W E D N E S D A Y
February 24, 2021 Vol. 41, No. 30 ONE DOLLAR @oakpark @wednesdayjournal
JOURNAL of Oak Park and River Forest
D97 Super to resign Page 11
River Forest, police chief, four others named in lawsuit Former police officer and union president seeks jury trial By MARIA MAXHAM Staff Reporter
What started as an alleged problem with the Auto Park feature in a squad car has turned into a lawsuit against the village of River Forest and individually against five village employees — Police Chief James O’Shea, interim Village Administrator Lisa Scheiner, and sergeants Michael Swierczynski, Martin Grill and Justin Labriola. The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court on Sept. 23. A motion to dismiss was filed by the defendants on Dec. 30, and a response to that motion to dismiss was filed on Feb. 17. No court date has been set. The plaintiff is Daniel Szczesny, former full-time River Forest police officer, who joined the department in 2013 and resigned in 2019, as a result of what his lawsuit claims were “months of threats, retaliation, and duress.” Szczesny is suing on four counts: violation of rights to free speech; defamation; intentional interference in his job search after resigning from the village; and failure to comply with the Illinois Personnel Review Act. He is seeking a jury trial and looking for relief that includes lost wages and benefits; an injunction forcing the village to adopt employment practices and See LAWSUIT on page 14
ALEX ROGALS/Staff Photographer
THAT WARM GLOW: Joshua Wood inside the family’s currently melting igloo. He worked with his sister and parents to construct the multi-colored, pyramid shaped igloo in their back yard.
Igloo of dreams
The jewel-toned pyramid of ice a labor of love By STACEY SHERIDAN Staff Reporter
Embodying the fruits of labor, the fleeting nature of beauty and the bond of a family united in the same creative pursuit, the pyramid igloo created by the Wood family in their Oak Park back-
yard is a jewel-toned wonder to behold. “I must admit, my kids were a bit skeptical to begin with. They were like, ‘I don’t think this is going to work.’” said Antony Wood, architect of buildings and igloos alike. When the pyramid began to take shape, the morale of his two teenagers changed. “As it started to grow, it was like, ‘No, this is fantastic!’” Wood said. The spectacular ice pyramid was made entirely by Wood, his wife, also an
architect, and their two children. About 10 feet in height and width, the structure took over two weeks to construct, not including the time it took the bricks of colored water to freeze. A painstaking process, the Wood family used about 800 cardboard juice and milk cartons to create the ice bricks. Once frozen solid, they would run the cartons under the faucet and then peel the cardboard off the brick, each indiSee IGLOO on page 15
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Reality animates ‘Judas and the Black Messiah’
he life and legacy of slain Black Panther threat to the internal security of the country.” leader Fred Hampton, who was assassiBy July 1969, the Church report explains, the nated while sleeping inside his West Side Panthers “had become the primary focus of apartment on Dec. 4, 1969, has garnered the program, and was ultimately the target of renewed interest from the public since 233 of the total authorized ‘Black Nationalist’ the release of the movie Judas and the Black COINTELPRO actions” that Taylor described in Messiah. his book. The film stars Daniel Kaluuya, who plays Which may well have made Fred Hampton the Hampton, and LaKeith Stanfield, who plays FBI’s highest priority ‘would-be’ Black messiah William O’Neal, the FBI informant who betrays and a main target of the agency’s illegal and Hampton in many ways, not least by sharing unethical COINTELPRO efforts. the floor plan of Hampton’s apartment with the A River Forest resident’s role in Hampton’s law enforcement officials who would murder murder indirectly sparked the movement leadhim in an unauthorized raid (O’Neal years later ing to Harold Washington’s election. died by suicide in Maywood). Commentary In the summer of 1972, Cook County State’s I’ve been thinking about this film, and about Attorney Ed Hanrahan was named a defendant Fred and the Panthers, quite a bit lately. Here are some in a civil rights case that Taylor and his colleagues filed interesting findings from my stray musings, based on against Hanrahan and other government actors for their books, primary government documents and interviews I role in orchestrating Fred Hampton’s assassination. conducted in the past with those who knew Fred. Hanrahan, a longtime and well-respected River Forest The FBI believed a Black ‘messiah’ threatened domestic resident before his death in 2009, was Mayor Richard J. security and was determined to take him out before he Daley’s “heir apparent” before the raid, Taylor writes. could do so. Hanrahan was running for re-election against “reformIn August 1967, the FBI launched a covert program, minded Republican, Bernard Carey, and desperately called COINTELPRO, designed to “disrupt and ‘neutralneeded to be acquitted before Election Day. ize’ organizations that the bureau characterized as ‘Black “Daley, at least publicly, continued to strongNationalist Hate Groups,’” according to a nearly 1,000-page ly back Hanrahan,” so it was “clear from the 1976 report released by the Church Senate Committee. The committee was convened to deal with the “illegal and start” that, despite a strong case presented by the special prosecutor, “the political fix, unconstitutional transgressions of the FBI, CIA, NSA, IRS, Chicago-style, was in.” Hanrahan and the and the US military,” recalled Fred Hampton’s lawyer, Flint other defendants were acquitted by Judge Taylor, in his 2019 book, The Torture Machine. Philip Romiti, “a loyal Democratic machine “More than half the report covered FBI ‘black bag’ jobs, wiretaps, use of informants/agents provocateur, and COIN- judge,” of conspiracy to obstruct justice, a ruling Taylor said “was indefensible from a TELPRO,” Taylor wrote. “One chapter studied the FBI’s factual and legal point of view, but totally plan to ‘neutralize’ Martin Luther King Jr. In the very next explicable politically.” chapter came ‘The FBI’s Covert Action Program to Destroy Mayor Daley said the great lesson of the Black Panther Party.’” the case is “not to be too willing to believe The Church report summarizes the FBI memorandum charges before the evidence is in. I think the that explained COINTELPRO’s purpose in even more detail, which was mainly to “prevent a coalition of militant black people of Chicago feel the same way,” Taylor recalled. black nationalist groups” and to “prevent the rise of a mesBut a week later, Black Chicago “showed siah who could unify and electrify the militant nationalist how they actually felt, as they crossed party movement … Martin Luther King, Stokely Carmichael and lines en masse and voted Hanrahan out of office. This Elijah Muhammad all aspire to this position.” marked the start of a movement that, a decade later, would In the summer of 1967, the Black Panthers weren’t yet on result in the election of Harold Washington as Chicago’s the FBI’s list of threats, but in September 1968, FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover described the party as “the greatest first Black mayor.”
MICHAEL ROMAIN
Fred Hampton Jr. alleged the FBI tapped his father’s phone when Hampton Sr. was just a kid. I remember attending the funeral of Fred’s older brother, Bill, in 2018, and during his remembrance of his uncle, Fred Hampton Jr. said “the FBI placed a tap on my grandma’s phone when Fred was 14 years old.” Although the claim is hard to substantiate, it’s not too hard to believe, given what we now know about the FBI from government records and about Fred’s early life of activism in his hometown of Maywood. Delores Robinson, who attended Proviso East High School in Maywood with Hampton in the mid-1960s, recalled in 2017 how Fred would lead her and her fellow African-American classmates out of the school’s clock tower entrance down Warren Avenue after classes let out. “There weren’t many Blacks at Proviso back then,” Robinson recalled. “When we would leave school at the end of the day, the Blacks would walk out of that door and Fred would always have this song that went, ‘The more you give, the more God gives to you; you can’t beat God giving.’ We’d all walk down the street singing that.” The late Don Williams, who served as the second Black mayor of Maywood in the 1990s and led the local NAACP at the time of Hampton’s ascendancy (and who also happened to be my Sunday School teacher), recalled in 2017 how he helped recruit Hampton to become the leader of the West Suburban NAACP’s Youth Council — a position that would become a launching pad for the young leader’s rise in the world of social activism. “There was some turbulence at Proviso East and it seemed that the African American students were being shortchanged,” Williams recalled. “We didn’t have anyone in the NAACP at that time we could offer who was young. There was a basketball player, Al Nuness, who was very well-known in the community and we thought we would solicit him.” Williams said that Nuness was too busy with other commitments. The popular basketball player, however, recommended that the NAACP recruit Hampton. “Nuness said, ‘You want Fred Hampton,’” Williams recalled. “He said he’s very active in the school and very well-known among the young people. You want Fred. So [we] recruited Fred Hampton. The rest is history.”
Sled sharing program a success
Giving kids without sleds of their own the promise of a good time By STACEY SHERIDAN Staff Reporter
No sled? No problem. The Park District of Oak Park has you covered. Its “Sled Library” program at Barrie Park allows kids without a sled to borrow one, as well as offers a convenient option for people looking
to give their sleds a second life. A sort of leave-a-penny-take-a-penny situation for winter activities. “This is really a lot of fun,” said Diane Stanke, park district customer service director, of the new program. “People are looking for feel good kind of stuff.” Since the Sled Library went up a few weeks ago, it’s gotten a wonderful response from the residents of Oak Park. Barrie Park is at Lombard and Garfield. “It’s gotten so much community praise,” said Ann Marie Guczek, park district social media specialist. “People were so excited and happy about this and just thought it was
a great idea.” The park district’s Feb. 5 Facebook post announcing the new program received almost 400 likes and 113 shares, making it the park district’s highest performing social media post, according to Stanke. The inspiration to create the library came after a staff member saw online that one had been set up in a different community. The idea to put one in Barrie Park went over very well with the rest of the park district’s staff. “We just jumped on it,” said Stanke. Several park district employees donated their sleds to fill the little library up. Those
with limited space in their garage can clean house and do good simultaneously by donating sleds to the library. Another new addition to Barrie Park is the “Sled Cemetery,” where kids can dispose of sleds broken after too many turns going down the park’s steep manmade sledding hill. In the past, people would just leave the sled debris scattered around the hill leaving park crew members to clean up the pieces. The popularity of the program begs the question of if it will return next year. “Weather permitting, it will,” said Stanke. “But maybe we got all the snow that we’re going to get for the next two years.”
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Wednesday Journal, February 24, 2021
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BIG WEEK February 24-March 3 Fireside Chat with Eve L. Ewing Monday, March 1, 6 to 7 p.m., Zoom with the Oak Park Library Join in a conversation with award-winning author, poet and assistant professor at the University of Chicago School of Social Service Administration. Dr. Ewing is a sociologist of education whose research is focused on racism, social inequality and urban policy, and the impact of these forces on American public schools and the lives of young people. This event kicks off a new series of programming inspired by anti-racism resources. Register/more: oppl.org/calendar
Motown: Music That Moved the World
The Age of Globalization Wednesday, March 3, 5 p.m., Virtually with Dominican University
Jeffrey Sachs, Columbia University economics professor, bestselling author and global leader in sustainable development, will speak on his most recent book The Ages of Globalization: Geography, Technology, and Institutions and offer connections to the present in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. Free; $10 suggested donation. Register/more: dom.edu/arts-minds/st-catherine-siena-center
World Balance vs. Personal Salvation Thursday, Feb. 25, 6 p.m., Virtually with Dominican University Professor George “Tink” Tinker is a member of the Osage nation and author of American Indian Liberation: A Theology of Sovereignty. He will discuss cosmic balance versus individual salvation. Free; $10 suggested donation. Register/more: dom.edu/artsminds/st-catherine-siena-center
Candidate Forum – Oak Park Village President Candidates Thursday, Feb. 25, 7 p.m., Zoom with Arbor West Neighbors Learn more before the April 6 election. This forum focuses on Issues of interest to older adults. Zoom Meeting ID: 816 5335 5209, passcode: AWN. Submit candidate questions/more: edsolan@gmail.com.
Candidate Forum – Oak Park Dist. 97 School Board Candidates Saturday, Feb. 27, 2 to 4 p.m., Zoom with the Oak Park Public Library This forum starts with opening statements, followed by questions for the candidates and ends with closing statements. Submit questions in advance to lwvoprf1924@gmail.com or during the forum by chat in Zoom. Hosted by the League of Women Voters of Oak Park & River Forest, in partnership with Oak Park Public Library. Register: oppl. org/calendar
Thursday, Feb. 25, 2 to 3 p.m., Zoom with the Oak Park Library Through audio and visual content, trace the musical journey from “Dancing in the Streets” and “I Heard It Through the Grapevine” to “What’s Going On” to the pop music of The Jackson 5 with presenter Gary Wenstrup. Register: oppl.org/calendar
Conversations on Hemingway Thursday, Feb. 25, and Tuesday, March 2, 6 p.m., virtually with PBS In conjunction with the upcoming PBS documentary, Hemingway, A Film by Ken Burns and Lynn Novick, multiple talks have been scheduled, which include the filmmakers and special guests exploring Hemingway’s art and legacy, and feature clips from the three-part documentary. On Feb. 25, the topic is Hemingway: Journalism + War. Next up, on March 2, is Hemingway and the Natural World. Free. Register/more: hemingwaybirthplace.com/programs-events
HerVoice Submit by April 1 Chicago a cappella invites applicants to an Emerging Women Composers Competition, which is open to composers of all ages who self-identify as female. It will provide hands-on training to further skills in choral composition. Women composers whose career is in its early stages and women composers of color are particularly encouraged to apply. More/apply: chicagoacappella.org/about/news_item/hervoice_the_emerging_women_composer_competition2
Sarah’s Inn Youth Voice Award Submit by March 15 High school students can submit their writing, videos and art to express their ideas, experiences, and thoughts around relationship violence. Two $2,000 award winners will receive a Youth Voice Award at the Together We Inspire educational breakfast in May. More/submit an entry: sarahsinntv.org/post/youthvoice-award
Celebrating Black Futures Friday, Feb. 26, 5 to 6:15 p.m., Zoom with the Oak Park Library Join visual artist Juarez Hawkins, poet Maya Marshall and rapper JSteezzy as they share live performance, art and conversation. Dare to imagine a society where Black people are liberated and free. Explore ideas of the Black artist in community, the importance of joy and the power of radical imagination. Register: oppl.org/ calendar
Winter Warmth Concerts Wednesdays, through March 10, 4 to 5 p.m. virtually with the Symphony of Oak Park and River Forest Each week, a new mini concert is released, performed by members of the Symphony. The Feb. 24 concert features Bach’s The Art of the Fugue and String Quartet, Mov’t No. 4, written by the Symphony’s Keith Jones, who will also play viola. March 3 brings solo music for flute and tuba along with a Vivaldi Concerto for Two Cellos. March 10 is Ireland’s Downland Suite. Individual performances: $9, Oak Park residents; $12, non-residents. Series (includes 6 concerts): $54, Oak Park residents; $67, non-residents. Register by 3 p.m. each Wednesday to see the new concert or sign up for the whole series: pdop.org, 708-725-2000.
Wednesday Journal, February 24, 2021
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Drechsler site proposal deemed ‘too tall’
Returning to Plan Commission, March 4 By STACEY SHERIDAN Staff Reporter
In its second audience before the Oak Park Plan Commission, the development group Focus revealed several design revisions made to the seven-story apartment complex proposed for 203 S. Marion St., the Drechsler Brown & Williams funeral home property. While the modifications were widely applauded by commissioners, several believed the structure’s height would dwarf its surroundings. “I appreciate the efforts the architect did to increase the enhancement of the building, but there’s no doubt it’s just way too tall,” Commissioner Lawrence Brozek said during the Feb. 18 meeting. For many, the building’s 84-foot-10-inch height overshadowed the revisions made, which were based on comments from commissioners given during the project’s first date with the commission on Feb. 4. The revisions include adding masonry detailing echoing design features of neighboring structures, as well as a commitment from Focus to rebuild the alley adjacent to the property and to pay the village $60,000 to repave the remainder of the alley from the development property south to Randolph Street. Under the revised plan, the building will achieve higher sustainability accreditation, qualifying it for National Green Building Standard (NGBS) Silver certification as opposed to Bronze as previously presented. While the original plan had six maisonette units, Focus eliminated one maisonette and reconfigured two others to create accessible greenspace on Marion Street. The removal of one maisonette brings the proposed building’s unit count to 158. “I applaud the developers for making these changes,” said Commissioner Paul Beckwith, who was particularly pleased with the boost in NGBS classification and stated his support for the project. Beckwith, however, wanted the structure’s stature reduced, citing height as the main concern expressed by residents in letters sent to the commission. According to Beckwith, 27 letters were received and at least 20 letters mentioned height. “The only thing I can come up with on size is going down one level. I’ve been trying to call people to find out how much that costs,” Beckwith said. “I’m just curious, is that even something we could talk about?” Beckwith encouraged the developers to consider bringing the height down, while stating he understood it may prove an infeasible undertaking. “I’m trying to listen to the people of the neighborhood,” said Beckwith.
Constructing underground parking as a means to lessen overall height, according to Focus representative Justin Pelej, would be both costly and noisy, making it a disruptive endeavor to neighbors. Commissioner Jon Hale, who did not find the complex too tall, asked the developer to commit to finding a Black-owned business or operator for the coffee shop, which will occupy a small portion of the building. Pelej agreed to do so. The desires of others were not as easily answered for Focus, as multiple public commenters stated objections with the building’s height and the added traffic of having new residents in the area. Village Engineer Bill McKenna, however, told commissioners that studies were conducted, and it was determined that the apartment complex would not pose a major impact to traffic. Historic Preservation Commission member Rebecca Houze, speaking as a private citizen and design historian, said Oak Park had a responsibility to protect the village’s architectural legacy, noting that people travel from all over to visit Unity Temple. “Oak Park is not just a pleasant, leafy, well-heeled Chicago suburb; it has global significance,” said Houze, who called the Focus project, which did not receive HPC approval, out of character with its spatial context, referring to the site as delicate and modest. “We should ask ourselves, ‘What kind of monument to wealth, and to whose wealth, will this new building be?’” Houze said. Not all public comments were unfavorable to the project. Several business owners submitted letters in support of the project, including Carnivore Oak Park’s Brad Knaub and Andrew Palomo of Pillar Financial Advisors LLC. Commissioner Nick Bridge echoed Houze’s sentiments, saying, “Personally I think this is one of the most charming streetscapes in Oak Park. It deserves protection.” Bridge called the new detailing and landscaping helpful but felt they did not do enough to assuage his concerns about the building’s height and massing. “I have a big problem with that,” said Bridge. Commissioner Jeff Clark also considered height a major problem and reiterated the previously stated wish that Focus build underground spots. “Rather than lopping off the top of the building and eliminating a bunch of units, this concept keeps the count of units and lowers the height of the building by a whole floor.” Clark conceded that doing so would cost more money. “But that’s where parking belongs when you have a height limitation,” he said.
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Wednesday Journal, February 24, 2021
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Pete’s Market is coming to Madison Street
Oak Park Village Board votes 6-1 to allow construction By STACEY SHERIDAN Staff Reporter
It’s official. Oak Park will have a second Pete’s Fresh Market location — this one on Madison Street. Despite concerns about Pete’s impact on neighboring grocery stores, the Oak Park Village Board voted 6-1 to allow construction of the new grocery store, which will span 640-728 Madison St. and have 220 parking spaces — 114 of which will be underground, reserved for employees, with customers using a 117-spot ground-level lot. “There’s a lot of people to be thanked for bringing this project to [the Madison Street] corridor,” said Mayor Anan Abu-Taleb during the Feb. 16 board meeting. The Pete’s project is part of a years-long process to revitalize Madison Street, which included the implementation of a tax increment financing (TIF) district in 1995. The Madison Street TIF expired at the end of 2019. Pete’s snagged the Plan Commission’s approval during a Jan. 21 meeting, despite concern over the creation of a corner parking lot at Madison Street and Oak Park Avenue. Alluding to that concern, Trustee Susan Buchanan asked the developers, “What is the plan for right at the corner?” The query prompted a heated response from Plan Commission Chair Iris Sims. “In terms of concerns, there’s a big difference, and it needs to be understood not only by the trustees but by Wednesday Journal — there’s a big difference between the comments and discussions that take place during the course of our Plan Commission meetings and what we actually vote on,” Sims, who has criticized the Journal’s coverage in the past, told Buchanan. When Buchanan tried to respond, Sims criticized statements made during the Plan Commission’s discussion of the project. “Some of the comments with respect to that corner were quite frankly inappropriate and silly,” said Sims. Buchanan then tried to tell Sims she wasn’t asking what happened during Plan Commission meetings, just what was planned for the corner. “I’m still talking, Susan,” said Sims, then stated one commissioner had suggested “the village waste money, putting bricks and pavers” in the intersection of Madison Street and Oak Park Avenue. “That’s not what we voted on,” Sims said. Buchanan then directly asked the project’s architect Ken Nadolski, of API Architects, what Pete’s planned to do with that particular corner. “We have at that corner a landscaped area and Pete’s will propose their building signage at that location as well,” Nadolski said. Tammie Grossman, Oak Park development director, told the village board that Pete’s will collaborate on plans for the area. “To Trustee Buchanan’s point, it is a condition of the planned development ordinance that Pete’s work with the Oak Park Area Arts Council to come up with a design for that front area where the sign’s going to be,” Grossman said, adding that the village has had good luck with the arts council in finding creative ways to tie signs in with buildings. Conversations between the arts council and Pete’s have not happened yet, according to Nodalski. Trustee Simone Boutet suggested Pete’s make the back of the new building more attractive to neighbors, whose en-
SHANEL ROMAIN/Contributor
ICEBREAKING?: Work on the new Pete’s Fresh Market on Madison Street is set to begin ... weather permitting. joyment of their homes might be lessened by the view of a stretch of brick wall. The building’s design received the support of Trustee Jim Taglia, who said he appreciated the collaboration between the developers and the Plan Commission in improving the plans for the new Pete’s. “I think it’s a nice project and I fully support it,” said Taglia. Trustee Deno Andrews supported the project as well, but said nearby businesses such as Carnival Grocery, which may be affected by the new Pete’s, had his “sympathy.” “This is going to have an impact,” said Andrews, calling it a “downside” of having financial incentives to revitalize blighted areas. Carnival Grocery owner Arthur Paris told the village board in public comment that approval of the Madison Street Pete’s would be tantamount to a death sentence for his and other independent grocers. “It will force Carnival out of business and other locallyowned independent merchants to also close their doors unless there is significant help from the village,” Paris said. Buchanan, who supported the Pete’s project, encouraged the public to keep patronizing Paris’ store. “I love Carnival Grocery and I hope everyone continues to support it,” she said. “I hope it doesn’t go out of business.” The Pete’s project involves vacating the northern leg of Euclid Avenue and building a cul-de-sac, constructed and landscaped by Pete’s. The fire department submitted a letter stating that the cul-de-sac would not impact fire services. However, Boutet was still concerned about the grocery store’s impact on the fire department. Boutet, who also worried about how Pete’s would affect Carnival, had “a lot of thoughts” about the project, and did not care for the placement of the parking lot. “With a very mixed mind and a lot of concerns, I am going to vote in favor of this project,” Boutet said. Trustee Dan Moroney asked about the section within the
findings of fact that states the developer must conduct an economic impact study within 24 months of the project’s completion. “It seems that addresses a little bit of the Carnival issue and I just want to know more information on how that came about and what that hopes to accomplish,” Moroney said. Grossman called the condition typical of most of the village’s planned development ordinances to assess how businesses integrate into neighborhoods. “It’s more about that than whether there’s an impact to surrounding businesses,” Grossman said. Moroney wanted to see collaboration between the competing grocery stores. “I would encourage Pete’s and Carnival to try to work together on that aspect of this development,” said. Moroney stated there are pros and cons regarding new developments, but as for the new Pete’s, he was on board. “This is a major investment; I think it’s going to bring people to Madison Street at a level that hasn’t been seen for a very long time,” said Moroney. The village board voted 6-1 to approve the project for construction, as well as voting 6-1 to authorize Pete’s to vacate the portion of Euclid Avenue between Madison Street and the east-west alley north of Madison Street. Trustee Arti Walker-Peddakotla was the sole dissenter in both votes. “I really do take to heart the pain that Carnival Grocery is going to feel,” she said. Walker-Peddakotla said she understands the need to revitalize Madison Street and that the property slated for Pete’s had been sitting vacant for a number of years. However, she did not support the project and voted against it “in the interest of protecting Carnival and the small businesses.” “We can’t tell people to shop local if we as a board are not protecting small businesses. Consumers can’t save everything all the time.
Wednesday Journal, February 24, 2021
OAKPARK.COM | RIVERFOREST.COM
Dueling Oak Park election events in one night
One moderated by Reesheda Graham Washington; the other hosted by trustee candidate Stephen Morales
essary to find out how we can all contribute to healing Oak Park,” Morales wrote in the statement. “Unfortunately, this forum doesn’t seem like it will be most conducive to that kind of collaborative discussion.” In an interview with Wednesday Journal prior to the event, Graham Washington explained her reasoning behind agreeing to By STACEY SHERIDAN Staff Reporter participate in the IOPA forum was based on the belief that Oak Park residents have faith The decision by the progressive grass- in her ability to appropriately carry out the roots organization Indivisible Oak Park responsibilities required of moderator. Area (IOPA) to have Reesheda Graham “I felt like the community would trust my Washington, of Live Café, act as capacity to be objective in ways moderator of its Feb. 18 virtual that are appropriate for me to be candidate forum has led Oak objective, recognizing that it is Park trustee candidate Stephen not appropriate for me or anyone Morales to drop out of the event to be neutral or objective on issues and host his own Zoom townhall around diversity, equity and incluon the same night. Both events sion,” Graham Washington said. take place at 7 p.m. Citing her history as a consul“It has come to my attention tant to government agencies and that Thursday night’s Indivisthe mission of Live Cafe, Graible Oak Park Forum is going ham Washington made clear that to be hosted and moderated by she does not view her public supSTEPHEN MORALES an individual who has donated port for the Represent Oak Park financial resources and given slate as an impediment to sucstrategic campaign advice to my cessfully moderating the event. opponents,” Morales wrote in “I’ve been an active supporter a statement posted to Facebook of people of color, having the opFeb. 17. portunity to run for office, since Graham Washington is an acthe inception of the coffee shop, tive supporter of the Represent and history proves that while I Oak Park candidate slate, backhave always supported people of ing Black village trustee candicolor, women of color, I’ve also aldates Chibuike Enyia, Juanta ways participated as moderator Griffin and Anthony Clark. Her and facilitator of objective conREESHEDA GRAHAM versation simultaneously,” Gracoffee shop serves as their campaign headquarters. WASHINGTON ham Washington said. “While I do not want to make She told Wednesday Journal any assumptions about another that she would not have had the individual’s integrity, I do not feel that at- success she has had as a consultant if she tending a forum moderated by someone who had not already proved her capacity to serve is actively working to defeat me in the elec- objectively, “recognizing that there is not a tion will provide an opportunity for voters person in the human race that does not have to hear from me in an unbiased manner,” implicit bias.” Morales’s statement reads. Finding a moderator without bias, she He said he had only learned that Graham called, “impossible.” Washington had signed on to moderate the She doesn’t believe her own biases will inforum the morning before the actual event. hibit her from fairly moderating any more “It is hard to disentangle the moderator’s than personal biases have influenced others. endorsement of one set of candidates over “I don’t think we’ve ever had, in the histoothers,” Morales’s Facebook post reads. ry of human beings, anyone moderate anyAccording to the post, Morales did not thing that doesn’t have leanings and biases,” want to put IOPA in a position of compro- she said. “And it’s unrealistic to expect that mising the group’s principles or format. I would not have high values around people “I welcome the opportunity to speak with of color and women as I’m a person of color Indivisible Oak Park as many times as nec- and a woman.”
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Create Responsive Government
Our Village Board should act on behalf of residents and our small business community in Oak Park. If elected, I will work to implement a formal Community Engagement Process, in partnership with Village staff, to leverage feedback from commissions, residents, small business owners, as well as outside communities. I believe that intentional community engagement will ensure that our Village Board learns from our most vulnerable community members -- not just the loudest voices on Facebook.
Grow and Protect our Small Business Community
Our small businesses are a core part of our community. As Oak Park begins to recover from the pandemic, I will work to invest in, retain and relaunch existing small businesses while recruiting new businesses -- particularly woman and minority-owned. I will also be strategic about adapting infrastructure and passing ordinances that support and regulate the growing gig economy.
Balance Tax Burdens
This year, property taxes are projected to make up 51.7% of Oak Park’s General Fund revenues. I will work to ease that tax burden by advocating for small businesses and growing our local economy. A thriving and vital business community in Oak Park will attract customers--and their tax dollars--from neighboring communities. Let’s shift the tax burden away from Oak Park residents and at the same time support small businesses.
Equitable and Sustainable Solutions
Let’s create equitable and sustainable solutions by being smarter when making decisions about everyday residents, small businesses, and large developments. With your vote, I will support the immediate adoption of a Race and Social Justice policy that holds the board and staff accountable to think critically about how decisions impact young people, seniors, Black residents, small businesses and the world outside Oak Park. Support all of the REPRESENT OAK PARK candidates for Village Trustee
V TE
To get involved, visit: https://linktr.ee/RepresentOP www.ChibuikeForOakPark.com Paid for by Activate Oak Park
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Wednesday Journal, February 24, 2021
D97 candidate says his background gives him leverage Jeremy Duffy says careers as education attorney, former teacher sets him apart from the field
larly interested in ways the district can continue to move the needle on equity in outcomes, particularly student achievement. “Looking at student outcomes and how we’re impacting student achievement from an equitable lens is critical,” he said. “I really think we have to take a strong look at organizational structure and how By MICHAEL ROMAIN Staff Reporter we’re training staff, so we can move the needle when it comes to outcomes.” Jeremy Duffy has a simple response The most important priority for the fufor anyone who asks why he’s running ture board may well be hiring someone for a seat on the District 97 to succeed outgoing Supt. Carol school board and what sets Kelley, who announced last week him apart from the other that she was five candidates seeking one resigning at of four open seats in April. the end of the “I’ve done the work alschool year to ready,” said the 37-year-old take a supereducation lawyer and forintendent pomer teacher. “I think that’s sition in New what sets me apart. I’ve alJersey. ready worked with school “I think the districts around equity. I’m person who reworking with my own places Dr. Kelley needs to be district right now on our results oriented,” Duffy said. equity plan.” “I think they need a proven Duffy said he started track record of success in teaching in the Los Anmoving the needle in terms geles Unified District in of the opportunity gap. So, California just after gradthis person has to come from uating college. a district where they were able “I spent several years to implement an equity plan in the classroom at the and could look at the data and elementary and middle show measureable results in school levels and moved doing so. Those are some of to Chicago to continue the most important qualities. teaching,” Duffy said. “We also need a strong lead“After that, I decided to go JEREMY DUFFY er who is going to take ownerto law school and pursued D97 board candidate ship of their position and run a career in education law. the district in a way that it For the last 10 years or needs to be run, so we can get so, I’ve worked at private the best outcome for our stulaw firms throughout the dents,” he said. Chicago area providing Duffy said that, if elected, counsel to school districts across the state he’ll push for the continuation of Kelof Illinois.” ley’s advisory council that was created to The father of three, one who is a stu- facilitate the transition from fully remote dent in D97, said he was hired as board to hybrid learning. Duffy said he’d like attorney for Waukegan Community Unit for the council to meet with regularity School District 60 last year, just after the into the future in order for the district to pandemic hit. think deeply about the swiftly changing Duffy said he’s never run for office before pandemic environment. and doesn’t consider himself a politician. “Thinking through some of these “I’ve never wanted to be in politics, per things and having some options ahead of se,” he said. “This is just me wanting to time is really critical,” he said. “It’s also carry out a mission I’ve lived my entire important to keep in mind that some peocareer, which has been focused on educa- ple will not want to send their kids back tion and making sure students get what to school and we have to respect and value they need and deserve.” that decision.” Duffy said, if elected, he’ll be particuCONTACT: michael@oakpark.com
“Looking at student outcomes and how we’re impacting student achievement from an equitable lens is critical”
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D200 candidate wants to share expertise with board Mary Anne Mohanraj, a prolific author and English professor, is looking to leap from library to school board
Mohanraj said one animating aspect of her campaign is equity. She said she’s strongly supportive of D200 Supt. Joylynn Pruitt-Adams’ plans to restructure the freshman curriculum at the school, a move designed to put an end to the practice of separating students according to two different curriculum tracks. Opponents of tracking argue that it exacerbates the racial opportuBy MICHAEL ROMAIN Staff Reporter nity gap at the high school. “I’m excited about the district’s freshman In 2018, Mary Anne Mohanraj, 49, told curriculum revisions and the standardizaWednesday Journal that she was interested tion they’re doing in service of equity,” she in seeking higher office, perhaps mayor, said. trustee or county commissioner. The previMohanraj said she’d like more attention ous year, she had campaigned successfully placed on supports for students who may for a seat on the Oak Park Public Library not necessarily see themselves going to fourboard, a run that was prompted, she said at year college and universities. the time, by the election of Don“I have a nonprofit that does ald J. Trump free education work and we’re as president in hoping to start a maker space in 2016. Oak Park,” she said. “I’m really Now, several interested in alternative paths months after for students who aren’t collegeTrump lost his bound and making sure they bid for re-elecknow the full range of career option to Presitions available to them to build dent Joe Biden, successful futures.” Mohanraj With respect t0 remote has focused her sights on Oak learning, Mohanraj said she’d Park and River Forest High be interested in talking with School, as one of six candiD200 staffers and administradates seeking four open seats tors about the possibility of on the District 200 school shifting the start time to later board. in the day. Like the library board, the “There’s a lot of research school board seems a natural that shows that teens should fit for Mohanraj, an English sleep later than adults,” she professor at the University of said, adding that a later start Illinois at Chicago and a protime “might become more fealific author. sible” with the move to block “My time serving on the scheduling. MARY ANNE MOHANRAJ library board is ending in “That might show some real OPRF board candidate April and I want to continue benefits in student achieveto serve the community, if ment across the board,” she I can be helpful,” Mohanraj said. said. “In general, I think the Mohanraj said the COVhigh school is on a good path, ID-19 pandemic might be an so this is less about me wanting to change opportunity for schools to rethink how they things than hoping to support them and educate students across the board, particuproblem-solve, as things go, and bring my larly as experiments in remote learning beexperience in higher education to the table.” come more prevalent. Mohanraj, the mother of two kids in Dis“As we reimagine curriculum, are there trict 97 schools (her daughter will enter ways we can continue to take the best parts OPRF in the fall), emigrated from Sri Lanka of remote learning and integrate them into when she was 2 years old. She grew up in the regular curriculum? I can imagine a lot Connecticut. Mohanraj said she’s taught a of possibilities for that,” she said. wide variety of colleges and universities. In “For example, what if we had a virtual addition to UIC, she’s also taught at North- study hall with a subject matter teacher, western and Roosevelt, along with a series such as a math teacher, who is available for of institutions in other states like Vermont students who are learning from home? They and Utah. can check in and get one-on-one help,” Mo“I’ve seen a lot of different types of edu- hanraj explained. “I expect we’ll see a funcational structures and have some sense of damental shift in how we do schooling and what I think does or doesn’t work,” she said. I’m interested in seeing what that might “I hope that perspective will be helpful.” look like.”
“I’ve seen a lot of different types of educational structures and have some sense of what I think does or doesn’t work.”
Wednesday Journal, February 24, 2021
OAKPARK.COM | RIVERFOREST.COM
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Water damage shutters Spilt Milk Pastry Sisters grateful for community support By MELISSA ELSMO Oak Park Eats
After closing on Tuesday for a “snow day,” Meg and Molly Svec, sisters and co-owners of Spilt Milk Pastry, 103 S. Oak Park Ave., are facing an extended closure due to water damage incurred inside the bakery on Wednesday Feb. 17. “Our poor little kitchen is not usable,” said Meg Svec. “Basically, as I understand it, the drainage pipe for our HVAC system froze and backed up into our furnace.” According to Svec, water began leaking from the ceiling around 2:30 p.m. Wednesday. Before long the water was coming in a very fast rate causing a portion of the kitchen ceiling to cave in leaving the kitchen badly flooded. “Our landlord is aware of the situation,” said Meg Svec. “We have a quote from Servpro for the clean-up, but the damage is more extensive than that. We don’t even know yet when we will be able to open.” Spilt Milk is currently without heat because of extensive damage to the furnace, the bakery lost a freezer to water damage and floors in the bakery kitchen will need to
be replaced. The property housing Spilt Milk is owned by Jim Solnes. The landlord acknowledged in a call with Wednesday Journal that “melting ice” had caused some leaks and that his engineer had been there to assess the problem and help in cleaning up the water. At the time Solnes said he was “unaware” the bakery would be closed for the foreseeable future and indicated he would follow up with the business owners. A post shared to Facebook and Instagram by Spilt Milk on Wednesday evening shows video footage of water pouring into the bakery kitchen from multiple locations in the ceiling. The statement accompanying the post said: “I don’t really have any words but wanted to let you guys know we will be closed for the foreseeable future. We had some major damage today in our kitchen. We don’t know a lot yet but will share with you guys when we understand next steps and where to go from here. We are just heartbroken. ... Spilt Milk is our life and we love you guys so much. Please send all the positive energy you can muster our way, we really need it tonight.” The post has been met with an outpouring of support for the sister-owned bakery known for being a leader in the Oak Park business community as well as a purveyor of fine pies, cookies and quiches.
End of 30 year run for Ino’s Tacos
“The damage at Spilt Milk is heart breaking. I am not sure I would have gotten through the last year without their delicious baked goods.” said Tina Harle, Oak Park resident and Spilt Milk regular to Wednesday Journal. “Meg and Molly have showed up time and time again for so many others in the community. Once they know the extent of the damage and what comes next, I know that this community will help them rebuild.” The Svec sisters are waiting to fully understand the extent of the damage to Spilt Milk before sharing information about their next steps including a timeline for repairs and total costs to get the bakery up and running again. “We want to thank everyone for their support,” said Svec. “People have been calling and dropping off cards. It makes me so emotional. I am so grateful to be in Oak Park where everybody cares so much.”
After serving Oak Park and the surrounding suburbs since 1991, Ino’s Tacos, 7100 Roosevelt Rd., permanently closed on Feb. 20. The taco joint has been serving Mexican fare since 1976 and is expected to open a new location in LaGrange Park, at 710 E. 31st St. In a post to Facebook Ino’s broke the news to followers and fans saying: “We knew this day would come. Today is our last day open in Oak Park. We wanted to give a big thank you to all of you who have supported us throughout the years. Thank you for all the well wishes on our new venture. We have truly felt the love. So many of you have said how sad it is to see us go. We’re going to miss all of you as well. It’s been a pleasure serving the community. Don’t forget to visit us in LaGrange Park. We’d love to see you.” The Mexican restaurant known for peddling tacos, burritos and enchiladas announced the impending closure on Jan. 31 and spent the following weeks counting down to closing day.
Melissa Elsmo, Oak Park Eats
River Forest welcomes Yolk Restaurant moves to Grandma Sally’s loction By MELISSA ELSMO Oak Park Eats Editor
Chicago residents are likely familiar with Yolk. Traditional dishes are given a creative twist at Yolk and folks in the know have made a breakfast from the growing chain one of the most popular places for tourists and locals alike to enjoy breakfast in Chicago. Taki Kastanis, Yolk founder and CEO, brought his visions for a breakfast restaurant to life in 2006 when he opened in the South Loop. Now, the burgeoning breakfast chain, with seven city locations and others in Indiana, Florida and Texas, has made its way to River Forest. Yolk’s River Forest location, 7301 W. North Ave., is housed in the former home Grandma Sally’s Family Restaurant. People lamenting the loss of Grandma Sally’s will be comforted to know the longtime restaurant has simply passed from one generation to another — Grandma Sally’s was owned by the Kastanis family. In fact, the mastermind behind Yolk worked at the
North Avenue restaurant before opening his own restaurant and eventually building the “Eat Yolk” brand. Yolk’s River Forest location is the first in an Illinois suburb. After redecorating the restaurant to reflect Yolk’s bright yellow and blue color scheme, the breakfast and lunch café is now officially open for dine in service as well as carry out in River Forest. Yolk’s menu features an array of sweet and savory breakfast items to help you greet the day and all dishes are served with a side of COVID compliance. “At Yolk we have excellent customers and excellent food,” said George Vlahas, general manager at the River Forest location. “We hope to carry on the tradition of Grandma Sally’s with our own flair.” Server, Kathy Sofiakis, worked at Grandma Sally’s for 12 years and now cheerfully delivers orders of Yolk’s popular menu offerings including chilaquiles verde. Both Sofiakis and Vlahas consider the chilaquiles to be a menu stand out because of the house-made tortilla chips and salsa verde. “The very berry French toast comes with all the trimmings,” said Vlahas. “It is one of our go to dishes.” Expect six pieces of challah French toast
Photo by Melissa Elsmo
NEW BEGINNING: George Vlahas, general manager, is committed to providing excellent food and service. for the base before being covered with house-made Greek yogurt, almond granola, fresh mixed berries and a drizzle of honey. Served with seasoned potatoes or grits, Yolk’s cheesy egg sandwich is also a customer favorite. The bagel sandwich is garnished with bacon, tomato and pesto making it a savory handheld meal. The robust breakfast menu includes an assortment of five egg omelets, three egg
scrambles and creative benedicts including a “waffle benny” featuring two mini waffles and shaved ham. The lunch menu boasts an array of sandwiches including pot roast on grilled sourdough and a Buffalo chicken wrap. Burgers, soups and salads round out the midday offerings. Keep in mind Yolk, a chain with midwestern roots and local ties, is open daily from 7 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.
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Wednesday Journal, February 24, 2021
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Equity advisory group OK’d for River Forest Village Hall Ad hoc group to craft RFP for internal study of village practices By ROBERT LIFKA Contributing Reporter
After a final tweak to the document, the River Forest village board unanimously approved a resolution creating an ad hoc diversity, equity and inclusion advisory group at the Feb. 22 virtual village board meeting. The advisory group is charged with developing a diversity, equity and inclusion initiative for the village to be presented to the village president and board of trustees. The internal initiative was introduced in September, along with an external component, and discussed at multiple village board meetings until consensus was reached Feb. 8. The external component, a partnership with Dominican University in River Forest, is moving forward, following adoption in October. The goal of the mutually-beneficial partnership is to assist the village in becoming a community where there is a commitment to a culture of equity and inclusion and help the university expand its Truth, Racial Healing and Transformation efforts. “This is cause for celebration,” village
President Cathy Adduci said. “I am personAssistance with the definitions could be ally proud. found at Dominican, according to Sheila “There is a lot to do. I know Radford-Hill, a River Forest we’re all committed to it. We all resident, who also commended must be involved.” officials for their action. She reAs was agreed Feb. 8, the size cently resigned as chief diversity of the group was left open and official for Dominican but was inthe resolution will be amended fluential in creating the partneronce that number is detership between the village and the mined. The group will have school. two co-chairs, a village trustee Concerns raised by Trustee and the village administrator. Bob O’Connell regarding hiring Lisa Scheiner is acting village and firing implications were alERIKA BACHNER administrator until the village layed by Scheiner, who said hirTrustee board replaces Eric Palm, who ing and disciplinary matters are took a new post outside River confidential, and Greg Smith, vilForest this month. lage attorney, who assured that At the suggestion of Trustee certain documents will not be acErika Bachner, the wording of cessible by the group. the resolution regarding presenAccording to the resolution, the tation of a report was amended. charge and mission of the advisory group are “to explore ways Bachner suggested the group to remove barriers that prevent is charged with submitting an the participation, engagement “initial” report at a date to be and an equitable and welcoming determined instead of a “final” environment” for all village resireport by a specific date. dents, business members, visitors Following discussion, offiKATIE BRENNAN and employees. In addition, the cials agreed that definitions for Trustee group is charged with “building “diversity,” “equity” and “inclutrust amongst all parties through sion” be included in the resolution but decided that the members of the development of the initiative.” Although no vote was taken, consensus group make that determination.
7324 w. madison street forest park, il 60130
was reached on the application form prospective members will be asked to fill out. At the suggestion of Trustee Patty Henek, a line about availability to attend meetings will be added. As officials agreed after discussion at previous meetings, the advisory group’s responsibilities will include drafting a request for proposals for a consultant “to conduct an assessment of the village as a municipal organization to provide an equity analysis of its practices, policies, systems and structures to identify potential unintended consequences.”
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Wednesday Journal, February 24, 2021
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D97 superintendent to resign
Dr. Carol Kelley to take superintendent job in New Jersey
And in the past, before the pandemic, Kelley endured the fallout from the principal attrition at Lincoln and complaints from teachers and parents of widespread disciplinary problems at Brooks and Julian middle schools. Throughout her tenure, Kelley has By MICHAEL ROMAIN been outspoken about the district’s longStaff Reporter held racial inequities. In 2019, Kelley District 97 Supt. Carol Kelley will be was tasked with implementing a landresigning at the end of the school year in mark racial equity policy that passed order to take the superintendent position unanimously. And last year, the district unveiled a new anti-racism at Princeton Public Schools curriculum that Kelley’s adin New Jersey, according to a ministration has been finestatement the superintendent tuning this school year. sent to D97 families on Feb. 18. In January, following the “It has been an honor and U.S. Capitol Insurrection privilege to serve as the superand the hate crime at Live intendent of District 97,” KelCafé, Kelley issued a stateley said. “After six years, I am ment condemning the atincredibly proud of the progtacks. ress we have made, the chal“We must address the lenges we’ve weathered and inequities we see in our the successes we’ve celebrated CAROL KELLEY school and community,” along the way. As much as I D97 Superintendent she wrote. “We know our have loved this work and the inequities are rooted in team I work with every day, I systemic oppression, racism, and white know it’s the right time for me to move supremacy and that we must challenge closer to home.” them directly.” Kelley was hired as D97 superintendent in 2015, after having served three “We want to thank Dr. Kelley for six years as superintendent of a school disyears of dedicated service to District 97 trict in New Jersey. Her last day with D97 and the Oak Park community,” said D97 will be June 30. board President Keecia Broy. Last year, she was named one of two “We are grateful for her leadership finalists for superintendent at a school and unwavering commitment to equity, district in Wisconsin, but did not get that which has contributed to meaningful position. advancements in student learning and In her statement on Feb. 18, Kelley district operations,” she said. “Although touted a range of “notable successes” the board is disappointed to see her go, during her tenure helming D97, includ- we know that this is a special opportuniing passing “a comprehensive racial and ty for Dr. Kelley to return home, and we educational equity policy and develop- wish her the best as she embarks on this ing programs to help eliminate oppor- new chapter.” tunity gaps and ensure that every child Kelley’s departure means there are suhas access to an excellent and equitable perintendent vacancies at both Oak Park educational experience.” public school districts. Kelley also mentioned the passage of In November, District 200 Supt. Joylyn a nearly $71 million bond referendum Pruitt-Adams announced her intention designed to raise funds to build the dis- to retire effective July 1. trict’s operative reserve and make variThe Oak Park and River Forest High ous capital improvements. School board has since hired an execuIn 2020, she was named a “Superinten- tive search firm to help identify her sucdent of Distinction by her colleagues in cessor, which the board hopes to do by the West Cook region of the Illinois As- April. sociation of School Administrators.” “Information about the district’s plans And since March, Kelley guided the to search for a successor will be shared district through the transition from full with the community in the coming remote learning to hybrid learning. weeks,” according to the Feb. 18 stateKelley’s tenure was also marked by ment for District 97. some challenges. Most recently, her adIn the meantime, Kelley said she reministration endured intense criticism mains “committed to District 97 and will from parents and community members continue working with the best interest related to its transition, with some crit- of our students, staff and families in ics lambasting the district’s reopening mind.” CONTACT: michael@oakpark.com framework as unsteady and confusing.
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Oak Park talks reparations
What might they look like on a local level By STACEY SHERIDAN Staff Reporter
Oak Park’s village board took on a reflective tone during its Feb. 22 meeting responding to the equity-focused community group Walk the Walk and its presentation on the village’s history with Black residents and reparation opportunities to account for past wrongs. “We want to have the conversation and we want to have it in a collective way, in a formalized way, where we can start to understand what some of those past transgressions are and move forward,” said Chris Thomas, of Walk the Walk. Thomas asked the board to participate in the discussion with an “open heart.” “Part of acknowledging all of the work that has been done is not only seeing how far we’ve come,” said Thomas. “It’s important to see really where we are trying to go.” The idea of using thoughtful consideration of historical wrongdoings to shape the future of Oak Park acted as a core theme and guiding principle during Walk the Walk’s time before the village board. “What is our long-term vision and how do we make our community as equitable as possible?” he asked. Thomas said he did not believe the current village board has done anything to adversely affect Black residents. “There has been wrongdoings in the past though,” said Thomas. “Someone has to take responsibility for it at some point and I would love for this to be the era where some of us on this call can step up and do that.” Thomas then asked the board to consider whether they believe wrong was done to Black people in Oak Park and do they believe something should be done to repair that trauma. The presentation began in earnest when Walk the Walk’s Christian Harris, using information acquired through the Oak Park River Forest Museum, recounted the history of Black people in Oak Park – from their beginnings as small business owners to such ugly truths as having their homes and workspace firebombed by white supremacists. Harris pointed out that Oak Parkers have been taught to believe that groundbreaking chemist Percy Julian was the first Black person to live in the village – a total, but common misconception. He informed the board that Oak Park had a Ku Klux Klan chapter, with its own women’s group. “The Klan’s women’s group was very strong here,” said Harris. The members of the women’s group, according to Harris, took just as much issue with Catholic and Jewish people as they did with Black people. Harris also reminded the board of Mount
Carmel Baptist Church, and asked them to think about the potential economic development that could have happened for Black people in Oak Park had the village not caved into racist backlash and granted the Black congregants a permit to build the house of worship. When the church finally had a building of its own on what is now Westgate Street, the structure was besieged by mysterious fires and the congregation fell apart. But Harris also reminded the board that the village has always had residents who stood up against such inequitable treatment. “This is our history, and we should be proud of it on one hand,” said Harris. “Naturally there are parts of this history that are shameful. But we do not Read a longer version need to linger in of this story online that shame.” Walk the Walk’s LOG ON TO OAKPARK.COM Danielle Morales Klimt said the forms reparations could take in the modern world and how those reparations vary from a federal to a hyperlocal level. Such local reparations, Morales Klimt said, could take the form of a plaque to mark locations significant to the history of Black Oak Parkers, such as where Mount Carmel once stood. “When you shut down a church, you shut down a community,” said Morales Klimt. Reparations could include the founding of a citizen committee or a public apology, as well as low-interest real estate loans. Morales Klimt stated that reparations do not have to be punitive, just constructive. Walk the Walk made clear that they only sought to promote positive discourse among the board and that their suggestions were not concrete demands. When the presentation ended, Trustee Simone Boutet formally apologized for the village’s past transgressions. “On my behalf, I would like to say I’m sorry for this terrible part of our past,” said Boutet. She recommended the board pass a proclamation as a means of atonement, as well as commemorate Oak Park’s Black history with a plaque. Trustee Susan Buchanan said she felt “honored” to participate in the meeting because she felt the topic of reparations is crucial and “potentially pivotal for our society.” “Reparations is an issue of this moment,” said Buchanan. Trustee Arti Walker-Peddakotla stated she absolutely agrees harm has been done to Black people in Oak Park’s history. “I think sometimes the wrong is still being done,” she said. She said some policies enacted in the larger world to help people have actually excluded Black people, including the programs created to assist military U.S. veterans, from which she has benefited from as a veteran.
WEB EXTRA
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Wednesday Journal, February 24, 2021
OAKPARK.COM | RIVERFOREST.COM
Grappling with race, OPRF Chamber forges allies Chamber collaborates with neighboring business organizations By MICHAEL ROMAIN Staff Reporter
The Twin Villages Covenant, which is a vow made last summer by the village boards of River Forest and Maywood to forge a deeper, more meaningful working relationship, has proven to be pretty catalytic. Earlier this year, Dominican University in River Forest announced that it would, for the first time, send students to Maywood on spring immersion trips in order to build relationships and do some service work. The Covenant, signed by the boards in the aftermath of George Floyd’s murder last May, even prompted the River Forest Youth Soccer program to open up memberships to Maywood residents. This time, the combustion of activity is in the local business world, with the Oak ParkRiver Forest Chamber’s launch of its MultiChamber Women in Business Collaborative. Since January, women from the OPRF Chamber, the Berwyn Development Corporation’s Chamber Services Division, the Forest Park Chamber of Commerce and the
Maywood Chamber of Commerce have met monthly to network and share ideas. Liz Holt, the OPRF Chamber’s executive director, said the Collaborative was born out of the momentum created by the Covenant. Holt said she’d been wanting to get more resources to support the chamber’s Black businesses and nonprofits, but was also sensitive to the potential pitfalls of that kind of outreach. The Covenant, she said, provided an inroads for the OPRF Chamber to step into the often uncomfortable area of race in a way that didn’t seem intrusive or insensitive. The Collaborative meets virtually every third Friday of the month. Each meeting is hosted by a partner organization. The Berwyn Chamber hosted the January meeting while the OPRF Chamber hosted the February meeting, which was premised on Black History Month. The Maywood Chamber will host the next meeting in March. Holt said the meetings have “allowed us to talk about topics relevant to each of these communities. Everybody gets a voice at the table and has a say in what we all want to talk about. And we’ve had some pretty real conversations about racism and race in those meetings.” At this month’s meeting, Oak Park radio host Doris Davenport interviewed Lynn Allen, the founder of Tri-Star Gymnastics and
the former head of District 97’s Multicultural Center. The February meeting was the brainchild of OPRF Chamber board members Carla Taylor, a local realtor, and Vicki Scaman, the Oak Park village clerk who is currently running for village president. Taylor said the Collaborative grew out of the OPRF Chamber’s Women in Business Affinity Group. “We already had the affinity group, but due to COVID and everyone being virtual, along with the rest from last year and all the riots and everything, we thought it was important to be intentionally diverse and that’s how the Collaborative came about,” Taylor said. Scaman said the Chamber didn’t “want to host yet another brainstorming event in Oak Park” that would not go beyond conversation, adding that conversations with the Oak Park-River Forest Community Foundation fueled the Chamber’s resolve to take the discussion beyond its own silo of influence. “This group needs to bring what we learn in those spaces and advocate for real change,” Scaman said. “Now, the burden is on us to keep moving this forward.” Taylor said the Collaborative was one of a series of steps the OPRF Chamber has taken toward grappling with racism and racial equity since Floyd’s death last year. As a Black Realtor, Taylor said, she was one of several
Black business owners featured in Chamber advertising. She said the Chamber has also released statements condemning acts of racism, including the assault by a white River Forest man on a Black woman from the West Side outside of the River Forest Jewel last summer, and last month’s hate crime outside of Live Cafe, which is owned by OPRF Chamber member Reesheda Graham Washington. But Holt acknowledged that the Chamber has some ways to go if it wants to seriously confront racism and racial inequities, particularly in the local business environment — one that’s been devastated by the pandemic. Last year, Yelp made headlines when it reported that nearly 98,000 of the businesses listed on its website for reviews were permanently closed. Less widely considered has been the pandemic’s much more severe impact on Blackowned businesses. Holt said the OPRF Chamber recently became affiliated with the Illinois State Black Chamber of Commerce, a new chamber founded by Siri Hibbler, the executive director of the Garfield Park Chamber of Commerce. “Our goal with the Collaborative was to have hard conversations and to think about how we can make sure that in 20 years, we’re not having the same conversations,” she said.
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Wednesday Journal, February 24, 2021
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ART BEAT
CAST pivots to stage show for the times Ruth Bader Ginsburg and John Lewis at center stage By MICHELLE DYBAL Arts Editor
Moved by the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 and the hate incident perpetrated against Live Café, Oak Park, on the same day, along with encouraging words from the District 97 administration, Bill McGlynn, CAST program director at Percy Julian Middle School, pivoted theater show plans to present something new and relevant to these times. CAST Tells the Story, a new production assembled by McGlynn, will be presented virtually on March 1. In December, CAST students had begun learning songs for Once on this Island, a virtual musical. But, as events unfolded during winter break, McGlynn had fresh thoughts about the programming. Also, an email from D97 Superintendent Carol Kelley came out. It started with a quote from John Lewis, “When you see something that is not right, you must say something. you must do something. Democracy is not a state. It is an act, and each generation must do its part to help build what we called the Beloved Community, a nation and world society at peace with itself.” “I just couldn’t stop thinking about John Lewis and that quote,” McGlynn said. “We have to recognize this moment, and in a way, the pandemic lets us stop and change plans more than we would have been able to other times.” “When we went back into rehearsal, I felt like it would really be supported by the administration and the students if we really just stopped moving forward on Island and focus on how we can talk about what’s happening, not just nationally … but also there’s Oak Park,” he said, citing both the incident at Live Café when a brick with a racist note was thrown at the window of the Black-owned coffee shop and Dr. Kelley’s letter which mentioned how insurrectionists were not treated the same way other protesters have been treated. Jeremy Christian, Julian’s principal, also sent a message to staff supporting flexibility and responsiveness in reaction to current events. CAST Tells the Story follows the life of Ruth Bader Ginsburg and John Lewis, the last two people to have lain in state at the U.S. Capitol, and the only ones in 2020, and is a way to juxtapose events that recently took place at that sacred place. “We could tell that story,” McGlynn said. “Who were these people and why did they also play a part in the Capitol story.” McGlynn said “their stories are interwo-
ven” in the play and as the CAST members rehearsed, they talked about how Ginsberg’s and Lewis’ stories relate to them. “We focus on them as young people,” McGlynn said. “… RUTH BADER GINSBURG They were already exceptional people and having experiences that informed their thinking later on.” “We’ve been focusing a lot on youth because I want them to connect with these characters.” The CAST season began in the fall with approximately 75 students interested in acting in whatever format would work during the pandemic. Although McGlynn said this is fewer than in-person seasons, he was “charged” by the number. He has been at Julian for 18 years. The season, with its “Resilient” theme,
has included The Diary of Anne Frank, Aftershock and Votes for Women, which honors the 100th anniversary of women’s right to vote. It was while working on this play that McGlynn saw especially how CAST’s sixth and eighth grade girls were in touch with who Ruth Bader Ginsburg was. “I just knew what a force she was in their lives,” McGlynn said. All of this season’s shows have been presented virtually. For CAST Tells the Story, the students and teachers are learning from each other. “At first, we were all confused,” McGlynn said with a laugh. “I knew what I wanted to say. I didn’t have any problems with that. But I didn’t know how we were going to say it. I was not sure how the technology was going to work. And I really feel like the kids were the opposite. We got into rehearsal with them, and they were like ‘We have this technology thing down.’ They’re not scared of how to submit videos and change formats... and they’re totally interested in pushing the limits of what we can do with Zoom. So we got a lot of confidence from them.”
JOHN LEWIS
“The other way, they were like, “I don’t know why we’re doing this. How is it going to work telling the story of these two different people at different times who had different lives? What does that have to do with right now?’” McG-
lynn continued. He said in going through the process, the students have learned the relevance of both figures. Of the 37 students participating, no one acts as RBG or John Lewis in CAST Tells the Story, but students read passages, and act as other supporting characters. There will also be historical items supplementing the narrative. View “CAST Tells the Story” virtually Monday, March 1, 7:30 p.m. Free, donations requested to support CAST. Register: showtix4u.com/event-details/47523
Photo provided by CAST
STORYTELLERS: Julian Middle School eighth-graders Kaden Krumrie (left) and Caris Scatton will appear in ‘CAST Tells the Story’, on March 1. The play features highlights of the lives of John Lewis and Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
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Wednesday Journal, February 24, 2021
OAKPARK.COM | RIVERFOREST.COM
LAWSUIT
Squad squabble from page 1 policies in line with the Civil Rights Act; and punitive damages in an amount “allowed by law.” In reporting this story, Wednesday Journal spoke with Lisa Scheiner, who said the village would issue an official statement on the case, but it wasn’t received by deadline. O’Shea said any communication about the case should come directly from the village, not from him. Neither Bruce Wisniewski of the Illinois FOP nor the plaintiff responded to voicemails, but the plaintiff ’s lawyer, Heidi Karr Sleper, responded with a voicemail that she was available to talk. According to the lawsuit, prior to any inciting incidents, Szczesny had a strong work history within the village, with exemplary reviews and awards, including being named the River Forest Police Department Officer of the Year twice. O’Shea had even written him a letter of recommendation for a professional award for which he was eligible. But his good relationship with the village began to sour, according to the lawsuit, in June 2018 when he was elected union president, and tension began to increase between him, O’Shea, and some of the sergeants. Things came to a head about a year later, when Szczesny noticed issues with one of the squad cars. Car 4, a Dodge Durango, which was cleared for department use on June 18, 2019. On July 4, 2019, after finding the “auto park” feature of the car problematic, Szczesny sent an email to the department detailing the issue. The car, he said, displayed a message about auto park being engaged when he entered it and put it into drive. He could shift the car into drive, but the car would not move. He ended up turning the car off, leaving it off for about a minute, then restarting it so it would work. This happened once when he was going out on a call, he said in his department-wide email. Again, he had to turn off the car, wait about a minute, then turn it back on before it would drive. He recommended taking the car out of service until the issue could be fixed. “This program could prevent an officer from responding to a hot call, assisting another officer down in a timely manner, or prevent an officer from being able to move the vehicle if being fired upon,” he wrote in his email. According to the lawsuit, Sergeant Martin Grill, one of the defendants, sent out department-wide emails within the next several days saying the “program manager at Fiat Chrysler” said the program was “working as designed.” He also sent a link to a YouTube video regarding the “Auto Park” software and, according to the lawsuit, “extolling the program’s value in ensuring that officers do not run themselves over with their squad cars.” During this time, says the lawsuit, more
Photo by Maria Maxham
CAR 4: Alleged problems with the Auto Park feature of this squad car started a controversy within the River Forest Police Department that led to a lawsuit by a former police officer against the village as a whole and individually against five employees. than 13 officers expressed their concerns about Car 4 to Szczesny, calling it a “death trap,” “dangerous,” and a “serious safety risk.” Grill said he was working on a fix for the issue, but prior to that happening, O’Shea, according to the lawsuit, ordered the afternoon supervisor to drive the car for the next 30 days, saying, in his email, that any officer safety complaints were “some excuses and some misguided false expertise in handling and performance.” On July 25, according to the lawsuit, O’Shea ordered Szczesny and a corporal to use Car 4 during every shift going forward. Between July 25 and Aug. 19, “numerous union members” came to Szczesny, stating they were concerned about Car 4, but even more, with O’Shea’s “decision to order mandatory and around the clock use of the vehicle without a solution having been implemented.” O’Shea told officers if they clicked their seatbelts behind their backs, they would be able to use the car without issue, according to the lawsuit, a directive that “is a direct contradiction of department policy.” He ordered seatbelt extenders to make this workaround easier, according to the lawsuit. On Aug. 19, 2019, a letter that had been drafted and reviewed by the union and printed on their letterhead was submitted to O’Shea in a sealed envelope slid under his office door. The letter expressed the union’s concern with the way the issues with the car were addressed. The following day, according to the lawsuit, Grill posted a five-page memo on the union cork board. The memo allegedly “ignored and ridiculed officer complaints, downplayed the issue, failed to address the lack of timely response on the work-around that Defendant O’Shea decided to implement to remedy the car’s problem.” It also allegedly attacked union leadership. What happened next, according to the lawsuit, was a pattern of retaliatory conduct against Szczesny, including false accusations of poor job performance.
O’Shea demanded that the union retract the letter or internal investigations into the union board would be initiated, according to the lawsuit. He allegedly said that Szczesny would be investigated for lying in the union letter and in police reports and demanded that Szczesny reveal the names of the particular officers who had complained about Car 4, but Szczesny declined to do so, saying he believed that was a matter of employeeunion representative privilege. The lawsuit also states that O’Shea threatened to tell the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office, the law school Szczesny was attending, the Law Enforcement Training and Standards Board, and the Illinois Bar Association to say that Szczesny had lied. He also allegedly said that if Szczesny resigned, the other union executive board members would not suffer further discipline. A member of the union executive board resigned from the board, allegedly telling Szczesny it was because of “his deteriorating quality of life and fear for his job.” In September, O’Shea threatened to begin investigations into the executive union board unless Szczesny resigned. Szczesny was offered pay and benefits in exchange for a non-admissions clause where he admitted to no wrong-doing and the village would declare no pending investigations and would confirm nothing would be placed in his personnel file. At first, Szczesny refused the offer. But on Oct. 1, he finally signed the letter of resignation after what he said were “months of threats, retaliation, and duress.” Later, however, when he applied for positions in other police departments, he was rejected because of a memo in his personnel file that the lawsuit says “falsely stated that Szczesny had been the subject of three internal investigations” that began in August 2019. The memo was allegedly dated Oct. 2, the day after Szczesny resigned. Additionally, according to the lawsuit, personnel paperwork stating that he had been placed on administrative leave on Oct. 2, 2019 had been put into his file, although he
no longer worked there on that date. A copy of Szczesny’s personnel file reportedly revealed that there were over 70 documents added to it, of which Szczesny was not aware, documents that the lawsuit claims were not “typically included in personnel files and were not part of the file when [Szczesny] reviewed it on previous occasions” and were “cherry-picked to make Szczesny look bad to any prospective employers.” Previous commendations and awards were not included. According to the lawsuit, Szczesny was passed up for positions in at least three different police departments. Village attorneys filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit, stating that, among other things, the argument that Szczesny’s right to free speech was infringed isn’t valid because he was speaking not as a private citizen about Car 4, but as an employee, and the statements of public employees within the scope of their job aren’t protected under the First Amendment as that of private citizens. Although speech as a union president would fall under First Amendment protections, since his first communication about Car 4 came from his regular police email account, it would be considered communication from Szczesny as a public employee and therefore not protected, according to the motion to dismiss. In a response to the motion to dismiss, Szczesny’s attorney argued that the retaliation against Szczesny began primarily after the union letter was slid under O’Shea’s door. In the letter, he was speaking on behalf of the union and therefore his speech was protected under the First Amendment. And, responded Szczesny’s attorneys, although his first communication regarding Car 4 came from him as an employee, not on behalf of the union, the defendants were not able to “cite any cases supporting their argument that Plaintiff cannot speak as a Union President because he raised part of the issue almost two months earlier as an officer.” The defendants also stated that even if Szczesny could establish he was speaking as a citizen and not an employee, it wouldn’t matter because his speech didn’t involve a matter of public concern; rather, it was a discussion of equipment. Further, the defendants refer to a previous court case that states it must be determined whether the purpose of the speech was “to bring wrongdoing to light” or to “further some purely private interest.” According to the defendants, Szczesny’s complaints about the car “furthered a private interest as an employee of the Village and was not an issue addressing a matter of public concern.” But Szczesny’s attorneys argue that he was, in fact, speaking of a matter of public concern, since legal precedent has established that there aren’t many matters “of greater concern in a large metropolitan area than police protection and public safety.” Additionally, said Szczesny’s attorneys, he wasn’t looking out for private interest, as he had nothing to gain from his complaints except his safety and the safety of his fellow officers.
Wednesday Journal, February 24, 2021
OAKPARK.COM | RIVERFOREST.COM
IGLOO
Glorious creation from page 1 vidual brick taking about five minutes, according to Wood. Each afternoon the family would spend hours laying the bricks, using slushy snow as sealant. The recent deluge of snow complicated construction, which included the digging of a covered trench through which electricity runs, powering lights inside the igloo. At night, the glow emanating from the pyramid looks positively magical, as light refracts through the semi-opaque ice walls. “I did one of my Zoom meetings from inside,” said Wood. “It’s quite comfortable.” This is the third igloo the Woods have built and by far the most ambitious. Wood marks their igloo-making experiences by the age of his youngest child, Joshua. The family’s first experience was the creation of a traditionally shaped igloo when Joshua was about seven. When Joshua was 10, the family made a much larger igloo. And at 16 years old, the family created the pyramid, showing a distinct correlation between age and grandeur. While difficult and cold, the experience of building the pyramid was acutely special this year as the family has been sequestered at home due to COVID-19. The labor created a respite from the pandemic life, particularly for daughter Jasmine, a senior at Oak Park and River Forest High School. Being able to spend time with family, she said, was the best part of making the igloo. “I’m home with them all day, except not really seeing each other because they’re all doing their own respective school and work,” she said. “Spending a couple hours with them every day outside, just listening
to music on the speaker – that was probably my favorite part.” Her father shared similar views on the experience, noting that the project helped them battle bouts of COVID cabin fever. “It’s been even more special to do because it’s been so nice to have another project,” Wood said. “Just having another interest for a few weeks was brilliant.” Joshua Wood’s swim practice schedule cut into construction time, much to his disappointment, according to his father. The family celebrated the igloo’s completion by inviting some masked friends over for a socially distanced reveal and a campfire. “I’m so glad we did that,” Wood said. Wood and his son attempted to sleep in the pyramid, as they have done in their past ice structures, but with the warming temperatures, the melting ice dripped like falling rain, drenching the pair. They called it quits at about 3 a.m. Ice turning to water is more than just scientific, it’s a harbinger of things to come and a metaphor for the brevity of beauty. With winter inching closer to spring with every passing day, one would expect the Wood family to lament the fact that their impressive pyramid’s expiration nears. But they don’t. “I’m almost looking forward to it melting,” said Jasmine Wood. “As soon as it melts, we’re always like, ‘OK, what are we going to do next year?’” Her father already has that figured out; having conquered the pyramid, the family will return to creating a traditional igloo but using a different technique – filling and freezing water balloons. His excitement is palpable. “Instead of doing it out of horizontal blocks,” said Wood, “we’re going to make a bulbous igloo out of, let’s say, one-foot diameter, glass ice cubes.”
Aging Fearlessly Growing older carries greater burdens of unpredictability than any previous developmental stage. When do we become aware of becoming “old” and unlike our former selves? How has the pandemic impacted how we view ourselves, our expectations and our relationships? Join us for a discussion about the common anxieties and angst, as well as the opportunities for growth, for adults emerging into their older years.
With guest speaker, Marcia Spira, PhD.
Thursday, March 11, 2021 7:30 - 8:30 p.m. Please use the link below to join the webinar:
https://zoom.us/j/91810706537 Marcia Spira, PhD., is a Professor Emeritus in the School of Social Work at Loyola University and continues a forty-year clinical practice. Dr. Spira has published two books and multiple articles on issues facing those with chronic illness and the challenges of aging. She is a frequent lecturer at national and international conferences.
HOPE ALEX ROGALS/Staff Photographer
BLOCK BY BLOCK: This is the third igloo Oak Park’s Wood family has built. And the plan for next winter’s iteration is already forming.
RESILIENCE
R EC OV E RY
120 South Marion Street, Oak Park, IL 60302 (708) 383-7500 www.thrivecc.org
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Wednesday Journal, February 24, 2021
OAKPARK.COM | RIVERFOREST.COM
C R I M E
Driver shot at 3 times on Austin A Tinley Park resident was shot at three times, but not injured, between 11:30 p.m., Feb. 19 and 12:39 a.m., Feb. 20. The victim reported to police that they were traveling behind a sedan carrying four people that was
being driven recklessly on Interstate 290. Both the victim and the offenders exited the highway at Austin Boulevard, where the victim told police someone in the offenders’ vehicle discharged an unknown firearm in
their direction in the 600 block. Police are investigating the incident but provided no description of the offenders or their vehicle.
Burglary ■ Someone broke into a vehicle and removed a tennis bag, containing miscellaneous items, from inside between 5 p.m., Feb. 11 and 7:30 a.m., Feb. 12 in the 600 block of North Grove Avenue. The estimated loss is $175. ■ Someone broke the front door to Taco Bros. restaurant, 2 Chicago Ave., and once inside, ransacked the front counter and removed a black iPad and a black cash drawer with cash between midnight and 7:08 a.m., Feb. 17. The estimated loss is $2,800. ■ Someone broke a glass windowpane to get into a building, then removed a snow blower from inside, at 8:03 p.m., Feb. 17 in the 100 block of Washington Boulevard. ■ Someone broke into a house by climbing through a rear window and took from inside a wallet and car keys, then entered the victim’s garage and stole a silver 2009 Toyota Camry between 11:30 p.m., Feb. 19 and 9:39 a.m., Feb. 21 in the 600 block of South Harvey Avenue. The estimated loss is $8,060.
Theft ■ Someone removed four packages from the lobby of a building in the 100 block of North Kenilworth Avenue around 3 p.m., Feb. 6. The estimated loss is $155. ■ Someone removed four tires from a vehicle in the 300 block of North Lombard Avenue between 7:30 p.m., Feb. 15 and 9:07 a.m., Feb. 17. The estimated loss was unknown at the time of reporting. ■ A package was removed from the front porch of a residence in the 900 block of North Marion Street at 9:30 a.m., Feb. 15. The estimated loss is $41.40.
These items, obtained from the Oak Park Police Department, came from reports Feb. 15-22 and represent a portion of the incidents to which police responded. Anyone named in these reports has only been charged with a crime and cases have not yet been adjudicated. We report the race of a suspect only when a serious crime has been committed, the suspect is still at large, and police have provided us with a detailed physical description of the suspect as they seek the public’s help in making an arrest.
Compiled by Stacey Sheridan
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Wednesday Journal, February 24, 2021
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Homes
Lemons to lemonade
Pandemic pushes Oak Park block to celebrate life’s events By LACEY SIKORA
A
Contributing Reporter
t this point in the pandemic, it’s fair to say that many of us have become a bit too well-acquainted with our couches and the Netflix lineup. At the beginning of this, almost a year ago, there were shows of solidarity and front porch concerts amid the mask wearing and social distancing, but as the pandemic wore on and winter arrived in earnest, some of that early spirit-lifting fell by the wayside. On one block in Oak Park, however, the efforts haven’t faded. Neighbors on the 200 block of Clinton Avenue have bonded together, in all the seasons, to come up with ways of celebrating life’s milestones -- big and small. Michelle Hess recalls that last summer, when her son was home from college, he and her husband started playing music together. One night neighbor Kim Garnett brought out a boom box to play music outside, and thus began almost three months of nightly music. At first, Hess says they tried for a nightly theme, but eventually it was enough to listen to music outside with others, safely distanced. Her musician husband got to know the musician across the street. “They ended up forming a band and would set up every Friday night and do a concert,” Hess said. Over the summer, the music nights evolved, sometimes involving guest singers. Neighbors would lug their grills into their front yards so that they could fashion some sort of neighborhood meal together. Garnett says the pandemic was responsible for this newfound appreciation of the neighbors. “We’ve all liked each other of course, but we probably really talked once a summer at the block party before this and waved as we walked to and from the train,” Garnett said. Hess, who has lived on the block for seven years, adds, “We’ve gotten really tight-knit over this past year due to COVID.” When Hess’ daughter and her boyfriend had to miss prom in 2020, their moms decided to make a fake prom for them. While the couple were taking “prom” photos at a nearby park, neighbors helped set up lights and music back at the Hess house and then donned their old 1980s prom wear to surprise the couple when they returned home. When another young neighbor was missing his in-person graduation from OPRF, the neighbors stepped in again. While his family was watching the online graduation ceremony, the neighbors set up a stage and an OPRF banner and donned blue graduation gowns. He emerged from his house to hear traditional graduation music and got to accept his diploma from his father on a stage in front of the block. As the weather turned colder, nightly outdoor music See CLINTON on page 19
Photo provided
FOR THE BIRDS: When pandemic weather was better in 2020, the residents of the 200 block of Clinton Avenue held music nights and front yard cookouts. During the depths of winter (above) they hit upon theme decorations, often involving a flamingo flair, like these for Mardi Gras -- or Yardi Gras -- last week.
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Wednesday Journal, February 24, 2021
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Wednesday Journal, February 24, 2021
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19
CLINTON
A block unites from page 17 turned to indoor Zoom game nights, but the block was still looking for ways to keep spirits high. Hess notes that the very active block group chat led neighbors to decorate their yards for the holidays with Santa flamingoes. Pre-COVID, the neighbors would stick a plastic flamingo in their yard in the summer if they were open to neighbors dropping by the backyard for a drink. One neighbor found an inflatable Santa flamingo and shared it with the group chat, and before long, the inflatables were lining the street. “Of all the years to do something stupid and gaudy in our yards, this was it,” Garnett said. The block wasn’t feeling inspired to decorate for Valentine’s Day, but one neighbor originally from New Orleans inspired a Mardi Gras house decoration scheme. In New Orleans, locals have taken to decorating their homes like Mardi Gras floats since the traditional parades cannot take place. The 200 block of Clinton decided to do the same. Hess’ house has the krewe name of Flaminglow, and another is known as Glamingo. Clearly, the flamingo theme has staying power. Garnett created a poll and signs so neighbors and passersby could vote on their favorite home. “I feel like it’s our way to check on people and give them something to do on these dreary days,” Garnett said. Hess says that the unity among neighbors has been the bright spot of the pandemic. When the family car was buried in the recent blizzard and they needed to get out to pick up her daughter at the airport, she said that there were 15 people out with shovels ready to dig it out and push the car to get it going. “It’s that kind of block,” Hess said. “I will say COVID has made us inseparable. Now, we are super close and really rely on each other.”
Right coverage. Right price. Right here in town. Photo provided
ALL DRESSED UP: Neighbors took their cue from New Orleans Mardi Gras floats when decorating their homes for the occasion and even created signs and a poll, so they and passersby alike could vote for their favorites.
Colin Fane, Agent
212 S Marion Every Street Fl G Day! RibFest
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Wednesday Journal, February 24, 2021
OAKPARK.COM | RIVERFOREST.COM
Sunday, February 28
SINGLE FAMILY HOMES
CONDOS
ADDRESS
OFFICE
LISTING PRICE
TIME
525 Bishop St., Unit 6, Chicago . . . . . . . . . . Baird & Warner. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $940,000 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Open 1:30-3 110 S. Marion St., Unit 304, Oak Park . . . . . Baird & Warner. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$439,000 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Open 11-12:30
ADDRESS
OFFICE
LISTING PRICE
TIME
320 S. Maple Ave., Oak Park . . . . . . . . . . . . Baird & Warner. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $469,000 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Open 1-2:30 940 Bonnie Brae Pl., River Forest . . . . . . . Baird & Warner. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $1,098,000 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Open 1-3
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Wednesday Journal, February 24, 2021
OAKPARK.COM | RIVERFOREST.COM
21
WE’RE BY YOUR SIDE 107 S Scoville Ave Oak Park | $1,250,000 Keller Group Chicago
940 Bonnie Brae Pl River Forest | $1,089,000 Ed Bellock
147 N Euclid Ave, Unit 406 Oak Park | $689,000 Hughes Home Team
1526 Lathrop Ave River Forest | $635,000 Bethanny Alexander
6624 Windsor Ave Berwyn | $589,000 Sandra Dita Lopez
435 William St, Unit 208 River Forest | $515,000 Ed Bellock
923 Linden Ave |Oak Park $499,000 | Ed Bellock & Lloyd Behrenbruch
320 S Maple Ave, Unit D Oak Park | $469,000 Liz O’Connell
110 Marion St, Unit 304 Oak Park | $439,000 Patricia McGowan
721 Ontario St, Unit 103 Oak Park | $439,000 Anne Ferri & Lynn Scheir
324 N Marion St, Unit 2N Oak Park | $288,889 Sheila Price
7753 Van Buren St, Unit 318 Forest Park | $259,413 Jim Gillespie
1018 S Ridgeland Ave Oak Park | $250,000 Saretta Joyner
164 N Humphrey Ave, # 3S Oak Park | $249,000 Catherine Simon-Vobornik
424 Park Ave, Unit 205 River Forest | $240,000 Saretta Joyner
210 S Lombard Ave, Unit B Oak Park | $219,000 Peggy Letchos
715 Washington Blvd, #2D Oak Park | $219,000 Bethanny Alexander
8009 Lake St, Unit 2W River Forest | $149,900 Anne Ferri & Kim Wojack
135 S Kenilworth Ave, #11 Oak Park | $145,000 Arrick Pelton
217 Chicago Ave, Unit 2 Oak Park | $139,000 Catherine Simon-Vobornik
Baird & Warner Oak Park/River Forest | 1037 Chicago Ave. Oak Park, IL 60302 | 708.697.5900 | oakpark.bairdwarner.com Source: BrokerMetrics® LLC, 1/1/2019 - 12/ 31/2019Detached and Attached only. Chicagoland PMSA
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Wednesday Journal, February 24, 2021
New Home for Beyond Hunger’s Home Delivery
B
eginning this month, Beyond Hunger’s Home Delivery program will move to the Chicago-based facility of New Moms. The shared space location enables Beyond Hunger to provide more nutritious food options for the homebound individuals it serves in Oak Park and Chicago’s Austin neighborhood. “When our community reached out to us for more homedelivered groceries at the beginning of the pandemic, we responded. Almost overnight we transitioned from serving 80 households to nearly 300,” says Executive Director Michele Zurakowski. On the heels of that rapid expansion, Beyond Hunger moved quickly to stabilize and sustain high levels of service by addressing infrastructural limitations in staffing and storage. Thanks in part to a grant from Greater Chicago Food Depository aimed at expanding food access in Black and Latino communities on Chicago’s South and West sides, Beyond Hunger’s Home Delivery Program serving Austin now has a home there. Because of its expansive storage capacity, that new home allows Beyond Hunger to more fully realize its commitment to providing healthy food, tailored to individual needs. When program participants talk to staff and volunteers each month to place their order, they’ll be able to choose healthy dairy substitutes like almond milk or highly requested pantry staples like flour. Additionally,
increased cold storage means even more fresh produce will be available for them to select. “We are excited to hear about this move. It means Beyond Hunger can continue their expert response to meeting such dramatically increased needs, but also to offer improved services to homebound Austin residents,” said Darnell Shields, Executive Director of Austin Coming Together. Beyond Hunger’s Food Pantry and headquarters will continue to operate and flourish out of First United Church of Oak Park at 848 Lake Street, where it will continue to host a twice weekly drive-thru and pedestrian food distribution for communities on the near west side. To learn more about Beyond Hunger’s services and how to get help visit GoBeyondHunger.org. Beyond Hunger creates solutions to end hunger at every stage of life through our comprehensive programs, from feeding kids when school is out, to providing emergency food to families in need, and delivering groceries to homebound older adults. Our community partnerships help us identify pockets of hunger and meet the need together.
Volunteers pack boxes for an upcoming home delivery (left). Safely delivering groceries to our neighbors in need (above).
To learn more about Beyond Hunger’s services and how to get help visit GoBeyondHunger.org.
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Wednesday Journal, February 24, 2021
VIEWPOINTS
DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSIONS IS FRIDAY 5 P.M. Call Viewpoints editor Ken Trainor at 613-3310 ktrainor@wjinc.com
23
Tackling race at Fenwick p. 28
Garbage in, Gospel out! What you’re seeing and what you’re reading is not what’s happening.
Donald J. Trump
‘G
2018 speech to veterans group
oogle it!” has become a parent’s standard response to questions their children might pose to them. The Google app has become something akin to a modern-day Oracle of Delphi. Ironically, although Greece was a male-dominant society, the Oracle of Delphi was always a woman (fun fact). Select male individuals could and would seek insights and information from the Oracle. Whatever the query, her response was considered infallible. In today’s world of seamless technological wizardry, the Oracle of Delphi has been replaced by huge data bases, like Google, that in a matter of seconds spit out answers to whatever question(s) are entered via the computer or phone. We tend not to question the answers coming from these impressive data bases and assume that if the response comes from the data base, it is accurate and fact-based. This assumed infallibility that we assign to these massive, yet non-validated, databases has given rise and credibility to the dueling conspiracy theories that dominate the national/global discourse. Anyone with a computer, and their platform of choice, can put opinions, lies, exaggerations and hateful speech into one of the popular databases or create their own database. The result is that political movements (right and left) create their own realities — the facts be dammed. Sadly, we are all victims of this “garbage in, gospel out” mindset. We usually limit our information to those sources that reinforce our biases. By the way, the tech giants reinforce this sole-source supplier of information concept via algorithms. Whenever you click “like” on something, the algorithm stores and searches for like material to send without your asking. Thus, one ends up with a flood of content that reinforces already existing biases. In addition to the social media sites that spew and reinforce what we want to believe, the constant drone of so-called opinion journalists, full of anger and bile, also do their part in promoting alternative facts and realities — in other words, lies and half-truths. Nowadays, who to believe and what to believe are a real challenge. Case in point is the recent and shameful insurrection attempt spurred on by a sore loser who claimed without evidence that the election was stolen from him. Without a scintilla of evidence, this loser claimed that he had won the election by a “landslide.” Employing the readily available social media sites and mainstream media, he pre-emptively started this “big lie” even before a single vote had been cast in the election. Suddenly facts were irrelevant. All that mattered to his supporters
KWAME SALTER
See SALTER on page 27
PROVIDED
OAKBERWYN: Rooselvelt Road marks the border between Oak Park and Berwyn, but for the author, it is not a divide.
‘A
Berwyn and Oak Park in me
m I trying to make an Oak Park out of a Berwyn?” On April 28, 1977, perplexed over the unanticipated consequences of my efforts as a new community organizer, I wrote this question in my journal. I was a 23-year-old guy with a recent master’s degree in community development, trying to help residents form a neighborhood association in the Hill Section of Scranton, Pennsylvania. What I found so consternating was this: I wanted residents to come together to plan and deliberate future possibilities for their neighborhood, thoughtfully and civilly whereas those who became most active in the effort showed up ready to fight, with their issues already in hand. Some of them were clearly promoting their own political ambitions. No young, well-meaning outsider like me was going to start this deliberative, democracy thing where you sit down with a bunch of people you didn’t know or trust and plan a new, shared agenda. Not long before getting the planning job in Scranton, I had served a graduate internship with Oak Park’s Community Relations Department. I had grown up across from Oak Park, a few blocks south of Roosevelt Road, in Berwyn. My task as an intern was to help neighbors in northeast Oak Park talk together as the village embraced racial change. Whereas Berwyn was still closed to Blacks, Oak Park was opening up in a planned way. Over the 20 years I lived away from our area, whether
my work involved on-the-ground development, earning a doctorate in political science, university teaching, or research, an inner Berwyn vs. Oak Park conflict existed inside of me. The progressive in me flourished in the career, identifying it consciously with what I had experienced as “the Oak Park way.” The “regular guy” trailed after the progressive in the shadows, sometimes smirking at his PhD, taunting him for getting a big head, showing up as a skeptical, leather-jacketed greaser in his dreams. The progressive taught an enlightened view of urban democracy while on the faculty at Penn State; the regular guy understood the practical humiliations experienced by the parents and grandparents of my students from the old coal towns. The progressive aligned himself with liberal-left policies aimed at racial justice and inner-city redevelopment. The regular guy got it that Blacks had been exploited and marginalized since before our nation’s formal birth. He also held that systemic forces had boxed his own working class, oftenCatholic way of life, into an inferior position in the economy and culture. That made it harder over time for parents to be there for their kids. The progressive tended to look askance at the Berwyn guy as inferior, seeing him as unenlightened and best buried in the shadows. The Berwyn guy knew this and fought his way continuously back into the light of the psyche, trying to balance out the Oak Parker’s naïve
RICH
KORDESH One View
See KORDESH on page 27
24
V I E W P O I N T S
Wednesday Journal, February 24, 2021
O U R
Deep in the heart of winter
V I E W S
Pete’s II a great win
F
inally. After decades of being vacant, two blocks of Madison Street in Oak Park will have a new use. A service providing, taxpaying use. We could not be happier that Pete’s Fresh Market will open its second Oak Park store at Madison and Oak Park. This is a major victory for Mayor Anan Abu-Taleb, the Oak Park Economic Development Corp., and village hall staff. It is a remarkable demonstration of faith in the Oak Park area that the privately held Pete’s has chosen to open a second store in the village. Clearly the old Dominick’s on Lake Street has been a winner for the family-owned business. That Oak Park’s village government overpaid to purchase most of the block from Oak Park Avenue to Euclid — and ultimately owned the entire block — and let it lie fallow outside of the Christmas tree-selling season is evidence of a failed strategy. That same failed strategy had Oak Park owning big chunks of Downtown Oak Park for years, assembling and overpaying for a site at Harlem and South Boulevard. Abu-Taleb takes credit, and rightly gets it, for selling off every parcel of accumulated village-owned developable land during his eight years in office. You can like the tall buildings or not, but Abu-Taleb turned all that land into property-taxpaying assets in a town where residents are worried over their tax burden. At Madison and Oak Park, the early decision was that this parcel, which came to include the long-vacant and unreclaimable Hudson car dealership, had to produce sales taxes in addition to property taxes. Given the declining and rapidly shifting retail market, it was logical that a grocery store was the best outcome. At various points in the long, hard negotiations, Mariano’s was the target. Its purchase by Kroger put an end to those talks. Then attention turned to recruiting Jewel to upgrade from its small and shabby store at Madison and Scoville, only to have Jewel’s parent put the kibosh on that large investment. Pete’s seemed unlikely with another thriving store about a mile away. But a deal got made and the upside is huge. An unexpected side benefit? Jewel has actually substantially remodeled both its Madison and Roosevelt Road stores in Oak Park. As always happens, there are critics. Some claim this deal was rushed. That citizen input was not sought. That other independent grocers may be undermined by the new Pete’s. Our advice is to get a subscription to Wednesday Journal. We’ve been covering the plans for a grocery store at the intersection for years. Nothing has been hidden. Public meetings have been held. Everything is above board. We’ve made clear our criticisms of the mayor. But in many areas he has done strong work. And in economic development, in the remaking of Madison Street he has done his best work.
The little things As we all grind our teeth at the snow and cold, we’d do well to focus on small favors. Here are three in the pages of today’s Journal. Our friends, the Svec sisters at Spilt Milk Bakery on Oak Park Avenue, got flattened last week when their small shop was flooded by bursting frozen pipes. They are regrouping as they are being held up by this community which loves both their exquisite baked goods and the caring connections they’ve made. The park district in Oak Park borrowed a good idea and created a “Sled Library” down by the Barrie Park sledding hill. No one should miss a good time because they are without a sled. Borrow a sled. Donate a sled. All good fun. And then there is the igloo on our front page and in the backyard of the Wood family. This is the third and the most wonderful igloo this family has built and the second we have covered. Hard work and pure joy.
I
t’s a badge of honor to get through a Chicago-area winter. The three worst years came in succession, 1976-77, 1977-78, and the worst ever, 1978-79. If you endured those as I did, you probably feel you can get through just about anything — although the climate is capable of throwing even worse at us now. Just ask the good people of Texas. But the bright side of a severe winter is that it intensifies the spring euphoria when it finally arrives. And that is worth waiting for. Last winter, we got off lightly, and this year looked to be even lighter — until the last week of January. In past years, we hardly had any snow cover at all and when we did, it didn’t last long. Kids had to settle for sledding on brown snow or solid ice. The thermometer yo-yo’d and the poor park district kept trying to put up ice rinks in the parks, but the temps wouldn’t dip below freezing more than a few days at a time. This year was headed for the warmest winter ever — and then it started snowing. And snowing. And snowing. Three weeks later, over 40 inches has fallen, covering everything. Kids probably couldn’t believe their good sledding fortune. Cross-country skiing is popular again. It settled a bit, but none of it melted because we never got above freezing till this past Sunday. It has been as beautiful as it is brutally frigid, but not as many people are commuting these days and most of us are staying close to home because of the pandemic. Life is slower, giving us a chance to appreciate this amazing snowscape, albeit with plenty of shoveling to give us some exercise. A terrible beauty is born, as Yeats put it, though not referring to the snow but to the recurring catastrophe of the Irish independence movement. For us, this terrible beauty is borne — endured, that is, managed, and even, to my surprise, enjoyed. I visited Morton Arboretum on Saturday, where the snow is not in conflict with an urban environment. It was as serene as the romantics always paint it. The temperatures are predicted to rise this week so maybe we’re turning a corner on this suddenly snowy winter. Or maybe not. We’ll see. But before we leave behind this wonderland, here’s my observational report on the Winter of 2021: Ice dams, Damn ice, Where beauty borders the grotesque, Ice floes, The polar opposite of flow, Upside down, petrified flames, Stalactites in the open air, Melting against the warm bricks, Seeping past mortar, And into my kitchen, The torture of endless drips from window frames, Caught in buckets, drumming and thrumming, An avalanche of plaster from a closet ceiling, Exposing the dark, ancient recesses of breached shelter, The cold invasive fingers of winter working its insidious mischief. Frozen cascades of savage teeth,
KEN
TRAINOR
JAVIER GOVEA
From gutters and eaves almost touch the ground Like entries in some Deathcicle Competition, A waterfall snapshot, snap-shutting the view from house windows. And the smothering snow, The snow, the snow Burying every vestige of other seasons Beneath a brilliant, blazing-white comforter that muffles comfort, A settling that unsettles, Light dusting upon light dusting Until it totals tons And giant dump trucks cart off mountains of it, To some accommodating vacant lot. Snowblowers carve pathways with curving precision, Excavations that unveil sedimentary layers of snowfall from the previous month. Snowplows leave graded hillsides like burial mounds of ancient cultures along the streets. And here we are, wintering with all this, Consoled that at least we aren’t in Texas, Cleaving close to home, Sheltered yet vulnerable, The outside elements beautifully grotesque, Or grotesquely beautiful, Battling our way out of this burial ground, Unable to decide if this is the worst of times Or the best, Soft savagery or savage softness, Seduced by undulating curves in undisturbed fields Or betrayed by walled-in, semi-passable narrows That once were roadways, Now a graveyard for piled-on cars, Dug out by Arctic archaeologists, Pitying the package delivery drivers their appointed rounds While cursing their trucks for snarling our bottleneck blocks. Winter’s blast of ambivalence, Deer feeding on greens and grains left by well-wishers Along the roadway to Thatcher Pavilion, Skiers gliding across the meadow and weaving through the woods, Dogs bounding through drifts, tethered to snow-shoed companions, A tough trudge, A sluggish slog, But at least there is slick sledding. Life in a snow globe that someone keeps shaking, How many flakes fell to amass all this? Deep snow, deep nights, deep dreams, Deep in the heart of winter.
V I E W P O I N T S
Wednesday Journal, February 24, 2021
W E D N E S D A Y
JOURNAL of Oak Park and River Forest
PROVIDED
OUTSIZED: Rendering of a new 6-story building for the Drechsler funeral home site.
Too big for Oak Park The building proposed for 203 S. Marion [Drechsler Funeral Home site] is simply too big. It’s obvious from the outsize zoning variances the developer demands: from 45 units to 158; from 60 feet in height to 85. These aren’t variances, they’re violations. The result will be a looming presence at the Marion/Pleasant intersection, a bully intruding on a low-rise neighborhood whose historical character is supposed to be protected by village ordinance and our municipal master plan. The Plan Commission members agree with the Historic Preservation Commission’s conclusion that the building is too big. The developer refuses to consider anything smaller because “that’s not what we build.” In that case, 203 S. Marion is not the right site for their building. And Focus Development is not the right developer for Oak Park. Unlike some other local sites ripe for redevelopment, 203 S. Marion is a highly desirable location and it’s new to the market. Other developers will see a way to profit
with lower-height and lower-density projects that realize community benefits without exacting a high cost in added traffic congestion, shadows, loss of greenscape, and disruption to the integrity of this historical neighborhood. Remember when Golub & Co. insisted that their economics required at least 250 units in 28 stories at 835 Lake? Now another developer is putting an 84-unit, 6-story building there. It was not the right site for Golub. 203 S. Marion is not the right site for Focus. This is not a choice between a former funeral home and new development. It’s a choice between an oversized bully shoehorned into the neighborhood and a building that enhances its setting and complements its neighbors. Let’s allow other developers to propose projects that not only profit them but that ensure the full range of benefits for the Oak Park community.
Wendy Greenhouse Oak Park
Oak Park: the village of tall eyesores?
I remember Oak Park when it was a quaint, quiet, leafy, breath of fresh air when I visited it from my 24th and Damen Chicago boyhood home. Now Oak Park is home. In fact, I live near the corner of Home and Pleasant streets. Pleasant Home. Hmm. If only. If only ... Since moving into the Pleasant District in November of 2015, I’ve endured the major nearby construction chaos of four high-density apartment buildings. Coming soon will be yet another major project that will replace the Drechsler funeral home. That will be about 150 feet beyond my back door. My guess is
it will not be any more architecturally creative than the other four eyesores. And to think Oak Park is known world-wide for Frank Lloyd Wright structures. Oh, and there’s a big new high-rise planned to go up within a stone’s throw of Unity Temple. Where does it stop?! Quaint, quiet, leafy and charming. Consult the historical society for documentation of what once was, especially if you’re under 45 years old.
Joe Harrington Oak Park
Ethiopia slowed global warming, we can too Planting trees slows global warming and improves the environment. Ethiopia planted 350 million trees in 12 hours, reported cnn.com. If you would like to help plant trees here, you can join the Morton Arboretum-Chicago Region Tree Initiative (chicagorti.org). However, this program is not ambitious enough to address global warming. Our planet is getting warmer due to too much carbon dioxide in the air. One tree changes an average of 48 pounds of carbon dioxide into oxygen per year for decades. Ethiopia’s trees will remove 8.4 million tons of CO2 per year. This world tree planting record equals 3.12 trees times the Ethiopian population. In 2016, India planted 220 million trees in one day. China reports planting 66 billion trees since 1978. Nebraska citizens planted one million trees in one day on April 10, 1872. Do we have room here for planting millions of trees? America only has 10% of the forests that were here 400 years ago, says a University of Michigan calculation.
Can’t we assume that these forests planted themselves? How hard could it be for humans? Oddly, our leaders in Springfield and the Cook County Board do not have a tree-planting plan to slow the existential threat of global warming. We Oak Parkers live in the state’s first municipal arboretum, with 130 different tree species. Each spring and fall, we can just pick up many, many free tree seeds. For Cook County and Illinois to help slow global warming, where are the best places to plants lots and lots of trees? This is something that our elected leaders could discuss. Illinois has plenty of tree experts. Hundreds of Illinois residents belong to the Illinois Forestry Association (www.ilforestry.org). I think the general public is interested in slowing global warming and many people would volunteer for mass tree planting.
Robert Sullivan Oak Park
Editor and Publisher Dan Haley Senior Editor Bob Uphues Staff Reporters Michael Romain, Stacey Sheridan, Maria Maxham Viewpoints Editor Ken Trainor Real Estate Editor Lacey Sikora Food Editor Melissa Elsmo Arts Editor Michelle Dybal Sports/Staff reporter James Kay Columnists Marc Blesoff, Jack Crow, Doug Deuchler, Linda Francis, Mary Kay O’Grady, Kwame Salter, John Stanger, Stan West Staff Photographer Alex Rogals Design/Production Manager Andrew Mead Designers Mark Moroney, Javier Govea, Debbie Becker Business Manager Joyce Minich Marketing Representatives Marc Stopeck, Lourdes Nicholls Sales & Development Mary Ellen Nelligan Circulation Manager Jill Wagner E-MAIL jill@oakpark.com Chairman Emeritus Robert K. Downs
Growing Community Media BOARD OF DIRECTORS Chair Judy Greffin Treasurer Nile Wendorf Deb Abrahamson, Gary Collins, Darnell Shields, Sheila Solomon, Eric Weinheimer
About Viewpoints Our mission is to lead educated conversation about the people, government, schools, businesses and culture of Oak Park and River Forest. As we share the consensus of Wednesday Journal’s editorial board on local matters, we hope our voice will help focus your thinking and, when need be, fire you to action. In a healthy conversation about community concerns, your voice is also vital. We welcome your views, on any topic of community interest, as essays and as letters to the editor. Noted here are our stipulations for filing. Please understand our verification process and circumstances that would lead us not to print a letter or essay. We will call to check that what we received with your signature is something you sent. If we can’t make that verification, we will not print what was sent. When, in addition to opinion, a letter or essay includes information presented as fact, we will check the reference. If we cannot confirm a detail, we may not print the letter or essay. If you have questions, email Viewpoints editor Ken Trainor at ktrainor@ wjinc.com.
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
‘ONE VIEW’ ESSAY
■ 250-word limit
■ 500-word limit
■ Must include first and last names,
■ One-sentence footnote about yourself,
municipality in which you live, phone number (for verification only)
■ Signature details as at left
your connection to the topic
Email Ken Trainor at ktrainor@wjinc.com or mail to Wednesday Journal, Viewpoints, 141 S. Oak Park Ave., Oak Park, IL 60302
H O W
T O
R E A C H
U S
ADDRESS 141 S Oak Park Ave., Oak ParkIL 60302 ■ PHONE 708-5248300 EMAIL Dan@OakPark.com ■ ONLINE www.OakPark.com Wednesday Journal is published digitally and in print by Growing Community Media NFP. The newspaper is available on newsstands for $1.00. A one-year subscription costs $41 within Cook County and $51 outside of Cook County. Advertising rates may be obtained by calling our office. Periodical rate postage paid at Oak Park, IL (USPS 10138). Postmaster, send address corrections to Wednesday Journal, 141 S. Oak Park Ave., Oak Park, Il 60302. © 2021 Growing Community Media, NFP.
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Wednesday Journal, February 24, 2021
V I E W P O I N T S
Vote for Henek for RF president Recently, I saw a sponsored ad from the Lake and Lathrop developer in Wednesday Journal that disturbed me and compelled me to write. The ad was designed to mimic a newspaper article, intended to deceive readers into thinking they are reading a researched, fact-based article. Ha! In my opinion, the ad’s content rewrites history and misrepresents this languishing community eyesore. The developers have continuously missed deadlines and the Village Board of Trustees (VBOT), under Cathy Adduci’s leadership, enables these failures to continue without repercussion. The construction site sat littered with unsightly rubble for many months after demolition before clean-up commenced. It has been an empty, undisturbed hole now for greater than two years. Other than a new construction site banner, there is no development in the development. Cathy Adduci is running for a third term as village president on a record of being “pro-business.” Well, I was a business displaced by the Lake and Lathrop project, which impacted the selling of my business. I asked the VBOT in early planning meetings to consider offsetting hardship expenses incurred by the
small businesses primarily impacted. Despite appeals to take these needs into account during developer negotiations, no such “pro-business” planning was ever done. When village staff eventually engaged, the support offered was restrictive geographically within River Forest, and the type and timing of financial support. The loss of village stalwarts like Tulipia still stings. This development reveals the Adduci-led board is not “pro-business.” The failed vision, management, accountability, and transparency fall squarely on her shoulders. My awful experience, losing two additional businesses, and the continued failure of the project, is why I believe it is time for a new village president. Patty Henek had the original foresight and subsequent clarity to vote No on this project. Not to stop development but to be thoughtful and transparent about the impacts of development projects on key stakeholders. As a litmus test, the Lake and Lathrop project should be the gold standard to determine which leader is “pro-business” in River Forest. Join me in voting for Patty Henek on April 6.
Garfield Phillpotts River Forest
OAKPARK.COM | RIVERFOREST.COM
Parakkat for Oak Park trustee
I’ve had the pleasure of knowing Ravi Parakkat over the past several years through his involvement in PlanItGreen forums, his work on the village of Oak Park’s Environment & Energy Commission, and most recently through our involvement on an ad-hoc group working on Sustainability Fund recommendations to village trustees. My repeated experience of Ravi is that he is grounded, thoughtful and respectful, and that he offers new ideas while also asking questions that prompt new insights. He is collaborative by nature and thoughtful in the sense of thinking through issues from all sides of
the coin. You won’t hear him calling people names, but rather looks to understand others’ perspectives in a respectful manner — even if he disagrees. He is a problem-solver with a lens of diverse perspective from his own background, and he is a strong advocate for sustainability and equity with an understanding of how they go hand-in-hand both globally and locally. I invite you to join me in supporting Ravi Parakkat for village of Oak Park trustee.
Gary Cuneen Oak Park
Re-elect Adduci as president As you can see by the yard signs, another village election is upon us. The election season is an important time to take stock of where we are as a community and who we want at the helm. I unequivocally support our current village president, Cathy Aducci, for re-election, and I am writing to encourage your vote. Cathy’s accomplishments on behalf of the village are countless. She is the only person running who is prepared and capable to lead the $30 million organization that is River Forest. Good, solid, important changes have occurred over the last 14 years she has served the village, and mea-
sured, thoughtful changes will occur under her continued leadership. She is the only one with the institutional knowledge to guide and inform the new village administrator on the intricacies and qualities of our village. She is responsive and accessible to the residents and will encourage your participation. I’m thankful that she is willing to sign up for another four years. For the love of River Forest — please join me in supporting Cathy Adduci for Village President.
Susan Conti
Former River Forest Village Trustee
Join us & meet your candidates for River Forest Village Trustee & Oak Park and River Forest Village Presidents. ALL ARE INVITED!
REGISTER AT OPRFCHAMBER.ORG
V I E W P O I N T S
OAKPARK.COM | RIVERFOREST.COM
Johnson for D97 school board
I hope every Oak Park voter will join me in support of Venus Hurd Johnson’s candidacy for District 97 Elementary School Board. Venus has lived here with her husband and two sons for over 15 years. Venus “threads the needle” in what is needed in a school board member: she develops strong bonds of trust and partnership while simultaneously holding decision-makers accountable when needed. Working with Venus in her role as co-president of the D97 Diversity Council (which was created to advance a culture of equity and equity initiatives throughout the district), I experienced firsthand her gifts of leadership and collaboration. In that role, she partnered with the district in their efforts to support all families and teachers, and at the same time, she identified unmet needs of families and worked with the district to fill those gaps. Venus is often one of the first to challenge the administration to think differently and propose new options, which ultimately get adopted and implemented successfully. Through her work as Mann School PTO president and as co-president of the larger more extensive D97 PTO Council, Venus has forged deep and lasting partnerships with parents and teachers throughout the district, and created and implemented community-building initiatives that support and advance teachers and families. And she exudes a warmth and spirit of partnership in all her efforts — which is sorely needed in today’s exceptionally challenging and often unnecessarily critical times. All of these values, traits and experiences are exactly what makes her a highly qualified addition to the D97 board. She will hit the ground running; she will be able to leverage her deep existing relationships with parents and teachers from every D97 school on Day One. Please join me in supporting Venus for D97 school board.
Andrea Kovach
D97 parent and 15-year Oak Park resident
SALTER
Separating truth from lies from page 23 was that he said he won. He methodically stoked the flames of anger and disappointment among his followers to the point of a treasonous assault on both the symbols and substance of our government. We, as a nation, cannot survive in an environment where so-called free speech allows individuals to lie and inflame without consequence. Just because information and content are delivered via social media does not mean said information is true or factual. As one wag put it, we must stop truth decay. So the question remaining is how do we know what is truthful and what is fake? Well, I would submit that the truth has no agenda. The truth does not care who is offended or reinforced by its existence. The truth does not tell you how to act. It simply reveals to us what objective reality is. It doesn’t matter if we accept or reject the truth; it cannot be
Wednesday Journal, February 24, 2021
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Waters will make a great village clerk
Years ago, a staffer at my store and I were goofing around and complaining about a post we had seen on Facebook. Someone posted somewhere about how irritated they were with the village of Oak Park and their solution was to go to village hall, demand their problem be solved, and yell at the employees there, “You work for me!” The staffer and I were just so unimpressed with the entitled attitude of the person who posted. Christina Waters, who had taken a part time job at Lively in addition to her full-time job at village hall, listened to us complaining. It would have been so easy (and so fun) if she had joined in with us, and shared some horror stories about entitled residents and the crazy things they said. But what she did instead impressed me so much, and has stuck with me for years after the event. She asked where the post was, she asked about the details, and she told me it was her personal mission to change the perception of village hall and give every resident a positive experience. She wasn’t at all upset about what the resident had posted but was more focused on the future and how to make sure every resident left village hall with an answer to their
question and a smile on their face. At that time, I believe she was working as the assistant to Tammie Grossman, the director of Development Customer Services. She already had a clear vision of the kind of village she wanted to live in, and the kind of village hall she wanted to work in. Christina Waters didn’t last long as an employee at Lively, much to our disappointment. She was so involved in so many community projects, and kept getting promoted at work, and just didn’t have the time any more for her fun part-time job. Christina radiates a calm kindness, and her competence at any job she takes on is almost overwhelming. She has my full endorsement and support for Village Clerk. She also has the endorsement of my sister and co-owner, Kate Marlin, and our store manager, Ellen Maliff. I know that, as a small business owner, I will interact with Christina when I get permits for events or have questions about village-related issues. I cannot think of a better person for the job than Christina Waters.
Anne Pezalla
Co-owner, Lively Athletics
Enyia for Oak Park trustee As we head into this election season, I hope Oak Park gives strong consideration to Chibuke Eniya (pronounced Chee-beekay En-yuh) as trustee for Oak Park. I have been neighbors with Chibuke for over four years and have gotten to know him and his family on a personal level. He has extended his expertise to enhance the community he calls home. He has lived in the community for 30 years, choosing to raise his own children here so they could have the same opportunities. As a lifelong Oak Parker, to raise your family in the community you were raised in is the biggest compliment anyone can give. Besides being a valuable resource to community partners and his neighbors, Chibuke and his wife Mandy make an extra effort to devote their time and expertise to the children in the community. It is not uncommon to see Chibuke and Mandy talk-
ignored. In the spirit of providing a perspective, if not a roadmap, I would suggest the following steps to separate fact from fiction and truth from lies: 1. Be extremely leery of information that starts with a conclusion based on someone’s ideological bent. 2. Always question both the source and intent of what is promoted as truth, whether you agree or are aligned with the source or not. 3. Independently seek to triangulate what you thought you heard or saw. In other words, check out at least three different sources of information. 4. Remember that to gain and grow their share of eyeballs, the media typically does not “pick sides, instead it creates sides.” 5. Check out international news outlets to see how they see us. 6. Trust your common sense. Never allow someone else to think for you. 7. Ask your children what they think about current events. You will be surprised at their level of awareness. Alternative facts don’t exist in their mind.
ing to a group of neighborhood children and cooking hotdogs and hamburgers for them. He can be seen around the community extending a helping hand wherever needed and is the kind of person that is doing the right thing when no one is watching. Chibuke is an outstanding candidate whom I can recommend without reservation. During the time I have known him, he has demonstrated personal and professional skills that make him an asset to the community he serves. He is dependable, ethical, and has a high degree of integrity. In addition, he is an amicable person and a pleasure to work with. Please give Chibuke Eniya your strong consideration for Oak Park trustee.
Faith Cole
Longtime Oak Parker, servant of the community
KORDESH
A Berwynesque slant from page 23 idealism, embarrassing him with the reality that a lot of his best self was formed when he was a kid in a good family in St. Mary of Celle Parish in Berwyn. At 67, having lived many more years in Oak Park than in my original hometown, I’ve come to understand this back-andforth between my two selves as a gift. It keeps me striving to grow while it also smacks my ego upside the head for its arrogant tendencies. Oak Park, like the country, is now in turmoil politically. Many of the activists here know each other, and the lack of trust festers. The candidate slate in the upcoming election is narrowing as that tension grows. The progressive in me wants to know which of them is able to govern our village intelligently and democratically. The regular guy wants
to sort out who are the most real: i.e. the most truthful, the least arrogant, the least interested in self-promotion, and the most likely to get good things done. The progressive in me asks which of them best understands policymaking, planning, and the complexities of maintaining excellence in a municipal corporation with a $146 million annual budget. Who grasps how to partner with school districts, the park district, Cook County, the state of Illinois and many federal agencies whose priorities, funding opportunities, and regulatory changes are now rolling out from the Biden Administration? Who will be able to move on racial justice and smarter policing, from the vagaries of a poorly chosen term like “defunding” to clear, smart and feasible policy change? Who will be able to do so while keeping the community a beautiful, safe, and enlightening place to raise children? Who will be able to help an already very good Oak Park become a better one? Rich Kordesh grew up in Berwyn and is now a resident of Oak Park.
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Wednesday Journal, February 24, 2021
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V I E W P O I N T S
Tackling race at Fenwick
rowing up, I hated Fenwick as a kid. I believe it was because I always imagined myself in an orange and blue uniform at OPRF High School. Playing under the lights on Lake Street was a dream of mine. I remember in grade school, I went to watch OPRF play Fenwick in a basketball game. The energy was crazy! It was standing room only at the field house. Iman Shumpert [now with the NBA’s Brooklyn Nets] was the star at the time, and I felt like he embodied what OPRF was about. Another reason I was attached to OPRF was because I played for the Oak Park Youth Huskies and looked forward to continuing to play football together. My journey to Fenwick began with my Mom. Around sixth grade, she would always say, “You’re going to Fenwick.” I didn’t think she was serious until she made me take the Fenwick entrance exam. I didn’t want to do it but, in my heart, I knew it was the best thing for me. The academic expectation at Fenwick scared me. Growing up, when Fenwick High School came up in conversation, the academic prestige was mentioned. I knew Fenwick would challenge me academically. A piece of me wanted to take the easy way out and leave the exam blank on test day. That wasn’t my style, though. I liked challenges! Growing up in the Oak Park-River Forest area was special. For the bulk of my childhood, I hung out with mostly white guys and girls with a sprinkling of blacks and Latinos. I finally got my test results, and I was in! Two of my close friends received letters of acceptance as well. So the three of us were headed to Fenwick. During our first assembly, Mr. Borsch told us to look to our left and right. He went on to say that the person next to us would not be here in four years. I was shocked that he said that and wondered why people didn’t finish. Was it the tough academics? The dress code? Or the rules? As I looked around at the freshman class, I was hoping I would be one of the few to remain. Sadly, after one and a half years, both my friends were gone. I won’t go into detail on why they didn’t remain; let’s just say Fenwick was not the right fit for them. I had a couple close calls at Fenwick myself that could have gotten me kicked out. I am grateful for the mercy shown by Wallace Pendleton [Class of 2005], our Dean of Students at the time. Wallace was a former Division 1 athlete [Akron football] and he is African American. I believe being black in that situation actually helped me and he saw something in me. At this point, I was tested to expand my friendships beyond the friends I came in with. I played basketball, football and baseball my first year at Fenwick. I later switched to only playing football. I always believed I was a great baseball player, but I knew football was going to be the sport that sent me to college for free. I later switched to only playing football. The summer before my junior year, I received a full-ride scholarship to play at the University of Connecticut. Playing sports at Fenwick made it easy to be accepted by others. However, I felt bad for the minorities who were not connected with others through sports. I would be lying if I said racism did not exist at Fenwick. I also wouldn’t be telling the truth if I said everyone there was racist. There was definitely a disconnect between minorities and whites.
AARON GARLAND One View
‘East kids’ and ‘West kids’ I mentioned earlier that I grew up with mostly white guys and girls and a sprinkle of blacks and Latinos. So attending Fenwick, a majority white school, was not new to me. No matter what school I attended growing up, minorities always stuck together. Naturally, we all feel more comfort when we are around the same race. However, I never wanted to put limits on friendships based on race, so I made an effort to be friends with all races. Personally, I can’t remember anytime that someone called me the ‘N word’ or was openly racist toward me while at Fenwick. I was the class president my junior year, so I guess I had won the hearts of my classmates the first two years. I would have been class president two years in row if I had decided to run my senior year, but I wanted to give someone else the opportunity to add the position to their high school resume. I enjoyed being class president, it gave me a sense of purpose outside of sports. It also helped me get rid of the stereotype that blacks attended Fenwick only for sports. I am not sure if I was the first black class president at Fenwick, but I’m sure I was one of the few. Racism has been talked about for centuries. Here is my take on it: I believe it starts at home. Kids do outside what they are taught at home. In Fenwick’s situation, a lot of kids come from the western suburbs, such as Burr Ridge, Western Springs and Hinsdale. We called these people “west kids.” Due to the lack of diversity in those neighborhoods, it leads to kids being awkward around minorities. I remember going to parties in the west suburbs and feeling like I was being “watched” by the parents a little more closely than others. I am not saying everyone from the west suburbs is racist. I believe the interaction is just different with them. It’s not their fault that they grew up in a neighborhood that lacks diversity. At Fenwick, you had two types of white kids — those who fit in with the minorities and those who didn’t. The kids who fit in seemed to have grown up in the Oak Park, Elmwood Park and Chicago area. Also known as the “east kids,” these students seemed to be more familiar with minorities due to their environment. So it was not a problem of race but rather with environment. I am grateful for the experiences I had at Fenwick. My classmates and teachers all made it a unique experience. Of course, academically we learned a lot and were challenged. Fenwick prepared me for college courses at UConn. Honestly, I felt like Fenwick was harder than college academically. I believe this is the reason I was able to graduate from college in three years and serve on the leadership board of the college of liberal arts and sciences. I learned how to be a young man at Fenwick, how to speak, how to treat people and, most importantly, how to keep God in your life. One of the statements we heard at Fenwick was “Everything in moderation,” which has stuck with me until this day! I encourage students to love one another and find things in common with people who don’t look like you. Whether it be academics, hobbies or sports, we all can relate somehow. Also, make time to have conversations with the adults in the building. There are many great minds in that building, whether it is the lunch ladies or those working in administration, from whom you can learn something. Aaron Garland is a 2015 graduate of Fenwick. This is an excerpt of a longer piece that appeared in the Fenwick High School blog: https://blog.fenwickfriars. com/news/black-history-month-2021-my-fenwickexperience.
OAKPARK.COM | RIVERFOREST.COM
President Adduci stands out
Over the past four years, I have worked directly with River Forest President Cathy Adduci on issues and projects that are important to older people in our communities. After watching her work with others, I enthusiastically endorse her re-election as President of River Forest. President Adduci is a visionary municipal leader. Our fast-growing older population is having a huge impact on our communities — River Forest, near-west suburbs and Chicagoland. Adduci continues to be both a strong voice and a competent leader in creating and implementing ground-breaking accomplishments for River Forest. Under her watch, River Forest has been in the forefront of becoming an age-friendly town, and, in doing so,
River Forest has brought our whole area along with it. From training River Forest first-responders to creating welcoming River Forest businesses to sensitizing village hall to the needs of older River Forest residents, Adduci’s impact stands out. She has set forces in motion that will continue to bear fruit for years to come. President Adduci was instrumental in the creation of the Metropolitan Mayor’s Caucus Age-Friendly Collaborative and, as its first and only chairperson, she continues to shepherd its growth. She is an effective leader today and she is focused clearly on the compelling needs of River Forest’s future. I urge all River Forest residents to re-elect President Cathy Adduci.
Marc Blesoff Oak Park
Griffin’s bright vision for Oak Park Oak Park needs Juanta Griffin at the board table as a village trustee. She cuts through the fluff, gets to the point, and gets things done in a collaborative, unifying way. Juanta was my fellow board member on the DivCo Executive Board, promoting equity throughout District 97 schools. Juanta stands out in the way she leads in an open and inclusive manner. She asks the right questions; she listens to the answers. At a recent candidate event, when asked what she would do to help businesses recover from the pandemic, her first answer was to “ask them what they need.” Too often our leaders think they know how to solve a problem, but haven’t done this critical homework. She will not waste time solving the wrong problems because she listens. Juanta has a very natural way of bringing people together. She has led so many incredible events throughout the village, but the one that stands out for me is this summer’s Juneteenth event, which she co-organized with Anthony Clark. At a time in our country when there was so much righteous anger, sorrow, and strife, it
was her voice at this event that welcomed everyone in for a much-needed moment of pure joy and celebration. She stands out in the way she represents those in our village we say we value but whose voices aren’t typically heard. She proudly hails from a strong working-class family and is a renter. Having Juanta with this direct experience sitting at the board table will elevate the concerns of these citizens; with 40% of Oak Park’s housing stock being rentals, this is an important constituency that is often ignored. We talk a lot in Oak Park about diversity and equity in Oak Park. As a Black working-class woman, Juanta represents several intersectional perspectives that can help Oak Park walk our talk as a progressive community. As she often points out, everyone benefits from equity efforts, not only Black and Brown people. Juanta is real. She is open. She is our future. Join me in voting for Juanta and a bright vision for Oak Park.
Michelle Major
Oak Park
Thoughts on deer culling
Thank you to Annette Madden and Chris and Mary Hillcoat [The Deer Committee needs to check their math, Viewpoints, Feb. 17] for raising the red flag concerning the proposed deer culling. There are a couple other things that we should consider. How can a culling decision be made without having an exact count of deer living in the forest preserve? Is it known how many deer can
inhabit our particular preserve before it is detrimental to the natural balance? When the unhappy people bought homes near the forest, did they not realize that deer live in the forest? If you look online, there are a multitude of deer-resistant plants for enhancing a landscape. Just a few thoughts.
Susan Cahill
Forest Park
O B I T U A R I E S
OAKPARK.COM | RIVERFOREST.COM
Mary Frances Hegarty, 89 Mother of 11
Mary Frances Hegarty, 89, of Oak Park, died on Feb. 14, 2021. Born on April 21, 1931, and raised in Chicago, she attended St. Angela School and attended Siena High School, where she was editor of the school newspaper and graduated valedictorian of her high school. She attended Mundelein College and DePaul University and met her future husband, Edward, while double-dating other people. They met next “by accident” at a Sunday evening church dance for high school kids. He gallantly escorted her home, about 18 miles away, via multiple street cars. They married in 1953 and raised 11 children. Using her sewing skills, she made outfits for her girls. After sending her youngest off to school, she worked for Sears in the custom drapery department. She loved nature and the family traveled to many of the national parks. She also raised canaries. In Oak Park, they attended St. Giles Church, and she delivered communion to those who were homebound. Her faith was a vital part of her life. She was a kind and loving woman who will be deeply missed by her family and friends. Mary Frances was the wife of the late Edward H. for 65 years; the mother of Maureen (Dan) Kruszynski, RoseAnn (Jim) Vonesh, Kathleen (Robert) Burdett, Edward (Cindy), Michael (Diane), Mary Pat (the late Joe) Williams, Daniel (Kathy), Patrick (Catherine), Mary Rose (Gerard) Crimmins, Terrence, and Christopher (Amy Nelson) Hegarty; the grandmother of Megan and Jim (Kristina) Vonesh, Victoria Burdett, Diane (Brian) Bell and Natalie Burdett, Naomi and Aidan Hegarty, Logan and Tristan Williams, Ryan and Shannon Hegarty, Erica (Thurman) Fogleman and Stephanie Hegarty, and Jared and Christopher Crimmins; the great-
grandmother of Matthew, Caileigh, Grace and Sammy, Allison and Jimmy, and Kaylan, Lia, Myles, Neo and Audrey; sister of the late Rev. Raymond F. Mulhern and Maurice “Jack” (the late Ann) Mulhern; and the aunt and great-aunt of many. The family is grateful for the loving and compassionate caregivers from Midwest Homecare and the kind services of Journeycare Hospice, helping her peacefully transition. Visitation was held Feb. 19 at Drechsler, Brown & Williams Funeral Home. A private funeral Mass was held Feb. 20 at St Giles Church, followed by interment at Queen of Heaven Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, donations to Misericordia (Misericordia.org) are appreciated.
Noel Yaney, 90
Designed audio tour systems Noel Augustus Yaney, 90, died in his sleep on Jan. 31, 2021, in East Berlin, Connecticut. Born in Chicago on Dec. 18, 1930, he was raised in Oak Park, the son of Dr. Augustus Daniel Yaney, a family doctor, and Josephine Dickson Yaney, a church organist. From them, he learned compassion, dedication, his dry sense of humor, and a love of sacred music. After attending Albion College in Michigan (1953, B.A. Physics) and U.S. Navy Officers Candidate School, he trained as a pilot and served in the Bureau of Ordnance until honorably discharged in 1956. Working for Chicago’s Cook Laboratories and then for IBM in Washington D.C., he won respect for his innovative solutions to knotty problems. He sold NASA the Orbiting Astronomical Observatory and worked on the IBM 360 project, moving to New York, where he met and married his wife, Martha. In 1971 they settled in Darien, Connecticut, to raise a family.
V I E W P O I N T S
In the 1970s and ’80s, he worked in the audio tour industry, where he designed and patented a new infrared museum audio system, and in 1989 co-founded Vista Group International with Martha. More products and world travel followed. From solarpowered SoundPost systems to SoundStik handsets, from Carlsbad Caverns to presidential libraries to Metropolitan Museum of Art tours on the Baltic Sea, he kept all systems running. His fondest hobby was one-design racing with his family — a sport he enjoyed from early days sailing with his brother Ralph on Lake Michigan. He was also an avid skier. Deeply involved in St. Luke Episcopal Church in Darien, he assisted several committees, redesigning the audio system so all could hear, and ushering countless services. Noel is survived by his wife Martha Beuret Yaney; their children, Elizabeth Jo Yaney and Noelle Yaney Child, her husband Bradford Child, and four grandchildren. A private memorial service will be held. Donations to St. Luke Parish with the notation “Friends of Music” have been suggested.
Joyce Finan, 86
Widowed at 43, raised four sons Joyce Finan, 86, died peacefully on Feb. 19, 2021. Born on Oct. 22, 1934, she became a widow at age 43, left to raise four young sons and did so with strong determination, purpose, resilience and love, but also with fun and laughter. She was determined that each son have the opportunity for a great life and she successfully achieved her goal. Through her generous spirit and countless acts of thoughtfulness, she left an endearing legacy to all those whose lives she touched. She loved
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to laugh, have fun and make others laugh. And nothing gave her more pleasure than giving someone the perfect gift. She put others first and tried to make them feel better about themselves. She enriched lives simply by the way she lived hers. We are all blessed to have known and been loved by her. Through her caring nature and infectious laugh, she developed many strong and lasting friendships, especially those in her beloved HOC Club group. She was active in the St. Giles Parish and very welcoming to all her friends and the friends of her sons at her home on Linden Avenue in Oak Park. Her family takes great joy in knowing she will be reunited, after 42 long years, with her deceased husband John, her childhood sweetheart and the love of her life. Joyce Finan was preceded in death by her three siblings: Jim O’Connell, Eileen Evon and Ruth Finneran. She is survived by her four devoted sons and their spouses, Marty and Sheila, Matt and Jill, Tom and Rocio, John and Susie; and her grandchildren, Sarah, Jack, Mark, Jimmy, JP, Maggie, Matthew, Ana, Cristina, Lara, Theresa, Leo and Katie. She was each one’s biggest fan. She was a fun and caring aunt to her many nieces and nephews. Due to the COVID pandemic, all services will be private. In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation in Joyce’s memory to either Fenwick High School, https://www.fenwickfriars. com/institutional-advancement/make-agift/ (please indicate in memory of Joyce Finan in the comments section); St. Giles School Tuition Assistance Fund, www.stgilesschool/org/support; or Mulliganeer’s “Giving Kids a Second Chance,” www.mulliganeers.org. W E D N E S D A Y
JOURNAL of Oak Park and River Forest
To run an obituary Please contact Ken Trainor by e-mail: ktrainor@wjinc.com, before Monday at noon. Please include a photo if possible.
Robert P. Gamboney
Snow removal should include corner curb-cuts
Oak Park residents have done a nice job in trying to keep public sidewalks clear during this extraordinary winter. As a senior citizen who walks all over the village, I appreciate the effort to keep the sidewalks as safe as possible. Far more dangerous, however, are the mounds of snow that snowplows pile up where public sidewalks lead into streets. These mountains of frozen, icy snow are very difficult to navigate, and I believe the village
Wednesday Journal, February 24, 2021
Funeral Director
should include making paths through these obstructions part of its snow-removal policy. A backhoe moving around on a flatbed truck would be an efficient way to accomplish this goal. Or, getting high schoolers to perform the task, either for pay or on a voluntary basis, would also work.
Jim Whalen Oak Park
I am there for you in your time of need. All services handled with dignity and personalized care.
Cell: 708.420.5108 • Res: 708.848.5667 I am affiliated with Peterson-Bassi Chapels at 6938 W. North Ave, as well as other chapels throughout Chicagoland.
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Wednesday Journal, February 24, 2021 New local ads this week
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Place your ad online anytime at: www.OakPark.com/Classified/
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HELP WANTED
CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE The Village of Oak Park is seeking qualified candidates for the position of Customer Service Representative II in the Public Works Department. This position provides customer service to the public by providing a variety of responsible and difficult customer service and receptionist work including high volume telephone traffic; and to perform the more difficult and complex customer service duties depending on the department including but not limited to service requests, permits, parking passes, block party permits, accounts payable processing and vehicle stickers. This position is cross-trained with the other Customer Service Representative IIs in the Village. Applicants are encouraged to visit the Village of Oak Park’s website at http://www.oak-park.us/jobs. Interested and qualified applicants must complete a Village of Oak Park application. This position is posted until February 26, 2021.
FIRE MARSHALL The Village of Oak Park is seeking qualified candidates for the position of Fire Marshal with the Oak Park Fire Department This position will manage, supervise, and coordinate the activities and operations of the Fire Prevention Bureau. Asist in the development, implementation, and coordination of various programs within the Bureau. Applicants are encouraged to visit the Village of Oak Park’s website at http://www. oak-park.us/jobs. First review of applications will be February 26, 2021.
YOUTH DEVELOPMENT SPECIALIST HEPHZIBAH CHILDREN’S ASSOCIATION PART TIME POSITIONS AVAILABLE Hephzibah Children’s Association is a renowned social service agency in Oak Park, IL that has been helping children thrive and families flourish through innovative community-based programs. The Day Care Program is accepting applications for February – June, 2021 school year. We seek individuals to provide care and supervision of 5-11-year-old children. Positions are Monday through Friday from 12:15 – 6:00 pm. Responsibilities include assisting with and monitoring e-learning, supervising arts and crafts, activities, sports, group games, and indoor and outdoor play, lunch and snack, and homework help. The program begins in February and will be in Oak Park, IL serving 5-11-year-old (K-5th grade) children. The program will follow the safety guidelines of the IDPH regarding face masks, social distancing and cleaning & disinfecting. Requirements include: • Minimum of 6 semester hours in education, recreation, social work, or related college courses • Experience working with children If you are interested please contact: Amy O’Rourke, Director of Day Care by email at: aorrouke@hephzibahhome.org include letter of interest and resume. Hephzibah Children’s Association is an equal opportunity employer. We welcome qualified applicants from all backgrounds to apply. We value, advocate for and support diversity throughout our organization. We embrace a respectful, multicultural, environment for employees and the clients we serve.
PART-TIME COMMUNITY SERVICE COORDINATOR The Village of Oak Park is seeking qualified candidates for the position of Part-Time Community Service Coordinator (10-15 hrs./week) in the Adjudication Department. This person monitors individuals who have been ordered to provide community service in the Village, coordinates with organizations that provide community service opportunities, etc. Applicants are encouraged to visit the Village of Oak Park’s website http://www.oak-park.us/ First review of applications will be March 2, 2021. SEASONAL FARMERS’ MARKET ASSISTANT The Village of Oak Park is seeking qualified candidates for the position of Seasonal Farmers’ Market Assistant in the Development Customer Services Department. This position will provide administrative support to the Farmers’ Market Manager to allow growers and producers of food to sell directly to the public within established guidelines. This position requires work in inclement weather conditions; some heavy lifting of up to 50 pounds; walking or standing for sustained periods of time. Applicants are encouraged to visit the Village of Oak Park’s website at http://www.oak-park.us/jobs. Interested and qualified applicants must complete a Village of Oak Park application. Open until filled.
SUBURBAN RENTALS OAK PARK: ROOSEVELT/ OAK PARK AVE. CORRIDOR 2BR 4RMS close to blue line. On site laundry, parking, heat & water incl. $1200/ month 708-383-9223
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Request of WILLIAM DEWAYNE LEONE Case Number 20214000561
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HAULING
PUBLIC NOTICE OF COURT DATE FOR REQUEST FOR NAME CHANGE
Fast & Neat Painting/Taping/Plaster Repair Low Cost
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PUBLIC NOTICES PUBLIC NOTICE OF COURT DATE FOR REQUEST FOR NAME CHANGE
ZOOM MEETING ID: 936 6870 5913 ZOOM PASSSWORD: 862976 CALL IN: 3126266799
STATE OF ILLINOIS, CIRCUIT COURT COOK COUNTY. Request of Asha Andriana Berry Case Number 20214000560 There will be a court date on my Request to change my name from: Asha Andriana Berry to the new name of: Asha Andriana The court date will be held: On April 13, 2021 at 9:30 a.m. at 1500 Maybrook Drive, Maywood, Cook County, IL in Courtroom # 0112. Published in Wednesday Journal 2/24, 3/3, 3/10/2021
STATE OF ILLINOIS, CIRCUIT COURT COOK COUNTY.
ZOOM MEETING ID: 914 3462 0283 ZOOM PASSSWORD: 988648 CALL IN: 3126266799
PUBLIC NOTICE Cellco Partnership and its controlled affiliates doing business as Verizon Wireless (Verizon Wireless) is proposing to build two 33-foot metal light pole telecommunications facilities in Forest Park, Cook County, Illinois 60130. Node OPB_436 – A will be located in the vicinity of 2 Brown Avenue. Node OPB_442 - A will be located in the vicinity of 7525 Madison Street. Public comments regarding potential effects from this site on historic properties may be submitted within 30 days from the date of this publication to: Project 6121000736/6121000739 - MB c/o EBI Consulting, 6876 Susquehanna Trail South, York, PA 17403, mbandstra@ebiconsulting.com, or via telephone at (717) 472-3070.
Published in RBLandmark 2/24, 3/3, 3/10/2021
Published in Forest Park Review 2/24/2021
Lic/Bonded 25 yrs experience
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The court date will be held: On April 13, 2021 at 9:30 a.m. via Zoom Video-conference. Please use the information below to access the hearing.
PUBLIC NOTICE OF COURT DATE FOR REQUEST FOR NAME CHANGE
Request of KEVIN KHANG DINH Case Number 20214000570
708-785-2619 or 773-585-5000
There will be a court date on my Request to change my name from: WILLIAM DEWAYNE LEONE to the new name of: WILLIAM DEWAYNE LEODINH
Published in RBLandmark 2/24, 3/3 3/10/2021
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There will be a court date on my Request to change my name from: KEVIN KHANG DINH to the new name of: KEVIN KHANG LEODINH
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Wednesday Journal, February 24, 2021
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Public Notice: 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 | RiverForest.com | PublicNoticeIllinois.com PUBLIC NOTICES CLAIMS NOTICE IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF COOK COUNTY, ILLINOIS, COUNTY DEPARTMENT, PROBATE DIVISION. ESTATE OF JASON EDWARD BOBZIN, DECEASED. NO. 2020 P 006222. Notice is given to creditors of the death of the above named decedent. Letters of office were issued to COURTNEY MARIE BOBZIN-MOHAMMED, 1002 SPRUCE ST., APT 1A, GELNDALE HTS., Il 60139, as Independent Administrator, whose attorney of record is DANSBY G. CHEEKS, 108 MADISON ST., OAK PARK, IL 60302. The estate will be administered without court supervision, unless under section 5/28-4 of the Probate Act (Ill. Compiled Stat. 1992, Ch. 755, par. 5/28-4) any interested person terminates independent administration at any time by mailing or delivering a petition to terminate to the clerk.
Wednesday Journal, February 24, 2021
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Claims against the estate may be filed in the office of the clerk in Room 1202, Richard J. Daley Center, 50 W. Washington St., Chicago, IL, or with the representative, or both, on or before AUGUST 24, 2021, or, if mailing or delivery of a notice from the representative is required by section 5/18-3 of the Probate Act, the date stated in that notice. Any claim not filed on or before that date is barred. Copies of a claim filed with the clerk must be mailed or delivered by the claimant to the representative and to the attorney within 10 days after it has been filed. E filing is now mandatory for documents in civil cases with limited exemptions. To e-file, you must first create an account with an e-filing service provider. Visit http://efile.illinoiscourts.gov/ service-providers.htm to learn more and to select a service provider. If you need additional help or have trouble e-filing, Visit http://www.illinoiscourts.gov/FAQ/ gethelp.asp. ATTY. DANSBY G. CHEEKS, Published in Wednesday Journal 2/24, 3/3, 3/10/2021
LEGAL NOTICE ANNUAL APPROPRIATION ORDINANCE PUBLIC HEARING NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that the Board of Trustees of the Village of Brookfield will hold a public hearing at 6:30 P.M. on March 8, 2021 at the Village Board Room in the Municipal Building of the Village of Brookfield, 8820 Brookfield Avenue, Brookfield, Illinois 60513 on the Village’s proposed appropriation ordinance, which will serve as the basis for the Village’s 2021 Annual Appropriation Ordinance. The proposed appropriation ordinance will be on file in the Village Clerk’s Office for at least ten (10) days prior to March 8, 2021 and copies thereof will be conveniently available for public examination and copying. Brigid Weber, Village Clerk Published in RB Landmark 2/24/2021
PUBLIC NOTICES
PUBLIC NOTICES
PUBLIC NOTICES
PUBLIC NOTICES
LEGAL NOTICE ZONING BOARD OF APPEALS RIVER FOREST, ILLINOIS
PUBLIC HEARING NOTICE ZONING BOARD OF APPEALS RIVER FOREST, ILLINOIS
LEGAL NOTICE ZONING BOARD OF APPEALS RIVER FOREST, ILLINOIS
Public Notice is hereby given that a public hearing will be held by the Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) of the Village of River Forest, County of Cook, State of Illinois, on Thursday, March 11, 2021 at 7:30 p.m. in the First Floor Community Room of the River Forest Village Hall, 400 Park Avenue, River Forest, Illinois on the following matter:
Public Notice is hereby given that a public hearing will be held by the Zoning Board of Appeals of the Village of River Forest, Cook County, Illinois, on Thursday, March 11, 2021 at 7:30 p.m. in the First Floor Community Room of the River Forest Village Hall, 400 Park Avenue, River Forest, Illinois, to consider amendment(s) to the Village’s Zoning Ordinance which include, but may not be limited to, the following:
Public Notice is hereby given that a public hearing will be held by the Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) of the Village of River Forest, County of Cook, State of Illinois, on Thursday, March 11, 2021 at 7:30 p.m. in the First Floor Community Room of the River Forest Village Hall, 400 Park Avenue, River Forest, Illinois on the following matter:
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: Y21005947 on February 8, 2021 Under the Assumed Business Name of GUERRERO DESIGN with the business located at 1 E. ERIE STREET SUITE 525-2263, CHICAGO, IL 60611. The true and real full name(s) and residence address of the owner(s)/partner(s) is: JULIO C GUERRERO JR. 2322 LARKIN STREET SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94109, USA.
The ZBA will consider an application for a major zoning variation submitted by Rosemary McAdams and Quinn Brennolt, owners of the property at 7612 Vine Street, who are proposing to construct a second story addition onto the existing home. Section 4-8-5 of the Village Code provides the Zoning Board jurisdiction to hold public hearings and offer recommendations to the Village Board concerning variations to Zoning Ordinance. The applicants are requesting a major variation to Section 10-9-7 that would allow the west wall of the home, which has a non-conforming side yard setback of 2.85 feet, to increase in height from one story to two stories. The applicants are also requesting a variation for a roof overhang of 1’-8” at the second floor level, resulting in a setback of only 1.18 feet to the roof edge. The Zoning Ordinance prohibits any increase in height of a wall which maintains a non-conforming side yard setback. The Zoning Code requires the roof eave to have a minimum 3-foot side yard setback. The legal description of the property at 7612 Vine Street is as follows: LOT 23, IN BLOCK 6 IN THE RESUBDIVISION OF BLOCKS 3 AND 6 AND THE NORTH 450 FEET OF BLOCK 7 IN HENRY FIELD’S SUBDIVISION OF THE EAST HALF OF THE EAST HALF OF THE SOUTHWEST QUARTER OF SECTION 12, TOWNSHIP 39 NORTH, RANGE 12, EAST OF THE THIRD PRINCIPAL MERIDIAN, IN COOK COUNTY, ILLINOIS. A copy of the application will be available to the public at Village Hall and on the Village’s website at www. vrf.us/zoningvariation no less than 15 days prior to the public hearing. The Zoning Board of Appeals meeting packet will also be available at www.vrf.us/meetings no less than 48 hours prior to the public hearing. All interested persons will be given the opportunity to be heard at the public hearing. For public comments to be considered by the Zoning Board of Appeals and Village Board of Trustees in their decision, they must be included as part of the public hearing record. Interested persons can learn more about how to participation in the hearing by visiting www.vrf.us/zoningvariation.
1. A Text Amendment to Chapter 10-19-3(A) of the Zoning Ordinance regarding changes to the standards for review for Planned Developments to consider whether a proposed planned development is consistent with the goals and policies of the Affordable Housing Plan. The petitioner for the Text Amendment(s) is the Village of River Forest, 400 Park Avenue, River Forest, IL 60305 This public hearing is being held pursuant to direction given by the Village Board of Trustees for the Zoning Board of Appeals to consider this amendment. For additional information visit www.vrf.us. All interested persons will be given the opportunity to be heard at the public hearing. For public comments to be considered by the Zoning Board of Appeals and Village Board of Trustees in their decision, they must be included as part of the public hearing record. Physical attendance at this public meeting is limited due to COVID-19, with Zoning Board of Appeals officials, staff and consultants having priority over members of the public. Public comments and any responses will be ready into the public meeting record. You may submit your public comments via email in advance of the meeting to: Cliff Radatz at cradatz@vrf.us. You may listen to the meeting by visiting https:// us02web.zoom.us/j/85079808303 or participating in a telephone conferences call as follows, dial-in number 1-312-626- 6799 with meeting id: 850 7980 8303. If you would like to participate over the phone, please contact Cliff Radatz by telephone at (708) 714-3557 or by email at cradatz@vrf.us by 12:00 pm on Thursday, March 11, 2021. For further information or for a copy of the proposed text amendments, please contact Acting Village Administrator Lisa Scheiner at (708) 7143520 or at lscheiner@vrf.us or visit www.vrf.us. Sincerely, Clifford Radatz Secretary, Zoning Board of Appeals Published in Wednesday Journal 2/24/2021
Sincerely, Clifford Radatz Secretary, Zoning Board of Appeals Published in Wednesday Journal 2/24/2021
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The ZBA will consider an application for a major zoning variation submitted by Greg and Amanda Palivos, owners of the property at 1018 Park Avenue, who are proposing to construct a two story addition onto the existing home. Section 4-8-5 of the Village Code provides the Zoning Board jurisdiction to hold public hearings and offer recommendations to the Village Board concerning variations to Zoning Ordinance. The applicants are requesting major variations to Section 10-9-7 that would allow the south wall of the proposed addition to the house to be constructed with a non-conforming side yard setback of 3.75 feet, and as a result, the combined side yard setback of the property would be non-conforming at 13.95 feet. The Zoning Ordinance requires the minimum side yard setback to be equal to 10 percent of the lot width or 5 feet, whichever is greater. The minimum required side yard setback for this property is 7.5 feet. The Zoning Ordinance also requires the combined side yard setback (the sum of the side yards at both sides of the house) to be equal to 25 percent of the lot width or 10 feet, whichever is greater. The combined side yard setback for this property is required to be a minimum of 18.75 feet. The legal description of the property at 1018 Park Avenue is as follows: LOT 8 AND THE NORTH 1/2 OF LOT 9 IN HENRY E. GRAVES SUBDIVISION OF BLOCK 10, IN SNOW AND DICKINSON’S ADDITION TO RIVER FOREST, A SUBDIVISION OF THE WEST 1/2 OF THE SOUTHWEST 1/4 OF SECTION 1 AND THE EAST 17 ACRES OF THE SOUTHEAST 1/4 OF SECTION 2, TOWNSHIP 39 NORTH, RANGE 12, EAST OF THE THIRD PRINCIPAL MERIDIAN (EXCEPT PARTS CONVEYED TO THE CHICAGO AND WISCONSIN RAILROAD COMPANY) IN COOK COUNTY, ILLINOIS. A copy of the application will be available to the public at Village Hall and on the Village’s website at www. vrf.us/zoningvariation no less than 15 days prior to the public hearing. The Zoning Board of Appeals meeting packet will also be available at www.vrf.us/meetings no less than 48 hours prior to the public hearing. All interested persons will be given the opportunity to be heard at the public hearing. For public comments to be considered by the Zoning Board of Appeals and Village Board of Trustees in their decision, they must be included as part of the public hearing record. Interested persons can learn more about how to participation in the hearing by visiting www.vrf.us/zoningvariation. Clifford Radatz Secretary, Zoning Board of Appeals Published in Wednesday Journal 2/24/2021
Published in Wednesday Journal 2/10, 2/17, 2/24/2021
REAL ESTATE FOR SALE IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF COOK COUNTY, ILLINOIS COUNTY DEPARTMENT CHANCERY DIVISION QUICKEN LOANS INC. Plaintiff, -v.DRIKO DUCASSE, UNKNOWN OWNERS AND NONRECORD CLAIMANTS Defendants 2019CH08452 1226 N AUSTIN BLVD OAK PARK, IL 60302 NOTICE OF SALE PUBLIC NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale entered in the above cause on December 17, 2019, an agent for The Judicial Sales Corporation, will at 10:30 AM on March 25, 2021, at The Judicial Sales Corporation, One South Wacker Drive, CHICAGO, IL, 60606, sell at a public sale to the highest bidder, as set forth below, the following described real estate: Commonly known as 1226 N AUSTIN BLVD, OAK PARK, IL 60302 Property Index No. 16-05-127-0270000
REAL ESTATE FOR SALE
REAL ESTATE FOR SALE
The real estate is improved with a multi-family residence. Sale terms: 25% down of the highest bid by certified funds at the close of the sale payable to The Judicial Sales Corporation. No third party checks will be accepted. The balance, including the Judicial Sale fee for the Abandoned Residential Property Municipality Relief Fund, which is calculated on residential real estate at the rate of $1 for each $1,000 or fraction thereof of the amount paid by the purchaser not to exceed $300, in certified funds/or wire transfer, is due within twenty-four (24) hours. No fee shall be paid by the mortgagee acquiring the residential real estate pursuant to its credit bid at the sale or by any mortgagee, judgment creditor, or other lienor acquiring the residential real estate whose rights in and to the residential real estate arose prior to the sale. The subject property is subject to general real estate taxes, special assessments, or special taxes levied against said real estate and is offered for sale without any representation as to quality or quantity of title and without recourse to Plaintiff and in “AS IS” condition. The sale is further subject to confirmation by the court. Upon payment in full of the amount bid, the purchaser will receive a Certificate of Sale that will entitle the purchaser to a deed to the real estate after confirmation of the sale. The property will NOT be open for inspection and plaintiff makes no representation as to the condition of the property. Prospective bidders are admonished to check the court file to verify all information. If this property is a condominium unit, the purchaser of the unit at the foreclosure sale, other than a mortgagee, shall pay the assessments and the legal fees required by The Condominium Property Act, 765 ILCS 605/9(g)(1) and (g)(4). If this property is a condominium unit which is part of a common interest community, the purchaser of the unit at the foreclosure sale other than a mortgagee shall pay
the assessments required by The Condominium Property Act, 765 ILCS 605/18.5(g-1). IF YOU ARE THE MORTGAGOR (HOMEOWNER), YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO REMAIN IN POSSESSION FOR 30 DAYS AFTER ENTRY OF AN ORDER OF POSSESSION, IN ACCORDANCE WITH SECTION 15-1701(C) OF THE ILLINOIS MORTGAGE FORECLOSURE LAW. You will need a photo identification issued by a government agency (driver’s license, passport, etc.) in order to gain entry into our building and the foreclosure sale room in Cook County and the same identification for sales held at other county venues where The Judicial Sales Corporation conducts foreclosure sales. For information, examine the court file, CODILIS & ASSOCIATES, P.C. Plaintiff’s Attorneys, 15W030 NORTH FRONTAGE ROAD, SUITE 100, BURR RIDGE, IL, 60527 (630) 794-9876 THE JUDICIAL SALES CORPORATION One South Wacker Drive, 24th Floor, Chicago, IL 60606-4650 (312) 236-SALE You can also visit The Judicial Sales Corporation at www.tjsc.com for a 7 day status report of pending sales. CODILIS & ASSOCIATES, P.C. 15W030 NORTH FRONTAGE ROAD, SUITE 100 BURR RIDGE IL, 60527 630-794-5300 E-Mail: pleadings@il.cslegal.com Attorney File No. 14-19-06429 Attorney ARDC No. 00468002 Attorney Code. 21762 Case Number: 2019CH08452 TJSC#: 41-167 NOTE: Pursuant to the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, you are advised that Plaintiff’s attorney is deemed to be a debt collector attempting to collect a debt and any information obtained will be used for that purpose. Case # 2019CH08452 I3164170
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• No private mortgage insurance requirement. The program offers a widepenalty. range of options, including 100% financing up to • No prepayment 2 2 $750,000 and 90% financing $2,000,000 .2Other features include: 2 • • No private insurance requirement. No restrictions on residency status. We have an income-based student $750,000 and 90%mortgage financing upup toto$2,000,000 . Other features include: • • NoNo prepayment penalty. calculator for anyone in a residency or fellowship program to help private mortgage insurance requirement. • No• private mortgage insurance requirement. determine financing options.status. No restrictions onpenalty. residency We have an income-based student • No prepayment • No prepayment • calculator No restrictions on residency status. We have an income-based forpenalty. anyone in a residency or fellowship program to student help For more information, contact: calculatorfinancing for in a residency or fellowship to help student • No restrictions on anyone residency status. We have anprogram income-based determine options. determine financing calculator for anyone inoptions. a residency or fellowship program to help 2 2 $750,000 andoffers 90% financing up of to options, $2,000,000 . Other features include: The program a wide range including 100% financing up to
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For more information, contact: Mortgage Loan Officer NMLS# 224387 5310 W Cermak Rd Ahkeem Henderson Cicero, IL 60804 Ahkeem Henderson Mortgage Loan Officer o: (708) 466-2017 Mortgage Loan Officer NMLS# 224387 e: ahkeem.k.henderson@huntington.com NMLS# 224387 5310 W Cermak Rd www-auth.hban.us/mortgage/henderson-ahkeem 5310 W Cermak Rd Cicero, IL 60804 Ahkeem Henderson Cicero, IL 60804 1 Program only available to medical doctors who have a minimum degree of M.D., D.O., D.M.D., D.V.M., or D.D.S. and proof o: (708) 466-2017 Mortgage Loan Officer o: (708) 466-2017 of sufficient income or employment contract. Active employment contract required with proof of sufficient income and e: ahkeem.k.henderson@huntington.com e: ahkeem.k.henderson@huntington.com NMLS# 224387 reserves. Minimum reserves required are 2 months PITI plus 1 month for each payment due between the first payment www-auth.hban.us/mortgage/henderson-ahkeem www-auth.hban.us/mortgage/henderson-ahkeem due dateRd to when employment begins. 5310 W Cermak 2 Loan-to value (LTV) financing options varywho based on customer FICO score. only available totomedical doctors have minimum degree M.D., D.O., D.M.D., D.V.M., or D.D.S. proof Cicero,1Program IL1Program 60804 only available medical doctors who have aa minimum degree ofofM.D., D.O., D.M.D., D.V.M., or D.D.S. andand proof of sufficient income or employment contract. Active employment contract required with proof of sufficient income and of sufficient income or employment contract. Active employment contract required with proof of sufficient income and o: (708) 466-2017 All loans are subject to application and credit approval, appraisal, and title insurance. Terms, conditions, and reserves. Minimum reserves required are 22 months PITIsatisfactory plus11month month foreach each payment due between payment reserves. Minimum reserves required are months PITI plus for payment due between thethe firstfirst payment e: ahkeem.k.henderson@huntington.com loan programs are subject to change duedue date to to when employment begins. date when employment begins.without notice. Other terms, conditions, and restrictions may apply. 2 2 www-auth.hban.us/mortgage/henderson-ahkeem Loan-to value (LTV) financing on customer customerFICO FICOscore. score. Loan-to value (LTV) financingoptions optionsvary vary based based on The Huntington National Bank is an Equal Housing Lender and Member FDIC. a®, Huntington® and aHuntington.® 1 Program only available to medical have asatisfactory minimum degree of M.D., D.O., D.M.D., D.V.M., orofD.D.S. and proof are federally registered servicedoctors marks ofwho Huntington Bancshares Incorporated. Welcome.℠ is aTerms, service mark loans subject application andcredit credit approval, and title insurance. conditions, and and All All loans areare subject totoapplication and approval, satisfactoryappraisal, appraisal, and title insurance. Terms, conditions, of sufficient income or employment contract. Active employment contract required with proof of sufficient income and Huntington Bancshares Incorporated. ©2020 Huntington Bancshares Incorporated. NMLS ID #402436 (06/19) loan programs are subjecttotochange changewithout without notice. notice. Other restrictions may apply. loan programs are subject Otherterms, terms,conditions, conditions,and and restrictions may apply.
reserves. Minimum reserves required are 2 months PITI plus 1 month for each payment due between the first payment Huntington NationalBank Bank anEqual Equal Housing Housing Lender a®, Huntington® andand aHuntington.® due date toHuntington when employment begins. TheThe National isisan Lenderand andMember MemberFDIC. FDIC. a®, Huntington® aHuntington.® 2 federally marks Huntington Bancshares Incorporated. Loan-to are value (LTV)registered financingservice options varyofbased on customer FICO score. Welcome.℠ is a service mark of