Wednesday Journal 070820

W E D N E S D A Y

July 8, 2020 Vol. 40, No. 50 ONE DOLLAR @oakpark @wednesdayjournal

JOURNAL of Oak Park and River Forest

Scaman joins growing 2021 prez race

Village clerk, one trustee running.

Several candidates contemplating

By STACEY SHERIDAN Staff Reporter

Photo by Melissa Elsmo

Caution, not optimism, as dining rooms reopen

Johnny Beltran, manager at Lake Street Kitchen + Bar, says keeping restaurants open is critical to their future. See Page 9.

OPRF says so long to zero tolerance

‘Punitive’ conduct code replaced with more ‘restorative’ plan

By MICHAEL ROMAIN Staff Reporter

There will be major changes in store for students and adults whenever they return to the classrooms and hallways of Oak Park and River Forest High

School — particularly on how students are disciplined. But despite the District 200 administration’s overhauls, school board members are still not wholly convinced they will be enough to change OPRF’s longstanding culture of racism and inequity.

The most significant change involves the Student Code of Conduct. Starting this fall, it will have a new name — the Behavior Education Plan. The D200 school board approved the new plan at a special meeting on June 16.

Some board members, while appreciative of the changes, expressed some reservations about the new Behavior Education Plan, particularly the speed at which it was being put in place and whether or not the changes sufficiently addressed the biggest impediment to radically changing OPRF’s racial climate — the behaviors of the adults in the building.

Board member Ralph Martire complained at the June 16 meeting that the See DISCIPLINE on page 12

Vicki Scaman, Oak Park’s first term village clerk, will run for village president in April 2021. She said she has registered her candidacy for the 2021 race.

This makes her Oak Park’s second elected official to enter the race. Village Trustee Simone Boutet announced her intention late last year.

Scaman confirmed her run but declined an interview request. “I am unable to comment at this time.

My desire is to see the village board concentrate on the work they have in front of them.”

Boutet filed her own candidacy with the Illinois Board of Elections back in September. On July 6 she confirmed her plans to run have not changed.

“I’m running to change the way our government responds to the citizens and stakeholders,” said Boutet.

Boutet believes Oak Park has a “culture of saying no” and that she wants to change that culture to one where the “needs of the community drive our government.”

Four other candidates have expressed interest in running or have been rumored to be candidates. Petition filing for the race comes in late 2020.

Bob Tucker, a former two term village trustee, said Monday he has yet to decide whether or not he will run for village president next year.

“I plan to decide by the end of this month, by the end of July,” Tucker told Wednesday Journal.

Tucker has been discussing a potential run with people whose opinions he values.

“For the past couple weeks, pretty much every evening, I’ve sat down with someone in my backyard See CANDIDATES on page 8

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Wednesday Journal, July 8, 2020

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What to Black folk was this Fourth of July?

his being 2020, Fourth of July just didn’t feel like the Fourth of July.

For one, a Juneteenth like no other (except, perhaps, the first one in 1865) had come and gone, with many Blacks calling that celebration last month our very own Freedom Day (thus blunting the impact of this year’s Fourth of July celebration) and, surprisingly, many whites, some perhaps with a shrug and side-eye, saying, “Well, we’re OK with that.”

This Fourth of July had announced itself for months in the form of booms and blasts and shrieks that we’ve been hearing in neighborhood blocks across the nation. For many of us, I suspect, whatever anticipation of Fourth of July fireworks we had were completely zapped from our being.

We’d have preferred a complete cessation of outdoor sound over a glorious pyrotechnic display. Besides, these last six months have been one overlong, exasperating, painful, glitch-filled pyrotechnics display of Trumpian proportions.

Not even our sacrosanct Black family cookouts felt the same as they did just a year ago — caught as they were between coronavirus and Karens.

So given the present reality, what to Black folk was this year’s Fourth of July? What to do without a proper cookout and fireworks

and old-fashioned, American and basic rights, but this very fun (you know, the kind we public debate about who is and is had in the olden days of the not a citizen of this country canFourth, which, like virtually not be divorced from the minute all of our holidays, is more celinjustices of everyday racism, ebrated for what it is not — a Rankine’s poems so powerfully day spent at work or dreading demonstrate. going into work — than for ■ Now, perhaps more than what it symbolizes)? ever before, whites en masse are And speaking of those re-examining their assumptions symbols. They, too, were not about Black people and our place what they were. The very in American history — which meaning of this momentous is squarely at the center. There day was up for debate. In the can be no understating racism’s spirit of the moment, in the centrality to the founding of this Commentary spirit of both George Floyd country and if you need very and George Washington, here carefully deconstructed proof of are five suggestions I offered last week for this point, you can’t do much better than making the most of this year’s quarantined watch Jeffery Robinson, the “ACLU’s top commemoration. racial justice expert,” talk about the “dark Yes, the Fourth of July is now over, but history of Confederate symbols across the you may still find these recommendations country and outlines what we can do to edifying. learn from our past and combat systemic racism.” Search: “The Truth About the ■ Read the excerpt of poet Claudia Confederacy in America” on YouTube.

Rankine’s 2014 volume of poems “Citizen: An American Lyric” that is available at ■ You may have heard about Frederick poetryfoundation.org (the excerpted poem Douglass’ “The Meaning of July Fourth is titled: (“You are in the dark, in the car”). for the Negro,” one of his most famous This year, we’re witnessing the elastic speeches. It is one thing to read the words, concept of citizenship evolve and morph as as powerful as they are. It is another to Blacks make new demands for recognition hear them recited by James Earl Jones. I

MICHAEL ROMAIN

recommend doing both. Search: “James Earl Jones and What to the Slave” (or some variation of the phrase) on YouTube.

■ Since it hit the newsstands last year, the special issue of the New York Times Magazine, called the 1619 Project, has prompted continued debate about the centrality of race in American life and how it came to be so central to this country’s founding myths.

But the 1619 Project is more than a print issue. It is an expansive, immersive interactive project that you can explore immediately at: nytimes.com/interactive/2019/08/14/ magazine/1619-america-slavery.html.

■ Finally, read the Declaration of Independence and U.S. Constitution (if only snippets of each). We Black folk are, along with our white and Brown sisters and brothers, stitched into a fabric of mutuality that is defined, in large part, by those documents, which every one of us has a right to interpret and define for ourselves.

For a long time, only the interpretations and definitions of a select few citizens have mattered. I think that’s changing now. And because of that, this Fourth of July, despite its epic challenges, may have been among the most important that we’ve had in a long time. And that’s a good thing for all of us.

CONTACT: michael@oakpark.com

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Wednesday Journal, July 8, 2020

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Two commissions on policing plus an arbitration process How officers are hired and promoted. How citizen complaints are reviewed.

By STACEY SHERIDAN Staff Reporter

In the wake of civil unrest and anger over systemic racism in law enforcement, the nation now demands more public oversight in policing and detail on how departments operate. In Oak Park there are two citizen commissions designated to oversee different aspects of the police department – the Board of Fire and Police Commissioners and the Citizens Police Oversight Committee (CPOC). Layered into review of police discipline matters is a process involving a third-party arbiter as dictated by the contract between the village and the local Fraternal Order of Police union lodge.

“The Board of Fire and Police Commissioners, their role is to oversee the hiring and promotional process for sworn police officers and for our fire department,” said Kira Tchang, Oak Park’s human resources director.

That three-member board handles both entry-level hiring and promotion of officers to higher ranks.

After standardized testing is administered, the Fire and Police commissioners conduct oral interviews. Also participating are Tchang and the police or fire chief, depending on which department has the openings.

Candidates vying for entry-level police positions also have to pass background checks.

“An amazing number of candidates don’t pass,” those checks said Colette Lueck, a member of the Police and Fire board and a former village trustee. “Lots of it is adolescent encounters with the police. Some say they’ve completed degrees they haven’t really finished.”

According to Lueck, the best candidates are typically those that have law enforcement experience, such as completing an internship with another police department or working with the National Guard.

Progress is being made in diversifying the investigations into the situation.

“We oversee the review process that the the Oak Park police department said Lueck though that headway has come through a fo- police department takes,” said CPOC Chair cus on recruiting candidates and is not con- Jim Downing.

When the police department receives a sidered as part of the testing process. Lueck said the commission interviewed a signifi- complaint against one of its officers, the cant number of people of color during their situation is reviewed and investigated by last round of interviews for entry-level po- four to five sworn officers within the police lice positions. department.

The Fire and Police Commission formerly “Citizens raising concerns about their played a role in the disciplinary process but interactions with police officers can result lost that authority through in disciplinary action for an changes made to the collecofficer,” said Tchang. “But tive bargaining agreement the citizen police oversight between the village of Oak committee doesn’t recomPark and the FOP a number mend discipline per se.” of years ago.

Then the chief or a police “Those roles and responcommander will recomsibilities have really moved mend certain courses of away and been given over to actions, including further the police department and training for the officer or the village manager,” said potentially disciplinary Tchang. measures.

COLETTE LUECK Transferring the author“I can’t think off the top Police and Fire board member ity to discipline police came of my head of a time when at the request of FOP, Luit resulted in disciplineck said, and happened durary action,” said Downing. ing her tenure as a village Downing has served on the trustee. committee for eight and a half years.

“I think folks thinking about reforming CPOC then determines whether they police have to understand the role of the agree with the recommendation or if they union and how powerful they are,” Lueck believe further investigation is necessary. said.

Doling out disciplinary measures for the The collective bargaining agreement con- officers who have been found to have comtains a formal grievance process for disci- mitted infractions falls under the purview pline. If a police officer feels the initial dis- of the police chief though, above a certain cipline measure breaches the agreement, it modest level of discipline, that action can can be grieved up to the level of the village then be grieved all the way up to the arbiter. manager. If that does not bring resolution, “The police chief is ultimately the one the case goes to an independent arbitrator. who signs off on any progressive discipline “If it continues to be in dispute by the that’s occurring within the police departunion than it could rise to the level of the ar- ment,” said Tchang. bitrator, in which case the arbitrator would To maintain privacy under the union conlay out the final decision on the case,” said tract, CPOC never learns the names of the Tchang. complainants or officers; however, officers According to Lueck, when it comes to set- are given codenames, which allows CPOC to tling contract disputes arbitrators “almost track potential behavioral patterns. CPOC always” side with the FOP. does receive the gender and race of the ofThe seven-member CPOC oversees the ficer under investigation. process for complaints made by citizens According to Downing, Oak Park reagainst a police officer or police officers and ceives only about 20 to 30 citizen complaints

“I think folks thinking about reforming police have to understand the role of the union and how powerful they are.”

against officers per year.

“The majority of complaints we get revolve around unprofessional conduct,” said Downing. “[The officer] was dismissive or not responsive, maybe acting upset.”

Unprofessional conduct also includes not returning phone calls.

Downing’s account of the complaints is in line with Oak Park Police Chief LaDon Reynolds, who said during a June 22 village board meeting that citizen complaints against police are typically about discourteous behavior.

Complaints of racial discrimination have come to CPOC but, Downing said, “It had been a while.”

Downing expects the number of complaints to grow as citizens can now file complaints online an innovation pushed by Reynolds. Until recently, citizens had to go to the police department to fill out a complaint form.

An ordinance to create CPOC was passed in the 1990s and CPOC still operates within the ordinance’s perimeters, which Downing said has not changed materially since its passage.

The seven-person CPOC includes former Evanston police officer-now-lawyer Bob Pickrell. Downing is a certified fraud investigator focusing on white-collar crimes.

The committee has received criticism in the past for what some perceive to be a lack of diversity. Currently, two people of color and one woman serve on CPOC. While its meetings are public, the investigation review and discussion occur in executive session. The complaints, meeting minutes and any documentation related to the investigation cannot be obtained through Freedom of Information Act requests.

“If the village board wants to change the ordinance to make that part of the public meeting, or just make the entire thing public, I would fully support it,” said Downing.

In December, CPOC joined the National Association for Civilian Oversight of Law Enforcement.

“I think a lot of people don’t realize that we’ve had this in place,” said Downing. “It’s a great forum for citizens to voice their complaints, which I think is very important.”

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Wednesday Journal, July 8, 2020

Rare Bird Preserves Mini-Market

Thursdays, 8 to 10 a.m., alley behind Rare Bird Preserves Pick up pastries and provisions from Rare Bird, produce from Mick Klug Farm, Publican Quality bread, flowers and more.

Inquire: theshop@ rarebirdpreserves.com

Virtual Scavenger Hunt Beginning Saturday, July 11, 8:30 a.m., Oak Park parks The Park District of Oak Park has created virtual scavenger hunts in the parks throughout Oak Park. Once details and clues of each hunt by park and region become available online Saturday, complete the hunt by uploading your answers to the website listed in the instructions. Winners will receive treats and prizes.

Everyone gets to enjoy time outside in the parks.

More: pdop.org/events/virtual-scavenger-hunt

BIG WEEK July 8-15

Book Launch: “Little Kings” Peter Kahn, Oak Park and River Forest High School English Teacher and Spoken Word Educator, has released his debut collection of poetry. In this recorded live event, Kahn is joined by acclaimed poets Jacob Sam-La Rose, Nick Makoha and Malika Booker, as well as the most recent winner of both the T.S. Eliot Prize and the Royal Society of Literature Ondaatje Prize, Roger Robinson, who all share their work. Watch the program here: youtube.com/watch?v=TRvENIHA bFs&feature=youtu.be

Magic Trick Workshop

Chicago Fit/Lit Challenge Monday, July 13, through Monday, Aug. 17, 1 to 2 p.m., Zoom Meeting Room and Discord Channel with the Chicago Literary Hall of Fame Here is a way for youth to combine physical fitness (walking or biking), reading and writing (or video narratives) this summer. For example, read The Wizard of Oz, take a trip to Oz Park, then tell (through writing or video) about what you experienced. The next week you read Blue Balliett’s The Wright3, check out the exterior of Robie House and share your thoughts.

Group meets Mondays. Points are awarded for site visits, completed books and responses. Prizes go to the most active participants. $75; scholarships available.

More/register: chicagoliteraryhof.org/events_entry/ chicago-fit-lit-challenge

Friday, July 10, 3:30 to 4:15 p.m., Virtually with the River Forest Public Library Join professional magician Gary Kantor and learn at-home magic tricks. Be prepared with a deck of cards, rubber bands, crayons, paper and a writing implement. For grades K-4. Register: riverforestlibrary.librarymarket.com/ events/magic-trick-workshop

OAKPARK.COM | RIVERFOREST.COM

Better Lake Street Reward Program Through August 31 Shop and dine in Downtown Oak Park, Hemingway District or Pleasant District and save your receipts.

Receipts from online shopping and delivery purchases are accepted. Receive $25 in reward certificates by spending $20 or more at five businesses with a grand total of $200 or more. Reward certificates must be used Sept. 1 through Oct. 15 at participating businesses.

Reward books are limited. More: downtownoakpark.net/ better-lake-street/

“Harmony in the Universe” Wednesdays, 1 to 6 p.m., Dancing Krow Studio & Social Club See the summer art exhibit from the collective led by Karen Schuman. While there, shop for art by local artists and handmade soaps. 43 Harrison, Oak Park.

Virtual Town Halls with Illinois Senate President Don Harmon and State Representative Camille Lilly Thursday, July 9, and Tuesday, July 14, 7 to 8:30 p.m.

At this Town Hall, constituents can submit questions beforehand to be discussed at the virtual meeting. Topics include the spring legislative session, COVID-19 and more.

Register/submit a question: donharmon.org. Phone inquiries, Sen. Harmon: 708-848-2002, Questions for Rep. Lilly: 708-613-5939.

Peace of Mind Meditation Retreat Saturday, July 11, 10 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. and 1:30 to 4 p.m., Livestream This beginner-friendly meditation retreat explores the power of mantra meditation and imagination to overcome inner obstacles and make authentic spiritual progress. Includes practical teaching, guided meditation and Q&A. With Kadampa Buddhist monk Gen Kelsang Zamling. Attend just the morning, just the afternoon or both. $20, per session; $35, full day. More/register: meditateinchicago.org/retreat

Music by the Numbers Thursday, July 8, 4 to 5 p.m., Virtually Enjoy members of the Symphony of Oak Park and River Forest perform at Cheney Mansion each week as they count up from solo performance to duet and so on. This week, see Uli Widmaier, viola, play J.S. Bach’s Chaconne. Brought with the Park District of Oak Park. Up next: July 15 July 22 July 29

Aug. 5 Aug. 12 Aug. 19

Aug. 26 Sept. 2

Saint-Saëns Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso (duet) String Trios of Beethoven and Schubert Quartets by Beethoven and Schumann, featuring Maestro Jay Friedman in Beethoven’s Three Equali for Four Trombones Schubert’s heavenly String Quintet in C, movt. 1 Music of Poulenc, including the Divertissement from the Sextet Selections from Schütz’s Symphoniae Sacrae featuring Jay Friedman, trombone, and Douglas Anderson, baritone (septet) Beethoven’s Wind Octet, Andante and Menuet-Trio Grieg’s Holberg Suite (nonet)

$5 per concert, Oak Park residents; $50 for the series, OP residents. $8 per concert, non-residents; $67 for the series, non-residents. Register: 708-725-2720, pdop.org.

Wednesday Journal, July 8, 2020

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The warmth of Oak Park roots

sabel Wilkerson lived in Oak Park for a long while when she worked as the New York Times Chicago bureau chief.

She received a Pulitzer for her work at the Times, the first Black woman to win that award. She also wrote at least part of The Warmth of Other Suns while in Oak Park.

That book was her powerful reporting on the lives several African Americans found when they left the South and moved North and West in the last century.

Sunday her new book, Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents, was excerpted as the lead piece in the Times Sunday magazine. The essay was updated to reflect an America shaken, hopefully hard enough, by the murder of George Floyd. Its premise is that the 400-year history of the colonization of the American continent is only explained by identifying a caste system — yes, like that embedded in the DNA of India. Yes, like the hideous goal of Nazi Germany.

What we see mainly through the horrific and true prism of racism has an undergirding, Wilkerson explains, in a caste system.

“The shape-shifting, unspoken, race-based caste system in the United States. Each version relied on stigmatizing those deemed inferior to justify the dehumanization necessary to keep the lowest-ranked people at the bottom and to rationalize the protocols of enforcement,”

DAN HALEY

she writes.

Looking for an anti-racist read, here you are.

Lonnie Bunch, another former Oak Parker, was also prominent in the Sunday Time’s business section. In his time in Oak Park, Bunch headed the Chicago History Museum. But 15 years ago he was tapped to invent the Smithsonian’s new National Museum of African American History and Culture. More recently he was chosen to head the entire maze of the Smithsonian’s museums.

In the interview he was asked about his views as a historian and as a curator on removing statues honoring Confederate leaders. In a moment when there is so much noise, starting with Donald Trump’s bizarre and racist take on propping up the Confederacy, there is nuance and power in Bunch’s view.

Isabel Wilkerson, author of Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents

OPRF Alliance Soccer

Tryouts for 2020-2021 Playing Year

July 11 & July 18

Thank You Moms of Oak Park, River Forest, Forest Park & surrounding suburbs!

“What is crucially important about this is that removing statues is not about erasing history. Removing statues in many ways is about finding a more accurate history, a history that is more in keeping with the best scholarship that we have out there. So for me, it is about making sure we don’t forget what those statues symbolize. It’s about pruning them, removing some, contextualizing others and recognizing there is nothing wrong with a country recognizing that its identity is evolving over time. And that as this identify evolves, so does what it remembers. So does what it celebrates.”

Here are some other things learned about those with Oak Park connections from reading newspapers and social media lately.

Tavi Gevinson, remarkable woman of many talents, was spotted starring in the new CBS All Access version of The Twilight Zone. The second season episode was titled, “A Human Face.”

Now this was a while ago but have seen nothing on Twitter to dispute it so I’ll report that Betty White, now 98 years old, and 97 years out from her days in Oak Park, is riding out the COVID-19 pandemic in her usual cheerful, future-focused manner. No news about Bob Newhart, who was born at West Sub but is claimed as a son of the Austin neighborhood. Can report exclusively that I used to play with his nephew Ned Newhart who was definitely from Oak Park.

Sean Doolittle, the Nationals star closer, has Oak Park area connects in the off season. He’s in the news right now for telling the MLB it has to get its act together pronto on COVID testing and PPE if there is to be a baseball season.

Lots of pushback which does not seem to bother him much.

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Wednesday Journal, July 8, 2020

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ART BEAT

Under Hemingway’s roof, writer stays true to her characters Laura Young, OPRF teacher, writer in residence at the Hemingway Birth Home

By LAURA YOUNG

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Guest Author

hen I was in the UK during the summer of 2016, Jo Cox, a British Labour party MP, was attacked and murdered in West Yorkshire. Days later, a friend and I sat below the Edinburgh Castle as my children danced around the playground at the far end of Princes Street Gardens.

Doesn’t seem right that he’ll just go to jail, he said. If it were up to me, he’d go the same way as she did.

At first I disagreed — I’m a pacifist. I practice ahimsa, the principle of non-violence toward all living things in thoughts, words and actions. No, I said, getting even never solves anything. But then he asked me about my kids: what if someone did that to them?

I felt a burning in my belly and my heart in my throat. I don’t know, I said. But, of course, I did know. I’m a mom, after all.

This conversation became the origin of the world I would build for the next three years while writing my novel The Butcher. What if there was such a thing as an eye for an eye? What if a victim or a victim’s family could decide the punishment for a crime? I imagined a society in which people, with all their heartbreak and grief and rage really did get to name an assailant’s sentence.

As is painfully obvious, there are stark, shocking injustices in the world: the senseless murders at the hands of those we are supposed to trust, the way the privileged walk on the backs of those whose existence they try to erase. We fight for justice, for repercussions and consequences. But somehow society plods along, and though a token concession of accountability happens every now and then, it’s not enough to quell such inequalities.

I often feel so discouraged, so afraid of the world we live in. I suppose I explore the

And as a white

person with privilege, it’s imperative I use my voice to make heard those who are silenced.

ALEX ROGALS/Staff Photographer

WRITER’S REFUGE: OPRF teacher Laura Young, outside of Hemingway’s Birthplace in Oak Park. Young will be working in the house until 2021. darkness that lives in me, in all of us, in order to have some kind of control amidst the chaos. And as a white person with privilege, it’s imperative I use my voice to make heard those who are silenced.

I have been the writer-in residence at the Hemingway Birthplace on Oak Park Avenue for a year now. My office is in the attic, but I prefer to write near the front parlor window where I can hear the low hum of traffic from the street. But even with this constant reminder of humanity, there does seem to be heaviness in the home; my imagination, which has always been borderline terrifying, goes wild.

It’s fitting, though, for my fiction is dark.

It’s also fitting that I work in a place whose walls hold in them generations of mental illness. My nonfiction focuses on my own struggles with clinical depression and post-

partum psychosis. There’s a kindred spirit element in the house, and though sometimes a tiny creak from above makes me jump out of my seat, I feel, in a way, that my own newfound mental strength diminishes the ancestral suffering in the air. Plus, I burned sage in every corner of every room.

Because, you know, ghosts and all.

I’ve since started my third novel while The Butcher is out on submission with publishers. Currently untitled, it’s a work of fiction about the illegalization of grief; sad people cost the government too much. Other peoples’ discomfort is disquieting — as a species we try to avoid it. But grief is as inescapable and beautiful as it is harrowing and bleak. It is something powerful enough to create change as vast as the universe. If it doesn’t break us first, that is.

People who know me in real life are typi-

cally shocked: how can I, a bubbly, personable woman and mother and educator write such things? I think of Stephen King, and how he once said something to the effect that he writes what he does because if he doesn’t he’d go crazy. It’s the same for me — those thoughts need to go somewhere. I can make my characters do anything I want; nothing is left to chance. And though the endings might not always be happy, I can ensure that they are true to the characters. This fidelity is what I wish for my own life: not one of ease or bliss or endless happiness, but one that is true, no matter what I have to do to make it so.

Besides writing, Laura Young teaches English at Oak Park and River Forest High School. She is an Oak Park resident and is the Ernest Hemingway Foundation writer-in-residence at the Birthplace Home for 2019-2021.

Wednesday Journal, July 8, 2020

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Former Blue Max to become Lathrop House Café A sort of homecoming for Patrick O’Brien of Scratch Restaurant Group

By MELISSA ELSMO Oak Park Eats Editor

Twenty-five years ago, Patrick O’Brien and his sister Bridget Pettinger bought a Forest Park house, at 26 Lathrop Ave., with the intention of converting it into a restaurant. Now, the established restauranteur behind Scratch Restaurant Group (SRG), is returning to his roots to bring that very same property -- formerly the Blue Max -- back to life as Lathrop House Café.

Scratch owns Scratch Kitchen on Madison Street in Forest Park and two eateries in Oak Park.

“It was so long ago when we bought that building,” said O’Brien. “I remember kids in cribs in the kitchen. I laugh looking back at those days.”

O’Brien and his sister were attracted to the property because it was dually zoned.

They built a commercial kitchen on the property and added a large enclosed porch to increase dining space. They named the restaurant The Lathrop House and offered coffee, muffins and sandwiches along with special menu items to a small band of loyal customers.

O’Brien, who served as chef, lived in the apartment above the restaurant. He was young and inexperienced. He recollects having friends over to play video games during business hours. When a customer would arrive, his younger sisters, who were waitresses in the restaurant, would call him down to the kitchen to cook.

“I actually told my friends to pause the game and wait until I was done cooking to finish the game,” laughed O’Brien. “It was comical really!”

After three years, O’Brien sold his shares in the business and headed out on his own find his way in the restaurant industry. His sister retains ownership of the building and over the years the house held a Thai restaurant among others before eventually becoming the Blue Max. In May 2019, the Blue Max closed suddenly leaving a void in the Forest Park restaurant scene and paving the way for O’Brien to take over the house once again.

“This is a strange time to start a business, but I have a really good feeling about this one.” said O’Brien.

Lathrop House Café is going to fill the same niche the Blue Max provided in Forest Park according to O’Brien. They plan to cover all the breakfast basics like omelets, skillets, pancakes and waffles while still embracing the SRG concept — where everything is done properly and made from scratch.

“We’ll be offering seasonal global fusion specials for breakfast and lunch,” said O’Brien. “We’ll have Latin, Asian and Mediterranean influences.”

Most notably, Lathrop House Café will resurrect the coveted scones and latte art beloved by fans of the Blue Max. O’Brien intends to partner with a local craft coffee roaster and will go through a training program to bring a proper cup of coffee to the café.

Additionally, the space will close at 3 p.m.

making it a private event venue in the evenings. The easily dividable house will offer spaces suitable for meetings and parties of various sizes. In the future, O’Brien envisions an outdoor dining area with a bar, BBQ pit and pizza oven capable of hosting outdoor birthday parties or small weddings.

In the meantime, O’Brien is focused on freshening up the place with fresh paint and new landscaping.

The Forest Park heath department is scheduled to inspect the property in the coming days. If O’Brien is given the green light to open, he sees no reason Lathrop House Café won’t be open in the next 10 to 14 days with a limited menu of coffee and pastries to start.

“I am excited this has become a reality.” said O’Brien. “It feels crazy to go back to where I started after 25 years, but now I have the skills to do it right.”

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‘Slow Streets’ gets rapid OK from village board

By STACEY SHERIDAN Staff Reporter

In a rare moment of efficiency and foregoing the usual angry discourse characteristic of this particular group of elected officials, the Oak Park village board of trustees moved forward on several agenda items during a July 7 remote meeting, including deciding to delay further Lake Street construction in the Hemingway District until after Labor Day to provide extended time for outdoor restaurant dining.

In a quick turnaround, the board took the recommendation of the Transportation Commission and voted 6-1 to implement the temporary “Slow Streets” plan in a pilot capacity; the commission heard the proposal first June 9.

“Slow Streets,” known as “Shared Streets” in Chicago and other communities, limits vehicular traffic with signage and barricades on certain streets to enable greater social distancing opportunities while walking, exercising and bicycling outdoors.

“The main benefit is we’re seeing so many more people biking and walking,” said Transportation Commission Chair Ron Burke. “People are home more and they’re looking for more opportunities to bike and walk more than they used to.”

The program is entirely transitory in nature, devised to give citizens greater outdoor recreational and exercise opportunities during the COVID-19 pandemic, and designed to be easily undone.

“If the board doesn’t like it, you can always take it away,” said Burke. “But we think it’s going to be quite popular.”

“Slow Streets” does not necessitate any full closures of streets. Rather, “Slow Streets” restricts automotive traffic in cordoned areas to people who live in the neighborhood, as well as delivery and emergency vehicles.

Burke recommended using the honor system to enforce “Slow Streets.”

The Transportation Commission recommended a five-mile looped network of streets to serve as the pilot program; Burke suggested taking an incremental approach to “Slow Streets,” implementing one section of streets at a time.

“If it goes well, you can always extend it,” Burke told the board.

Village Engineer Bill McKenna had a laundry list of staff concerns, including safety and enforcement, as well as on street parking.

“We have a hard time enforcing partial street closures on roads to traffic,” said McKenna. “If we’re encouraging people to use those spaces, especially kids that may not be necessarily paying attention to cars, that then creates safety concerns.”

For police, McKenna said enforcement of the partially closed roads will be “problematic;” both Burke and Bike Walk Oak Park,

the advocacy group that created the original proposal, want people to use the honor system instead of having police enforcement.

Staff also had concerns about maintaining signage, as well as street barricades, of which several hundred would be used for “Slow Streets,” McKenna said.

According to McKenna, barricades tend to get moved around and staff did not want people to use them to have unofficial block parties.

The cost of barricade rentals also concerned staff.

“We did get a quote from a traffic control company for the rental of the barricades and for fabricating some of those signs for the COVID-19 pandemic,” said McKenna. “It was just under $60,000.”

Finally, staff was concerned with how to balance adequately informing residents and the desire to quickly implement “Slow Streets” before the bad weather shuts down outdoor activity.

“We see the concerns, which are legitimate, that Bill outlined are not really coming to fruition in cities with these programs,” said Burke.

Several cities across the United States have implemented “Slow Streets” or a similar program, including Boston, Denver, San Francisco, Minneapolis and, of course, Chicago.

“Across the board, they’re popular with the public,” said Burke.

Burke also said McKenna’s quote was “really on the high side;” the Transportation Commission estimates it would cost $7,500 to $10,000 a month for the recommended five miles.

The village board was widely in support of “Slow Streets,” save Trustee Dan Moroney who was resoundingly against it and said it gave people a “false sense of security.”

Public Works Director John Wielebnicki told Wednesday Journal his department will be getting more price quotes from different companies.

According to Wielebnicki, the route will start on the south section of Madison Street on Kenilworth Avenue extend to Van Buren Street then to either Lombard or Harvey Avenues and loop north back to Madison Street.

“We’re going to look at either Lombard or Harvey as the eastern edge,” Wielebnicki said.

The village board also voted to implement a daytime residential parking permit program for both Oak Park and non-Oak Park businesses, as the enforcement of parking restrictions will go back into effect July 13. The measure passed 6-1, with Trustee Arti Walker-Peddkotla casting the dissenting vote.

Licensed Oak Park businesses, including contractors, can purchase a parking permit for $124 a year able to be used to park as many as five vehicles. The board voted to expand it to businesses outside of Oak Park but at a higher rate of $155 for five vehicles per year.

CANDIDATES

If Andrews were to enter the race, he said he would run for the same reason he ran for village trustee: to serve the people of Oak Park.

“I’m just not a fan of people campaigning at the board table, and I certainly from page 1 don’t want to be accused of such if I dewhose opinions I’m interested in hearing cide to run,” Andrews said. and who are asking me to run,” Tucker Andrews said he currently is focused said. on making good decisions for Oak Park Deno Andrews, a sitting trustee has and getting through the COVID-19 crisis. long been rumored to be a potential can“I really, really have made no decisions didate. He said Monday that and I have not made any dehe has not decided and that cisions on what I’m going to the current stresses on village run for or if I’m going to run government from COIVD-19 at all,” Andrews said. and policing issues. He said it Tucker is chief operating is too early to decide and too officer of the Chicago Comearly to begin campaigning. munity Loan Fund, which Cate Readling mounted provides financial assistance a last-minute write-in cambenefitting low- and moderpaign for village president in ate-income neighborhoods in 2017. She may soon enter the Chicago.

2021 race. She has not formal“I have a full-time job that VICKI SCAMAN ly announced for the race but Village Clerk is all about investing in and confirmed she has launched helping support disadvanan exploratory committee. taged communities of color She works as the community outreach throughout Chicagoland,” said Tucker. coordinator for the Park District of Oak As the nation’s population calls for raPark. cial equity and investment in disenfranReadling also declined an interview rechised communities, Tucker said engagequest. ment with his non-profit has only grown.

Anan Abu-Taleb, currently in his secIndividuals and organizations are “enond term as mayor, said he has not decidgaging even more so than they have in ed whether he might run for an unprecthe past with my organization and we’re edented third term. very busy,” Tucker said. “It’s good that “At this point, I’m not thinking about we’re busy.” campaigns; I’m not thinking about who’s Tucker expects his work will continue running and who’s not,” Abu-Taleb said. to be demanding in coming months and “I’m just focused on what the community is factoring that into his decision regardelected me to do which is taking care of ing the village presidential election. the taxpayers and serving the commu“I just have to figure out if I want to nity.” make that next step and actually run for The COVID-19 pandemic, Abu-Taleb said, has commanded his attention and office.”

Boutet has been the most open candienergy, as well as that of village staff. date in the race having declared her in“I don’t know if people realize how terest nine months back. busy we have been to combat this panShe discussed her platform for a demic,” Abu-Taleb said. “Everything we’ve been doing in village hall has been planned campaign.

“Those needs include moving forward turned upside down.” on racial equity, rebounding from the Abu-Taleb cited COVID-19 related revpandemic, adopting progressive budget enue shortfalls, as well as new services the village is providing to help small reform and becoming a fully transparent businesses and improving communica- and inclusive government,” said Boutet.

Boutet will campaign on the premise tion with the public as key focuses. of bringing greater transparency to all “And add to that, we have this social uprising,” he said. “We have a lot on our aspects of village government, including plate; staff has been extremely busy, and in the presentation of information on the I’ve been just trying to take care of what Oak Park village website and the process by which Oak Park tracks citizen comI was elected to do.”

Andrews expressed similar sentiments plaints in the police department.

“I’ve been running on transparency to Abu-Taleb’s regarding the current state of both Oak Park and the country, since my first run,” Boutet said. “I think saying, “We’re in a very stressful time it’s one of the essences of good government.” with COVID, with policing.”

So far, Boutet has amassed a “handful” Andrews said he has not made any decisions regarding a potential run for vil- of volunteers and a campaign manager to assist her in her village presidential run. lage president.

Boutet noted she is also trying to diver“I honestly have given almost zero thought to next year’s election,” he said. sify the village board racially by encour“I think it’s just still way too early to be aging Black community members to run making those decisions and starting the for village trustee but that those efforts have been unsuccessful. campaign.”

Crowded field for president?

Wednesday Journal, July 8, 2020

OAKPARK.COM | RIVERFOREST.COM

9

Home baker cooks up local law

River Forest OKs ordinance allowing consumer sales

By MELISSA ELSMO Oak Park Eats Editor

Former attorney and passionate baker, Laura Klein Riff, put her studious mind to work to pave the way for her emerging scratch baking and cake decorating business, Butter Cream Flour. Thanks to the home-baker’s efforts, the River Forest village board unanimously passed a home kitchen operation ordinance on June 22.

“I knew I would have to jump through hoops to get my business up and running, but I was surprised to learn River Forest did not have an ordinance allowing for home baking.”

Cottage laws in Illinois originally allowed for bakers to sell their home-baked goods at farmers markets exclusively but were adapted in 2014 to allow for direct sales to customers. Still, individual municipalities are required to adopt home baking ordinances, also known as cupcake laws, for state-wide cottage laws to take effect. Oak Park adopted their “cupcake law” in 2016.

“It can be intimidating to try to change local laws,” said Klein Riff. “I worked alone on this but was able to draw on my law background and lay it out pretty clearly for the village board.”

Klein Riff petitioned the Village of River

ALEX ROGALS/Staff Photographer

HOME MADE: Laura Klein Riff, lawyer turned baker, won village OK allowing home baked goods to be sold. Her cake making business is called Butter Cream Flour.

Forest to adopt such an ordinance on May 5.

On June 22, the Development Review Board, the village board and Village President Cathy Adduci, unanimously voted in favor of allowing small home bakers who bake breads, cookies, cakes, pastries and fruit pies to produce those items in their own home kitchens and sell directly to consumers.

“Allowing home kitchen operations in River Forest is a great way for residents to break into the food industry. It’s a tough industry and getting started can be difficult and expensive,” said Adduci. “This is all very safe. The State of Illinois, and our health inspection consultant, have carefully vetted the type of goods that can be pro-

duced safely in a home kitchen.”

Klein Riff also recommended home kitchen operators take a food safety class through the Illinois Department of Public Health and River Forest took the recommendation.

The River Forest health inspector will review all applications and proof of training before operations can commence.

“I was impressed with how the River Forest village board handled it; they were swift and efficient,” said Klein Riff. “I appreciate the board’s willingness to indulge me on this and for showing support for all River Forest home bakers.”

For Klein Riff home baking is a steppingstone to opening her own brick and mortar bakery down the road, but for now offers her the ability to do what she loves at a pace she is comfortable with. Her passion for baking has always been bubbling beneath the surface and she can confidently sell her “impossibly moist” cakes with sleek and current design elements from her River Forest home.

“Having a home baking ordinance in place opens up a lot of opportunities for people,” said Klein Riff. “I think there is a lot of hidden talent in River Forest who will benefit from this ordinance.”

Since her success in River Forest, small scale entrepreneurs from Vernon Hills have reached out to Klein Riff for assistance in getting a similar home baking ordinance passed in their area.

Oak Park eateries reopen dining rooms Rise in COVID-19 elsewhere worries restaurants here

By MELISSA ELSMO Oak Park Eats Editor

After COVID-19 shuttered dining rooms on March 16, a glimmer of hope arrived on June 26 as phase four of Governor J.B. Pritzker’s Restore Illinois plan allowed indoor dining to reopen with capacity restrictions.

A subsequent spike in cases nationwide has some Oak Park restaurant owners concerned the virus rate increase may result in a setback for an industry already heavily impacted by the pandemic.

“The biggest challenge now is keeping the restaurant open and having hours for my employees,” said Johnny Beltran, manager of Lake Street Kitchen and Bar. “We can withstand a big punch, but multiple hits are hard to come back from. A step backward right now would be devastating.”

Beltran wears many hats at his Lake Street Kitchen and Bar, 1101 Lake St. He serves as cook, server, and purchaser and now his primary focus is on coaxing his employees back to work as his restaurant

navigates its way through a pandemic while welcoming guests indoors.

Lake Street Kitchen has instituted a onehour maximum per table to encourage diners to move through the restaurant and makes sure his employees always follow strict sanitizing schedules and wear personal protective equipment.

Most people, especially Oak Park residents, understand the regulations according to Beltran. Visitors from neighboring states have been less understanding. A Wisconsin visitor become upset about not being able to move tables closer together “People from other states don’t seem to understand how seriously Illinois is taking this,” said Beltran. “I am very concerned about rising cases. If one restaurant had to close because of COVID we would all feel threatened. For now, we are living day by day.”

Lea French Street Food, 106 N Marion St., closed for a week in March to assess their next steps, but owners Colleen and Nicolas Caulliez wanted to put their best foot forward as Illinois entered phase four. They have streamlined and improved their menu and have focused on breakfast and lunch service.

The Caulliez’s wanted to give the impression of a large take-out zone in the restaurant and encourage customers to utilize the

kiosk ordering system to minimize contract between staff and guests. Since entering phase four Lea has seen an increase in walkin customers, but owners are not sure if people are comfortable dining inside just yet.

“It started with just a couple of people on the first day,” said Colleen Caulliez. “Slowly people are becoming more comfortable and yesterday our indoor tables were almost all full.”

“Perhaps there was some hesitation because people thought it would be complicated to dine in,” said Nicolas Caulliez.

Nicolas said phase four would likely be the new normal at least until there is a vaccine and both owners have concerns there may be a setback because of increasing cases.

“You can’t plan anything in COVID,” said Colleen Caulliez.

Shanon Williams, executive director of Downtown Oak Park, is optimistic now that Oak Park restaurants can welcome customers into their dining rooms. Though customers seem more comfortable eating outdoors for now, Williams senses people appreciate a return to normalcy despite a resurgence of the virus in some states.

“As an organization, we worry about a resurgence of the virus and the impact it could have on our restaurants,” said Wil-

liams. “Businesses are taking this day by day not month by month. There is a fine balance between looking ahead and knowing things could suddenly change again.”

According to Mike charley, Oak Park’s public health director, the department has not received any complaints from residents regarding social distancing in restaurant dining rooms. Most of the 25 COVID-19 related complaints received since April 6 have referenced employees, residents and/or customers failing to wear face coverings.

The Illinois Department of Health (IDPH) will closely monitor data from local health department and regional healthcare councils and will recommend moving back to the previous phase of Restore Illinois based on a “sustained rise in positivity rate, sustained increase in hospital admissions for COVID-19 like illness, reduction in hospital capacity threatening surge capabilities and/or a significant outbreak in the region that threatens the health of the region.”

“If the state determines that the state must move back to Phase Three, the village will be prepared to help/assist the business community and/or residents understand and interpret any updated state/local guidance,” said Charley.

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Wednesday Journal, July 8, 2020

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Oak Park closer to ending resource officer program

Village board waits to hear from D97, D200 boards on possibly ending contract

By MICHAEL ROMAIN Staff Reporter

Oak Park village board members and local school board members are getting closer to terminating Oak Park’s school resource officer program.

During a regular meeting on July 6, the Oak Board village board tabled a motion that would have prepared the groundwork for terminating an agreement the village has with District 97 and District 200 related to funding school resources officers at Oak Park middle schools and Oak Park and River Forest High School.

Trustee Susan Buchanan, who requested the motion be put on the agenda, said that her main motivation for bringing forward the motion was “the sheer volume of emails we’ve gotten about this. I really think it deserves a hearing.”

Buchanan echoed the board consensus, however, in stating she wanted to wait until the District 97 and District 200 school boards discuss the issue at their upcoming

meetings.

The D200 board is scheduled to talk about the program at a special meeting at 7:30 p.m. on July 9 while D97 will discuss their agreement with the village that funds school resource officers at a regular meeting at 7 p.m. on July 14. Both meetings will be available for the public to watch online.

During a June 25 regular meeting, District 200 board President Sara Dixon Spivy said the school board has also received multiple emails urging them to discontinue the school resource officer program. Spivy said the district and the village were “on the verge of discussing” the intergovernmental agreement governing the program before the COVID-19 pandemic hit.

“Each and every board member reaffirms our steadfast commitment to racial equality and racial equity and declares, unequivocally, that Black Lives Matter,” Spivy said on June 25. “In the aftermath of George Floyd’s murder, there has been extensive national dialogue about the role of police in any community, but especially in schools.”

In an email sent to families on June 18 announcing the upcoming July 14 meeting, the D97 school board said “we have already started preliminary discussions with the village about the possibility of terminating our current IGA (intergovernmental agree-

ment).

“We believe that there is nothing more important than all of our students feeling safe, cared for, and protected in our schools, and we are looking forward to having an open and honest discussion about the best path forward.”

At Monday night’s village board meeting, Trustees Buchanan and Arti Walker-Peddakotla said they favor terminating the agreements between both districts and ending the school resource officer program altogether.

“There has been so much research done on the presence of officers in schools, whether they are armed or unarmed, that says that it disproportionately impacts Black and Latinx students in schools and moves them into the school-to-prison pipeline,” said Walker-Peddakotla. “It doesn’t matter whether those officers are there for social programs or controls or whatever.”

Walker-Peddakotla added that “overwhelmingly the support is to move the school resource officers and I think we should follow through on that.”

“I do think we have the latitude that, even if the school districts decide they want to go ahead with the school resource officers, we still have the wherewithal to vote against that and to keep that from happening, which is what I would favor,” Buchanan said.

Trustee Dan Moroney, who also made known his stance on the issue, said that the decision on whether or not to continue the school resource officer program is for the school districts, not the village, to make. He said he’d vote “present” on the issue.

Trustee Deno Andrews said he would like school resource officers and Oak Park Police Chief LaDon Reynolds to be present the next time the board discusses the program.

Beyond the school resource officer program, Trustees Buchanan and Simone Boutet said they would like to see the village board addressing equity-related issues on a regular basis.

Buchanan referenced a recent New York Times article by Nikole Hannah-Jones entitled “What is Owed.”

“If we are truly at the precipice of a transformative moment, the most tragic of outcomes would be that the demand be too timid and the resolution too small,” Buchanan said, reading a quote from the article.

“In that vein, I really would really like to see one of the multitude of equity issues appear on every agenda going forward, at least one item for the next five or six months and if not, I would like to see a committee formed of our board that would meet in addition to our board meetings because of the moment we’re in now,” Buchanan said.

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11

SPORTS EXTRA

IHSA gets approval to move to Stage 2

Programs can hold sportspecific workouts

By JAMES KAY Sports Editor

Illinois high school sports are (kind of) back.

After working with the Illinois Department of Health, the IHSA announced on July 3 that it’s been approved to move to Stage 2, paving the way for programs to hold sport-specific workouts. Before the July 3 announcement, teams were restricted to strength and conditioning workouts and could only be in groups of 10 people or fewer.

Under the latest Return to Play guidelines, students can practice up to five hours a day while teams can hold indoor and outdoor workouts with groups of up to 50 people.

“Safety remains at the forefront of everything that the IHSA is doing as we move into Phase 4 and beyond,” said IHSA Executive Director Craig Anderson in the press release.

“We appreciate the collaborative efforts of the SMAC and IDPH in recognizing the physical, mental, and emotional benefits for our student-athletes and coaches as they

File Photo

progress into training in a more traditional practice setting. Our focus now shifts to continuing to work with state leadership to determine how to provide the safest environment possible for fall sports.”

While this is a huge step for the return of high school sports in the state, there are still

restrictions and safety measures that fall under Stage 2.

Before programs can get back out of the field, each school must get approval from its administration on what activities teams can run. Players must be screened before practice to see if they exhibit COVID-19-related

symptoms and must have a temperature that is under 100.4 degrees. If any player exhibits these symptoms before practice, they are not permitted to practice and must be cleared by a physician before returning to practice. Athletes must also bring their own water bottles.

Teams are also encouraged to have hand sanitizer stations, make sure players aren’t sharing equipment and maintain social distancing when athletes aren’t participating in a drill.

In terms of when teams return to game action this fall, coaches and other personnel must wear masks on the sidelines. There must also be 30 feet of distance between groups of 50 people while those not participating on the field must maintain social distancing on the sidelines.

One intriguing element of gameplay this fall is that it’s up to the school whether spectators can attend events. If the school does permit people to attend games, stadiums can only be filled to 20 percent of their capacity. There must be six feet of distance between “families or household units” in the designated seating area for spectators.

You can find the Stage 2 guidelines on the IHSA’s website.

High school football this fall?

Two sports reporters offer up mixed feelings

By JAMES KAY Sports Editor

In the fifth edition of The On Deck Pod, Jakub Rudnik joins James Kay to outline the case for why Illinois high school sports should and should not return. They also go into how the pandemic has impacted high school prospects and sports media.

Rudnik has written for publications such as Chicago Tribune, Pioneer Press, Chicago Sun-Times and Prep Hoops and recently created a newsletter called “Illinois High School Basketball News.”

You can find The On Deck Pod on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.

Highlights from the episode James Kay: Jakub, the last time we had a chance to really talk extensively was at a playoff game for Fenwick boys basketball on March 10. That seems like forever ago with how everything escalated from that point on.

Jakub Rudnik: Yeah, most definitely. I thought about that day a lot because the next 48-72 hours were a whirlwind. I wrote a story and it fully anticipated that Fenwick would be playing that Friday for the sectional title and instead, the story I turned in was kind of worthless, because two days later everything was canceled.

JK: The last few months have been surreal but we are now

at this point where there are discussions around whether the IHSA should bring back high school sports. Do you think with all the information that we have and don’t have that this is a good idea to push for a fall season and even summer workouts right now?

JR: I don’t have a clear answer. Right now, I feel like they’re going about it the right way, at least with what they are doing with conditioning [and social distancing] but that is different than playing football games. Anytime you have students and coaches come together, you’re adding risk. We are in one of the states that has done well so far but it’s also July. Two weeks from now, if infections go back up, my answer would be different.

JK: The more that I think about it, I think this is such a bad idea. The reason why Illinois went from being one of the state’s most impacted by the pandemic to flattening the curve as well as it has is because we took these measures that limited physical contact and have had people be more than six feet apart from each other.

At the same time, if the Illinois Department of Health does approve certain guidelines for athletes to get back out there, I can’t stand here with no medical experience and say that we should go against it. But I feel like even if the situation is getting better, we still have no long-term studies for how this impacts the general population or certain demographics that could really be hurt by this.

JR: Yeah, you bring up a lot of good points. There was someone who tweeted that a student might die and when you think about that, even with really, really low death rates, half a percent for the overall population, if you lose one or two students, is playing football worth it?

I do want to see sports in the fall, especially being a part of

the sports media and wanting to watch sports, but I hope we can just move [football] to the spring and really hold out hope that there’s a vaccine so that everybody can do this safely.

Check out the rest of the podcast at Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts for the rest of the conversation on how the pandemic impacts college prospects and sports media.

New episode of The On Deck podcast available now

12

Wednesday Journal, July 8, 2020

OAKPARK.COM | RIVERFOREST.COM

DISCIPLINE

New guidelines replace old code from page 1 new plan “felt a little rushed,” although he said he appreciates “administrative constraints,” such as a looming print deadline and some lead time required to get students abreast of the new changes that made a vote that night necessary.

Veteran board member Jackie Moore, who has witnessed multiple disciplinary tweaks and overhauls come and go during her time on the board, said she was concerned that the district’s new racial equity policy was not reflected in the new plan.

LeVar Ammons, the district’s racial equity director, responded that his office’s impact on the new plan is evident in the plan’s fine print, such as the procedures that will govern how the plan is carried out on a day-to-day level.

The plan places much greater emphasis on restorative practices and positive teacher interventions than consequences and punishment, said D200 administrators at a June 16 Committee of the Whole meeting that preceded that night’s special meeting.

During a board presentation of the new plan at the meeting, Lynda Parker, D200’s director of student services, said the Behavior Education Plan marks a “shift in mindset away from our old practices and thoughts about what disciplinary actions look like.”

In other words, the zero-tolerance, threestrikes-and-you’re-out culture at OPRF, which was once dominant at many schools around the country for years, is effectively and officially a thing of the past — at least on paper.

The new Behavior Education Plan features five different levels of “possible responses to student behavior,” with each behavior “assigned to one or more of these Response Levels,” according to a document on the plan drafted by Parker and other D200 officials. The old code of conduct had only three levels, Parker said.

Level one behaviors include those that mostly take place in the classroom and are considered “disruptive or uncooperative” — from cheating and leaving class without permission to forgery and violating the OPRF dress code.

Parker said classroom teachers will be expected to “leverage the relationships and the culture in the classroom” to handle these kind of low-level disturbances, as opposed to leaning on deans to address them by meting out disciplinary transactions.

Parker added that the plan is designed to ensure that the relationship between teachers and students is “always the first place we start to redirect” student behavior.

Levels 2-5 all involve varying ranges of administrative interventions and restorative responses. Level 2 behaviors, which may include everything from possessing a weapon or look-alike gun to gang activity and inappropriate, non-sexual physical contact, would entail up to one day of in-school suspension, which the new Behavior Education

Courtesy District 200

PROGRESSION OF DISCIPLINE: A chart outlining District 200’s new Behavior Response Grid, which provides “staff and administrators with guidance in making decisions about how to respond to student behavior,” according to administrators.

Plan now refers to as “in-school reflection.”

Unlike the old code’s in-school suspensions, the new in-school reflection centers will offer students “an opportunity to not only reflect but have restorative measures put in place so they can understand the behaviors that put them into the reflection center [and] we’re not keeping students specifically away from the classroom.

“So if there’s a need for a student to complete a project or go in for a presentation they would have otherwise missed by being in the in-school reflection center, they’ll be able to [go in there and get the grade] in addition to having work sent down to them by teachers, so the supervisors in that space can distribute that work while maintaining contact with teachers and parents.”

Parker said the new in-school reflection period is a way of “making sure we restore the student rather than outright punish them.”

Level 3 responses may include up to three days of in-school reflection. Level 4 responses may include up to three days of out-of-school suspensions while level 5 responses may include four or more days of out-of-school suspensions and/or recommended expulsion.

Some behaviors, such as possessing “a weapon, other than a firearm or other gun, or look-alike gun” allow teachers and administrators some discretion, since they fall in every response level except for level 1 in the Behavior Education Plan.

Parker said students nonetheless “have to progress through the different levels” before reaching a higher level. They “don’t start at 4 if there’s a level 2” response for a specific behavior, she said.

For instance, behaviors involving alcohol, drugs and tobacco use immediately start at level 2 and progress to level 5 responses.

Other behaviors, such as possessing “a firearm, as defined by federal and state law

(e.g., handgun, rifle, shotgun, starter pistol, etc.)” jump students immediately to a level 5 response. Still, actions that merit that kind of leap are few and far between, administrators said.

Even in the most severe situations, such as where a student has demonstrated repeated substance abuse or brought a firearm to school, severe consequences like expulsion will be rare occurrences, administrators said.

“We’re saying, as a school, that with very few exceptions we are not going to be recommending expulsion or using the most severe exclusionary discipline even for kids who repeat these behaviors,” said Janel Bishop, the lead dean at OPRF who helped Parker and Associate Superintendent Greg Johnson on the new plan. “That is a change from our practice of previous years.”

Bishop also said that even in categories involving weapons, “we still, as a school, are not jumping to a level 5, when in previous years, the mere possessions of a certain item came with a multi-day suspension and/ or the recommendation for expulsion. We have now isolated those responses to very specific instances and other ones that do involve weapons will be reacted to with a less punitive response than in the past.”

Bishop added that certain language that stood out in the old code of conduct as too punitive has been scrapped. For instance, “acts of defiance” are not mentioned anywhere in the Behavior Education Plan.

Parker and Bishop said Black students were significantly overrepresented in that data category, even though it’s not clear that Black students commit more “acts of defiance” than their white colleagues.

“We have tried to remove some of the more police-like language,” Bishop said, adding that terms like “battery,” “mob action,”

“gross misconduct” and “social probation” have also been axed from the new plan.

Parker added that the administration’s response to tardies, one of the main student behaviors that in the past led to disciplinary actions like in-school suspensions, particularly for Black students, will “no longer result in more loss of class time.”

Martire, who is a member of the district’s Culture, Climate and Behavior Committee, said he believes the new plan addresses complaints he’s heard from students and parents about the “lack of consistency in the application of our disciplinary rules.”

The sharpest criticism of the new plan came from board member Gina Harris, who, along with Moore and Martire, also sits on the Culture, Climate and Behavior Committee.

Harris, who does restorative justice work as a climate and culture coach in District 97, said last month that while she can appreciate how different the new plan looks from “what I’ve seen before and how different it looks from when my daughter was graduated from there two years ago,” she nonetheless had reservations about how the new plan’s intentions will translate into the real world.

“The disproportionate data on race, specifically for Black students, shows them being targeted more based on defiance, disruption and disrespect, but we’re still asking the very same teachers and people who are creating that data to make a big shift in what they’re doing,” Harris said.

“What we know is that adult practices shift student behavior — it’s not the other way around. … Based on what this behavior plan is, I’m not sure we’re actually going to see any differences in that data until the adult practices are addressed,” she said.

“I’m not necessarily seeing that in the same way I would hope to see it.”

CONTACT: michael@oakpark.com

Wednesday Journal, July 8, 2020

OAKPARK.COM | RIVERFOREST.COM

OPRF alum finishes mobile maker space

Maya Bird-Murphy can now conduct programing for her nonprofit within a retrofitted USPS delivery van

By MICHAEL ROMAIN Staff Reporter

Around this time last year, Oak Park and River Forest High School alum and architect Maya Bird-Murphy was attempting to raise funds to turn a retired USPS delivery van into a mobile maker space that would allow her to provide free and low-cost workshops in areas like architecture, construction and digital fabrication to area young people.

Now, roughly $21,000 and countless man hours later, BirdMurphy, 27, is ready to take her 108-square-foot retrofitted van on the road.

In 2017, Bird-Murphy founded Chicago Mobile Makers, a nonprofit that creates programs designed to encourage young people “to become advocates and change-makers in their own communities through design-focused skill-building workshops,” according to a statement the organization recently released.

Since its founding, Chicago Mobile Makers has held more than 150 workshops for young people in 11 Chicago neighborhoods.

Bird-Murphy said that COVID-19 has put programming on pause since March, but the brief respite allowed her construction team to focus on finishing the van.

“That was the positive part about this,” she said on Monday, adding that while she was lead designer during the process of retrofitting the van, she had major help from a

variety of firms and individuals.

Midwest Start performed the technical and electrical work, Building Brown Workshop provided the woodworking and M Fabrication Inc. performed the metalwork while Bird-Murphy tapped Formed Space to be the project’s contractor and Lorin Jackson to do interior design.

The newly retrofitted van features four solar panels on the roof, a wind-powered ventilator and marmoleum flooring.

The van’s airy, clean, modern and minimal design was featured in Dwell magazine last month.

And although COVID-19 has put the brakes on her nonprofit programming, Bird-Murphy said she’s looking to gradually resume activities this summer, starting with a few pop-up workshops.

“If we’re able to, we’ll do something like a community garden project, where kids design a garden and get to build it with their own hands,” Bird-Murphy said. “So, if we can, we’ll be doing that later in the summer.”

She said that she’d love to park the truck and do some programs somewhere in her hometown of Oak Park if it’s possible.

In the meantime, she’s still looking to add equipment like power tools and a laser cutter to the truck and honing in on a message she says predates COVID-19 and will also outlive the pandemic — we humans will always need to know how to do things with our hands.

“For some reason, [skills in trades] are kind of looked down upon,” Bird-Murphy said. “I hope this shifts some mindsets and shows that working with your hands is always really valuable. It will always be important to know how to make things.”

Courtesy Tom Harris

ON THE GO: Maya Bird-Murphy, above right, guided a team of designers, woodworkers and others in retrofitting a retired USPS delivery van into a mobile maker space. Once COVID-19 restrictions are lifted, she said, the van will be used for programming created by Chicago Mobile Makers, the nonprofit she founded in 2017.

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Wednesday Journal, July 8, 2020

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A shirtless man walking a black and white husky reportedly inappropriately touched an Oak Park woman after approaching her and engaging her in conversation before grabbing the woman’s right hand, hugging her against her will and touching her buttocks.

The incident, which police have categorized as battery, occurred on the pedestrian bridge in the 1000 block of Harrison Street at 9:30 p.m., June 28. Police describe the man as black with light skin, about 5-feet-8, slim and having short hair and a short beard.

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■ A black Shinola bicycle was taken from an open garage in the 300 block of Linden Avenue between midnight, June 24 and 9:40 a.m., July 1. The estimated loss is $1,000.

■ Two bicycles — a purple girls’ Fuji Odessa and a green and white Schwinn Breeze — were removed from a garage with an unlocked side door in the 100 block of South East Avenue between 8 p.m., June 30 and 8 a.m., July 1. The estimated loss is $1,000.

■ Someone broke the cable lock and took a turquoise Kent bicycle that was secured to a gate in the 600 block of South Boulevard between 6 p.m., July 1 and 10:45 a.m., July 3.

Estimated loss is $150.

■ Someone broke into a car and ransacked its interior between 9:30 p.m., June 30 and 9:06 a.m., July 1 in the 800 block of South Austin Boulevard. No loss reported.

■ Someone broke into a vehicle by unsnapping the soft top and ransacked its interior between 6 p.m., June 29 and 1:30 p.m., July 1 in the 6100 block of Roosevelt Road. The loss is unknown.

■ Various documents were taken from the center console of a vehicle with an unlocked passenger side door parked in the 200 block of South Oak Park Avenue between 7:15 p.m., June 30 and 4:11 p.m., July 1.

Motor vehicle theft A man was seen removing an unlocked lawn-care equipment truck with keys in the ignition in the 600 block of North Oak Park Avenue at 9:05 a.m., June 26. Police describe

the man as being black, approximately 25 to 30 years old, 5-feet-6 to 5-feet-8, having a light complexion and a stocky build with long hair tied in a bun and tattoos above his eyebrows. The estimated loss is $10,000.

Theft ■ Two bicycles — one silver and purple and the other a black Retrospec Harper Fixie — were stolen from the laundry room of a building in the 100 block of South Harvey Avenue between 12 p.m., June 15 and 9 a.m., July 3. The estimated loss is unknown.

■ A man wearing a baseball cap was observed via video recording taking an Amazon package containing laundry detergent and skin cream from the front porch of a residence in the 1200 block of North Humphrey Avenue at 4:30 p.m., July 3. Estimated loss is $35.

■ Someone stole black Loll Designs patio chairs from a front porch in the 200 block of Scoville Avenue between 6 a.m., June 29 and 11:43 a.m., July 4. Estimated loss is $1,200.

■ Four bikes were taken from the front porch of a residence in the 100 block of Francisco Terrace between 10 p.m., July 5 and 5 a.m., July 6; the bikes were a women’s yellow Firmstrong Beach Cruiser, a men’s green and black Denali GMC 21-speed, a 10-speed bicycle of an unknown model and men’s black 24-inch Trek. The total loss is $800.

■ Two bicycles locked together on a metal bench were stolen from the 900 block of Lake Street between 6:30 and 8:30 p.m., July 6; the bikes were a men’s black 21-speed Trek mountain bike and a women’s black 26inch specialized bicycle with a gel seat. The estimated loss is $1,900.

Criminal damage to property A man was observed on security video knocking over a bicycle rack with his hands and then removing a blue and black bicycle at 8:50 p.m., July 6 in the 1100 block of Ontario Street. He was last seen traveling northbound on Harlem Avenue. The estimated damage is unknown.

These items, obtained from the Oak Park Police Department, came from reports June 29-July 7 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

Wednesday Journal, July 8, 2020

NEED TO REACH US?

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

15

Homes

The power of 2 Homes from $2 million to $200,000

By LACEY SIKORA

I

Contributing Reporter

n local real estate, some of the most expensive single-family homes are asking close to $2 million. Take a zero off that price tag, and you’ll find more affordable offerings hovering around $200,000.

As expected, what you get for the money varies widely between the two price points, but whether you’re looking for an entry-level house or dreaming about an historic estate, these homes represent the variety of housing stock in the near west suburbs.

At the top of the price range for local suburbs, Oak Park currently has one listing over $1.5 million and River Forest four. Riverside, Berwyn and Forest Park have no listings above $1,5 million.

Oak Park wins the prize for most expensive listing with 407 N. Kenilworth Ave., which has an asking price of $2 million. The E. E. Robertsdesigned home offers six bedrooms, six bathrooms and over 6,600 square feet of living space.

The Queen Anne Victorian is situated on threequarters of an acre and comes with a wraparound porch, pool, coach house and solarium.

In River Forest, the most expensive listing, priced a hair below $2 million, is 1105 Park Ave. Built in 1933, the Tudor-style home includes five bedrooms and six bathrooms and over 6,200 square feet. Priced at $1,999,000, the home includes a gourmet kitchen, mudroom, two laundry rooms and an attached, heated garage.

If an estate is not in the budget this summer, the $200,000 price range turns up a few more homes in local suburbs. In the $175,000 to $225,000 price range, Oak Park has three singlefamily home listings and 22 condos.

River Forest offers three condos in the price range. In Forest Park, there are four condominiums, one home and one two-flat available in the price range. Berwyn has 24 listings in the range, including 23 single-family homes and one condominium. In Riverside, two townhomes and one single-family home fit the bill.

See HOMES on page 17

407 N. Kenilworth Ave., Oak Park

2531 Home Ave., Berwyn IMAGES COURTESY OF VHT STUDIOS

16

Wednesday Journal, July 8, 2020

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Wednesday Journal, July 8, 2020

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17

HOMES

Lots of variety from page 15 In Oak Park, 534 S. Harvey Ave. is on the market for $200,000. The three-bedroom, 2.5-bathroom house offers 824 square feet of living space. Built in 1884, the home has a front porch for enjoying summer evenings and is within walking distance to Madison Street and Harrison Street businesses.

Also priced at $200,000 in Oak Park, 717 Washington Blvd., Unit 3A is a condominium in a vintage building. The three-bedroom, two-bathroom space includes original hardwood floors, a fireplace, rear porch and in-unit laundry.

In Berwyn, 2531 Home Ave. is listed for $199,900. The house has two bedrooms, two bathrooms and over 1,000 square feet. The yellow brick bungalow was built in 1926. The home has a new water heater and furnace and is being sold as-is.

In Forest Park, $209,900 will buy you a single-family home at 1017 Harlem Ave. The American four square-style home includes three bedrooms, 1.5 bathrooms, hardwood floors and a remodeled kitchen over 1,400 square feet.

Also, in Forest Park, 132 Marengo Ave. is a one-bedroom, 1.5-bathroom townhome built in 1985. The unit includes hardwood flooring, an updated kitchen and a loft-style master bedroom along with in-unit laundry. The townhome is priced at $179,900 and comes with a private parking spot.

In River Forest, 7344 Lake St., Unit 1E is on the market for $195,000. The two-bedroom, one-bathroom unit is in a vintage brick building dating to 1929. The unit includes an updated kitchen and in-unit laundry and is walking distance to shops and restaurants on Lake Street, as well as the Green Line.

Riverside offers two townhomes in 165 E. Burlington St. priced at $185,000. The brick townhomes were built in 1944 and have updated windows and roofing. The building is within walking distance to downtown shops and the train.

534 S. Harvey Ave., Oak Park

1105 Park Ave., River Forest Riverside’s third listing in the $200,000 price range is 329 E. Quincy St., a single-family home priced at $184,900. Built in 1943, the home includes four bedrooms, one bathroom and over 1,100 square feet and is ripe for rehabilitation.

A look into recent sales in the area indicates that pricing varies widely according to location. While the $2 million price tag is an outlier in all near west suburbs, depending on where you live, a $200,000 asking price may be more in tune with reality.

According to Redfin, for the previous month, the average Oak Park sale was for $364,000, with 47 sales recorded. In River Forest, the average sales price was $730,000 with 11 sales.

In Riverside, the average sales price was $328,000 with eight homes sold in the past month. In Berwyn, the average sales price was $239,000 with 33 homes sold, while Forest Park saw an average sales price of $297,000 with 16 sales.

COURTESY OF VHT STUDIOS

132 Marengo Ave., Forest Park

COURTESY OF VHT STUDIOS

717 Washington Blvd., Oak Park COURTESY OF REDFIN.COM

COURTESY OF REDFIN.COM

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TIME

512 Clarence, Oak Park . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Baird & Warner Oak Park/River Forest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$335,000 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1-3

SINGLE FAMILY HOMES

2044 77th Court, Elmwood Park. . . . . . . . . Baird & Warner Oak Park/River Forest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$423,500 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1-3 814 Wenonah, Oak Park. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Baird & Warner Oak Park/River Forest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$434,000 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Sat. 1-3 1224 N. Kenilworth Ave, Oak Park. . . . . . . . Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Chicago . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$487,000 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12-2 1230 Linden, Oak Park . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Baird & Warner Oak Park/River Forest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$525,000 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11-1 7712 Vine St, River Forest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Baird & Warner Oak Park/River Forest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$569,000 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1-3 1216 N. Euclid Ave, Oak Park. . . . . . . . . . . . . @properties. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $610,000 . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sat. 11:30-1:30 1216 N. Euclid Ave, Oak Park. . . . . . . . . . . . . @properties. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $610,000 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11:30-1:30 1200 N. Oak Park Ave, Oak Park . . . . . . . . . Baird & Warner Oak Park/River Forest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$679,000 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1:30-3 735 Augusta St. Oak Park, IL.. . . . . . . . . . . . Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Chicago . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$729,000 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12-2 1416 Jackson Ave, River Forest . . . . . . . . . . Gagliardo Realty Associates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$879,000 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12-2 703 N. East Ave, Oak Park . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Baird & Warner Oak Park/River Forest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $1,080,000 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11-12:30

ADDRESS

OFFICE

LISTING PRICE

TIME

337 S. Maple UNIT 32, Oak Park . . . . . . . . . Baird & Warner Oak Park/River Forest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $160,000 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sat. 12:30-2

CONDOS

Call/text Kathy for an interview at 847-530-5999

200 Home Ave., Oak Park. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Chicago . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $168,000 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12-2 1135 Schneider Ave., Oak Park, IL.. . . . . . . . Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Chicago . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$269,000 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12:30-1:30 1135 Schneider Ave. UNIT 3C, Oak Park. . . Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Chicago . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$274,000 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12-2 110 S. Marion St. UNIT 305, Oak Park. . . . . Baird & Warner Oak Park/River Forest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $419,000 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1:30-3 110 S. Marion St. UNIT 403, Oak Park. . . . . @properties. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $515,000 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12-2

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ADDRESS

OFFICE

LISTING PRICE

TIME

1425 N. Harlem Ave. UNIT B, Oak Park . . . Baird & Warner Oak Park/River Forest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $199,900 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sat. 12-2 7228 Washington UNIT B, Forest Park . . . Baird & Warner Oak Park/River Forest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$284,000 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12-2 7310 Circle Ave. UNIT 2N, Forest Park. . . . Baird & Warner Oak Park/River Forest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$360,000 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12-2 17 Forest Ave, River Forest. . . . . . . . . . . . . . Baird & Warner Oak Park/River Forest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$494,900 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11-12:30

ADDRESS

OFFICE

LISTING PRICE

TIME

830 Forest Ave, River Forest. . . . . . . . . . . . Gagliardo Realty Associates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $1,195,000 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1-3

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Wednesday Journal, July 8, 2020

OAKPARK.COM | RIVERFOREST.COM

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Liking Ike even more these days

M

y dad was a lifelong Democrat. As a child of the Great Depression, he was very loyal to the party of FDR. His only exception was Dwight David Eisenhower. Like most World War II vets, my dad liked Ike, voting for him in 1952 and 1956.

Although I am a student of history, I never knew much about him.

In high school and college we never quite got through the curriculum to study the Eisenhower years. As I grew older, I just accepted the conventional wisdom that he presided over the post war recovery that included returning GIs, babies booming, suburbs being built, and the rise of the corporate man. It was a paradise for white people. Not so much for everybody else.

I was wrong about Ike. Having just read Eisenhower In War And Peace by Jean Edward Smith, I have a whole new appreciation for the man.

He commanded the largest multinational force ever assembled, mounted an unprecedented cross-channel invasion of Europe and mastered logistical problems on a scale never encountered. He coordinated the war effort with egoists like FDR, Churchill, De Gaulle, George Marshall, Bernard Montgomery, and George Patton. Most agree that no one else had the patience, temperament and political skills to get this pantheon of alphas to work together. He commanded as a leader. He did not dodge difficult decisions or pass the buck. When D-Day, June 6, 1944, came around and bad weather threatened, it was Ike, and Ike alone, who said it was a go.

Other than FDR, Eisenhower was the most successful president of the 20th century. He ended a three-year stalemated war in Korea with honor. He resisted calls for a preventive war against Russia and China, and faced down Khrushchev over Berlin. He believed the country should avoid war unless national survival were at stake. He stayed out of Vietnam. He made Britain, France, and Israel stand down from seizing the Suez Canal.

Domestically, he tamed inflation, slashed defense spending, balanced the federal budget, warned of the military-industrial complex, and worked with moderate Democrats better than with conservative Republicans. He wanted to be president of all the people.

His Supreme Court appointees, Earl Warren and William Brennan, began a social justice campaign that was the foundation of profound change for the better. He began the process of having the American Bar Association vet federal judges. In what he later said was his hardest decision, he sent federal troops to Little Rock to enforce the District Court’s desegregation order.

He was a progressive conservative. Of course he was a man of his age. We are all of our time and place. He shared the biases and prejudices of his time, but he was not biased or prejudiced as to his honor, veracity and decency. He was committed to the principles of a democracy. He was masterful at reading and understanding what the American people at the time wanted. At no point in his eight years as president did his favorability fall below 64 percent. Year after year he was voted the most respected man in America.

On April 2, 1989, Eisenhower was buried in a modest ceremony, attended by his family. One of the greatest generals in history was buried in a government-issue, $80 pine coffin, wearing his famous Ike jacket with no medals or decorations other than his insignia of rank.

Whatever has happened to our country?

JOHN

HUBBUCH

Wednesday Journal, July 8, 2020

VIEWPOINTS

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Remembering Shirley D. Reid p. 24

Black and Brown Lives Matter: The PG (playground) version

his is what it looks like on an Oak Park playground when Black and Brown lives don’t matter: The weekend after the first wave of mass protests in response to the videotaped murder of George Floyd, and one of the first weekends after the Oak Park public tennis courts reopened, my 10-year-old son (medium brown) and I (dark brown), met up with his friend and my friend (both light brown) to enjoy the amazingly beautiful and sunny day. Our boys were looking forward, not only to their first time getting together in person since the March COVID-19 lockdown, but also to playing tennis again — their favorite sport.

Not surprisingly, they were not the only ones in Oak Park excited to get back on the courts, so after more than an hour of patiently waiting, they finally got their turn.

Meanwhile, my friend and I, set off for a walk around the park and nearly simultaneously gave ourselves the mom pat-on-the-back and mom guilt. First, we marveled at how lucky we felt to live in this vibrant and diverse Oak Park community. On the three tennis courts were our boys, a group of four Black and Brown boys playing doubles, and a pair of white boys. Around them were (physically-distanced) pairs and small inter-racial groups of kids and teens all enjoying their newly restored freedom. It was the picture perfect Oak Park diversity dream.

But we also marveled at how we, as Black and Brown moms, were still afraid to leave our 10-year-old Black and Brown sons unattended at the park, and felt mutual relief when we confessed to each other how often we interrupted our conversation to take quick looks back at the tennis courts to make sure our sons were OK while we walked around the park.

As we rounded the last corner to make our way back to the tennis courts, we both looked up at the same time and saw our fears realized: The six Brown and Black kids on the court were no longer playing tennis. Rather, their eyes were all fixed on a white man talking at them and waving his arms around quite animatedly. We both wanted to run in and rescue our boys, but instead we measured our pace and watched … closely. We tried to reassure each other that we had given our boys the tools to handle what we presumed was some sort of racially-motivated incident and to calm ourselves with the conviction

that it was best to stand back and let them practice handling it on their own.

By the time we arrived courtside, the white man was gone, all the kids were playing tennis again, and we tried to nonchalantly find out what had happened.

This is what our boys told us: The man at first seemed perfectly fine and asked them how much longer they planned to play. They told him they had not even been playing 15 minutes yet, but that the (white) boys at the far end had been playing for almost an hour so he should check with them first. The (white) boys told the man they’d be done in 15 minutes. Rather than patiently waiting, the white man came back to our boys and offered them $20 to get off the court so he could play. After getting over their initial bewilderment at such an offer, they firmly told him no. So he moved over to the four Black and Brown boys in the middle court and made them the same $20 offer. They also emphatically told him no.

After some more talking at the Black and Brown kids and waving his arms around, the man then left the court.

Now, why did this man denigrate our sons this way? Why didn’t this man make the same $20 offer to the white boys? (And what grown man thinks it is OK to offer $20 to any kid at the park. Ever!) Of course it is clear: He could probably see himself or his own sons in the white boys’ faces — people who deserve and have a right to be there — unlike his apparent de-valuing of our Black and Brown children as impediments to whatever he feels he is entitled to.

I wish the story ended there, but instead I had to witness what I know comes next. After a racist incident, the racism is often internalized in one form or another, and it creates other fissures. When we got home, my son flung open the door and immediately ran to his (light brown) sister to tell her about the painful incident. He then ran past his (white) dad and ignored the pleas of his (white) grandmother who happened to be on a Skype call with our family at the time and was asking why he was so upset. He shot me a pleading glance and begged, “Please don’t tell them, Mommy. This is just between you and me!”

He ran to his room, called his (Black) grandmother, and even through the slammed shut door I could hear: “Grandma, a terrible thing happened at the park today …”

Muriel Jean-Jacques is an Oak Park resident.

MURIEL JEANJACQUES One View

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Wednesday Journal, July 8, 2020

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Fenwick’s earned pain

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t is the least surprising news we’ve reported recently. Least surprising when you take that step forward and look anew at the culture of racism we’ve built, we’ve allowed, and, for those among us who are white, we have greatly benefitted from.

Fenwick High School has a serious problem with racism.

And now it faces up to a profound hurt being expressed with rage and eloquence by its Black and Brown students and alums. Their stories, posted to social media, are wrenching, stupefying and, in many cases, played out in plain sight.

That Fenwick, an elite Catholic prep school more likely to draw students from Western Springs than the adjacent West Side, has a culture imbued with systemic racism is inevitable. Every institution, our local media institution among them, has failed to even grasp the depth and the perversity of this racism.

So now that we are actually talking about this, now that, remarkably, white people and white-made institutions are talking about this as supplicants and not from a demanding and defensive crouch, what are we to do? What is Fenwick High School to do?

Confession is a Catholic sacrament, a psychological necessity on a path toward grace.

“The outpouring of anger, pain and frustrations from so many of Fenwick’s alumni and students of color over the past few weeks has been deafening. We have heard and are deeply saddened. It is clear that we have failed our students of color, and all of our students, in many ways.”

That public declaration was an opening good-faith effort by the school’s president, Rev. Richard Peddicord, and the chair of its board, John Barron. They pledged to create a committee on diversity, equity and inclusion. The first meeting of that nascent committee was to have been held just last week. The DEI Committee, an acronym reflecting the Latin word for God, is aspirational. And that is fine. But the road to aspiration has to be earned through a humbling penance. And that penance is to hear the stories. To listen to the pain. To see, perhaps to begin to understand, the endless moments when eyes were averted, ears were covered, minds were shut tight to the racist aggressions allowed, even encouraged by a culture that was revered when it ought to have been upended.

We wish healing to those who were victims. We wish humility to those tasked with the servant leadership that will be necessary to find Fenwick’s new path.

The moment is passing In River Forest the police chief and his staff are live-streaming sessions addressing policing issues. One down. More to come.

And we noticed that the mayor of Evanston began a similar project on Monday with a streamed discussion on issues of how police in that north suburb are trained. Future sessions will cover use of force, body cameras, the citizen complaint process and the budget for police. The first session, at least, included members of the police department.

Meanwhile in Oak Park, our leaders are talking unproductively to and past each other. Maybe the village is hiring a consultant. Would be good if the village board had anything approaching a consensus on just what a consultant is supposed to do. So far a dysfunctional village board is just pressing each other’s frayed buttons.

This moment won’t last. The marches. The energy. The hope.

That will dissipate. It won’t go away. It will never again just be tucked into a satchel of pain to be carried about. Rather it will infect the groundwater, the coming hard interactions between citizens and police, the reputation of this village for leadership on race, on its manifestation in racism.

Less talk. More leadership.

We can do better than ‘better’ The other day, I came across a column I wrote way back in 1997 titled, “Act 1, Scene 1 in the conversation about race.” I was interested in comparing how I wrote about this topic 23 years ago with what’s happening today. Here’s a portion: It is extremely difficult for many white Americans to admit that this is a country based on the “principle” of equality but the “practice” of inequality — that there is a sizable gap between what we aspire to be and who we actually are. Our money says, “E Pluribus Unum,” i.e. “Out of many, one,” but our history more closely resembles, “Out of one, many.”

I sometimes think we would do better if we changed the national motto to “We can do better.”

Our national flaw is that our ideals have always exceeded our grasp. “We can do better” may be a good place to begin our national conversation on race. Someone, after all, has to start this dialogue, and white Americans should begin with that admission: “We can do better.”

White Americans (to risk a generalization) absolutely hate accepting personal responsibility for the sins of their forefathers. “I didn’t engage in the slave trade. I didn’t sell human beings like cattle. I didn’t break up families and flog those who tried to escape and use Black women as sexual playthings late at night in the slave cabins. I’ve never hurled a racial epithet or turned a firehose on civil rights protesters or refused to hire someone on the basis of skin color. I don’t consider Blacks to be subhuman.

So stop blaming me for the imperfect society we all inherited!”

As they say in recovery groups, the first step is to admit you’ve got a problem. White America has never really admitted that racism is our oldest social virus, and white Americans are responsible for perpetuating it. We can do better. We need to do better because too many have suffered too much for far too long, undeservedly, and because the more unequal we are, the weaker we are as a nation.

KEN

TRAINOR

Nearly a quarter-century later, some of this still applies. I even used the term “virus” to describe racism, which is the metaphor in vogue these days. But the message “we can do better,” sounds too timid. We must do much, much better than “better.” Things have shifted momentously, but only in the last few years, mostly in the last two months. Our national conversation on race, since Ferguson, Missouri, now accelerated by the virus and George Floyd’s murder, sounds something like this: “Black lives matter.”

“No, all lives matter.”

“Black lives matter.”

“I’m not a racist!”

Silence …

“Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, Rayshard Brooks, George Floyd.”

“OK (pause), Black lives matter, but what about the looters?”

“White supremacy, white power, white privilege.”

“OK, white privilege. But what about all those statues? They’re going too far.”

“White supremacy, white power, the confederate flag in Mississippi, taking a knee, the Washington Redskins, Native American genocide, police reform … now!”

“OK, OK, OK, OK, OK, OK! (pause) What now?”

What indeed? Now that they have our attention at last, people of color are telling their stories, and for the first time, large numbers of their fellow white citizens seem ready to listen. This is what progress sounds like.

It has always been about stories with human beings. Stories humanize us, connect us, change us. People of color need to tell their stories. How they got here. What they went through. What they still go through. White Americans need to listen, then get in touch with their own stories. How they got here. What they went through. What they are going through still. White America is in recovery over racism. The first step is admitting we’ve got the virus. All of us. Then we’ll be listened to.

And then it’s time to act. People of all colors and all the lives that matter need to vote out the Goddamned racists once and for all, so the laws can change and the police can change and this country can close the awful gap between our noble ideals and our ignoble reality, bringing this experiment in democracy in line with who we aspire to be.

As Frederick Douglass in his famous 5th of July speech to the ladies of the Rochester Anti-Slavery Society in 1852 — following a lengthy, no-holdsbarred, scathing takedown of an America morally rotted by slavery — said: “I leave off where I began, with hope. While drawing encouragement from the Declaration of Independence, the great principles it contains, and the genius of American institutions, my spirit is also cheered by the obvious tendencies of the age. Nations do not now stand in the same relation to each other that they did ages ago. No nation can now shut itself up from the surrounding world and trot round in the same old path of its fathers without interference.

The time was when such could be done. Long established customs of hurtful character could formerly fence themselves in and do their evil work with social impunity. Knowledge was then confined and enjoyed by the privileged few, and the multitude walked on in mental darkness. But a change has now come over the affairs of mankind. Walled cities and empires have become unfashionable. … Intelligence is penetrating the darkest corners of the globe.”

Slavery was undone in Douglass’ lifetime, but 168 years later, we have not cured ourselves of the virus that still causes so much inhumanity. We have not developed a vaccine for racism. We have not built up immunity. The time for conversation alone is past. We must also act.

As it happens, there is a vote this November.

We can do better. Finally, actually.

Now.

V I E W P O I N T S S H R U B T O W N

by Marc Stopeck

Wednesday Journal, July 8, 2020

W E D N E S D A Y

JOURNAL of Oak Park and River Forest

Editor and Publisher Dan Haley Senior Editor Bob Uphues 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 Design/Production Manager Andrew Mead Designers Mark Moroney, Javier Govea Business Manager Joyce Minich Advertising Designers Debbie Becker, Mark Moroney Marketing Representatives Marc Stopeck, Lourdes Nicholls

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‘Fair tax’ or ‘blank check’?

n the Nov. 3, 2020 general election ballot is a constitutional amendment to allow the state of Illinois to impose a non-flat income tax. The constitutional amendment should not be passed as proposed. It does not address the real issues facing Illinois and is being sold as a “fair tax” but is nothing less than a “blank check.” If anyone is on the fence whether to support this amendment that increases income taxes for most Oak Park residents, consider the following: ■ Not a single Republican voted for this amendment; rather, it was approved by the Democratic Party’s super-majority in the Illinois Senate and House of Representatives. This was made possible with the passage of the “Cutback Amendment,” championed by former Gov. Pat Quinn, which resulted in the suppression of the minority voice in Illinois.

■ Eliminating Springfield’s pay-to-play politics is not addressed. Illinois’ politicians can continue to accept donations from the same public service unions with whom they negotiate employment contracts.

■ Needed local real estate tax relief and public employee pension reforms are not addressed.

■ Reform to reduce the state budget through increased government efficiency is not included. As a result, programming to improve the quality of life for persons with mental illness will remain underfunded. President Reagan was correct: “A government bureau is the nearest thing to eternal life we’ll ever see on this earth!”

■ The 32 percent personal state income tax increase in 2017 did not satisfy Springfield’s insa-

Sales & Development Mary Ellen Nelligan Circulation Manager Jill Wagner

tiable appetite for tax dollars. The passage of the amendment provides no assurances of preventing future income tax increases.

■ Springfield, in an attempt to gain support for the amendment, is promising special interests more money than will ever be received with its approval. This is what bankrupted Illinois, requiring it to request a federal bailout. Other states have sent letters to Washington stating it is not fair that their citizens bail out Illinois, which refuses to get its financial affairs in order.

■ Governor Pritzker, with support of legislators, has increased the gasoline motor fuel tax rate by 103.7 percent since July 1, 2019. Has this tax increase improved the highways? Since last year, the debris on both shoulders of the Eisenhower Expressway requires that drivers navigate it on windy days as it shifts across the lanes. This morning an abandoned, burned-out car was on the inside shoulder westbound at East Avenue.

The Oak Park stretch of the Eisenhower in both directions looks like a war zone. This tax increase didn’t benefit Oak Park citizens. Will another be the same?

■ Political action committees (PACs) will spend millions of dollars to get this amendment passed without any concern for the taxpayer. In November, we can send a clear message to Springfield: “The citizens of Illinois deserve better!” During the COVID-19 epidemic is not the time to raise taxes. President Reagan once said, “Simple fairness dictates that government must not raise taxes on families struggling to pay their bills.”

Richard J. Willis

Oak Park GOP committeeman

Front Desk Carolyn Henning, Maria Murzyn Chairman Emeritus Robert K. Downs

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

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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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Wednesday Journal, July 8, 2020

V I E W P O I N T S

Park district pool decision is all wet In the 46 years I’ve lived in Oak Park, I have generally had high regard for our park district. But their pool closure decision falls short of meeting our community’s needs.

After concluding they could not open Oak Park pools without eliminating 100 percent of the risk, they threw in the towel.

Funny thing, several other municipal park districts have opened their pools.

Arlington Heights, with five pools, has reopened some and is phasing in the rest, figuring out the best ways to abide by IDPH’s state guidelines. Lake Bluff ’s pool opened July 1. Glenview lap swimming is open, with capacity reduced to 100 people for each three-hour swim. Yorkville’s Raging Waves water park is finalizing their reopening plan with IDPH to ensure a safe experience.

Aurora’s three outdoor splash pads began opening last week. Aurora Park District Executive Director Jim Pilmer, quoted in the June 30 Chicago Tribune, stated, “With the guidelines coming out in phase three, ‘Here’s how you can open your aquatic facilities for therapeutic and lap swimming and competitive swimming,’ that is an obligation being a public agency, to make it work.” (Read the full article here: https:// www.chicagotribune.com/coronavirus/ ct-illinois-swimming-reopening-rules20200630-trgyvtodlzbs3h6f3tcdoctmeu-story. html )

That’s the right attitude and the responsible approach.

PDOP, there’s still time for you to make it work. Still time to contact other park districts and learn the strategies they are using, especially how to ensure the safety of lifeguards while performing rescues. Still time to hire and train lifeguards and other staff, who may be available into the school year if they choose online learning or homeschooling. Still time to consider extending the pool season into September. Still time to adopt the good suggestions submitted to you

by Oak Parkers, such as: close locker rooms and concessions. Require mask-wearing at all times except when swimming. Limit capacity to 100 or 150 people at a time, give them an hour or two, then let in another group. Designate days and times for seniors only, lap swimmers only, family units or social pods. Take reservations online for those designated times. Listen to community comments and make adjustments and accommodations as the season unfolds.

Our community needs the pools, not just for recreation but for our mental and physical health. Recognize your obligation as a public agency and make it work. Don’t let this summer’s aquatic recreation go down the drain.

Ellen Edwards

Oak Park resident since 1974

OAKPARK.COM | RIVERFOREST.COM

Fond memories of Shirley D. Reid

Editor’s note: Former Longfellow teacher choosing. Every year she led a colorful and Shirley Reid died on June 21 at the age of 82. inclusive Kwanza celebration, based on how I was privileged to work with Shirley for she celebrated this event with her own fammany years, teaching second grade. She was ily; it was always a special highlight of our an amazing woman: kind, outgoing, and en- “Holidays Around the World” activities. thusiastic. Not only did she believe in, but Shirley really understood and did her best lived out the values of, inclusiveness, appreci- to teach to the individual learning style of ation of all cultures, races, creeds, each student; she used a variety of ages — respecting each individual teaching tools to engage the “whole person. She held high standards child.” Drama, singing, movement, of academics and personal behavthe spoken word — these engaged ior for each, and sought to draw students beyond the basic and imout the best in each. portant reading and math instrucIt was Shirley who led the four tion. She did a great job as director of us second-grade teachers to of many productions. pull together into a team. At her And wouldn’t you know, Shirley prompting, we’d have a little luntook the “break a leg” saying literSHIRLEY REID cheon in late summer to catch ally: Before one evening show, durup with one another and plan for ing which families and neighbors joint activities in the upcoming year, most came to school to see their children perform, notably monthly field trips, a multicultural she did break her leg! The show went on, di“Holidays Around the World” theme for De- rected by Shirley in a wheelchair! cember, and an annual Science Fair, in which each child used the scientific method to conJane Lardner Lambshead duct an original experiment of his/her own Oak Park

Emailed every Friday morning!

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Wednesday Journal, July 8, 2020

Moving forward with racial equity at OPRF

How I was shaped by racism … and sexism

he current D200 board and previous boards over the last five years have shown an unprecedented commitment to act on behalf of racial equity. The procedures presented by Dr. Levar Ammons, director of Equity and Student Success, on June 25 help ensure that OPRF High School can realize its varied racial equity goals at a time when we all must be unequivocal, clear, and aggressive in putting an end to historic inequities and institutional racism in education at OPRF. Among the many strengths of the racial equity procedures, we stress the following: 1. Committing to “intentionally act to end racism in all aspects of school community life” 2. Providing a clear procedure for conducting a racial equity analysis using the Racial Equity Assessment Tool (REAT) protocol; and including regular reporting and public access to an archive with details and data on the application of equity analyses 3. Guaranteeing an active role of representatives in the REAT process from groups most impacted by racial inequities 4. Asserting that REAT is central to the curriculum evaluation and revision process 5. Monitoring and improving the culture and environment of the school through annual surveys of students and parents.

6. Providing a process for hearing, responding to, and restoring victims and perpetrators of acts of racial harm through a set of specific Racial Incident procedures 7. Providing for bi-annual meetings and annual reporting of both qualitative and quantitative evidence for reaching the goal of having a faculty and staff that reflects the student body 8. Pledging to work with District 90, District 97, and other local governments to advance community understanding of racial equity, diversity, and inclusion.

It is urgent that the D200 board end any doubt about the district’s commitment to eliminate racial inequities in our school. To do this, we ask you to revise the language contained in the 2019 Racial Equity Policy. The policy adopted on April 25, 2019 states that if racial inequities are found after an equity review process, “the district will consider revision or elimination of the practice, procedure, or program.”

“Considering” racial justice in America too often equates to delays, half-hearted measures, or solutions that require little from the dominant white culture while racial inequities and injustices continue.

We believe that “considering” possible action now, more than ever, is woefully and morally unacceptable. Instead, our policy must unequivocally commit to “eliminating inequitable practices, procedures, and programs.” Such an outright commitment demonstrates that we really do value the lives of students of color.

As key board members finish their tenure on the board, we offer them special thanks for all they have done to advance racial justice in our school community. Their dedication has been indispensable in putting racial equity work in motion.

Unfortunately, there are those in our community who seek to slow down this work, and even reverse long-awaited racial equity re-structuring of curriculum. In challenging this opposition we beseech equity-focused members of the board to continue helping our community find candidates who are ready to fully continue efforts at racial equity now underway.

Lastly, we ask these board members to personally remain a civic voice for racial justice in Oak Park and River Forest.

Mary Bird, John Duffy, and Burcy Hines are members of the Committee on Equity and Excellence in Education and are writing on their behalf.

On a recent Jimmy Fallon show, Dr. Robin DiAngelo suggested that white people should not ask, “Am I racist?” Instead, we should ask, “How have I been shaped by racism?” Here’s my response.

In graduate school, I was a teaching assistant in a class called, “The Role of Religion in African-American Culture.” I was stunned to realize it was the first time in 18 years of education that I was reading books written by black authors.

How could that be? And how could that not reinforce the notion that what black people had to say was of little value?

For the first time, I saw the whiteness of TV shows, movies, and books in my world. I had been imprinted: whites were important, and blacks were inferior.

Another mind-bending class I took in graduate school was “Feminist Theology.” I felt empowered to learn women had been important in early Christianity but were later written out of the story. I was shocked to see religion has been misused to control women. Belief in a male God makes men important and women inferior.

When I shared these feminist discoveries, I was disappointed by the defensiveness I encountered among many men. They generally didn’t think women’s issues had anything to do with them. That’s why most men do not read books written by women, and most boys will not go to movies with girl leads.

But wait … I resent men’s lack of interest, but I hadn’t sought out books or movies about blacks, had I? Men preserve their advantage in society ... and so do whites. Aha. My experience as a woman in a man-dominated world awakened me to what people of color experience in a white-dominated world.

This realization didn’t free me of racism, but it started me on the path of recovery. I offer this to you because I think the more we can connect our own experiences of feeling less than others — whether by race, gender, education, ability, sexuality, etc. — the more we can heal and enact laws to create a fair society.

T

MARY BIRD, JOHN DUFFY & BURCY HINES One View

Sue Piha

Oak Park

Bag your groceries yourself It’s time for Illinois to join the other states who are reconsidering whether reusable bags contribute to the spread of COVID-19. The COVID-19 pandemic threatened to put an end to state and city bans or fees on plastic bags, as concerns about possibly spreading the novel coronavirus meant states banned the practice of using reusable bags, lest it put baggers at risk. Several states, including Illinois, suspended the five- or 10-cent fees that cities and states had imposed on singleuse plastic bags, or suspended the use of reusable bags.

Now, however, states are moving forward again. The Connecticut Department of Public Health determined that, given the most current scientific information available, reusable bags do not serve as a significant source of infection for COVID-19. The state has re-imposed its 10-cent fee for single-use bags. California reinstated its ban on plastic bags in late June.

Plastic Free July is a worldwide movement asking people to take a pledge to avoid single-use plastic for a month, hoping that the habits become ingrained to last all year long. The group has enrolled 250 million participants in 177 countries, and its website offers practical tips to cut down on plastic. One simple way to start is to avoid using plastic bags and stop accepting them at stores. Putting groceries in plastic bags during each trip to the grocery store adds quickly to the overwhelming total of 100 billion plastic bags Americans use every year.

Only 1% of those 100 billion actually get recycled. Worldwide; more than 1 million plastic bags end up in the trash every minute.

Here’s an easy tip: Take your reusable bags to the grocery store and leave them in your trunk, or put them in the bottom of your grocery cart. In the checkout line, tell your checker and bagger just to put all items back in the cart without bags. Once you get outside the store, bag your groceries yourself. You just saved up to 30 single-use plastic bags from entering the waste system.

Art Spooner

Oak Park

Steps toward better policing

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cross this country, an uprising has been ignited by the murder of George Floyd — his death one in a long line perpetrated by police officers on unarmed Black people.

And yet the tinder for this fire comes from so many sources: the legal, educational, health, and financial systems that try to marginalize Black people at every turn.

These systems might seem inevitable and unchangeable, but powerful movements led by Black Americans have changed them, and we can continue to change them through incessant, incremental actions and shifts.

Here in Oak Park, Freedom to Thrive released a report that pushes for three major shifts in policing: creating more independent oversight, reviewing the use-of-force policy, and reducing the funds spent on police versus social services. The report states, “The impact of a large police force, in particular the trauma of increased policing on young people of color, is something that our elected officials must take into account when voting to increase the resources given to the police department.”

As part of this reduction in policing, we must remove police officers from dedicated assignments in our schools. We must listen to young people of color in this village, like those participating in Revolutionary Oak Park Youth Action League (ROYAL), who are telling us that police officers in schools make them feel unsafe. Here, I draw on my own experience as a school principal, in which the presence of police officers turned student altercations into legal matters. Schools can call police officers when they are needed — we do not need officers stationed in, or assigned to, schools.

For me, it seems straightforward that we need to spend less on policing than we do on social services.

We need fewer officers responding to the small number of violent incidents, and more services that respond to all other community concerns. It seems straightforward that we need strong community oversight of police actions when they do need to be called. It seems straightforward that we need stronger and more stringent guidelines for when police use force in the even smaller number of cases where that may be necessary. And it seems straightforward that we need to eliminate the assignment of police to schools.

If we could achieve these four goals, I believe that our community would advance the causes it claims to care about. If we dramatically reduced the amount we spend on policing, took police out of schools, restricted the occasions when police could use force, and reviewed that force on the rare occasions it might need to be used, we would begin creating a community that truly values the lives of the Black and Latinx young people who live here.

We would create a community where police violence against Black and Brown youth would become less likely, and where regular police interactions with those communities would be reduced. And we could turn our attention to the interconnected range of other issues — educational, health, financial, and so on — that we must confront to truly address the causes of the current uprising and create the community all of our residents deserve.

Jim Schwartz is an Oak Park resident, an educator, and a blogger at Entwining.org.

JIM

SCWARTZ One View

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Wednesday Journal, July 8, 2020

OAKPARK.COM | RIVERFOREST.COM New local ads this week

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

Deadline is Monday at 5:00 p.m.

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BY PHONE: (708) 613-3333 | BY FAX: (708) 467-9066 | BY E-MAIL: CLASSIFIEDS@OAKPARK.COM | CLASSIFIEDS@RIVERFOREST.COM HELP WANTED

River Forest Public Schools District 90 Student Support Services - Vacancies for the 2020-2021 School Year For detailed qualifications requirements and job duties, please visit our website at https:// www.district90.org/about/ employment for our complete list of employment opportunities.

District 90 is seeking qualified and experienced student support educators for the following positions: • Special Education Support Teacher (Willard Elementary School) • Special Education Multi-Tiered Systems of Support Coordinator (All D90 Schools) • Speech and Language Pathologist (Roosevelt Middle School)

General Qualifications: Valid Illinois Professional Education License with endorsement in field of study, a Master’s Degree is preferred and successful teaching experience with students in a classroom setting is preferred.

General Duties: Provide excellence in education by developing and implementing activities that encourage students to be life-long learners. Possesses knowledge of District policies and regulations relating to areas of responsibilities. Create an environment that is conducive to learning and appropriate to the developmental maturity and interests of each student.

Application: Apply online at www.district90. org. Application Procedure: Interested candidates should complete the online application available at district90.org. Please do not send hard copies of supporting documentation, i.e. cover letters, resumes, licensure, etc. to River Forest Schools District 90; instead, upload these materials onto the online job application system for proper processing.

River Forest D90 has an opening for a 2nd Grade Teacher for Willard Elementary School.

Qualifications: Valid Illinois Professional Educator License with Elementary Grade School Endorsement. Successful Teaching Experience is preferred. A Master’s Degree is preferred.

Job Duties: The teacher will be responsible for teaching the curriculum and working cooperatively with colleagues including: grade level teammates, the Student Services Team, other faculty and support staff. The teacher will be responsible for building relationships with students, supervising and managing the class, effectively teaching the curriculum to meet the individual needs of students, evaluating individual student’s progress, and communicating progress with children and parents.

Application Procedure: Interested candidates should complete the online application available at district90.org. Please do not send hard copies of supporting documentation, i.e., cover letters, resumes, licensure, etc. to River Forest Schools District 90; instead, upload these materials onto the online job application system for proper processing.

HAPPY KIDD’S WEST INC. 6928 W 16th St Berwyn, IL 60513 We are seeking a Director and 2 teachers. Director must be qualiďŹ ed and have Associate’s degree or equivalent. Teachers must be director or teacher qualiďŹ ed. Mon. thru Fri. working with Infants to 6 yrs old. Compensable salary negotiable based on experience.

Call 773-619-5545 or fax resume to 773-728-5437.

BILINGUAL (SPANISH/ENGLISH) CASE MANAGER The Proviso Public Partnership,nfp is looking for a Bilingual (Spanish-English) Case Manager. Duties and qualiďŹ cations include: • Ability to complete screenings via phone and telehealth • Part-time position - 20 hours/ week- $15-$20 per hour based on experience • Associate’s or Bachelor’s Degree in Human Services, Social Work, Psychology or other related ďŹ eld • Computer Literacy For more details about the job, please email admin@pppnfp.org

SUBURBAN RENTALS

HELP WANTED

CITY RENTALS UNFURNISHED APT 4BR 2BA 4 BR, 2 BA w/ front room, living room, den and encl. porch. Storage closet. Close to transportation.

Tenant pays util. 1 mo. security required. Near school. Call 773-2970109 and leave message.

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

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:

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

AIR CONDITIONING/ HEATING AIR CONDITIONING AND APPLIANCE EXPERT

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.

SUBURBAN RENTALS 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 OAK PARK: ROOSEVELT/ OAK PARK AVE. CORRIDOR 2BR 4RMS close to blue line. On site laundry, parking, heat & water incl. $1200/ month 708-383-9223

OFFICE SPACE FOR RENT 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

GARAGE SALES BrookďŹ eld

GARAGE SALE 4624 DUBOIS FRI 7/10 9AM TO 4PM SAT 7/11 9AM TO 3PM

Men’s clothes, sizes XL to XXL. Women’s clothes, size M. Miscellaneous. Rain or Shine.

GARAGE SALES Oak Park

MOVING FROM HOUSE TO APT 1185 S. HUMPHREY FRI 7/10 & SAT 7/11 9AM TO 1PM ONLY

Lawn furniture, Yard equipment, Ladders, odds and ends left over from home repair... wearing a mask is required....social distancing is encouraged.....hand sanitizer will be available for your use.

ITEMS FOR SALE BUMPER POOL TABLE $29.00 708-488-8755 LENOX CHINA 5 piece place settings Lenox china, Tuxedo pattern IRISH CARDIGAN Men’s size large.

WATERFORD GLASSES Colleen pattern, 2 water goblets, 2 wine glasses, 5 double old-fashioned glasses 708-386-6160 LYON & HEALY MUSIC CABINET Doors slide vertically. LP and music storage. Black.

708-488-8755

ITEMS TO BE GIVEN AWAY HOSPITAL BED We will deliver.

708-485-0929

Find the best employees with Wednesday Classified! Call 708-613-3342.

Air Conditioning Automotive A/C Refrigerators Ranges • Ovens Washer • Dryers Hot Water Heaters Rodding Sewers

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

ELECTRICAL Ceiling Fans Installed

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

708-409-0988 • 708-738-3848 Sr. Discounts • 30 Yrs. Exp. Servicing Oak Park • All surrounding suburbs • Chicago area

Lic/Bonded 25 yrs experience

FREE SERVICE CALL WITH REPAIR AND SENIOR/VETERAN DISCOUNT.

708-785-2619 or 773-585-5000 Attention!

Home improvement pros!

Don’t be caught short‌ reach the people making the decisions‌ Advertise your home improvement business in Wednesday Classified.

Call 708/613-3342

A&A ELECTRIC

Let an American Veteran do your work

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GARAGE DOORS

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★Cool your Home★ with Ceiling Fans!

Installing Ceiling Fans Rewiring Old Houses Service Upgrades

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Reasonable Pricing & Free Estimates

(708) 652-9415

708-445-0447

FLOORS

• No Job Too Big or Too Small • Lic * Bonded * Ins * 24 hrs

CEMENT

MAGANA

C O N C R E T E C O N S T RU C T I O N “QUALITY IS OUR FOUNDATION� ESTABLISHED IN 1987

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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

www.forestdoor.com

KLIS FLOORING INC.

New hardwood ďŹ&#x201A;ooring installation & pergo. Sanding, re-ďŹ nishing, staining. Low prices, insured.

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

HANDYMAN CURT'S HANDYMAN SERVICE Drywall Repair â&#x20AC;˘ Painting Fans Installed â&#x20AC;˘ Carpentry Trim Gutter Cleaning â&#x20AC;˘ Window Repair

FREE ESTIMATES Excellent References No Job Too Small

708-488-9411

Mikeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Home Repair Drywall H Painting H Tile Plumbing H Electric H Floors Windows H Doors H Siding Ask Us What We Donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t Do

708-296-2060

Wednesday Journal, July 8, 2020

OAKPARK.COM | RIVERFOREST.COM

HANDYMAN

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

773-637-0692 Ask for John

HAULING BASEMENT CLEANING

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

LANDSCAPING NEIGHBORHOOD CLEAN UP

Evergreen trimming & more.

Hand weed removal.

Clean-ups.

Call 24 hrs.

708-447-1762

PAINTING & DECORATING 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

ROOFING

PUBLIC NOTICES

INVITATION FOR BID Sealed proposals will be received

by The Oak Park Housing Authority at 21 South Boulevard, Oak Park, IL, 60302 until 2:00 p. m. local time on Wednesday, July 29, 2020 at which time they will be opened and read. The sealed bids will be received for the following project: Mills Park Tower Re-roofing. Tear off existing low slope roofing materials to structural deck, provide new insulation and roofing, provide new flashing with termination bar, and sealant.

Drawings and Project Manual are available at no cost in PDF electronic format from Heitzman Architects, 111 North Marion Street, Oak Park, IL 60301, telephone (708) 267-1352, email frank@heitzman.org, or printed drawings and Project Manual may be obtained at the direct cost of reproduction from Imperial Reprographics and Supply, 823 South Oak Park Avenue, Oak Park, Illinois 60304, telephone (708) 848-1030.

Bidders are encouraged to attend the pre bid meeting on Wednesday, July 15, 2020 at 9:00 a.m. on the first floor of Mills Park Tower, 1025 Pleasant Place, Oak Park, IL 60302. Bidders having questions or needing further information may call Ken Southward at (708) 3869322, extension 134.

Bid Security: Each bid must be accompanied by a bid bond in the amount of 5% of the base bid or a certified check in the same amount payable to the Oak Park Housing Authority. Checks of unsuccessful bidders will be returned as soon as practicable after the opening of the bids.

319 Chicago Avenue Reroofing and Tuckpointing, Oak Park, Illinois.

773-637-0692

Each bidder is required to comply with Equal Employment Opportunity for Community Development

PUBLIC NOTICE OAK PARK SCHOOL DISTRICT 97 NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING JULY 14, 2020 AT 7:00PM The Board of Education of Oak Park Elementary School District 97 will hold a Public Hearing on Tuesday, July 14, 2020 at 7:00pm. The purpose of said hearing will be: To receive public comment on a proposed waiver application to allow District 97 to limit physical education with a licensed physical education teacher to 60 minutes per week for students in kindergarten through fifth grade.

MEETING WILL BE HELD VIRTUALLY In order to protect the health and safety of our board of education, staff, and community members, District 97 has decided to hold its July 14 board meeting virtually, using Zoom. The public may join this meeting using the following dial-in information: Meeting ID: 850 5951 2353 Password: 633498 Published in Wednesday Journal 07/08/2020

The Oak Park Housing Authority reserves the right to award the contract to its best interests, to reject any or all proposals, to waive informalities in bidding, and to hold the three lowest proposals for a period of sixty (60) days after bid due date.

This project is subject to Federal Regulations including Fair Labor and Prevailing Wages. The Oak Park Housing Authority, in an effort to reaffirm its policy of non-discrimination, encourages the efforts of Contractors and Sub-Contractors to take affirmative action in providing for Equal Employment Opportunity without regard to race, religion, creed, color, sex, national origin, age, protected Veteran status or handicap unrelated to ability to perform the job. The Owner encourages General Contractors to employ minority subcontractors and suppliers.

Due to the Covid-19 Pandemic, required distancing and masks will be required.

Ken Southward Director of Housing Director (708) 386-9322

INVITATION FOR BID Sealed proposals will be received

by Oak-Leyden Developmental Services, 411 Chicago Avenue, Oak Park, Illinois 60302 until 2:00 p. m. local time on Tuesday, August 4, 2020 at which time they will be opened and read. The sealed bids will be received for the following project:

Prospective bidders must obtain bid documents, which will be available from Heitzman Architects, 111 North Marion Street, Oak Park, IL 60301 telephone (708) 848-8844, or Imperial Reprographics and Supply, 823 South Oak Park Avenue, Oak Park, IL 60304, telephone (708) 848-1030.

PUBLIC NOTICES

Performance Bond: The Contractor, before commencing the work, shall furnish a Performance Bond for contracts over $100,000.00.

The Performance Bond shall be in an amount equal to 100% of the full amount of the Contract Sum as security for the faithful performance of the obligations of the Contract Documents. Such Bond shall be issued by a Surety satisfactory to the Owner and shall name the Owner as primary Co-Obligee.

Published in Wednesday Journal July 8, 2020

MIDWEST ROOFING All types of roofing repairs Commercial - Residential Call for free estimate

PUBLIC NOTICES

Block Grants and all other applicable federal regulations, copies of which are available for inspection at the Owner’s office.

Bidders are urged, but not required, to attend a pre-bid meeting at 9:00 a.m. on Monday, July 13, 2020 at 319 Chicago Avenue, Oak Park, Illinois to familiarize themselves with the project.

Bids must be submitted on the form provided in the bid documents and in a sealed envelope, clearly marked with job being bid.

Oak-Leyden Developmental Services reserves the right to award the contract in its best interest, to reject any or all proposals, to waive informalities in bidding, and to hold the three lowest proposals for a period of sixty (60) days after bid due date.

Steve Pratapas, Interim CEO Oak-Leyden Developmental Services

Published in Wednesday Journal July 8, 2020

INVITATION FOR BID Sealed proposals will be received by the Maywood Fine Arts Association, 25 North Fifth Avenue, Maywood, Illinois, 60153 until 2:00 p. m. local time on Tuesday, July 28, 2020 at which time they will be opened and read. The sealed bids will be received for the following project: Maywood Fine Arts Exterior Remodeling, 25 North Fifth Avenue, Maywood, Illinois.

Prospective bidders must obtain bid documents, which will be available at Heitzman Architects, 111 North Marion Street, Oak Park, IL 60301 telephone (708) 848-8844, or Imperial Reprographics and Supply, 823 South Oak Park Avenue, Oak Park, IL 60304, telephone (708) 848-1030.

Each bidder is required to comply with Equal Employment Opportunity for Community Development Block Grants and all other appli-

cable federal regulations, copies of which are available for inspection at the Owner’s office.

Bidders are urged, but not required, to attend a pre-bid meeting at 9:00 a.m. on Tuesday, July 14, 2020 at 25 North Fifth Avenue, Maywood, Illinois to familiarize themselves with the project.

Bids must be submitted on the form provided in the bid documents and in a sealed envelope, clearly marked with job being bid.

The Maywood Fine Arts Association reserves the right to award the contract in its best interests, to reject any or all proposals, to waive informalities in bidding, and to hold the three lowest proposals for a period of sixty (60) days after bid due date.

Katherine Bus, Managing Director Maywood Fine Arts Association (708) 220-1070

Published in Wednesday Journal July 8, 2020

  

PUBLIC NOTICES

PUBLIC NOTICES

NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING VILLAGE OF STICKNEY

PUBLIC NOTICE You are invited to attend a virtual Teams meeting to be conducted by a District 209 representative on Friday, July 10, 2020, from 9:00 AM - 11:00 AM. The purpose of this meeting is to discuss how students with disabilities who attend Walther Christian Academy or who are home-schooled within the district will be served by District 209 during the 2019-20 school year. In accordance with the requirements of the Federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act, public school districts are required to spend a portion of their Federal Part B special education funds in order to provide identified students with disabilities who attend private schools with the opportunity to equitably participate in special education services offered by the district. As part of that process, we must conduct a public meeting in order to discuss our plans to fulfill that responsibility for the coming school year. In addition, we want to ensure that your voices are heard during this process through your attending the meeting and sharing your opinions and feedback. Finally, we wish to also share information about how students with suspected disabilities can access the process offered by the district to screen and evaluate for those suspected disabling conditions. If you will be attending the meeting, please contact Vanessa Schmitt, Director of Specialized Services at (708) 3385919 to receive log-on information.

Notice is hereby given by the President and the Board of Trustees for the Village of Stickney of a hearing to be held at 6:30 p.m. on July 21, 2020, concerning the Village’s intent to adopt an ordinance providing for the appropriations for the fiscal year beginning May 1, 2020 and ending April 30, 2021. The hearing on the proposed 2020-2021 appropriations ordinance will be held conferencing and with physical attendance as feasible at Village Hall 6533 Pershing Road, Stickney, Illinois, and in compliance with the most recent declaration disaster and Governor Pritzker’s Executive Order 2020-44 and Public Act 101-0640. Electronic attendance via Zoom is strongly encouraged. The information for the Zoom hearing is as follows: Website: Zoom.us Meeting ID: 312 915 7558 Password: 768782 You are hereby invited to attend the public hearing and you will be given an opportunity to be heard, either in person or via electronic attendance, in respect to any matters pertaining to the proposed appropriation ordinance. Face masks will be required and strict social distancing will be enforced. Public comments or testimony may be submitted in advance, up to one hour before the hearing to the Village Clerk at villageclerk@ villageofstickney.com. or via phone at 708-749-4400 and will be accepted from those attending in person at the appropriate time during the hearing as indicated on the agenda.

A copy of the tentative budget and appropriations ordinance is available for public inspection at the Finance Department at Village Hall, 6533 Pershing Road, Stickney, Illinois during regular business hours, 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. In the event of questions, please contact David Gonzalez, Treasurer for the Village of Stickney at (708) 749-4400.

Audrey McAdams Village Clerk Published in RB Landmark 07/08/2020

NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING VILLAGE OF BROOKFIELD PLANNING AND ZONING COMMISSION JULY 23rd, 2020 at 7:00 PM NOTICE is hereby given that the Village of Brookfield Planning and Zoning Commission will conduct a public hearing on Thursday, July 23rd, 2020 at 7:00 p.m. in the Edward Barcal Hall located at 8820 Brookfield Avenue, Brookfield, Illinois for the purpose of considering a request for a variance regarding 3310 Prairie Avenue, Brookfield, Illinois 60513 (PIN 15-34-219-044-0000).

Published in Forest Park Review 7/08/2020

PUBLIC NOTICE Attention Leopoldo Villalobos, you are the last indicated owner or lienholder on file with Illinois Secretary Of State. Our records show, your 2003, TOYOTA, CAMRY with the following VIN 4T1BF30K03U040744 was towed to our facility. The current amount due & owing is $1965.00. If payment is not received within 30 days, Nobs Towing Inc. will intent to enforce a mechanic’s lien pursuant to Chapter 770 ILCS 50/3. Sale of the aforementioned vehicle will take place at 1510 Hannah, Forest Park, IL, 60130 on 8/10/2020.

Published in Forest Park Review 07/08/2020

PUBLIC NOTICE Attention Mathew Rivera, you are the last indicated owner or lienholder on file with Illinois Secretary Of State. Our records show, your 1986, Honda, VT700C with the following VIN JH2RC1911GM201755 was towed to our facility. The current amount due & owing is $1965.00.

If payment is not received within 30 days, Nobs Towing Inc. will intent to enforce a mechanic’s lien pursuant to Chapter 770 ILCS 50/3. Sale of the aforementioned vehicle will take place at 1510 Hannah, Forest Park, IL, 60130 on 8/10/2020.

Legal Description: Lot 4 (Except the North 7 ½ feet thereof) and the North 15 feet of Lot 5 in Block 16 in Brookfield Manor, in the North east ¼ of Section 34, Township 39 North, Range 12 East of the Third Principal Meridian, in Cook County, Illinois.

Published in Forest Park Review 07/08/2020

The public is invited to attend the public hearing and present oral and/ or written comments.

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 August 5, 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:

Written comments may be provided prior to the public hearing to: Village of Brookfield, Planning and Zoning Commission c/o Elyse Vukelich, Village Planner, 8820 Brookfield Avenue, Brookfield, IL 60513, evukelich@brookfieldil.gov or 708485-1445. The application may be viewed by contacting the Village Planner. Please reference PZC Case 20-09.

Individuals with disabilities requiring a reasonable accommodation in order to participate in any meeting should contact the Village of Brookfield (708) 485-7344 prior to the meeting. Wheelchair access is available through the front (South) entrance of Village Hall.

By the Order of Chuck Grund, Planning and Zoning Commission Chairman.

Published in RB Landmark 07/08/2020

REAL ESTATE FOR SALE

27

REAL ESTATE FOR SALE

REAL ESTATE FOR SALE

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 single family residence.

Sale terms: 25% down of the highest bid by certified funds at the close of the sale payable to The Judicial Sales Corporation. No third party checks will be accepted. The balance, including the Judicial Sale fee for the Abandoned Residential Property Municipality Relief Fund, which is calculated on residential real estate at the rate of $1 for each $1,000 or fraction thereof of the amount paid by the purchaser not to exceed $300, in certified funds/ or wire transfer, is due within twenty-four (24) hours. No fee shall be paid by the mortgagee acquiring the residential real estate pursuant to its credit bid at the sale or by any mortgagee, judgment creditor, or other lienor acquiring the residential real estate whose rights in and to the residential real estate arose prior to the sale. The subject property is subject to general real estate taxes, special assessments, or special taxes levied against said real estate and is offered for sale without any representation as to quality or quantity of title and without recourse to Plaintiff and in “AS IS” condition. The sale is further subject to confirmation by the court.

Upon payment in full of the amount bid, the purchaser will receive a Certificate of Sale that will entitle the purchaser to a deed to the real estate after confirmation of the sale.

The property will NOT be open for inspection and plaintiff makes no representation as to the condition of the property. Prospective bidders are admonished to check the court file to verify all information.

If this property is a condominium unit, the purchaser of the unit at the foreclosure sale, other than a mortgagee, shall pay the assessments and the legal fees required

by The Condominium Property Act, 765 ILCS 605/9(g)(1) and (g)(4).

If this property is a condominium unit which is part of a common interest community, the purchaser of the unit at the foreclosure sale other than a mortgagee shall pay the assessments required by The Condominium Property Act, 765 ILCS 605/18.5(g-1).

IF YOU ARE THE MORTGAGOR (HOMEOWNER), YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO REMAIN IN POSSESSION FOR 30 DAYS AFTER ENTRY OF AN ORDER OF POSSESSION, IN ACCORDANCE WITH SECTION 15-1701(C) OF THE ILLINOIS MORTGAGE FORECLOSURE LAW. You will need a photo identification issued by a government agency (driver’s license, passport, etc.) in order to gain entry into our building and the foreclosure sale room in Cook County and the same identification for sales held at other county venues where The Judicial Sales Corporation conducts foreclosure sales.

For information, examine the court file, CODILIS & ASSOCIATES, P.C. Plaintiff’s Attorneys, 15W030 NORTH FRONTAGE ROAD, SUITE 100, BURR RIDGE, IL, 60527 (630) 794-9876 THE JUDICIAL SALES CORPORATION One South Wacker Drive, 24th Floor, Chicago, IL 60606-4650 (312) 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#: 40-1758 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 I3152479

IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF COOK COUNTY, ILLINOIS COUNTY DEPARTMENT CHANCERY DIVISION IL LENDING LLC, A FOREIGN LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY; Plaintiff, vs.

PALAJI BROTHERS & POLLAK INVESTMENTS, LLC, A FOREIGN LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY, AND ANY UNKNOWN OWNERS & NON-RECORD CLAIMANTS; Defendants, 19 CH 14294 NOTICE OF SALE PUBLIC NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale entered in the above entitled cause Intercounty Judicial Sales Corporation will on Tuesday, August 4, 2020 at the hour of 11 a.m. in their office at 120 West Madison Street, Suite 718A, Chicago, Illinois, sell at public auction to the highest bidder for cash, as set forth below, the following described mortgaged real estate: P.I.N. 16-05-106-031-0000.

Commonly known as 6 LeMoyne Parkway, Oak Park, IL 60302.

The mortgaged real estate is improved with a single family residence. If the subject mortgaged real estate is a unit of a common interest community, the purchaser of the unit other than a mortgagee shall pay the assessments required by subsection (g-1) of Section 18.5 of the Condominium Property Act. Sale terms: 10% down by certified funds, balance, by certified funds, within 24 hours. No refunds. The property will NOT be open for inspection For information call Mr. Joseph R. Ziccardi at Plaintiff’s Attorney, Ziccardi Law Offices, 77 West Washington Street, Chicago, Illinois 60602. (312) 372-3477.

INTERCOUNTY JUDICIAL SALES CORPORATION intercountyjudicialsales.com I3152055 IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF COOK COUNTY, ILLINOIS COUNTY DEPARTMENT CHANCERY DIVISION NATIONSTAR MORTGAGE LLC D/B/A MR. COOPER Plaintiff, vs.

ELENA F. MARROQUIN A/K/A ELENA FIGUEROA INDIVIDUALLY AND AS GUARDIAN FOR CHRISTIAN MARROQUIN AND NICHOLAS MARROQUIN, JP MORGAN CHASE BANK, N.A., MARIELENA SANTANA INDIVIDUALLY AND AS PERSONAL REPRESENTATIVE FOR THE ESTATE OF RICCARDO A. MARROQUIN A/K/A RICCARDO MARROQUIN, UNKNOWN OWNERS AND NON-RECORD CLAIMANTS Defendants, 17 CH 954 NOTICE OF SALE PUBLIC NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale entered in the above entitled cause Intercounty Judicial Sales Corporation will on Monday, August 3, 2020 at the hour of 11 a.m. in their office at 120 West Madison Street, Suite 718A, Chicago, Illinois, sell at public auction to the highest bidder for cash, as set forth below, the following described mortgaged real estate: P.I.N. 16-07-420-011.

Commonly known as 425 S. EAST AVE., OAK PARK, IL 60302.

The mortgaged real estate is improved with a single family residence. If the subject mortgaged real estate is a unit of a common interest community, the purchaser of the unit other than a mortgagee shall pay the assessments required by subsection (g-1) of Section 18.5 of the Condominium Property Act. Sale terms: 10% down by certified funds, balance, by certified funds, within 24 hours. No refunds. The property will NOT be open for inspection.

For information call Mr. Ira T. Nevel at Plaintiff’s Attorney, Law Offices of Ira T. Nevel, 175 North Franklin Street, Chicago, Illinois 60606. (312) 357-1125. 17-00157 INTERCOUNTY JUDICIAL SALES CORPORATION intercountyjudicialsales.com I3152051

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Wednesday Journal, July 8, 2020

OAKPARK.COM | RIVERFOREST.COM

Generations of Excellence since 1958

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

Tom Poulos

Pat Cesario Joe Cibula

Don Citrano Alisa Coghill Kay Costello Maria Cullerton Julie Downey Kurt Fielder Yvonne Fiszer-Steele Ramona Fox

Laura Gancer Lisa Grimes Dan Halperin Sharon Halperin Greg Jaroszewski Vee Jaroszewski Noa Klima Jack Lattner

Iris McCormick Vince McFadden Elizabeth Moroney Colleen Navigato John Pappas Rosa Pitassi Sue Ponzio-Pappas Jenny Ruland

Laurel Saltzman Laurie Shapiro Tom Sullivan Debbie Watts George Wohlford Nancy Wohlford Randy Ernst • 773-290-0307

1131 FRANKLIN • RIVER FOREST

830 FOREST • RIVER FOREST OPEN SUNDAY 13

1416 JACKSON • RIVER FOREST OPEN SUNDAY 122

1130 LATHROP • RIVER FOREST

LOVELY BRICK HOME offers wonderful space with beautiful views of the spectacular lot! Original details with two story foyer and hardwood floors throughout. This elegant home is beautifully constructed and large enough to accommodate family and friends for years to come. ................................................$1,375,000

FABULOUS MOVEIN READY custom home built in 2003 offers 4 BRs, 2 full/2 half baths. Features include an open floor plan, Butler’s pantry connecting kitchen with the LR/DR combo, fam rm w/wood burning fireplace, 1st FL private office built for 2. This house has everything you need and want! ....................$1,195,000

ELEGANT HOME located on a picturesque River Forest block!

This stately 5 BR, 3 full/2 half bath home includes four floors of living with two finished family rooms, a large study and three fireplaces. Large sun-drenched rooms with elegant cove molding and windows. In-ground outdoor pool. .......................... $879,000

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. ................................................................$1,075,000

1210 N ELMWOOD • OAK PARK

1004 COLUMBIAN • OAK PARK

1225 N EUCLID • OAK PARK

1010 S RIDGELAND • OAK PARK

BEAUTIFUL SIDE ENTRANCE COLONIAL with 4 BRs, 2 full & 1 half baths features a spacious center family room, cooks’ kitchen with mud room, gas fireplace, built-in shelving & art glass windows. Beautiful woodwork & hardwood floors throughout.

Finished LL. Front & back heated walkway...................... $639,000

MEDITERRANEAN INFLUENCE HOME offers 5 BR’s/2BA’s, 2 story LR with WBFP, beamed ceiling, French doors and original 1920’s terra cotta tiled floor. Dramatic staircase leads upstairs.

New finished bsmt. The yard has patio and charming pergola.

Tasteful decor found thru-out the house. .........................$539,000

CLASSIC CHARACTER & VINTAGE CHARM are found throughout this 3BR/2.5BA side entrance Dutch Colonial home in Historic Oak Park. Expansive LR with crown moldings, fireplace with builtin bookshelves, hardwood floors, first fl den/office, eat-in kitchen.

Finished rec room in bsmt................................................. $525,000

TWO BEDROOM BUNGALOW in Historic Oak Park has hardwood flooring and natural trim work throughout. The spacious living room leads to the formal dining room with built-in buffet.

Granite counters in the eat-in kitchen has access to the adjoining 3 season porch/den/home office. .........................................$239,900

ELEGANT CRAFTSMANSHIP can be found throughout this 5 BR French Normandy home. Sophistication is evident from the moment you walk in the door. Impressive foyer, formal LR with fireplace and built-in benches, family room, separate formal DR, updated kitchen, home office. ..................................................................................$1,199,000 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.................................................................................. $789,000 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. .......................................................................................$609,000 STUCCO BUNGALOW located in central RF. This move-in ready home offers 4 bedrooms, 2 full baths and retains its vintage detail such as hardwood floors, beamed ceiling, and original woodwork while offering a modern and contemporary feel. First floor living and finished basement......................................................................................... $549,000

OAK PARK HOMES

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. ............... ............................................................................................................$185,000

RIVER FOREST HOMES

STUNNING CUSTOM BUILT HOME on a corner lot. The elegant interior offers fine detail and wonderful space throughout. Impressive foyer, beautiful staircase, serene master suite, two laundry rooms, fully finished impressive LL. Offers incredible value and luxury from top to bottom! ........................................................................................$1,895,000 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. ................................................................................................ $1,795,000 COMPLETE REIMAGINATION of a 1923 Burma built Estate Home into a totally redone 2020 beautiful house. Top of the line highest quality throughout. Features 5 bedrooms, 4 full and 2 half baths, a fireplace, vaulted ceiling, family room, 1st FL office, mudroom. LL has 2 large family/game rooms......................................................................$1,549,500 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............ ....................................................................................................... .$1,385,000

PRICE REDUCED THREE STORY GRAND VICTORIAN on 100 x 218 lot in the heart of the Frank Lloyd Wright district. This estate features 6 Bedrooms, 2 Full baths, 3 fireplaces, many historic details including double front entry doors sourced from the Historic Pullman Estates section of Chicago.............................................................$650,000 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 BEAUTIFULLY UPDATED 3 BR American Four Square located in the heart of the Arts District in Historic OP! Vintage features include arched entryways, hardwood flooring, art glass windows, sunroom, kit/breakfast rm combo, mud room, refinished backyard deck, fenced yard and two-car garage. .............................................................$420,900 CLASSIC AMERICAN 4 SQUARE offers a sunroom, art glass windows, built-in bookshelves that surround a decorative fireplace, beamed ceilings and built-in hutch in DR, kitchen with breakfast bar and family room, hardwood floors on both levels. Come make this home your own! ............................................................................$347,000

Shop for homes online at GagliardoRealty.com

CONDOS/TOWNHOMES/2 FLATS RIVER FOREST 3BR, 2 full/1 half BA. Two garage spaces.. $479,000 RIVER FOREST 2BR, 2BA. Open concept floor plan.............$269,000 OAK PARK Two Flat ...................................................................$530,000 OAK PARK 3BR, 2 full/2 half BA. Move-in ready! .................$449,000 OAK PARK 3BR, 2 full/2 half BA. East facing balcony............$419,900 OAK PARK 3BR, 2 full/2 half BA. Secluded rooftop deck......$379,000 OAK PARK 3BR, 2 full/1 half BA. Exceptional vintage beauty!$299,000 OAK PARK 3BR, 2 full/1 half BA. Assigned parking space. .. $289,000 OAK PARK 1BR, 1BA. Great space!............................................$174,000 OAK PARK 1BR, 1BA. Vintage building....................................$124,500 FOREST PARK 3BR, 3BA. Super cute & ready for you!.........$315,000