Crime

CRIME 2023 kicks o with a shooting

The new year started off with a bang in Forest Park as someone fired at a passing car, shattering its sunroof.

The victim was driving down the 200 block of Harlem Avenue on Jan. 1 when someone fired at his grey 2013 Hyundai Sedan at 12:21 a.m. The bullet shattered the sunroof glass. The glass shards left a small cut on the right side of the victim’s face – but otherwise, he wasn’t injured.

The victim pulled over at the first safe location and called the police. He declined medical treatment, and he was unable to provide the responding officers with any additional information.

Dunkin Donuts armed robbery

Three teenagers robbed the Dunkin Donuts location at 7660 Madison St. in broad daylight, threatening to shoot two teen employees if they didn’t open the cash register.

The incident took place on Jan. 4 at 4:25 p.m. According to victims accounts and the surveillance footage, the suspects waited inside a grey, four-door Nissan until the store had no customers and walked in. Two of the suspects jumped behind the counter and put what the victims believed were guns behind their backs and ordered them to open the cash register. The female employee opened the register. All three suspects grabbed as much money as they could carry and ran out the store, driving west on Madison Street.

While the suspects wore masks, they didn’t wear gloves, and the police were able to recover fingerprints.

Residential burglaries

Two units in a condominium building on the 7200 block of Adams Street were burglarized on the afternoon of Jan. 6.

Police initially got a call about the burglary of one unit. The owner’s parents returned to the unit after visiting the victim in the hospital and discovered the inside door frame was damaged, and the entire unit was ransacked. The burglar stole two rings and a wedding band collectively worth $5,500. The parents said the victim collected antique items, but they weren’t sure how much those items were worth.

Residents of other nearby units said they didn’t hear anything suspicious. But the resident of a unit across the hall discovered that his unit was burglarized as well. The victim, who has a valid Firearm Owners Identification Card and a Concealed Carry License, discovered that his gun, an M&P9 Shield E2 (9mm) Smith & Wesson, was stolen from his nightstand. His PlayStation 4 gaming console was missing as well.

The victim from the second unit also discovered that two packages that were left in the building lobby were stolen. A member of the building condominium board discovered them under the staircase. Both boxes were opened. The contents of one package, a sweater, were left next to the box, but the contents of the second package, a red Nike jacket, was stolen.

The same condo board member discovered that the basement laundry room window, which is normally kept closed, was left open.

Hit and run

A man was reportedly hit by a car after getting shot at with “a bean bag” round while walking on Madison Street on Jan. 4 at around 1 a.m.

The victim said he was walking along the edge of Concordia Cemetery when someone shot him with a “bean bag” round in the neck. He ran for safety, but as he got into Spotless Carwash, 7802 Madison St., a car struck him. The victim said the force of the impact sent him flying into a windshield. He said the vehicle was gold and had four doors but couldn’t give a make and model.

The victim said that he walked to Oak Park Hospital for treatment. The driver allegedly showed up at the ER. The victim said she paid him $25 so he wouldn’t press charges, but the victim said he was going to do what was “legally right.”

The victim said he didn’t call the police right away because he didn’t have a cellphone, but he went to the police station after he was discharged.

These items were obtained from police reports filed by the Forest Park Police Department Jan. 1-7. and represent a portion of the incidents to which police responded. Unless otherwise indicated, anybody named in these reports has only been charged with a crime. These cases have not been adjudicated.

Forest Park Review, January 11, 2023 7

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NERO

More investment needed

from page 1 coming to major corridors, and not just to the Madison Street corridor, though he demurred on what kind of incentives the village should offer. He also wanted to see the village continue to work on infrastructure improvements, especially “below-grade” improvements such sewer separation and lead pipe replacement. He also supports more investment in green infrastructure, continuing support for upgrading and replacing public works equipment, and finding sources of revenue to help bring the money in to fund all of this. Nero said he feels about service the same way he did when he first ran for a commissioner four years ago – if you are invested in the community and you like to see things get better, you should try to get involved any way you can.

Nero works as the safety director at Granite Construction. A Forest Park resident for the past 20 years, he previously sat on what was then known as the Cultural Park Ad Hoc Committee and chaired the Forest Park Traffic & Safety Committee.

The Village of Forest Park has six candidates – three of them incumbents – running for four commissioner seats. Nero needs to be one of the top four vote-getters to keep his seat.

He said his major priority would be to get funding for infrastructure projects and other village needs. Nero said he would continue to support the village going out for state and federal grants, and “looking into new forms of revenue.” Since Forest Park is a non-Home Rule municipality, it’s limited as to how much it can tax and what sort of taxes it can levy. Nero said that, in spite of the pandemic, he believed Forest Park did a good job of bringing in businesses on its side of Harlem Avenue and along Madison Street – something that he would like to see continue. He also wanted to see more investment in the Roosevelt Road corridor. One major development opportunity in that corridor is the U.S. Army Reserve base at 7402 Roosevelt Rd., which was closed last June. Nero said that, unless the village got to do an environmental analysis of the site, he wouldn’t support Forest Park buying the property. He added that he wouldn’t want to see the property remaining vacant too long, either, because “leaving it vacant would frankly be an eyesore.” Ideally, Nero said, he would like to see a commercial use such as a car dealership.

While Nero said he supported providing incentives to businesses, he said he didn’t have anything specifi c in mind. And he believed that the village and the Forest Park Chamber of Commerce have gotten a lot better at using social media to promote Forest Park – something that he would like to see continue.

The Cultural Park Ad Hoc Commission was one of several attempts the village made to decide the future of the historic Altenheim property which it owns. During his original campaign, Nero said he supported the proposal to build a park on the south portion of the property and selling the north portion of the property to a private developer. He told the Review that he still supports having some green space, but he also wanted to have something that would bring in tax revenue.

Ultimately, Nero said he wanted to hear what the current Altenheim Committee comes up with.

“I’m really excited to hear more on their findings, on the outreach to the community, and the suggestions and ideas they’ve had and the feedback they received,” he said. “I’m not the urban planning expert, and I’m certainly interested in hearing thoughts and ideas and what they heard from our customers, which is our residents.”

Fellow incumbent and former Review

editor Maria Maxham said changing the commission form of government would be a major priority. Nero said he would be willing to explore that. “If there’s an opportunity to improve the efficiency of the way we do business in Forest Park and open up new avenues to [allow for] new sources of revenue, I would definitely be interested in moving in that direction,” he said. When it comes to another perennial issue – the state of Forest Park schools, particularly the Proviso Township High School District 209 – Nero echoed several other candidates when he said he was mindful of the fact that school districts are separate taxing bodies and wanted to tread carefully. He said he would like to see some kind of a mechanism where the school and village officials could meet regularly and discuss what Forest Park can do to support the schools. Nero said that, as someone who has lived RYAN NERO in Forest Park for two decades, raised a child here and regularly patronizes Forest Park businesses, he has a “personal, selfish interest” in seeing the village do well. “It’s basically -- it’s either you play the game, coach the game or get out of the game,” he said. “If you complain about a current situation and you have the opportunity to improve a current situation, you should be that catalyst, be that person to make that change. That what I’m trying to live by.”

FIREFIGHTERS

In-house paramedics

from page 1 Union Local 2753, which village commissioners unanimously approved on Jan. 9.

While the change will represent around $100,000 increase over the next 10 years, Village Administrator Moses Amidei told the Review that it would relieve staffing shortages that became increasingly common in the past few years.

In addition, he said, the increase would be less than what the village’s current contractor, Metro Paramedic Services, was proposing.

The village’s contract with Metro expires in March. As part of the new union contract, Forest Park agreed to hire three firefighter/paramedics by May 1, and then one firefighter/paramedic a year until April 30, 2026.

Forest Park will be using a “Silver Spanner” program, hiring union firefighter/ paramedics from other fire departments, to supplement the workforce until the staffing is at full strength.

Under the current contract with Metro, Forest Park provides the ambulance, but the company hires the paramedics to staff them. The contract called for six paramedics – two per 8-hour shift.

But in recent years, Amidei said, Metro had trouble providing the necessary staff, forcing the union firefighters, most of whom are already trained as either paramedics or emergency medical technicians, to work overtime to pick up the slack. This came as the volume of ambulance calls has been increasing.

Amidei described it as an industry-wide issue that has been exacerbated by the fact that many paramedics who work for private companies end up joining fire departments, where they can get better wages and benefits.

He said the village paid Metro $470,000 a year, and the ambulance company proposed a $200,000 a year increase to account for the rising labor costs.

The new union contract is retroactive to May 1, 2022 and will expire on April 30, 2026. In addition to hiring more firefighter/ paramedics in coming years, the contract allows Forest Park to bring in firefighters from other departments through the Silver Spanner program. Amidei said he was confident that it would be able to fill the staffing needs while reducing overtime.

While village would save money at first because new firefighters would be paid less, overall, bringing paramedics in-house would represent a $100,000 increase over the next 10 years compared to the current Metro contract.

But he said that the new arrangement will benefi t the village on the long run because it will bring more stability in terms of staffing and reduce the burden on the firefighters.

“There will be financial impact over the long period,” Amidei said. “However, where the market is, in terms of labor and sustainability, and not stressing out and overburdening our personal, who have already seen increasing call of service, [it’s not sustainable]. Every year, we break our own records.”

Commissioner Joe Byrnes said that he was happy with the contract, saying that he was grateful for firefighters who filled in while Metro was short-staffed.

“I really appreciate the job that you’ve done, and now you’re getting six additional people, and they’re going to be part of you, they’re not going to be a paramedic contact company,” he said.

A group of firefighters attended the Jan. 9 meeting. They described the contract as a culmination of a long struggle that’s been ongoing since Forest Park privatized paramedic services in 1989. Local 2753 Secretary Tim Ryan told the Review that the contact will not only ensure that paramedics have union benefits, but that union staff will be more invested in the community and are in it for a long haul.

“It’s a huge win for the department, and it was a pleasure to work with the village,” he said. “We couldn’t be happier with the contract.”