a $10M
By DAN HALEY and BRENDAN HEFFERNAN
est Suburban Medical Center, a West Side-based committee med. They aim to open communications between the Austin and Oak Park communities and the owners of the hospital, and esilience Healthcare, helped org anize has met once presentatives A second meetMonday, July 28, was cancelled when one of the West Sub members was unable to attend. It is to be re-
By BRENDAN HEFFERNAN Staff Reporter
Oak Park leaders have approved a new plan for improving bike safety infrastructure in the village
The measure passed July 22 by a vote of six to one, with only Trustee Jim Taglia voting against the proposed plan. The vote came after months of spirited discussion over the plan, with Village President Vicki Scaman telling observers that she knew that it was a difficult decision for her and her colleagues to make.
“I know that there was a tug of war for many of us until the last minute,” Scaman said.
The plan approved by elected officials includes using Harvard Street as a main east-west bike route across south Oak Park
Removing all parking from the street was a source of frustration for many neighbors or near Harvard
Still, improving bicycle access across the village was an issue many sitting trustees campaigned on, and the plan passed because it reflects the trustees’ vision for biking and bike safety in Oak Park, Scaman said.
Village staf f have described the new plan as a bid to make Oak Park more accessible for cyclists of all ages, with short-term infrastructure additions in the plan including new bike lanes, neighborhood greenway treatment and other road sharing measures
It’s an update to a plan that was first ratified in 2008 and last updated in 2014, according to the village The few dozen shor tterm updates described in the plan will be worked into the village’s 2026-31 capital improvement plan during this fall’s budget cycle, according to the village
“The Bike Plan Update network recommendations detail actions along 20 corridors we will pursue over the coming years, with short-, mid-, and long-term timelines,”
village staf plan’s object scales – at village-wide connections. While this plan infrastructure, we will embrace a holistic approach. The village must upgrade our infrastructure, test new street designs, and continue to support new policies and programs that promote a culture of safety.”
The proposed plan had earned a cohort of opponents, many of whom live in south Oak Park either on or near Harvard Street. Harvard Street had become a lynchpin of the discourse around the plan, as the proposal eliminates parking on both sides of the street in favor of striped bike lanes.
Critics said bike lanes on both sides of the street don’t make sense for the relatively quiet residential area and that the village hadn’t been consistent or clear on why it believes that bike lanes are the most appropriate intervention for the road. Harvard Street is lowtraffic and has had few cyclist involved accidents over the years, the opponents have said.
“This isn’t justified by the traffic volume or speed or the way Harvard is used by cyclists now, the street doesn’t even extend to Harlem,” resident Evan McKensie told Wednesday Journal by email. “Nothing about this is necessary to the plan. It doesn’t make sense by the terms of the plan itself. So why was the change made? I continue to believe that the plan was changed in order to generate opposition from residents, so that the cyclist advocates can make an example of the opponents and silence the opposition when they go for the north-south routes We are being falsely portrayed as selfish NIMBYs, not just by the cyclist advocates, but by Wednesday Journal, especially your editorial cartoonist.”
The critics said they would have welcomed a neighborhood greenway treatment to encourage road sharing on the street.
Supporters of the plan have said that Oak
Park needs an east-west bike lane south of the Eisenhower Expressway for the entire village to be accessible for cyclists. To them, Harvard Street makes the most sense out of the available options
Village staff have also pointed to the street’s stop lights at intersections of busy north-south streets like Ridgeland Avenue and Oak Park Avenue as reasons for why Harvard Street is the right choice for south Oak Park’s bike lanes.
“The reason Harvard was selected as the east-west route through the village south of I-290 is because it is one of two streets that span the entire village, it is centrally located and has traffic lights at Oak Park Avenue and Ridgeland Avenue, as well as an all-way stop at East Avenue and Lombard,” staff wrote in the plan’s supporting documents. “This makes crossing the major north-south routes safer and more predictable. Harvard also directly touches three parks and two public schools and several other points of interest.”
The board heard from 10 public commentors on the matter July 22, five speaking in favor of the plan and five speaking against it It was a more reserved showing compared to the dozens of speakers the board heard from at its June 3 meeting discussing the bike plan.
For mer Oak Park Trustee Susan Buchanan, who resigned from the board in May, was among the speakers in favor of the bike plan. Buchanan, who lives four houses north of Harvard, gave a public comment that was a simple acrostic poem for the phrase “NIMBY.”
“B, of course, is for ‘bicycling,’ and ‘bicycle infrastructure’ and ‘protected bike lanes,’” she said. “B is also for ‘B.S.’ which is what I call professing to support bicycle infrastructure except when it’s in your neighborhood.”
of Oak Park and River Forest
Interim Executive Director Max Reinsdorf
Senior Audience Manager Stacy Coleman
Sta Repor ter Brendan He ernan
Viewpoints Editor Ken Trainor
Real Estate Editor Lacey Sikora
Contributing Editor Donna Greene
Columnists Marc Bleso , Nicole Chavas, Jack Crowe, Vincent Gay, Mary Kay O’Grady, John Stanger, Josh VanderBerg
Shrubtown Cartoonist Marc Stopeck
Design/Production Manager Andrew Mead
Editorial Design Manager Javier Govea
Designers Susan McKelvey, Vanessa Garza
Senior Media Strategist Lourdes Nicholls
Marketing & Adver tising Associate Emma Cullnan
Development Manager Mary Ellen Nelligan
Circulation Manager Jill Wagner
Operations Associate Susan Babin
Special Projects Manager Susan Walker
Chairman Emeritus Robert K. Downs
Senior Advisor Dan Haley
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Chair Eric Weinheimer | Treasurer Nile Wendorf
Deb Abrahamson, Mary Cahillane, Steve Edwards, Judy Gre n, Horacio Mendez, Charles Meyerson Darnell Shields, Audra Wilson
October 26 JAY FRIEDMAN, conductor HEROIC BEETHOVEN
BEETHOVEN Triple Concerto
Michelle Wynton, violin; William Cernota, cello; David Leehey, piano
BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 3, Eroica
December 14 MAURICE BOYER, conductor
RAVEL Valses nobles et sentimentales
TCHAIKOVSKYNutcracker Suite
BIZET L’Arlésienne: Suites I + II
Holiday Sing a-long
February 15 MAURICE BOYER, conductor CHORAL CONCERT
BRAHMS Tragic Overture
BRAHMS Schicksalslied (Song of Destiny)
Featuring The S/OP&RF Chorus, William Chin, director
MAHLER Songs from Des Knaben Wunderhorn (The boy’s magic horn) Nathalie Colas, soprano
COPLAND Quiet City
COPLAND An Outdoor Overture
April 19 JAY FRIEDMAN, conductor TROMBONE TREAT
MOZART Symphony No. 35 (Haeffner)
HIGGINS Trombone Concerto (Midwest Première)
Timothy Higgins, soloist
CONCERTO COMPETITION WINNER TBD
BERNSTEIN West Side Story Symphonic Dances
June 14 JAY FRIEDMAN, conductor SUPERB STARS
SUK Märchen (Fairytale)
BRUCH Violin Concerto No. 1, Nikki Chooi, soloist
GROESCH Piano Concerto No. 1 (World Première)
Mio Nakamura, soloist
Concert underwritten by S/OP&RF violinist
Dr. Marylaw Witt & Emerging Artists Chicago
All five of our 2025-2026 concerts start at 4PM on Sundays at Concordia University in River Forest. Free parking at 1124 Bonnie Brae Place.
By BRENDAN HEFFERNAN Staff Reporter
Housing Forward agency leaders said it will be able to double capacity of its new emergency overnight shelter in Oak Park thanks to a new grant from Cook County.
Housing Forward, a non-profit agency focused on eliminating homelessness in Chicago’s near west suburbs, received a $250,000 grant from the county’s Department of Planning and Development that will allow it to add beds to its new emergency shelter at 112 S. Humphrey Ave. in Oak Park ahead of the site’s opening.
The agency also announced that it has named the soon-to-be-opened shelter after longtime volunteer and homelessness services advocate Pat Anderson.
“This investment from Cook County will help us meet an urgent and unfortunate growing need in our community,” said Housing Forward CEO Lynda Schueler.
“In 2024, Housing Forward saw an 18% increase in unsheltered homeless across its 26-community service area. By expanding our shelter capacity and offering more
comprehensive support, we’re not just providing beds — we’re opening doors to longterm housing stability.”
The agency is opening the shelter to serve clients to re place the emergency shelter that’s been in operation at the St. Cathrine-St. Lucy Rectory. That shelter was overcapacity 53% of the time last year, according to the agency.
Housing Forward is able to open the space, which will also feature a commercial kitchen for preparing meals on site, in large part due to the nearly $367,000 in funding approved by Oak Park’s village government for the project in February, agency officials said.
The new grant allows the agency to double its bed capacity at the overnight shelter from 20 to 40, with the expanded space expected to be open to clients by mid-September, the agency said.
The grant announcement comes after Schueler told Wednesday Journal that as much as 25% of the agency’s operating budget was at risk as result of major cuts to housing assistance programs included in the new federal budget passed by congress earlier this month.
By BRENDAN HEFFERNAN Staff Reporter
After five years oforganizing, Oak Park’s resident-led environmental advocacy group is still pushing the village to the cutting edge of climate-infor med decision making.
The Oak Park Climate Action Network came together over Zoom calls in the midst ofthe Covid-19 Pandemic in the summer of2020. Although the group didn’t meet in person for about two years, it quickly developed its ethos of educating neighbors about
sustainability topics, helping people access sustainability grants and holding village leaders to high standards on making policy to run Oak Park with its climate impact in mind, according to founding member Laura Derks.
The group has about 120 members now, with about 20 core org anizers who meet regularly, Derks said.
“Anybody can join us, we are definitely a coalition of people that are action-focused,” she said. “We’d love to grow that coalition with even more people and get to work.”
OPCAN’s programing has included offering climate coaching advice to Oak Parkers looking to reduce their homes’ climate impact, engaging with community members at events and pushing the village to stick to its ambitious climate goals
Oak Park has set a goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 60% before 2030 in a bid for carbon neutrality by 2050 alongside goals to increase green infrastructure and eventually run village facilities entirely on renewable energy
As the group moves forward, it will look to continue supporting neighbors working to live more consciously oftheir personal impact on climate change even as recently
passed federal budget eliminate and restrict many preexisting clean energy tax credits.
Centering neighbor-to-neighbor relationships in their advocacy has been a key to the group’s success and will only continue to be essential, Derks said.
“I think that climate action can be daunting for people just getting star ted,” she said. “So I do think that it’s powerful, giving people that guidance, those guide posts.”
from page 1
tapped last January by south suburban Palos Heights in an immigration related case.
And the village’s Citizens’ Police Oversight Committee complained in a May report that it was not receiving all of the Flock data it wanted from the police department. “It would make sense to have a further conversation around Flock in light of everything that has been happening nationally, not because of anything that the Oak Park Police Department has done,” Straw said. “I continue to have concerns around Flock and I would like us to have a further conversation around whether there is any true accountability to be had, whether there is any true security to any of that data and I think based on everything I have seen I have concerns that there is not. I would like to see us turn off the Flock cameras, because I do know that there have been some instances where they have been useful, but I do not know that the limited data I have seen
regarding their usefulness outweighs concerns around privacy and the fact that it is now a possibility for the federal gover nment to get access to sort of a live stream of data of who is moving through the community.”
Illinois state law bans license plate reader data from being used in investigations related to a person’s immigration status or investigations into if a person has had an abor tion. Searches of Oak Park data on those grounds would also violate village sanctuary ordinances
The discussion of the tech follows a memo written by Johnson about the Flock cameras that was distributed to Village Manager Kevin Jackson, all of the village’s departmental leaders and the village trustees. The memo included information on steps the Oak Park police department has taken to limit the access other agencies have to local data and a detailed overview of the program itself
The memo also reported that the early stages of an audit of the license plate reader program confirmed that Oak Park data had been tapped on at least one occasion for immigration enforcement. Early work on the program audit found that last January Palos Heights Police had conducted 28 statewide Flock searches that included Oak Park data and had listed the reason for the searches as
an investigation into “immigrations violation,” according to the memo
The memo was drafted in the interest of transparency, village spokesperson Dan Yopchick told Wednesday Journal.
“First,” Yopchick said, “to respond to concerns about potential violations involving use of Flock technology in other Illinois jurisdictions. Second, to provide information for the board on how the Oak Park Police Department protects the data in accordance with local and state requirements.”
A vote on the cameras continued use may come as soon as the Aug. 5 board meeting, Leving-Jacobson said at last week’s meeting. Yopchick said that no agenda for that meeting has been finalized.
“The village recognizes there is strong public interest in the use of Flock technology and the broader conversations happening across Illinois. At this time, no for mal decision has been made, and any future discussion or action would ultimately be at the discretion of the village board,” Yopchick said.
Last year, trustees voted by a margin of four to three to renew the village’s contract with Flock Safety for another year. Straw, along with Trustee Chibuike Enyia and former Trustee Susan Buchanan voted against renewing the contract.
The Flock Automated License Plate readers “capture an image of a vehicle’s license plate, read the image using software, compare the plate number read against databases containing vehicles of interest, and, ultimately, alert an officer when the system has captured the license plate of a vehicle of interest,” according to the village The technology also allows law enforcement to search a nationwide database for surveillance data on vehicles of interest.
In 2024, the company’s CEO Garrett Langley told a podcaster that he believed the company’s technology would eliminate all crime in America in 10 years. The company’s technology is already in place in more than 4,000 communities
Local leaders adopted the cameras hoping it’d help police solve violent crimes and vehicle thefts and keep the police department up to date with law enforcement standard practices.
Oak Park has 8 license plate readers, six of which are situated within two blocks of the village’s eastern border with Chicago. The cameras recorded images of over 400,000 vehicles in the last 30 days, according to the village’s Flock data portal.
See FLOCK CAMERAS on page 26
One day only – three opportunities to see the Winner of the 2025 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature
Tuesday, August 5th No Other Land (95 minutes) Lake Theater Film Showings 1 pm � 4 pm � 7 pm Don’t miss out. Buy advance tickets. No Other Land Discussion/Action Gathering
Oak Park Public Library - Veteran’s Room 834 Lake Street Oak Park
Tuesday, August 5th, 3 pm (after 1 pm film showing) Enjoy Palestinian savory and sweet treats Discuss the movie � Take action to support justice Free Event Sponsored by the Committee for a Just Peace in Palestine/Israel For more information: cjpip.org/events
Ware, a contributor to The New Yorker who began his career in Chicago’s alt weeklies, designed a sheet of 20 stamps that show a mail carrier’s neighborhood journey
By WEB BEHRENS Block Club Chicago
What’s older than the Declaration of Independence? Believe it or not: the United States Postal Service.
The organization now known as the USPS was established in July 1775 — one year before the 13 original colonies declared themselves to be their own nation.
This week, the agency celebrates its semi quincentennial with a creative new stamp design featuring artwork by Riverside’s cartoonist extraordinaire Chris Ware
The stamps were released July 23, along with a 32-page prestige booklet to commemorate the USPS’ 250 years of service.
The postal service noted in a statement that Ware created the stamp artwork and co-designed the pane with Antonio Alcalá, an art director for USPS.
“I was indeed flattered and honored to be asked to do a stamp,” Ware told Block Club.
“I figured I would either scare of f the Post Office with my ideas and/or make something that wasn’t printable,” he said. Instead, “I was pleasantly surprised to find that everyone working for the USPS was unpretentious, funny and very ag reeable.”
Despite his penchant for self-deprecation, writer-artist Ware has managed to attain worldwide renown on the strength of his meticulously rendered, achingly moving comics. His work has been featured in multiple solo museum exhibitions, from Chicago’s Museum of Contemporary Art in 2006 to a current showcase in Barcelona. The first comics artist to be invited to exhibit at the Whitney Biennial, he also re gularly draws covers for The New Yorker.
An Omaha native, Ware moved to Chicago in the early 1990s to pursue his master ’s de gree at the School of the Art Institute. He lived in Oak Park with his family for many years. Now 57, he lives with his wife and daughter in Riverside.
His professional career began in Chicago’s alt weeklies, starting with NewCity
in 1992 and eventually The Reader. A multiyear saga originally published piecemeal in those newsprint pages became his acclaimed first book, “Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth,” still in print 25 years later.
To anyone familiar with Ware’s precise sequential art — jam-packed with details yet somehow never cluttered — it comes as no surprise that he has brought that signature storytelling style to the USPS.
Local cartoonist Chris Ware’s sheet of “Forever” stamps traces a busy postal ca rrier’s jour ney through an urban landscape across four seasons.
With these stamps, he adds another “first” feather to his cap: “A very kind person at the USPS told me that, as far as their historian could determine, this was the first time anyone had ever tried to tell a story with a sheet of stamps,” Ware said.
Titled “250 Years of Delivering,” the sheet honors the post office’s milestone anniversary by documenting the quotidian life of a mail carrier making deliveries. The 20 interconnected stamps (printed in four rows of five) deliver a bird’s-eye view of a busy city, packed with perfectly drawn buildings, geometric trees and doz-
CREDIT: PROVIDED FOREVER : Detail is the heart of Chris Ware’s art
ens of humans bustling about. In inimitable Chris Ware fashion, the progression of stamps also takes the viewer through all four seasons.
The carrier strolls past coffee shops, government buildings and various public gatherings across her busy year, visiting settings that would fit into any Chicago neighborhood. Across the stamps, she waves frequently and accepts letters from neighbors, including a construction worker who pops out of a manhole cover to give her one. The last stamp shows the carrier in her cozy home with her family, after an extremely long day.
In a press release, the post office notes that the Ware-designed stamps contain special homages to the office’s 250-year history, including a statue of a pony express rider and various types of post office vehicles and collection boxes, from a cluster mailbox found in an apartment building to the traditional blue curbside structures. There’s even a stamp collector examining his collection.
“I was hoping to make something that a letter carrier might happen to see and
maybe feel some connection to,” Ware said. “Their lives seem to be a ‘Groundhog Day’ level of g rind and re petition, passing through a consistent, re peating landscape that nonetheless slowly shifts and changes around them. It takes a peculiar level of psychological fortitude to be a mail carrier, I think, and I wanted to try to honor that.”
Beyond his current admiration for the work of postal carriers, Ware had a brief connection to the post office as a kid.
“I tried briefly to collect stamps,” he said. “For some reason, I couldn’t ever figure out why I was doing it — no pox upon philatelists, with whom I clearly share some DNA. I’d inherited a half-filled book of stamps from my second father, but it only highlighted how ignorant I was about the world, so I stuck to collecting superhero comic books instead.
“Now I hate superheroes in all forms, so maybe I should try stamps again.”
The sheet of 20 stamps costs $15.60 and will be sold online and at any U.S. post office. The price reflects a slight bump in the cost per stamp, which on July 13 increased by a nickel to 78 cents each.
By JESSICA MORDACQ Staff Reporter
As longtime Cong ressman Danny Davis decides whether he’s going to r un agai n for the 7th district U.S. House of Re presentatives seat in 2026, other local politicians are throwing their hats in the ring to represent the area that covers much of Chicago’s West Side and near west suburban communities.
One such candidate is Rory Hoskins, who has been mayor of Forest Park since 2019 and works as an insurance attorney. He filed with the Federal Elections Commission to run for the seat on July 18 and already has priorities lined up for what he’d advocate for if elected
“I want to serve the community, and I want to be a part of the effort to undo a lot of the harm currently being done in Washington D.C.,” Hoskins told Growing Community Media on why he’s running for Congress He mentions wanting to restore safety net programs and veteran benefits, maintain the Department of Education, plus protect social security, Medicaid and Medicare.
While Davis has advocated to support health care and education efforts, both throughout his district and the country, Hoskins said Davis has also accomplished quite a bit in Hoskins’ own neighborhood
“Congressman Davis has been a great representative for Forest Park. He’s helped us with infrastructure programs, so I’m going to continue in that tradition,” Hoskins said. For example, this year, Davis submitted a project request to the Appropriations Committee for the Forest Park Water System Im-
provements Project. The $2 million request would help fund re placements to failing sections of the village’s water mains, improving water quality and availability for residents. And when Forest Park discussed options for building new water reservoirs earlier this year, Village Administrator Rachell Entler said Forest Park could receive up to $15 million in funding to cover them and was meeting with Congressman Davis’ office to discuss how to access such finances.
Hoskins said, if elected to the U.S. House, he would focus more on transportation, since the whole of the Eisenhower Expressway runs through the 7th congressional district, along with several CTA and Metra train lines. Hoskins has been a staunch advocate for the Metropolitan Mobility Authority Act, filed with the Illinois House of Re presentatives last year, which would merge the CTA, Metra and Pace into one entity.
“Part of my work in advocating for tran-
sit gover nance reform and transit agency consolidation would factor into my work in Congress, if I were to serve,” Hoskins said, adding that he’d seek appointment to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure.
“I would also work on returning the federal gover nment to a place that really works to combat and prevent extremism and violent extremism,” Hoskins said. “I think if state, local and federal gover nments work together, they can come up with ways to address the rise that we’ve seen in extremism and polarization.”
Hoskins and his family have lived in Forest Park since 1999. He has twice been elected to serve as a delegate to the Democratic National Convention, meaning he cast a vote for the Democratic Party’s presidential nominee. In 2023, he was appointed to the Inter-Governmental Policy Advisory Committee that assists the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative
18%. The median age was 35 and about 41% of the district was Black, 30% white, nearly 9% Asian and 7% Hispanic. In 2023, Forest Park had about 14,000 residents with a median household income over $81,000 and a poverty rate of over 10%. With a median age of 40, about 53% of the population was white, nearly 25% Black, about 7% Asian and 6% Hispanic.
“I think if state, local and federal governments work together, they can come up with ways to address the rise that we’ve seen in extremism and polarization.”
RORY
HOSKINS
Mayor of Oak Park
Before becoming mayor, Hoskins served as a Forest Park village commissioner from 2007 to 2015. He said the village of Forest Park has similar demographics to the 7th congressional district.
According to Data USA, in 2023, the 7th congressional district had over 737,000 residents with a median household income of more than $80,000 and a poverty rate of over
As Davis contemplates running for reelection, there’s the opportunity for someone who grew up in a different era to take his place. Hoskins is in his early 50s, and Davis is 83.
“There is a generational shift that is occurring,” Hoskins said. “I believe I have a broad set of relationships and experiences that would allow me to effectively engage and represent the entire district.”
With a potentially open seat in a highly Democratic district, the line is lengthening to run in the 7th district primary if Davis retires. So far, the list includes State Representative La Shawn Ford, Chicago attor ney Jason Friedman, for mer Marine John McCombs, pastor Jerico J. Brown, and Richard Boykin — for mer member of the Cook County Board of Commissioners for the 1st district. Tekita Martinez and Danica David Leigh are also running as Democrats, and Emelia Rosie filed with no political party affiliation.
By BRENDAN HEFFERNAN Staff Reporter
John McCombs hasn’t spent much of any time around the political punchbowl — he’s been out on the road working on punchlines McCombs, a Joliet native and Marine Corps veteran turned Chicago stand-up comedian, has filed to run to represent Illinois’ 7th District in the U.S. House of Representatives. McCombs’ has never run for any public office before, but he’s starting big running for a seat held by Rep. Danny Davis for three decades. He also works as a sexual assault prevention educator for service members.
The drive to run came in the wake of President Donald Trump’s victory over Democrat Kamala Harris last November. Democrats at the federal level must do a better job at connecting with people and fighting the presi-
dent’s agenda, McCombs said.
“I’m a communicator, a fighter, a leader, that’s what I’ve got to lean on,” he said.
The Democrats need house reps who are sharp and capable of communicating their message with all generations and walks of life. Kind of like an experienced touring comedian can, McCombs said.
“This is the mindset of every comedian, you have to walk into a room full of people and you have no idea what happened five minutes before you got there, you have no idea these people’s backgrounds and you have to try and make them laugh,” he said. “You have to try and find that common ground, you have to find the humanity in people.”
“When you do that, you find that we agree on 95% of stuff, we get so caught up on the 5% that we miss the 95%.”
McCombs’ campaign’s core issues include
Ocriminal justice reform, universal healthcare via a Medicare for all model and raising the federal minimum wage to $20. These are policies that reflect problems that most Americans struggle with, he said.
McCombs knows that in part because his dentist bill joke gets the same laughs in red states and blue states.
“The joke goes ‘I had a filling in my tooth fall out on tour and I didn’t know what I was going to do, everybody in Europe was like well why don’t you see the public dentist,” he said. “I’m like, ‘what the f%#k is a public dentist?’ They’re like oh it’s a government subsidized dentist that provides services to the public, you don’t have this in the U.S.’ and I said ‘oh, no we just chew on the other side of our mouths until the GoFundMe kicks in.’”
In an effort to get his message out, McCombs has been traveling the 7th District on
home through Chis oes, he wants to make sure that it stays grounded in actively serving people as a candidate, and that he stays grounded in himself. He held to that goal with his recent launch party which was a comedy show benefiting Housing Forward, bringing in dozens of donations off the housing support agency’s wish list.
“If I have the ability to help people today, then let’s help them today,” he said.
n July 14th, the Nineteenth Century Charitable Association in Oak Park held a showing of the 1953 movie From Here to Eternity. This movie follows the lives of three soldiers and the people they meet in the months leading up to the December 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor. This movie won 8 Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, and both Supporting Actor (Frank Sinatra) and Supporting Actress (Donna Reed). In 2002, the movie was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry for being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.”
In a demanding world like ours, leisure time becomes a luxury, and it’s easier to consume media alone through streaming services than to
watch something in a community (and if one goes to the theater, it’s usually to watch something contemporary).
For parents, their time is largely tied to the needs of their children, and what free time they have left is often tied to the desires of their children, in entertainment choices and otherwise.
In this world, leisure itself has largely become bound to the same clock that drives our obligations; if we’re not careful, leisure becomes something we must consume in tight windows prescribed by somebody else, a product that always finds us snacking
but never leaves us full. For the elderly, these conditions can leave them feeling the world is passing them by, and for younger generations, the long-term effects are just as debilitating. It becomes all the more important, in this environment, for people of all ages to mindfully carve out some time for leisure that removes them from the strongest forces of contemporary culture, in both time and locale. For younger generations, this may mean spending time with the elderly watching a movie that, many decades ago, was once the
contemporary culture of their youth. For all ages, it may mean doing activities from outside American or Western culture. Mostly, it means purposefully spending time building connections, not just with those immediately around them, but with the world and across generations. Mindfully building these connections improves the lives of the elderly, the young, and everyone in between.
Join FirstLight Home Care for the classic film noir The Man with the Golden Arm starring Frank Sinatra on Monday, August 11th at 1:30pm at The Nineteenth Century Charitable Association 178 Forest Ave #1, Oak Park, IL . This Oscarnominated film examines still relevant social issues through the lens of one man’s struggles. $5 suggested donation.
By BRENDAN HEFFERNAN Staff Reporter
An ordinance drafted by Oak Park village staf f to protect the interests of brickand-mortar restaurants was rejected, 6-1, by the village board this week.
The ordinance would’ve blocked food trucks from operating within 250 feet of a brick-and-mortar restaurant “selling of the same category of food or drink,” according to village documents. The lopsided vote at the July 22 board meeting followed a disjointed discussion on the matter, with Village President Vicki Scaman telling her colleagues that she felt they weren’ t understanding the limited scope of the ordinance they voted against.
After the vote, she had no interest in seeing another version of the ordinance back at the table at least not any time soon.
“With the number of things we have coming up on our agenda I don’t think I want to see this again,” said Scaman, who was the
only one to vote in favor of passing the proposed ordinance. “We are moving on, and no, I don’t want to see it again.”
The proposed ordinance follows a March 18 discussion on food truck re gulations brought to the board by for mer trustees Ravi Parakkat and Lucia Robinson, who pushed for a conversation on the topic after hearing from a local restaurant owner who said a food truck had been poaching their customers.
“Simply what we’re doing is responding to the board’s direction to bring it back,” said Village Manager Kevin Jackson.
In March, the board heard comments from Karla Linarez, owner of Tacos ‘76 on Madison Street, who said that her business had been disrupted when a taco truck parked a few feet from her shop’s front door. Linarez said that when she complained to the truck’s owner, they told her they weren’ t breaking any rules laid out in the village code Village staf f told the board that Linarez’s
business is no longer experiencing issues with that food truck. They said one other taco restaurant had experienced the same situation in 2020, but that was the only other incident brought to the village’s attention.
Mobile food vendors operating in Oak Park currently only have to follow parking laws, pass health inspections and pay the business license fee to serve customers in the village With Parakkat and Robinson no longer on the board, there wasn’t much
Dear Fellow Oak Parkers and River Foresters:
interest in applying stricter regulations. Board newcomers Jenna Leving-Jacobson and Derek Eder both said that they t convinced that business owners are having enough problems with food ucks to war r ant new re g ulations
“It seems li ke it a dds restrictions, and oes more harm than g ood,” Eder said. re t rying to curb a ve ry small leve l bad b ehavior that’s o ccu rred over a umber of year s. It d oesn’t seem j ustifie d .”
Trustee Cory Wesley made it clear that his support for the ordinance melted when he considered how it could put restrictions on neighborhood ice cream trucks.
“I don’t want ice cream trucks in this, ice cream trucks are not food trucks — there’s a difference,” he said. “I don’t think ice cream trucks should be re gulated under a food truck ordinance. No one is going to be concerned about an ice cream truck pulling up and taking their business. I’d like to see an exemption for ice cream trucks.”
We are delighted to share the exciting news that Kendall and Patricia Hunt have challenged the community to join them in making a donation to bring universal accessibility to Oak Park River Forest Museum at Lake & Lombard in Oak Park. Last month, the Hunts pledged to match each and every gi , up to a total of $100,000, toward the construction of an elevator addition.
e home of e Historical Society of Oak Park and River Forest, OPRF Museum tells the stories of our sister villages with exhibits, programs and special events, as it gathers into its archives artifacts, photos and other materials that tell our stories and are accessible to the public.
Questions? Call us at 708-848-6755, check out oprfmuseum.org, or drop in and visit us Wednesdays-Saturdays, 1 to 5 p.m. at 129 Lake Street in Oak Park.
By RISÉ SANDERS-WEIR Eats Reporter
No need to get your passport out to enjoy authentic Korean food. Seoul Avenue opened in early July at 728 Lake St. in Oak Park – the for mer location of Papaspiros
Tteokbokki dishes, soups, rice bowls and fried favorites fill the menu. There are five Korean BBQ options, including beef bulgogi –soy marinated thin-cut strips of beef, grilled and served with rice and a mix of g rilled cabbage, onion and carrots.
They got back together when Sung sold his Glenview business with an eye towards opening a new venture with a Korean menu.
“I sold my previous restaurant and then I looked for a location near downtown. I was looking for one year,” Sung said, but nowhere seemed quite right. Then he remembered his time in the Oak Park and River Forest area and, “There was no Korean restaurant here.”
When restaurant owner Minha Sung first arrived in the U.S., he took ESL (English as a second language) courses at Dominican University. He later moved to New York for culinary school. Upon returning to the Chicago area, he worked briefly at a sushi restaurant where he met Chef Anthony Jung. Though Sung moved on to open his own restaurant/bar in Glenview, the two ke pt in touch.
After an extensive renovation, Seoul Avenue is up and running.
“We’ re serving authentic Ko food. No fusion. OK, a few items is fusion, but like bulgogi is really authentic Korean and taste is almost same as in Korea,” Sung said. “We serve popular Korean food. Everybody knows kimchi, but we serve also rice ca dishes and some soups.”
According to Chef Anthony Jung, it was an easy choice to join the venture when Sung invited him in.
“Because I know he’s a hard worker. We wo together short time at the sushi restaurant, but we matched personality,” Jung said.
See SEOUL AVENUE on pa ge 15
By DAN HALEY Interim Editor
Weiss Memorial Hospital, the Uptown based Chicago hospital which shares ownership with West Suburban Hospital, has lost its critical financial reimbursement pact with the federal Medicare program effective Aug. 9.
A copy of the notice from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services was obtained Friday by Austin Weekly News and Wednesday Journal. The authenticity of the termination by Medicare was confirmed by a spokesperson for the Illinois De partment of Public Health. Medicare reimbursement currently provides a majority of the revenue at Weiss Memorial. Weiss, like West Suburban, is designated as a safety net hospital. That means it treats fewer patients with private insurance and more people with Medicaid or no insurance.
The statement from IDPH said the agency has been closely monitoring conditions at Weiss and that by law it must re port those findings to federal health agencies. The state health department said it was the federal agency which determined that Medicare reimbursement would be ended.
from page 1
Ford said he has been hearing from upset and concerned constituents about issues at West Sub.
“People are not satisfied with the hospital,” he said. Ford and Jaidalyn Rand, a public health administrator and member of the West Side Health Authority board, sought the group’s initial meeting.
In a recap of that meeting provided to Austin Weekly News, topics set for the next convening include a review of West Sub’s plans for 2025 and beyond, opportunities for community members to be involved as volunteers at the safety net hospital, other steps to increase community support and an update on West Sub’s ef for ts to obtain a $10 million loan from the state’s Healthcare and Family Services department. The committee was told that the loan was to fund ongoing operations of the hospital.
When asked the status of that loan, Ford
In the notice from the federal department, Medicare said that Weiss was not in compliance with Medicare standards in nursing services, physical environment and emergency services. “The ag reement … as a hospital in the Medicare program, will be terminated,” read the notice from Medicare’s Chicago survey and operations group.
The IDPH statement said there is “a process sideration that Weiss can pursue.” Asked for details about that process, the IDPH spokesperson told the Weekly and the Journal that it could share no information original statement.
Weiss has been much in the news over the past month as the hospital, owned by Resilience Healthcare, acknowledged it had suffered a “catastrophic” failure of its cooling systems just as Chicago entered an extended heatwave Patients already admitted to Weiss were quickly transfer red to other hospitals. Nearly two dozen Weiss patients were transported to West Sub, its sibling hospital in Oak Park. But while the hospital initially claimed that West Sub had fully re placed its HVAC system in 2024, re porting from Block Club Chicago and the Sun-Times quickly made clear that West Sub also was having significant failures of
said in a follow-up email that West Sub had applied loan, and it had already been rejected by the state. He said that, as a state legislator, he would need commitments from West Sub and trust in its leadership in order to push approval of such funding.
Ford said his goal is to “g row the tent” of community members on the new committee. No public officials or residents of Oak Park
Forest were part of the initial Oak Park village
its cooling system.
A subsequent FOIA inquiry by Wednesday Journal to the village of Oak Park found no evidence that Resilience had pulled any permits from the village for any HVAC project last year.
Emails sent to Dr. Manoj Prasad, CEO of Resilience Healthcare, were not retur ned on Friday evening.
deral Medicare officials operations
pital would lose its funding. iss has been in the news ts
ing of the situation said it is possible “they may close.” He said he
Yopchick did not have any information to share on village officials’ involvement with the new committee as of Monday.
Resilience owns both West Sub and Weiss Memorial Hospital in Chicago’s Uptown neighborhood. Late last week, the federal Medicare oversight agency told Weiss that it would not receive further Medicare reimbursement after Aug. 9. Such funding is a lifeline for a safety net hospital. State records indicate that Weiss receives a majority of its revenue from Medicare.
“He said emphatically, ‘Absolutely not.’”
Ford, who has had two tenures as a member of West Sub’s local advisory board, said he has some sympathy for the situation West Sub finds itself in.
“When you look at what the current federal government is doing to safety net hospitals, West Sub’s brighter days are not ahead.” Ford resigned from the advisory board after Pipeline Health sold West Sub and Weiss to Resilience. West Sub has had a long series of owners over the past two
decades.
Since Resilience bought the hospitals in December 2022, staf f have continually reported declining conditions at West Sub.
Resident doctors at West Sub began speaking up last May, saying that they weren’ t seeing their program funding reflected in their resources. They also complained about deteriorating infrastructure, and the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education withdrew West Suburban Medical Center’s accreditation earlier this year.
In November, midwives and family medicine physicians at West Sub were told they could no longer deliver babies at the hospital.
Most recently, in the first week of July, West Suburban staf f were told that the Family Birthplace floor, consisting of labor and delivery, postpartum and nursery units, would close indefinitely because of a shor tage of nurses – a claim that provided timesheets refute. They say they still haven’t heard any update from West Suburban human relations or hospital leadership about if the floor will reopen.
The two take pride in the quality of their dishes. All meat is prime grade. And other ingredients are up to the same quality.
“We go every morning before opening to the Asian market in Schaumburg. So, everything is really fresh,” said Jung.
“Every sauce we made ourself. And for every dish it is different,” Sung said. “Beef bulgogi and pork bulgogi both are spicy, but the sauce is totally different. And then we also serve fried tonkatsu. Everybody think is from Japanese, but this is Korean style, so really different. I want customers to try that.”
Tonkatsu, spelled donkatsu on the menu in reference to the Korean version, is a breaded and fried pork cutlet, served with
a house-made sauce with optional top of melted cheese.
Just Korean from page 13 Read &
Another menu stand out is dolsot bibimbap – a rice dish, traditionally served in a very hot stone bowl. The heat of the bowl crisps the rice on the bottom and comes with sautéed carrots, mushrooms, bean sprouts and other ve getables. The rice is topped with a fried egg and served with gochujang sauce, which is a Korean chili sauce that is a staple of the cuisine.
The drink menu offers many flavors of soju and flavored beer. And a private dining area will open in the future. But the focus is on the food.
“We’ re gonna do a higher standard,” Chef Jung said. “We want to show people what’s the best of Korean food.”
Know before you go:
Address: 728 Lake St., Oak Park
Hours: Tuesday through Sunday 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.
• Authentic Programming Designed, Created and Led by GrandMaster Yu
• Emphasis on the Discipline, Wellness and Safety Bene ts of Martial Arts Training; creating Community Wellness and Responsible Citizenship
• All Instructors and Masters are Local, trained from within by GrandMaster Yu: consistent, high standards
• Safe, Accessible Facility with on-site parking and a caring, Asian-inspired environment in North Oak Park
NinjaLove makes the world go round!
By RISÉ SANDERS-WEIR Eats Reporter
The peak flavors of summer are fleeting. And sometimes they are overwhelmingly bountiful. Two Oak Parkers have forged these forces together with steam, sugar, heat and hard work to savor summer all year long.
Lissa Dysart, also known as the Tomato Lady of Oak Park, makes what she can of many parts of the seasonal cycle.
“To me, some things are about capturing the kind of unique little bits and pieces,” Dysart said. “I made lilac syrup this spring. There’s nothing like what lilacs smell like in any other plant, so it’s kind of a fun way of just capturing this kind of ethereal mo-
“There’s a piece of it that feels kind of silly in a way. There’s really great quality food that’s available [in grocery stores.] But some things are just not the same. I mean, even though it’s a crazy amount of work. I made elderflower syrup this spring. I’m like, why? Because you have to just pick all of the blooms of f. Same thing with lilacs. But there is something to be said about that whole process.”
A recent discovery was making garlic scape salt. She takes the green flowering tops above the buried garlic head and lets them dry in a bed of salt at room temperature.
“It is like super intense garlic salt. I put it in these little adorable jars. Oh my God, that stuff was amazing! It’s just like green and fresh. To me it tastes like it has a spring, summery kind of flavor year,” said Dysart.
Tomatoes, of course, have had a special place in her heart ever since childhood
“When we grew tomatoes, you’d eat them morning, noon and night. We would eat them sliced with sugar. Because it’s a fruit!”
Another of her favorite options for a summer bounty of tomatoes is a Portuguese tomato jam that Dysart was first introduced to while working at Whole Foods.
“I never really saw anything like it. And then I came across a recipe in a preserving ookbook and I thought, I’m gonna try it ou get a ton of the really nice bright fruit avor and the texture you get is more like hole fruit pieces. It plays up those aspects And it’s weirdly delicious. Like it’s fantastic with cheese. It’s great stirred into oatmeal. I became completely addicted. I was giving it my friends and my family. I just feel like I n’t get enough of it.”
That is the power of peak flavor fresh from the garden!
John Slocum is an avid gardener and preserver. When he and his wife, Rachel Weber, bought their home in Oak Park, John wanted to use the yard space in a more productive way.
“I have two semi-dwarf sour cherry trees in the front yard that I planted 14 years ago, and they’ve done extraordinarily well,” Slocum said. “I do like making jam with the cherries and occasionally make a pie,
Av id gardener and preserver John Slocum
love doing with the cherries and one is to make a cherry juice concentrate.”
The recipe is simple enough, cook the cherries and strain the solids out. Add sugar and store in the freezer.
“Then last year I discovered cherry bounce. Said to be George Washington’s favorite alcoholic beverage, so it is a Colonial or hundreds of years old type of thing. It’s cherries, sugar and alcohol.”
Fresh cherries go into a jar with – brandy, bourbon or vodka will do, add sugar and spices.
“It’s got a cinnamon stick and an allspice berry and a couple of cloves and a little pinch of nutmeg. You just stir it for a few weeks and then you just put it away for a couple of 3 to 4 months and it’s just it’s like candy, but very high proof candy.”
many quar ts of tart, red berries.
“They’ve got a lot of pectin. I almost never use pectin in my jams. Originally I think it’s just because I was being cheap and I just didn’t want to like have to buy anything extra and then it became a challenge to like, how close can I get to the consistency I want without using pectin to firm it up.”
His favorite flavor combo is raspberry and currants
“When I find a tried-and-true combination, I just keep doing it. I’ll put up 30 to 50 jars over the course of the summer and then give a lot of them away. Honestly, the hardest part about it is that fruit ripens in the summer exactly when you don’t want to be over a hot stove for several hours.”
But he says there is an upside.
“We’ve always got a jar of jam in the fridge.”
Another tree in Slocum’s yard fills his yield
By RISÉ SANDERS-WEIR Eats Reporter
Takeout 25 isn’t going anywhere, but it is ramping down hosting events. Taste the Town, which started as a way to elevate the visibility of local restaurants after the Covid pandemic, took its last bite on Saturday, July 19.
The event was held at Distro Music Hall in Berwyn. For the price of entry, guests received two tickets to sample foods from local restaurants, including Poke Burrito, Khyber Pass, Billy Bricks, Crumb Crusher and Twisted Cookie among others.
Brooklyn’s Berwyn Subs was there too. Samatha Munley and her fiancé Renaldo Barbini recently opened the shop at 7001 Roosevelt in Berwyn.
“We are new. We just opened two months ago,” Munley said. “Just the acknowledgement from the neighborhood and community to just get our name out there so that people know this is something new. This is what we have to offer and then you know the networking with other businesses is great too.”
For local chain Chicago Waffles, their location at 726 Lake St. in Oak Park has been open for more than a year
“We like to do this kind of events to get known,” said Erica Estrada, manager. “I mean anything helps. People try it and they like it, then I know for sure they’re gonna come to the restaurant.”
And for Old World Pizza, 7230 W. North Ave. in Elmwood Park, it was a reintroduction, now that the long-time favorite has new owners.
“We purchased Old World in September, and we like participating in events like this, connecting with our customers,” manager Danielle Michelon said. “People come up and tell us they order from Old World all the time. That just reignites that fire over and over for us.”
Mission Curiosity Bookstore by Our Future Reads, which is a new non-profit bookstore at 319 Madison St., Oak Park, showed off its wares as well. And Gerald McClendon & band keep the crowd rocking.
Even though the event was a success, Ravi Parakkat and the board of the non-profit Takeout 25 want to focus on activities that can be even more helpful to local restaurants moving forward. He noted that there are other organizations like the OPRF Chamber of Commerce and Downtown Oak Park, which
Subs ow ners Samantha Munley and Renaldo Barbini
do a great job hosting similar gatherings.
“Basically, stepping back from community events is a way to reallocate bandwidth. Our thought is that there are pressing issues on the business side, like costs of ingredients and things like that, where we can have bigger impact,” Parakkat, a for mer Oak Park village trustee, said. “We want to focus our limited bandwidth on things that improve the system across the board. It’s a whole host of things we are exploring. And that exploration takes a lot of bandwidth – as somebody who does a full-time job too.”
Some initiatives Takeout 25 is looking into include data sharing, more sophisticated procurement pathways, centralized infor mation – anything that can drive costs down for local small businesses
“I’m trying to convert the nonprofit into a social enterprise. The distinction is a nonprofit is largely supported by our community donations, as opposed to a social enterprise that works with those same causes, but creates its own revenue,” said Parakkat.
In the immediate future, Takeout 25 will continue its employee appreciation efforts, holiday gift card sales, and on Nov. 17 it will release a cookbook, featuring recipes from a wide selection of local restaurants and chefs.
Websites: brooklynsberwyn.com chica gowaffles.com originaloldworldpizza.com missioncuriosity.org takeout25.org
FBy RISÉ SANDERS-WEIR Contributing Reporter
or more than 110 years Pompei has been a family-run, Taylor Street icon in Chicago. Now, a new generation is stepping up to help open a location in Elmwood Park at 22 Conti Pkwy. in the Conti Circle. They expect to open the dining room doors in early September.
Owner Ralph Davino grew up above the original Taylor Street location with his parents and grandparents.
“Our building was a six flat. They had a bakery on one side and a tavern on the other. I used to come down at midnight with my uncles and make the dough. I remember when the machine broke and me and another guy had to kneed 100 pounds of dough, so we could open,” Davino said.
Until that point Pompei bakery only sold bread and cheese pizza. Pastries were eventually added. Then in 1984 when his uncle became ill, Davino took over operations.
“When I got it, we started sausage, pepperoni pizza. And I started making sand-
wiches,” Davino said. Soon he created what he called strudels, based off the sweet version, but filled with savory flavor and with more filling to dough ratio than a calzone. Today there are 12 varieties on the menu including eggplant parmesan, poor boy with ham, turkey stuffing and BBQ.
Fast forward two generations to Davino’s grandchildren lending a hand too:
“When we were younger, we would always work the festivals. We would come down and work the Taylor Street fest,” grandson Lucian DiPofi said. “That was some of the best times I can remember, just running around, probably eating him out of all the inventory.”
Pompei manager Lucian DiPo and owner Ralph Davino.
Over the years Pompei expanded to six locations, but through changes and then Covid, the number was back down to one – on Taylor Street. Then an opportunity arose in Elmwood Park. It was a great fit, according to Davino, because of the deep connection between the two areas. When the University of Illinois’s Chicago campus expanded in the 1960s, it forced many Italians to leave Taylor Street’s Little Italy neighborhood. Many settled in the Elmwood Park area.
“Elmwood Park has been great. They’re very oriented to business. They want us here,” Davino said.
The new location was formerly a Jewel grocery store, then a convenience store. It has been gut-rehabbed. Though it’s new inside, the menu and the heart of Pompei restaurant will remain the same, according to DiPofi, who is the next generation to manage a Pompei location.
“We are consistent. Over time people
come back for the same product that we’ve had. Our pizzas – it’s on the same dough that we’ve been making forever,” DiPofi said.
“All our stuff is homemade. I can stand behind anything I make,” Davino said. “The only thing I don’t make is the ice cream.”
“But even that is made locally,” said DiPofi.
Gnocchi with vodka sauce is one of those house-made highlights. And so is the item that started it all – cheese pizza.
“Still my best!” said Davino.
“What I tell people, if they’re coming in for the first time, I say you can’t go wrong with those two,” DiPofi said. “They are classics that you just can’t get rid of or else it wouldn’t be a Pompei.”
That being said, there is an expansive menu of southern Italian favorites and weekly specials. But there are surprises.
“Wednesday is our American Day. We have a Sloppy Joe special. We have a meatloaf, a special beef stew, cream soup,” DiPo-
Tomato cream gnochi at Pompei.
fi said. “It showcases that we are American too. We love our Italian heritage and our American culture.”
When they open, Pompei will serve beer, wine and a few pre-mixed cocktails. A party room will be available, starting a few weeks later. And true to the family-centric vibe, Davino is going to help a convenience store open next door, so that the community doesn’t lose that resource.
While you wait for the opening, you can fill up on Pompei at the Taste of Elmwood Park, Aug 7-10.
Know before you go:
Opening: September 2025
Website: pompeiusa.com
Address: 22 Conti Pkwy, Elmwood Park
Senior living communities offer a myriad of benefits that enhance the quality of life for older adults. One of the primary advantages is the opportunity for social interaction. Residents can participate in a variety of activities, from arts and crafts to group outings, fostering friendships and reducing feelings of isolation.
Senior living communities also free residents from the burdens of home maintenance and chores. Housekeeping, laundry services, and meal preparation are typically included, giving residents more time to enjoy their hobbies and interests. Moreover, senior living communities often provide various levels of assistance, from independent living to full-time care, allowing residents to age in place comfortably. This flexibility ensures that as needs change, the appropriate level of care is always available.
387-1030.
By JONAH CLARK Contributing Reporter
Since co-owners and spouses Will Duncan and Jessica King bought Fitzgerald’s Nightclub in Berwyn in 2020, the outdoor patio has been a major feature ofthe venue. Starting in 2020, when COVID-19 sanctions were ever present, the patio served as a place where they could still hold performances. Even after that, it became a re gular place for FitzGerald’s to host shows at its iconic Roosevelt Road venue.
The patio also served as the site for large festival-style performances, most notably American Music Festival, a four-day music festival that takes place annually over the July 4th weekend.
To help accommodate both the larger festivals and the free shows hosted on the patio, Duncan and King decided to build a pavilion on the patio. The transformative construction project started earlier this year, and it was finished in April.
The pavilion, which covers most ofthe outdoor patio space, serves a variety of purposes. For starters, the cover helps
shield audience members and perfor mers from rain, excess heat, and other weather conditions. King said, “What we hope is that it improves the experience for anyone who is coming for these larger outdoors shows.”
The pavilion project also included adding a larger stage, in addition to the preexisting smaller stage, on the patio.
When the larger stage is in use, the venue is often standing room only, allowing for bigger shows. Before this construction, the stage and tents had to be rented to hold bigger shows. When the larger stage is not in use, it turns into extra seating.
Duncan said, “It feels to us like the finish line or the pinnacle ofall ofthe growth and expansion and improvements we could possibly do for this proper ty.”
King highlighted the importance ofinte grating the new construction with the history ofthe property. King said, “It was always important to us… for it to feel like it was always there.”
For that reason, according to Duncan and King, the pavilion’s decorations were inspired by the Fitzgerald’s nightclub, also known as the main stage.
Similar to the nightclub, drumheads hang from the rafters. The ones in the nightclub have the names ofle gacy bands and performers who have played at FitzGerald’s The new outdoor drumheads
have the names of bands and performers who have played under the new pavilion.
Also hanging from the pavilion rafters are instruments, primarily brass, donated from the surrounding community
The pavilion was designed by Le gacy Post and Beam, a Nebraska-based pavilion designing company. After Le gacy designed the pavilion, a “kit” was sent and was constructed by Alfa Construction Services. “It was an impressive project to observe,” said Duncan.
FitzGerald’s Nightclub was also recently inducted into the National Re gister ofHistoric Places. The new construction was designed to not disrupt that status
FitzGerald’s opened under that family name in 1980, but the site hosted live music under various names long before.
King said, “We hope that people think of it as a place that they can grow up with, raise families with, star t traditions at.”
They also were keen to continue this le gacy. “We want it to be that third place. People have home, and they havework or school, then they have that third place where they celebrate and socialize and get to be together… That’s what it’s there for,” said Duncan.
Jonah Clark is a re porter and editor for OPRF’s Trape ze newspaper. He is also a Wednesday Journal freelancer.
By JESSICA MACKINNON Contributing Reporter
In celebration of Wednesday Journal’s 45th anniversary this week, we are recognizing the contributions of our former news carriers who for many years made sure subscribers received their papers every Wednesday. Many of these dedicated young people, most of whom were teenagers or younger, got up at the crack of dawn to bundle and deliver the papers before trudging off to school. Below several share their experience and how their first jobs impacted their later lives.
With six kids, the Merchen family had Journal subscribers living in the 100-300 blocks of South Cuyler covered from 1994 to 2006. The job was handed down from Joe, now 42, to his siblings Emilia, 39; Simona, 37; Carolina, 35; Alex, 33; and, finally, to Olivia, 30.
The siblings often teamed up together and delivered papers after getting home from Beye School.
“We were motivated to have our own money because when you’re one of six kids having some cash was always nice,” said Emilia. “There weren’t a lot of jobs you could do at the age of 10.”
“I was very motivated because there was a candy store, Blase’s, on Lake Street near our house. You could get a pack of Jolly Ranchers for like a quarter,” said Simona.
“As the next generation, I had to convince my parents that I was committed to doing this every Wednesday,” said Carolina. “It was hard work because our arms were so weak and we weighed like 70 pounds and were sometimes carrying 30-pound canvas bags.”
After they outgrew the paper route, some Merchen kids babysat, walked dogs and landed other neighborhood jobs. They got work permits at the age of 14 or 15, which opened a whole new world of work oppor-
Emilia Merchen, flanked by her sisters Carolina and Simona, all former Wednesday Journal paper carriers, on the steps of the Oak Park home of their youth on July 18.
tunities, including restaurant gigs, chalking baseball diamonds and umpiring for Oak Park Youth Baseball and janitoring.
“A lot of kids today rely on their parents to subsidize them, which is fine, but we were raised with the belief that we should be providing for ourselves. It was exciting to get a check in your name—even if it was only $30 a month and had to be split with your sibling partner,” said Simona.
Today, Emilia is a regional manager for a property management company; Simona oversees finance and compliance for an investment company; and Carolina is an athletic trainer in the sports medicine department at Lurie Children’s Hospital. All three still live in Oak Park — and they still enjoy having their own money.
John Register: Taught me self-discipline
John Register claims that he knew how to “fold ‘em and throw ‘em without a rub-
ber band.” Those who know about Register’s remarkable life wouldn’t bet against him. A military veteran, standout Olympic-qualifying athlete and, following a catastrophic injury, a resilient record-setting Paralympian, Register is now a much-indemand motivational speaker.
In sixth and seventh grades, Register delivered papers for Wednesday Journal as well as for the Chicago Sun-Times and Chicago Tribune. His route covered central Oak Park. He was out the door at 5 a.m. and back home in time to get ready for school.
Walking door to door to collect payments, he charmed his customers into several other lucrative opportunities.
“I was a little hustler,” he said, laughing. “I used that job to get lawn mowing, leaf raking and snow shoveling jobs.”
Following graduation from OPRF and the University of Arkansas, Register enlisted in the US Army and served in the Persian Gulf War. While on active duty,
Register
he participated in the Army’s World Class Athletic Program, winning nine gold medals in the Armed Services Competition. He qualified for the 1992 Olympic trials but a track injury in 1994 resulted in the amputation of a leg and prevented him from participating in the 1996 Olympics. After an arduous recovery, Register competed in the 2000 Paralympic Games, earning a silver medal in the long jump, and he founded the US Olympic Committee’s Paralympic Military Program.
“That job throwing papers as a kid taught me the importance of getting up early and the self-discipline to compartmentalize my day, which I still do,” Register said.
See NEWS CARRIERS on page 25
Forty-five years ago thi morning, July 30, 1980, the first issue of Wed Jour nal came clatterin off the press in a small printing plant in South Elgin. It was an invigorating moment after four months of exhausting planning and fundraisin for myself, Anne Duggan and Sharon Britton – and by sion our spouses, Mary, John.
We were the trio of reall young people who started the pa per that summer, getting by on a $4,000 inheritance from Mary’s Aunt Hazel, the energy of 24-year-olds, a true passion for local news and for these villages of Oak Park and River Forest and, fundamentally, not a clue about how to start a business. I could bore you with true stories of how hard we worked, how we used melted wax to paste up paper galleys of stories to make up our pages, how our friends at Oak Leaves could have put our tottering enterprise out of business at any moment if only they had
en us seriously and stolen the full-page weekly ad from ocery store on Harrison Street.
But reliving those days, while nostalgia, has nothing vigorating moment we are in right now in July 2025. nal, and its sister papers in Austin, Forest Park, rside and Brookfield, are crackling with strong and tant reporting; a small ut dedicated staff of reporters and salespeople; digital, design and circulation managers; and a new leader in Max Reinsdorf, who is taking us deeper and more successfully into our nonprofit and digital future. These are days just as heady as 1980. And also more complex as we are building out a model for local news that will sustain in a moment of mammoth disruption and diminishment of local news in this country. And at the same time, the very notion of genuine and independent, fact-based reporting is under relentless attack by President
Donald Trump and his band of truthless toadies.
Zeroing out federal support for public radio and television, extorting settlements from CBS, berating stellar journalism shops like the Atlantic and the New Yorker, threatening to pull broadcast licenses from cable news outlets who challenge him: These are not normal or healthy times for news.
With Max’s arrival in Growing Community Media’s top spot, I’ve slid back into the newsroom as interim editor. Covering news, working with reporters, growing sources, that’s why I worked to start the Jour nal all those years back
And now as an early elder, 70 years old, I am energized for WJ to cover the stories that are critical to Oak Park and our other communities. What is going on at West Sub? Is a giant gas station the highest and best use of the for mer Mohr Concrete plant? Explaining tensions at the River Forest Community Center and over term limits in River Forest? How dysfunctional is economic development at Oak Park’s village hall? What’s next for the hall and a new police station?
This is the best time and the hardest time
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to be in local journalism. In 1980, when we kids were inventing Wednesday Journal, we sold shares – 154 shares for $1,000 was our made-up equation – to fund this venture. Since 2020 when we became a nonprofit, we’ve turned to readers and donors to fund our future. Be with us now.
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As we mark Wednesday Journal’s 45th anniversary this week, we invited a good number ofour colleagues to chime in with how they remember this place. We also asked them to put our ef for ts in context as local news re porting comes under threat across America.
My initial enthusiasm for Wednesday Journal, some 45 years ago, coming of f a short-lived political career, was its independence from newspapers that “toed the pa rt y line” (Chicago machine politics), and provided meaningful and accurate local coverage, free ofeither mediocre or nar row partisan interest (the old Austinite).
hood around the high school. My son Warren was 11 and handed out papers to commuters at the Ridgeland el station. These were financially challenging times that first year, but Dan and the board pulled us out and ahead.
During the next 45 years there were many talented and devoted staff and board members who assured the success ofthe paper. Congratulations to us all. And thank you to all those readers, subscribers, and adrtisers who have sustained the enture for all these years.
Today, the free press, as exemplified Wednesday Journal, is not only disappearing due to internet competition and the cost ofprint media, but also ruthless and increasingly intimidating assaults current President of the United States and totally incompetent supplicants. more than ever, Wednesday Journal sents a last hope that, as a society, we out of this on the other side as free, moral, and educated Americans.
Robert K. Chairman Emeritus of Wednesday Journal, Inc.
Growing Community Media feels like our own homegrown media empire!
Ah, spring of 1980. I was 39, an initial investor in Wednesday Journal who also became a staff person, selling display advertising.
Ed Panschar, Bob Downs, Galen Gockel, Fran Sullivan and I were the older group
Dan, Mary, Sharon, and Anne (and others) were in their 20s. We operated out ofa basement apartment on Harrison Street. It was thrilling to produce the first papers.
My daughter Sue was 9 and delivered the free papers from her bicycle in the neighbor-
Bob Trezevant Early WJ investor, salesperson ears
y-five years?! believe. I’ve been here for 35, so still a relative newbie, eight of ears as the semi-retired “old in the corner the newsroom.
But this publication still feels like “the upstart,” only rinkles and less hair (a lot less). assed through this place, I’m starting to wonder what’s wrong with me. On the other hand, just last week, coming out ofthe washroom (still genderspecific), I suddenly had a realization: I actually enjoy working here!
Granted, only two days a week, but still ... and ifI enjoy working here, then we should definitely keep going to 50! Ifall of you help make that happen, I promise to stay around that long. After all, how many institutions in Oak Park and River Forest make it to a halfcentury?
Well, OK, some make it to 100 but still … if we lasted this long, we must be worth it! Onward to 50!
Ken Trainor Viewpoints editor, copy editor, headline writer, wise soul
operating with integrity are supported and applauded in the hopes that truth will still see the light of day.
Where are trusted local news sources? There are plenty of platfor ms where eople share information, but who are they? What are their motives? Can they be trusted?
Look around. There used to be multiple home-
town newspapers like Wednesday Forest Park Review and the Landmark, but for the most part those other local news sources have disappeared.
Wednesday Jour nal, with its 45 years of experience and dedication to the communities it serves, has been strong and creative in restructuring into a non-profit news organization. It remains a lighthouse, steady, pointing out potential dangers, guiding us home.
Karen Skinner
One-time WJ advice columnist, longtime ad salesperson
Good, valuable local newspapers places where you can read about cal issues and local people, that dig into issues and tell the stories larger daily newspapers or those in search of easy clicks won’t bother telling. Know your local tax dollars are being spent and managed, knowing the priorities of local elected officials -- from village boards to school boards to library boards -- is critical for making your community a place where you are proud to live; to ensure community policies align with community values.
Show up at the Monday night park district meeting and stay until the bitter end for about the ground, Tuesday morning’s looming deadline be damned (it is the Journal, after all).
Show up at the police station, read about a new loitering enforcement ef fort in the police reports, and show up on the block in question to interview the neighbors.
Strong, independent journalism is an irre placeable part of that community fabric, and for 45 years this company has made telling those stories and holding those in authority to account its core mission.
Bob Uphues
Retired longtime editor of the Ri verside-Brookfield Landmark
I pulled into my parking space behind the WJ for 30 years. I breathed air scented by newsprint. My colleagues and I were part of a constant conversation centering around the community and its people.
Today much of the fabric of everyday life is wrinkling and tearing in front of our eyes. News is being distorted and manipulated. It is crucial that news organizations
Show up at the fundraiser for the family battling cancer, so your news coverage captures not just the uproar over a new apar tment building but the people who (mostly silently) keep the community going day-today.
From Bowling Alone to the national loneliness epidemic, the slow death of American community life is an oft-repeated tale. The coffee shops and local bars — those “third places” where we escape the stresses of work and home — are closing, and we’re all too stuck to our screens to care.
What my time at Wednesday Journal taught me is that showing up is not optional if you want to make it as a community journalist – or anywhere in life.
For 45 years, the Journal has shown up at the board meetings and the block parties, the funerals and the festivals. A cynic might write that of f as Journalism 101, but when one considers the countless community publications that have come and gone since 1980, showing up and distilling that presence into an ir re placeable community voice is easier said than done.
Haydn Bush Re porter for Wednesday Journal and its sister publications from
from page 25
Mark Guarino: In touch with readers
Mark Guarino was one of the Journal’s original carriers. He remembers getting the papers on Tuesday nights, bagging them and stuffing them into the canvas bag that he strapped across his shoulder and carried on his two routes in north Oak Park
“I had a Walkman and was in my own little world,” Guarino said.
One of his fondest memories was the field trip to Great America that Dan Haley, then the publisher, and other Journal staff-
As a student at Loyola Unive no wrote a column and served as editor-inchief of the school paper. He also deli the papers around campus, wh the satisfaction of seeing people reading his work.
“I think about that [news carrier] job often. I learned a lot. So many media organizations are out of touch with their reader It might be good for them to hand out papers so they have a better idea of how they affect their readers’ lives,” Guarino said.
Guarino is now a producer News’ Good Morning America, from the central U.S. In the past, he ser as the music critic for the Daily covered Chicago for national news organizations including the Christian Science Monitor, Washington Post and the Guardian. He is the author of Country and Midwestern: Chicago in the History of Country Music and the Folk Revival, which received Illinois State Historical Society’s Book of the Year in 2024.
an ollowing aduation, he taught English in ile taking on freelance for hortly after returning to the States, Rothslaunched a morning news died ing and the strategic role of media. He is now the seeg y and operations at Axios, a national news website.
r Neal Rothschild, journalism has been part of his DNA. His father, Richard, was a sportswriter for Sports Illustrated and the Chicago Tribune, and his mother, Judith Crown, still writes for Chicago Crain’s Business among other publications.
Rothschild was a Journal news carrier during fourth and fifth grades at Hatch School, serving subscribers in a four-block span of north Oak Park. At OPRF, he was sports editor for the Trapeze and, at the Michig an, he covered sports
troversies over household pet limits. And those were just the animal stories. But looking back, Wednesday Journal re porters told many, many important sto-
re told nowhere else. About how hospital acquisitions affect health care access and employment. About gaps and af fordable housing. we told those stories through the lens of the people who lived there – and under the guidance of leaders who were deeply invested in their communities.
Organizations like Wednesday Jour– and shouldn’t be taken anted. Like more and more people S., I have no true community news source to read each week and know I would be a more infor med and eng aged citizen if I did.
Congratulations to WJ for 45 years of serving the Oak Park and River Forest communities.
Kathy Grayson
Born the week WJ was founded, and a reporter from 2002-2006
“When re porting the news, you can be divorced from how readers are consuming the news. But as a news carrier, you get a window into people’s lives—you see their front porch and their gardens. I think being in-tune with your readers is a responsibility [journalists] should take seriously,” Rothschild said.
Nate Dame: Route was a small badge of honor
Nate Dame admits that it was a bit nerve wracking to knock on doors asking people to pay for their newspapers, especially because so many people weren’ t home. Dealing with the disappointment of low-to-no tippers developed tough skin.
“None of my friends were paper carriers so I took the job as a small badge of honor—although my friends probably couldn’t have cared less,” Dame said.
Dame took over his route, about three
Forty-five years ago, the world had an unquenchable thirst for news, trust, and truth, as videnced by media’s mega-coverage of the ReaganCarter race, the launch of the first 24-hour TV news network (CNN),
and, of course, the humble beginnings of this community newspaper. Bright-eyed, clueless, and fresh out of journalism school, I joined Wednesday Journal about nine years in and was swiftly punched in the head by the incredible passion this paper’s founders and staffers had to hold these
blocks on south Clarence Avenue, from his older brother Jon. He delivered papers after school at Emerson Junior High (now Brooks Middle School). He still proudly wears his Emerson graduation T-shirt with peers’ signatures — much to his wife’s chag rin.
Today, Dame is a search engine optimization (SOE) and digital marketing entrepreneur.
He founded Profound Strategies several years ago and is CEO of Syllabus, a software startup that creates attention-getting content, through Google searches and AI, for clients.
“As a news carrier, I used to deliver great content in middle school. Today I do the same thing but with new technologies,” Dame said.
To a young person, Oak Park and River Forest felt like the center of the universe, and the Journal was its guardian. These towns and this paper made me more curious, more empathetic, and more open-minded. Today, in an era where everyone has an agenda, misinformation spreads rapidly, and unverified posts and memes on Nextdoor, X, and Facebook, serve as “the news” for many, the truth can be nearly impossible to find. That makes me sad. The Journal taught me the best way to fight misinformation is with ink, integrity, and a stubborn refusal to look away.
Congratulations, WJ. You look good at 45. Mike Jaros Edit design manager, innovator, associate publisher
According to the department’s annual report, Oak Park police received nearly 30,000 total alerts from the Flock cameras in 2024, mostly in connection with suspected stolen plates. The department received 1,728 Flock alerts related to suspected stolen vehicles, 81 related to suspected missing persons and 33 related to suspected violent persons.
The department said it leaned on information gathered by the cameras over the course of investigations into several violent incidents, including an investigation that led to the arrest of two men for a string of armed robberies last September, according to the re port
That was the only case the report identified where Flock insights led directly to arrests, but the cameras provided other information on important cases. Examples of this identified in the report include the investigation into the murder of Scott Robinson, a 34-yearold Chicago man shot and killed near the intersections of Ridgeland Avenue and Roosevelt Road last November
According to the report, Flock cameras identified the car used by the suspects in the killing as stolen and tracked where it maneuvered through the village prior to the shooting. The stolen car was later recovered by authorities in Chicago, but no arrests have been made on murder charges related to Robinson’s slaying.
The police department provides data regarding all stops and any approved felony related searches to Oak Park’s Citizens’ Police Oversight Committee, according to the department.
Last May, that committee submitted a report to the village board and in the report, the volunteer advisory body said that they want the police to provide them with more information describing how Flock cameras have led to arrests before the committee will recommend the cameras’ effectiveness to the village board.
“Despite repeated requests by CPOC for evidence of ‘successful investigative outcomes’ to illustrate the value of Flock Safety ALPR for this use, OPPD remains unwilling to provide such data,” CPOC wrote in the report.”
“Consequently, there is no evidence whatsoever that Flock Safety ALPRs have played a meaningful role in any Oak Park crime investigation since their installation in 2022. With a total of two stops and approximately 2.1 investigative searches per day over this reporting period, it is clear that no statistically significant crime prevention or resolution is
realized by using the Flock Safety ALPR System here in Oak Park. Because OPPD is unwilling to share downstream crime outcome data with CPOC, it is impossible to gauge any actual benefit of Flock Safety ALPRs, especially when compared to real-life evidence of ALPR system misuse and mounting privacy concer ns nationwide.”
Prior to the trustees’ comments on the matter last week, Johnson addressed public commentors who had told the board that they wanted an end to the village’s partnership with the surveillance tech company.
“I want to say clearly that I heard you all and I understand the concerns,” she said.
“But I want to also ensure the community that the police department is working closely with the Illinois Association of Chiefs of Police, with our legal team and with Flock Safety so that we can address these issues and my only request tonight is your continuous patience and support as we work through these issues.”
One commentor, who identified herself as a nurse practitioner, said she believes the cameras are keeping local migrants from seeking healthcare and other essential services for fear that driving by a Flock camera could lead to their deportation.
Leving-Jacobson, who also works as a part-time Spanish instructor at Dominican University and as a translator in medical settings, said she’s seen that play out in Oak Park She can’t support the village doing business with the company for those reasons, she said.
Last month, the Illinois Secretary of State’s office said it was investigating Flock Safety over alleged illegal searches by out-of-state law enforcement of data produced from Illinois license plate readers. The searches under scrutiny by the office include an alleged inquiry by Texas law enforcement through the Mount Prospect police department’s database into the whereabouts of a Texas woman investigators believed had an abortion, as well as searches connected to immigration enforcement cases.
Secretary of State Alex Giannoulias told reporters last month the state believed that 46 different law enforcement agencies from around the country had made illegal searches of Illinois Flock Safety datasets
Langley wrote a blog post saying the company had taken steps to make sure all law enforcement searches of Illinois license plate reader data comply with state law and that it had banned 47 agencies from accessing Illinois camera data after an internal audit. F lock Safety also maintains that the search into the Texas woman didn’t violate state law because it was a missing person investigation where no criminal charges were being sought.
By BRENDAN HEFFERNAN Staff Reporter
Oak Park police have arrested several individuals over the last week on charges of assault or battery in connection with violent incidents in the village.
At 7:10 p.m. July 23, police arrested a 67-year-old Oak Park man on battery charges in connection with an incident in the 900 block of Lake Street. The man was also charged with obstructing identification for alle gedly giving police a false name and he was found to be the subject of an active trespassing warrant out of DuPage County, according to police.
The victim in the alle ged battery was a Florida resident.
Shortly before 11 a.m. on the morning of July 24, Oak Park police ar rested a 30-year-old Oak Park woman on charges of ag gravated assault in connection with an incident in the 1200 block of Taylor Street, according to police. T he victim in the alle ged incident was also an Oak Park resident.
Shortly before 9 a.m. on the morning of July 24, police arrested a 35-year-old man on charges of aggravated battery. The charges stem from an alle ged violent incident that happened inside an Oak Park hospital last February, according to police.
Just before 7:40 a.m. July 25, Oak Park police arrested a 46-year-old Chicago man on battery charges stemming from an incident that occurred in the 400 block of South Oak Park Avenue. The victim in the alle ged incident was an Oak Park resident, according to police.
At 6:35 p.m. July 26, Oak Park police arrested a 35-year-old Chicago man on battery charges in connection with an incident that re por tedly occurred in the 1100 block of Lake Street, according to police.
Oak Park police arrested a juvenile on weapons charges last week.
Police arrested a 16-year-old boy from Calumet City on charges of aggravated unlawful use of a weapon and possession
of firearm ammunition without a Firearm Owner’s ID card just before 1:40 a.m. July 23, according to police.
Oak Park police are investigating an incident in which three individuals alle gedly broke into a vehicle to steal thousands of dollars’ worth of tools.
Police believe that two men and one woman all in their twenties opened the door of a Mercedes-Benz sprinter van parked in the 900 block of North Marion Street and stole several valuable tools T he suspects re por tedly stole two sewer inspection cameras, a tire compressor and a saw, with the total value of the stolen goods estimated at $3,400.
The suspects fled southbound on Marion in a black minivan with no license plates, according to police.
These items were obtained from Oak Park’s Police Department re ports dated July 23 – 28 and re present a portion of the incidents to which police responded. Anyone named in these re ports has only been charged with a crime and cases have not yet been adjudicated. We re port 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 a description of the suspect as they seek the public’s help in making an arrest.
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By LACEY SIKORA Real Estate Contributing Reporter
Oak Park kitchen designer Denise Hauser has been working on local kitchen and bathroom projects for more than two decades. While trends come and go in kitchen designs, Hauser says that a current appreciation for historic details hits right in the sweet spot for many local homeowners.
“Vintage design is a kind of a thing right now,” Hauser says. “Oak Park is so cool because a lot of the homes already have these great details. I’m trying to get people to appreciate what they have. The original details in your house are cool, and it’s good that people know that.”
Hauser says that as the internet spreads design ideas more widely, people here are beginning to appreciate what they have. One topic that comes up a lot in the area involves the age-old decision about wood trim: to paint or not to paint?
According to Hauser, clients always want to know how to answer that question. She remarks, “They want to know if they should keep the wood, and I say ‘yes.’ Years ago, I would have painted it.”
That’s not to say that Hauser is advocating for no updates in kitchens. She argues for keeping old decorative features that still work and combining those with more modern touches. “If it’s 100% vintage, it looks stuffy or dated. A blend is good,” she says.
Combining original architectural details with more modern lighting, hardware and finishes can make the mix more livable. “There’s a fine line,” Hauser says. She adds,
See KITCHENS on pa ge 30
from page 29
“If you make it too literal -- trying to make it look like what would’ve been in the house originally -- it looks too dated, too period.”
In two recently completed projects in Oak Park, Hauser says she created timeless designs that complement the homes. In doing so, she found the finished spaces leaning towards the trend for cozy, colorful spaces that have a bit more embellishment.
In the first kitchen, she utilized ash wood to give the kitchen a moody feel. Hauser says the wood is often found in mid-century designs, and she used it in the pantry of this home to bring a more modern twist to the space.
The kitchen also shows of f a few more trends. She used vintage hardware from different eras to make the space eclectic and also used cabinetry that reads more like furniture.
“In your living room, things aren’t perfectly matched. We’re trending towards that in kitchens now too, making the space more personalized.”
In the second local kitchen, Hauser turned a stumbling block into a design element. The existing kitchen had a plumb-
ing stack that extended into the space and would have been very expensive to move Instead of building a wall around it, she hid the plumbing stack behind the legs of the range.
“Moving the plumbing stack would’ve been a big deal. I always say, ‘If you can’t fix it, feature it.’ It was a ton of ef fort to get it exactly right. When you do these details, they don’t come easily, but they really make the space special.”
In this kitchen, she echoed the arched opening to the breakfast room in the cabinets and also re plicated the original molding in the home’s other rooms. She used glass details from the home’s windows in the cabinetry as well.
Those nods to the past were combined with a more modern floor plan -- she opened up the space to the dining room -and with a more moder n island.
Hauser says working in historic homes is a great way to celebrate the vintage while making the kitchens and baths work better for f amilies today.
While there are plenty of local homeowners who are planning or dreaming of renovating their kitchens, Hauser says it’s an odd time to be in the renovation and design business. She sees a lot of concern about economic uncertainty and how tariffs might play into big renovation projects. “People really can’ t see the future right now.”
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Call Viewpoints editor
Ken Trainor at 613-3310
ktrainor@wjinc.com
IShrubtown: The new online police station! p. 33
read the CJPIP-sponsored letter [Davis supports peace and the rule of law, July 23] applauding 7th District Cong ressman Danny Davis for co-sponsoring HR3565 (Block the Bombs) in last week’s Viewpoints section. The bombs in question are U.S. made, U.S. taxpayer-funded and have contributed to roughly 60,000 dead Palestinians, including an estimated 15,000 children. The letter clearly articulates the repulsive reality of Israel’s strategic onslaught and the now dire need to allow relief aid for a starving, dying populace.
One View
HR3565 needs all the support it can get. Davis and other Democrats have also co-sponsored the bill. Of course they do. Every day now, there’s a particular body count that bespeaks the massive evil of what inter national criminal courts have rightfully labelled a genocide, that being how many Palestinians were killed while attempting to get aid supplies from four designated areas in Gaza. So, yes, HR3565 is vital.
But let’s be honest, it virtually has no chance of being passed, even if every single Democrat in Congress votes for it. The lock-step lunatics of the GOP have a seven-seat majority in the House. That may seem small, but that Big Ugly Budget Bill passed with that same small majority, then approved by a GOP senate majority of 53 to 45 (and two Independents).
I’m sure many readers would feel I’m being very negative here when positivity is an option. Fair enough, but this horror show of hate started almost immediately after the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas (who are not the Palestinian people!) attack.
The reality here, with HR3565 being a most worthy action, is that the blame goes back to the previous administration too. The genocide was documented long before the 2024 election. Millions of morally tur ned-off voters refused to vote Democrat, since it was that administration that again and again approved more military aid to Israel. More bombs. Killing a defenseless population. Real-time video documenting the carnage. Graphically.
Ironically, the CJPIP letter led to a “related” letter from Nov. 24, 2023 that bemoaned the same Danny Davis for failing to respond to “Voters of Ceasefire Now” organizers. What was more important then? Davis, soon to turn 84, is symptomatic of a national party that needs new, younger brains and blood. But even AOC and others in the Squad are all talk and no bite. What did they do to stop the genocide? Talk, talk, as always a very cheap political commodity.
We need a Third Party! We need better choices. And then maybe we can have a better world than what the duopoly has now thrust upon us
Joseph Harrington is a resident of Oak Park
Hello, neighbors
I am writing to share the amazing experience I had advocating for the Alzheimer’s Association in Washington D.C., last month. I was honored to be able to meet my congressman, Danny Davis, along with several other members of Congress from Norther n Illinois.
I spoke to Rep. Davis about my family’s struggles caring for my father, Ret. Maj. Michael J. Kearns, when he was living with Alzheimer’s disease.
My mother said, “I pulled him out of the nursing home so I could pay for his funeral.”
My father was a career military officer, on active duty during World War II, Korea, and Vietnam, but there was no help available to cover his extraordinarily large medical bills.
Back then, Alzheimer’s disease wasn’t covered by any veterans benefits. But when my father passed away in November of 1992, the White House sent us a letter of condolence, and my father was given a full 21-gun salute by a group of Air Force service members. While those were nice gestures, they didn’t pay the bills.
My siblings and I lear ned to feed, change, and care for my father while he was ill. This was exhausting work, and being able to share the story with Rep. Davis and others in Congress was helpful in my healing jour ney. It was also helpful in my jour ney to make sure no
other family suf fers in this way.
People started speaking about Alzheimer’s disease to members of Congress, and the VA changed how it funded the illness. It is time our stories prompted more changes in how Congress funds this awful disease, which kills more people than breast and prostate cancer combined.
Thanks to broad bipartisan support in Congress over the past decade, we’ve made significant scientific advancements toward better detection, prevention, and treatments for Alzheimer’s. At this pivotal point in our fight, we cannot afford not to fund the research needed to, one day, celebrate the first survivor of this disease. Join me in urging Rep. Danny Davis to help us get there by supporting an additional $113.485 million for research funding at the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
We need Congress to raise its voice for the over 7 million Americans living with Alzheimer’s and the approximately 19 million caregivers
Our families, our economy, and our communities are straining under the weight of this disease. But together, we can make a difference.
Now is the time to invest in hope for all those who will be diagnosed in the years ahead
Catherine Kearns is a resident of Oak Park.
Oak Park, it seems, is about to have another debate about the use by local police of license plate reading technology provided by the Flock Safety Corporation.
Oak Park first installed these cameras in 2022. The impetus then was to get a handle, through technology, on what cars were passing through the village, if any were reported stolen or involved in a criminal incident. There were strong objections raised both by citizens and some elected officials who felt the technology was overly intrusive and that the massive amount of data collected locally and nationwide was subject to misuse
The outcome then was to install half of the cameras originally requested by police. A contract with Flock was narrowly extended a year ago. Now some members of the board want another discussion as surveillance worries began to coalesce around potential misuse of data by federal ICE agents to home in on ar resting immigrants. This is a valid concern. More valid after Police Chief Shatonya Johnson revealed in a memo to village officials that, last January, south suburban Palos Heights had tapped into Oak Park Flock data in an effort to locate an alleged immigrant.
Oak Park has defined itself over the past several years as a sanctuary city for immigrants. Part of that effort has been ordinances that specifically prohibit local police or other village entities from cooperating with federal immigration efforts, except in rare and court-ordered cases
If that determination is real, and we believe it is, then a full discussion of the continued use of these cameras is warranted
There are many complex issues facing Oak Park. The use of Flock surveillance cameras is one we wrote about in the editorial just above. Perhaps a debate over tensions between brick-and-mortar restaurants and food trucks is somewhere on the list, though Oak Park trustees dispatched it to a back bur ner on July 22.
However, tucked into the village board’s food discussion was a rare moment of clarity in Oak Park, courtesy of Trustee Cory Wesley.
An ice cream truck is not a food truck!
“I don’t want ice cream trucks in this. Ice cream trucks are not food trucks – there’s a difference,” he said.
Ice cream trucks drive up and down streets, incessantly playing some nursery rhyme song. Young children clamor for a couple of bucks from their parents to buy a Fudgsicle, Creamsicle, or one of those demented strawberry shortcake confections. (But check to see if ice cream trucks still take cash.)
Maybe a smart ice cream truck driver knows enough to park for an hour outside a park during a ballgame. Still not a food truck.
In a town criticized for over-regulation, Wesley is right. Leave ice cream trucks alone
During the “Good Trouble” protest honoring the late John Lewis, two weeks ago at Longfellow Pa dawned on me that we are now the keepers of his flame.
Protesters lined both sides of land Avenue with clever handmade sign including one that showed two paths through the woods with the caption: they chose the psychopath.”
Rush-hour commuters provided a raucous chorus of car hor ns re gistering their unambiguous support, in precisely the spot where, just two weeks earlier, our July 4th Parade be gan, celebrating (commemorating?) American independence. But this time, it seemed to me, we weren’ t sending a message to Trump and his MAGA minions. We were sending a message to each other. It was heartening to see so many in this public park just a block from where I grew up. Flooded by good memories, buoyed by their good spirits, making good trouble, reminded me that this is a marathon, not a dash — and that, like all long-distance runners, we need a strateg y: conditioning, pacing, toughness, technique, water breaks, leading to an all-out, full-throttle, glorious finish.
The MAGA worldview is based on disrespecting differences. Ours is based on celebrating commonality. However long it takes, our worldview will prevail. Having a government that helps instead of harming would be most beneficial, and the Democratic Party is the only entity capable of that. Will Democrats ail in the midterm elections or will vide and be conquered … again?
n’t wait around to find out. We at’s left of democracy and we need to practice it … now — networking, sharing, building a strong, interconnected web of grass roots. Great damage has been done, but this is not the end. It’s another downturn in a series of upturns and downturns. It’s a big downturn, but if the pattern holds, American voters will turn to the Democrats yet again to fix the catastrophes that occur every time Re publicans are in charge. Someday, Americans will wise up, rise up, and stop voting Re publican, but that day is not yet here.
We are allowed doubts about the outcome, but not about ourselves or each other. This is not about “winning.” Not yet. It’s about outlasting the opposition. It’s about keeping the flame of democracy alive, lighting other’s candles and, if your flame goes out, finding someone who can relight yours. First and foremost, practice self-care. As the flight attendant always says, put your oxygen mask on first so you can help others. Now more than ever, don’t neglect what nourishes you — personally, interpersonally, culturally, spiritually. Stay strong. Stay connected. Stay sane. Then expand your circle of caring. This dark age may implode suddenly under the weight of its own cor ruption, but be prepared for a long siege. Our strength is in our solidarity.
There will be moments when you’ re not sure how much more of this chaos you can take. When you’ re at low ebb, take a water break. Re plenish with sunlight, fresh air, camaraderie. Stay visible to one another. Isolation is deadly.
To win, they need to wear us down. Wear them down instead. Their cause is based on lies, selfobsession, greed and privilege, which is unsustainable in the long run. Ours is based on equality, consideration for others, and fairness. Our cause is sustainable.
The long road doesn’t require hope so much as endurance. As a friend wrote recently, “There is hope — just not today.” Keep going. Inspire others by your example.
We will get through the current disaster the same way Americans got through the Depression and World War II — by enduring, putting their faith in the long run because in the long run, the long run was all that mattered. Suffering made them wiser, forced them to make better choices. It toughened but didn’t harden them.
Our strate gy? Be the hope when we can. Look for opportunities to undermine our opponents’ ef for ts (creatively, non-violently). Make good trouble.
We are suffering, but it must be the kind that leads to less suf fering, not more. John Lewis knew the only good suffering is the necessary kind — the kind that leads to something better.
Until that day arrives, pay attention to the good, which is all around us — and add to it. Make progress in small ways — both in your life and the lives of others. And on those days when it’s all too much, take a break. But never give up.
Don’t just support democracy. Live it. Live the way you’ve been living all along, only more so. Live better. We are capable of more.
This is the dark night of the soul of our nation. Our darkest hour. We are traveling through this night (together) toward a distant dawn because that is what is required of us.
We are keepers of the flame now. We have a responsibility to one another. A big one. And we also need to persuade our wayward fellow citizens in the opposition to join us, someday, because democracy requires that too
Democracy is the path we have chosen, the path less traveled. It will make all the difference.
Because the only other choice is the psychopath.
SHRUB TO WN by Marc Stopeck
Despite repeated signals from the community, Oak Park trustees voted, with one dissent by Trustee Jim Taglia, to approve a controversial bike plan that many residents simply did not want. The vote has deepened opposition, eroded trust, and left taxpayers wondering: why weren’t we heard? Yes, Oak Park wanted a bike plan — but not this plan. Residents had hoped for a focused, cost-ef fective strategy that would enhance livability without disrupting daily life or draining public resources. Instead, what was delivered feels bloated, expensive, and out of touch with the village’s priorities. Trustees attempted to wrap their vote around climate change, but the only real change was loss of community trust. The outcome raises serious concer ns about leadership. Are our trustees not listening, not understanding, or simply not concer ned with public input? Even when presented with viable alternatives to gather community feedback and reassess the situation, the decision-makers defaulted to an unwarranted sense of urgency, bypassing opportunities for inclusive dialogue.
So what exactly did the community get? A Divvy program wrapped in promises, served with a side of potential property value declines, potential tax increases, multi-millions in
expenses, confusing traffic changes, unvetted code changes, and the warm approval of special interest groups.
Not quite the meal taxpayers ordered.
If this doesn’t sit well with you, there’s something you can do: take the power back. Get infor med. Get engaged. Get motivated. Join a commission. Start a neighborhood discussion group. Ask hard questions. Hold village leadership accountable. Vote in local elections. Call for a bike infrastructure referendum.
Talk to your friends and neighbors. Form small community groups to demand a better Oak Park — one committed to transparency, inclusive dialogue, and accountable leadership. Insist on performance reviews for elected officials and community-driven prioritization of public initiatives.
Because if our leaders refuse to govern with the people, the people must lead without them.
Don’t just skim the headlines. Dig deeper.
It’s not complicated: Oak Park residents have made their position clear. The answer is no.
The real question is: Why aren’t the trustees listening?
of Oak Park and River Forest
e goal of the Viewpoints section is to foster and facilitate a community conversation and respectful dialogue. Responsible community voices are vital to community journalism and we welcome them. Space is at a premium and readers’ attention is also limited, so we ask that Viewpoints submissions be brief. Our limit for letters to the editor is 350 words. For One View essays, the limit is 500 words. Shorter is better. If and when we have su cient space, we print longer submissions, but when space is limited — as it o en is — we may ask you to submit a shorter version or hold the piece until space allows us to print it.
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Safety for all our community members continues to be a top priority for the village of River Forest. Due to the increased popularity and use of e-scooters and e-bikes around our community, our village board recently passed an ordinance that mirrors state laws to increase safety – especially for our children. We also want to ensure that all pedestrians, bicyclists, those who use e-scooters and e-bikes, as well as motorists, can safely coexist on our sidewalks and roadways and avoid or prevent any accidents by becoming familiar with these guidelines.
For those who may not be aware, River Forest is a non-home rule community, which means we are required to adhere to all state laws and mandates, including re gulations related to the use of e-scooters and e-bikes. In other words, the village cannot make rules stronger than the state’s, so when you hear our work described as “slow progress,” it is the only progress we are allowed to make in this case.
We believe the current state law can be strengthened to provide more clarity, increased protection for our children, and greater uniformity of enforcement. The village is working with our state representatives to address this,
and I hope the Wednesday Journal will help us in that pursuit.
In the meantime, and as a reminder, children under the age of 16 should not be using Class 3 e-bikes, and those who ride e-scooters (low speed or high speed) must be at least 18 years of age. All e-scooters and e-bikes must have lights on at night, and no e-bikes or e-scooters are allowed on our sidewalks. Riders should always be aware of pedestrians, drivers, and traditional bike riders.
I ask that all parents become familiar with these rules and share them with your children. It takes a village to ensure our kids are safe, and it will also help out our police department.
You can view more comprehensive infor mation about the many aspects these safety guidelines include at http://vrf.us/EbikesEscooters. If you have questions, please contact our police depar tment at 708-366-7125.
And, as usual, please sign up for our e-newsletter for up-to-date information on the village.
Thank you.
Cathy Adduci River Forest villa ge president
Rarely do our village officials and the public get a free educational opportunity like the one this Thursday evening. That’s when zoning exper ts from the Illinois Chapter of the American Planning Association will conduct a two-hour training for village officials and the public on how to conduct zoning hearings and properly ar rive at decisions
Two independent professional city planners will train attendees on how findings of fact in zoning-and-development hearings are properly deter mined and how to arrive at decisions in accord with due process.
Attendees will get the scoop on how to evaluate whether an applicant has met zoning standards, basic zoning principles (they’ re not what ’s depicted on TV), and the roles of commissioners and staf f.
The Illinois Chapter of the American Planning Association has conducted over 150 of these highly–valued training sessions for towns throughout the state.
Anyone can attend in person this Thursday, July 31, at 7 p.m. in the first floor River Forest Village Hall Community Room, 400 Park Ave., online (https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88284719344), or by phone (312–626–6799, meeting ID: 882 8471 9344).
Daniel Lauber, AICP River Forest
We were happy to read an article in last week´s Wednesday Journal celebrating Ali ElSaf far´s 25 years of wonderful service as assessor for the Oak Park Township, and would like to add our enthusiastic cong ratulations for the many praises that his work deserves.
The excellence and dedication that Ali has shown in the performance of his work are truly extraordinary, and we personally can attest to that as witnesses as well as beneficiaries, for his help has been essential in obtaining a reassessment of our incredibly high property taxes.
But aside from his professional efficiency, and in spite of his always very busy schedule helping others like us, he is always accommodating in giving us some of his precious time, and this he has always done greeting us with the smile of a warm and caring human being.
So here is another big Bravo for Ali, a wonderful person and an invaluable community asset.
Juan-Alfredo & Ana Carrillo Oak Park
As a longtime resident of Oak Park, I reco gnize how for tunate I am to live in a village that is so walkable. I can quite easily walk to the train, as well as a number of shops and eateries. However, if I want to walk to Whole Foods and cross Harlem at Nor th Boulevard, I have to venture out into the street to get around TGIF’s garbage cans. I am not sure how the decision was made to allow a restaurant to place their dumpsters between the building and North Boulevard. T he sidewalk literally dead ends into a metal structure built to shelter the garbage. The restaurant’s recent closure is a great oppor tunity for Oak Park to make our village a little more pedestrian-friendly.
It’s pretty simple: Just remove the dumpsters and re pave the sidewalk. TGIF … Thank God It’s Fixed!
John O’Brien Oak Park
Understanding the conundrum over the River Forest ter m limits referendum is, sadly, simple.
It goes like this: President Adduci gets to spend her constituents’ tax dollars fighting about it, while we, her constituents, spend our dollars fighting with her. She wins, and the citizens of River Forest lose both ways.
The citizens’ fair election victory is pyrrhic at best, and our hard-ear ned money was wasted on an uneven monetary playing field.
Why would an elected official who has just started a fourth term in office work so tirelessly to ensure a possible seventh term? And beyond?
Why would an elected official en-
Makarshops are music-infused creative writing workshops where participants co-create poems with me to unleash their creativity and inspire self-discovery. They co-create in a gamified, team-based format to express what they discovered through the reflection writing activity. We group participants in teams of four and assigned lines that start their poems. Participants have 30 seconds to come up with another line to add to their poems. Once those 30 seconds are up, I yell, “switch.” Participants pass the poem to their teammate who now has a new 30 seconds to add another line to the poem. We
trusted with a high level of fiduciary responsibility force her constituents to go through this expense?
What is the g ain? I suppose it’s all about her being unwilling to consider, much less acce pt, that the citizens of River Forest can find a better leader.
Corey D. Gimbel River Forest
continue for a few rounds until each participant adds a few lines to each poem within their groups so that every voice is valued and heard. Each Makarshop poem is written as a community.
Here is a sample: Makarshop Poem #1 I present myself a certain way at work
Where is the courage when I need it?
It is right there watching, just waiting to jump in.
Because when I’m not at work, it knows the other side of my story.
It very badly wants to be unleashed, but patiently waits until I let myself go with the flow I am bold and courageous. It is my own, no one can bor row. True self, come out to play.
Be you. That is your superpower. And that’s who comes to work and everywhere else. What a gift.
Isaiah
Oak Park isaiahmakar.com
The July 16 issue of Wednesday Jour nal re ports that, next summer, Barnes & Noble plans to open a bookstore and café in two levels of the old Marshall Field building. The article quotes the new assistant village manager for economic vitality, John Melaniphy, stating that the village might need to financially help the building owner pay for the renovation costs. Of course, tenants are very much needed in that long-vacant building. However, Barnes & Noble is a publicly traded company, whose shares of stock are listed on the New York Stock Exchange (symbol BNED). On July 22, the market value of Bar nes & Noble’s stock was approximately
$302 million.
T he village should not provide even indirect financial help to a $302 million company, particularly one such as Bar nes & Noble, which is re por tedly salivating at the prospect of doing business here.
Providing such help to Bar nes & Noble would be especially eg re gious because Barnes & Noble will be competing against the four small, inde pendent bookstores that recently opened or will soon open in Oak Park: Dandelion Bookshop (139 S. Oak Park Ave.), The Book Loft (1047 Lake St.), Mission Curiosity Bookshop (319 Madison St.), and AfriWare Books (a mobile bookshop, by appointment).
Giving taxpayer dollars to private enter prises is sometimes necessary to spur economic development. However, the village should wisely spend that money on small inde pendents who might really need and greatly benefit from the help. We should not dole out our money to benefit publicly traded, wealthy behemoths, for whom our public funds are actually pennies on the dollar, and who, unlike small inde pendents, can readily raise all the necessary cash through bank loans, selling bonds, or issuing more shares of stock.
Susan Messer & Jim Poznak Oak Park
On Sunday, July 27, our social club held its annual picnic at the g rilling patio in Taylor Park We made our reservation on May 19 for which we paid $120. Our permit was from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m.
When we arrived, both trash barrels and the recycling bin were completely full. We were able to extract the bags from the trash barrels and put in bags that we sent someone out to purchase. We weren’ t able to empty the recycling bin, so we had to make do with one of the bags we had purchased.
Something in the Park District of Oak
Park management system is n’t working or we were just unlucky enough to have it break down on our special day. If garbage will never be picked up on Sunday, then the permit process should make that known so we can go elsewhere or, at least, purchase garbage bags in advance to bring with instead of having to send someone out last minute.
And, perhaps, Sunday picnics should get a reduced rate.
Ron Elling Oak Park
While they may sound appealing at first glance, term limits shift power away from our elected re presentatives, who are directly accountable to voters, and instead empower unelected bureaucrats and lobbyists.
The push behind term limits isn’t about empowering voters; it is about restricting them. Term limits take qualified, experienced leaders of f the ballot and tell the public, “You can’t vote for this person, even if you want to.” That’s not choice. That’s control.
Term limits also create a “lame duck” effect, where outgoing officials have little incentive to respond to constituent concerns. More dangerously, they encourage short-term thinking. Complex local issues like storm water and economic development require sustained attention and expertise, not a revolving door of newcomers star ting from scratch.
It’s also important to recognize how we got here. We all know that the push for term limits did not arise from a broad, organic movement. Instead, and despite what they want you to think, it is driven by a small group of NIMBY activists and election-losers pursuing a nar row agenda. That agenda doesn’t reflect the long-ter m interests of
River Forest.
Despite these facts, and despite the village attorney advising that the current ballot question is flawed and likely leg ally deficient, the village can leave that up to the courts and future politicians.
The board should acknowledge what is clear to any fair observer: the ter m limits ballot language as passed is flawed and vulnerable to challenge. But rather than allowing this issue to continue to divide and distract the community, they can take decisive action this fall.
By adopting a village ordinance codifying term limits, the board can put this matter to rest. Then the village can refocus its time, resources, and leadership energy on more pressing issues.
We need to move forward, to gether, and commit ourselves to the real work ahead: advancing the important development on Madison Street, public safety, and readying our infrastructure for future storm events.
Let’s leave the distractions behind and focus on what truly matters.
On Thursday, July 24, I sojour ned to Scoville Park to take in some sun. As I approached the park via the entrance at Lake Street and Oak Park Avenue, by the fountain, I found homeless people sprawled-out, aslee p, on the benches. Surrounding them was all manner of detritus, including halfeaten food.
Needless to say, the sight was upsetting and raised all manner of questions concerning health, rodents, and why the village allows homeless people to camp out in such a manner. I expect to see such a sight in the Loop but not in Oak Park I did call the police and report the incident.
Annie Harnett (née Healy), 95, of River Forest, died on July 17, 2025. Bor n in Killacloran, Aughrim, County Wicklow, Ireland, on Jan. 13, 1930. Annie was a Re gistered Nurse who worked in Ireland, the U.S., and with the Medical Missionaries of Mary in Nigeria
She was the wife of the late Timothy for 51 years; the mother of Kevin Patrick (Maureen) and Helen Marie; Nana to Corina Ann and Michael Kevin; and the aunt of 31 in Ireland and England.
Family and friends will meet on Saturday Aug. 2, 2025 at St. Lu ke Catholic Church, 7600 W. Lake St., River Forest, where a visitation will be held from 10 to 11 a.m., followed by Mass at 11 a.m., with ment at Queen of Heaven Cemetery. In lieu of fl owers, memorials to the Irish-American Heritage Center (irishamerican.org) or the Medical Missionaries of Mary (mmmworldwide.org) are appreciated Arrangements were handled by Zimmerman-Har nett Funeral Home in rest Park
Maureen Catherine (Heraty) Lantero, 90, a resident of versity Park, lorida, for merly ver Forest, who ver forgot a birthday, an annirsary, or the best route to any farreaching cor ner Chicago, died on June 30, 2025, following a 15-year battle with ova rian cancer. Born on Dec 30, 1934 in Chicago, the daughter of Irish immigrants Catherine (Chambers) and Peter Heraty, she was the oldest of five, growing up in Ro gers Park and then in Portage Park
She attended St. Genevieve Catholic School, followed by Alvernia High School. After high school she worked for six months and then enrolled at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
At a dance in Newman Hall, she met the love of her life: a handsome engineering major named Larry Lantero. The couple mar ried on Feb. 11, 1956 — in a slightly delayed ceremony due to a surprise snowstor m and the priest’s train hitting a cow on the way.
T hey welcomed seven children in seven years and moved to Virginia and back to Oak Lawn. A few years later they moved again, this time to River Forest.
After raising her seven children, she decided to go back to school to finish her bachelor’s de gree in accounting at Rosary (now Dominican) University, then sat for and passed the CPA exam. She became treasurer of United Insulated Structures Corp. (UISC), the company her husband Lar ry founded.
She enjoyed travel, whether driving to their house at Apple Canyon Lake or visiting China, Italy, and her parents’ homeland of Ireland. She loved a strong cup of coffee, a vodka mar tini on the rocks with a twist, and a good story. She had a way of making everyone feel special and would make a point of learning — and not forgetting — everyone’s name
A devout Catholic, she was preceded in death by her parents Catherine and Peter; her sisters, Elizabeth “Betty” Pellikan and Lucille Lombardi; and her brother, Father Jack Herat y.
Her hugs, laugh, and greeting cards will be missed by her husband, Lar ry; her brother, Peter Heraty; her children, Lar ry Jr. (Maureen) Lantero, Lisa (Peter) Economos, Laura (Raleigh) Woodford, Peter (Dawn) Lantero, Paul (Donna) Lantero, Mary (Greg) White, and Brian (Anne) Lantero; her 20 grandchildren and their spouses; 13 great-grandchildren; and a bevy of nieces and ne phews.
T he visitation and funeral Mass were held on July 14 at St. Vincent Ferrer Parish, 1530 Jackson Ave., River Forest, and she was laid to rest the next day at Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery in Elwood, Illinois.
In lieu of fl owers, please consider a donation to Misericordia Heart of Mercy, where Maureen’s grandson, Robert Economos, is enrolled in the Bridge Program, “In Memory of Maureen Lantero, Robert Economos’ grandmother,” https:// www.misericordia.com/giving/donateonline
Mathew Takashi Kanno, 62, formerly of Oak Park, died from lung cancer on July 22, 2025 at Nor thwestern Prentice Hospital in Chicago. In his Chicago hospital room, Oak Park friends’ voice messages of love and hope were played to him, and it was a great comfort to him in his final hours.
Born on Jan. 11, 1963 in Seoul, Korea, the oldest of eight Julian Middle School and OPRF alumni, he played varsity baseball and basketball and of f court always had a ball in his hand. He loved tennis, running and advocating for animals. He joined a frater nity at Bradley University and earned a de gree from Syracuse Law School. He worked in many different jobs as he made his way through an unconventional life, always on his own terms, much of it solo by choice.
His birth mother was Ohki Paik of South Korea. Survivors include the parents who raised him, Hiroshi and Arlene, for merly of Oak Park; his siblings Ann, Kathy (Mike Wood), Paula, Wendy (deceased 2023), Stephanie (Grant We gner), Ronnie, and Cary (Christina Grivaljia); and his niece, Michelle Bernat (deceased 1987), all for merly of Oak Park. He also had eight nephews; a special aunt, Pauline Kanno Zuziak; and many cousins.
Condolences: Steph.kanno@gmail.com.
WEDNESD AY
of Oak Park and River Forest
To run an obituary
Please contact Ken Trainor by e-mail: ktrainor@wjinc.com, or fax: 708/524-0447 before Monday at noon. Please include a photo if possible.
By LACEY SIKORA Real Estate Reporter
The Frank Lloyd Wright Trust welcomed friends and neighbors on July 19 to its evolving campus at 951 Chicago Ave. in Oak Park. State Senate President Don Harmon, Village President Vicki Scaman and Patty Hunt, vice president and executive chair of the Wright Trust, were featured speakers. Trust CEO Celeste Adams and Director of elopment Tom Pierce provided an update on the Learning Center, and participants in this summer’s kid camp displayed their design models. he event allowed visitors to see the reently completed resource center, reading
room and archive, while enjoying treats from Courageous Bakery and coffee from U3. Visitors were also able to see first-hand the plans for the trust’s new Learning Center.
The $2.5 million restoration of the resource center, reading room and archive have changed the face of the Trust’s Chicago Avenue-facing campus. Next up on the renovation agenda is building a new, contemporary pavilion building, which will house the learning center.
Fundraising is underway to secure the approximately $10 million needed to construct the pavilion. Adams notes that the trust is halfway to its goal and looking forward to continued community support to make the new learning center a reality
By MELVIN TATE
Contributing Reporter
For the last three years, Oak Park and River Forest High School’s Johnny Nelson has been a throwback student-athlete in this age of sports specialization. The rising senior has been starting quarterback on the football team, a forward on the basketball team, and a pitcher/third baseman on the baseball team.
This year, however, Nelson has decided his collegiate future is in baseball, and he won’ t be on the g ridiron when football practice begins next month. He’s also
hanging up his basketball shoes
“It’s tough, knowing that all my guys are out there and I’m not with them,” Nelson told Wednesday Journal in an interview.
“I’ve had a lot of fun times playing football [and basketball], but in the grand scheme of things and looking out for my future, I think it’s going to work out better for me.”
Nelson says being a three-sport athlete at OPRF wasn’t difficult. Playing with his friends on each team made things easier for him, and he described his multi-sport experience as “fun.”
“It wasn’t that challenging. T he coaches were great with me,” Nelson said. “Each
spor t, I had a different group of guys who were like my brothers, so it was easy to go from sport to sport with guys I knew were going to be there for me.
Nelson admits balancing three sports with OPRF’s rigorous academic curriculum was a challeng e, but he was able to make it work
“I found time during school to g et my work done,” Nelson said. “I paid extra attention in class, and that helped me out.”
Nelson will play travel baseball this fall as he prepares for his third varsity season with OPRF. Last year, he hit .333 and had 10 doubles and 23 RBI for the Huskies,
who finished with a 27-11 record and lost to Brother Rice 2-1 in a semifinal at the IHSA Class 4A Reavis Sectional.
“Johnny is a kid every coach wants to have in their program,” said OPRF baseball coach Kevin Campbell. “He’s got a great work ethic, he’s a team-first guy, and he’s got great athletic ability. He can do things a lot of other baseball players can’t.
“The thing that sets Johnny aside is his dedication to his teammates,” he added. “It’s unmatched. He’s the ultimate competitor, and winning has always been his number one objective.”
Once his OPRF career ends next year,
TNelson plans to play collegiately at Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio.
“From when I was first contacted, they were very welcoming, and the way they talked to me, they wanted me a lot,” he said of his commitment to the Raiders, who play in the Horizon League and reached the final of the Vanderbilt Re gional this season. “They made a personalized plan and showed where they would see me in the future. T he way they work and their
style of play just really match with me as a person.”
Nelson, who is deciding between business and engineering as a major at Wright Stat e, plans to cheer on his football and basketball friends at the g ames this f all and winter. He adds that his OPRF experience will help him in colle ge
“Coach Campbell is definitely a great coach,” Nelson said. “He instills a culture of hard work into all of us, which will definitely help me in the long run. ”
he Women’s National Basketball Association has become the fastest-growing professional sports league in the United States. This year, the Golden State Valkyries joined as an expansion team. Next season will see two more expansion teams in Portland, Oregon and Toronto, ada. In 2028, Cleveland – wh a previous WNBA franchise the Rockers, makes a return to the league, while 2029 sees another mer WNBA city return to the Detroit. In 2030, Philadelphia will ts first franchise, bringing the total umber of WNBA teams to 18.
“This historic expansion is a po tion of our league’s extraordinary momentum, the depth of talent across the g surging demand for investment in women’s professional basketball,” said WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert in a press release last month.
Normally, this would be cause for great excitement. But the WNBA’s progress is being threatened by negotiations between the league and Women’s National Basketball Players Association over a new collective bargaining agreement. The current agreement expires at the end this season.
At the WNBA All-Star Game in Indianapolis last weekend, a major disagreement on the state of negotiations emerged. Engelbert said the negotiations were going well. But the WNBPA felt otherwise
“The WNBA’s response to our proposals fails to address the priorities we’ve voiced from the day we opted out,” the WNBPA said in a statement, July 17 (The WNBPA exercised its opt-out clause at the end of last year). “A transfor mational CBA that delivers our rightful share of the business that we’ve built, improves working conditions, and ensures the success we create lifts both today’s players and the generation that follow. We’ve told the league and teams exactly why their proposal falls so short.”
The WNBPA added, “This business is booming – media rights, ratings, revenue, team valuations, expansion fees, attendance, and ticket sales – are all up in historic fashion. But shortchanging the working women who make this
business profitable stalls growth. he only thing more unsustainable than the current system is pretending it can go on forever.”
In war mups before the All-Star , the players wore T-shirts that ay Us What You Owe Us.” Afterward, as Napheesa Collier of the Minnesota Lynx the All-Star was warded the Most Valuable Player , Engelbert was booed by the d, who chanted, “Pay them! Pay them!” Also, Brittney Sykes of the ashington Mystics held up a “Pay yers” sign during the presenwhich was shown in front of a national television audience. what’s going on. They see the increased amount of revenue for the WNBA, and all they want is a bigger piece of the pie They want increases in revenue-sharing along with an increase in salaries. As of last season, the average WNBA salary was $147,745. Not bad, but it still lags way behind the average salary of an NBA player, which is about $13 million.
I’m certainly not saying WNBA players should be paid the same as NBA players. But I am with the WNBPA when it comes to the CBA negotiations. The players are the ones responsible for the WNBA’s success in recent seasons, and they should be rewarded accordingly, not with crumbs but with real salary increases
Responses to what the WNBPA said varied widely on social media, and I was shocked at the amount of negativity directed toward the players. Most online critics feel the players are wrong to demand increased salaries because they believe the WNBA is losing money. I can’t say if that’s true because I haven’t seen the yearly revenue outcomes from the league. But in my opinion if the WNBA can afford to add franchises, it must be doing well financially. A work stoppage, whether it’s in the form of a lockout by the owners or a strike by the players, would be very detrimental to the WNBA’s growth. It is my sincere hope that the league comes to its senses and provides the players with a fair CBA that reflects the revenues generated recently. If these ne gotiations are botched, it’s going to be tough for the WNBA to bounce back
VILLAGE OF OAK PARK, ILLINOIS
HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMISSION
NOTICE
PUBLIC NOTICE IS HEREBY
GIVEN that a public hearing will be held by the Village of Oak Park Historic Preservation Commission on August 14, 2025, at 7:30 p.m. in Council Chambers at the Oak Park Village Hall, 123 Madison Street, Oak Park, Illinois on the Historic Landmark nomination for 1144 Lake St, Oak Park, Illinois (P.I.N.: 16071190120000 and 16071190130000).
The public hearing is being held in accordance with the requirements of the Oak Park Historic Preservation Ordinance. The Historic Preservation Commission will take public testimony during the hearing and make and forward their recommendations to the Village Board of Trustees following the conclusion of the public hearing.
For further information on this matter contact the Department of Development Services, Planning Division, Village of Oak Park, 123 Madison Street, Oak Park, Illinois MondayFriday 8:30AM-5:00PM in person, by telephone at (708) 358-5443, or by email at historicpreservation@oakpark.us.
NOTICE TO BIDDERS
Notice is hereby given by the President and Board of Trustees of the Village of Brookfield, Illinois that bid proposals will be received for the following project:
SALT STORAGE FACILITY
IMPROVEMENTS PROJECT
VILLAGE OF BROOKFIELD, ILLINOIS
This project will include the installation of a poured in place concrete footing, foundation wall, floor slab, and other related work to allow for the construction of a Salt Storage Facility. This project will not include the installation of the truss system or the fabric cover.
Sealed bids will be received up to the hour of 11:00 A.M. on Wednesday, the 13th day of August 2025, in the office of the Village Manager in the Village Hall located at 8820 Brookfield Avenue, Brookfield, Illinois. All sealed bids received will be publicly opened and read at 11:00 A.M. on the same day, Wednesday, the 13th day of August, 2025, at the Village Hall.
Electronic copies of bidding documents, consisting of the bid proposal, project specifications, and project plans are available from the Edwin Hancock Engineering Co., 9933 Roosevelt Road, Westchester, Illinois 60154. Bidding documents can be requested by emailing info@ ehancock.com. No bidding documents will be issued after 4:30 P.M. on Friday, the 8th day of August, 2025.
OAK PARK SCHOOL DISTRICT 97 NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING
AUGUST 12, 2025, AT 7 P.M.
The Board of Education of Oak Park Elementary School District 97 will hold a Public Hearing on Tuesday, August 12, 2025, at 7 p.m. in the Board Room of the D97 Administration Building, located at 260 Madison St. Oak Park, IL 60302.
The purpose of said hearing will be to receive public comment on a proposed waiver application to allow District 97 to provide physical education with a licensed physical education teacher on an alternating schedule of 3 days a week per 5-day week, followed by 2 days a week the following 5-day week for students in sixth through eighth grades.
Published in Wednesday Journal July 30, 2025
written addendum issued by the Village.
In the event that a written addendum is issued, either as a result of a request for interpretation or the result of a change in the bidding documents issued by the Village, a copy of such addendum will be emailed to all prospective bidders. The Village will not assume responsibility for receipt of such addendum. In all cases it will be the bidders’ responsibility to obtain all addenda issued.
The Contractor and Subcontractor shall comply with all regulations issued pursuant to Prevailing Wage Act (820 ILCS 130), and other applicable Federal Laws and regulations pertaining to labor standards.
The Village of Brookfield reserves the rights to determine the lowest, responsive, responsible bidder, to waive irregularities, and to reject any or all bid proposals.
BY ORDER
THE PRESIDENT AND BOARD OF TRUSTEES
VILLAGE OF BROOKFIELD, ILLINOIS
Published in RB Landmark July 30, 2025
Notice is hereby given by the President and Board of Trustees of the Village of Brookfield, Illinois that bid proposals will be received for the following project:
All bidders wishing to obtain bidding documents must be approved by the Village prior to obtaining bidding documents. A non-refundable fee of Fifteen dollars ($15.00) will be required to obtain bidding documents. Proposals will only be accepted from bidders that have obtained bidding documents from the Edwin Hancock Engineering Company.
All bid proposals offered must be accompanied by a bid bond, cashier’s check or certified check in an amount not less than Five Percent (5%) of the total amount of the bid, as a guarantee that if the bid proposal is accepted, a contract will be entered into and the performance of the contract properly secured. Checks shall be made payable to the Order of the President and Board of Trustees of the Village of Brookfield. No bid proposal shall be considered unless accompanied by such bid bond or check.
Any bidder in doubt as to the true meaning of any part of the bidding documents may request an interpretation thereof from the Village. The bidder requesting the interpretation shall be responsible for its prompt delivery. At the request of the bidder, or in the event that the Village deems the interpretation to be substantive, the interpretation will be made by
obtained bidding documents from the Edwin Hancock Engineering Company.
All bid proposals offered must be accompanied by a bid bond, cashier’s check or certified check in an amount not less than Five Percent (5%) of the total amount of the bid, as a guarantee that if the bid proposal is accepted, a contract will be entered into and the performance of the contract properly secured. Checks shall be made payable to the Order of the President and Board of Trustees of the Village of Brookfield. No bid proposal shall be considered unless accompanied by such bid bond or check.
Any bidder in doubt as to the true meaning of any part of the bidding documents may request an interpretation thereof from the Village. The bidder requesting the interpretation shall be responsible for its prompt delivery. At the request of the bidder, or in the event that the Village deems the interpretation to be substantive, the interpretation will be made by written addendum issued by the Village.
In the event that a written addendum is issued, either as a result of a request for interpretation or the result of a change in the bidding documents issued by the Village, a copy of such addendum will be emailed to all prospective bidders. The Village will not assume responsibility for receipt of such addendum. In all cases it will be the bidders’ responsibility to obtain all addenda issued.
The Contractor and Subcontractor shall comply with all regulations issued pursuant to Prevailing Wage Act (820 ILCS 130), and other applicable Federal Laws and regulations pertaining to labor standards.
The Village of Brookfield reserves the rights to determine the lowest, responsive, responsible bidder, to waive irregularities, and to reject any or all bid proposals.
BY ORDER
2025 FIRE HYDRANT PAINTING PROJECT
VILLAGE OF BROOKFIELD, ILLINOIS
This project includes painting approximately 225 fire hydrants at various locations within the Village of Brookfield.
Sealed bids will be received up to the hour of 11:15 A.M. on Wednesday, the 13th day of August, 2025, in the Village Hall located at 8820 Brookfield Avenue, Brookfield, Illinois. All sealed bids received will be publicly opened and read at 11:15 A.M. on the same day, Wednesday, the 13th day of August, 2025, at the Village Hall.
Electronic copies of bidding documents, consisting of the bid proposal, project specifications, and project plans are available from the Edwin Hancock Engineering Co., 9933 Roosevelt Road, Westchester, Illinois 60154. Bidding documents can be requested by emailing info@ ehancock.com. No bidding documents will be issued after 4:30 P.M. on Friday, the 8th day of August, 2025. A non-refundable fee of Fifteen dollars ($15.00) will be required to obtain bidding documents. Proposals will only be accepted from bidders that have
VILLAGE OF BROOKFIELD, ILLINOIS
Published in RB Landmark
Notice is hereby given by the Board of Education of Riverside Brookfield High School District 208, Cook County, Illinois, that a tentative budget for said school district for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2025, will be on file and conveniently available at the school district’s administrative offices at Riverside Brookfield High School District 208, 160 Ridgewood Road, Riverside, Illinois, from and after 8:00 a.m. on July 1, 2025.
Notice is hereby given that a public hearing on said tentative budget will be held at 7:00 p.m. on September 9, 2025, at Riverside Brookfield High School District 208, 160 Ridgewood Road, Riverside, Illinois.
Published in RB Landmark July 30, 2025
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