Wednesday Journal 032520

W E D N E S D A Y

March 25, 2020 Vol. 40, No. 35 ONE DOLLAR @oakpark @wednesdayjournal

JOURNAL

Housing Forward closes shelter

of Oak Park and River Forest

RIGHT AT HOME

Oak Park Temple site shuttered

By STACEY SHERIDAN Staff Reporter

After a staff member tested positive for COVID-19, Housing Forward successfully moved 64 people experiencing homelessness out of the 24-hour emergency shelter located inside Oak Park Temple, 1234 N. Harlem Ave., and into individual accommodations.

“We always knew even when we made the decision to centralize the rotating shelter and the support center services at Oak Park Temple, that it was not a model we could sustain long term,” said Erik Johnson, Housing Forward director of communications and development. “Yet it effectively responded to the pressing needs that our clients were experiencing in that it gave more ability to social distance and more importantly shelter in place, which if you’re homeless, you cannot shelter in place.”

Housing Forward, an organization dedicated to combatting homelessness, received notification late in the day on Saturday, March 21, that a member of its staff tested positive for the virus. That particular staff member had done work at the shelter just two days prior to the diagnosis.

“We obviously put a response plan together immediately,” Johnson said. Housing Forward included the Oak Park Department of Public Health and the Cook County Department of Public Health in the development of the plan.

“After processing all the variables, we felt See HOUSING FORWARD on page 11

Photo by Alex Rogals/Staff Photographer

I PLEDGE ALLEGIANCE: Megan Lewis, of Oak Park, walks up and down the block ringing a bell on Friday, March 20, 2020, on the 800 Block of Linden Avenue. See story on page 8.

Linden neighbors pledge allegiance to community

By STACEY SHERIDAN Staff Reporter

To imbue a sense of normalcy and community during the COVID-19 crisis, families on the 800 block of Linden Avenue have begun reciting the Pledge of Allegiance from the sidewalk, while keeping a safe distance apart, every weekday morning at 8:30 a.m. to mark the beginning of the school

day.

“It all started as a result of one of those block email threads,” said Justin Lewis, who lives on the block with his wife and their two teenage children. The entire block has 26 households total. Kids on the block range in age from babies to teenagers.

“One of our neighbors in the middle of the block said, ‘Hey, I’ve been taking my

kids out in the morning at 8:30 just to say the Pledge of Allegiance. And, you know, we said, ‘What a great idea,’” Lewis said.

Not long after, the whole block got involved. One family put up their American flag for everyone to look at while reciting.

“My wife happens to have the dinner bell from her childhood, and we also have a bullhorn, so we rang the bell up and down See PLEDGE on page 8

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FPSD91 Forest Park Preschool ad (FPR) 032520.pdf

Wednesday Journal, March 25, 2020

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3/19/20

4:48 PM

OAKPARK.COM | RIVERFOREST.COM

School Spotlight:

Forest Park Preschool Forest Park School District 91

“Our mission is to foster the learning, growth and development of all children. We provide a warm and welcoming environment that truly encourages active learning and diversity within a very supportive school district.”

— Principal Jamie Stauder Forest Park Preschool

At Forest Park Preschool, we provide a nurturing and accepting educational setting for all children, regardless of ability. Your child will learn in an environment that is enhanced by research-based curriculum, intentional instruction and best practices proven to be effective for young children.

All children’s learning and development is improved when families are an integrated part of the preschool program. Our excellent faculty and staff are here to provide services designed to meet the needs of your child, to answer questions you have along the way and to offer the support network you need to watch your student grow and prosper.

Forest Park Preschool offers: • Personalized Attention – teachers give our students the individual attention they need and take an active interest in their success.

• Small Class Size – with an average class size of 15, Forest Park Preschool teachers can promote an exceptional educational experience every single day.

• Flexibility – Early Childhood Special Education (ECSE) and Blended Preschool options.

Learn more about Forest Park Preschool at

fpsd91.org/preschool

Wednesday Journal, March 25, 2020

OAKPARK.COM | RIVERFOREST.COM

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CORONAVIRUS WATCH

Abu-Taleb’s Maya terminates all restaurant staff Mayor says action makes staff eligible for unemployment insurance

By DAN HALEY Editor and Publisher

Maya del Sol, one of three restaurants owned by Oak Park Mayor Anan Abu-Taleb and his family, is currently terminating all 111 of its employees. With all three restaurants currently closed, Abu-Taleb says the action is necessary so that his staff is eligible to apply for unemployment insurance.

“Our business, like so many others, has come to a halt,” Abu-Taleb said CONTINUED UPDATES in a SaturFind helpful links to support local day interview. restauant employees online.

“Small business is fragile. We know this, too, shall pass. But we don’t know when.”

Abu-Taleb owns Maya del Sol on Oak Park Avenue, Pizza Capri in Lincoln Park and the previously shuttered Monnie’s in Pilsen.

The Pilsen restaurant closed recently for revamping but was still carrying a staff until the coronavirus pandemic hit.

Like other restaurants in Oak Park and elsewhere (see sidebar), Maya is asking customers to contribute to funds which would help support staff members. Gift card purchases made online will be split 50/50 ANAN ABU-TALEB between staff and Maya, Owner the restaurant. Or customers can simply make a donation to the staff fund.

“Nothing we do [for staff] will be sufficient. Our aim is to make it a little more tolerable,” he said.

“Over the years we have built a team focused on providing great food and service.

We are all so close. It is like family,” said Abu-Taleb.

He said some of his staff are among the most vulnerable workers in the country and asked that we “appeal to our humanity” in how they are treated. He said Maya “wants to bring the same team back together” when this crisis ends.

Maya closed entirely because it has never had a substantial takeout business, said Abu-Taleb. He also acknowledged that the upcoming patio dining season is a critical economic driver for Maya and that it is un-

Carry Out Oak Park site launches The Oak Park Economic Development Corporation launched a new website over the weekend which lists all the small businesses providing carry out and delivery services while Illinois is under a shelter-in-place order.

Called Carry Out Oak Park you can find it at carryoutoakpark.com.

“The reality is that what our business community looks like in the coming months depends on how much support we all provide today;” said Viktor Schrader, economic development director at OPEDC. “The site is community-based and community-built -- please help us maintain it and share it widely.”

Check out Carry Out Oak Park and help keep this valuable community resource up to date during this critical time.

clear when the restaurant will reopen.

“It is a double hit [without the patio]. We will be more devastated if we can’t reopen [in time for outdoor eating],” he said.

Abu-Taleb, who owns the property where Maya is located, urged local landlords to work with tenants while businesses are shuttered.

“People are being ordered to stay home,” Abu-Taleb said. “It is a situation no one wanted to be in. What we are going through right now is not the fault of anyone. The way out is to recognize that everyone is a first responder. We need to pull together. It’s critical. Landlords and tenants have to work together.”

He said business suppliers and utilities will also have to work cooperatively.

Speaking more broadly about the independent restaurant industry, Abu-Taleb said, “Our industry is devastated. Like most small businesses, we operate on a very tight cash flow. We are in a very big fight.”

Stepping back, Abu-Taleb said Americans are scared in this moment.

“We are fighting this war and we haven’t been told the truth,” Abu-Taleb said. “That scares everybody. That reality hasn’t hit home yet. We are short on medical supplies, first responders are at risk. This is scary.”

Beyond Hunger shifts to drive-thru to deliver food

Fundraisers cancelled, makes call for direct donations

By MELISSA ELSMO Oak Park Eats

Operations are in flux and systems are shifting swiftly at Beyond Hunger in the wake of the Covid-19 outbreak, but their commitment to staying open is unwavering. These unprecedented times have forced the 40-year-old organization to modify their traditional approach to addressing food insecurity in Oak Park and beyond.

Beyond Hunger, located in the lower level of First United Church of Oak Park at 848 Lake St., manages an anti-hunger organization servicing more than a dozen communities including several Chicago neighborhoods and multiple western suburbs.

During calmer times the food pantry prides itself on addressing the needs of families and individuals facing food insecurity by providing a dignified shopping experience where visitors shop for their own groceries. Since social distancing practices have taken effect in Illinois Beyond Hunger has reacted assertively to get food into the hands of those in need.

“We are doing everything we can to always provide food, maximize social distancing and minimize wait times,” says

Michele Zurakowski, Beyond Hunger executive director. “As a result, we’ve moved to a modified drive-through model — think of it as a fast food drive thru.”

Pantry manager, Ricardo Garcia, came up with the inventive solution.

The adapted approach still prioritizes personal choice by asking clients to select from a menu of available items including meats, fresh vegetables, breads, fruits and canned items. After placing an order for their preferred items, visitors wait in their cars or outside while volunteers fill and pack the order. The packages are then passed off to clients through a window.

Zurakowski said the drive-thru model, used for the first time March 14, successfully reduced the number of volunteers needed to get food out during the hours the pantry is open and limited points of contact between visitors and volunteers.

“We served more than 150 people last weekend;” said Zurakowski, “everyone was patient and very grateful we were open.”

In addition to reassuring current pantry clients who are naturally feeling anxious and worried during these uncertain times, Beyond Hunger is bracing for an increase in first-time visitors. The financial toll Covid-19 related closures will likely bring families and individuals to the pantry for the first time in the coming weeks and months. As a result, Beyond Hunger has been singularly focused on getting a handle on pantry operations in the

past week.

All this change and innovation comes at a time when Beyond Hunger is typically poised to generate substantial fundraising revenue for its non-profit programs. The Healthy Chef Challenge, scheduled for early April, has been cancelled. The public cooking competition is wellattended in the community and Beyond Hunger anticipated the sponsored event would generate $40,000. The organization’s Can-Do Community Challenge also kicks off in spring. As part of the challenge, students from D97, D90, D200 and local private schools raise approximately $12,000 for the food pantry. With school closures in full effect the organization can no longer count on those funds.

Facing a $52,000 deficit while needs for pantry services are increasing has forced Beyond Hunger to think creatively about fundraising. To offset the losses, the organization is inviting community members to host a virtual food drive or make direct donations. The funds collected will be used to stock the pantry in the coming weeks; Donated dollars can be used to purchase large quantities of food that meets the food pantry’s nutritional goals.

“Community members want to help,” said Zurakowski, “and we know how to make the most of monetary donations thanks to deep relationships with wholesalers and the federal government.”

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Wednesday Journal, March 25, 2020

OAKPARK.COM | RIVERFOREST.COM

CORONAVIRUS WATCH

FLW Trust cuts staff, moves Wright Plus to June 27 Tour sites in Oak Park, Chicago now closed

By LACEY SIKORA Real Estate Editor

On March 20, Celeste Adams, CEO of the Frank Lloyd Wright Trust, emailed staff and volunteers to announce that, due to the coronavirus-forced-closings of its tours and buildings, the Trust was forced to temporarily reduce staff and cut hours for remaining staff. The Trust also moved its annual spring housewalk, Wright Plus from May 16 to June 27 in response to the pandemic.

Adams says the March 17 forced closure of the Trust sites – the Home and Studio, the Frederick C. Robie House, the Emil Bach

House, Unity Temple, and the Rookery – made it necessary to drastically reduce the hours of the majority of staff and also furlough some of the Trust’s employees.

“Like all not-for-profits, the Trust operates on a narrow margin,” said Adams. “For the Trust, tourism season is mid-March through October. The largest amount of revenue comes in during that time frame. A closure that comes in March comes at a low point with our internal resources.”

Adams says she hopes the Trust will be able to re-open sites, rebound and welcome back employees with open arms. She points out the crisis for the Trust is the same crisis felt by all small businesses and not-for-profits and praises the Trust’s workforce and volunteers for their dedication.

She adds, “We feel confident we will sur-

vive. We are doing everything to secure the funding we need to weather this difficult interim period. We have donors at the Trust who have given loyally for years, and at this moment, we feel this love.”

Adams posted a letter on the Trust’s website, www.flwright.org, asking for donor support during this period, and says she and others at the Trust continue to look at every resource to evaluate the current situation and project how the organization can remain healthy going forward.

As a part of the effort, Wright Plus, now in its 46th year, has been pushed back to June 27. Adams said Wright Plus has never been cancelled, and that this is the first year the Trust has had to deal with a national emergency in planning for the walk.

“We have sold over half of our tickets, and

we notified all of the ticket holders about the change in date. We notified the homeowners first, and all were happy to move the date. We’re in a national situation that’s evolving daily. We feel such gratitude to the homeowners, the ticket holders and the volunteers. We are all in this together.”

Due to the uncertainty, Adams says the Trust is shifting marketing of the walk to the surrounding region, and notes that over 50 percent of attendees usually hail from Illinois. She also stresses the importance of the event to the architecture and cultural community. “Yes, the walk brings in money, but it’s primarily a learning experience. We’re in the place where architecture was born.

It’s a place unlike any other. Welcoming visitors here and giving them a valuable learning experience is what this is all about.”

BIG WEEK March 25-April 1

Deep Roots Project Edible Plant Sale Pre-order through April 20; pickup May 4 to 17 at Good Earth Green House

Choose organic and responsibly-grown tomatoes, greens, herbs, peppers and more in 3.75” pots while helping the nonprofit Deep Roots Project raise money for their educational and outreach events. Quantities are limited. Order/more: deep-roots-project. org/how-to-order-seedlings-and-seeds. Good Earth: 7900 Madison St., River Forest.

One Earth Film Fest Virtual Screenings, one through Thursday, March 26, one is ongoing

While the end of the One Erath Film Fest was altered by the effects of the coronavirus, the One Earth Team quickly moved to host virtual events. Two of these are still available. More: oneearthfilmfest.org/virtual-screenings •Hike the Divide follows Connor DeVane 2,700 miles across the Continental Divide Trail, and the community activists and problem solvers he meets as he seeks hope in the face of climate breakdown. Hear from DeVane after the film. Available through March 26. Free.

•Monty and Rose are endangered piping plovers that successfully nested at Chicago's Montrose Beach last summer, the first to do so in 64 years. Discussion with director and panel follows. $1.99 rental fee.

Bring the Zoo to You - Facebook Live Chats Weekdays through Friday, April 3, 11 to 11:30 a.m., Virtually from Brookfield Zoo Join Animal Care Specialists and a live animal each day for an educational talk. When animals of the day are posted, post questions in the comments section and zoo staff will try to answer them after the talk. Go to: Facebook.com/BrookfieldZoo. Missed live events (like the one about Casper the leucistic ball python and other snakes) may be viewed anytime on Facebook and the Brookfield Zoo YouTube channel.

Workout with the Park District of Oak Park Stay active while sheltering in place thanks to free programs from PDOP. Take a virtual Zumba class with PDOP instructor Toccara (youtube.com/watch?v= 3PZEvrK7V2g&feature=youtu.be). Enjoy a Yoga class with Noelle (youtube. com/watch?v=EoUuS5f-UJk). Strength training is available with fitness instructor M.E. (youtube.com/watch?v=PFW3rlWPg2c&feature=youtu.be).

NAMI Celebration of Hope April 3 raffle drawing While the fundraising event has been moved to October 16, raffle items for this summer are available now – Cubs tickets, a sunset sailboat cruise and accommodations in Cancun for a week. Only 100 tickets sold for each item. $25, $50 and $100 per entry. Proceeds support National Alliance on Mental Illness.

More: one.bidpal.net/namims/browse/featured.

A “Feast of Serendib” Book Launch Oak Park author Mary Anne Mohanraj had events canceled around the release of her new cookbook, which focuses on recipes of Sri Lanka. Signed and personalized copies are available, along with the option of Sri Lankan Curry Powder and Vegan Serendib. $5 - $45. serendibkitchen.com/shop.

Hemingway Shorts Deadline Tuesday, March 31 The Ernest Hemingway Foundation is holding its fifth global writing competition to give the top ten aspiring writers a chance to publish their works of fiction in Hemingway Shorts. $15.

Details: thehemingwayfoundation. submittable.com/submit.

Wednesday Journal, March 25, 2020

OAKPARK.COM | RIVERFOREST.COM

CORONAVIRUS WATCH

River Forest making sure older adults are safe Senior citizen task force coordinating with township

By MARIA MAXHAM Staff Reporter

River Forest is making sure its senior citizens are cared for during the coronavirus crisis. To assist River Forest Township carry out its already existent senior services, the village of River Forest has established the River Forest COVID-19 Senior Task Force. The groups are working together to support the health and safety of older residents in the village.

Helen Kwan is the coordinator of the new task force and is working with River Forest Township Supervisor Carla Sloan and Township Senior Services Director Pamela Mahn to make sure all older adults in the village are safe and have access to the services they need.

Letters from Kwan, Sloan, Mahn and Village President Cathy Adduci went out to all River Forest senior citizens identified as such through the senior citizen property tax exemption list, explaining the services available to seniors during the upcoming weeks and, maybe, months.

To reach senior citizens who aren’t property owners, postcards with the information will be sent to all residences in River Forest. “We want to reach as many people as we can,” said Kwan. “There might be senior citizens living with their children or renting here in the village.”

The letter and postcards outline the services available to seniors in the village.

“During this time of the COVID-19 pandemic, we at the Village of River Forest, River Forest Township, and Township Senior Services want to support the health and safety of you, our older adult residents regardless of health conditions,” reads the letter.

The COVID-19 Senior Task Force will support those existing services and provide volunteers to community members to assist with the following: ■ Grocery and prescription pickup ■ Dog walking ■ Snow removal and other non-direct contact needs And River Forest residents are really stepping up to help.

“We have over 100 volunteers so far,” said Kwan, who added that all volunteers are background checked through the township and will be provided with vests so they can

be easily identified out in the community.

The minimum age to volunteer is 16, said Kwan, and so far people who have signed up run the scope of age and occupation, including physicians.

“We want to stay ahead of this as much as possible,” said Kwan. “We really need to motivate the community to take care of its

community members.”

Older adults in River Forest can contact Township Senior Services at 708-383-8060 to talk to an intake staff member for assistance.

To volunteer for the task force or to make masks, email rfseniorhelp@gmail.com or call 708-613-1642.

Volunteers begin making face masks Kwan and village trustee Katie Brennan are also organizing residents to help make fabric masks for volunteers and seniors, coordinating with Liita Forsyth of The Little Bits Workshop to do so. Forsyth has put out an instructional video on DIY Victory Masks available at facebook.com/TheLittleBitsWorkshop/videos/882365465550478/.

In an email to residents, Kwan and Brennan put out the word that they’re looking for people who can sew, either by hand or machine, and they may have machines they can lend.

“This project will happen in your own homes. You can pick up the materials and drop off your finished masks, or we will do the legwork for you.”

Kwan said she hopes that if enough people step up to make masks, there will be extra to provide to grocery store clerks and others in essential businesses who interact with the public.

“We want to assist emergency rooms and urgent care centers who are struggling to keep PPEs available for employees,” said Kwan. “We know the masks might not be perfect in terms of infection control, but we’re doing the best we can to help. We are going to lean on everyone’s talents and skills,” said Kwan, who pointed out that these masks are not official N95 masks. Those who wish to help with masks can email the taskforce at rfseniorhelp@gmail.com or call 708-613-1642.

Excellence. It’s a highly skilled provider with a compassionate touch.

Rush Oak Park Physicians Group welcomes new internist Wendy Foster, MD, to Rush Oak Park Hospital.

• • •

Accepting new patients Same-day appointments Convenient location at 1011 W. Lake St.

Dr. Foster treats every patient like a member of her own family. Her personalized, comprehensive approach to care — from routine exams to managing chronic conditions to reducing your risk of disease — can help you lead a healthier life.

Call (708) 660-4636 today to schedule your appointment with Dr. Foster.

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Wednesday Journal, March 25, 2020

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ART BEAT

‘Methtacular!’ from the comfort of your couch ‘Methtacular!’ funny, fascinating, smartly filmed

Photo by Michael Brosilow

Steven Strafford performs in Methtacular! at 16th Street Theater and seen online.

By MICHELLE DYBAL

I

Contributing Reporter

t’s live theater in your living room, according to 16th Street Theater Artistic Director Ann Filmer. Or a reasonable facsimile of it. Their show “Methtacular!” opened by livestream on March 19.

The show, originally slated to open at their location at 6420 16th St. in Berwyn on the same day it began streaming, was already prepared. A one-person show with a sparse set meant a lot of work was not put into preproduction. But, crew had been paid for what was completed.

Then, news hit of shutdowns to hamper the spread of the coronavirus. It became clear the 60-seat theater could not hold live performances.

Filmer, who spoke on the phone from the theater location with their staff of three (including her) on site, said they are committed “to pay everyone for the full production.”

She also said the actors’ union, Actors’ Equity Association, had drawn up a contract for COVID-19 that enables their artists to get paid. 16th Street employs union talent.

One by one, well-known Chicago theaters such as Goodman, Victory Gardens and Court Theatre postponed or cancelled current productions with no other viewing options. (Goodman has a production from 2016, the play 2666 streaming for free from its website.)

Locally, Echo Theater Collective postponed “Exit Strategy” and “Rimers of Eldrich.” They plan to stream other content in the future.

But at 16th Street, the story has played out differently. Steven Strafford, the Chicago playwright and actor who created “Methtacular!” had put on the show in Chicago and New York to positive reviews. In May 2019, a live performance at Steppenwolf Theater,

Chicago, was produced with multiple cameras. It was ready to go.

The show is a humorous telling of a highly-personal three-year journey of drug addiction and Stafford’s younger self ’s wild sexual explorations as a gay male.

“Methtacular!” consists of Strafford and a piano player, and one “game show” segment with audience participation. In the 16th Street tradition, this will be supplemented on Thursday and Friday nights with audience talkbacks, only now they are accomplished using Zoom, a remote conferencing service.

The One Earth Film Festival used Zoom recently when it, too, went virtual to keep its festival going when it was no longer advisable to gather in large crowds. For example, more than 100 viewers joined in virtually watching “Monty and Rose,” heard from the filmmaker and environmental experts and participated in a virtual conversation.

Like any live performance, “Methtacular!” tickets are being sold for specific dates and times, the same as the original run for the play. Filmer calls this “a communal experience for a particular performance.”

Once a ticket is purchased, an email is sent an hour prior to show time. Options for viewing include a computer, phone, tablet or Smart TV. There will be an introductory “curtain speech video with recommendations of how best to enjoy your virtual, communal night.”

The show can be accessed until 11 p.m.

Talkback nights will include additional instructions to connect to a live experience with Steven Strafford. They are scheduled on Thursdays and Fridays from 9:15 to 9:30 p.m.

Streaming tickets can only be sold in the quantities equal to the number of seats in the theater due to contract rules, according to Filmer. So, when 60 tickets are sold to a single performance, no more access will be

The theater community has been hit hard by coronavirus. Theaters have been closed and many shows have been cancelled due to new regulations about social distancing. I was uplifted to learn 16th Street Theater was about to open “Methtacular!” virtually to comply with current rulings prohibiting gathering in place.

I found it’s really quite easy to stream this show at home. You simply buy one ticket per watcher for a set date and time.

Such streaming tickets cost $12 each -- $10 dollars for “admission” plus a $2 ticket fee.

One hour before show time, a ticket holder receives an email with a curtain speech introduction and a link with a password to view the production through Vimeo before midnight (Eastern). And, audience talk-backs will occur virtually on Thursday and Friday nights after the play, consistent with the live theater experience at 16th Street.

In this autobiographical show, Steven Strafford is both the playwright and the sole performer. He is a compelling, skillful storyteller with a great gift for comedy.

One might think an early life of drug addiction might be depressing material, but he heightens his story with lots of humor.

The play focuses on the early 2000s, when Strafford was a shy young gay man living in Chicago, developing a serious crystal meth addiction. Much of his tale is hilarious; many episodes are also harrowing. Amazingly and remarkably, he survived to share his story with us.

Director Adam Fitzgerald varies the pace and intensity, highlighting the humor while also underscoring the intensity of the topic.

Now in their 13th season, 16th Street Theater often premieres new works. But this production is one that has enjoyed successful runs at other companies. In fact, this streaming edition was filmed at Steppenwolf ’s 1700 Theatre.

With that company’s permission, this funny and fascinating performance is presented via a very smartly filmed version.

It is not simply a straightforward video of some guy doing an extensive monologue.

It is clearly a multi-camera shoot, with granted.

Tickets for streaming are $10, but the usual in-house prices for a live performance -$30 for a reserved seat, $18 to $22 for general admission – is still an option on the ticket buying site.

Filmer suggested those wanting to donate in support of the theater and its employees could choose these options when purchasing tickets. Employees who typically work during the show’s run still need to be paid.

top-notch editing and production values.

Strafford has a strong singing voice and provides some nice cabaret-style numbers which underscore events in his storyline.

A torch song, “Bring Down the House of Pain,” was particularly memorable.

We do not exactly learn how the young actor descended into such total meth addiction. But it’s all there -- his euphoria when he’s high, his wild, empty sex at North Side gay bath houses like “Man’s Country,” his drug-dealer boyfriend, his lying and denial, episodes of thievery and even brutal violence.

While some of this may sound horribly grim, Strafford has such charm and wit he comes off as a truly gifted stand-up comic.

We encounter little of the true pain and horror of meth addiction.

Most of his addiction occurs while he is developing a significant career in Chicago theater, appearing in such big shows as “Spamalot.”

At times a video screen in the background shows us Stafford’s mother, a woman who is distraught about her son’s challenges, but is not geographically close enough to come to his assistance. She wants him to return home and stay with her.

The opening is a take-off on those big old TV specials in which someone like Nell Carter or Ann-Margret would introduce the whole show. Television provides other inspiration, such as a funny episode that’s a game show. Several audience participants briefly play contestants on “What’s My Meth?”

“Methtacular!” ends on an upbeat note but perhaps Steven’s recovery is too quick, not developed enough. He overcomes his addiction and marries a nice man. But the finale leaves you laughing; this is not some preachy junior high counseling movie. Strafford leaves us wanting more, motivating us to think further about the issues and horrors of meth addiction.

The original music is by William TN Hall and Wade Elkins. Hall is also the piano player. The original video design is by Aaron Rhyne DOUG DEUCHLER. For viewers wanting to replicate the dinner-and-show experience, 16th Street has continued to partner with local restaurants for ticket holders. Special discounts or menus are being offered by Berwyn establishments Autre Monde, Bodhi Thai, Capri Due and Lavergne’s for carry out, curbside pickup or delivery.

The show runs through April 4. Tickets can be purchased from 16thstreettheater. org/productions/methtacular

Wednesday Journal, March 25, 2020

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CORONAVIRUS WATCH

Lake Street reconstruction continues

Workers carry on amid COVID-19 shutdown

By STACEY SHERIDAN Staff Reporter

Despite mounting positive COVID-19 cases and a statewide order to stay at home, reconstruction on Lake Street in Oak Park continues. Crews started work March 3, updating utilities, as well as removing and replacing sewers installed in the 1890s.

“The contractors are installing both the sewer and water main from Oak Park [Avenue] to Euclid [Avenue],” said Village Engineer Bill McKenna. McKenna says crews expect to have underground work finished by mid-May. The streetscaping portion extends on Lake Street from Harlem Avenue to Euclid Avenue, with an expected completion date of November.

“The timeline is still essentially the same,” said McKenna.

The village received $3 million in federal funding for the streetscaping which is planned to start at the end of this month.

“They would be starting work with doing temporary traffic signals,” said McKenna. “That would not be closing the roadway yet. We’d be doing some electrical work early on in the job and then go from there.”

Lake Street has seen minimal vehicular and pedestrian traffic lately, due to precautionary restaurant closures and social distancing in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to McKenna, construction workers are maintaining safe distances between each other to help protect them from catching the virus.

“They’re relatively small crews,” said McKenna. “In general, workers are not right on top of each other. There is space between workers just as a part of their normal kind of day-to-day operations and they’re outside.”

Photo by Mark Moroney

DIGGING IN PLACE: Work goes on near Lake Street and Oak Park Avenue despite the state’s shelter-in-place directive.

Oak Park defers to state shelter-in-place order

State’s order went into effect March 21 and extends until April 7

By STACEY SHERIDAN Staff Reporter

Although the village of Oak Park has been sheltering in place against COVID-19 since the Oak Park Health Department issued the order March 18, the village is now deferring to the similar stay-at-home order issued March 20 by Governor J.B. Pritzker.

The statewide protective order extends until April 7.

“The local shelter-in-place order will be rescinded in support of uniform criteria and enforcement across Illinois,” said village government in a news release.

Oak Park Public Health Director issued

the village’s shelter-in-place order after Mayor Anan Abu-Taleb of Oak Park declared a local state of emergency March 18 in response to the ever-evolving COVID-19 situation.

The two orders have essentially the same directives and definitions of essential activities, businesses and services.

Just like the village’s order to shelter in place, the state’s order allows people to continue carrying out essential activities, such as grocery shopping, picking up prescriptions and visiting medical care providers.

Essential businesses may also remain open including auto repair shops, banks, press outlets, utility services and more.

Restaurants can continue delivery and carryout operations under the state’s order, as they had previously under the village’s shelter-in-place order.

Fire and police departments, medical care

facilities and public benefits hotlines, as well as other essential services, will remain open.

“Oak Park will exclusively follow state guidelines for enforcement,” the village news release said.

According to the State of Illinois Coronavirus (COVID-19) Response section of the state’s website, “Law enforcement officials will not stop residents who are on their way to or from work or who are out for necessities like going to the pharmacy or getting groceries, or just taking a walk.”

Additionally, “People gathering in groups over 10 may be asked to social distance or go home. Illinoisans should abstain from all nonessential activities. Adhering to the order will save lives and it is the responsibility of every Illinoisan to do their part.”

The Illinois National Guard will not help in enforcing the stay-at-home order. Rather,

it will support logistics, transportation and medical response efforts.

The state’s website also dictates state agencies are partnering with community organizations to provide funding and resources to ensure people experiencing homelessness have safe shelter during the COVID-19 crisis.

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Wednesday Journal, March 25, 2020

PLEDGE

Creating community from page 1 the block this morning to bring everyone out, then used the bullhorn to lead everyone in the pledge,” Lewis said.

Dorothy Houlihan, who lives on the next block, was driving past on her way home from picking up groceries when she saw her neighbors all lined up. Houlihan works at the River Forest Public Library, which has since closed due to COVID-19.

“I saw that there were families with children, younger children, standing out front of their houses,” said Houlihan. “I’m thinking myself, ‘Oh, they are not all gathering together, are they? For goodness’ sake!’ But no, it was each family separate.’”

When she learned what they were doing, she hopped out of her car, stood at a distance and joined in reciting the pledge.

“It was such a dreary gray morning and it brought tears to my eyes because this is such a lovely way to maintain some normalcy and schedule and a sense of community without putting anyone at risk,” Houlihan said. “It was so touching.”

While the pledge is very short, its sentiment carries newfound weight in the time of COVID-19 and the ever-mounting alarm surrounding it.

The neighborhood started the ritual March 19 and intends to keep it up until schools reopen.

“I suspect the adults appreciated this more than the kids or maybe it’s because we have teens who would prefer to sleep a bit late,” Lewis said. “Regardless, we are hoping to continue this as a way to support each other and gather, from an appropriate social distance, and to kick off the remote/ distance/e-learning school day.”

Houlihan plans to continue reciting the pledge with her neighbors each morning even though she doesn’t live on that block and her children have all grown up.

“I’m planning on being out there at 8:30 tomorrow morning. It’s a reason to get up,” she said. “It’s a reason for me to get out of bed in the morning and put on my clothes and get out there. We all need a reason, you know?”

As the COVID-19 crisis continues, families and individuals have holed up in isolation for fear of catching or spreading coronavirus.

“They’re kind of scary times and they make you afraid to be around people,” Lewis’s wife Megan said. “It’s hard to think about being in community when you can’t physically be in community. And so, you have to be creative.”

The 800 block of Linden Avenue has creatively maintained its sense of community.

Separated only by a boundary of physical space, the neighborhood is, as the pledge says, indivisible.

“It’s a cliché in Oak Park that every block thinks that they live on the best block in town,” Lewis said. “But we agree. We think that we do live on the best block in town.”

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R I G H T

A T

H O M E

Neighbors celebrate St. Pat’s safely

Shamrock scavenger hunts offer alternative celebration

By STACEY SHERIDAN Staff Reporter

The COVID-19 crisis has the prompted cancelation of many beloved springtime events. St. Patrick’s Day – celebrated widely in the Chicago area – fared no differently.

Unlike St. Patrick’s Day celebrations past, Chicago had no parade this year. The Chicago River stayed its normal color, instead of being dyed a luridly festive shade of green.

However, many households in Oak Park hung shamrocks in their windows, creating a walking shamrock scavenger hunt for children.

“I don’t know where it started, but it spread. It was something easy people could do quickly, and kids had fun,” said Beth Houle, who lives on Humphrey Avenue.

On Houle’s block, a neighbor suggested the idea in a neighborhood email chain.

Houle thinks over 100 households, including her own, put up shamrocks. Even though St. Patrick’s Day has come and gone, some homes still have their sham-

rocks displayed.

On bikes and on foot, kids and their parents kept count of how many shamrocks in windows they found, while maintaining a safe distance apart from others.

“We all wanted to just do something simple for fun, especially for the younger children,” Houle said.

With the closures of schools, kids have had only digital interaction, if any at all, with their friends. Nor are young kids likely to understand why the intangible pandemic has forced them to be separated from friends.

“It’s no fun being cooped up,” said Houle.

“They just know that they’re being kept inside or only with their family and not with friends that they want to be with.”

Angie Hawkins, who also lives on Humphrey Avenue, did the scavenger hunt with her two sons, ages eight and 11. They also put up shamrocks in their window.

“It was just kind of a nice break to go do something outside for a little bit and have a purpose to be outside,” Hawkins said.

Having her two boys home from school has been a little chaotic, she said, and the boys have a lot of energy to spare.

“Normally at school, they make leprechaun traps or something like that,” Hawkins said. “It was fun to have some-

thing to do.”

Both of her sons enjoyed going on the scavenger hunt, even though she worried her eldest son might have found it a little childish.

“I kind of thought my 11-year-old would think it was dumb, but I think he was excited to have some sort of scheduled activity since everything’s been kind of canceled,” Hawkins said.

Hawkins described her neighborhood as very community oriented. The block has two block parties a year and, in the wintertime, adults in the neighborhood have monthly progressive cocktail and dinner parties. She expects the neighborhood will continue doing little fun activities while under the state’s order to stay at home.

While Houle’s children are too old for neighborhood scavenger hunts, they appreciated how much other kids enjoyed it.

“I think they liked the fact that we participated,” Houle said. “We’re talking a lot about things we can be doing other people.”

Each night while stuck at home, every member in Houle’s family calls a friend or family member to check in. Houle said the practice has led to some “amazing conversations.”

Little Free Library becomes depository Neighbors stock the cabinet with food and supplies

By STACEY SHERIDAN Staff Reporter

Neighbors living in the 500 block of South Kenilworth Avenue in Oak Park have converted their Little Free Library into a food and supplies depository to help those in need during the COVID-19 crisis.

“It’s small, but it’s got canned goods and hand sanitizer and some wipes,” said Melinda Wright, the steward of the little library-turned-pantry and on whose property it sits.

Like countless others, households on Wright’s block are feeling the strain of COVID-19, as the virus continues to wreak havoc on the world’s economy and wellbeing.

“We’ve got a mixed group of people on our block. We’ve got two physicians, one psychologist, and we’ve got people that work in the food industry that have lost their jobs and are potentially struggling to make ends meet right now,” Wright said.

Elderly and immunocompromised people also live on the block; neighbors have

offered to pick up groceries and prescriptions for them.

“Our block has really come together,” Wright said.

The Little Free Library non-profit organization encourages book sharing in communities through installing registered outdoor bookcases. Wright’s father-in-law built their neighborhood’s Little Free Library bookcase, making it slightly larger than most. One side still holds books, while the other has such COVID-19 commodities as anti-bacterial cleaning products, rice and cans of beans.

“Anybody can donate, and anybody can take,” Wright said.

One of Wright’s neighbors suggested turning the bookcase into a multi-use stockpile of both provisions and literature.

“Five minutes after I got off the phone, I walked out and I took everything out, I moved everything to one side, and then we sent a block email out and to let everyone know,” Wright said.

Now, with support from the neighborhood, the pantry is loaded up with pantry standards now being coveted like treasure.

People can take what they need without having to draw attention to themselves or their circumstances.

“It’s a way for our block at least to help

people and to do it in a way that no one has to know who takes anything out of the pantry,” Wright said.

Wright hopes that more neighborhoods will join in and do something creative together to benefit the community and help others, as her block has.

“There are so many little free libraries in our community,” she said. “Maybe it’s an idea for other blocks to do this because you just never know who on your block is in need or who’s lost their job because of this.

You never know who’s struggling.”

Wednesday Journal, March 25, 2020

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9

CORONAVIRUS WATCH

Well-stocked Carnival Grocery is open for business

No, owner Arthur Paris does not understand bulk TP compulsion

By MELISSA ELSMO Oak Park Eats Editor

“I am a little bashful,” said Arthur Paris, owner of Oak Park’s Carnival Grocery, as news reporters entered the Oak Park store Friday, March 20.

Nevertheless, just as crews from ABC 7 and Fox 32 finished setting up their cameras and microphones, Paris took his place in the spotlight. Recording with ABC 7 and commenting live on Fox, Paris talked about the impact Oak Park’s shelter-in-place mandate has had on his business – the coverage was completed with total respect for social distancing practices.

“We have a community atmosphere and we are here to support each other,” said Paris, commenting while on camera.

Paris and Carnival Grocery, 824 S. Oak Park Ave., caught media attention because of their careful and measured approach to addressing the coronavirus outbreak in the village. The independent grocery store has done four times its usual business over the past six days and yet, the establishment has a solid inventory of staples available daily and managed to keep customers satisfied.

“We’re holding up well,” said Paris after the filming ended, “the most important thing

to remember is we have groceries to sell.”

He said it will continue to remain important for customers to avoid panicking during these unprecedented times. Items in the store may run out, but shortages will be brief. Carnival is ordering assertively, and shelves are restocked daily.

He noted bread and milk have been most difficult to keep in adequate supply as customers have been quick to stock up. Highquality meat and produce have remained in consistent supply under increased customer demand. As far as toilet paper goes, Paris is perplexed by the excess purchasing, noting a customer purchased a shopping cart full of single rolls just a few days ago.

In response to the COVID-19 outbreak, Carnival Grocery has discontinued the use of their salad bar and self-serve prepared foods. Its delivery services to the elderly and disabled are still fully operational.

“Customers are really appreciative that we are able to get them in and out of the store as quickly and safely as possible,” said Paris, “and that we do it in a relaxed and easy atmosphere.”

Briana Wilson has been working as a checker at Carnival Grocery for nearly six months; she cheerfully greets customers as they walk through the door and carefully packs all grocery orders.

“Lines have been long, but people have been patient and nice about the situation we’re in,” said Wilson. “Actually, I think kindness is up among customers.”

A descendant of Italian grocers, Paris has worked in the grocery business for

ALEX ROGALS/Staff Photographer

NEIGHBORHOOD STORE: Christine Green of Oak Park shops last week at Carnival Grocery on Oak Park Avenue. nearly 25 years. After purchasing Carnival Grocery in 2014, he has been busy building up a positive reputation in Oak Park. Now, with the shelter in place order in effect, Paris’s thoughtful approach to ordering, restocking and customer service is setting the standard for grocery stores in the time of

COVID-19 madness. Still, the veteran grocer remains humble.

“It is gratifying to have your work appreciated,” said Paris of the media coverage, “but independent businesses are part of the community and we are responsive to the community.”

C R I M E

Oak Park resident victim of armed robbery An unknown armed assailant robbed an Oak Park resident at 8:39 p.m. on March 17 in the first block of Washington Boulevard. The offender showed a handgun and demanded the Oak Park resident’s property. The resident subsequently handed over keys, a cell phone and a wallet containing miscellaneous cash and credit cards.

The offender then took the resident’s vehicle which was parked nearby. The vehicle was later recovered in the 300 block of North Pine Avenue, Chicago. The estimated loss is $20.

Aggravated robbery A masked man implied he had a gun while another masked man struck the checkout clerk at 7-Eleven, 515 Madison St., at 3:29 a.m. on March 19. The two offenders then removed miscellaneous lottery tickets and an unknown amount of cash from the register. Both offenders were last seen fleeing westbound.

Theft ■ A light blue Townie Electra bicycle was taken out of

the

basement of a building in the 400 block of Wisconsin Avenue sometime between Feb. 16 and March 16.

■ A package from Imperfect Foods containing fruits and vegetables was taken from an apartment lobby in the 1100 block of Ontario Street between 5:10 p.m. and 7 p.m., Feb. 27.

Estimated loss is $35.

■ A package containing prescription medication was taken from an apartment lobby in the 1100 block of Ontario Street between 8 a.m. and 5:15 p.m. on Feb. 20. The estimated loss is $15.

■ A Sony DVD player, DirecTV box and two lamps were taken out of a parked truck in the 1300 block of North Austin Boulevard between 1:15 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. on March 19.

The estimated loss is $750.

Burglary Someone entered a parked vehicle, possibly through an unlocked door and ransacked its interior overnight on March 18-19 in the 500 block of South Grove Avenue. Police reported no loss.

Criminal damage to property

■ A person threw a large rock through a front living room window of a home in the 900 block of North Lombard Avenue between midnight and 8 a.m. on March 16. Police estimate the damage at $300.

■ Someone damaged a wooden fence by knocking it over and out of the ground between 11 a.m., March 10 and 6:30 p.m., March 16 in the 200 block of North Marion Street. The estimated damage is $400.

■ A large rock was thrown at the front window of Manouche, a retail store at 146 N. Oak Park Ave., sometime between 3 p.m. on March 15 and 5:10 p.m. on March 17. The estimated loss is $1,500.

These items, obtained from the Oak Park Police Department, came from reports March 16-23 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

10

Wednesday Journal, March 25, 2020

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D97 hires three new building principals

Board appoints top personnel at Lincoln, Beye and Mann

By MICHAEL ROMAIN Staff Reporter

During a virtual meeting held March 17, the District 97 school board approved the appointment of three building principals for the 2020-21 school year. Due to the developing COVID-19 pandemic, the board conducted the meeting by way of Zoom, a videoconferencing service. The public was allowed to join the meting by using a dial-in access code.

The school board voted unanimously to appoint Jennifer Schemidt to be the new principal of Beye Elementary School and for Hussain Ali to take the helm at Mann Elementary School. The board voted 5-2 for Ryan Gordon to serve as co-interim principal at Lincoln Elementary School.

At Beye, Schemidt will replace Jonathan Ellwanger, who is retiring in June after more than 30 years at the school. According to a D97 statement released Wednesday,

Schemidt comes to D97 from Maplebrook Elementary School, part of the 14-school Naperville Community Unit School District 203. She was an assistant principal for three years, as well as a co-director of the school district’s summer program. Schemidt worked 14 years as a school psychologist before becoming an administrator.

She has a master’s degree in educational psychology from National-Louis University and a master’s degree in educational administration from Northern Illinois University.

Schemidt obtained her bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Evansville and a degree in school psychology from the University of Detroit-Mercy, district officials stated.

Ali, who will replace Cheryl Sullivan as principal, was a student support specialist at Beye from 2015 to 2017, and an interim assistant principal at Longfellow, before leaving to take the principal position at Poupard Elementary School in Grosse Pointe, Mich. Ali started teaching first- and fourth-graders in Michigan’s public schools, district officials stated.

Ali has a bachelor’s degree in education

from Western Michigan University. He also has a master’s degree in education administration from Michigan State University, D97 officials stated.

Ryan Gordon, who will team with Sheila Carter as co-principal at Lincoln, has been an assistant principal at Julian Middle School since 2018.

Before coming to D97, Gordon was a Chicago Public Schools teacher for 11 years.

She obtained her bachelor’s degree in elementary education from Southern Illinois University Carbondale and her master’s degree in educational administration from Concordia University, D97 officials stated.

The district recommended that Gordon stay at Lincoln until the 2020-21 academic year. Her contract “will be brought to the school board at a future meeting,” D97 officials said.

“Over the last six weeks, we have been engaged in an after-action review in order to improve the recruitment, hiring and mentoring process for the leadership at Lincoln,” stated D97 Supt. Carol Kelley. “We have also heard from staff and families who are seeking stability and a strong system of

Workers at OPRF to get extra pay

Board also grants Supt.

Pruitt-Adams emergency power to hire essential staff

By MICHAEL ROMAIN Staff Reporter

Workers who come into Oak Park and River Forest High School while the village is in lockdown will be paid time-and-a-half. The District 200 board voted 6-1 on the compensation agreement with local unions at a March 19 board meeting. Board member Craig Iseli voted against the motion.

The pay increase applies to workers performing essential services at the high school — from maintenance workers making sure the campus is clean to the people preparing free and reduced meals for students to technology specialists fixing the Google Chromebooks that are essential for students to do online learning at home.

During Thursday’s meeting, which was conducted on a videoconferencing service, D200 Supt. Joylynn Pruitt-Adams said the extra pay will give essential workers an incentive to come into work even as many of their colleagues may be at home earning

paid leave.

“We needed to have some type of incentive for people to come in versus them saying, ‘Well everyone else is getting paid to stay at home,’” the superintendent said. “So it was our way of incentivizing people to come in.”

Some board members said the added pay also acknowledges the additional health risks that some workers are taking on during the lockdown.

“I feel it’s very fair and only reasonable to provide more compensation for those coming in,” said board member Matt Baron.

“Individuals that come in are being exposed to additional risk from a health standpoint,” said board member Ralph Martire. “I think we should acknowledge that.”

On March 18, Mayor Anan AbuTaleb declared a public state of emergency and issued a shelter-in-place order. On Friday, Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced that he will implement a similar shelter in place order that applies across the state.

According to a previous Wednesday Journal report, “Under the shelter-in-place order, people are only allowed to leave their residences for ‘essential activities, essential governmental functions, or to operate essential businesses.’”

During the March 19 meeting, the D200 school board also voted unanimously to give Supt. Pruitt-Adams

the authority to hire essential staff and take other measures that are necessary to the functioning of the district.

Pruitt-Adams said administrators first presented the measure to the board before Gov. J.B. Pritzker used his emergency powers to waive part of the Illinois Open Meetings Act, so that public bodies across the state can conduct their meetings remotely.

“When we first brought this forward, we had not had the authority yet to do a virtual meeting and this is just in case of an emergency, where we don’t have a quorum,” Pruitt-Adams said. “This gives me the authority to make sure that bills get paid.”

The superintendent said that now that the board can conduct virtual meetings, the emergency measure is not as necessary. Still, she said, the precaution may come into play if a quorum can’t be established because a majority of board members doesn’t call in.

“This only goes into effect if we can’t make a quorum of the board,” she said. Pruitt-Adams said that if she’s not available to make critical emergency decisions regarding essential hires and contracts, then the emergency authority will be passed to either Associate Supt. Greg Johnson or Roxana Sanders, D200’s HR director.

CONTACT: michael@oakpark.com

support for the school. During the interview process, Ryan Gordon emerged as a dynamic and capable administrator who understands that trust and collaborative working relationships are part of the foundation of every school community.”

District 97 officials stated that the principal selections at Beye and Mann took place after a “rigorous recruitment process” that involved surveys and focus groups for parents and staff members, interviews with district administrators, screening interviews and site visits with Supt. Kelley, among other measures.

“I am deeply grateful to all the parents and staff members who were involved in our principal searches over the past several months—from those who helped us build our candidate profiles to the representatives who served on our interview teams,” Kelley said. “After an extensive search and interview process, we are thrilled to announce three exceptional administrators who will be leading Beye, Mann and Lincoln next year.”

CONTACT: michael@oakpark.com

AP tests to be offered online

The College Board has announced that it will administer Advanced Placement (AP) exams for the 2019-20 school year online.

Oak Park and River Forest High School students will be able to take a 45-minute exam online at their homes, according to guidelines established by the Illinois State Board of Education. The news comes after Gov. J.B. Pritzker mandated that all schools in the state close last week in order to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus.

Karin Sullivan, District 200’s communications director, said that the district is following ISBE’s direction when it comes to the online exams.

As of March 20, state educators were working on selecting questions for the exams, which students will be able to take on their computers, tablets or smartphones.

“To be fair to all students, some of whom have lost more instructional time than others, the exam will only include topics and skills most AP teachers and students have already covered in class by early March,” according to ISBE’s guidance.

The state board also acknowledged that some low-income and rural students who lack digital access may not be able to participate.

“Working with partners, College Board will invest so that these students have the tools and connectivity they need to review AP content online and take the exam,” ISBE said. “The exam questions are designed in ways that prevent cheating; College Board is using a range of digital security tools and techniques, including plagiarism detection software, to protect the integrity of the exams.”

Starting March 25, students and teachers will be able to attend “free, optional live AP review courses, delivered by AP teachers from across the country,” ISBE announced. “Courses will also be recorded and available on-demand. These mobilefriendly classes are designed to be used alongside work schools may continue to assign.”

Michael Romain

Wednesday Journal, March 25, 2020

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Lawmaker urges governor to reopen nearby hospital

Rep. Welch, hospital association recommend reopening Westlake Hospital in Melrose Park

By MICHAEL ROMAIN Staff Reporter

An area lawmaker and various hospital administrators across the state are urging Gov. J.B. Pritzker to reopen shuttered hospitals, including Westlake Hospital, 1225 W. Lake St. in Melrose Park, in order to shore up resources in the fight against the spread of COVID-19.

According to a new analysis by the Harvard Global Health Institute, many parts of the country will not have enough hospital beds if the novel coronavirus spreads beyond the capacity of medical providers to handle the virus.

“In 40 percent of markets around the country, hospitals would not be able to make enough room for all the patients who became ill with Covid-19, even if they could empty their beds of other patients,” according to a New York Times report. “That statistic assumes that 40 percent of adults become infected with the virus over 12

HOUSING FORWARD Shelter closed from page 1 that moving clients from a group setting to individual accommodations was the best solution,” Johnson said.

In a turnaround of about 28 hours from the time they received notice, Housing Forward finished moving people into new housing the evening of Sunday, March 22.

New accommodations include vacant apartments donated to Housing Forward by local landlords. Housing Forward also got support needed to put clients up in hotel rooms.

“It was a true community effort to make this happen,” said Johnson.

According to Johnson, the Housing Forward program team is working to communicate with everyone who may have come into close contact with the afflicted staff member, so that they may seek medical attention.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) defines close contact as being within six feet or less of an individual diagnosed with COVID-19.

Housing Forward normally operates rotating nightly shelters out of alternating church and temple locations. That system has temporarily shut down due to COVID-19 health concerns. According to Johnson, Housing Forward does not know when the organization will return to the rotational

months, a scenario described finalizing the purchase of as ‘moderate’ by the team beWestlake and two other hoshind the calculations.” pitals, including West SuburAccording to an interactive ban Medical Center in Oak map available at both ProPubliPark. ca and the New York Times, “What we have learned if 40 percent of adults are inabout the COVID-19 panfected with the virus over 12 demic is that it will continue months, the west suburban reto put a major strain on our gion (represented by Melrose health care facilities and Park) “would need to empty or their ability to properly treat add the equivalent of 97 perall patients that need care,” cent of its occupied beds.”

Welch said. “In order to proYesterday, “state officials also EMMANUEL ‘CHRIS’ WELCH tect the health and safety of reported 134 new cases, bringour communities, we have to 7th District Representative ing the statewide total to 422, expand access to health care with at least four deaths,” according to a re- resources for coronavirus patients and all port by the Chicago Tribune. other individuals seeking medical attention.

On Thursday, Pritzker called up about 60 That is why I am calling on Gov. Pritzker to members of the Illinois National Guard to reopen Westlake Hospital to help provide help provide medical expertise and to per- additional medical resources and services form various tasks, such as handing out to our neighbors who need it most.” food to those in need, across the state.

According to a Tribune report, a spokesIn a statement released on March 20, state person for the Illinois Health and Hospitals Rep. Emanuel “Chris” Welch (7th), whose Association also recommended that Pritzdistrict includes parts of River Forest, said ker consider reopening Westlake, along that the guardsmen should also help reopen with two other hospitals across the state the shuttered Westlake hospital, which that closed within the last two years: Metro closed last year. The hospital’s for-profit South Medical Center in Blue Island and Viparent company, California-based Pipeline bra Hospital in Springfield.

Health, announced its intention to close the “Whether expanded facilities come from institution in early 2019, just weeks after reopened hospitals, converted vacant space shelter model. Nor does the organization know how long individual accommodations for its clients will continue.

“We don’t have a black and white answer on that,” Johnson said. “Our initial period of time is for 14 days. We have every thought that that might be longer.”

Housing Forward has funding coming in from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The organization may also possibly receive funding from other public sources, according to Johnson.

“What we believe is coming in and what we know is coming in allowed us to make the commitment,” Johnson said. “Keep in mind this was in a 28-hour period, so we had to move nimbly, but also responsibly.”

Housing Forward has already begun strategizing for the immediate future should another positive diagnosis happen.

According to Johnson, the staff member who tested positive has been following the advice of medical care professionals.

“Our staff member is constantly in all our board and staff ’s thoughts,” he said.

Johnson said the staff member has been in touch with Housing Forward, helping to identify the people with whom they were in close contact.

Housing Forward has a registered nursing professional on staff, as well as a volunteer nursing professional.

“We have been screening our clients daily for any symptoms,” said Johnson, for the safety of individual clients, the entire client population and that of staff and volunteers.

11

or temporary construction carried out by the National Guard It’s not going to be instantaneous. You still to have to get equipment there, and that takes time,” Chun told Tribune reporters.

“I applaud Gov. Pritzker for the bold action he has taken so far to protect the public health of our state, including enlisting the help of the Illinois National Guard,” Welch said on Friday. “In his daily news briefing yesterday, Gov. Pritzker mentioned that the National Guard’s work could potentially include reopening previously closed hospitals. I strongly encourage the governor to explore this option and specifically look toward to reopening Westlake Hospital during this challenging time.”

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sponsored

A letter from Edward-Elmhurst Health Edward-Elmhurst Health is prepared and has a coordinated, well-executed plan to address the coronavirus pandemic.

While the community at large does their best to maintain social distance, our healthcare professionals are coming in every day to take care of our patients.

We’re deeply grateful for and so proud of our staff, who are working hard and dedicating themselves to keeping our patients—and each other—safe.

We’re also thankful for the support from our local, state and federal officials. From the federal coronavirus relief package signed into law March 18 to the Department of Health and Human Services allowing doctors to practice across state lines, these legislative measures help immensely.

Our elected officials are supporting our efforts, working to secure essential financial aid and promoting the message of social distancing to stop the spread of COVID-19.

Amid this crisis, Edward-Elmhurst Health, along with most of the healthcare organizations in the country, is facing a shortage of supplies: critical resources like masks, ventilators, hand sanitizer and personal protective equipment.

In order to keep everyone as healthy as possible and maximize our capacity to care for everyone who needs medical treatment, we rely on your help.

4 Stay home if possible. This is of utmost importance.

If you don’t need to go out, don’t. Work from home and keep your children active but maintain social distance. We appreciate the support of our mayors and the governor, who have taken action to ensure social distancing.

4 Don’t use medical supplies unnecessarily or stockpile essential medical supplies. Things like masks and hand sanitizer are important to healthcare professionals who are caring for COVID-19 patients. Instead, follow the recommendations the CDC offers on its website to protect yourself from coronavirus.

4 Donate blood. Now that everyone is staying home, the number of blood donors has dropped. It may sound counterintuitive to go out to a blood drive, but we are encouraging healthy donors to give blood. Red Cross has put new safety measures in place to protect staff and donors, including checking the temperature of staff and donors before they enter a drive location, providing hand sanitizer throughout the donation process and spacing beds in accordance with social distancing guidelines. More attention is also being given to disinfecting surfaces and equipment. Versiti.org lists donation locations on its web page.

4 Wash your hands often with soap and water, don’t touch your face, and avoid contact with sick people.

4 If you start to feel symptoms—fever, cough, shortness of breath—stay home and call your physician or the Illinois Department of Public Health hotline, 800-889-3931. They will give you direction on next steps to take. Your cooperation with this is essential to contain the spread of this virus.

Our website, EEHealth.org, is a key source of information on how you can maintain your physical and mental health, as well as the latest information on what we’re doing about coronavirus. Visit our frequently updated page, EEHealth.org/coronavirus.

We appreciate your cooperation and support during this pandemic.

Know that we are working tirelessly to keep you well.

Mary Lou Mastro, System CEO, Edward-Elmhurst Health Sanjeeb Khatua, MD, Chief Physician Executive and Incident Commander, Edward-Elmhurst Health Ron Schubel, Chairman of the Board of Trustees, Edward-Elmhurst Health

OAKPARK.COM | RIVERFOREST.COM

Wednesday Journal, March 25, 2020

Edward Hospital – Back row: Colleen Lynch, RN; Martina Gerlak, RN; Amber Robinson, PCT; Agnes Ramos, PCT; Angela Deangelis, RN; Carol Herrera, RN; Sherri Johnson, PCT. Front row: Kelly Lepak, RN; Sean Foley, RN; Adora Grace Siapno, RN; Mary Gene Ordinario, RN; Betsy Hickman, RN; Marquisha Moore; Kelsey O’Connor, RN

Elmhurst Hospital – Back row: Christopher Shinneman, MD; Barb Czuprynko, PCT; Chris Quinn, RN; Nikki Newton, RN; Moses Lugo, PCT; Daniel Bolitho, PCT; Natalyn Wong, MD; Melanie Reetz, RN; Sarah Leone, PCT; Dana Escamilla, RN; Mark Corsello, RN. Front row: Paulina Schuch, RN; Lexie Olson, RN; Robert Rawls, Chaplain; Vivian Giordano, RN; Slade Zajac, RN

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Wednesday Journal, March 25, 2020

OAKPARK.COM | RIVERFOREST.COM

Davis wins comfortably, but coronavirus is top of mind Boykin loses circuit court clerk race, while Foxx defeats Conway

By MICHAEL ROMAIN Staff Reporter

Congressman Danny K. Davis cruised to victory in the Democratic primary on March 17 to once again become his party’s nominee for Congress in Illinois’ 7th District.

The 24-year incumbent won Chicago with 66 percent of the vote and won the Cook County suburbs with 52 percent of the vote.

None of Davis’ three younger challengers -- Austin gun control activist Kina Collins, Oak Park teacher and activist Anthony Clark and Chicago attorney Kristine Schanbacher -- garnered more than 20 percent of the vote in the city or suburbs.

When reached by phone on March 18, the congressman’s mood was less celebratory than cautiously optimistic that the U.S. Senate would pass a coronavirus-related economic relief bill that he and his colleagues in the U.S. House passed on early Saturday morning.

The bill, which was passed for a second time on Monday due to a technicality, includes an increase in unemployment insur-

ance, paid sick and family leave for some workers and a provision that allows citizens to receive free c o r o n av i r u s testing.

According to multiple reports, the U.S. Senate is expected to DANNY DAVIS 7th District Congressman pass the bill on Wednesday.

“The coronavirus obviously has the country within its grasp at this moment,” Davis said during an interview from his West Side office.

Normally, he would be preparing to fly to Washington, D.C. on March 23, he said.

“We don’t know when we will go back,” Davis said. “We don’t know what the schedule will be until the House leadership makes that determination.”

Meanwhile, Davis said, House members have been communicating by email and phone.

“A few days ago, there were more than 200 of us members on the call,” Davis said.

“That means everybody is as interested as

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they can be, especially right now. People’s jobs have been shut down, they can’t work. Hopefully, we’ll have a real federal response to this in a minute.”

Davis, who was in office RICHARD BOYKIN when 9/11 Clerk candidate and the Great Recession happened, said that this current crisis is different from the others, because it directly involves public health and the answers to resolving the crisis are less obvious.

“We know what’s causing this, but we don’t know that we’ve got an antidote,” he said. “We’re saying the best way to keep this from spreading is just don’t get together.

That sounds strange and vague to a lot of people, but that’s what the experts say that we have to do. Let’s put as much faith as we can in what our leaders and experts are telling us. Beyond that, I really don’t know if there’s much else that can be done.”

Boykin comes up short for clerk of the courts

State Sen. Iris Y. Martinez will likely succeed Dorothy Brown as Cook County Circuit Court Clerk after beating back three other challengers, including Oak Park attorney and former Cook County Commissioner Richard Boykin.

Martinez garnered 32 percent of the vote in the suburbs, with Michael M. Cabonargi trailing closely behind with 31 percent.

Boykin garnered 24 percent of the suburban vote while Jacob Meister received 13 percent.

In the city, Martinez won 36 percent of the vote, trailed by Boykin (26 percent), Cabonargi (24 percent) and Meister (14 percent).

Barbara Bellar ran unopposed in the Republican primary for Circuit Court Clerk.

Kim Foxx, the incumbent Cook County State’s Attorney who had become embroiled in controversy connected to her handling of the Jussie Smollett case, prevailed over attorney Bill Conway in the Democratic primary for that office.

Foxx beat Conway 43 percent to 36 percent in the suburbs and 56 percent to 28 percent in the city. Attorney Donna More and attorney Bob Fioretti polled a distant third and fourth.

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Wednesday Journal, March 25, 2020

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oakpark.com/real-estate email: buphues@wjinc.com

15

Homes

COVID-19 REAL ESTATE AND THE

After a good start to spring sales, now uncertainty reigns

By LACEY SIKORA

I

Contributing Reporter

n the past two weeks, a lot has changed in the local landscape. School are closed.

Restaurants and bars are closed. Gyms and movie theaters? You guessed it.

Closed.

In the name of social distancing, everyone in Chicago and its suburbs is hunkering down and attempting to slow the spread of COVID-19.

On the Homes front, it appears to be more of the same. New Moms has can-

celled its April 25 Kitchen Walk. The Frank Lloyd Wright Home and Studio is closed for tours.

Before March 9, the local real estate market was showing decided signs of a robust spring thaw. We caught up with a few local real estate agents to talk about how the spring market could change in light of the virus fears that are sweeping the country.

Change in behaviors The first weekend of the shutdown, local agents said there was little discernible change to the real estate landscape.

Steve Scheuring of Compass notes that he had six showings on March 15 and more scheduled on March 16. Speaking of one

MARKET

family he is working with who want to move out of their rental, he says, “There are people out there who need to buy.”

Linda Rooney, an agent with Oak Park’s ReMax in the Village said she was very busy at an open house on Sunday, March 15.

“The first 45 minutes, I thought no one was coming and then I got bombarded,” Rooney said.

She notes that she had 10 groups go through the house, and all of them were interested buyers, not curious neighbors.

While the potential buyers didn’t let the fear of illness keep them from the open house, Rooney says she did make some changes, including having disinfectant wipes on hand and signing in all of the visitors herself, so that there was no shared pen.

She also states that the sellers told her they conducted a hospital-level clean after the open house.

But, that might be Rooney’s last open house for a while.

Rooney said ReMax has requested that agents not hold any open houses for the rest of March and plans to reassess at the end of the month.

Michael Nowicki, of Oak Park’s Ideal Location Realty, says that he will hold open houses if his sellers request it, but he thinks few clients will request it in the current environment.

“I’m telling people, ‘You’re pretty much going to have 10 to 15 people walking through See UNCERTAINTY on page 20

16

Wednesday Journal, March 25, 2020

OAKPARK.COM | RIVERFOREST.COM

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708.771.8040 • 7375 W. North Ave., River Forest DonnaAvenue Barnhisel 7375 West North Dan Bogojevich MANAGING Anne Brennan River Forest, Illinois 60305 BROKER/OWNERS Karen Byrne Calkins 708.771.8040 Kevin Tom Carraher Andy Gagliardo

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STUNNING BRICK OCTAGANOL BUNGALOW with 4 BR’s 2-1/2 baths. Features include natural birch woodwork & hdwd floors throughout, fireplace, vintage scones, a new kitchen with a redesigned eating area/family room, many stain glass & leaded windows, & crown molding.............................................. $669,000

NEWLY UPDATED HOME on large lot in a great location of River Forest. Brand new eat-in kitchen. Four spacious BRs, two and half baths of which upstairs have radiant heated floors. Completely painted, refinished floors, newer windows. New staircase leading to the basement................................................................. $684,999

LOVELY SPLIT-LEVEL HOME offers newly refreshed contemporary style and wonderful space. Home offers three bedrooms, three brand new bathrooms, beautiful front entryway, vaulted ceiling family room, sun room, game room, deck, spectacular backyard, attached two car garage.................................. $639,000

LOVELY TUDOR HOME on tree lined street with 4BRs, 2-1/2 baths. Beautiful original woodwork, sunken LR with log stone fireplace and built-in shelving. Large DR, eat-in kitchen, family room, surround sound system. Huge deck and landscaped backyard.

Meticulously taken care of! ................................................$617,500

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704 MONROE • RIVER FOREST

947 CLINTON PL • RIVER FOREST

BEAUTIFUL, CLASSIC HOME offers everything for today’s modern living. Custom-built home has the highest quality finishes. No detail was missed. Brick and stone exterior, wrap around porch, eleven-foot ceilings and oversized windows. LL has 2,000 feet of living area. ........................................................................$1,425,000

CLASSIC ROW HOUSE with 5BRs, 4BAs completely updated throughout with stunning architectural detail including restored and preserved woodwork, art glass, elaborate molding and trim, gleaming oak floors, soaring ceilings, grand rooms, and contemporary mechanicals and amenities................................... $598,000

VINTAGE CHARMER on tree lined cobblestone street. Warm, inviting home with lots of potential! Living room is centered with a cozy fireplace, separate dining room, bright kitchen and spacious family room. 2nd floor has 3 BRs and 1 full BA. Large deck overlooking backyard.................................................................$415,000

UNIQUE BURMA-BUILT HOME is a must-see property. You will appreciate the high-quality craftsmanship and sophisticated details throughout, including art glass doors, a custom milled cherry mantel, and custom kitchen cabinetry. The home has been very well maintained.......................................................$1,275,000

RIVER FOREST HOMES

CENTER ENTRANCE CORNER BRICK COLONIAL with so much potential to make it your own. Sitting on a 75 X 201 corner lot, there is no need to add on or build up. Features include an office, open kitchen, family room 4 BRs, 2 full baths, with options for more BRs on 3rd FL................................................................................................$779,000 HANDSOME TUDOR with classic original archway details beautifully blend w/ tasteful updated bathrooms and kitchen. Spacious formal living room with wood-burning fireplace. Lovely dining room with built-in corner cabinets. OUTSTANDING BACKYARD. Finished basement!........................................................................................$699,000 BEAUTIFUL BURMA BUILT TUDOR sits on a lovely lot with side drive leading to attached 3 car garage and large yard. This 4 bedroom, 3-1/2 bath home offers a great flow throughout the 1st floor, large eat-in kitchen, hardwood floors, leaded glass and classic cove ceilings. ...........................................................................................................$669,000

OAK PARK HOMES

GREAT NORTH OP LOCATION with this 4 bedroom 2 bath home!

Three BRs upstairs, Master BR downstairs. Large LR with gas fireplace.

Kitchen and family room off dining room. Huge 2nd floor bathroom.

Basement ready to be finished. Nice landscaping in the back yard......... ............................................................................................................$359,000 DUTCH COLONIAL with rehab already started, already gutted.

Originally 2 bedroom, but now open to new floor plan and added bedrooms and bath. Could be a flip or a great home to live in................ ........................................................................................................... $199,900

1210 N GROVE • OAK PARK

NE W LISTI NG!

BURMA BUILT BUHRKE HOUSE combines Tudor revival & chateau style architecture elements. Gorgeous décor and impeccable attention to detail and care found in house and landscaped grounds, extends to fabulous in ground pool and patios. Perfect for entertaining. .................................................................................................$1,975,000 SPECTACULAR HOME offers modern/elegant architectural design, tasteful decor and impeccable attention to detail throughout, featuring 4 bedrooms and 5 full baths. Music room, private office, butler’s pantry, family room. Full basement w/wet bar, game room and rec room. ...... ........................................................................................................ $1,395,000 STATELY HOME situated on an oversized lot with circular drive and attached garage. This home boasts an expansive LR with 8.5’ ceilings and fireplace, formal DR, 1st FL fam rm, and kitchen with breakfast room. Hardwood floors, library, lots of storage, impressive lower level. .........................................................................................................$1,125,000 CONTEMPORARY HOME with 3 bedrooms, 3-1/2 baths. 1st floor features include an expansive foyer, unique bamboo floors, multi-faced gas fireplace, office, updated kitchen & family room. 2nd FL includes a laundry and office/or nursery. Finished basement. In-ground pool.

Great updates..................................................................................$799,000

FABULOUS BRICK HOME has it all! On extra-wide lot with 4 BRs, 4-1/2 BAs. Features include private office, open kitchen, breakfast room, family room, Butler’s bar, master suite w/sep sitting room, finished bsmt w/full wet bar & media room, private backyard, garden and pond. ..................................................................................... $1,049,000 STATELY BRICK HOME resides on a quiet corner with 4 BRs, 3 and 2 half baths. Features a spacious LR w/wood burning fireplace, built-in bookshelves, detailed carved molding, formal DR, sunroom, bright eatin kitchen, expansive 2nd floor, full finished basement w/media room. ............................................................................................................$929,000 PRICE REDUCED CLASSIC OP HOME with classic features and modern finishes to compliment. Dark mahogany woodwork throughout, hardwood floors. Features include wood-burning fireplace, upgraded kitchen, and den/sitting room, large master BR, fantastic amount of windows. Finished basement...................$540,000

Shop for homes online at GagliardoRealty.com

CONDOS/TOWNHOMES/2 FLATS

RIVER FOREST 3BR, 2-1/2 BA. Two garage spaces............ $479,000 RIVER FOREST 1BR, 1BA. Updated, move-in ready............$169,000 OAK PARK Two Flat...................................................................$530,000 OAK PARK 3BR, 2 full / 2 half BA. East facing balcony..........$424,900 OAK PARK 3BR, 2-1.2 BA. Exceptional vintage beauty!.......$299,000 OAK PARK 2BR, 2-1/2 BA. Stunning, bright tri-level............$299,000 OAK PARK 3BR, 2-1/2BA. 3 floors of living!............................$249,000 NEW LISTING OAK PARK 1BR, 1BA...................................$187,500 OAK PARK 2BR, 1BA. Open floor plan/updated kitchen.......$149,000 FOREST PARK 1BR, 1BA. Original woodwork/hdwd flrs....$110,000

Wednesday Journal, March 25, 2020

OAKPARK.COM | RIVERFOREST.COM

17

WE’RE BY YOUR SIDE 336 Coonley Rd | Riverside $975,000 Catherine Simon-Vobornik

1029 Linden Ave | Oak Park $649,000 Kim Wojack & Anne Ferri

1201 N Ridgeland | Oak Park $580,000 Sandra Dita Lopez

1115 Rossell Ave | Oak Park $560,000 Saretta Joyner

17 Forest Ave | River Forest $499,000 Patricia McGowan

303 Gale Ave | River Forest $460,000 Bethanny Alexander

814 Wenonah Ave | Oak Park $444,000 Sandra Dita Lopez

1119 Paulina St | Oak Park $429,900 Patricia McGowan

842 N Euclid Ave | Oak Park $429,900 Ed Bellock

111 S Euclid #A | Oak Park $429,000 Bobbi Eastman

318 S Cuyler Ave | Oak Park $425,000 Keller Group Chicago

716 N Harvey Ave | Oak Park $390,000 Sue Johnson

1114 Schneider | Oak Park $360,000 Bethanny Alexander

512 Clarence Ave | Oak Park $339,000 Keller Group Chicago

3720 East Ave | Berwyn $339,000 Steve Green

413 Kenilworth #3 | Oak Park $325,000 Arrick Pelton

1535 Park #203 | River Forest $249,000 Vanessa Willey

223 Maple, Unit A | Oak Park $235,000 Ann Keeney

406 S Lombard #1 | Oak Park $139,900 Patricia McGowan

7214 Oak #3NE | River Forest $70,000 Cathy Yanda

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, March 25, 2020

OAKPARK.COM | RIVERFOREST.COM

OVER 34 MILLION SOLD IN 2019!*

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JUST LISTED

700 COLUMBIA N, OAK PAR K

Vintage C. E. White estate home facing Augusta Blvd extensively renovated by current architect / builder owner to today’s standards. Casually elegant, open and functional plan that lives unusually well. 6 bedroom home featuring massive great room that overlooks private rear yard with garden wall, bluestone patios, gas fire pit and dining pergola. All new mechanicals including Control 4 Smart Home with A/V, lighting, HVAC and motorized shade control. 3-car garage + side drive for total of 6-car parking. Offered @ $1,250,000.

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Wednesday Journal, March 25, 2020

OAKPARK.COM | RIVERFOREST.COM

189 S. Oak Park Ave., Oak Park, IL 60302 (708) 386-1400

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20

Wednesday Journal, March 25, 2020

UNCERTAINTY

Testing the market from page 15 your house touching things,’” Nowicki said.

“That’s not something people want right now.”

Nowicki is taking more precautions with his buyer clients as well. He notes that he does make sure clients are healthy and not of an age where exposure to others is a concern. He says he is not concerned about himself, but doesn’t want any clients becoming ill.

“You don’t want to pass it along to others,” he said. “You have to look at this from all of the angles.”

Nowicki also notes that rather than requesting that prospective buyers wear booties over their shoes while touring a home, he plans to hand out gloves for each showing. Rooney says she will offer virtual showings for any clients that would like her to preview houses for them.

Erica Cuneen, managing broker for Beyond Properties, emailed a list of new policies for her agents as guidance while dealing with the virus. Chief among them, she cancelled open houses.

She also said social distancing practices should be used when showing houses.

Agents will not open doors with bare hands, are keeping their distance from clients while on tours and no longer ride in the

OAKPARK.COM | RIVERFOREST.COM car with clients. In addition, her has not been the case for the agents can provide video tours last two years.” and virtual final walkthroughs Scheuring said that March for clients to avoid the need for may be one of his highest interaction. months for sales volume in 20 She also states that some sellyears, but states that even prior ers in an abundance of caution to the virus, the Oak Park and have taken their homes off the River Forest area was not a sellmarket and will hold the listing a er’s market. few weeks or put the house on the “We’ve been swamped, but it’s ERICA CUNEEN private listing market. not that the market is great,” Beyond Properties Cuneen says this can also be an he said. “It’s that the prices got managing broker effort to limit market time, and down to a point where buyers states people should take the videcided to buy, plus the rates rus into account when considerhave been great.” ing market time.

Scheuring says that sellers “This is definitely going to have been more motivated to change the market times,” she said. “It lower prices to get rid of houses they no lonshouldn’t necessarily be seen as a negative ger live in, noting that last year’s polar vorat this time.” tex caused a lot of maintenance issues for Scheuring says he expects that some sell- vacant homes on the market. ers will want to move their homes to the “When a seller has already left the house, private listing network to limit how many they are motivated to lower the price,” potential buyers come in the door and make Scheuring said. “We were seeing sellsure they take certain precautions in terms ers making offers to buyers as they came of health. through the door.”

“This is definitely going to change the market times.”

Spring market changes

Uncertainty for the future

Prior to the measures being taken for social distancing, local brokers reported that the spring market in Oak Park and River Forest was strong. Nowicki credited a lot of that to low interest rates.

“For Oak Park, the low rates are a bit of a godsend,” he said. “It makes the tax bills less of an issue. I have yet to hear any buyer complain about the taxes this year, which

All of the brokers expect continued uncertainty in the coming weeks or months.

Scheuring points out that transfer stamps for transactions need to be purchased in person, something that could be a problem now that Oak Park village government has instituted a shelter-in-place order.

While Forest Park is still open for essential business, Nowicki says that Oak Park

had already moved to an appointment-only system for transfer stamps and final water bills.

River Forest’s Village Hall is modifying operations and has temporarily suspended transfer inspections, but can get final water readings remotely, so the village can still process transfer stamps.

The village advises that paperwork can be dropped off at village hall via the green mailbox rather than in person, and states that processing paperwork may take longer than usual.

Scheuring predicts that buyers will pull back for a time. Rooney agreed, stating, “We’ll just have to see. The uncertainty is really tough, both on the market and on our families.”

Nowicki said the greater the uncertainty, the more it will hurt the real estate market.

“There’s a direct correlation between the two,” Nowicki said. “I do think that if this resolves quickly, there will be a big rush. There will be sellers and buyers who are ready to go. If this goes on five to eight weeks, we’ll be looking at some interesting scenarios.”

Cuneen thinks that there will be some slow down given the ever-changing news, but says that even when confined to their own homes, potential buyers are still looking at homes online.

“People still have to move for jobs or for school,” Cuneen said. “It’s still a great time to buy and sell, and we have to try not to panic.”

Your Knowledgeable Neighbors.

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Wednesday Journal, March 25, 2020

OAKPARK.COM | RIVERFOREST.COM

NEW LISTING

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Wednesday Journal, March 25, 2020

@ @OakParkSports

SPORTS

Postponed!

ALEX ROGALS/Staff Photographer

With season in jeopardy, OPRF baseball stays united

By JAMES KAY Sports Editor

March 20 would have been OPRF’s baseball’s first game of the season. However, with the 2020 campaign suspended due to the global outbreak of COVID-19, the Huskies won’t be able to build off their third-place finish at state last year.

Despite the disappointment of not being able to play out the spring, the team is staying united through what head coach Joe Parenti is calling the “OPRF Huskies Baseball Movie Night Series.” Parenti has browsed through YouTube and has found old footage of previous state championship games the program has played in over the years. So far, the team has watched the 1981, 2001, 2008 and 2012 state games while also viewing the documentary on last year’s team that OPRF alum Jake Fine produced.

“We are trying to be as creative as possible,” said Parenti.

“I have been shooting a text to the team’s group chat every

day. But that’s really where we are at right now. We remain hopeful we can play this season but we have to be patient and wait this out.”

Baseball programs around the country have especially been hit hard by COVID-19. Not being able to throw for weeks on end is detrimental to the arm strength players have developed in the offseason. While IHSA executive director Craig Anderson recently stated that he hasn’t given up on having a spring season (he discussed the possibility of having the season extend into the summer), weeks of lost progress would be difficult to make up.

The Huskies aren’t looking at it that way.

OPRF senior and starting centerfielder Alan Brown remains hopeful that if the season were to begin that the team would be able to pick up where it left off.

“If baseball were to come back in a month, I would have faith that me and my teammates would be just fine,” said Brown. “We would definitely have to practice a little but before that but we worked so hard in the offseason to prepare for this year. We have some time off but we have to remain prepared if the season starts up again.”

Parenti alluded to the same idea saying that, at this point in the season, pitchers would be on inning restrictions any-

way due to cold temperatures.

“These guys have travel seasons too, so you don’t want to burn them out at the beginning of the year,” said Parenti.

“But if the season were to start today, we would have to start over to some extent. Maybe these guys can throw a ball off a brick wall of the side of their house or something [laughs] but realistically we would have to run out guys 30 pitches at a time.”

While they aren’t allowed to hold baseball-related workouts, Brown said that the team is still doing workouts at home to stay in shape. Former OPRF freshman baseball assistant coach and current assistant coach for the Huskies’ football team, Rashad Singletary, recently did a pushup and sit up challenge with the rest of the athletic department and its players during the sports hiatus.

“Every day, we are doing something,” said Brown. “Whether it is pushups, sit ups, wall sits, or going on a run outside, those are things that can keep you motivated. I personally have a workout that I do at home and I’ve been watching videos on YouTube of players that you see in big colleges and major league teams. That’s what keeps me motivated and I know my teammates are doing whatever they can to stay prepared as well.”

DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSIONS IS FRIDAY 5 P.M. Call Viewpoints editor Ken Trainor at 613-3310 ktrainor@wjinc.com

Wednesday Journal, March 25, 2020

VIEWPOINTS

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Donald Trump and the death of expertise p. 26

Tape these tips to your fridge!

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obody really knows how this will all end for Oak Park. No doubt somewhere between Y2K and Hiroshima. There are different views based on the indecipherable interplay of our individual natures and nurtures.

Somehow I’m both an optimist and a skeptic. I’ve come to realize that for me, emotion may play a bigger role in my life than I ever imagined.

These are fascinating times. Character is revealed. Values are clarified. Old truths are questioned.

I will leave for another column my impressionistic musings. Like our president, I haven’t a clue how this will all end. But I do I have lots of tips on how to survive our captivity. Please feel free to tape these tips to your refrigerator.

1. As your toilet paper supply diminishes, consider rationing the squares based on gender and nature of waste. If it becomes necessary, use newspaper, then magazines, then leaves and as a last resort, corn cobs.

2. Eschew massage, lap dances, kissing booths and mosh pits.

3. Increase alcohol and marijuana consumption, but only by 25 percent.

4. Listen to happy music like The Beach Boys, or the blues by Otis Redding or Wilson Pickett. I wonder if there will be songs about the pandemic.

It will be hard to find rhymes for COVID-19.

5. Stop watching the news 24/7 until it gets better. It is obviously going to get worse for a while, and sad to say, there is nothing you can do about Italy or discovering a vaccination. Remember, you can control what goes into your brain.

6. Get outside every day no matter the weather.

Nature is good for the soul. Ask the Romantic poets.

7. Arrange to talk on the phone with friends and family on a scheduled, regular basis. You are not alone.

8. Get in the car for a drive. Chicago highways will never be so open. Drive to Kane or DuPage County and walk around.

9. Manage your expectations. Determine your best-case scenario and add a week or two.

10. Come up with activities and experiences to look forward to. Anticipation is a balm to a depressing stasis. Imagine the first thing you are going to do when this is over. Make a list.

I suspect most of us will survive these difficult times. An older generation survived the Great Depression and World War II. And they didn’t have Netflix or Grub Hub.

JOHN

HUBBUCH

Mindfulness: better than a 6-pack of Charmin

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hen we are mindful, we are aware, in the present moment, with intention and without judgment. In this COVID-19 era, it is easy to be swept up in the panic, fear, and the uncertainty all around us. Here are some practical suggestions using mindfulness to increase your awareness and feel more connected to your experience so that you can respond to this situation in healthy ways.

• Limit your exposure to the news and social media.

It’s important to stay informed, and also to monitor your intake of information so that you don’t become overwhelmed.

Set a timer if you need to.

• Know your signs of stress. Take care of yourself mentally, physically, and spiritually. Take time to notice if you are reacting or responding to a stressful situation. When we see other people panic, we tend to join in. Notice when you are panicking; take some deep breaths and ground yourself.

• Practice generosity and loving kindness. Give to others in need and help those who need it. Be kind and considerate of others when shopping for food and supplies.

You probably already have more toilet paper than you need.

Express love and compassion to others.

• Practice beginner’s mind. Experience people and situations objectively and with a sense of curiosity and awe.

Allow yourself to take in people with your fullest attention, looking into their eyes and really being with them, as if you just met them and your heart is filled with openness.

As we spend more time with our families and pets at home,

it’s also important to recognize and respect each other’s boundaries. Take advantage of this relationship. Reset.

• Spend time in nature. Research has shown that time spent outside in nature can provide a wealth of benefits for our mental, physical and spiritual health. When you are outside, take the time to just be. Notice the sights, sounds and smells the plants and wildlife provide us. Use this time to reconnect with our roots to other living creatures and the natural world. Be mindful of the changes in season: the lively green shoots emerging from the ground, the birds chirping, the earthy spring aromas. All of this will continue to go on.

You will discover that mindfulness can be a trusted multipurpose tool we can utilize in all life situations, especially during times of stress, anxiety, and the unknown. We can choose to interpret these unprecedented times as a teacher, the guide who leads us back to our universal human sameness and allows us to reconnect with all living beings. To me, that’s worth more than a six-pack of Charmin.

Thrive Counseling Services is offering phone-based counseling and medication management to address our community’s needs during the COVID-19 pandemic. Our Crisis Intervention Services are still available by dialing 708-383-7500. Our Front Desk team is ready to assist you as well, MondayFriday, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., with requests for referrals or new services and to reschedule or cancel an appointment. Just call 708-383-7500. Angela Potaczek, MA, LCPC and Art Therapist, is a staff member at Thrive.

ANGELA POTACZEK One View

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Wednesday Journal, March 25, 2020

O U R

he offer by Oak Park Temple to become the sevennight-a-week host site for Housing Forward’s PADS shelter sits at the top of our long list of generous and humane steps we see all about us in this otherwise overwhelming time of coronavirus.

That the effort was derailed by — what else? — a volunteer testing positive for the virus does nothing to diminish the astounding act of this temple’s congregation. In a moment of profound need to serve those fully exposed to the dangers of this virus, Oak Park Temple unhesitatingly opened its doors.

As other religious sites understandably have closed their doors, Oak Park Temple said it would be open every night, that its facility would be fully turned over to meet the needs of homeless women, men and families.

Housing Forward, always among our most resourceful nonprofits, is back into planning, looking, as our reporting shows, for individual rooms for its guests. We don’t doubt they will be successful. And we know for certain they can use the financial help of our readers as they meet this need.

Good for River Forest for its assertive effort to reach its elder population with practical support and essential human connection.

Village government has added a temporary coordinator post, the township is all in, and the work is underway.

Already more than 100 people have signed on as volunteers ready to jump in to help seniors in town.

Can’t beat the absurdity that an early effort of this willing group will be to make handmade face masks to protect first responders. We are a great nation and a failed one, too. But thank you.

Every enterprise deemed essential in this moment, including this newspaper, would love to offer its dedicated staff some financial incentive for working in this precarious circumstance. We can’t afford it. We hope, for example though, that larger corporations such as Safeway will open the bank for the women and men on the front line at Jewel who stock shelves at all hours and run the cash registers in inevitably close quarters to all of us panicky shoppers.

So we have no issue with the decision last week by District 200 Oak Park and River Forest High School to pay time-and-a-half to all district employees still coming to work.

Some are maintenance people keeping the great ship on Scoville Avenue upright. Some are food workers making meals for students who need them.

These are among the workers most endangered by the economic gears being stripped to keep all of us safe. Paying a premium, if you can, is the right thing to do.

Hitting the wall at full force are local independent businesses and particularly our restaurants. Kudos to the Oak Park Economic Development Corporation for throwing up a very useable website over the weekend that gathers up a ton of information on which local spots are still open for delivery and pickup. Go and use CarryOutOakPark.com.

We need these places to survive and we all do need to eat.

And finally, these aren’t the circumstances under which we’d like to see Westlake Hospital re-open. But it is an obvious medical facility that is available in the coming crisis of hospital capacity. Rep. Chris Welch is right to be pushing the state to jump at this.

We are a great nation and a failed one, too.

But thank you.

How are you?

V I E W S

Things we like — Coronavirus edition

T

V I E W P O I N T S

I see friends shaking hands, saying, ‘How do you do?’ They’re really saying, ‘I love you.’

Louie Armstrong

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“What a Wonderful World”

ell, maybe not shaking hands. Bumping elbows.

Or a friendly wave. But the question has taken on new urgency, deeper meaning.

“How are you?”

My good friend, the late great Bob Sullivan, used to bristle at that question. He saw it as shallow, perfunctory, insincere. “How are you?” in his mind was a profound question deserving a real answer, and he didn’t think most people wanted a real answer.

He also wasn’t a fan of social media. Too superficial, too banal. Like TV (another medium he still hadn’t fully accepted), social media was an underperforming technology, capable of so much more, failing to fulfill its potential. Which could be said about many of us, I suppose.

But things are different now, as you may have noticed. Impossible not to notice, really. We’re using words like “isolation,” “quarantine,” and “lockdown,” which send shivers down the spine.

“Social-distancing” is a kinder, gentler euphemism, and Oak Park adopted “shelter in place” which sounds positively benign, though it also sounds like “running in place,” a metaphor for expending a lot of energy to go nowhere. Bob Sullivan might have called that an apt description of our society — before this global pandemic altered (permanently?) the world we live in.

And definitely how we live in the world.

The military, during drills, has two modes: “Attention!” and “At ease,” the latter sounding almost lyrical. I suggest we look at our current predicament as “shelter at ease” instead of viewing it as “house arrest” or “limbo.”

So how are you? Are you well? Are you coping?

Are you thriving in spite of circumstances? Are you down? Struggling to adjust?

I am well, thanks, so far, knock on wood, etc., etc.

I feel for high school and college seniors whose last semesters have been cut short. The final semester should be a golden time of savoring, looking back, and eagerly anticipating what comes next. I feel for athletes whose encounter with a bigger stage has been canceled after years of extraordinary dedication to their sport — high school and NCAA basketball players, baseball players on the brink of making the major leagues, teams that might have won championships, even hundreds of Olympic athletes around the world.

I feel worse for those who live paycheck to paycheck and have been furloughed or laid off, and those who will lose businesses over this. And those, in the wealthiest country on Earth, who still don’t have adequate access to affordable health care.

I worry about those who are frail and fragile and most at risk. I worry for everyone because we are all vulnerable. No one is exempt; no one’s privilege can protect them.

I feel angry about the incompetence of Trump and his administration and the Republican Senate,

all of whom have just woken up, looked around and said, “Oh crap, you mean we’re actually expected to lead?” Trump spoke truth for the first time as president when he said, “I’m not responsible.”

I worry that somehow this outbreak will screw up the election, and these deadbeat grifters will escape being thrown out on their ample behinds as they so richly deserve.

But after I work through these emotions, I notice what’s happening and what’s not happening all around.

Distractions have been reduced. Consumer society is based on distractions, exploiting our impulses, our willingness to serve our appetites. With so many businesses closed, distractions are fewer. With less hustle and bustle, noise has been reduced. We can hear ourselves think.

We’re all in, as our headline proclaimed last week, but we’re also out. Normally when I’m walking, the only people I spot are attached to dog leashes. Now whole families are out ambling, taking their time, taking it all in, going nowhere in particular. It’s like every day is the day after Thanksgiving. We’re in permanent holiday mode as the economic engine idles. Only without the afterglow of celebration.

We have been given the gift of time. Not shortterm “time off ” but time with no end in sight.

Time to remember or, for the first time perhaps, realize what’s important and what isn’t. Time enough maybe to think about what is unnecessary in our life and in our world. Time to imagine a whole new world. A world in which we are not reduced to bowing at the altar of capitalism and serving the 1% priestly caste.

Or as Rebecca Solnit said in her On Being interview last Sunday, “There is so much other work that love has to do in the world. … What if we can be better people in a better world? … Unpredictability is better than certainty. It creates an opening, but you have to walk through it. … We can become the storytellers rather than the person told what to do.”

In ways we cannot yet see, our current cloistering could lead to a healthier world. A global time-out.

These are “The Days the Earth Stood Still,” and like that sci-fi classic, it may bring us all to our sense. We have time to think about the world we’ve created and wonder whether we can’t do better.

As my columnist colleague John Hubbuch recently said, “I’m blessed with an optimistic personal world view, and the belief that one should always be evaluating one’s life. This is an opportunity not to be wasted.”

Fear not. As Maya Angelou once told an interviewer, “Every storm runs out of rain.”

Most of us now have enough toilet paper — our security blanket — to last us the rest of our lives.

Grocery stores have become our new community centers. Mostly we’re sheltering in place, but we’re reaching out to one another, holding Zoom conferences, sending emails, using our hand-held devices as actual telephones.

And we’re asking the most profound question of our times: How are you?

KEN

TRAINOR

V I E W P O I N T S

T

Trump blew it!

rump, as he often does when he has made a mistake or revealed his ignorance, changed course to claim that he knew all along that we were facing a pandemic. That is, of course, a lie. He is caught on videotape lying. Trump spent weeks calling COVID-19 a hoax created by the Democrats in Congress.

Trump didn’t cause the pandemic. What he did was squander America’s only advantage — a lag time during which to prepare for the crisis — thus encouraging the spread of the disease when it might have been contained. He has, in real and material ways, made this crisis worse.

He has consistently downplayed, denied and misled the public about the seriousness of the threat. On top of that — since the first cases appeared in China in late December, Trump took few steps to prepare the country for the pandemic before it inevitably reached our shores. If he knew there was a pandemic, then we can believe one of two possibilities — first, that he was ignorant, buying into the Fox News disinformation loop, or second, he was thinking of his election, which he thinks is tied to the economy, so he refused to take action that would have spooked stock markets.

I’m not sure which scenario is true. What is inescapable is that had Trump not frittered away valuable time that could have been spent deploying tests (which could have been obtained from the World Health Organization), building up medical equipment and facilities, and preparing for a series of escalating steps to promote social distancing, he might have reduced the strain on our health-care system and saved lives.

This is the biggest blunder in presidential his-

tory. Former Department of Homeland Security official Juliette Kayyem writes for the Atlantic: “With little guidance from the federal government, governors — along with mayors, CEOs, university presidents, and leaders in the sports and entertainment businesses — have taken it upon themselves to try to slow the spread of the virus before it overwhelms the medical system’s capacity to respond.” She adds that “a 50-state strategy has emerged to fill the vacuum left by an administration that is still unable to distribute enough testing kits, is still focused on closing borders, and was slow to tell the American public to just stay home.”

Trump has turned the governors into rivals for scarce resources. He did not show any real recognition of the magnitude of the problem until his administration got hold of a study from Britain. “The Imperial College London group reported that if nothing was done by governments and individuals and the pandemic remained uncontrolled, 510,000 would die in Britain and 2.2 million in the United States over the course of the outbreak,” the Washington Post reports.

Even if we now institute uniform, serious measures to mitigate the spread of the virus, we would “reduce mortality by half, to 260,000 people in the United Kingdom and 1.1 million in the United States.”

Trump shares the blame for failing to develop an infrastructure to fight pandemics and removing structures put in place by the Obama administration to identify and fight pandemics. Trump made the crisis infinitely worse by doing nothing for so long when leaders around the world were responding forcefully and then lying about it!

Bob Haisman is a member of the Democratic Party of Oak Park and a longtime Oak Park resident.

BOB

Wednesday Journal, March 25, 2020

W E D N E S D A Y

JOURNAL of Oak Park and River Forest

Editor and Publisher Dan Haley

HAISMAN

Senior Editor Bob Uphues

One View

Associate Publisher Dawn Ferencak Staff Reporters Michael Romain, Stacey Sheridan, Maria Maxham Viewpoints Editor Ken Trainor Sports/Staff reporter James Kay Columnists Marc Blesoff, Jack Crowe, Doug Deuchler, John Hubbuch, May Kay O’Grady, Kwame Salter, John Stanger, Stan West, Linda Francis Staff Photographer Alex Rogals Editorial Designers Mark Moroney, Scot McIntosh Business Manager Joyce Minich Advertising Design Manager Andrew Mead Advertising Designers Debbie Becker, Mark Moroney Revenue & Advertising Director Dawn Ferencak Advertising Sales Marc Stopeck Sales & Development Mary Ellen Nelligan Digital Marketing, Social Media, & Client Engagement Briana Higgins Circulation Manager Jill Wagner Administrative Assistant Laurel Saltzman

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The show must go on

n this time of crisis, it’s important to remember how important movie theaters are to communities across the country.

In 2019, 1.24 billion movie tickets were sold in the U.S. and Canada — that’s more than all major professional sports combined.

Going to the movies remains the most affordable and convenient out-of-home entertainment option.

Classic Cinemas is headquartered in Downers Grove, and has been in business for over 40 years, bringing the magic of the movies all over the Midwest. We have employees who have been working for our company since my dad started the company in 1978. Together, we have restored theaters like The Lake and helped revitalize downtown communities.

The well-being of our guests, employees and local communities has always been our top priority.

In the United States, 150,000 people are employed by our industry. Our theaters employ 453 people from age 16 to 80 in two states, and from a wide range of backgrounds. While our doors are closed, it’s important to us that they do not experience financial hardship and all that it entails. Unfortunately, we can’t give them all the help we need on our own. We need support to get through this time. That’s why it is very important that movie theaters and our employees are included in any form of relief for businesses focused on out-of-

home entertainment.

As policymakers debate the next stimulus package, we urge lawmakers to provide movie theaters with immediate help by enacting paid leave tax credits for companies supporting their furloughed employees; suspending payroll tax collections; providing incentives for property owners to defer collection of rent and mortgage payments; assuring loan guarantees; expanding tax loss carryforwards and carrybacks; and business loss tax credits. These measures and more will ensure that movie theaters and our employees remain resilient and can weather this crisis, so that when we come back, we come back strong.

Movie theaters serve as a gathering place where people meet friends, go on dates, enjoy time with their family, and share the same emotional experiences with strangers. In our auditoriums, people who would never encounter each other otherwise can laugh, gasp, and cry together.

Watching a movie and discussing it afterwards is one of the most common ways we bond. As we work through this crisis and life returns to normal, movie theaters will be more important than ever. They will serve as a source of enjoyment for millions after a very difficult time.

The show must go on.

Chris Johnson is CEO of Classic Cinemas.

CHRIS

JOHNSON One View

Front Desk Carolyn Henning, Maria Murzyn

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)

your connection to the topic ■ Signature details as at left

Email Ken Trainor at ktrainor@wjinc.com or mail to Wednesday Journal, Viewpoints, 141 S. Oak Park Ave., Oak Park, IL 60302 708 613 3300

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V I E W P O I N T S

Wednesday Journal, March 25, 2020

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OAKPARK.COM | RIVERFOREST.COM

Donald Trump and the death of expertise

hen I was a kid, society admired experts. We looked up to those who, through years of study and experience, knew stuff. Doctors were among the most highly regarded experts at the time and were revered in a way that probably wasn’t healthy.

If my parents’ doctor told them something, that was it. There was no reason to ask him a question, probe for more information, or, God forbid, get another opinion. After all, he’s a doctor. He went to medical school.

The aura of expertise even glowed from those near the expert. There was sort of a pecking order at school, and if someone’s father was a doctor, since the doctor was an expert on everything, so was his kid. You could be having an argument on the playground about pretty much anything, like which color is better, red or blue? Just when you thought you had the upper hand and had won the argument, your friend would say, “I should know. My dad’s a doctor.” All you could do was shrug your shoulders and agree that the kid of a doctor probably had more to

say about which color was better than you did.

That has changed today, and not just about doctors. We now live in a world where expertise is no longer universally revered.

Instead, it is ridiculed and looked down upon by many. We see this everywhere. Doctors tell us, virtually unanimously, that it is critical to have children immunized and thousands of parents ignore that advice because they simply choose not to believe the experts. In doing so, they imperil not only their own children, but others in the community who, due to other medical conditions, are not able to be immunized.

Scientists tell us that there is a growing climate crisis and a significant portion of the population chooses not to believe the experts. And, of course, a significant portion of the population chooses to ignore what intelligence experts unanimously concluded about the 2016 election.

Donald Trump did not start this trend, but he has exploited and magnified it.

Could reusing bags spread the virus?

I support the Shelter in Place order. I think it’s vital that individually we do our utmost now to reduce the spread of the COVID-19 virus, for the good of each of us and for the good of the community as a whole. We protect ourselves by protecting each other. And the earlier we act the better. Those cities that acted early in the 1918 Flu Pandemic suffered fewer deaths than those that waited and acted later.

The village website is down. That is terribly unfortunate at a time like this, and probably caused by the onslaught of people wanting to learn more about the Shelter in Place order. So I cannot reach out to the village to make this suggestion. So I reach out to you instead.

I think the village should consider temporarily suspending its fee for bags at stores in Oak Park, and in fact urge people not to use reusable bags at stores during the duration of the pandemic. One could study this issue, look for scientific evidence supporting this argument, but it seems logical to me that when we bring into a store a reusable bag, that bag in fact could be carrying the COVID-19 virus if we ourselves or someone in our household unknowingly has the virus. We place the bag in a cart. We place the bag on the checkout counter. The virus goes where the bag goes. Some people bring plastic bags into the store or reusable bags that contain plastic, and the COVID-19 virus has been shown to survive on plastic for three days or more.

I am not against the village fee on bags normally, but I think now during this crisis, it would be advisable to suspend this policy.

A reusable bag is perhaps a small thing in the midst of a global pandemic, but then the virus that causes the pandemic is a small thing too.

Mark Wallace Oak Park

During his campaign and his administration, he has claimed to know more than the generals about military issues, more than the economists about economic and tax policy, more than energy experts about renewables, more than trade experts about trade policy, more than career diplomats about foreign policy, more than … well, you get the idea.

Of course, he knows very little about any of those topics. The fact that he is able to assert expertise over everything with no training or experience and have his opinion considered important by millions of people is frightening. But more than that, it is a sad commentary on our society.

Nowhere is this phenomenon more apparent than in the current coronavirus pandemic. Trump has called it a hoax and caused millions of people to act so recklessly that they will no doubt exacerbate the problem. Even as he reluctantly adopts some of the policies his medical advisors

LEONARD SOFFER One View

Saving our local restaurants Like a lot of businesses, restaurants are going through hard times right now. Many that depended on liquor sales and sit-down meals are simply closed. I haven’t been able to do any sort of systematic survey, but some of those seem like permanent closures.

I strongly suggest you pick up your phone today and order lunch from a mom-and-pop restaurant. Why? Because when we emerge someday from our social-distancing exercise, most of those restaurants will be gone permanently unless they can maintain a brisk delivery business.

Why mom-and-pop restaurants specifically? Because they are the least capitalized. Chipotle is going to still be there when this is over, but your favorite, small, family-run Mexican or Middle Eastern place … that’s not nearly so likely to be open or to re-open.

Why via the phone and not via the Internet? Most of the online systems take a good chunk of the price of the meal from the restaurant. If you call the restaurant with your order and let them arrange delivery, you make sure they get as much of your dollar as possible and at the same time you give them the option of providing work for someone who has been furloughed during this time of business shutdowns.

Why today? Because if it’s clear to the owners of restaurants that there will be some cash flow during this time, they may be able to justify

keeping things going. If they make a rational judgment based on the complete lack of cash flow this week that they are going to be firmly in the red for the next few months, they will make the wise decision to close.

And they may never be able to open again.

When we eat at small places we get to know their owners and core employees. We should care if they can keep their business afloat and their employees working as much as possible during this time.

If you’d rather only think about your own self-interest, well, imagine the end of your home stay — what if there is only franchise food left standing?

Order food delivered today. If you pay with a credit card, bring your own pen to the door. (You can buy plastic styluses on Amazon for resistive touch-screens and mesh or rubber-tipped styluses for iPad-style screens, too. Bring those to the door, too, if you like.) If you plan to pay with cash, ask how much to have ready and add a tip to that before the delivery person shows up to make the transaction fast.

Start doing this now. If we all wait just a few weeks to start ordering in, the choice in restaurants will be much, much smaller and both our restaurant-owning friends who have been cooking for us for years and we ourselves will suffer.

Paul Pomerleau Oak Park

have advocated for weeks, the president sends a message to his minions to ignore those policies. He has indicated that people who contract the disease will be fine even if they go to work, even though his medical advisors have warned people against going to work ill. Trump continues to have close contact with others, including people known to have been exposed to the virus, even as official policy discourages that behavior.

For those who follow Trump in an almost cult-like way, his behavior reinforces that he has, and they should have, a disdain for the experts whose advice we should be heeding right now. People are going to die because of the president’s irresponsible behavior, but that will be only part of his legacy. This presidency will either be the point where the country finally realizes the devastating effects of ignoring scientists, experts, and knowledge, or the point where those things cease to matter altogether.

Which one it will be is up to us.

Leonard Soffer is a resident of River Forest.

Oak Parked?

When you pull a permit to replace your porch and are told it must be strong enough to hold the weight of a tank, you’ve been Oak Parked.

When you pick up your child after school and there are more nannies than children in the schoolyard, you’ve been Oak Parked.

When you are at the gym and there are more people on their cellphones than exercising, you’ve been Oak Parked.

When there are more cause flags than American flags on your block on the Fourth of July, you’ve been Oak Parked.

When people complain their real estate taxes are so high they may have to move, and then describe their latest expensive vacation, you have been Oak Parked.

When coronavirus is in the air and the entire community bands together to help each other … you have certainly been Oak Parked.

Gary Mark Belenke

Oak Park resident for 34 years

Helping our businesses

What would Downtown Oak Park be without the Lake Theatre? I worry about a family-owned, smaller chain surviving the shutdown. It occurred to me that one way to help carry them through this time would be to buy a gift card to be used later. I checked and found they can be purchased online, and suggested to them that they waive the fees while they are closed. They agreed and will cover the mailing costs.

Ordering food is one way to help local businesses avoid the collapse of our local economy. This is another. I hope everyone who goes there will buy one. They will need the money now and you can give them your concessions money later. www.classiccinemas.com/gift-cards.

Also, the Book Table is open and offering curbside service if you call ahead. They will also deliver for $3. Get something to help pass the time while you are staying in.

Joyce Porter Oak Park

save your life.

Wednesday Journal, March 25, 2020

OAKPARK.COM | RIVERFOREST.COM

27

O B I T U A R I E S

Hilda Mansfield, 99

Teacher who supported human rights back to the U.S. in 1990 and lived Hilda Blum Mansfield died on in Santa Rosa, California. Ralph March 17, 2020, five weeks short died in 2007 and Hilda remained of her 100th birthday. She always in Santa Rosa until August 2018, said she didn’t want to live to be when she moved back to Chicago.

100. Born on April 24, 1920, she Hilda Mansfield is survived by was a teacher, pianist, gardener, her four children, Karen Mansand supporter of human rights. field, Diane (Tom) Judge, Ernie She voted in every election and (Susana) Mansfield, and Pamela hours before her death received Mansfield; four grandchildren, notice that her mail ballot for the Tara (Poco) Compehos, Sam March 17 primary election had HILDA MANSFIELD (Lalita) Mansfield, Nikkie Mansbeen received and accepted. field, and Lori Mansfield; and two Hilda appreciated art, music, theater, travel, and good food (especially ice great-grandchildren: Kamali Moon and Nalu cream). She lived in Chicago for her first 58 Compehos.

In Hilda’s memory, please eat some good ice years and taught first grade, first in Alsip and then at the University of Chicago Lab School. cream and vote blue in November.

Arrangements were handled by Cremation She and her husband Ralph moved to the island of Mallorca, Spain, after he retired and Society of Illinois, 773-281-5058 or www.crelived there for 12 years. She and Ralph moved mation-society.com.

I don’t know your name, but I will help save your life.

Bunny Schubert, 63 Worked at Pan’s and The Villager

to help family and friends. She Bunny Sue Peters Schubert, enjoyed sharing her love of na63, died on Wednesday, March 4 ture with those who will rememat West Suburban Hospital, surber her as grandma or aunt. She rounded by family. will be sorely missed and lovingBorn 10 days after Easter to ly remembered.

Betty (Bramhall) and David PeBunny was the mother of ters in Oak Lawn, the family James Fitzpatrick Jr. (Martha) moved to Oak Park in 1966 to be and David Fitzpatrick (Heathclose to her mother’s aging parer); step-mother to Therese ents, John and Goldie Bramhall.

(Scott) Makowiecki and George She attended Mann School and BUNNY SCHUBERT Schubert; grandmother to GabriOak Park and River Forest High el, James, Anna Maria, and CooSchool. Her first job was at Ups and Downs in downtown Oak Park which fit per Fitzpatrick, and Scott and Madison Maperfectly with her love for fashion and re- kowiecki; sister of David Peters Jr. (Patty), tail. She later worked at Pan’s Grocery Store the late Michael Peters (the late Carol), Niki Merrick (Larry), and Dru Ellen Johnson; and The Villager until it closed.

She married James Fitzpatrick in 1975 and Auntie Bun Bun to many nephews and and made Oak Park their home. After their nieces. She was preceded in death by her divorce, she married Steve Schubert in 1989. parents, her brother Michael, her sister-inShe had a big heart and was always ready law Carol, and her nephew, Peter Merrick.

When you help the American Red Cross, you help America.

When you help the American Red Cross, you help America.

There is a place where a complete stranger will reach out to help make There isokay. a place stranger willwereach out for to help everything Thatwhere place isa complete called America, where look out each make other.

And with your financial contribution, we can help keep it that way. everything okay. That place is called America, where look out for each other.

And with your financial contribution, we can help keep it that way.

Call 1-800-RED CROSS or visit redcross.org

Call 1-800-RED CROSS or visit redcross.org

Drechsler, Brown & Williams There is a place where a complete stranger will reach out to help make

When you help the American Red Cross, you help America.

Funeral Home

everything okay. That place is called America, where we look out for each other.

And with your financial contribution, weSince can help1880 keep it that way.

Growing Operated Call 1-800-REDFamily CROSSOwned or visit & redcross.org Community.

Charles Williams, Owner/Funeral Director 203 S. Marion St. Oak Park 60302 708/383-3191

28

Wednesday Journal, March 25, 2020

OAKPARK.COM | RIVERFOREST.COM

2020-2021 Preschool & Kindergarten Registration Preschool Registration

Kindergarten Registration

• District 91 offers a preschool program, ages 3-5, five days a week.

To enroll, children must be 3 years of age on or before September 1, 2020.

• Registration for new students:

• If you have a child who is currently enrolled in preschool and will be 5 years old prior to September 1, 2020, they will be enrolled in Kindergarten.

• Beginning Friday, March 3, 2020, please call Diane Rice, school secretary at 708-366-6945, to set up your registration and screening appointment.

• Registration/screening dates are Monday, May 4 and Monday, May 11, 2020 at Garfield School.

• Registration/screening times are from 9 am - 2 pm each day, and both the parent/guardian and child must be present.

• Space is very limited. Upon completion of screening, registration and paid fees ($100 for the year) a child’s enrollment will be secured in the Forest Park Preschool program.

• Beginning May 5, 2020, you may call the schools to set up a screening and registration appointment for the first week of August 2020.

• Your child will need to attend the appointment with you as they are screened for instructional planning purposes.

• Families who reside south of 290 will call and attend Betsy Ross School (call Patty Marino at 708-366-7498).

• Families who reside north of 290 will call and attend Garfield School (call Diane Rice at 708-366-6945).

If you child has an IEP, information about next school year will be discussed at the Annual Review meeting, which is scheduled with each individual family.

Beginning Friday, March 3, 2020, please call Diane Rice, school secretary (708-366-6945) to set up your Preschool registration and screening appointment.

STAY IN. STAY SAFE.

Continue to support ALL small usiness.

oprfchamber.org

Wednesday Journal, March 25, 2020

OAKPARK.COM | RIVERFOREST New local ads this week

YOUR WEEKLY AD

REACHES SIX SUBURBAN COMMUNITIES: OAK PARK, RIVER FOREST, FOREST PARK, BROOKFIELD, RIVERSIDE, NORTH RIVERSIDE, AND PARTS OF CHICAGO

WEDNESDAY

CLASSIFIED

29

HOURS: 9:00 A.M.– 5:00 P.M. MON–FRI

Deadline is Monday at 5:00 p.m.

Please Check Your Ad: The publisher will not be responsible for more than one incorrect insertion.

Wednesday Journal Classified must be notified before the second insertion.

The newspaper reserves the right to edit or reject any advertisement.

Place your ad online anytime at: www.OakPark.com/ClassiďŹ ed/

BY PHONE: (708) 613-3333 | BY FAX: (708) 467-9066 | BY E-MAIL: CLASSIFIEDS@OAKPARK.COM | CLASSIFIEDS@RIVERFOREST HELP WANTED Firefighter/Paramedic Testing North Riverside, IL Applications on-line at: Jobsource.copsandfiretesting. com Application Deadline: 4/15/2020 Testing Date: 5/2/2020 847-310-2677 Police Officer Testing North Riverside, IL Applications on-line at: Jobsource.copsandfiretesting. com Application Deadline: 04/08/2020 Testing Date: 04/25/2020 847-310-2677 FOOD SERVICE WORKER – TEMPORARY FT SUMMER The Hephzibah Children’s Association Summer Day Care program is accepting applications for a Food Service Worker to be a full time seasonal employee in our program that runs from June 8th through August 14th. The days and hours are Monday through Friday, from 7:30 am to 2:30 pm.

Responsibilities include preparing and serving snacks and lunch, maintaining established standards of food safety, keeping kitchen, lunchroom and equipment in good and sanitary condition, and meeting all required reporting requirements.

Requirements include: High school diploma or equivalent Quantity cooking experience Food Sanitation Manager CertiďŹ cation (or willingness to obtain by June 8th) Contact: Amy O’Rourke – Director of Day Care at: aorourke@hephzibahhome.org Equal Opportunity Employer.

MAINTENANCE PERSON WANTED American Security in Forest Park is seeking an experienced Maintenance Person to work part-time Mon-Fri, 4-6 hours p/day. $17 - $20 p/h, based on your experience and abilities.

You must live within 20 min of 15th & Harlem.

Job Req: Vehicle, Cell phone w/texting, no criminal record.

Responsibilities: Building repairs and maint, basic electrical & plumbing, light cleaning, & a variety of other tasks.

Email your resume to jobs@ americansecurityservices.com or call 708-383-6969 ext. 240 M-F 9a-5 SUMMER SEASONAL STUDENT EMPLOYMENT The Village of Oak Park has openings for the 2020 Summer Seasonal Student Employment. Opportunities are in the Engineering, Water & Sewer, Streets Division, and Fleet & Forestry Divisions. Interested applicants must be 18 years old and actively enrolled in a post-secondary academic program. Applicants are encouraged to visit the Village of Oak Park’s website http://www. oak-park.us/. Interested and qualiďŹ ed applicants must complete a Village of Oak Park application.

HELP WANTED

HELP WANTED

NETWORK SPECIALIST The Village of Oak Park is seeking qualiďŹ ed candidates for the position of Network Specialist in the Information Technology Department.

The ideal candidate will need to be knowledgeable and capable to apply the principles and procedures of computer systems, such as, data communication, hierarchical structure, backups, testing and critical analysis. Hardware and software conďŹ guration of computers, servers and mobile devices, including computing environments of Windows Server and Desktop OS and applications, Unix/Linux OS, VMware, IOS/ Android. Network protocols, security, conďŹ guration and administration, including ďŹ rewalls, routers, switches and wireless technology. Cabling and wiring, including ďŹ ber network, telephone, serial communication, termination, and punch-down. Telecommunications theory and technology, including VoiP, serial communication, wireless protocols, PBX, fax, voicemail and auto-attendant.

Interested and qualiďŹ ed applicants can visit our website at http://www. oak-park.us/ for more details.

SUBSTITUTE CUSTODIAN Substitute Custodian position at a church in Oak Park. Hours are 2:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m, each third Monday, and 2:00 p.m - 7:00 all other Mondays, throughout the year. There is potential for additional hours as needed throughout the week, and during regular Custodian’s vacation times. Must possess proven ability to clean and maintain a large building, lift 50 pounds, and set-up/takedown tables and chairs for events.

Must also have good communication skills, work well with groups, positively represent the church when greeting visitors, and safely monitor entrances to the building.

This position reports to the Church’s Facility Manager. Please send inquiry or resume to churchofďŹ ce@ ďŹ rstumcoakpark.org

PRESCHOOL ASST DIRECTOR & TEACHER HAPPY KIDD’S WEST INC. We are looking to hire 2 positions: Daycare preschool assistant director teacher qualiďŹ ed and a teacher position. Flexible hours. Associates Degree or credited ECE hours.

Total college credit is a minimum.

Candidate must be fun loving and friendly, and an energetic individual who is knowledgeable in daycare action and DCFS protocol. Degree and experience will determine your hourly salary. Call 708-484-8188 or fax resume to 708-484-8616.

SUMMER PART TIME SEASONAL HELP The Hephzibah Children’s Association Summer Day Care Program is accepting applications for the following part time seasonal opportunity in our summer program that runs from June 8th through August 14th.

Youth Development Specialist – Greeter: Two hour shifts Monday through Friday from either 7:30-9:30 am or 4:00-6:00 pm. Provide care and supervision of the children. Responsibilities include supervising indoor and outdoor free play, greeting and welcoming parents and children and serving snack. Requirements include H.S. diploma or equivalent and experience working with children.

Contact: Amy O’Rourke – Director of Day Care at: aorourke@hephzibahhome.org Equal Opportunity Employer.

SUBURBAN RENTALS

M&M property management, inc.

708-386-7355 • www.mmpropmgt.com 649 Madison Street, Oak Park Contact us for a complete list of available rentals throughout Oak Park and Forest Park.

Apartment listings updated daily at:

SUBURBAN RENTALS

COMMERCIAL RETAIL SPACE

OAK PARK 1 BR APT 1 BR, LR, DR, KITCHEN, encl. back entry/porch. Laundry, heat incl.

Storage avail. Owner occupied 2 at. Quiet residential neighborhood. $1050/mo. Garage pkg $65/mo.

708-383-1512

A RETAIL SPACE FOR LEASE IN STRIP MALL: 1600-1635 Sq Ft. *315 S. Harlem Ave. and Madison St. area - Forest Park, IL. *Very Good Condition-Recently Updated. *Formerly a Cleaners. *Heavy foot/road trafďŹ c area. *End space. 45-Space Parking Lot! *For more details; Serious Inquiries ONLY: *EMAIL: poppygator@yahoo. com *CALL/TEXT, at: P.B. (708)250-7997 Or: D.B. (708)828-6491

CITY RENTALS LOOK q

A MUST-SEE!!!

929-933 N. LEAMINGTON ST. BEAUTIFUL newly renovated Studios ($725 - $750) & 2-bdrm Apts. ($875 - $900) in quiet bldg.

Appls incld; tenant pays utilities.

Credit/bkgrnd check req’d. Sect.

8 Welcome! For private viewing, call 708-307-8178.

ROOMS FOR RENT AUSTIN CLEAN ROOM With fridge, micro.

Nr Oak Park, Super Walmart, Food 4 Less, bus, & Metra. $116/wk and up.

773-637-5957

OFFICE SPACE FOR RENT DOWNTOWN OAK PARK SUBLEASE We are looking to sublease our beautiful, spa-like ofďŹ ce. Our ofďŹ ce is already set up and is available for sublease in downtown Oak Park.

This ofďŹ ce is perfect for a physician, anesthetist, masseuse, and/or acupuncturist. Space is available immediately. Please contact us for pricing and to schedule a tour of the ofďŹ ce.

Ask for NikI. 708-613-4417 Nikimoreno33@gmail.com THERAPY OFFICES FOR RENT Therapy ofďŹ ces for rent in north Oak Park. Rehabbed building. Nicely furnished. Flexible leasing. Free parking. Free wiďŹ ; Secure building; Friendly colleagues providing referrals. Shared waiting room; optional Conference. Call or email with questions. Shown on Sundays.

Lee 708.383.0729 drlmadden@ameritech.net

CEMENT Residential Commercial Industrial Licensed Bonded Insured Free Estimates ¡ Veteran Owned

Drives Walks Patios Stamped Concrete Curbs/Gutters Garage Floors Foundations Parking Lots Water Control

devegaconcrete.com ¡ 708-945-9001

MAGANA

ITEMS FOR SALE

C O N C R E T E C O N S T RU C T I O N

CHINA CABINET & CHINA China cabinet with 12 5-piece place settings of Bavarian china. $259.00 708-488-8755

COMMERCIAL ˜ INDUSTRIAL ˜ RESIDENTIAL

DINING ROOM TABLE Very large, genuine antique. Empire style from Marshall Field’s. Orig. $9000. Priced at $1900.

VICTORIAN DINING CHAIRS 6 beautiful Victorian chairs, reproductions. $500.

708-488-8755

WANTED TO BUY WANTED MILITARY ITEMS: Helmets, medals, patches, uniforms, weapons, ags, photos, paperwork, Also toy soldiers–lead, plastic–other misc. toys.

Call Uncle Gary 708-522-3400

PETS While you’re away, your pets are okay . . . at home

cat calls

Oak Park’s Original Pet Care Service – Since 1986

Daily dog exercising Complete pet care in your home )PVTF TJUUJOH t 1MBOU DBSF Bonded References

524-1030

Lost & Found, Items for Sale, and To Be Given Away ads run free in Wednesday Classified. To place your ad, call 708-613-3342

TAX ASSESSMENTS TAX ASSESSMENTS Find your new apartment this Saturday from 10 am – 4pm at 35 Chicago Avenue.

Or call us toll free at 1-833-440-0665 for an appointment.

CEMENT

BUSINESS & APARTMENT BUILDING OWNERS Your current reassessment can affect your bottom line.

Find out future tax liability.

Contact us for a free review at www.ashtaxsolutions.com or call 773-941-4949

“QUALITY IS OUR FOUNDATION� ESTABLISHED IN 1987

708.442.7720 '5,9(:$<6 Â&#x2021; )281'$7,216 Â&#x2021; 3$7,26 67(36 Â&#x2021; &85% *877(56 Â&#x2021; 6,'(:$/.6 612: 3/2:,1* Â&#x2021; 67$03(' &2/25(' $**5(*$7( &21&5(7( FREE ESTIMATES LICENSED, BONDED & INSURED

ELECTRICAL Ceiling Fans Installed

ELECTRICAL

A&A ELECTRIC

Let an American Veteran do your work

We install plugs for battery-operated vehicles We fix any electrical problem and do small jobs We install Surge Protectors â&#x20AC;˘ Home Re-wiring â&#x20AC;˘ New Plugs & Switches Added â&#x20AC;˘ New circuit breaker boxes â&#x20AC;˘ Code violations corrected Service upgrades,100-200 amp â&#x20AC;˘ Garage & A/C lines installed Fast Emergency Service | Residential â&#x20AC;˘ Commercial â&#x20AC;˘ Industrial Free Home Evaluations | Lic. â&#x20AC;˘ Bonded â&#x20AC;˘ Ins. â&#x20AC;˘ Low Rates â&#x20AC;˘ Free Est.

708-409-0988 â&#x20AC;˘ 708-738-3848 Sr. Discounts â&#x20AC;˘ 30 Yrs. Exp. Servicing Oak Park â&#x20AC;˘ All surrounding suburbs â&#x20AC;˘ Chicago area

ELECTRICAL

FOUR SEASONS ELECTRIC

â&#x2DC;&#x2026;Cool your Homeâ&#x2DC;&#x2026; with Ceiling Fans!

Installing Ceiling Fans Rewiring Old Houses Service Upgrades

Reasonable Pricing & Free Estimates

â&#x20AC;˘ No Job Too Big or Too Small â&#x20AC;˘ Lic * Bonded * Ins * 24 hrs

708-445-0447

ELECTRICAL Red Star Electric

Your Neighborhood Electricians *Licensed *Bonded *Insured

-Residential/ Commercial Electrical Upgrades -Electrical Service/ Panel Upgrades -Electrical Vehicle Charging Stations -Standby Generators 708 722 1388 www.RedStarElectric.net

Attention!

Home-improvement pros!

Reach the people making decisionsâ&#x20AC;&#x201C;your target market.

Advertise in Wednesday Classified. Call 708/613-3342

30

Wednesday Journal, March 25, 2020

OAKPARK.COM | RIVERFOREST

CLASSIFIED GARAGE DOORS

(708) 613-3333 • FAX: (708) 467-9066 • E-MAIL: CLASSIFIEDS@OAKPARK.COM | CLASSIFIEDS@RIVERFOREST Let the sun shine in...

Public Notice: Your right to know

Our 73rd Year

In print • Online • Available to you 24/7/365

Garage Doors &

OakPark.com | RiverForest | PublicNoticeIllinois.com

Smart Door Openers

Sales & Service Free Estimates

(708) 652-9415 www.forestdoor.com

HAULING

PUBLIC NOTICES

PUBLIC NOTICES

BASEMENT CLEANING

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: Y20003328 on March 4, 2020 Under the Assumed Business Name of FOSTER & GLIDDEN CONSULTANTS with the business located at: 1304 RIDGELAND AVE, BERWYN, IL 60402. The true and real full name(s) and residence address of the owner(s)/partner(s) is: ARLENE WARDA 1304 RIDGELAND AVE BERWYN, IL 60402

LEGAL NOTICE Invitation to Bid Landscaping Services The Board of Education of Oak Park Elementary School District #97 will receive sealed LANDSCAPING SERVICES bids at the Administrative Office located at 260 West Madison Street – Oak Park, IL, (60302), until 2:00 p.m. on Wednesday April 8th 2020.

Published in Wednesday Journal 3/11, 3/18, 3/25/2020

The front of the envelope should be clearly marked “LANDSCAPE SERVICES”. Additional information may be obtained by contacting Ms. Keane at (708) 524-3125 or jkeane@op97.org

FLOORS

Appliances & Furniture Removal Pickup & Delivery. 708-848-9404

KLIS FLOORING INC.

PAINTING & DECORATING

New hardwood flooring installation & pergo. Sanding, re-finishing, staining. Low prices, insured.

Call: 773-671-4996 www.klisflooring.com

HANDYMAN CURT'S HANDYMAN SERVICE Drywall Repair • Painting Fans Installed • Carpentry Trim Gutter Cleaning • Window Repair

FREE ESTIMATES Excellent References No Job Too Small

708-488-9411

Mike’s Home Repair Drywall H Painting H Tile Plumbing H Electric H Floors Windows H Doors H Siding Ask Us What We Don’t Do

708-296-2060

HANDYMAN Roofing Repairs Concrete Repairs • Drywall All types of handiwork Call For Free Estimates

773-637-0692 Ask for John

HEATING / AIR CONDITIONING HEATING AND APPLIANCE EXPERT Furnaces, Boilers and Space Heaters Refrigerators Ranges • Ovens Washer • Dryers Rodding Sewers Lic/Bonded 25 yrs experience

FREE SERVICE CALL WITH REPAIR AND SENIOR/VETERAN DISCOUNT.

708-785-2619 or 773-585-5000

CLASSIC PAINTING Fast & Neat Painting/Taping/Plaster Repair Low Cost

708.749.0011

PLASTERING McNulty Plastering & Stucco Co.

Small & big work. Free estimates.

Complete Plaster, Stucco & Re-Coating Services

708/386-2951 • ANYTIME Work Guaranteed

Licensed, Bonded, Insured, & EPA Certified Expert craftsmanship for over 50 years

PUBLIC NOTICES VILLAGE OF BROOKFIELD 8820 Brookfield Avenue BROOKFIELD, ILLINOIS 60513 LEGAL NOTICE REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS The Village of Brookfield will be accepting proposals for providing: Professional Services for Ogden Avenue Corridor Plan Specifications, general information and proposal forms are available in the Office of Community Development, Village of Brookfield, 8820 Brookfield Avenue, Brookfield, Illinois 60513.

Sealed proposals will be accepted until 12:00 P.M., Monday, April 13, 2020, at the Village of Brookfield Administration Building, 8820 Brookfield Avenue, Brookfield, Illinois.

Nothing herein is intended to exclude any responsible firm, or in any way restrain, or restrict competition.

All responsible and eligible firms are encouraged to submit proposals.

The Village reserves the right to accept or reject any or all proposals, to waive informalities or technicalities in any proposal, and to accept the proposal which it deems to be in the best interests of the Village.

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: Y20003431 on March 13, 2020 Under the Assumed Business Name of SPARK & SHINE ONLINE with the business located at: 45 E. BURLINGTON UNIT 10, RIVERSIDE, IL 60546. The true and real full name(s) and residence address of the owner(s)/partner(s) is: ROBIN QUINN NEWBERRY 262 NORWOOD RIVERSIDE, IL 60546 Published in RBLandmark 3/18, 3/25, 4/1/2020

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: Y20003301 on February 26, 2020 Under the Assumed Business Name of PNYX CONSULTANTS with the business located at: 340 E. NORTH WATER ST. 2302 CHICAGO, IL 60611. The true and real full name(s) and residence address of the owner(s)/partner(s) is: F. SCOTT WINSLOW 340 E NORTH WATER ST #2303 CHICAGO, IL 60611, SHANDO VALDEZ 3334 N OKETO AV CHICAGO, IL 60634.

Published in Wednesday Journal 3/11, 3/18, 3/25/2020

PUBLIC NOTICE A third neighborhood meeting will be held Wednesday, March 25 at 7:00 p.m. in the ballrooms of the Oak Park Arms, located at 408 S. Oak Park Ave., Oak Park, IL 60302. The meeting will be to discuss the proposed Pete’s Market project located at 640 Madison Street, Oak Park, IL 60302.

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: Y20003383 on March 10, 2020 Under the Assumed Business Name of A HAND UP with the business located at: 901 LAKE ST. UNIT 901, OAK PARK, IL 60303. The true and real full name(s) and residence address of the owner(s)/partner(s) is: PLESHETTE SIMONE DAVIS 901 LAKE ST. UNIT 901 OAK PARK, IL 60303

Published in Wednesday Journal 3/11, 3/18, 3/25/2020

Published in Wednesday Journal 3/18, 3/25, 4/1/2020

Published in RB Landmark 3/25/2020

Starting a New Business in 2020?

Call the experts before you place your legal ad! Publish your assumed name legal notice in • Wednesday Journal • Forest Park Review • Riverside/Brookfield Landmark • Austin Weekly News Call Mary Ellen for details: 708/613-3342

Bids mailed or delivered shall be marked to the attention of: Ms. Jeanne Keane Oak Park School District 97 260 Madison Street Oak Park, Illinois 60302

Bid Due Date: Wednesday April 8th, 2020 at 2:00 P.M. Only those bids complying with the provision and specification of the bid will be considered. The Board of Education reserves the right to waive any informalities, qualification or irregularities and/or reject any or all bids, when in its opinion, such action will serve the best interest of the Board of Education of Oak Park Elementary School District 97.

Sheryl Marinier Board Secretary Published in Wednesday Journal 3/25/2020

REAL ESTATE FOR SALE IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF COOK COUNTY, ILLINOIS COUNTY DEPARTMENT CHANCERY DIVISION MTGLQ INVESTORS, L.P. Plaintiff, -v.MARIA C. RIVERA Defendants 2019 CH 05114 1024 S RIDGELAND AVE OAK PARK, IL 60304 NOTICE OF SALE PUBLIC NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale entered in the above cause on January 17, 2020, an agent for The Judicial Sales Corporation, will at 10:30 AM on April 20, 2020, 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 1024 S RIDGELAND AVE, OAK PARK, IL 60304 Property Index No. 16-17-308-0110000 The real estate is improved with a 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

REAL ESTATE FOR SALE

REAL ESTATE FOR SALE

REAL ESTATE FOR SALE

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) 236SALE 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. 14-19-03763 Attorney ARDC No. 00468002 Attorney Code. 21762 Case Number: 2019 CH 05114 TJSC#: 40-558 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 # 2019 CH 05114 I3147509

Plaintiff, -v.JEFFERY EATON, VICKY EATON, 1223-25 ELGIN MANOR CONDOMINIUM, UNKNOWN OWNERS AND NONRECORD CLAIMANTS Defendants 2019 CH 07654 1223 ELGIN AVE UNIT G1 FOREST PARK, IL 60130 NOTICE OF SALE PUBLIC NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale entered in the above cause on January 10, 2020, an agent for The Judicial Sales Corporation, will at 10:30 AM on April 14, 2020, 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 1223 ELGIN AVE UNIT G1, FOREST PARK, IL 60130 Property Index No. 15-24-203-0351005; 15-24-203-035-1007 The real estate is improved with a condo/townhouse.

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) 236SALE 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. 14-19-05532 Attorney ARDC No. 00468002 Attorney Code. 21762 Case Number: 2019 CH 07654 TJSC#: 40-344 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 # 2019 CH 07654 I3147359

IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF COOK COUNTY, ILLINOIS COUNTY DEPARTMENT CHANCERY DIVISION NATIONSTAR MORTGAGE LLC D/B/A MR. COOPER

IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF COOK COUNTY, ILLINOIS COUNTY DEPARTMENT CHANCERY DIVISION WELLS FARGO BANK, N.A., AS TRUSTEE FOR THE POOLING AND SERVICING AGREEMENT DATED AS OF SEPTEMBER 1, 2005 ABFC ASSET-BACKED CERTIFICATES, SERIES 2005-WMC1 Plaintiff, -v.DARYL SATCHER, MORTGAGE ELECTRONIC REGISTRATION SYSTEMS, INC., OAK PARK TERRACE CONDOMINIUM ASSOCIATION Defendants 2018 CH 08851 914 NORTH AUSTIN BOULEVARD UNIT #C-8 OAK PARK, IL 60302 NOTICE OF SALE PUBLIC NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that pursuant to a Judgment

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Wednesday Journal, March 25, 2020

OAKPARK.COM | RIVERFOREST

REAL ESTATE FOR SALE

REAL ESTATE FOR SALE

REAL ESTATE FOR SALE

REAL ESTATE FOR SALE

REAL ESTATE FOR SALE

REAL ESTATE FOR SALE

REAL ESTATE FOR SALE

of Foreclosure and Sale entered in the above cause on February 7, 2019, an agent for The Judicial Sales Corporation, will at 10:30 AM on April 14, 2020, 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 914 NORTH AUSTIN BOULEVARD UNIT #C-8, OAK PARK, IL 60302 Property Index No. 16-05-320-0401025 The real estate is improved with a condo/townhouse.

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) 236SALE 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. 14-18-07459 Attorney ARDC No. 00468002 Attorney Code. 21762 Case Number: 2018 CH 08851 TJSC#: 40-1381 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 # 2018 CH 08851 I3148148

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) 236SALE 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. 14-19-04111 Attorney ARDC No. 00468002 Attorney Code. 21762 Case Number: 2019 CH 05533 TJSC#: 40-655 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 # 2019 CH 05533 I3148307

Defendants 19 CH 00561 125 SOUTH LOMBARD AVENUE 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 January 23, 2020, an agent for The Judicial Sales Corporation, will at 10:30 AM on April 24, 2020, 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 125 SOUTH LOMBARD AVENUE, OAK PARK, IL 60302 Property Index No. 16-08-302-0150000 The real estate is improved with a yellow vinyl siding, one story single family home with a detached two car garage.

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.

MCCALLA RAYMER LEIBERT PIERCE, LLC Plaintiff’s Attorneys, One North Dearborn Street, Suite 1200, Chicago, IL, 60602. Tel No. (312) 346-9088.

THE JUDICIAL SALES CORPORATION One South Wacker Drive, 24th Floor, Chicago, IL 60606-4650 (312) 236SALE You can also visit The Judicial Sales Corporation at www.tjsc.com for a 7 day status report of pending sales.

MCCALLA RAYMER LEIBERT PIERCE, LLC One North Dearborn Street, Suite 1200 Chicago IL, 60602 312-346-9088 E-Mail: pleadings@mccalla.com Attorney File No. 268445 Attorney ARDC No. 61256 Attorney Code. 61256 Case Number: 19 CH 00561 TJSC#: 40-595 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 # 19 CH 00561 I3148758

IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF COOK COUNTY, ILLINOIS COUNTY DEPARTMENT CHANCERY DIVISION U.S. BANK NATIONAL ASSOCIATION AS LEGAL TITLE TRUSTEE FOR TRUMAN 2016 SC6 TITLE TRUST Plaintiff, -v.EDILBERTO V. VERZO, MARCELINA C. VERZO, UNKNOWN OWNERS AND NONRECORD CLAIMANTS Defendants 2019 CH 05533 300-302 NORTH CUYLER AVENUE 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 January 23, 2020, an agent for The Judicial Sales Corporation, will at 10:30 AM on April 27, 2020, 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 300-302 NORTH CUYLER AVENUE, OAK PARK, IL 60302 Property Index No. 16-08-107-0090000 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

IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF COOK COUNTY, ILLINOIS COUNTY DEPARTMENT CHANCERY DIVISION DEUTSCHE BANK NATIONAL TRUST COMPANY, AS TRUSTEE FOR FFMLT TRUST 2005-FF11, MORTGAGE PASS-THROUGH CERTIFICATES, SERIES 2005FF11 Plaintiff, -v.BRIAN HOLLOWAY

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Wednesday Journal, March 25, 2020

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