Opinion

Ah, spring! The signs are everywhere

Signs of spring abound in Forest Park — most of them are encouraging: ■ Pink vehicle stickers are sprouting on windshields. ■ Yellow and blue signs are sprouting on lawns. They say “We Stand with Ukraine.” O’Sullivan’s is distributing them in exchange for a $10 donation. The money goes to YUCO, which stands for Youth Ukraine Camp Organization. ■ New restaurant bars are popping up along Madison Street. ■ Thanks to the return of sunshine, some of us are sprucing up our ghostlike appearance with a little third-degree sunburn. ■ Grills are being fired up, bike tires are being pumped up and TVs are being turned off. ■ Branches are budding, puddles are puddling, and bird feeders are busy. ■ Homeowners are making the tough choice of planting grass seed or putting down sod to cover the mud with a toupee. ■ Empty plastic water bottles are popping up on sidewalks and lawns. Plastic has contaminated the planet from the bottom of the ocean to the peak of Mt. Everest. Micro-plastics are appearing in human blood streams. Isn’t it time we switch to refillable containers? ■ Restaurants are reopening their outdoor seating, park benches are being used. Soon, lounging on lawn chairs will replace collapsing on couches. ■ Athletic activity has returned to The Park. Some are sore from playing sports. But it’s that good kind of soreness that reminds us, hey, the limbs still work. ■ Garden hoses are being reconnected, cars are clean again, and some extremists are even washing windows. ■ Face masks are disappearing. We no longer have to smile with just our eyes. ■ After the lightning speed of hockey and the quickness of basketball, we once again have to adjust to the snail pace of baseball. ■ The name may not be hip but many of us are looking forward to the return of Groovin’ in the Grove. ■ Shorts are being worn again, exposing pale skin that may be blinding. ■ Thermal underwear is going out of style. Parkas are being retired. Boots are

no longer mandatory. ■ Forest Parkers returning from spring break vacations have only one question on their minds, “Why?” ■ Teachers, students and school bus drivers are counting down the days. ■ Windows are opening, fresh air is flowing. Can putting out the porch furniture be far behind? ■ Outdoor tours are coming, while JOHN indoor concerts and plays and audiences have finally returned. RICE ■ Neighbors who haven’t seen each other in months will get reacquainted. ■ Summer blockbusters are coming. Will they ever stop making superhero movies? ■ It’s no longer getting dark at 5:30. ■ Backyard parties are returning but may require a fire. ■ Sox fans are right to be excited, while some Cub fans continue to be delusional. ■ Primaries are coming and it’s exciting to get campaign fliers in the mail. ■ Cardinals are singing, but I’ll settle for a sparrow. ■ Bees and butterflies will make a comeback. Can’t wait for mosquitoes. ■ Deer-sightings will increase and skunks will make their presence known. ■ Taking walks will be a pleasure instead of a trudge. Ah, spring!

A L OOK BA CK IN TIME

Michael Todd’s nal resting place

By JILL WAGNER

Contributor

Actress Elizabeth Taylor’s third husband, Oscarwinning film producer Michael Todd, died suddenly in a plane crash on March 22, 1958.

His funeral took place at his final resting place at Beth Aaron Cemetery in Waldheim in Forest Park three days later.

The Review reported, “Chief Joe Cortion and his entire staff of 40 policemen kept the crowd in order.” It was estimated that, “over 2, 000 people gathered around the roped enclosure ... and no less than 150 newspaper men, photographers and news commenters milled around inside the roped area.”

Over the next decades, Elizabeth Taylor would be seen in town at restaurants including the Golden Steer, when she would visit her late husband.

FOREST P ARK REVIEW

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OUR VIEW

New energy for D209

It is good news that the strike is over in Proviso Township High School District 209. But the dysfunction at both the school board and administrative level which led to this unnecessary rupture in the school year remains.

That is why we are glad to see a new political organization rising up across Proviso Township with a sharp eye on the critical school board election now just one year out. Proviso 209 Cooperative is led by three women rooted in Forest Park, Maywood and Westchester. Their Facebook page, launched just last fall, already has 1,100 members. That’s a good start on soliciting a slate of candidates which assures a competitive election in 2023 when the current terms of Theresa Kelly, Claudia Medina and Ned Wagner expire.

So far Medina has announced she plans to seek a third term.

Those three board members – Medina and Wagner from Forest Park – made history in 2015 when they were powered by the grassroots Proviso Together coalition of frustrated families across the township. Their reform strategy began a slow reclaiming of the failing district. But political and personal fissures on the board have returned D209 to an era of division, retribution and political nonsense.

We need better days.

Parks big plans

This week’s Review carries a lot of news about the Park District of Forest Park. All of it is positive, resourceful and reflective of a new ambition in this long popular institution.

As spring presages summer, the district is pushing for completion of its new splash pad at the pool facility. This will add new interest and added space to the always improving pool. The parks are also working on the fly to make improvements this summer to two of the pocket parks it now manages on behalf of the village government. Always overlooked while under village auspices, the small Remembrance Park, 7341 Randolph, and Popelka Park at Adams and Thomas will get updated play equipment and possibly a water spray feature.

And in an interview with our editor, Andy Viano, the district’s chief Jackie Iovinelli clarified that the pending purchase of new property on Harrison Street has shelved, for the moment, expansion plans for the Roos Rec Center. Instead the district’s focus and fundraising efforts will go toward construction of a new day camp building on the site of the old Pines Restaurant.

It’s a lot and it is all good.

OPINION

Survival of the ttest and homelessness

Charles Darwin proposed the theory of natural selection, and Herbert Spencer paraphrased that theory into the phrase “survival of the fittest.”

I like one of the Red Bull commercials as a way of explaining what Darwin meant. In the ad, two gazelles are talking, with a lion lurking in the background. One is drinking a Red Bull. “That won’t enable you to outrun that lion,” says the one. “Don’t have to,” says the other. “I only need to outrun you.”

One way of looking at Housing Forward is that its mission is to take care of the losers in this high-stakes, competitive game called American society. Kim and Anthony are two of the homeless people the nonprofit has gotten off the street and into an apartment, but the funding that subsidizes their rent is about to end. The Housing Forward model assumes people living on the street need a handout for a while to recover, and then a hand up to find jobs with the goal of getting back to living independently.

In other words, if life is like an ocean and you’re drowning, what Housing Forward does is throw you a life preserver to help you catch your breath, but after a short time they insist that you start swimming on your own or, if you don’t know how, they will teach you, but either way eventually they will take the life ring away so they can throw it to another person who is going under.

That model, declared Housing Forward’s executive director, Lynda Schueler, has been successful 70% of the time.

The problem for Kim and Anthony is that they’re among the 30% for whom the model doesn’t work. It’s as if even when they try to let go of the device keeping them afloat in order to swim on their own, the weight they’re carrying drags them down no matter how hard they try.

Even in the Housing Forward model, clients need a certain level of “fitness” or resilience in order to benefit from the hand up.

Take Kim, for example. She’s in her 30s and has never had a job. In addition if she doesn’t get her medication on time every day, she falls apart. Whenever she’s in social situations, like a job for example, her anxiety level soars and she has to get away from the crowd. Good luck finding employment.

Anthony had jobs before becoming homeless, but right now he’s carrying several burdens that make his chances of outrunning the lion slim. For one, he has his own mental-health issues. Another is that he has a felony drug conviction on his record, which prevents him from getting many jobs. Then a year ago while he was driving a friend’s car, he was pulled over because of a tail light not working. When the officer ran his license number, he found there was an outstanding warrant for his arrest, a warrant Anthony didn’t

TOM know about. He insists he’s not guilty of the burglary charge, but the public deHOLMES fender assigned to him lacks either the time or desire to do the work required to get the judge to throw the case out. So even though he is talented and experienced in working with computers, when he applies for a job at a business that requires he handle money — Best Buy, for example — the burglary charge ends the interview. Housing Forward is limited in the amount of money they can provide. In addition to hefty rent subsidies, they have given the couple Link and Ventra Cards but at this point the nonprofit has no money in their budget for medication or electricity. Financial help from family is limited and sporadic. Friends have given the pair literally thousands of dollars but that well is beginning to run dry. They say America is the land of opportunity. For many, of course, it is. But way back in 1962 Michael Harrington published a book titled, The Other America, which points out that we’re not just a place where you can become anything you want to be. Many of you have volunteered at a Housing Forward shelter and vote for political candidates who promise to help the poor. You’ve helped make the glass 70% full. My question is how far are we willing to go? How much are we willing to give to help Kim and Anthony and the other folks in the 30% to enable them to just stay afloat? When some people see them panhandling on an expressway ramp and holler, “Get a job!” they reveal their cluelessness about “the other America.” It’s the season of Lent, a time for soul searching. Are those of us, who have up till now outrun the lions, willing to turn around and come to the aid of those who have fallen behind, even when it puts our own comfort and even safety in jeopardy? Are we willing to make it part of our mission statement to help our neighbors like Kim and Anthony?