WHAT’S CLOSED? WHAT’S OPEN? Farmers Market opens Saturday. Page 10 LaBella closes permanently. Page 14 Wine shop opens on Marion St. Page 10
W E D N E S D A Y
May 27, 2020 Vol. 40, No. 44 ONE DOLLAR @oakpark @wednesdayjournal
JOURNAL of Oak Park and River Forest
No new debt as OPRF builds Board to wait for more evidence of COVID-19 financial fallout before issuing debt certificate By MICHAEL ROMAIN Staff Reporter
The District 200 school board may have voted in April to move forward with Project One, the $32.6 million beginning phase of Imagine OPRF capital improvements that include renovating or constructing 76 general education classrooms, reconstructing the south cafeteria and relocating the library, among other enhancements — but the work will not be funded by issuing debt certificates. That was the unanimous recommendation that the Oak Park and River Forest High School board expressed during a May 19 Committee of the Whole meeting. At a meeting on April 23, where it voted unanimously to move forward with Project One despite the financial uncertainty related to the COVID-19 pandemic, the board directed administrators to consider how added debt might spread out “the responsibility of this project to future citizens and taxpayers,” board member Jackie Moore said at the time. During the April meeting, district officials explained that numerous potential factors, including a freeze on property taxes, the state shifting the cost of pensions to local districts and a loss of state education funding could translate into District 200 losSee NO DEBT on page 8
ALEX ROGALS/Staff Photographer
RETAIL HISTORIANS: Deborah Pieritz and John Roberts will be the last generation to own the office supply house which began in Austin in 1895.
After 125 years, Pieritz Bros. calls it quits Regulars mourn closing of corner shop By STACEY SHERIDAN Staff Reporter
After 125 years selling office supplies, the beloved family-run Pieritz Bros., 401
South Blvd., is closing up shop at the end of June. “It was a really difficult decision. I had been thinking about it for the last decade just because of the climate for small, independent office supply retailors. It just wasn’t real viable anymore as a business,” said co-manager Deborah Pieritz. “We kept it going just purely out of love and
sentiment.” A true family business, Pieritz’s grandfather Robert Pieritz founded the store in 1895 with his two brothers, Henry and Arthur. The original location was on the corner of Laramie Avenue and Lake Street. Growing up, Pieritz and her sister played together there. They also helped See PIERITZ on page 15
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