.” We don’t want to get ran out of town already. We want to keep Bellwood residents’ taxes as flat as possible.”

New restaurant could move into site of Broadview’s Marquee A new restaurant is looking to open inside of the former Marquee Restaurant, 2417 W. Roosevelt Rd. in Broadview, by July, according to the West Suburban Journal.

The Journal’s Kevin Beese reported that the village of Broadview would provide $350,000 in tax increment financing for the project, “about one-third of the project costs.”

Beese reported that the owners of the proposed restaurant, the Donato Restaurant Group, didn’t reveal the name of the establishment. Read more at: http://

westsuburbanjournal.com/new-eateryplanned-for-marquee-site/.

New tequila lounge opens in Melrose Park A new tequila lounge called La Tequileria opened in Melrose Park recently. A formal grand opening was held on April 28 at the establishment, 2118 W. Lake Street.

The lounge’s owner, David Suarez, stated in a press release for the opening that his family, which owns nearby Los Comales, 2110 West Lake Street, was motivated to open the store because they “recognized the need for a sophisticated addition to the restaurant and bar scene in the western suburbs.”

La Tequileria is open Tuesday through Sunday, from 2 p.m. to 2 a.m. The exterior of the building will undergo facade improvements this summer. For more information, visit www.thetequileria.com.

Read more business news as it happens at thevillagefreepress.org.

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12 Village Free Press | May 2017

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CRIME

Melrose Park detective faces 10 years in prison, Maywood violence spurs residents to action

By MICHAEL ROMAIN Editor

Former Melrose Park police detective Gregory Salvi, 43, recently “pleaded guilty to one count each of possession of drugs with intent to deliver and using a gun in a drug trafficking crime,” according to an April 25 Chicago Tribune report.

According to an April 25 Chicago SunTimes report, Salvi “has recently been selling cars for a living. But Tuesday, he pleaded guilty to possession of more than 500 grams of cocaine with intent to distribute, and carrying a Glock .45 caliber handgun while doing so. Now, Salvi faces at least 10 years in prison.

U.S. District Judge Amy St. Eve is scheduled to hand down his sentence July 26.”

The guilty plea comes two years after Salvi was arrested and charged with everything from stealing cocaine from the evidence room of the Melrose Park police station to planning to steal drugs from a state lab.

Recent murders in Maywood prompt marches, self-reflection A drive-by shooting that happened in broad daylight on May 2 in Maywood has left one man dead.

The shooting happened on the 400 block of South 21st Ave. at around 1 p.m., police said.

The victim, 23-year-old Ryan Jones was pronounced dead after being rushed to Loyola University Medical Center.

According to Maywood Police Chief Valdimir Talley, this marks the village’s sixth homicide this year. Around a week before

Jones’s death, a 53-year-old Lyft driver was murdered during a shooting that happened at the corner of Oak Street and 14th Avenue.

The recent shooting deaths, especially Jones’s, prompted at least 50 residents to march through the streets of Maywood on May 10. The marchers started out at 1001 Madison Street and walked to the police station at 125 S. 5th Ave. in Maywood.

“Ryan would call me when he used to work at Car Max to try to get me to help him with his customer’s insurance,” said Antoinette Gray, one of the organizers of the march.

“Unfortunately it was a shocker and I apologized to the family that it took his passing to say, ‘We can’t take it anymore.’”

After the march ended, the group filed into council chambers, located above the station, to air their concerns to village board members during a Legal, License and Ordinance Committee meeting that was scheduled for that night.

During public comments, Gray and other residents criticized some aspects of the police department, including what they believe to be a lack of police presence in the village.

“Our young folks are really not being protected,” said Maywood resident Joe Ratley. “We need to have some presence of police officers on the streets … I’m not saying that we can stop everything but I do think we can have a better [police] presence than we have right now.”

“Community policing means there’s a presence, a visibility,” Gray said, after thanking the police for supporting the march. “It is negligent. It is criminal. I’m not blaming the police officers for the murder or lack thereof, but we do not have the manpower we need to protect our streets.

MICHAEL ROMAIN/VFP

MARCH AGAINST CRIME: Community members march on 5th Ave. on May 10, roughly a week after the murder of Ryan Jones.

We had more police for a peaceful march than we have on any given one day on any given shift.”

But many other residents who spoke during the meeting, some of whom were relatives of homicide victims, said that to put the focus squarely on the police is misguided.

“For a police officer to operate, he needs the community,” said one resident, a war veteran who fought with the Air Force in Afghanistan and who lost her brother to violence in January.

“Everybody is saying what you want the police to do, but the police wasn’t there when

they shot him, but you was,” she said, after noting that she is nonetheless in support of greater police presence in the village.

“The police officer is that blind man walking and sometimes that blind man needs a stick and the stick is the community … You cannot march in these streets and say the police are not doing their jobs because you’re not doing yours as a community.”

Numerous people who participated in the May 10 march said that they would also march the following Saturday — the day of Jones’ funeral.

CONTACT: thevillagefreepress@gmail.com

GOVERNING roundup

Maywood toughens up on Uber/Lyft drivers and tobacco sellers

By MICHAEL ROMAIN Editor

Maywood to Lyft/Uber drivers: ‘Show your emblem or get fined’ Drivers who contract with transportation network companies like Uber and Lyft now face fines if they don’t display those companies’ distinctive emblems, or what’s known in the industry as trade dress, while driving customers through Maywood.

At a May 2 regular meeting, the Maywood Board of Trustees unanimously passed an ordinance requiring drivers to display the

trade dress or face fines of at least $100 for the first offense, at least $300 for the second offense with a year and at least $500 for a third or subsequent offense within a year.

Numerous large cities across the country, including Chicago and New Orleans, have enacted comprehensive regulations on companies like Uber and Lyft. Maywood’s new ordinance, however, is much more limited in scope than those in larger cities.

The ordinance was introduced at the urging of Maywood Police Chief Valdimir Talley, who said that it would help his department fight narcotics trafficking.

“It’s not that the companies that engage in that behavior, but some individuals use the services [of Lyft and Uber] to engage [in drug trafficking],” Talley said during an April 26 Legal, License and Ordinance Committee meeting where the measure was discussed.

“The services are used to defeat the village’s ability to capture individuals trafficking narcotics and from seizing their properties as assets,” Talley said. “They’re not like

taxi cabs or livery cabs, where we can ID them by license or registration.”

Talley said that “Lyft is kind of like Facebook” in that it is not often cooperative with law enforcement’s efforts to fight crime.

“When you try to get information from them by search warrant they don’t want to be very compliant or helpful to our efforts,” Talley said.

“This ordinance requires these different companies to make sure [drivers have] placards. Normally, that’s a regulation [enforced by] the companies, but a lot of these drivers fail to put their placards up.”

Maywood now requires tobacco purchasers in village to be at least 21 years old During a May 2 regular meeting, the Maywood Board of Trustees passed an ordinance that raises the minimum age required to buy tobacco products in the village from 18 to 21 years old.

The proposed ordinance was introduced at the urging of Maywood Police Chief Valdi-

mir Talley, who said that the measure would help deter the sale of tobacco products to minors and young adults, “which often leads to loitering concerns around retail tobacco establishments,” according to a village memo.

“Proviso East stands next to two gas stations and we found that 18 year olds capture [tobacco] products from those gas stations, bring them into school and sell them,” Talley said.

The village has a partnership with the health advocacy organization Proviso Partners 4 Health, which is affiliated with Loyola University. Representatives with PP4H have been advocating for a new ordinance as a public health measure.

Talley said that if the measure passes, then retail establishments who sell tobacco products to minors would face a range of penalties, including the revocation and suspension of their business licenses.

Other municipalities that have raised the minimum age of tobacco sales to 21 years old include Oak Park, Chicago and Evanston.

CONTACT: thevillagefreepress@gmail.com

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14 Village Free Press | May 2017

V I L L A G E P E R S P E C T I V E S

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VILLAGE perspectives celebrities and public officials. Mental health is something that impacts everyone, from day to day. Discussions about mental health and wellness should also take place in the sphere of everyday life. Anyone can be a role model for mental health.

Especially here in Illinois, putting in the effort to raise mental health awareness by encouraging open, frank discussions could have a significant impact. You don’t have to look far to find places in the state in desperate need of mental health assistance.

Gun violence in Chicago’s hardest hit neighborhoods ripples outward, affecting families and entire communities. Many kids who have experienced gun violence Yosman Botero firsthand are prevented from enjoying normal childhoods, because they’re too scared to go outside.

Cook County Jail, which houses more than 9,000 inmates, has been dubbed the largest mental-health facility in the county.

It’s estimated that about 30 percent of inmates in Cook County Jail suffer from mental illness, due to shuttering state and county mental health centers.

And like so many other vital services, May marks Mental Health Awareness mental health programs continue to Month in the United States. The disappear due to the state’s inability to commemoration, started in pass a budget during the past 1949, is an effort to de-stigmatize two years. In particular, the mental health issues across the elimination of Psychiatric nation.

Leadership Capacity Grants Fortunately, over the past in 2016 has meant that few decades we’ve seen a slow approximately 140 mental health but steady uptick in public centers in the state lost funding discussions surrounding mental for psychiatric services. health. Just last month, Prince So while we’re encouraged Harry was lauded for sharing to see greater discussion of his mental health struggles mental health on a national and following the death of his JESSE ROSAS international scale, it’s time to mother, Princess Diana, in an bring these conversations home, interview with The Telegraph. to Illinois. I strongly urge local Even more recently, the citizens to call their legislators popular Netflix series “13 Reasons Why,” to advocate for funding for mental health an adaptation of a young-adult novel about programs. the circumstances surrounding a teenage Elected officials, especially, need to begin girl who commits suicide, has garnered to carry their fair share of responsibility both positive and critical reviews for its on this issue. Those suffering from representation of mental illness and suicide mental illness cannot always speak up in teenagers. for themselves. Our strength as a state As a result of these developments, more is reflected in how we treat our most people are talking about mental health, vulnerable. It’s time to break this cycle of which is important. inaction, so people can get the help they According to the National Alliance on need.

Mental Issues, approximately 43.8 million adults in the U.S., or about 1 in 5, experience — Jesse Rosas, executive director, Proviso Townmental illness each year. Mental health ship Mental Health Commission issues can take many forms: Depression, substance abuse, sleep disorders, anxiety.

The list goes on.

And while conversations about fostering good mental health are beginning to gain traction, still only about 41 percent of adults in the U.S. with a mental health condition received mental health services in the last year. There is still much work to be done.

At Proviso Township Mental Health “What does an economically segregated Commission, we believe mental health region look like? People living in affluent discussions shouldn’t stem only from

Gun Violence, Dwindling Services and Mental Health

Why Is Maywood Struggling Economically?

Google Earth

of growth, job creation and creating an neighborhoods reap the benefits of good schools, low crime rates and access to aesthetic landscape in which the entire public services while those priced out of consumer trade area can participate. those areas may have to travel further for What does that mean? access to services, work or school — if they People within a five-mile radius of our can afford the trip at all,” according to CNN. consumer trade area will begin to shop and “The result is the uneven distribuenjoy the amenities the town tion of wealth, which keeps poor has to offer, including but not neighborhoods poor and limits limited to housing, restaurants potential spillover effects of affluand entertainment. The village ence.” economy will then experience Recently it dawned on us that significant economic growth, our firm may not be translating which is often a key missing well in one of our adoptive comcomponent in underserved munities: Maywood. As such we areas. thought it important to let the How does this work? public know why we do the work By adding the much-needed BRIDGETTE CHATMAN- goods and services the town we’ve embarked on and how our work is related to wealth distribuLEWIS lacks and including the resition. dents in employment and serChatman Lewis Flaggs Group vice opportunities. Conformity to consumer is a business strategy firm that focuses on needs in the trade area is also paramount economic growth initiatives and business to sustainable economic growth in underturnaround strategies. We research and served communities. come up with innovative business models Back in 2016, a survey was sampled across with strategic intent to grow the economy all four village zones. The people have and communities at large. stated what they desire and need and we We then hand off the plan to The Ecolistened. Whatever happens in the village nomic Growth Initiative, a nonprofit orgaaffects the 24,100 people and how they live nization, to engage the community with their lives. transparent inclusion toward all economic This survey aligns with our firm’s regrowth plans. search over the past five years. It is our goal The strategy is simple: Grow the area’s to work with all who would like to see this economic base, include the residents in the village move forward and grow economiformative stages and work with youth to cally. provide jobs and access to career paths that We especially welcome volunteers to join will be fulfilling and sustainable. This is all us and we are available to answer questions done in an effort to improve the lives of the you may have. underserved.

You can read the survey results by clickWe accomplish our goals by partnering ing here. Contact the firm at info@chatwith some of the brightest minds in the manlewisconsulting.com. market place to get the job done. We are Read the full article online at thevillagelaser focused when it comes to building up freepress.org. struggling communities such as Maywood.

— Bridgette Chatman-Lewis, Chatman Lewis We are not part of a government and Consulting and the Economic Growth Initiative remain apolitical. However, we reach out to government for support and understanding before we begin any work in hopes CONTACT: thevillagefreepress@gmail.org

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Village Free Press | May 2017

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16 Village Free Press | May 2017

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