GROWING COMMUNITY WEDNESDAY JOURNAL, INC.
Vol. 100, No. 50
$1.00
CELEBRATING 100 YEARS
F O R E S T PA R K
REVIEW DECEMBER 13, 2017
Firefighters coat drive cancelled PAGE 5
Police plan 4 new hires this year PAGE 9
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Say goodbye to a TIF district, Roosevelt Road Local schools, the library and entire village stand to benefit By ROBERT LIFKA Contributing Reporter
The end of the Roosevelt Road tax increment financing (TIF) district will result in additional property tax revenue next year for taxing bodies whose boundaries fall within the district. The Forest Park Village Council voted unanimously, Nov. 27, to terminate the Roosevelt Road TIF District, effective Dec. 31. The TIF’s 23-year term had expired. Trustees created a separate TIF district in 2015, called the Roosevelt Corridor, which was developed to completely refurbish the entire corridor from Harlem Avenue to Desplaines Street. The previous TIF did not cover the north side of Roosevelt Road. Taxing bodies that stand to benefit from the termination of one of Roosevelt Road’s TIF districts include school District 91, Proviso Township High School District 209, the Forest Park Public Library and the village of Forest Park itself. Edward Brophy, assistant superintendent of operations, said D91 could receive anywhere from $280,000 to $320,000 in new property tax revenue while Leticia Olmsted, village finance director, estimated the village could receive an additional $99,000, and Pilar Shaker, library director, said the library could receive an additional $33,000. Officials of D209 did not respond. Following creation of a TIF district, the equalized assessed valuation (EAV) of the property is frozen for taxing bodies whose boundaries include the district. Any property tax revenue generated by the increased EAV goes into the TIF fund to be spent on improvements in See TIF DISTRICT on page 11
ALEXA ROGALS/Staff Photographer
HIRE POWER: Michael Benline, 5, of Westchester, decorates a Christmas tree ornament on Saturday, Dec. 9, at Empowering Gardens on Madison Street in downtown Forest Park.
It takes a village to support people with disabilities This winter, Empowering Gardens employs and trains people with disabilities By TOM HOLMES Contributing Reporter
Manuel “Manny” Gutierrez’s story is a good example of how it takes a village
IN Big Week . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7 THIS Classified . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 ISSUE Crime . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Opinion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Obituaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
to not only raise a child, but also to support people with disabilities. Gutierrez was in a coma for two years following a car accident in 2003, which left him with short-term memory loss, seizures that resulted in violent muscle
contractions and the loss of consciousness, and the loss of peripheral vision in one eye. The front of his skull was so damaged that now a ceramic plate See DISABILITY on page 8
John Rice attends a pepper party
Alan Brouilette wants to reschedule Xmas
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