Forest Park Review 121323 by Wednesday Journal

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ForestParkReview.com Vol. 106, No. 50

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REVIEW DECEMBER 13, 2023

Centuries & Sleuths owner postpones retirement

Special Section INSIDE

@ForestParkReview@FP_Review

Holiday dazzle Where to catch the best light displays, page 7

Owner Augie Aleksy hopes to sell it the building to someone who will keep the space a bookstore as he considers two offers By IGOR STUDENKOV Staff Reporter

If Centuries & Sleuths bookstore owner August “Augie” Aleksy had his way, he would close the store one last time on Dec. 31 and turn over the building and the inventory to a new owner. But, as he noted wryly when the Review stopped by on Dec. 6, life doesn’t always follow his best-laid plans. Aleksy said that he is currently entertaining two serious offers for the store from two parties interested in using the space as a bookstore– one from two sisters from Virginia See CENTURIES on page 9

IN Big Week . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4 THIS ISSUE Crime . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Opinion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 Classified . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

John Rice: Alan Brouilette: Kangaroo Korner closes after Let’s move Christmas 4-plus decades of daycare to Feb. 25! PAGE 24

PAGE 23

Forest Park Review, December 13, 2023

Note from the Publisher

The future of local news? We’re it.

Here’s why we became a nonprofit newsroom and why your donation is important By Dan Haley Publisher

know you believe in independent local news. You are either reading this piece in print or on one of Growing Community Media’s digital platforms. So I know you understand why local news is so vital to each of the neighborhoods we report on. Here’s the worry. Either you take us for granted – we’ve been publishing each of our four newspapers for between 25 and 43 years – and you assume we’ll be here to cover village hall, school boards, elections, business and faith, prep sports and obits next week and next year. Alternatively, you’ve read about the imminent crisis in local news across this country. The two papers a week that just close down. The “ghost” newspapers which publish press releases and pick up copy from the wires but provide no local news. It feels pretty grim.

You understand how this diminishes life in your hometown. Less accountability. Less celebration. Less civil debate on the letters pages. Less community and fewer connections. Here’s your enthusiastic wake-up call. There is a bright future for independent local news. And the good news for our readers who follow the Austin Weekly News, Wednesday Journal, Forest Park Review and the Riverside-Brookfield Landmark is that we are that future. But we need you to grow with us. Don’t take us for granted. But sure as hell don’t give up on us either. Four years ago, we knew we had to make big changes as the business model for local news was ruptured. So we became a nonprofit newsroom – Growing Community Media NFP. Lots of rigamarole with the IRS, forming a board of directors, then COVID. You remember. While there is a lot of energy in nonprofit journalism right now, your local papers have created what is going to be the winning model for local news that is going to be sustainable for years to come. And it

is why so many are interested in what we are building.

remarkable news engine we are building then that’s welcome.

It’s a hybrid. We’ve kept print advertising and grown local digital advertising. Our reach into each of our nine neighborhoods is larger than it has ever been. We’ve kept paid print subscriptions and we are grateful for the thousands of you who keep re-upping even as we’ve hiked the annual cost.

Right now donors -- large, small and a few foundations -- account for about 25% of our total revenue. That’s a good start. But we need to grow the percentage along with our advertising base.

And we have critically added a third revenue stream. It’s philanthropy. And that’s where you come in. We need you, our loyal readers, to help pay the freight for our reporters and editors, our technology so that we keep growing our newsroom. Across the bottom of these two pages are the names of 399 neighbors who have made a donation to GCM since our end-of-year fundraising effort began on Oct. 1. That’s a lot of people. Look at this list for the names you know. And then join them by Dec. 31 by making a donation, an investment, in the local news you trust and rely on. Maybe you can afford $5 a month. That’s great. If you can invest more in this

Our year end fundraising goal is $250,000. It will be the most we’ve ever raised in one campaign. We’re on the path to making the goal. We’ve got a $40,000 match running right now. Thirty-three of our neighbors pooled their generous support into this match fund. Every dollar you contribute will be doubled through the close of the year. We need this money to set us up for a great and growing 2024. Donating is simple. Go to GrowingCommunityMedia. org/donate. If you are reading this in print then you’ll find a small donation envelope inside this issue. Fully old school. I promise you it will feel good to be part of building a future for local news in these neighborhoods we all love. With gratitude in advance.

Join our donors and help us make our Dec. 31st goal! Deb & Tom Abrahamson* Skyler Aikerson ALK Snow Fund at the Chicago Community Foundation Leland Anderson Michelle Arnold B Best Family Fund Babou Memorial Fund Cecelia Bacom Carolyn Baird Nick Baker Kathryn Balk Judy Banks-Johnson Timothy Bannon Todd Bannor Katherine Bateman

James Baum Sandra B. Baumgardner Marion & Jonathan Baumgarten Susan Beach Debbie Becker Paul Beckwith Jordis Bednar Stephan Benzkofer Lin Beribak Linda Bernat Vicki Bielanski Mary Bird Marc & Dorie Blesoff* Sharon Bloyd-Peshkin William Bobco Loretta Bober Marcin Bogacz Alice Boomhower Karen Borgstadt Mark Boroughf

Elizabeth Botts David Boulanger Melissa Bowen John Bowes Anne Bowhay Mary Boyaris Tom Braam Martin Bracco Richard Brey Kevin Brubaker Craig Brumund Mark Burger James Burns RJ Busky John Byrne Susan Campbell Patrick & Jeanette Cannon Michael Cassin Marilee Castaneda Joyce Champelli Nancy Chmell

*These are GCM boardmembers and 2023 Matchmakers

Judy Chrisman Lauretta A. Christensen Lesley W. Christien Nancy Clark* Thom Clark Ellen Cleary Kelly Clissold Donald Coe Joseph Coglianese Marty Colchamiro Bonnie Coleman LaVerne Collins* Alice Cottingham Jom Coughlin Ann Courter Brian Crawford* Jolyn Crawford Mary Ellen Creighton Stephen. Crilly David Crossett Jack Crowe Jeff & Ann Currie

Norma Cutsforth Ellen Cutter Wendy & Al Daniels Diane Dannenfeldt Jack & Mary Darnall Dan Davidson MJ Davidson Joshua Davison Judy Davy Pam & Pat Deady Melinda Degucz Janel Dennen* Mary Dickie Timothy Divis Mavis Donahue Clara D’Onofrio Andrew Doten Susan Doyle Suzanne Dubin Mary Duffy Pelzer Robert Dulski John Dumas

William A Dwyer Ella Mae Eastman Matthew Ebbing Erika Edmonson Pat Eichenold Christine Eichinger Ardyth J. Eisenberg Susan Elfant James Elsener Craig Endicott Wendy Epstein Heidi Ewell Deborah Fallahay Carrie Felix Scott Hardesty Kim Fideler Robinson Geoffrey Fingerhut Liz Fischer Liz Fitzgerald Caitlin Fitzharris Michelle Fitz-Henry Heather Fitzpatrick

Forest Park Review, December 13, 2023

Cheryl Flinn Jennifer Ford Maureen Ford Jeffery Foster Kim Freeark Elizabeth Freeland Leslie Fulton Judith Gaietto-Grace Thomas Gallagher* Judith Galleazzi Agustina Gandarilla Elizabeth Gardner Mark Gartland Jim & Louise Gates Christine Gavlin Tony Georgeson Dale Glowacki Jeanne E. Goedert Alan Goldberg Katie Frankle & David Goldman Brian Gomoll Allen Goodcase Michael & Peggy Goodman Gregory Gordon Sudhanva Govindarajan Joyce Gradel Beverly Graham John Grant Bruno Graziano Susan Greenberg Marjorie Greenwald Greffin Fund at The Chicago Community Foundation* Chris & Kori Grumboski Michael Guerin Joan Gumbel William Haddad Carol Hafeman John & Julia Haley* Mary Haley* Kathleen Hall Matthew Hall Josephine Halpin Kristen Halverson Brian Hameister Judith Hamje Bruce & Kathy Hansen Suzanne Haraburd* Roberta Harris Steven & Lenore Harris Nancy Hartman Robert Havey Richard Hay Tom J. Healey MaryAnn Heard

Linda Heffernan Philip & Patricia Heil Joel Heinz Rosemary Hepner Meg Herman Diane Hettasch David Hilbert Charles Hoch Lynn & Alan Hoffstadter* Deborah Holdstein Deborah Holdstein Case Hoogendoorn* Stephen Hopkins Colleen Horrigan Gary Howell Michael Hughes Bonnie Hutchison Kathy Hymson Mary Ann Irvine Alberto Jabiles Amy Jacksic Erik Jacobsen Daina Jakofsky Edward Jepson* John F. Flynn Jason & Tina Johns Steve Johnson Marcile Jones Bernice (B.C.) (Hopkinson) Juettner Barbara Kahn Kara Kalnitz Sophie Kaluziak Bob Kane Sandra Karuschak Art Kazar Randall Kelso John Kelty Pam Kenney Donna Kenyon Terry Keshner Janice Kieckhefer Therese Kielp Philip & CarolJean Kier Geralyn Kilcoyne Susan Klock Troy Klyber Ken Knasiak Dan Knight Paul & Patricia Koko Barbara Kolowski Wendy Kopala Rich Kordesh* Nancy Kovach Jay Kozie Lorraine Kozon

Renata Krempl James Krohe Michael Kruley Ellen Kuner Laurian Kyritz Terri Lackey Hans Lagoni Amy Landefeld Neil Lane John Lattyak Leslie Lauderdale Karl Lauger Lucas Laurel Dennis Lavelle Ginny Lee-Herrmann Dan Lesser Lydia Lewis-Brandt Daniel L’heureux* Elizabeth Lippitt Kathryn Lucht James Lynch Michelle Major Mary Anne Manley James Mann James Marciniak Kate Marek Suzanne Marshall David H. Martin Marylen Marty Ann Masur* Jane McClelland Anna Clare McDermott Judith McDevitt Joe McDonald Sheila McDonnell Donna McKune Bob Mead Christopher Meglan Teresa Melcher David Mendell Ben Meyerson Mike Michaelsen Melissa Mickelberry John Mihelic Carole & Larry Mitchener Betty Moore Maurice & Toni Moore D. Morawski Candice Moretti Leigh Morgan Mary Morgan Lindsay Morrison Gloria Morrissey Robert Moser Woody Mosgers Sharon Moyer

Karen Mullarkey Kerrins Anne Murphy Dennis M. Murphy* Margaret Murtagh Donna Myers* Zachary Nauth Donald Nekrosius* Mary Ellen Nelligan* Eugene & Louisa Newberry Carolyn Newberry Schwartz Michelle Newman Bill Niro Nancy Nordgren Robert Novalich Mary Kay O’Grady Thomas & Christine Ondrla Donna Oswald Kathryn Owens Jennifer Packheiser Lynne Palmore John-Paul Paonessa Steven Parker Elizabeth Parsons Libbey Paul Mary Pellegrini Jeanne Peppler Priscilla Perkins William Peterman Loren Phillips Liz Picone Danielle Pierro Thomas Pivarski James Podraza Al Popowits Joyce Porter Deborah Postlewait Teresa Powell* James Prescott Marvin Price Paul Price Susan Purdie Susan Quinn The Quinn Pasin Family Philanthropic Fund Joan Radovich Brenda Rakers Shirley Redmond Vicky Rehill Ruth Reko Lisa Ridolfi Gayle Riedmann Susan Roberts George Rogers Katharine Roller Ron Roman Alice Rose

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Diana Rosenbrock Barbara Rohm Rossa Jennifer Royer Mark Ruda Dolores Ruffolo Ann Marie Ryan The Sachem Company Silvana Santilli Marian & Bob Sassetti-Kent Steve Saylors Meredith Schacht Lynn Scheir Tyler Schofield Thomas Schouten Robert W. Schramek Janet Schroeder Jeff Schroeder Kathleen Schroer James Schwartz Laurie Schwartz Sylvie Schwartz Benjamin Sells Dorothy Seman Clancy Senechalle Louis Shorr Brendan Short Brooke Sievers Kimberly Silver Peggy Sinko Renee Slade Joan Slanina Helene Slowik Adrienne Smith Barbara Smith Leslie Smith Mike Smolarek Joan Soldwisch Sheila Solomon* Gisela Sonka Martha Spatz Susan Sporte* Rachel Stark Amy Stearns Michael Stefanik Jill O. Stewart Linda Stewart Laurie Stokes Isaac Stopeck Riverside Financial Strategies Kirsten Straughan Pamela Strauss Robert Streit Meghan & Doug Strubel Fran Sullivan* Michael Surratt Theodore Tamul

Christine Tanner Cheryl Terhorst Margaret Thayer The Conroy Family Roger Thomas Judy Thompson Cecelia Thornton Dana Todd Robert Trezevant* Rogene V. Tubman Beverly Tuck Robert Tucker Anne Kelly Turner Linda Valentine Doug Varn Donald & Mary Vogel* Sandy Vomacka Mary Sue Voth Walter Wahlfeldt William Wallace Margaret Walsh* Marietta Walsh Pam Walsh Joan Monica Wanat Steven Warkentin Barbara Watkins* Vicki Watts Rosemary Weber Mary Weiland Eric & Tina Weinheimer* Marc Weiss Nile Wendorf* Michele Wheeler Jonathan Wilder Dina Wilensky Timothy Wilson Mark & Randi Woodworth Nancy Woulfe Kathy Wyant Kevin Wyderka R. Johnilee Yankow Dean Yannias Victor Yipp Stephen Yogya Darek Yong Margaret Zak Karen Zaremba Julie Zeller Maureen Zinsmeister

Forest Park Review, December 13, 2023

Feed The Monkeys with The Laughing Hearts and Big Fans Wednesday, Dec. 13, 6:30 - 10:30 p.m., Robert’s Westside Robert’s Westside is excited to present Rock On Madison, featuring Feed The Monkeys with The Laughing Hearts and Big Fans. General admission is free with RSVP or $10 at the door, and reserved tables are available for $40 to $150. This 21+ event allows entry for those under 21 with a parent/ guardian. 7321 Madison St., Forest Park.

December 13-20

BIG WEEK

Sunday, Dec. 17, 2 - 3 p.m., Forest Park Public Library Austin Room Pocket Circus entertains and delights with their interactive bilingual circus performance showcasing skills such as plate spinning, juggling, diabolo, and more. Designed for ages 5 and up. 7555 Jackson Blvd., Forest Park.

Friday, Dec. 15, 6:30 – 10:30 p.m., Robert’s Westside Featuring two full sets of country music along with a classic country Christmas vinyl DJ set. Admission is free for this 21+ event (under 21 allowed with a parent/guardian). Join us for a night filled with great tunes and good company. 7321 Madison St., Forest Park.

The Cash Box Kings Tuesday, Dec. 19, 6 p.m., Robert’s Westside Join the audience for a night of blues as The Cash Box Kings take the stage. Known for their authentic Chicago blues style, this band promises to deliver a performance that pays homage to the classic blues era while infusing a modern touch. Secure your tickets now for a night of soulful music and energetic vibes. 7321 Madison St., Forest Park.

Saturday, Dec. 16, 8 a.m., Park District of Forest Park Santa and Mrs. Claus are set to delight kids with a pancake breakfast, including sausage, juice, milk, and coffee. The event will feature games, crafts, and coloring to add to the festive atmosphere. Given the limited space available, early registration is encouraged to secure a spot for this joyful celebration. 7501 Harrison St., Forest Park.

Holiday Social Gathering + 10th Anniversary

Pocket Circus Skills Showcase

Hoover & Harley and the Boys

Breakfast with Santa

Shop and Play Holiday Market Saturday, Dec. 16, 2 – 6 p.m., Let’s Play Work For individuals in need of last-minute shopping without the hassle of managing kids, this event has you covered. Hosted by a variety of local vendors, the shopping experience promises something for everyone. Attendees can take advantage of the indoor playground, ensuring a safe space for children while parents shop freely. The entry fee is waived for those without kids, and for those with children, there’s a reduced rate of just $10 per child for the day. 7228 Circle Ave., Forest Park.

Balloon Jousting Tuesday, Dec. 19, 4 - 5 p,m., Forest Park Public Library YS Program Room Decorate a balloon if desired and see who can pop their balloon first. Ages 8 to 10. 7555 Jackson Blvd., Forest Park.

Listing your event Forest Park Review welcomes notices about events that Forest Park groups and businesses are planning. We’ll work to get the word out if you let us know what’s happening by noon Wednesday a week before your news needs to be in the newspaper. ■ Send details to Wednesday Journal, 141 S. Oak Park Ave., Oak Park, 60302 ■ Email calendar@wjinc.com

Thursday, Dec. 14, 7 - 9 p.m., Shanahan’s End of the Line Humanists, a chartered chapter of the American Humanism Association located in the near west Chicago suburbs, specifically the Oak Park/Forest Park area, prides itself on fostering a community of Humanists who are “good without a god.” Dedicated to living ethical and compassionate lives, this group of nontheists actively meets the needs of the Humanist community through a range of social, philosophical, and humanitarian events and activities. Currently open to new members, End of the Line Humanists invites individuals who share these values to join and contribute to their inclusive and vibrant community. 7353 Madison St., Forest Park.

Last Minute DIY Gifts Monday, Dec. 18, 2023 4 - 6 p.m., Forest Park Public Library Young Adult Lounge Need a last minute gift for the holidays? Whether it’s for someone special or you’re treating yourself, stop by for fun stocking stuffer crafts. 7555 Jackson Blvd., Forest Park.

Forest Park Review, December 13, 2023

Library board agrees to unfreeze Friends of the Library’s $10,000 farewell donation, put it in the budget

The money sat untouched in a certificate of deposit since the organization disbanded in 2017 By IGOR STUDENKOV Staff Reporter

When the Friends of Forest Park Public Library disbanded in the spring of 2017, they donated $10,000 left in their budget to the library. At the time, the library board of trustees wanted to use those funds for something that would “memorialize” the Friends of the Library and their contributions over the decades. But it had no idea what that would look like – so the board deposited the donation at the Forest Park National Bank and Trust, where it was to be held for a year. The board hoped that it would give them enough time to come up with the plan. But the plans didn’t materialize in 2018, or the year after that, and the funds get getting rolled over – until now. During its Dec. 11 meeting, the library board voted unanimously not to roll over the funds again, and instead put them back in the general fund. Over the next six months, the library plans to sit down with financial advisers and figure out what to do with it. The budget for the 2023-2024 fiscal year lists more than $2.23 million in expenses. The $10,000 is roughly what the library currently spends on strategic initiatives. It represents about one-sixth of what the library spends on adult programs, more than a half of what it spends on children’s programming and more than twice what it spends on teen programming. The library board meeting minutes for the 2017-2018 fiscal year, the farthest back the online archives go, reference the

Friends of the Library’s last sponsored event taking place in May 2017. The minutes for the June 19, 2017 meeting mention a discussion about what to do with the donation. “It was agreed that the funds would be held until next fiscal year, so that plans could be made to use them towards something that would memorialize the Friends of the Forest Park Public Library and their contributions over the years,” the minutes stated. The library put the money in a certificate of deposit savings account, which meant that they couldn’t withdraw the money without paying a penalty. After the initial one-year term expired, the library kept rolling it over, extending the certificate’s term. During the Dec. 11 meeting, Deb Harris, the library’s business and technical services manager, said that they kept rolling the funds over “because nobody wants to bother with it.” “[The Friends of the Library] wanted us to do something with it. We didn’t have anything to do with it,” she said. Harris added that after “so much time has gone by” and the Friends members “all gone,” there is no reason why the library can’t “just put it elsewhere.” Vicki Rakowski, who has been library’s executive director for almost a year, felt that the library should do something with the money. “We got sort of a white elephant hanging out. We were not sure what to do with it,” she said. The board readily agreed that it makes

FILE

Dec. 11 Forest Park Library Board of Trustees meeting. no sense to leave the money sitting in the bank and after a brief discussion, they broadly agreed that they should consult with a financial adviser to figure out the best use for it. Some of the ideas that were floated were investing the money or holding it just in case a new Friends of the Library organization forms. Because of how much time has passed since the original organization dissolved, it would essentially have to start from scratch.

The library still needs to formally withdraw the CD from Forest Park Bank. Board President Brooke Sievers said that the money will be moved to the general fund. In the interview after the meeting, board treasurer Eboni Murray told the Review that the fact that the money isn’t tax revenue gave the library some flexibility – but she said she couldn’t give any examples. “We’re going to take our time, maybe the next six months,” Murray added.

We’re taking a break By ERIKA HOBBS Editor

What better way to spend the holidays than with friends and family? We think so, too. So this year, to thank our reporters, editors and staff, we’re taking a week off. We will not be publishing a print edition on Wednesday Dec. 27. Our of-

fices also will be closed from Monday Dec. 25 through Monday Jan.1. We’ll return Tuesday Jan. 2. Most of us will not be answering phones or email. However, we know news never stops. If there is an emergency or breaking news, please email me, Erika Hobbs, at erika@growing communitymedia.org. Happy holidays from all of us at Growing Community Media!

Forest Park Review, December 13, 2023

Do you have DIABETES?

f you do, you should know how important foot care is. Over time, diabetics risk developing foot complications. When the nerves are damaged from chronic high blood sugar, feet can become numb or painful with burning or tingling. This is called diabetic neuropathy. When diabetes affects the arteries, circulation to the legs and feet may be compromised. Either of these conditions may lead to serious problems including ulceration, even amputation.

The key to prevention is early diagnosis of diabetes, and regular foot exams from a podiatrist. Diabetics who receive regular foot care, including paring of calluses and debridement of thick fungal toenails, are almost four times less likely

to undergo an amputation than those who do not seek treatment. Medicare and some private insurances cover 1 pair of diabetic shoes and 3 pair of protective insoles each calendar year. Dr. Lambert has been a supplier of diabetic shoes since 2002. The shoes come in 30 different styles each for men and women. These include boots, lightweight colorful athletic shoes, and dress shoes. Even patients who are not diabetic love the look and comfort of the footwear. Diabetic socks, slippers and compression hosiery are also available. Protecting your feet with appropriate footgear is an important aspect of preventive care for diabetics.

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Forest Park Review, December 13, 2023

Where to see holiday lights in Forest Park

“It’s little things like this, and One community member onthoseFacebook. stunning lit trees on Beloit that bring a touch of light to my dark days.” sets up Candyland The decorations, which include gingerbread men and elves with a face cut out to themed decorations allow for photos, were built by Cunningham

By AMARIS E. RODRIGUEZ Staff Reporter

Christmas is right around the corner, but you don’t have to wait until Dec. 25 to witness the magic of Christmas lights in the village of Forest Park. Decorations have already been lighting up the nights this holiday season. If you are in the mood for Christmas cheer, grab yourself a mug of hot chocolate, add some extra marshmallows, and make your way through these attractions in Forest Park.

“Light up Beloit” 800-1100 block of Beloit Avenue An effort by residents John Cunningham and Rob Sall, the two undertook the challenge of organizing neighbors on Beloit Avenue between Roosevelt and Harrison to light up their trees with Christmas lights to spread holiday cheer. The duo held two volunteer days and saw community support through donations of money as well as time. “Projects like this wouldn’t be possible without the generosity of our neighbors both financially and through volunteering to help install the lights,” said Cunningham on his Facebook page. “We live in a very high paced society, often filled with negativity and despair, whether that is at home, work, school, or at the local, state, or even world level,” Cunningham told Forest Park Review. “Our efforts are to create a smile, a glimmer of hope so to be, to let people escape, even as fleeting as it may be.”

Candyland — Intersection of Harvard and Beloit by Ed’s Way Market With life-size candy canes, lollipops, and gumdrops, a “sweeter” winter display. Another brainchild of John Cunningham and Rob Sall, the Candyland display is set on village beds that “had been long forgotten and neglected.” In the summer, the duo focuses on cultivating plants in those areas, but Cunningham said there was no reason they could not spread joy during the winter months. “I am chronically ill and really struggle daily with pain,” said a Forest Park resident

and Sall. They began building them in September, working through the installation in mid-November.

Christmas display on corner of Thomas and Ferdinand A snowman and Christmas tree show off the winter festivities on the corner of Thomas Avenue and Ferdinand Avenue. One of the three displays arranged by John Cunningham and Rob Sall, this corner includes more greenery, which was donated to the cause to give an upgraded presentation to the display beds.

Charlie’s Restaurant 7427 Roosevelt Road, Forest Park If you need a bite but want to stay in a festive mood, Charlie’s Restaurant, a popular local diner in Forest Park, is the place to go. For those who want to dine under sparkly fairy lights, reservations are available for seating in their heated greenhouse, which is pet friendly but limited to two people. Decked out as a winter wonderland, the restaurant will be open both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Park District Holiday Home Decorating Contest Entries — around Forest Park Multiple residents got into the holiday spirit, decorating their homes in hopes of winning the coveted “Holiday Home Decorating Contest” put on annually by the Park District of Forest Park. Submissions are still open through Dec. 14 with judging taking place from Dec. 16 18 until 4 p.m. Two winners, one for “Best in Show’’ voted on by the Park District staff, and “People’s Choice” voted on by the community via Facebook, will be selected. Houses that have already been entered can be seen at the following locations: 500 block of Ferdinand 1100 block of Marengo 800 block of Circle Dunlop and Fillmore 1500 block of Elgin- This house also won the Halloween Decorating Contest sponsored by the Park District in October.

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Forest Park Review, December 13, 2023

Beloit Avenue couple lead their neighbors in filling the street with winter holiday lights

Lights on Beloit inspires more decorations, more lights on nearby blocks By IGOR STUDENKOV Staff Reporter

John Cunningham and Rob Sall are no strangers to decorating public areas in their section of south Forest Park– but their latest project blew everything out of the water. It is thanks to their vision that the majority of the trees along the section of Beloit Avenue between Harrison Street and Roosevelt Road are wrapped with winter holiday lights (not the Christmas lights – they wanted to be clear that the display is completely nondenominational). They decorated the trees in front of their house on the 1100 block of Beloit Avenue last year, liked how it turned out

and decided they wanted to “make it a bigger thing” in 2023. Back in the early fall, the couple reached out to their neighbors to see if there was any interest and tried to gauge how many neighbors would participate. The response was overwhelmingly positive, with neighbors donating money to help buy the lights and volunteering their time to hang the lights up. Cummingham and Sall said that they saw many neighbors on the nearby streets follow their lead, and they hope to make the display even bigger next year. For the past few years, the couple have been decorating planters at several major intersections in south Forest Park. They were the ones who did the Super Mario Brothers themed displays near Ed’s Way grocery store earlier this year, and put up the “Candyland” display at all four corners of the same intersection. Sall said that, after their original outreach got a positive response, they put together

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another flier explaining the logistics of actually putting the lights up. They decided that the lights would be LED lights because they would be more energy efficient. The power cords couldn’t run across the sidewalk to avoid a tripping hazard. There have been cases where a house wanted to participate but had reservations about plugging the lights into their own power supply, what with PROVIDED electric bills already spiking Lights on Beloit Avenue, Forest Park. during winter. In situations like this, they were sometimes able to find a neighbor next door who was her to get into the holiday spirit and decorate her own house. willing to share their power supply. “I think their enthusiasm, it translates, There have also been cases where the neighbors didn’t have any trees on their prop- it’s like blowing fairy dust in people’s eyes,” erty but still wanted to get involved – so they Wolfe said. “It makes you happy there’s a donated money to help Cunningham and Sall holiday there.” During the Nov. 27 Forest Park Village buy the lights. On the second weekend of November, the Council meeting, commissioner Ryan Nero couple and “maybe a dozen” volunteers went said that he was impressed by how the community came together to light up Beto work putting the lights up. “We had four work sessions that weekend loit Avenue. “All it takes is a little spark,” he said. – one in the morning, one in afternoon both Sall said that the response from outside the Saturday and Sunday,” Cuningham said. “We had ladders, and we just classically moved block has been “amazing.” “We had people from almost every other from the south [end of] Beloit to the north and block asking us – can we do mine?” he worked up street through the weekend.” Sall estimates that about 80% of the trees said, specifically mentioning people living “give or take” got wrapped, mentioning that on Elgin, Lathrop and Dunlop avenues as the 900 block “wasn’t well lit.” It should be examples. Cunningham said that what he liked most noted that the 952 Beloit Avenue building, which houses Field-Stevenson elementary about the Lights on Beloit was that it allowed school and Forest Park Middle School, takes neighbors who may have only met in passing up a decent portion of the west side of the to get to know each other. “Overall, I think it was just a good comstreet on that block. Sall said that he was under impression that Forest Park School Dis- munity-building project where we did a day where people got to meet each other and talk trict 91 was going to put up its own display. Jennifer Wolfe, a former Forest Park Re- to each other, and discover some of their view contributing photographer, lives on neighbors down the street,” he said. Sall said that they were very deliberthe 900 block of Beloit Avenue. She said that she’s already been impressed with the work ate about those lights not being Christmas Sall and Cunningham put into the planters, lights, because they wanted to speak to the but said she feels that they’ve really outdone broader importance of shining the light in the darkness. themselves this time. “We basically referred to it as winter lights, “There’s a lot of people who do great things in the city, and these guys go well beyond sort of a bright point in the long, dreary, dark days of winter,” he said. “We just hope that it what anyone else has done,” Wolfe said. While she didn’t have a large tree to wrap would put a smile on people’s faces and give a the lights around, Lights on Beloit inspired glimmer of hope.”

Forest Park Review, December 13, 2023

CENTURIES

Weighing offers from page 1 and one from a local duo. They are negotiating details, and at least one of the parties is trying to line up the necessary financing. At this point, Aleksy doesn’t expect the conversations to wrap up before the end of the year. While he previously said that he intends to retire in the end of the year whether he sells the store or not – and he reiterated in a recent interview that he would still ideally like to retire then, he was also very interested in making sure that the space remains a bookstore. If it takes a few more weeks to hash out the details, Aleksy said, then so be it. As the name implies, Centuries & Sleuths focuses on history and mystery. The store has been a Madison Street corridor mainstay since 2000. Aleksy announced his intention to retire by the end of the year in late May, but he told the Review that he wanted the space to remain a bookstore, whether it follows his concept or not. Since then, he entertained several offers. Aleksy declined to go into details on the re-

cord, saying only that he’s been talking with the two sisters from Virginia for months. The second offer, that came in a few weeks ago, came from a poet and a local publisher. The two were recommended by a friend. Aleksy also got some other offers, but he said he found these two the most promising, so he is focusing on them. Aleksy and his wife, Tracy, own the building the store is in, so they have some flexibility – but he said that they’re not interested in being landlords, so whoever buys a bookstore is buying the building as well. They would inherit his inventory, but not most of the knickknacks and displays that dot the store shelves – those belong to the couple, so they’re keeping them. While Aleksy said he was eager to retire, he didn’t want to rush the process, either. “I don’t think it would be wise for business to say – if you’re not going to buy it by Dec. 31, forget it,” he said. Until the store does change owners, Aleksy isn’t slowing down. When the Review visited Centuries & Sleuths, he was busy putting up a miniature model of the Battle of Waterloo on the display window. The smaller, more seasonal model of the 1914 World War I Christmas armistice was already up. Aleksy previously told the Review that he had always been interested in opening a

bookstore, but it wasn’t until 1989 that he left his job in banking to take a plunge. He and his wife went to a workshop for booksellers, and he used his experience in banking to develop a business plan. At the time when bookstore chains like Borders and Barnes & Noble dominated, the last thing Aleksy said he wanted to do was to open a “generic” bookstore. He was already interested in history, and when he looked at what people were checking out at the Oak Park Public Library, he noticed that it, along with mysteries, were two of the most popular genres. A survey he sent out to Oak Parkers confirmed his findings. Centuries & Sleuths originally opened in Oak Park at 743 Garfield St., near the spot where Oak Park Avenue crossed the Eisenhower Expressway. Aleksy said he simply couldn’t afford a space in any of the village’s major commercial corridors, and he hoped to turn the location to an advantage. “I anticipated that people would come here on the way back from work,” he said. “But most people were only interested in getting home from work.” Undeterred, Aleksy kept going – all while trying to find a better location. And eventually, an opportunity did come. A customer gave him a contact for Art Jones, then a vice president of Forest Park National Bank. In the late

IGOR STUDENKOV

Augie Aleksy 1990s-early 2000s, Jones and bank president Jerry Vainisi were looking to diversify the Madison Street shopping strip beyond bars. With their support, he moved to the Madison Street space and got help buying the building – something that he was eager to do because leasing the Oak Park space led to many frustrations. During the recent interview, Aleksy reiterated what he told the Review back in May – for all the frustrations of running a small business, he was proud that the store became a community hub, a place that many customers appreciated. “In the past 33 years, I’ve been lucky,” he reflected.

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Forest Park Review, December 13, 2023

I N

M E M O R I A M

Jackie Schulz, 92, longtime Forest Park Review columnist

She was the ‘Talk of the Town’ for 47 years

By JOHN RICE Contributing Reporter

e have lost the “Matriarch of Forest Park” said one of her longtime friends. Jacquiline “Jackie” Schulz passed away peacefully on Dec. 8, 2023. She was 92 and died in the home her grandfather had built on Beloit. Jackie endeared herself to Forest Park residents with her weekly “Talk of the Town” column She penned almost 2,500 columns, from April 8, 1970 to August 3, 2017. But even if she hadn’t written a single word for the Forest Park Review, she would still have been a beloved figure in this town. Born on Feb. 25, 1931, she inherited her warmth from her Irish mother and her grit from her stern German father. Jackie also had a German uncle, Philip Manfroid, who engraved glass for Tiffany’s. She proudly displayed some of his creations in her credenza. Jackie started out as a South Sider and grew up in St. Killian Parish. She attended Catholic elementary school, high school and college, including Loyola University, where she graduated with degrees in English and Education. She used her degree to become a Chicago Public School teacher. Her first job was teaching Kindergarten at Jenner School, in the heart of the Cabrini-Green neighborhood. Her class sizes were enormous, with 75 kids in the morning and 50 in the afternoon. Nevertheless, she continued teaching primary grades in public and Catholic schools for 43 years. Meanwhile, Jackie moved with her family to the two-flat her grandfather had built in Forest Park. The first-floor apartment would be her home for the rest of her life. Not that she was home much. When she wasn’t exploring her hometown, she was exploring Asia and Europe during the summer breaks. She also brought the world to her door by renting her second-floor apartment to a succession of immigrant families, most recently a couple from Albania, who took their turns as caregivers as Jackie’s health declined. In addition to her passion for travel, she was a music lover from a young age. She became an accomplished pianist and was also proficient enough to play cello with the Symphony of Oak Park and River Forest. According to David Leehey, president of the Symphony, “Jackie was a pillar of the community in Forest Park for decades. I met her when we were both singing in the Oak Park Concert Chorale in the 1980s. Jackie started the Sing Along Messiah that was held annually for almost 30 years. We were members of MacDowell Artists Association and subsequently

president and vice president of that organization from om 1999 on. She and I put together a chorus and hired Jay Friedman to conduct the one and only performance nce of the Millennium Festival Orchestra (Beethoven’s n’s Ninth, Jan. 1, 2000). Subsequently I became president ent of the Symphony of Oak Park & River Forest board, rd, and Jackie was a longtime board member.” It was the music of her writing, though, that capptured the Review’s readers. Publisher Bob Haeger er hired her to write a “gossip column” for the exalted d annual salary of $200. But Jackie had no use for gossd sip and started a society column instead. She decided to list birthdays because everyone has one. Many readers got a thrill from seeing their birth-day listed in her column. This includes Lisa Grimess Becker, who has known Jackie since Lisa was 4 years old. She recalled, “You held your breath all week until you saw your birthday in the Review.” Jackie also celebrated graduations, promotions, marriages and anniversaries. It’s a daunting task to fill a weekly column and Jackie found a unique way to gather local news. She walked her dog, Callahan, all over town. She’d bump into people and get their story. “My dog got me my friends and newspaper columns,” she recalled in 2017. Callahan served as Jackie’s assistant for 15 years. He was succeeded by Barkley. She was a great lover of animals and served as an unofficial veterinarian. People brought their Jackie Schulz ailing animals to her, said her longtime neighbor PROVIDED Jeri Grant. And if she couldn’t heal them, she took them to the official vet and often paid the bill. Jill Wagner was among the staffers who got to know Jackie. When the Review was acquired by Wednesday Journal Inc. “She was a sincere delight. A real character. Full of joy and (now Growing Community Media) in the late 1980s, Publisher love. A human charm.” Dan Haley became her boss. He immediately gave her a pay Tom Holmes pegged her as, “One of the unique personaliraise to $50 a column. He described Jackie as “kind, good- ties in town.” Igor Studenkov got to know Jackie by reading hearted, happy and connected to everything that moved in her columns. “Her warmth, compassion, curiosity and love Forest Park. She was a joyful person. Those of us who had the of knowledge shone through her columns. We were lucky to honor to know her will miss her.” have her.” Haley also noted that Jackie’s columns were always about She was also lucky to remain in her home to the end, her Forest Park residents. She never wrote about herself, or her dearest wish, which was granted by her caregivers. Kathy trips abroad. “It wasn’t that kind of column,” Jackie said in Doss was with her during her last days, as were Jeri and Roga previous interview. “The focus should always be on other er Grant; Xhevahire and Ilir, the couple upstairs; and Kelly. people.” The headline of the story we wrote about her in 2017, Kathy reported that Jackie was in good spirits and good apthe 100th anniversary of the Forest Park Review, when she fi- petite on Thanksgiving. She continued to have companions nally gave up the column, was: “The most interesting person and visitors until the end. she never wrote about.” She not only captured other people in There will be a “Celebration of Life” for Jackie on Saturday her stories, she also took the photos that ran with the column. afternoon, Jan. 13, 2024, at the Park District Administrative Monday was deadline day and Jackie would come to the Building newsroom to type her column. As one member of the staff When Jackie Shultz will once again be “The Talk of the noted, “She always entered the room in mid-sentence.” She Town.” needed help to navigate the technology and post her photos.

Forest Park Review, December 13, 2023

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Forest Park Review, December 13, 2023

C R I M E

Home inspector steals diaper bag worth thousands of dollars A couple looking to sell their home got a Gucci GG Supreme diaper bag worth $1,980 stolen by a home inspector that a prospective buyer hired, police said. The inspector worked for the Home Inspection Geeks company. The inspection of their Troost Avenue home was scheduled for the morning of Dec. 7. The victim said that after the inspection, her wife looked through the attic security camera footage and saw the inspector rummaging through their belongings. While the camera didn’t capture the moment the inspector took the bag, it was visible at 11:38 a.m. and was no longer visible at 11:40 a.m. The victim contacted Home Inspection Geeks the following morning. The company told them that the employee didn’t show up for work that morning.

security footage, the robber went into the store through the south entrance at 10:15 p.m. He went into the employees-only room and pointed the gun at the four employees standing inside. One of the employees gave the robber his phone and $20 in cash. The robber than ordered the employees to lay on the floor, kicked them several times and demanded that the first employee open the cash register. When the employee complied, the robber hit him on the back of the head with the butt of the gun, took the cash out of the cash register and fled. The employees were all transported to the Rush Oak Park hospital for treatment. They weren’t sure how much cash was taken out of the cash register at the time of the report.

Armed Robbery

A 31-year-old Gilliett, Wisconsin, man who tried to shoplift from the Play It Again Sports didn’t get very far after owner Erich Krumrei chased him down, police said. According to Krumrei, the would-be

The Madison Street Subway restaurant location was robbed on the night of Dec. 4. According to the victims and the store

Attempted shoplifting

shoplifter walked into his store on Dec. 4 at around 11 a.m. The 31-year-old man spent about five minutes at the store. He grabbed a few items and ran out of the store without paying for them. Krumrei chased after him, tackled him to the ground and tried to hold him down until the police arrived. The shoplifter got out and kept talking west without the items. Krumrei simply followed him to keep him in sight. The police officers intercepted them at the intersection of Madison Street and Ferdinand Avenue. The shoplifter was arrested without incident. A street security camera captured the man fleeing the store, and a witness said he saw the ensuing altercation first-hand. Krumrei estimated that the items were worth $198 before taxes. The 31-year-old was charged with one count of retail theft, and was released pending trial.

Catalytic converter thefts Forest Park saw three catalytic converter

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thefts happen on the Dec. 5 – and two of them happened on the same block of Harvard Street, police reports showed. The first theft happened on Dunlop Avenue. A video surveillance footage from the neighbor’s Ring camera showed a white SVU driving up to the victim’s grey 2012 Hyundai Sonata at 3:53 a.m. An individual got out of the SUV, raised the Hyundai on a jack. Two minutes later, the individual lowered the jack and got into the back of the SUV. The SUV drove off. The neighbor reviewed the video footage and contacted the victim at around 3 p.m. The victim confirmed that the catalytic converter was stolen. These items were obtained from police reports filed by the Forest Park Police Department, Dec. 4-10, 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.

Compiled by Igor Studenkov

CHRISTMAS CHURCH GUIDE

December 13, 2023 13

Christmas 2023

Special Advertising Section

CHRISTMAS CHURCH GUIDE

14 December 13, 2023

Christmas and New Year’s Mass schedule        

Sunday, December 24, Fourth Sunday of Advent 8:00 a.m. at St. Bernardine 9:30 a.m. at St. Luke

Sunday, December 24, Christmas Eve 4:00 p.m. at St. Luke with carols before at 3:30 p.m. from the Children’s Choir and Cherub Choir 6:00 p.m. at St. Luke with carols before at 5:45 p.m. from Vocal Ensemble with Instruments 10:30 p.m. at St. Bernardine with carols before at 10:00 p.m. from Festival Choir with Instruments

Monday, December 25, Christmas Day 8:00 a.m. at St. Bernardine with festive instrumental music before at 7:45 a.m. from Cantor and Trumpet 9:30 a.m. at St. Luke with carols before at 9:15 a.m. from Contemporary Choir with Instruments 11:00 a.m. at St. Luke with carols before at 10:45 a.m. from Festival Choir with Instruments

Sunday, December 31, New Year’s Eve

  

9:30 a.m. at St. Luke



9:00 a.m. at St. Bernardine

8:00 a.m. at St. Bernardine

11:00 a.m. at St. Luke

Monday, January 1, New Year’s Day Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from

Christmas CELEBRATE

First United Methodist Church of Oak Park

324 N. Oak Park Ave. Oak Park, IL 60302 SING-ALONG MESSIAH CONCERT, Dec 17, 3:00 PM | Free-will offering for Housing Forward BLUE CHRISTMAS OBSERVANCE, Dec 18, 6:30 PM | Offering hope for the heavy hearted CHRISTMAS EVE SERVICES, DEC 24: 10:00 AM FAMILY/CONTEMPORARY 6:00 PM TRADITIONAL CHORAL CANTATA Candlelight singing of Silent Night at both FIRSTUMCOAKPARK.ORG FOR DETAILS

CHRISTMAS CHURCH GUIDE

December 13, 2023 15 St. Christopher's Episcopal Church, Oak Park, invites you to join us for Holiday Worship Services.

2023 holiday services at

Unity Temple Unitarian Universalist Congregation

12/17 Lessons and Carols, 5 pm 12/21 Blue Christmas, 7 pm 12/24 Christmas Eve Rite II Kid Friendly Service, 4 pm Midnight Mass, 10:30 pm 12/25 Christmas Day

Winter Solstice Celebration Thursday, December 21

Spoken Rite II Service, 10 am

St. Christopher's Church, 545 S. East Ave., Oak Park. www.stchristophersoakpark.org

7pm In-Person Only Christmas Eve Services Sunday, December 24

WOO SIH P IW W RR SH PIW THITH

3pm Christmas Pageant & Worship for All Ages

W/>'Z/D KE'Z ' d/KE > ,hZ ,͕ h W/>'Z/D KE'Z ' d/KE > ,hZ ,͕ h ϰϲϬ > < ^d͘ ϰϲϬ > < ^d͘ ǁǁǁ͘ƉŝůŐƌŝŵŽĂŬƉĂƌŬ͘ŽƌŐ ǁǁǁ͘ƉŝůŐƌŝŵŽĂŬƉĂƌŬ͘ŽƌŐ /ŶƚĞƌŐĞŶĞƌĂƚŝŽŶĂů WĂŐĞĂŶƚ͕ /ŶƚĞƌŐĞŶĞƌĂƚŝŽŶĂů WĂŐĞĂŶƚ͕ ĞĐĞŵďĞƌ ϭϳ͕ ϭϬ͗ϯϬ ĞĐĞŵďĞƌ ϭϳ͕ ϭϬ͗ϯϬ tŽƌƐŚŝƉ ĞĐĞŵďĞƌ Ϯϰ͕ ϭϬ͗ϯϬ tŽƌƐŚŝƉ ĞĐĞŵďĞƌ Ϯϰ͕ ϭϬ͗ϯϬ ĂŶĚůĞƐ͕ ^ĐƌŝƉƚƵƌĞ ĂŶĚ DƵƐŝĐ ĂŶĚůĞƐ͕ ^ĐƌŝƉƚƵƌĞ ĂŶĚ DƵƐŝĐ ĞĐĞŵďĞƌ Ϯϰ͕ ϱ͗ϬϬ ĞĐĞŵďĞƌ Ϯϰ͕ ϱ͗ϬϬ

7pm Choir & Candlelight Service New Year’s Eve Sunday, December 31

10am Letting Go and Embracing Mystery 5-7pm New Year’s Eve Sangha Services will be both in-person and live streamed. To learn more go to: www.unitytemple.org

PP EE AC AE CE

A FESTIVAL OF LESSONS & CAROLS

Sunday, December 17th, 2023 at 10:00 a.m.

CHRISTMAS EVE CANDLELIGHT SERVICE

Sunday, December 24th, 2023 at 4:30 p.m. First Baptist Church of Oak Park

820 Ontario St, Oak Park, IL

www.fbcoakpark.org

16 December 13, 2023

CHRISTMAS CHURCH GUIDE

Christmas at GRACE CHURCH Sunday, December 24 – Christmas Eve 4:45 pm Carols and Organ 5:00 pm Festive Worship for All Ages especially kids! 10:30 pm Carols and Choir 11:00 pm Festive Choral Eucharist with incense Monday, December 25 – Christmas Day 10:30 am Holy Eucharist In person 924 Lake Street, Oak Park and online GraceOakPark.org

Peace to You This Christmas

CHRISTMAS CHURCH GUIDE

December 13, 2023 17

The Oak Park Catholic Community welcomes you to our celebrations of the Advent and Christmas Seasons! The Parish of Ascension and St. Edmund www.ascensionoakpark.com · 708-848-2703 or 708-848-4417 Ascension Church 808 S. East Avenue, Oak Park

St. Edmund Church 188 S. Oak Park Avenue, Oak Park

The Parish of St. Catherine of Siena - St. Lucy and St. Giles www.stgilesparish.org · 708-383-3430 St. Catherine of Siena-St. Lucy Church 38 N. Austin Boulevard, Oak Park

St. Giles Church 1045 Columbian Avenue, Oak Park

Advent Prayer Services Evening Prayer Under the Wreath

Wednesdays, December 13 and 20 at 6:30 pm at Ascension Church. Gather under the wreath for scripture, song & contemplation.

Contemplative Prayer

Saturday, December 16 at 8:30 am on Zoom Contact d.anderson@ascensionoakpark.com for the Zoom link.

Advent Circle Garden (a meditative prayer experience, open to all)

McDonough Hall on the St. Giles Campus, 1101 Columbian Ave, 2nd Floor Saturday, December 16, 8:30 – 10:00 am Sunday, December 17, 11:30 am – 2:00 pm Monday, December 18, 4:00 – 8:30 pm (Prayer Service at 7:00 pm) Tuesday, December 19, 7:15 – 8:30 pm Wednesday, December 20, 7:15 – 8:30 pm Thursday, December 21, 7:15 – 8:30 pm

The Nativity of the Lord

Christmas Eve, Sunday, December 24 3:30 pm Mass with the Ascension Schola at Ascension Church

3:00 pm Mass with Children’s Gospel at St. Giles Church

4:30 pm Mass with the St. Edmund Choir at St. Edmund Church

5:00 pm Mass with Children’s Gospel at St. Catherine of Siena-St. Lucy Church

5:30 pm Mass with the Ascension Choristers and String Ensemble at Ascension Church

5:00 p.m. Mass with Teen Choir at St. Giles Church

11:00 pm Mass with the Ascension Choir at Ascension Church Carols begin at 10:30 pm

7:30 pm Family Mass Community Mass in the St. Giles School Gym Carols begin at 7:00 pm 10:30 pm Christmas Vigil Mass with the Combined Choirs at St. Giles Church Carols begin at 10:00 pm

Christmas Day, Monday, December 25 9:00 am Mass with organ, instruments and cantor at Ascension Church 11:00 am Mass with organ, instruments and cantor at St. Edmund Church

9:00 am Mass with the Praise Choir at St. Catherine of Siena-St. Lucy Church 10:30 am Mass at St. Giles Church

*Certain Masses may be livestreamed; times to be determined. Please see our websites, ascensionoakpark.org or stgilesparish.org, for further information, and to find links to online or livestream events.

18 December 13, 2023

CHRISTMAS CHURCH GUIDE

Our Community Needs Community Journalism It’s not just about crime reports and board meetings. We also need inspiring, funny, heartwarming and, at times, heartbreaking stories about our friends, neighbors and children. Perhaps now, more than ever.

Would your church like to be in next week’s

Contact Ben Stumpe to learn more! ben@oakpark.com | 708-613-3330

Let's build community!

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Forest Park Review, December 13, 2023

D91 pilots AI curriculum in the spring

administration to create resources our children to understand that. If you are changes should be made. Eighth graders will have recting geared to help teachers implement educa- going to be part of this future of AI, your “That is something to consider,” Alvarez tional tools that rely on AI, as well as instruct voices need to be part of it and whatever said. “Many districts didn’t have AI policy a four-week course about the U.S. Department of Comyou are grabbing from AI, you and I wanted to make sure we had one before merce to establish guidance for still need to be skeptical.” we did our curriculum.” the new technology content authentication and waCautionary stories are alHowever, not all school districts are on

By AMARIS E. RODRIGUEZ Staff Reporter

Forest Park School District 91 is embracing artificial intelligence and incorporating it into their 8th-grade curriculum to prepare students for what a future with AI might look like. Hoping to have their students be part of the conversation surrounding AI, Supt. Elizabeth Alvarez said the district will pilot the new curriculum with eighth graders at Forest Park Middle School at the start of the fourth quarter in March 2024. The recommended age for using AI is 13 and older. Artificial intelligence, or AI as it is commonly called, is a branch of computer science concerned with building smart machines capable of performing tasks that previously required human intelligence. This can include interpreting speech and identifying patterns, which is how AI systems “learn” and are able to produce answers and content. With these advances in technology, educators are trying to figure out how much AI, if any, belongs in schools. Across the nation, school districts are finding themselves on opposite ends of the spectrum, some choosing to incorporate AI curriculum, while others don’t want to open that door. District 91 will be joining others across the country who have already embraced AI. In Georgia, a school district in Gwinnett County, an hour outside of Atlanta, is pioneering an AI-driven curriculum across all subject matters and closer to Forest Park, Naperville Community Unit School District 203 has given full access to ChatGPT across district devices to students in 8th to 12th grades. On a national level, President Joe Biden signed an executive order in October, di-

termarking to flag AI-generated ready popping up across the content. Biden also has called on media. In the highly publicized Congress to pass legislation to Hollywood writers’ strike, a maprotect data privacy, especially jor battle was the use of AI in that belonging to children. script writing as well as the use “We have some that are of AI to replace actors and backagainst it because they are ground actors. According to an nervous about plagiarism and article on TechCrunch, when about it being used in unethical the strike ended in September 2023, the contract included that ways,” Alvarez said. “Then we AI could not be used to write or have others who are really into rewrite scripts, AI generated the tech, saying no, you have writing cannot be considered to embrace it. I was leaning tosource material, and companies wards that.” cannot mandate writers to use Alvarez began speaking with certain AI tools among other James Edler, director of innovanegotiations. tive instruction, to brainstorm “I want our children to una way to bring AI to the disderstand, know your rights and trict and got in touch with Kate know the consequences if you Moore, an education research didn’t anticipate it,” Alvarez scientist at the Massachusetts said. “You have to anticipate Institute of Technology, to dethese consequences with it. That velop a curriculum. is all part of the curriculum.” The program will be piloted The incorporation of AI curby English teacher Rebecca riculum would continue to benCiardullo. She could not be efit programs D91 already has reached for comment. in place, including their “RisAI Literacy curriculum, a ing Voices” program, where 8th four-week program, will ingraders would read to robots clude studying ethics in AI, AI DR. ELIZABETH and then the robots would help core concepts, creativity in AI, ALVAREZ primary students understand what future careers might look Superintendent the books through coding relike and biases in AI -- because sponses to questions. a large portion of the informaThe district also had to detion created that AI pulls from velop a policy for AI over the is still dominated by white male summer, which was adopted in the fall, voices, Alvarez said. “We have to be very cautious about the but D91 will be comparing their policy bias that is in there because you don’t neces- to the one from PRESS, Policy Reference sarily have voices of women, voices of peo- Education Subscription Service, which is ple with special needs, and voices of people where many district’s policies come from, of color,” she said. “This is important for to see what overlaps and whether any

“If we are standing back seeing what happens, we are really missing out on being part of the development of it and being the trailblazers of it.”

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board. According to BestColleges.com, as of May 2023, notable school districts including New York City Public Schools, Baltimore County Public Schools, Seattle Public Schools, and Milwaukee Public Schools have banned ChatGPT. To Alvarez, AI is another one of those advances in technology that will play a significant role in the future, as were airplanes. “People were saying ‘I don’t want to get on there, it is really dangerous,’ but now it is a way of life for traveling. If we are standing back seeing what happens, we are really missing out on being part of the development of it and being the trailblazers of it. Otherwise, we would just be followers.” Alvarez said the district will be reviewing the curriculum in February and will lead discussions with district families before it’s fully implemented. According to a poll by the National Parents Union, which was conducted in October 2023 and surveyed 1,515 parents of public-school students grades K-12, more than two thirds of parents agree that the potential benefits of AI in K-12 education either outweigh or are equal to the potential downside and only 16% believe the downsides outweigh the benefits. About 49% of parents feel their child’s school is well prepared to use AI tools. The introduction of AI into school curriculum is not completely out of the blue as the same survey found that 53% of parents say their child’s school is preparing them for a future where AI could affect jobs. Once the program has been piloted, Alvarez said teacher training will be important to ensure the curriculum is properly implemented and so both students and teachers know what can and what should not be done with AI.

20 Forest Park Review, December 13, 2023 S P O N S O R E D

C O N T E N T

Donny G’s keeps tradition alive with 21st century flair Elmwood Park spot serves up the flavors Nonna used to make By RISE SANDERS-WEIR Contributing Reporter

For many the memory of Nonna’s cooking is just that. … a memory. Five years ago, Donny G’s opened in Elmwood Park at 7308 W. North Ave. to bring back those flavors and special family dinners of yore. Manager George Diamond says, “You hear the older people say, ‘George, oh my God, this is like my grandmother’s recipe.’ It feels good to hear that from them.” Diamond is quick to pass along those compliments to the cooks who keep the traditions alive. The menu runs the gamut: starters cold and hot – baked artichoke hearts are a fan favorite. Entrees range from traditional

favorites, steaks, chops, to chicken dishes (the chicken Vesuvio gets mentioned over and over in diner’s online reviews) and a variety of seafood. Seafood can be prepared several ways: grilled, with lemon butter, Sicilian-style, or on a bed of spinach. The specials lean into fresh fish and veggie offerings, responding to the tastes and trends that have brought Mediterranean cooking into acclaim in the 21st Century. Often on the menu is whole sea bass. Diamond says, “We do weekly specials. Different styles of fish, like a salmon, like white fish, like a frutti di mare with the lobster. Whatever the chefs think is most fresh.” Pasta is fresh too and local. In fact, Donny G’s makes a point to source as many of its ingredients as locally as possible. “We’ll buy from down the street always because people support me. And I support the local business,” says Diamond. Their gelato comes from a local provider. Chocolate, vanilla, macchiato, salted caramel are all regulars on a rotating selection

of about 10 gelatos. Other desserts, like time-honored tiramisu are house made. Sandwiches are popular at both lunch and dinner. The ribeye steak sandwich is a stand-out. Warm bread starts every meal. There’s a bottle of olive oil on each table, but the spe-

RISÉ SANDERS-WEIR

Martinis abound!

RISÉ SANDERS-WEIR

Donny G’s steak sandwich

RISÉ SANDERS-WEIR

Filet Mignon Kabob dinner

Forest Park Review, December 13, 2023 21

S P O N S O R E D

C O N T E N T

RISÉ SANDERS-WEIR

(above) Eggplant Parmesean (left) Avocado salad cial sauce that comes with the bread is a Donny G’s exclusive. Diamond reveals that the recipe, includes olive oil, garlic, rosemary, parmesan cheese, but then he adds, “I’m not going to give the whole recipe. It’s special stuff. They call it secret sauce for a reason.” Wines are also an important component to the meal experience at Donny G’s. There is a mix of California, Italian, Spanish, and French wines. There are even a few from New Zealand. Customers who have a favorite variety that they recall from a trip to, say to Greece, can request them at the restaurant and George and his team are happy to oblige. A full bar offers a range of cocktails and other drinks. A martini is never the wrong opening for a classic Italian meal. Large groups are welcome. The restaurant can accommodate parties up to 120 people. Weekend nights the dance floor starts jumping. Several Friday nights each month feature DJs and every Saturday local professional singers croon Italian favorites and hits from the past century. Reservations are suggested anytime there is a show. One Sunday morning a month hosts a treat: Donny G’s Bubbly, Brunch

and Dance Party. Take-out and catering are both an important part of Donny G’s service to their customers, especially during the holidays. Diamond says a big day for them is Christmas Eve. In addition to all the folks dining in, “The trays are lined up all day long. From there to here with people picking up.” If you place your order in time, this year it can be like Nonna is in the kitchen again, courtesy of Donny G’s.

The details • donnygs.com • donnygs.com/entertainment – Live music schedule 7308 W. North Ave., Elmwood Park Hours: Monday: CLOSED Tuesday-Thursday: 11:30 a.m. – 10 p.m. Friday: 11:30 a.m. – 11 p.m. Saturday: 4 p.m. – 11 p.m. Sunday: 11:30 a.m. – 9 p.m.

Keep up with Elmwood Park Eats

on OakPark.com

Forest Park Review, December 13, 2023

Officials scramble for instruments, uniforms as Proviso East band program enrollment doubles

The Board of Education is working to address the ‘growing pains’ By AMARIS E. RODRIGUEZ Staff Reporter

Band students at Proviso East have been investing their time and talent into perfecting their performances and after seeing recruitment nearly double, some pressed the Board of Education for what they need to be successful: instruments. In this case, the board took action “Hearing from a few of them, they just felt like it was a good time for them to speak,” said Cletis Seals, who has been the band director at East for the past nine years. “They were there and they had heard that board meetings were the place to address any concerns they had within the district…they wanted to make sure that someone heard them out.” The East band program has seen tremendous growth over the last few years. Just last year, Seals said the marching band ended their season with 35 students. This year that number has almost doubled, getting close to finishing up the season with 60 students. Other band programs have also seen this type of growth. Last year, the high school’s beginning band class had 35 students, but due to the high demand, this year the school added an additional beginning band class, making a total of two classes with 50 students each. Seals credits the growth to a combination of general recruitment, increased number of performances, and changes in student schedules that have allowed time to participate in band. The band program has also been doing collaborations with Proviso Math and Science Academy as well as the Lindop School District, one of the feeder districts of D209. “I think all of that came together to help

add to the notoriety, wonder, and visibility of the program,” Seals said. While excited to see more students participating in the program, the increasing numbers have brought on some “growing pains” as the school did not have enough instruments, uniforms, and equipment to meet the needs of all the students participating. Amanda Grant, board president, said they were not aware that the program was lacking instrumentals and other essentials needed to have them succeed. “We jumped on it as quickly as we did because we had the money for it,” Grant said.” It was not like they were ever denied anything, we just didn’t realize there was a need.” Almost immediately, Seals said he spoke with Deborah Watson-Hill, chief financial officer for D209, and Bessie Karvelas, acting superintendent, who both assured Seals they would be working together to address those needs. Over the next week, Seals said they delivered on their word. Budgets were double-checked and conversations began around how to allocate the money that was available for the band program. “Whenever any program, if there is money in the budget for the supplies that teachers and students say we need, obviously we want to spend that,” Grant said. “It was a no-brainer to get those supplies. We are glad to be able to give them what they need and we are just going to be looking in the future to get ahead of these things.” That money is already being put to good use. According to Seals, the board of education approved the purchase of about $40,000 of new instruments and the rental of about another $10,000 worth of instruments. Uniforms are next on the list as they have already begun working with vendors to get quotes for fill in sizes so all students can have uniforms that fit. “We are not going to purchase an entire new seat of marching band uniforms,” Seals

FILE

The Proviso East High School Marching Band during the 2022 Homecoming Parade. said. “When we purchase those, they cost about $63,000 for an entire band, and that was before the pandemic.” While the idea of new uniforms might not seem like a big deal to some, they are a big confidence booster for students. “Number one is that we want to look good when we sound good,” Seals said. “It makes the students feel better about their performance, knowing that we look together.” First time band students also find security in the uniforms, said Seals, adding it helps them take off the pressure of having all eyes on them. “I let them know all the time that once you put on the uniform, the goal is that not even your parents should not be able to tell you apart from everybody else,” he said. “That takes away from the anxiety of ‘oh everybody is looking at me,’ realizing everyone

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looks the same.” Hoping to continue to be a positive influence in his students lives, Seals said he uses music as an avenue to reach students and help them succeed academically. Grades are checked weekly and Seals said he has even arranged for tutoring. “One thing I tell them is that a big goal is to have them be able to get a college scholarship,” Seals said. “Even if they don’t decide to go to college or decide to take the scholarship and perform on a collegiate level, they will have the skills and ability to say that is an option. I tell them all the time, “I can’t get you to a scholarship if you don’t have the grades.” The Proviso East band will perform their winter concert at East on Thursday Dec. 14 at 6 p.m. The concert is free and open to the public.

OPINION O U R

V I E W

Irreplaceable Jackie Schulz

ackie Schulz died last week after living a long and loving life which always had Forest Park as its hub. Jackie wrote the “Talk of the Town” column every week in the Review for decade after decade. It was the essential stuff of community newspapering. Bold-face names. But unlike Kup or Sneed, it wasn’t the famous names in bold face. It was the names of our neighbors. Might be new neighbors she met on the street while walking her beloved dog. Jackie would stop folks, introduce herself, and their names would turn up in the column the next week along with news on what work they did, where they came from, and why they chose Forest Park. Long-timers downsizing made the column and so did word from ex-pats now living in Arizona or Florida. Gatherings for any good purpose made the paper. Births always made the column. Deaths were reported and honored. Honor rolls. Youth sports heroes. New businesses. Closing businesses, always with an anecdote. Nuptials. Anniversaries. Now, as her editor I’d sometimes get the call from the adult kid saying, “My folks got divorced in 1989. Tell Jackie to stop listing their anniversary!” Pencil notes on note cards and little black books are not always fully reliable. But Jackie’s good heart, her open heart, was always reliable. This was a woman with a wide and welcoming world view. As Forest Park became more diverse, it was always quietly, a newcomer at a time, noted as a homecoming by Jackie. A good word from Jackie, a mention in the column was always connecting and treasured. There will never be another Jackie Schulz. She was the best of Forest Park. She was the best of local newspapering.

Next chapter for bookstore

We’re heartened this week by news that Centuries & Sleuths, Augie and Tracy Aleksy’s Madison Street bookshop, will not close on Dec. 31 as once seemed likely. Augie is ready to retire and buyers for the iconic shop were not shaping up. So a closure seemed likely. Could still happen in the new year. But at the moment the couple are in discussions with two potentially serious buyers and so retirement will have to wait for the moment. Centuries & Sleuths is one of Forest Park’s destination businesses. No other shop melds its collection of history and mystery titles or the warmth of the welcome. And the couple have been among the street’s most reliable and active supporters of every collective effort to promote Forest Park, both locally and across the metro area. These are independent business owners with a shared vision of what community should look like. We’re hoping for the best with the current discussions. We’d love to have an independent bookstore on Madison Street, and we want the Aleksys to have a welcome, well-earned retirement.

Forest Park Review, December 13, 2023

Let’s move Christmas to Feb. 25!

t finally got cold. For now I can live with it. The front third of winter is always great because we have holidays. After New Year’s, though, we go into the much worse stretch of winter: the part with nothing to look forward to. At least in December we have Christmas coming. Thanksgiving through New Year’s is one long, glorious period of festivity. January 1 through May 1, however, has almost nothing to distract you from the fact that you don’t, technically, have to live here. I can’t speak for you, but I don’t decorate my house for Presidents Day and, as I’ve explained before, St. Patrick’s Day is stupid. Hear me out: Christmas would be better-placed on something like Feb. 25th. Think about it. We would have Christmas lights and decorations and trees and parties and sweaters for two extra months! Two glorious, festive, tinselbedecked extra months. That’s three full months of Christmas season, with benchmark parties for the New Year and the Super Bowl, plus it stays light out later than 3:45 p.m., which is when it currently gets dark, which’ll ameliorate holiday-related depression! I can’t even imagine that Jesus would be mad about my moving His birthday back a couple of months. Surely, in the event of a Second Coming, He’d presumably have greater concerns than where the big day fell on a calendar that didn’t exist the last time He kept an appointment book. Besides, once I explained the idea I’m pretty sure a guy from the desert, who never experienced waiting for a train on an exposed open-air platform on a 6-degree day, would cut me some slack even if said guy didn’t also have to maintain a reputation as the forgiving sort. It’d be the end of the Real Dead Tree Era for sure. This is not a drawback; our Christmas trees pretty reliably saw Valentine’s Day when I was a kid, and they start to look a little thin by then. I love Christmas, but not enough to fetishize the past, so real Christmas trees are a tradition that needs to go. I want the fakest of fake trees. Mine is hot pink and was delivered unto me by Amazon. I don’t get the affection for something that drops sap and sharps everywhere anyway. Folks get all moony over “a real Christmas tree” yet no one romanticizes “a real icebox.” Christmas lights, which might be my favorite piece of widespread American culture, are all too ephemeral, even those left up well into February. Think about how depressing it is the first week of January when all the fastidious twits have taken theirs down because Christmas is over. Each delightful twinkling light is a tiny symbol of pointless defiance against the laws of physics responsible for these sad grey 7-hour days, and pointless defiance is the second-best kind of defiance. After the big day (again here, we’re thinking of Feb. 25), we’re within days of spring training — the most reliable crocus of spring — and within a month of the first nice day. You can’t tell me this is a bad idea. Trees up and lights on in support!

ALAN

BROUILETTE

Forest Park Review, December 13, 2023 F O R E S T PA R K

REVIEW Editor Erika Hobbs Staff Reporter Igor Studenkov, Amaris Rodriguez Digital Manager Stacy Coleman Contributing Reporters Tom Holmes, John Rice, Bob Skolnik, Jackie Glosniak, Robert J. Lifka Columnists Alan Brouilette, Jill Wagner, Tom Holmes, John Rice Big Week Editor Brooke Duncan Design/Production Manager Andrew Mead Editorial Design Manager Javier Govea Designer Susan McKelvey Sales and Marketing Representatives Lourdes Nicholls, Ben Stumpe Business & Development Manager Mary Ellen Nelligan Circulation Manager Jill Wagner Publisher Dan Haley Special Projects Manager Susan Walker

Board of Directors Chair Judy Greffin Treasurer Nile Wendorf Deb Abrahamson, Gary Collins, Steve Edwards, Darnell Shields, Sheila Solomon, Eric Weinheimer HOW TO REACH US ADDRESS 141 S. Oak Park Ave., Oak Park, IL 60302 PHONE 708-366-0600 ■ FAX 708-467-9066 EMAIL forestpark@wjinc.com CIRCULATION Jill@oakpark.com ONLINE ForestParkReview.com Postmaster: Please send address changes to: Forest Park Review,141 S. Oak Park Ave., Oak Park, IL 60302-2901. Periodical rate postage paid at Oak Park, IL (USPS No 0205-160) In-county subscriptions: $34 per year. $55 for two years, $69 for three years. Out-of-county subscriptions: $42 per year. Forest Park Review is published digitally and in print by Growing Community Media NFP. © 2023 Growing Community Media NFP.

Kangaroo Korner closes after 4-plus decades of daycare

angaroo Korner Daycare and Preschool (KK) was a pioneering daycare center in Forest Park. Like many businesses, it was thriving prior to the statewide lockdown to combat COVID-19. Owner Suzanne Logan was forced to shut her doors after 42 years and they never reopened. Now she’s selling off KK’s furniture, equipment and supplies. It’s a bittersweet ending for a business that had become part of her lifeblood. “We had so many close relationships,” Logan recalled, “we couldn’t even say goodbye.” KK was founded in the late 1960s by Harold and Arlene Dunn. They bought the former corner bakery and transformed it into a daycare center. There were few such facilities in those days and it was difficult for parents to find quality daycare. When they retired, they hoped their daughter would take over, but she moved to Seattle. So they turned to Logan, a family friend who had obtained degrees in Elementary Education and Special Education from UIC. She started working at KK in 1974. The Dunn family later sold the business and building to Logan on a contract basis. The 24-year-old became sole owner of KK in 1978.

It was a good fit for Logan, who loved caring for children and getting to know their families. KK also had a prime location. It was across the street from Field-Stevenson School and a few blocks from The Park. Parents also found it convenient, being close to the Blue Line and I-290. The state licensed the facility to accommodate 50 children. They ranged in age from 15 months to their 9th birthday. Word-of-mouth spread about KK and it had a huge waiting list. Most of the kids were from Forest Park and Oak Park. The clientele was quite diverse, with many children of immigrants. There was a cook to prepare meals and 50 cots for taking naps. The kids, though, spent much of their time outdoors. They played sports at The Park, while kids 4 and older could swim at the pool. KK had its own playground, plus 12-seat strollers for taking walks. They even had a van for home and school transportation. Coordinating these activities was allconsuming for Logan. There was also an educational component to KK. Toddlers were potty-trained and worked on art projects. The key was keeping them from consuming crayons or finger paint.

JOHN RICE

L O O K

B A C K

I N

The curriculum became more complex for 4- to 5-year-olds. To prepare them for school, students even worked on science projects. KK had a staff of 12-15 teachers, who had the proper certifications and personalities for caring for kids. KK completed a new classroom in 1981 and expanded to 70 students. The biggest change she saw was the increase in single-parent families. Logan sometimes hired parents to work at KK to defray their daycare costs. She has been invited to graduations and weddings. It was a treat for kids to put on shows for their parents. Holiday celebrations were also big. KK even staged graduations with students wearing caps and gowns. It was difficult for Logan when the whirlwind of running a daycare facility suddenly stopped. Her husband Dan, a contractor, believed that closing KK was meant to happen. The property had been rezoned for residential, so no business can operate in the 5,200-square-foot building. Logan has made the tough transition from non-stop activity to emptying the building. She and Dan plan to sell their Forest Park home and move to a condo in Mexico. Logan says she is proud that KK provided a healthy environment, with a caring staff that allowed children to grow, learn and flourish.

T I M E

When Hermann Hardware and Hornisher Shoes swapped shops

his photo from the Historical Society of Forest Park Collection, was taken circa 1918 in front of 7403 Madison (currently home of N’Rebozo). Ralph Hermann and John Foglesang operated the R. Hermann Hardware and Tin Shop which advertised selling “hardware, stoves, kitchen utensils and furnace work.” The store operated from 1906-1920. It was then sold to Frank Rose, who operated from that location until 1921, when he moved his operations a few blocks east to 7241 Madison in a sort of property swap with Hornisher Shoes, which operated the shop at 7403 Madison until December 1963.

Joel Albright

Forest Park Review, December 13, 2023

26 Forest Park Review, December 13, 2023 Deadline is Monday at 5:00 p.m.

BY PHONE: (708) 613-3333 | BY FAX: (708) 467-9066 BY E-MAIL: EMAIL@GROWINGCOMMUNITYMEDIA.ORG HOURS: 9:00 A.M.– 5:00 P.M. MON–FRI

HELP WANTED

GENERAL WAREHOUSE WORKER

General Warehouse worker. Some assembly and build projects. Some other job duties may include but are not limited to general building upkeep, painting, light cleaning, lifting 50lbs+, driving company vehicles on occasion, operating forklifts and scissor lift, assisting in other warehouse tasks such as loading and unloading trucks, shipping and receiving. Send Resume to Michelle@sievertelectric.com Job Type: Full-time Benefits Salary: $16.00 - $18.00 per hour Schedule: 8 hour shift Monday to Friday

DCC Youth and Young Adult Ministry Pastor to develop youth/young adult ministry. Min Req: 1) Masters of Theology or rel; 2) Certificate of License by ECWA; 3) 24 mos exp. Telecommuting permitted. Mail resumes to job location/HQ: ECWA USA, 5644 S. Oakley Ave, Chicago, IL 60636 Director of Intergenerational Ministries to develop Christian educ. programs/activities. Min Req: 1) Master’s in Theology, Christian Ed, or Educational Studies; 2) 24 mos teaching exp (part-time acceptable) in Christian Ed setting. Mail resumes to job location: ECWA USA, 5644 S. Oakley Ave, Chicago, IL 60636

ENGINEERING TECHNICIAN

Civil Engineers II sought by APS Consulting, Inc. in Chicago, IL to provide civil engg dsgn services for dsgn of various public infrastructure projects. Reqs: Master’s Deg in Civil Engg, Community & Regional Planning or rltd field. Must also possess exp w/dsgn s/ware incl Microstation & Civil 3D for prep of CAD drawings; official planning publications rltd to layout for sites, subdivisions, & municipal projects; & etc. 20% domestic travel req. Please email your resume to careers@apsae.com; Ref. 101.

The Village of Oak Park is seeking qualified candidates for the position of Engineering Technician II in the Public Works Department. The employee performs layout, draft and design drawings from field survey information and field notes for various engineering and planning projects including existing improvements, right-of-way and various utilities and performs a variety of field inspections. Applicants are encouraged to visit the Village of Oak Park’s website http://www.oak-park.us/jobs. Interested and qualified applicants must complete a Village of Oak Park application.

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STATE OF ILLINOIS) COUNTY OF COOK )ss Circuit Court of Cook County, County Department, Domestic Relations Division. In re ALLOCATION OF GLORIA RESENDIZ, Petitioner and ISAAC SANTACRUZ, Respondent, Case No. 2021d450036. The requisite affidavit for publication having been filed, notice is hereby given to you, the above named Respondent, that a Petition has been filed in the Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois, by the Petitioner, for temporary and permanent sole allocation of parental responsibilities, child support, contribution to child-related expenses and for otherrelief; and that said suit is now pending. Now, therefore, unless you, the said Respondent, file your response to said Petition or otherwise make your appearance therein, in the Office of the Clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois, Room 802, Richard J. Daley Center, 50 West Washington Street, in the City of Chicago, Illinois, on or before January 8, 2024, default may be Entered against you at any time after That day, and a judgment entered in Accordance with the prayer of said Petition.

PUBLIC NOTICE Notice is hereby given, pursuant to “An Act in relation to the use of an Assumed Business Name in the conduct or transaction of Business in the State,” as amended, that a certification was registered by the undersigned with the County Clerk of Cook County. Registration Number: Y23011210 on November 21, 2023 Under the Assumed Business Name of TONIC CONSULTING GROUP with the business located at: 1017 N GROVE AVE, OAK PARK, IL 60302. The true and real full name(s) and residence address of the owner(s)/partner(s) is: WILLIAM B. BUNKERS 1017 N GROVE AVE, OAK PARK, IL 60302, USA

PUBLIC NOTICE NOTICE TO CONTRACTORS

Published in Wednesday Journal November 29, December 6, 13, 2023

EQUAL HOUSING OPPORTUNITY

All real estate advertising in this newspaper is subject to the Fair Housing Act, which makes it illegal to advertise any preference, limitation or discrimination based on age, race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status or national origin, or intention to make any such preferences, limitations or discrimination. The Illinois Human Rights Act prohibits discrimination in the sale, rental or advertising of real estate based on factors in addition to those protected under federal law. This newspaper will not knowingly accept any advertising for real estate which is in violation of the law. All persons are hereby informed that all dwellings advertised are available on an equal opportunity basis. Restrictions or prohibitions of pets do not apply to service animals. To complain of discrimination, call HUD toll free at: 1-800-669-9777. GROWING COMMUNITY MEDIA

Notice is hereby given by the President and Board of Trustees of the Village of River Forest, Cook County, Illinois, that sealed bids will be accepted for: 2024 Pavement Crack Sealing Project The Work consists of the application of approximately 32,500 pounds of Fiber-Modified Crack Sealing to various asphalt public roadways. The bidding documents are available for download starting Friday, December 15, 2023 at: www.vrf.us/bids Bids must be submitted by Tuesday, January 9, 2024 at 10:00 a.m. at: Public Works Department, 2nd Floor Village of River Forest 400 Park Avenue River Forest, IL 60305 The bid proposals will be publicly opened and read at that time. Proposals will be considered not only on the basis of cost, but also on past performance, experience and ability to perform the work. No bid shall be withdrawn after the opening of the Proposals without the consent of the President and Board of Trustees of the Village of River Forest for a period of thirty (30) days after the scheduled time of the bid opening. The Village of River Forest reserves the right in receiving these bids to waive technicalities and reject any or all bids. ++ Published in Wednesday Journal December 13, 2023

Published in Wednesday Journal December 6, 13, 20, 2023

708-296-2060

OAK PARK HOME FOR SALE BY OWNER

DOWNSIZING SALE

PUBLIC NOTICES LEGAL NOTICE

PUBLIC NOTICES

DOROTHY A. BROWN, Clerk.

SUBURBAN HOME FOR SALE

ITEMS FOR SALE

PUBLIC NOTICES

PUBLIC NOTICE NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN by the Board of Education of Proviso Township High SchooL District 209, Cook County, Illinois, 8601 Roosevelt Road, Forest Park, IL 60301, that the District will be applying for the following Application Waiver: Application for Waiver/Modification of State Board Rules and/or School Code Mandates of the Illinois School Code Section 27-24 (105 ILCS5/2724.3). We are applying for this waiver to allow 12 hours of practice driving in a simulator system in lieu of 3 hours of dual controlled car instruction. This request is based upon fulfilling the intent of the Driver Education Mandate in a safer, efficient and innovative way for our student drivers, as well as improving student performance in a time-efficient manner that allows our students to become legally licensed on time. NOTICE IS FURTHER GIVEN that a public hearing on said waiver application will be held withing the Regular Board of Education Meeting beginning approximately at 7:30pm immediately following closed session on Tuesday, January 9, 2024 at Proviso Math & Science Academy Auditorium at 8601 Roosevelt Road, Forest Park, IL 60301. Published in Forest Park Review December 13, 2023

Let the sun shine in...

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Your right to know...In print • Online Available to you 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, every day of the year OakPark.com•RBLandmark.com ForestParkReview.com•AustinWeeklyNews.com

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Forest Park Review, December 13, 2023 27

CLASSIFIED BY PHONE: (708) 613-3333 BY FAX: (708) 467-9066 BY E-MAIL: EMAIL@GROWINGCOMMUNITYMEDIA.ORG PUBLIC NOTICES

PUBLIC NOTICES

NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING VILLAGE OF OAK PARK ZONING BOARD OF APPEALS CALENDAR NUMBER: 01-24-Z HEARING 2024

DATE:

January

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 APPLICATION: The Zoning Board of Appeals (“ZBA”) will conduct a public hearing on an application filed by the Applicant, David Hyde, seeking a variance from Section 4.3 (Table 4-1: Residential Districts Dimensional Standards) of the Oak Park Zoning Ordinance requiring a 20’ front yard setback to permit construction of a front yard addition with a proposed 6.07’ setback, to an existing dwelling unit with a nonconforming front yard setback of 9.83’, at the premises commonly known as 802 Home Avenue, Oak Park, Illinois, Property Index Number 16-18-130-001-0000 (“Subject

Property”), in the R-3-35 SingleFamily Zoning District. 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. 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@oakpark.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.

Published in Wednesday Journal, December 13, 2023

NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING VILLAGE OF OAK PARK ZONING BOARD OF APPEALS CALENDAR NUMBER: 20-23-Z HEARING DATE: January 3, 2023 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 APPLICATION: The Zoning Board of Appeals (“ZBA”) will conduct a public hearing on an application filed by the Applicant, Murphy Dental Group, PLLC, seeking a variance from the following sections of the Oak Park Zoning Ordinance for the property commonly known as 100 S. Kenilworth Avenue, Oak Park, IL Property index Number 16-07305-001-0000 in the DT-2 SubDistrict of Downtown. 1. Section 8.3 (Table 8-1: Use Matrix) prohibits dental clinics 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 Downtown. Murphy Dental Group, PLLC, a dental clinic, plans to operate on the ground floor (and add a 2600 square foot ground-floor addition) within 50 feet of the South Boulevard street line; and

2. Section 11.8 (Buffer Yard Requirements) (A)(2) (a-d) requires a seven (7) foot wide interior Buffer Yard for the addition along the south lot line; and the proposal features a 2600 sf addition that continues a zero (0’) foot existing building line along the south lot line. 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. 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@oakpark.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.

Published in Wednesday Journal, December 13, 2023

Season’s Greetings

Forest Park Review, December 13, 2023

December 13, 2023

GROWING COMMUNITY MEDIA

AT HOME ON THE GREATER WEST SIDE A GCM GUIDE TO HOMEOWNERSHIP

Introducing At Home on the Greater West Side The yearlong GCM project dives deep into homeownership in the area and offers guidance to show that despite barriers, it is attainable

By DELANEY NELSON

Special projects reporter

hen Chicago Community Trust asked our publisher in April if we wanted to take part in a yearlong project aimed at boosting homeownership on the West Side, the answer was a no-brainer. Growing Community Media, a media organization committed to equity, would happily and graciously apply to take part in the project. A proponent of community journalism, Dan Haley, president and publisher of GCM and its four flagship papers, has been with what is now GCM since its inception in 1980. When Haley launched the Oak Park Wednesday Journal 40 years ago, his main goal was to cover race and diversity throughout the community. At the time, that coverage included the ongoing racial integration of Oak Park and the greater West Side.

GCM’s At Home on the Greater West Side project is an opportunity to continue covering racial inequities and paths toward change. Our goal is to contribute to closing the racial homeownership gap in Black and Hispanic communities of the West Side. The reality is that Black and Hispanic Chicagoans have lower homeownership rates than their white counterparts. In comparison to the citywide homeownership rate of 45.6%, 40% of Austin residents own a home, as do 23.8% of North Lawndale residents and 27.4% of West Garfield Park residents. “The incessant inequities in housing in West Side communities, goes back forevermore,” Haley said. “It is baked in the cake of Chicago and this country that if you are Black or brown, if you have less resources, that your path to stability in housing is undermined – actively, consciously, undermined.”

Throughout the next 12 months, GCM will commit both print and digital space and resources to homeownership coverage in Austin, West Garfield Park, North Lawndale, and the greater West Side. Our goal is to produce onthe-ground, community-oriented journalism. We’ll meet community members who have gone through, or are currently navigating, the homeownership process. We’ll connect with community organizations such as the Oak Park Regional Housing Center, Austin Coming Together, the Greater St. John Bible Church, and Neighborhood Housing Services of Chicago. We’ll scour data and reports to learn about appraisals, mortgages, and credit. We’ll interrogate existing government housing programs and provide resources to help you maneuver the system of becoming a homeowner. As Haley said, this grant provides GCM with the opportunity to dig into how “people have found ways through a corrupt system into homeownership or how people have lost their

bid for homeownership through these baked in inequities – to tell those stories, to provide resources for people who are trying to make this leap, and to report the fairly grotesque impact of disinvestment on the West Side.” Be on the lookout for our four public community events for potential homeowners, where we’ll partner with trusted community organizations to share resources and information about the path to homeownership, and, just as importantly, to meet you and hear your stories and feedback. In the next year, we don’t want to just report the news and tell stories. We want to find solutions to the disparities in homeownership in our communities. We’ll introduce you to folks who will share their own homeownership journeys. And we’ll give you resources to show how you can do it, too. Follow us each month in print and at https://www.austinweeklynews.com/at-home/, where you’ll find additional resources and useful information.

December 13, 2023

AT HOME ON THE GREATER WEST SIDE

GROWING COMMUNITY MEDIA

Homeownership then and now: Why disparities persist ROBERT K. NELSON, LADALE WINLING, RICHARD MARCIANO, NATHAN CONNOLLY, ET AL., “MAPPING INEQUALITY,” AMERICAN PANORAMA, ED. ROBERT K. NELSON AND EDWARD L. AYERS, ACCESSED DECEMBER 8, 2023, HTTPS://DSL. RICHMOND.EDU/PANORAMA/REDLINING/[YOUR VIEW]

From blockbusting to subprime loans — a look at why buying and maintaining a house on the West Side historically has been difficult By DELANEY NELSON

Special projects reporter

1969 Chicago Tribune headline said it all: O.B.A. Runs Housing Service to Brake Austin Racial Change. That change, the reporter wrote, “brought fear and confusion” to homeowners in a neighborhood “long famous for its churches, schools, and community traditions.” That change referred to Black families at the time. By 1969, the article said, Austin was 15% Black. “Whether they are called panic peddlers, block busters or good businessmen, hundreds of licensed and unlicensed real estate agents have descended on Austin to take advantage of the property movement and some alarmed residents have resisted,” the Tribune reported. “A group of residents, the Organization for a Better Austin (O.B.A.) have formed a housing referral committee and are striving militantly to keep the neighborhood from becoming totally black.” The effort appeared to be working, the paper reported. That was 55 years ago. The same story, the same dance today? Yes and no. Statistics show that homeownership in Austin is roughly 41%. In North Lawndale, it’s about 24%. And in West Garfield Park, it’s just more than 28%. Those figures show that yes, West Siders can and do buy homes. But the number of people who could buy them isn’t where it should be. The reason, as the Tribune story demonstrates, is far more complex than money.

MOVING TO CHICAGO During the Great Migration, more than 500,000 Black people from the South landed in

A 1930s Home Owners’ Loan Corporation map of Chicago. Through these maps, the federal government classified neighborhoods by their lending risk. Areas the agency deemed to have the highest risk level were colored with red ink. Most “redlined” areas were majority Black neighborhoods. Yellow, one tier above red, indicated a “declining” area. Majority white neighborhoods were often colored green, classified as the best places for banks to lend.

Chicago, sending the number of African Americans to 33% of the population in 1970 from 2% before the migration north began, data from the Chicago Historical Society’s Encyclopedia of Chicago shows. From 1910 to 1930 alone, the Black population in Chicago increased fivefold, from 44,000 to over 230,000, according to a WTTW report. Most settled along Chicago’s “Black Belt” on the South Side, but the West Side also became a large area for housing Black residents. After World War II, “housing-starved” Black citizens flocked to North Lawndale, making it the largest

new Black community created in that period, according to Arnold R. Hirsch in his book “Making the Second Ghetto: Race and Housing in Chicago, 1940-1960.” The Chicago Defender, the nation’s leading Black newspaper, in its own way, helped recruit these transplants by running stories during this period detailing racial atrocities in the south and promoting a better life in northern cities. Many Black soon-to-be migrants wrote to the paper for advice and information about securing housing and employment, such as in this archived letter

from a woman in Greenwood, Mississippi, on April 22, 1917: “Sir: I noticed in the Defender about receiving some information from you about positions up there or rather work and I am very anxious to know what the chances are for business men. I am very anxious to leave the South on account of my children but my husband doesn’t seem to think that he can succeed there in business, he is a merchant and also knows the barber trade what are the chances for either? Some of our folks down here have the idea that this Northern movement means nothing to any body but those who go out and labor by the day. I am willing to work myself to get a start. Tell me what we could really do. I will do most anything to get our family out of Barn. Please let this be confidential.” The promise of an alluring, new life in the north, however, didn’t always pan out. The 1930s New Deal brought the Federal Housing Administration, whose purpose was to stimulate new home construction, ensure “economically sound” home loans and create lending guidelines outlining which borrowers should be given loans. The FHA and the Homeowners’ Loan Corporation, however, implemented redlining maps, which classified areas across 200 U.S. cities by relative lending risk — that is, how likely borrowers were to pay home loans back to banks — to determine which areas were worthy of government-backed mortgages and other home lending programs. Places with the highest risk level, D, were often colored with red ink, hence the term “redlining.” Those most redlined: Majority Black neighborhoods. The FHA also supported racially restrictive covenants, which prevented Black people or members of other racial/ethnic groups from buying a property or parcel of land. As WBEZ’s Natalie Moore reported, remnants of these restrictive covenants linger on property deeds across the Chicago area to this day, such as this one: “The restriction of that no part of said premises shall in manner be used or occupied directly or indirectly by any Negro or Negroes. … except house servants or janitors or chauffeurs employed…” These covenants were outlawed in 1948 and are not enforceable today. But because of this redlining, residents of

GROWING COMMUNITY MEDIA

AT HOME ON THE GREATER WEST SIDE

December 13, 2023

Who owns homes on the Greater West Side? By DELANEY NELSON

Special projects reporter

hy do households of color own only a quarter of the nation’s housing wealth when they compose a third of the nation’s households? This is the question that begins a 2021 research report from the Urban Institute, a D.C. think tank that studies among other things, the relationship between housing and finances. A central reason is the racial wealth gap. The study’s analysis uses American Community Survey data, which comes from the Census Bureau. Their research shows that white Americans are more likely to achieve homeownership than households of color. When Black or Latino families do buy homes, they tend to be of lower value than their white counterparts. Because home value contributes to housing wealth, this puts white homeowners at an advantage. Measuring housing wealth is important, the authors wrote, because it can “uncover compromises households of color make to achieve homeownership.” In other words, families of color may sometimes choose small homes or property in less desirable locations to achieve homeownership. But beyond that, this data shows a broader trend of discrimination in the process of buying a home, which contributes to the lower net wealth of Black and Latino families when compared with white families. The racial wealth gap means families

Black neighborhoods across Chicago were denied access to credit, and the increasing borrowing costs made homeownership difficult. It also led to housing disinvestment, setting up Black Americans to be generations behind white ones in terms of the wealth that comes with owning one’s home. But it’s just part of the story.

BLOCKBUSTING THE GREATER WEST SIDE Much of the West Side wasn’t redlined — the practice was made illegal in 1968, while Austin was still majority white and Black families had begun to move to adjacent neighborhoods. At the time, most of Austin was rated “declining,” one

of color are at a disadvantage when it comes to buying a home, and by being unable to achieve homeownership, it’s difficult for families of color to accumulate wealth.

BY THE NUMBERS Research out of the Racial Wealth Divide Initiative at nonprofit Prosperity Now showed that in 2017, more than half of white households in Chicago owned their homes. In contrast, homeownership rates hover at around one-third for Black households and 43% for Latino households, the study, cited by the Institute for Housing Studies at DePaul University, showed. The Community Metropolitan Agency for Planning, a regional planning agency, collects

tier above redlined areas. But neither restrictive covenants nor redlining were the only tactics white realtors and homeowners used to keep Black families from moving into neighborhoods. In the 1940s, Austin was a largely white and somewhat affluent area, one that was growing and attractive to Black residents who were being pushed out from the crowded South Side. Real estate agents engaged in “blockbusting,” or sowing fear among white homeowners living next to Black families, by telling them these new neighbors would decrease their property values. As the Tribune reported in 1969, one Austin group worked “militantly” to peddle panic so that eventually, white residents sold

demographic data – from race to income to housing costs – from all of the city’s community areas to produce community snapshots. Its data shows that Austin, North Lawndale, and West Garfield Park – all majority Black neighborhoods – have lower homeownership rates than the city as a whole. The homeownership rate in North Lawndale, for example, is more than 20 percentage points lower than the city average. Some have pointed to disinvestment and the exodus of Black people from Chicago as a factor for the neighborhood’s low homeownership rates. And according to a study from Chicago Urban League, Black

residents are more likely to own homes in majority Black neighborhoods, where research also has shown there are higher vacancy and foreclosure rates – both of which diminish the benefits of homeownership and cause further disinvestment. “Black Chicagoans bear the triple burden of having been relegated to the least valued land and then having their property undervalued for being owned by Blacks and existing in a Black community,” the authors wrote. The Urban Institute has also cited high rental cost burdens, lack of knowledge about the housing system and language barriers as impediments to homeownership among marginalized groups. These factors are compounded by the historically racist housing-finance system, and inequitable income, credit access, generational wealth accumulation, as well as historic city disinvestment on the Greater West Side.

their property at lower prices. However, Black Chicagoans — whose housing options were limited — were forced to pay inflated prices on those same houses. White residents in the meantime were promised “something better.” Matt Wilson, economic development planner at the University of Illinois Chicago’s Great Cities Institute, explained the suburbs were sold to white families as a “pure utopia and the greatest human invention ever.” Part of that utopia promise was that the suburbs were mostly off-limits to people of color due to racially restrictive covenants. Enter white flight. Manufacturers and industries followed white residents to the suburbs, where land was cheaper, Wilson said. As neighborhoods like Austin hol-

lowed out, more houses became vacant, lowering property values in the area and discouraging investment. Meanwhile, blockbusting caused home values to drop by 14% from 1950 to 1980 in majority-Black neighborhoods, according to a study by the Chicago Federal Reserve. “The downward pressure on housing prices came from the onerous financial positions in which blockbusters left new Black residents. Significantly marked up sales prices likely contributed to highly elevated foreclosure rates among those who dealt with blockbusters,” the authors wrote. “The results depict the challenges faced by new Black homeowners in building wealth

See HOMEOWNERSHIP on page B4

December 13, 2023

AT HOME ON THE GREATER WEST SIDE

GROWING COMMUNITY MEDIA

The benefits of homeownership

‘Being able to own property and own our home is really key to a sense of belonging,’ one homeowner says By DELANEY NELSON and FRANCIA GARCIA HERNANDEZ Special projects reporters

ronzeville homeowner Lionel Kimble Jr. has watched the advantages of homeownership firsthand. His mom took out a home loan to help pay for his sister’s wedding. His aunt and uncle used earned home equity to prepare for retirement. “Owning a home is the bedrock of America,” said Kimble, history professor at Chicago State University and vice president and executive director of the Research and Policy Center at the Chicago Urban League. “It allows people once they die to pass on something to their children and grandchildren, which they can use as investments to build wealth.”

HOMEOWNERSHIP Continued from page B3

through housing at the moment many likely became homeowners for the first time.” Government initiatives like the 1977 Community Reinvestment Act, which required banks to meet the credit needs of low and moderate-income depositors, tried to alleviate the effects of discriminatory housing practices. But disinvestment in these neighborhoods persisted. Much of this was by design from the city. As ProPublica reported in 2020, after the 1968 riots, the city never created a comprehensive plan to revitalize Madison Street in East Garfield Park, one of Chicago’s poorest neighborhoods, and former Mayor Lori Lightfoot even left it out of her West Side reinvestment plan.

DISINVESTMENT AND HOMEOWNERSHIP Disinvestment leads to inadequate infrastructure and parks, low commercial development and poor schooling – all of which drive property values down. “Why invest in North Lawndale when I can

ments to a home without being Homeownership is a key at the mercy of a landlord or havtool for building generational ing to move if rent prices drastiwealth. It provides homeowners cally increase. with unique opportunities rentYet, the road to owning a ers can’t access, and resources home does not always look the they can tap into to pay for same. Though Franklin’s homeweddings, retirement, and colbuying journey started in 2018, lege, Kimble said. she did not purchase a property Shantel N. Franklin, a real esuntil 2021. Like Franklin, potentate broker who lives and works tial homebuyers may need to on the West Side, has helped Shantel N. Franklin improve their credit score, infamilies and individuals become Real estate broker crease their savings or reduce homeowners since 2020. Franklin is an Austin homeowner. their debt-to-income ratio beA quick scroll through her social media (@Sh- fore moving forward on a home purchase. antelsellsproperties) shows the variety of propBeing informed about the home-buying proerties available for sale in communities such as cess, improving their finances and accessing Austin, Garfield Park and North Lawndale. A available financial tools are key to “getting to the well-maintained single-family home, a beautiful closing table,” she said. As a real estate broker, brick two-unit building and a historic graystone she said she not only helps potential homebuyhome are among the properties she has helped ers find a home, she helps them be ready to buy. get on – and off – the housing market. Purchasing a home can bring financial benefits As a real estate broker affiliated with Coldwell as property values increase over time, helping Banker, Franklin helps owners sell their prop- homeowners accumulate thousands of dollars in erties and helps others reap the benefits of equity. With higher interest rates and increased homeownership. prices, it may not be the best time to buy, WilOther homeownership benefits include having son said. Yet, if house prices continue to increase, the ability to make desired changes or improve- those who buy now may see their property value

take the same amount of money and go out to Oak Park?” said Lionel Kimble Jr., vice president and executive director of the Research and Policy Center at the Chicago Urban League. For example, Wilson said, while banks may not directly discriminate based on race, practices like avoiding investment in certain neighborhoods deepens the racial divide. “(Banks) more indirectly (discriminate) through either not seeing certain neighborhoods as good investments or they don’t want to get involved in certain neighborhoods,” Wilson said. “They’re systematically isolating some populations from lending.” It’s not just banks who have avoided neighborhoods that have experienced historic disinvestment. Affluent people moving to the city are most likely to choose an affluent neighborhood, bringing their income and spending power with them. The result is concentrated wealth – and homeownership – in areas like the Loop and the North Side of the city. Black Chicagoans, on the other hand, are concentrated in areas experiencing disinvestment, with lower home values, less access to loans and fewer opportunities for homeownership. “As a result, the financial resources that the

house can provide between the average white family and the average Black family has disparate returns,” said Kimble. “So Black homeownership, while still a path into the middle class, doesn’t allow Black people and white people to appreciate what middle classness in Chicago means on equal levels.” Not only have Black residents faced greater difficulty buying a home, but they have also disproportionately experienced foreclosure. The financial crisis of 2008 and the resulting real estate crash is an example. That year, the average foreclosure rate in Chicago was 2.9%. Lincoln Park, which is nearly 80% white, experienced a foreclosure rate of 0.4%, with Lakeview at 0.7%. In contrast, Austin, North Lawndale, and West Garfield Park all experienced higher-thanaverage foreclosure rates: 5.9%, 7.2% and 7.6%, respectively. One reason for those higher foreclosure rates is that Black and Latino homeowners were more likely to have loans with high-interest rates, or subprime loans. Subprime lending is a predatory practice banks employed to the detriment of Black and Latino homeowners across the country. By

increase within a few years. “I’m somebody who bought back in 2021 and I’m reaping the benefits as of today, in 2023,” Franklin said. Like Franklin, who is also a block president, many who purchase homes in communities like North Lawndale, Austin and Garfield Park are not only overcoming systemic barriers causing low homeownership rates, but also are fostering a sense of pride and care for the community they live in and sharing it with others. “Homeownership gives you that pride to want to step up and want to see better on these blocks and in the community as a whole.” For Kimble, owning a home gives people a connection to a place and is a way to pursue the so-called “American dream,” especially for Black residents. “Since 1619, [Black people] have been trying to figure out where we really fit here. The larger American ethos is owning a home. Making your own way is something that all Americans strive for, and having access to your own home helps Black folks try to make sense of what the American dream is,” Kimble said. “That dream has been denied us for so many years. Being able to own property and own our home is really key to a sense of belonging.”

2006, 54% of African American and 47% of Hispanic mortgage holders had subprime loans, according to the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies. These mortgages were extremely difficult to pay on schedule, causing many to lose their homes — and their wealth. In 2005, the median net worth for Black families was a little over $12,000, according to the Pew Research Center. By 2009, it was less than half that. As a result, most families of color haven’t been able to accumulate wealth through homeownership in the same way white families did, which contributes to homeownership disparities today. Next up: But that doesn’t mean homeownership is out of reach for people of color. In January, we’ll explore the policies that helped break down historical barriers for those on the Greater West Side and demonstrate how owning a home is within reach as we continue our yearlong series. For an online supplement to see maps and other archived materials, visit: https://www.austinweeklynews.com/at-home/