Golden runners
District 96 buying house next to Ames School PAGE 3
RBHS Special Olympians win the gold medal at Illinois State University
Local Republicans struggle to back Trump PAGE 4
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RIVERSIDE-BROOKFIELD Also serving North Riverside ONLINE AT rblandmark.com
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Vol. 31, No. 32
August 10, 2016
@R @RBLandmark
County has deals on 16 Riverside Lawn parcels Neighborhood-wide garage sale slated for Aug. 27 By BOB UPHUES Editor
place was kind of a wreck. “The sidewalks (tar concrete) have quite generally failed,” wrote Louis Y. Schermerhorn in a letter to Riverside’s designer, Frederick Law Olmsted, on April 13, 1877. The statement comes from a four-page handwritten letter by the man who was hired as chief engineer to implement the Riverside Improvement Company’s general plan of the village. Schermerhorn previously worked alongside Olmsted on the
The exodus from Riverside Lawn has begun, according to the top official at the Cook County Land Bank. Rob Rose, executive director of the land bank, which proposed a buyout of the flood-prone unincorporated area of Riverside Township last year, said they have already closed on one home and have deals to buy 15 more properties. “I suspect that once we get through this first wave, others who are on the fence will start to respond to us in terms of being able to move forward,” Rose said in a telephone interview on Aug. 8. Rose said some of the 15 properties the county has contracted to buy will close within 30 days, though some of the owners have requested extensions because they are still looking for new homes. Offers landed in the mailboxes of Riverside Lawn property owners in late June. While they were given 30 days to make a decision to accept the offers, many owners asked for another 30 days to think it over, Rose said. According to Rose, there are 18 properties – both homes and vacant lots -- whose owners have not yet committed to the buyout. But the land bank is willing to wait. There are a dozen properties whose owners have never responded to the county in any fashion, said Rose.
See LETTER on page 9
See BUYOUTS on page 9
LOUIS Y. SCHERMERHORN
Long-lost letter reveals Riverside’s shaky early years
Engineer who oversaw village’s construction reports conditions to Olmsted By BOB UPHUES
H
Editor
ow long have Riversiders fretted over the condition of their sidewalks? Well, at least since 1877. Just six years after the Riverside Improvement Company published its marketing pamphlet “Riverside in 1871,” boosting the nascent community’s public infrastructure, including the “Trinidad asphalt, tar and gravel” sidewalks (the exposed aggregate of the day), the
Cyril Friend III • LPL Financial Advisor
“The Local Guy with 20 Years Experience” 12 E. Quincy St., Riverside • 708.442.9234 • cyril.friend@lpl.com Securities offered through LPL Financial Member FINRA/SIPC