W E D N E S D A Y
August 26, 2020 Vol. 41, No. 4 ONE DOLLAR @oakpark @wednesdayjournal
JOURNAL of Oak Park and River Forest
Oak Parkers chart new path to online learning Heph Ed Incrediverse brings world to students’ living rooms By MICHAEL ROMAIN Staff Reporter
ALEX ROGALS/Staff Photographer
NEW WAVE: Sheila and Steve Conner are bringing their online science curriculum to both public schools and private settings in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.
When Lola Wright registered her 11-year-old daughter Caroline in Heph Ed Incredicamp — a two-week STEAM [science, technology, engineering, art and math] curriculum offered this past summer as part of District 97’s summer programming — the incoming Julian middle-schooler was initially reluctant. “She started out skeptical because I had signed her up for it without any information,” Wright said. “She ended up being really surprised and See LEARNING on page 16
Defund police resolution forwarded by Oak Park trustee Remake of Citizen Oversight also on agenda By STACEY SHERIDAN Staff Reporter
Issues of reforming policing in Oak Park were front and center on the agenda of a special village board meeting held Tuesday after press time. Trustees were set to consider a resolution to defund the police department put forward by
Trustee Arti Walker-Peddakotla. A staff memo suggesting ways to expand transparency on the Citizen Police Oversight Commission was on the agenda. And, village staff presented a Request for Proposals for a village board ordered third-party audit of the police department. Walker-Peddakotla’s defunding resolution cites the village’s early initiatives on race and urges reducing sworn police officers while adding social workers to address issues of mental illness, homelessness and domestic disputes. “To me what defunding the police looks like is reallocat-
ing or reprioritizing our budget to fit the moral priorities of our village,” Walker-Peddakotla told Wednesday Journal. The staff proposal on the Citizen Police Oversight Commission calls for protecting the identities of both complainants and accused officers while making the discussion of specific complaints a public process. Those recommendations to the village board came from Rasheda Jackson, assistant village attorney, and Kira Tchang, the village’s human resources director. The resolution to defund the police department states that See RESOLUTION on page 16
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L’Institut français d’Oak Park Learn French and explore the world.
L’Institut français d’Oak Park offers courses in all levels of French for adults and mature teens as well as weekly teen and adult Conversation Cafés. The Fall 2020 session is right around the corner! Courses and weekly Conversation Cafés are conducted online via Zoom in accordance with current safety measures. Register now for online classes and Conversation Cafés at www.frenchinstitute.net.
Fall 2020 classes will be held online.
Fall 2020 classes: September 14 - November 21 Fall 2020 courses include: · Beginning French Conversation I-VII · Advanced Beginner French Conversation and Grammar IV · Intermediate French Culture and Conversation · African Francophone Literature in Translation · Marguerite Duras: Moderato Cantabile Conversation Café and Teen Conversation Café are casual French-only conversation groups that meet virtually on Thursdays from 7-8pm. Register for Conversation Cafés at www.frenchinstitute.net.
Questions? Join us online for a Virtual Open House on Tuesday, September 8 from 6-6:30pm. Email stacy.fifer@frenchinstitute.net to register and receive a Zoom link. L’Institut français d’Oak Park – French Institute of Oak Park | 11 Harrison Street | Oak Park, IL 60304
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Wednesday Journal, August 26, 2020
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A con ‘as old as Jim Crow and older’
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he irreverent investigative reporter Greg Palast has written perhaps the most important book of the year, which I recommend everyone run out and get (preferably from The Book Table). The first page of Palast’s How Trump Stole 2020 should shock you out of complacency about this upcoming election, as it shook me. “The End. Donald Trump was reelected President on November 7, 2018. Two years before a single ballot was cast.” Palast demonstrates that in key Commentary swing states of Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin and Arizona, the Republican Party has wrongly removed hundreds of thousands of voters from the rolls based on the false assumption that they’ve moved out of the state and thrown out hundreds of thousands of provisional ballots filled out by those people who must prove their eligibility, since they were falsely removed from the rolls in the first place. Palast calls this the “purge.” It’s how Donald Trump “won” in 2016, which is to say he didn’t win, at all. “Trump didn’t win in 2016,” Palast writes. “And I’m not talking about Trump losing the popular vote. Trump lost the Electoral College. That is, he lost if you count all the votes burgled, jacked, swiped, shoplifted, purloined, filched, fiddled and snatched from citizens not of a whitish hue. And unless we wise up, 2020 will be deja vu all over again.” One of the most notorious purges happened in Georgia, where Republican Gov. Brian Kemp removed more than 340,000 voters from the rolls — most of them Black and
MICHAEL ROMAIN
Brown — because they allegedly moved away, when in fact they never moved; indeed, were still paying Georgia income taxes. That’s how Kemp, the former Secretary of State who pulled off this purge while he was running for governor, ended up eking out a “win” against Stacey Abrams, his Democratic opponent — which is to say, he didn’t win at all. “Federal law requires Georgia and other states to give a provisional ballot to anyone who claims to be wrongly missing from voter rolls,” Palast writes. “But Georgia law does not allow those ballots to be counted if the voter is not on the rolls, right or wrong. Tough luck, Raheim.” Or Christine Jordan, a 92-year-old woman who likely would have voted for Abrams in 2018, if she hadn’t been thrown out of the polling station, because her name had mysteriously vanished from the state’s voter rolls. Jordan, by the way, is the cousin of Martin Luther King, Jr. “There were enough provisional ballots and other ballots and uncounted absentee ballots to defeat Brian Kemp — if only they were counted,” Palast writes. “However, whether provisional or challenged ballots are counted was up to the Secretary of State: Brian Kemp.” According to former president Barack Obama’s Presidential Commission on Elections, “Black and Hispanic voters are twice as likely as other voters to get the provisional ballot.” And voting by mail presents even more challenges, Palast writes. In 2016, according to the Elections Assistance Commission, half a million mail-in ballots “were simply rejected, not counted. “But that’s the tip of the ballot-berg of uncounted mail-in votes,” Palast writes. “The MIT study Losing Votes by Mail puts the total loss of mail-in votes at a breathtaking 22 percent. Move to 80 percent mail-in voting and 25 million will
lose their vote.” How can they do this? Well, they make laws that make tossing ballots out a highly partisan and subjective affair, and that make voting deliberately tedious. Voting by mail “is not as simple as ‘pick and lick’ — choosing a candidate and sticking a ballot in an envelope,” Palast writes. “Eight states, including the swing states of Wisconsin, Minnesota and North Carolina, require mail-in voters to have the ballot witnessed by a registered voter.” And all but six states “‘verify’ your ballot signature against your registration signature. Partisan officials decide if there is a ‘match.’” By the way, Illinois is a “verify” state … OK, enough of this. I’m terrified, and I haven’t even made it to the middle of the book, yet. Go out and buy it. Brace yourself. Read it through or skip to the end, where there’s a super helpful guide to protecting your vote. I’ll summarize it now. ■ Read the directions the ballot and follow them. ■ Check your registration now. ■ Don’t mark ballots with red pens, pencils or crayons. Don’t use an ‘x’ or checkmark unless it says so. If using a machine, check your choices before sending your ballot off. If using a punch card, turn it over and scrape off the chads. ■ Vote early in-person when no one’s around, weekdays if possible. ■ Avoid filling out provisional ballots like the plague. ■ Act out (join voting rights action groups like rainbow/ push. ■ Stay alert! ■ Relay this message to your friends, loved ones and enemies in swing states (this last tip is my own).
OPRF weighs fate of onsite daycare By MICHAEL ROMAIN Staff Reporter
The Oak Park and River Forest High School District 200 Board of Education is weighing whether to reopen the Huskie Pups daycare program even as construction happens on campus and a pandemic has forced administrators to forego in-person classes and start the school year. Since 2008, the school district has partnered with the River Forest Community Center, which operates the child care program at the high school. In turn, the Community Center houses the high school’s Community Integrated Transition Education (CITE) program at its River Forest location. The program offers transition services for 18- to 22-year-old OPRF students who need intensive support during that point in their lives. During the school board’s committee of the whole meeting on Aug. 18, Dick Chappell, the Community Center’s executive director, said that if the school board decides against reopening Huskie Pups, the 14 to 15 employees who staff the program will likely be laid off and parents/guardians who send their children to Huskie Pups would have to
look for child care somewhere else. “[Not reopening Huskie Pups] will be a tremendous expense for us as an organization,” Chappell told board members. Chappell said he anticipates around 35 program participates if Huskie Pups, which is housed on the north end of campus, reopens — a significant drop from the 55 to 65 participants the program typically services. Most of the participants are children of employees who work in Oak Park and River Forest public elementary schools. Seven are children of District 200 staffers, said Ronald C. Anderson, the Community Center’s executive director of operations. But many school board members said they were concerned that reopening Huskie Pups would open the district up to potential liability. They added that reopening the daycare while OPRF’s special-needs students remain at home would present them with the challenge of explaining the discrepancy to special-needs parents, who were told by administrators earlier this year that their students would have a degree of in-person instruction. Board member Jackie Moore asked administrators and Community Center staff how the district could reconcile closing the
Courtesy FGM Architects
REOPENING?: An interior photo of the Huskie Pups daycare taken last year. building to most OPRF students, particularly with construction onsite and COVID-19 still a risk, but nonetheless allow Huskie Pups to be in the building. “Has there been a rationale for that?” she said. “I echo Jackie’s concerns,” said board member Ralph Martire. “If we’re going to open our building to these students before we’ve opened it with a specific date for our special education students, we need to have a really good reason for why we haven’t reopened it for our special education students.”
Chappell said the Huskie Pups daycare would be located in an area away from construction and that the low participation total of 35 will allow for adequate social distancing. He added that Community Center staff will follow safety protocols, such as setting up a sign-in station outside of the facility, beyond which no parents or guardians will be able to enter. Chappell also said all parents/guardians must sign a waiver specific to COVID-19 risks. The board is expected to vote on whether or not to reopen Huskie Pups at a meeting on Aug. 27.
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Wednesday Journal, August 26, 2020
OAKPARK.COM | RIVERFOREST.COM
BIG WEEK August 26 - September 6
Check out What’s Happening at Compound Yellow Art Installation: Drops Form View the newest art created for Compound Yellow by Alberto Aguilar, viewable from the exterior, a cloud form holding 54 suspended drops, hand painted in a graphic style. Aguilar is a Chicago artist who has exhibited at the Art Institute, The Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, and other museums and galleries across North America.
Be a Part of “The TOGETHER Tablecloth Quilt” Drop off Saturday, Aug. 30, 2 to 6 p.m. Artist Shonna Pryor is collecting square or rectangular family tablecloths to add to public art quilts she is making “ … in addressing the human crisis of social divide, we can only learn, grow and heal if we all accept a place setting at the table ... TOGETHER.” Donors - include an index card with family name and statement/story/provenance, ideas and values of this project and also sign family name on the face of the tablecloth. More: facebook.com/events/333352391030760. Drop off at Compound Yellow, 125 N. Harvey Ave., Oak Park, at the blue table by X Gallery off Lake St. or front porch off Harvey Ave.
Contribute to Interwoven; Be a Part of Nomadicube Saturdays through Sept. 15, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Nomadicube is a participatory and collaborative project inside an open-framed 10-foot-by-10-foot pink cube structure, located outside, created and facilitated by artist-in-residence Marianne Bernstein. The community is invited to contribute clothing, sheets and other personal items that fiber artist Julia Blake is weaving together onto the cube. Also, join Blake as she works onsite outdoors at Compound Yellow. Performances and workshops are also planned for inside Nomadicube. Free. 244 Lake St., Oak Park.
Police Operations, Practices and Racism
Tech & Data: Balancing Digital Advancement and Privacy
Wednesday, Aug. 26, 7 to 8:30 p.m. Zoom with Pilgrim Congregational Church Guest presenter André L. Watkins shares his knowledge on policing and addresses concerns about police operations, practices and racism. Watkins served the Houston Police Department for 30 years as a senior patrol officer, undercover narcotics agent, D.A.R.E. instructor, and as an academy cadet trainer and Defensive Tactics instructor. Brought by the Sacred Conversations on Race committee’s Be Bold! White Privilege and Standing with Others Group. Register: us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZ0tdO2trT4rGtXbqj1uy_gJmLRItCXwMrlt
Monday, Aug. 31, 6:30 p.m., Zoom with the Nineteenth Century Club Attend a Mind Boggle discussion with Anne Tan who will cover how data is increasingly being used to better our lives and how it can also be used negatively without our knowledge. Learn methods to understand data transparency and features to adjust privacy settings. Free. Register: nineteenthcentury.org
Therapy Players Saturday, Aug. 29, 7 p.m., Virtually with Open Door Theater The Therapy Players have made audiences laugh at Open Door for 20 shows. View an all-new show safely from home. To view and participate in the show via the chat, create an account and go to: twitch.tv/therapyplayers. Free; donations to Open Door appreciated to keep the doors open for the future: opendoortheater.net/nowplaying
West Cook’s Wild Ones Native Tree & Shrub Sale Order through Friday, Sept. 4. Pickup Saturday, Sept. 19. Create a welcoming environment for wildlife with natives that are drought resistant, absorb storm water and carbon, and can provide shade for your home. Brought in collaboration with Green Community Connections, Interfaith Green Network, the Conservation@Home Program of the Forest Preserves of Cook County and University of Illinois Extension. Order: wild-ones-westcook.myshopify.com. Pickup at Euclid Avenue Methodist Church parking lot, 405 Euclid, Oak Park.
No Shush Salon
Music by the Numbers
Thursday, Aug. 27, 6:30 to 9 p.m., Zoom through the Oak Park Library Chicago writer, musician, editor and performance artist Michael Allen Rose kicks off this month’s open mic. Listen to performances by local creative types and share your own works-in-progress or newly finished endeavors. Each person has 15 minutes to present. Spectators welcome. Register: oppl.org/calendar.
Wednesday, Aug. 26, 4 to 5 p.m., Virtually See it before it’s over! Enjoy music from members of the Symphony of Oak Park and River Forest. This week, an octet plays Beethoven and on Sept. 2, a nonet plays Grieg. $5 per concert, OP residents; $50, OP residents for the series, which includes all nine concerts available through Sept 9. $8/$67 non-residents. Register: 708-725-2720, pdop.org.
Wright Virtual Visit Phase 2 Thursdays, Noon, Facebook Live While travel and tours are not always an option due to COVID-19, you can virtually visit Frank Lloyd Wright-designed sites. In Phase 2 of this program, two Frank Lloyd Wright sites go live, comparing how a similar theme is expressed. This week, see Hollyhock House (Los Angeles, CA) and Monona Terrace (Madison, WI). Also see previous visits, like the Aug 20 side-by-side of Taliesin West (Scottsdale, AZ) and Unity Temple (Oak Park). To view/ more: SaveWright.org/WrightVirtualVisits
Wednesday Journal, August 26, 2020
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dds and ends with some a bit odder than others: Into September: Well, Cara Pavlicek made the cut in Ann Arbor. Actually seems as if all four finalists for the city manager post there made the cut and will return for further interviews and consideration in September. Good for Pavlicek, Oak Park’s longtime village manager. She has, in the main, done a strong job here. In her initial interview with Ann Arbor’s city council last week, Pavlicek said only good things about Oak Park and its progressive ways while noting that jobs such as the one in Ann Arbor don’t come along every day. True enough. But it leaves Oak Park in limbo at a very precarious moment. There’s COVID-19, of course. That virus is not done with us yet. There’s Oak Park’s disjointed response to rethinking policing. And there’s an election in the spring for village president (and trustees) that so far is setting up as a contest for who can be the most progressive voice. One of the three candidates for village president remains Pavlicek’s harshest critic on the board. This will get complicated. University towns: With Pavlicek still in the running in Ann Arbor, and District 97 Supt. Carol Kelly an unsuccessful finalist for the top school job in Madison, I’m wondering which of our local leaders is Googling Iowa City.
DAN HALEY
Leaders in limbo
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hesitate to call 911. We’re here to sort these things out, Some pie: The front-page story last week on the gradual partner!” reopening of the Happy Apple Pie Shop over on Harrison Works fine for white people, it turns out. We get to call. Street in the Arts District sent me pie shopping. Happy But the police are never summoned when we walk around Apple is a wonderful story with its focus on hiring people a neighbor’s house to borrow a ladder. The police never arboth with physical and developmental disabilities and rive when, pre-pandemic, we’re a little noisy on the corner. those without. Now they are finding a path to expanding So the “Guide to the Suspicious” is in the shop for retooltheir hours and production by bringing those staff meming. Hope they start with a new name. How about “When to bers gradually back. Call the Police and When Not to Call the Police.” And to top off all that goodness, they bake a heck of a How about those Sox!: peach pie. Baseball has been a balm I recommend it. this miserable summer. ‘Guide to the SusWhen everything is conpicious’: Is that the tained and all experiences oddest phrase ever? flattened out to masks and Now removed from screens, there is unexpectOak Park’s village edly baseball almost every website for further day of the week. Of course, review, “The Guide to baseball is also flattened the Suspicious” was out with nobody cheering, an attempt to empower Jason and Steve calling nervous residents to the game in Detroit while call the cops on everywatching monitors at 35th thing that moved. and Shields. I’m chalking this up But it is still baseball. to the laws of uninMaybe there will be tended consequences asterisks. But it did not melded with the self-destruct and disappitfalls of an unexThe makings of a pie at Happy Apple Pie Shop pear in the first week as amined life. Clearly I thought it was about to. the original intent And the White Sox are nothing but fun to watch. Especially was to gather the good people of Oak Park into a version of — yes, boo me — when they are scoring 19 consecutive runs community policing. “Officers can’t be everywhere. You’re against the Cubs on mammoth home runs. our eyes and ears. See something, say something. Never
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Wednesday Journal, August 26, 2020
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ART BEAT
Teacher first, poet second, OPRF’s Peter Kahn finally publishes his poems By PETER KAHN Guest Author
When your “debut” collection comes out when you’re about to turn 53, people wonder, “what took you so long?” Fine wine, right? The first incarnation of Little Kings was assembled 12 or 13 years ago and the oldest poem in the book is close to 20 years old. The long road to publication can be summed up pretty simply: I’m a teacher first and a poet second. I love teaching and I write poetry to be a better teacher, not because I necessarily enjoy it or find it a calling. When I was on sabbatical from my position as an Oak Park and River Forest High School English teacher and Spoken Word educator and went to London, England, in 2001, I was invited to join Malika’s Poetry Kitchen — a writing collective that became instrumental in my teaching and writing practices and essentially became my second family. After a couple of years, we started challenging each other to publish our work. Co-
founder, Roger Robinson was first in 2003. Since then, he’s published several other collections from which I’ve widely taught. Last year, he won arguably the most prestigious book award in the United Kingdom — The T.S. Eliot Prize — for his book, Portable Paradise. One by one, my other closest friends from Malika’s Kitchen — Jacob Sam-La Rose, co-founder Malika Booker and Nick Makoha -- each published their first collections (in 2011, 2013 and 2017 respectively) and the good-natured pressure started mounting for me to join the club. In the interim, though, I spent several years creating The Golden Shovel Anthology: New Poems Honoring Gwendolyn Brooks, which I edited with Ravi Shankar and Patricia Smith. It more naturally aligned with my priorities: it includes over 20 OPRFHS Spoken Word Club alumni, as well as former graduate students and friends from Malika’s Poetry Kitchen. The anthology I’m currently editing with Hanif Abdurraqib, Franny Choi and original Spoken Word Club member Dan “Sully” Sullivan, Respect Photo provided
OPRF High School Spoken Word instructor Peter Kahn with his book “Little Kings.”
SCOUTING WILL HAVE A PROGRAM
• Gathering limited to 10 including leaders • Mask (mouth & nose covered) a must • Distance six feet – a must • All touched materials sprayed with approved disinfectant • If you are sick stay home • The Scout Laws of Clean, Courteous and Kind – our pledge Part A & B of the Annual Health & Medical Form must be submitted Youth Member release & Waiver of Liability How will Troop 28 (former meetings at Emerson-Brooks since 1916) Conduct meetings? Simple – Patrol Method: Patrol A meets Monday, Patrol B meets Tuesday, Patrol C meets on Wednesday; Meeting outside until early October. Meeting place decided by each Patrol. What kind of fun and learning is available? Space Exploration, Astronomy, Environmental Science, Pet Care, Coding, Archery, Model Building, Citizenship in the World, Cooking (most of it at home), Energy, Animal Science (one trip to Lincoln Park Zoo); of the 135 Scouting choices, choose anything that can be done 6 feet apart; BSA STEAM program is part of this offering. Sign up at Mills Park, Pleasant & Home Avenue; on steps facing Home Avenue – Saturday, September 5 – 10am to Noon Questions – Have parent email offsetpress@sbcglobal.net
the Mic: Celebrating 20 Years of Poetry from a Chicagoland High School, which includes work of current and former Spoken Word Club members, is extremely exciting to me. Publishing my own work has simply never been a priority. Over time, though, and with the annual summer visits to London where I’d have to face the “What’s the hold up?” question from Roger, Jacob, Malika and Nick, it felt like a necessity. If I was going to continually ask students to write and encourage students and alumni to publish their own work, I felt I had to put my money where my microphone was and be a good role model. Nick recommended me to the wonderful Jane Commane at Nine Arches Press (UK) and here we are. Little Kings focuses on, among other things, my family history, including my grandparents fleeing Hitler and my uncle being diminished by Alzheimer’s; my childhood in New York and Columbus, Ohio (home of the Buckeyes), including being bullied by the arch-nemesis of the book, my across-the-street neighbor Mrs. Lancia; and, being a social worker in Chicago and a teacher in London and Oak Park. Since I don’t typically enjoy reading books of poetry, I tried to create a book with interconnected poems and recurring characters that feels more like a book of poetic short stories that speak to one another. Now that Little Kings is out there in the
world and after the response it’s received from the virtual book launch, I’m quite happy it’s been published. I’m hoping it inspires other teachers to publish their work, more students to take the leap of faith with writing and sharing, and alumni to return to their poetic roots. On that note, I recently received an email from an original OPRF Spoken Word Club and slam team member, Jessica Lewis (who was my student her sophomore year when I was a traditional English teacher). After she watched the video of the virtual book launch, she emailed me: “As I’ve always said, I am honored to have (through the poetic gods) been introduced to you, to poetry, spoken word and even more to be able to witness the fruits of YOUR labor (and many of my peers/those [Spoken Word Club] alum after me) … Please bask in the light of how many you have guided to a powerful, life-altering ‘hobby,’ which we all know is so much more than that ... Also, thanks for being an example of letting something you’re passionate about flourish and take legs!” It doesn’t get much better than that, does it? Peter Kahn has taught at OPRF since 1994. His poetry book, “Little Kings,” is available through the publisher: ninearchespress.com/ publications/poetry-collections/little-kings. html.
Wednesday Journal, August 26, 2020
OAKPARK.COM | RIVERFOREST.COM
Block party with a twist
Live music but no bouncing, no keg, no potluck By STACEY SHERIDAN Staff Reporter
Neighbors in the 700 block of South Taylor Avenue held their first block party of the summer Aug. 22 without many of the block party mainstays -- no inflatable bounce houses, no potluck. Kids ate popsicles and some adults drank beer brought from home. To keep in line with Oak Park block party
restrictions while still enjoying the camaraderie of a neighborhood gathering, neighbors opted to have a small concert. “With the restrictions given, people are able to have block parties but again, there wasn’t that much we could do, so a concert I thought would be fun,” said Joan Suchomel, who hired singer-songwriter John Troast for the party. “I don’t know that we’ve ever had one here.” Musicians played as neighbors sat in chairs or danced safely apart from each other. “I just love that the kids are having a good time,” said Suchomel, who has lived on the
block for 23 years. Block parties are a tradition in Oak Park that feeds into the overall feeling of community shared and appreciated by neighbors. “It’s a lot about building community and getting to know your neighbors,” said Suchomel. “It’s just a time to get everybody outside and if you don’t know each other, you get to know each other.” Carl Spight, who has lived on the corner of the block since 1987, also performed at the block party, playing Afro-Latin music on his set of timbales. “It’s a beautiful day,” said Spight. “And everybody’s relaxed. I think everybody just wants to be out and among others.” In his years living in the neighborhood, Spight has seen the neighborhood evolve, watching children grow up. Kids, he believes, know how to have a good time. “They always manage to find a way to have fun no matter the situation,” said Spight. Angie Kuna attended the block party with her husband and three young children. Kuna wasn’t sure the block would have a party this summer. “Our first one got canceled in June,” said Kuna. “It got pushed off to September.” Being able to have the August block party, Kuna said, was a fun way to end the summer. “We have a really special block,” said Kuna, who has lived there with her family for just over six years. While she said her kids missed having a bouncy house, they still had a great time at the block party. “We do have those every year, so it’s a little bit of a bummer,” said Kuna. “I think they’re kind of used to the changes with COVID, so they just make their own fun.”
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A 2020 BLOCK PARTY: Neighbors on 700 S. Taylor gathered Aug. 22 for a COVID-era block party. It featured a concert by John Troast instead of a potluck. But, as always, the kids had fun.
Call Claudia Eichelberger for a phone interview at 815-739-8294
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Wednesday Journal, August 26, 2020
OAKPARK.COM | RIVERFOREST.COM
Pavlicek makes the cut in Ann Arbor process By STACEY SHERIDAN Staff Reporter
Oak Park Village Manager Cara Pavlicek spoke highly of Oak Park during her interview Thursday evening for the open city administrator position in Ann Arbor, Michigan. “I work right now for a wonderful organization – Oak Park, Illinois,” Pavlicek told the Ann Arbor city council. “I really do absolutely love it but opportunities like Ann Arbor, with its size and complexity, just don’t always come along.” The city of Ann Arbor released a community survey Aug. 20 for the public to provide feedback regarding the candidates and their interviews. At an Aug. 24 meeting, Ann Arbor city council voted to call all four candidates back for further interviews. Interview dates have not yet been set. Pavlicek, who referred to herself as a “process person,” is among four finalists in the running to replace the city’s former city administrator, who was fired last February. Pavlicek touched on her track record as Oak Park village manager, a position she
has held since 2012. She also told the city council how Oak Park has had to adapt to changes in the economy, including the remaking of downtown Oak Park. “The retail economy changed and communities like Oak Park could no longer have anchor department stores,” said Pavlicek. Pavlicek said Oak Park has no big box retailers or strip malls. To revitalize the downtown area, the community had to undergo a comprehensive master planning process during which staff worked with many stakeholders. “As the staff, we’ve got to spend time making that vision a reality in partnership with the private sector, in partnership with elected officials and in partnership with a lot of our community members that believed in the vision of making downtown a livable neighborhood,” said Pavlicek. She briefed the city council on her time as Oak Park’s parking manager, where she restructured the village’s complex parking fund to reverse the $10 million deficit through revenue freezes, raising hourly rates and budget balancing.
“We did streamline staff through attrition,” Pavlicek said. “We would not replace positions; we would move people into different roles.” When asked about her communication style, Pavlicek said she has standing half hour one-on-one meetings with her 15 direct reports, including the fire chief, public works manager, city clerk and the chief financial officer. “Those are really important opportunities for me to hear from the leaders within the organization about the things that they need and then what I can be doing to help support them,” Pavlicek said. The meetings also allow Pavlicek to get to know her direct reports on a more personal level, which she believes creates a “stronger working environment.” When it comes to the Oak Park board of trustees, Pavlicek said she believes in a “tell one, tell all” communication strategy. Pavlicek also told Ann Arbor leaders that she upped her communication with Oak Park citizens during the height of COVID-19 crisis, releasing daily status reports avail-
able on the village’s website. “Because things are a little bit better, we’re doing them three times a week,” said Pavlicek. To keep employees motivated and inspired, Pavlicek said she encourages people to find the learning opportunities within failures. “One of the most important things you can do to encourage people to be innovative and excel is to accept failures,” Pavlicek told city council. She said she also makes herself available for staff members who need a little extra assistance in certain situations and believes the occasional fun activity, such as “snow cone socials,” are wonderful boosts to employee morale. According to its city council, Ann Arbor prides itself on being a leader in progressive initiatives – a quality not unlike that of Oak Park. Pavlicek shared with city officials some of the progressive initiatives Oak Park has undertaken, including the recent implementation of the “Slow Streets” pilot program.
Cate Readling is running for Oak Park president By STACEY SHERIDAN Staff Reporter
Cate Readling, a community activist and part-time park district employee, has officially joined the race for Oak Park village president. Readling previously ran as a write-in candidate in 2017 against incumbent Mayor Anan Abu-Taleb. “What I learned from that experience is that people really wanted change,” Readling told Wednesday Journal. “Anan described his campaign as being open for business,” Readling said. “I would describe mine as being open for the people.” Readling becomes the third person to announce their run for president in the April 2021 election. Previously Trustee Simone Boutet and Village Clerk Vicki Scaman have announced their candidacies. Abu-Taleb, completing his second term, has not announced his intention to seek a third term. Current Trustee Deno Andrews has announced he will seek a second term as village trustee. In a break from Oak Park’s tradition of non-partisan village government elections, Readling said she will run as a Democrat. Initially, Readling said, she was “extremely reluctant” to run as a Democrat, but members of her team convinced her that doing so would be a safer option, allowing her to gather fewer citizen petition signatures to make the ballot. Running as a Democrat also means she is allowed to start gathering signatures sooner.
Readling admitted she thought that aspect of Illinois election law was “shady,” but said running as a Democrat and gathering fewer signatures keeps her campaign volunteers safer from COVID-19. “I feel like if there is anything that can be done to keep people safer, then it’s our responsibility to do it,” she said. Currently, Readling works part-time with the Park District of Oak Park; her focus at work is fundraising for the park district’s new community recreation center. However, should she win, Readling does not intend to continue working at the Cate Readling park district. While Readling has never held elected office before, she does not believe that makes her unqualified to serve as the village president of Oak Park, a role she described as “not unknowable” and “not mysterious.” “Frankly, all of us with lived experience, have the experience to serve as village president,” Readling said. “If you’re prioritizing the people of the village, then you have the qualifications.” Readling’s personal life experience, she said, has given her the necessary abilities to effectively serve as the elected head of Oak Park village government.
“My lived experience as a biracial woman of color has given me what I now consider as an opportunity to hone my skills in navigating and negotiating this world in all of the different ways that a woman of color is required to do,” said Readling. “That type of sensibility and that capability is what is needed to create a cohesive board built on respect for each other and for all of the taxing bodies that they have to work with,” said Readling. Her experience, she said, will also help to deepen relationships with other organizations and neighboring townships and cities. Her ability to listen to others, she said, will help her to facilitate board discussions as president. “The way I describe our campaign and the way that we want to govern is about accessibility,” Readling said in an interview with Wednesday Journal. “Our documentation, our information, the way that our budget is organized, all of that information should be more accessible.” If elected village president, Readling would like to see board meetings made more accessible for people with vision and hearing impairments, as well as those with other
disabilities. Readling also hopes to broaden accessibility to affordable housing and provide greater opportunities for people to age in place. Accessibility to Readling also includes communication with elected leaders. “People should know and be able to identify and have access to the people who are leaders in their community,” Readling said. While COVID-19 has considerably strained finances for the village of Oak Park, Readling does not plan to limit funding for social services if elected president. When asked how the village would be able to continue paying for social services, Readling said Oak Park is in a better financial position than it seems. “Just like the state of Illinois is not really broke and Cook County is not really broke, Oak Park is not really broke,” she said. Readling said if properly budgeted for, the village has the money to continue and expand social services. She also supports the statewide “Fair Tax” amendment, a graduated-rate tax based on income. That amendment will be on the Nov. 3 ballot. “We will not be able to fix any of the problems that we have at the state level, which dictates what our property taxes are in many, many ways – particularly as it relates to education, unless we get this Fair Tax referendum passed,” Readling said. Among those to endorse Readling is Bob Downs, a former state legislator and former president of the Illinois Bar Association, has endorsed Readling as well. Downs is also the former long-time chair of the board of Wednesday Journal, Inc.
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Library adds virtual offerings
212 S Marion Street Fl G Oak Park, IL 60302 708-383-3163 materials, according to Seleb. Digital material usageBus: “As long as we’re limiting access to the www.colinfane.com building, I think we’re going to continue to skyrockets see people needing9am-5pm and wanting to use digiMonday & Friday tal materials at a higher rate than they used By STACEY SHERIDAN Tues/Wed/Thurs 9am-7pm to,” said Seleb. Staff Reporter The9am-12pm Oak Park Main Library is open for Saturday
The Oak Park Public Library has in- limited visits Mondays through Saturdays troduced a variety of digital and virtual from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., with 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. programming to engage patrons while the reserved for those patrons at high risk of libraries continue to operate at a limited in- contracting COVID-19. Everyone must wear masks or face coverings. No more than 120 person capacity due to COVID-19. “The community’s satisfaction with those people, including staff, are allowed in the services has been very, very high for the last main library at one time and no more than several months,” said Oak Park Public Li- 40 people per floor. brary Executive Director David Seleb. “People are not allowed to reserve any of Some of the virtual programming the li- our reading or study spaces,” said Seleb. brary offers includes adult improvisation Oak Park Public Library staff have reclasses, convermoved most of the chairs, tables and other sation hours for furniture in the main library to encourage those learning to people to limit the amount of time they speak English and spend there. French, and trivia The Oak Park Public Library’s other two for teens and kids, branches — Dole and Maze — are still temamong many othporarily closed and will remain so until the ers. River Forest COVID-19 pandemic subsides. There have Public Library ofbeen no discussions changing the branch fers Zoom knitting State Farmlibrary system, according to Seleb. and cross-stitching Bloomington,“We IL have not had any discussions at all hours, book clubs, about permanently closing the branches,” 2001290 DAVID SELEB kids craft times he said, responding to conExecutive Director and art classes. cerns expressed by some At the onset of library users. the COVID-19 panSeleb does not expect the demic in March, the Oak Park library will have any dislibrary closed its branches cussions about closing the and shifted to a completely Dole and Maze branches digital and virtual model. In and said the branches are June, the library began cironly closed on a temporary culating physical books and basis. magazines again; however, The Oak Park Public Lidigital materials. continued brary intends to reopen the to be quite popular. branches when it is safe to “In the year 2019, the averresume services and has age monthly usage of digital continued to employ Maze materials was about 18,700 and Dole staff throughout materials per month,” said the closure, according to Seleb. Starting March of 2020, Seleb. the monthly average rose to “No one has been laid off over 30,000 digital materials. or furloughed.” “June and July, it was over Some members of Oak Park Public Li36,000 items in each of those months,” said Seleb. “In the months of April and May, it brary staff have returned to work at the main branch to provide in-person services, was over 40,000 in each.” Digital materials include audio books, while others continue to work remotely, fae-books, e-magazines, music and movies. cilitating virtual programming and making While the Oak Park library has yet to get the home deliveries. The Oak Park community has responded check-out numbers for the month of August, very favorably to the extended digital and Seleb predicts they will be just as high. “I expect it to still be high because I think virtual services the library has begun prothat a lot of patrons who may never have viding, according to Seleb. In May and June, been digital or virtual users before discov- the Oak Park Public Library sent out a satisered a lot of those materials since March,” faction survey. Over 1,000 people responded and the results, he said, were very favorable. said Seleb. “We’re really happy to see those responses Those patrons, Seleb believes, may have perhaps become long-term digital and vir- and are just reassured that our response to tual users. Even though people can pick the pandemic and how we’re providing serup physical materials again or have them vices is being well received by the commudropped off, many feel safer using digital nity.”
“As long as we’re limiting access to the building, I think we’re going to continue to see people needing and wanting to use digital materials at a higher rate than they used to.”
Wednesday Journal, August 26, 2020
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Wednesday Journal, August 26, 2020
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The basics of voting, especially by mail
What to do, what you’ll need, and who to contact By MICHAEL ROMAIN Staff Reporter
The Nov. 3 Presidential Election will be an unprecedented election in U.S. history, with many people forced to rely on mail-in voting to cast their ballots just as the U.S. Postal Service is being pushed into a state of disarray by the Trump administration. Here is some basic information about voting by mail that may ease some of those concerns:
How do I register to vote? You can register to vote online, in person or through the mail. The deadline for registering in person and through the mail is Oct. 6. The deadline for online registration is Oct. 18. You can also register to vote on Election Day, but only at your home precinct, which is the place where you’re assigned to vote based on your residency.
But what about voting by mail? You can register to vote by mail by going online to the Cook County Clerk’s website at cookcountyclerk.com/agency/vote-mail. All you need is your driver’s license, state ID and/ or the last four digits of your Social Security
number; the address where you want your ballot mailed; and your email address. If you don’t have access to the internet, you may request a mail ballot by emailing mail.voting@ cookcountyil.gov or by calling 312-603-0946. Once you complete your vote-by-mail application, you should receive an official mail ballot “no more than 40 days and no less than 30 days before the election,” according to the Cook County Clerk’s website. Note that applications for mail ballots are available in at least 12 different languages. If you don’t receive a mail ballot within that time period or if you have questions, email mail.voting@cookcountyil.gov or call 312-603-0946. You can also check the status of your mail ballot by visiting: https://www. cookcountyclerk.com/service/your-voterinformation. Your ballot “must be postmarked no later than Election Day and received at the Cook County Clerk’s office within 14 days after Election Day,” the clerk explains.
What if I’m anxious about mailing my ballot? You actually don’t have to put your ballot in the mail if you don’t want to. Those who applied for mail ballots will start receiving them by Sept. 24, according to the clerk’s office. You’ll get a postage-paid return envelope if you want to mail the ballot and the clerk is urging voters to do that as early as possible once they receive their ballots.
But if you want to avoid the mail, you can take your ballot to a secure drop-box that will be located in at least 50 early voting sites across Cook County. The drop-off hours will be from 8:30 a.m. to 7 p.m., Monday through Friday; and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekends. “Mail ballots will be collected on a daily basis and will be time stamped,” the clerk’s office explains. Drop-boxes for mail ballots will be available starting Oct. 9, at 69 W. Washington St. in Chicago, and at the five regional courthouses in suburban Cook County, including the Maywood Courthouse, 1500 Maybrook Dr. In Maywood. Drop-boxes will be available at all early voting sites — including Oak Park Village Hall — starting Oct. 19.
When, if ever, will I need ID? You only need an Illinois driver’s license or a state ID to register online or in person before Election Day. In order to register to vote in person on Election Day, you need two pieces of ID, one of which must show your current address. You may be asked to show ID if an Election Judge challenges your right to vote (i.e., if you’re voting at a precinct on Election Day that is different from your home precinct). But even if you can’t show ID at that exact moment, you can still cast what’s called a Provisional Ballot, which is a bal-
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Oak Park & River Forest Townships
This was developed and funded in whole and or part, by grants from the Office of National Drug Control Policy and Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. The views, opinions, and content of this publication are those of the authors and contributors, and do not necessarily reflect the views, opinions, or policies of ONDCP, SAMHSA, or HHS, and should not be construed as such.
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lot that doesn’t get counted until you prove your eligibility. For more information on when ID is needed and when it isn’t, visit: cookcountyclerk. com/service/when-voters-do-and-dontneed-identification-id.
What’s the difference between a mail ballot and an absentee ballot? An absentee ballot is a mail ballot cast by someone who can’t vote in person. In Illinois, there’s functionally no difference between the two.
How can I work on Election Day? Election judges and polling-place technicians — who are responsible for directing voters to their election machines, setting the machines up and making sure they run smoothly — get paid between $200 and $365. You can learn more about the positions or apply to work in them by going to: https://www.cookcountyclerk.com/agency/ election-judges. You can also email Elect. Judge@cookcountyil.gov or call 312-6030965.
I went to prison. Can I vote? Yes, if you’re a formerly incarcerated individual, you can vote in Illinois. You can also vote from jail while you’re awaiting trial, since you haven’t been convicted of a crime.
Wednesday Journal, August 26, 2020
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Community Foundation extends COVID grant reach in 3rd round The Oak Park-River Forest Community Foundation (OPRFCF) has made a third round of Rapid Response and Recovery Fund grants, totaling $200,000 for 18 area nonprofits. The grants provide funds to social impact organizations that are on the front lines providing daily, ongoing support to the community’s most vulnerable members during the COVID-19 pandemic, including the elderly, the economically at-risk and those with health concerns. “Oak Park, River Forest and our neighboring communities are still fighting the effects of COVID-19, and help is still needed,” said Donna Myers, chair of the foundation board. “We remain committed to supporting organizations that are providing relief to atrisk populations, especially those addressing mental health, rental assistance due to unemployment, and food security.” The following organizations were awarded grants in the latest round: ■ Animal Care League ■ Awake ■ Beyond Hunger ■ BUILD, Inc. ■ CBS Food Pantry ■ Collaboration for Early Childhood ■ Farmworker and Landscaper Advocacy Project (FLAP) ■ HEPH Foundation ■ Housing Forward ■ Larry Boys School Program ■ Oak Park Area Arts Council ■ Oak Park Education Foundation ■ Oak Park Homelessness Coalition ■ Pro Bono Network ■ SisterHouse ■ Sweet Rest ■ Thrive Counseling Center ■ YEMBA, Inc. “The pandemic has further highlighted the inequities that exist in western Cook County and beyond,” said Tony Martinez, Jr., president and CEO of OPRFCF. “In the
latest round of grants from the Rapid Response and Recovery Fund we are trying to be responsive to needs not just in Oak ParkRiver Forest but the greater west side. Our community is not an island, and the challenges faced by our neighbors affect us in both direct and indirect ways.” The organizations receiving grants in the latest round are based in or serve Berwyn, Cicero, Maywood, Elmwood Park,
Forest Park, Oak Park, Stickney and Chicago neighborhoods including Austin, Galewood, Lawndale, Hermosa and more. Several grantees are receiving funds from the foundation for the first time. The Rapid Response and Recovery Fund has received a total of $670,000 since it was launched in mid-March with a seed investment of $50,000 from the foundation. The foundation then matched dollar to dollar the first $100,000 in donations. In May, longtime Oak Parkers Ken and Patty Hunt offered a challenge to match donations, dollar for dollar up to $250,000. Today, more than 300 individual, family and corporate donors have risen to this challenge, donating an additional $270,000 toward this vital effort. The fund also received $250,000 from the Illinois COVID-19 Response Fund, bringing a total of $920,000 in much-needed resources to our region. “We want to thank the Hunts for their generosity, as well as the hundreds of donors who have shown their support as the foundation responds to the local demands of this global health crisis,” Martinez said. “It’s important to note that the Hunt family are still matching donations toward this vital effort.” To donate to the Rapid Response and Recovery Fund, visit www.oprfcf.org/rapidresponse-recovery-fund or call 708-848-1560. In addition, proceeds from this year’s annual LemonAid charity drive will be donated to the Rapid Response and Recovery Fund. Since its founding in 2002 by the residents of the 700 block of Bonnie Brae in River Forest in response to the 9-11 attacks, LemonAid has raised more than $180,000 for local nonprofits. This year’s event will be virtual, and more information can be found at 9-11lemonaid.com. Organizations interested in learning more about the Rapid Response and Recovery grants should contact program director Elizabeth Chadri at echadri@oprfcf. org. The foundation’s priority at this stage is specifically for organizations serving the Oak Park-River Forest and surrounding communities’ most vulnerable populations: those who are food-insecure or lack permanent housing, as well as our senior population and healthcare workers. Grants will continue to be distributed on a rolling basis as long as funding remains available.
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Wednesday Journal, August 26, 2020
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Need a helping of
Driver in fatal crash charged with four counts of reckless homicide Vehicle was traveling at over 90 mph on Harlem Ave. By MARIA MAXHAM Contributing Reporter
Call Jill at (708) 524-8300 or visit OakPark.com/ subscribe
Betsaid Isidro, a 19-year old from Chicago, has been charged with four counts of reckless homicide after the car he was driving crashed into the Harlem Avenue side of Starbucks, 7201 Lake St., on Aug. 9 at 12:48 a.m., killing the four passengers inside the vehicle. These charges were approved by the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Felony Review Unit after it was determined Isidro was driving at a speed in excess of 90 MPH prior to the crash. He was also charged and cited for speeding 35+ MPH over the speed limit as well as “numerous” other Illinois Vehicle Code violations, including driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs, according to a press release from the village of River Forest on Aug. 21. Isidro was issued a $4 million bond by a Cook County judge. The four passengers in the car at the time died, two on the scene and two at Loyola Hospital after succumbing to their injuries. According to the medical examiner, the deceased are Javier Martinez (20), Wendy Salgado (20), Christian Isidro (21) and Astrid
Reyes (19). Isidro was transported to Gottlieb Hospital after the crash for non-life-threatening injuries. The investigation into the crash revealed that an altercation between the occupants of Isidro’s vehicle and another vehicle took place at a gas station on the 2100 block of Harlem Avenue in Elmwood Park. Both vehicles left that gas station at a high rate of speed, travelling south on Harlem Avenue until Isidro lost control and struck Starbucks. The other vehicle continued to drive southbound on Harlem Avenue, but investigators learned the identity of the driver, Jeffry Estrada, a 19-year-old from Chicago. He was arrested and taken into custody on Aug. 18 and charged with reckless driving, speeding 35+ MPH over the speed limit, and “numerous other Illinois Vehicle Code violations,” according to the press release. “This was an extremely tragic and unnecessary event, which resulted in the loss of four young adults,” said River Forest Chief of Police James O’Shea in the release. “Speed and other reckless actions do kill and I would ask the motoring public to follow state traffic laws and exercise caution on our roadways. Our thoughts and prayers go out to all of the families, friends, and any others impacted by this heartbreaking incident.”
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Betsaid Isidro (left) was charged with four counts of reckless homicide after the car he was driving crashed into a Starbucks on Harlem Avenue, killing the four passengers inside. Jeffry Estrada (right) was driving another vehicle traveling over 90 mph at the time.
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Wednesday Journal, August 26, 2020
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Feed your soul with hyper local honey at Kettlestrings
Community collaboration brings bee boss and chef together in trio of dishes By MELISSA ELSMO Oak Park Eats Editor
Bee boss and Oak Park resident, Debbie Becker, began keeping bees on her property in 2012 after learning how to manage hives through a volunteer experience at Chicago’s Garfield Park Conservatory. She worked to change the local ordinance allowing for bees to be kept on private property before establishing her backyard hives. Today, approximately 100, 000 honeybees call her yard home. “If you see any honeybees flying around Oak Park, it’s probably one of mine,” said Becker. Becker, who also manages the honeybee hives kept at the Oak Park Public Library, is sensitive to the importance of protecting native bee populations. Differing from the bees in her hives, native bees are solitary, stingless ground-dwellers and their populations are declining. Honeybees can only support the essential efforts of these efficient native pollinators. Honeybees are the “gate-way” insect according to Becker and she was hooked on managing her hives well before the native bee movement took hold. Although she checks the hives for evidence of a queen and treats her bee population for mites annually, she considers herself a “hands-off beekeeper.” Rather than manipulate the hives for maximal production she prefers to limit extraneous hive management and let nature take its course. Even without doing much to encourage her bees, honey extractions have kept Becker unusually busy this summer. The duo of hives produced a whopping 13 gallons of honey—at 12 pounds per gallon Becker’s bees have yielded 156 pounds of honey in a single season. Becker notes the honey is lighter in color than in years past. With such an excess of sweetness to share, Becker reached out to her neighbor, Kettlestrings, the new restaurant at 800 S. Oak Park Ave., to offer their chef a gallon of honey for use in the restaurant. “Debbie reached out and she lives right around the corner, so we thought it’d be a great opportunity to meet more of our neighbors,” said Rob Guenthner, Kettlestrings co-owner. “To be totally honest, we didn’t even know how popular Debbie and her bees were when she made us this great offer.” Guenther and his business partners are all Oak Park residents raising their families in the community -- they established Kettlestrings with the intention of being a hyperlocal community hub. He and his partners are natural collaborators and his chef, Mike Gussis, is creative in the kitchen. Kettlestrings’ bartenders are always eager to create new drinks. “Chef is a real artist; he’s been asking me for bee pollen to work with,” said Becker. “If you can feed your soul with honey, you’re good.” Inspired by the honey harvest, Chef Gussis, created a duo of dishes using the hyper-local sweetener. The first honey offering is used in a savory entrée application. Gussis’ sweet and spicy steak frites features Becker’s honey infused chimichurri, red wine reduction and three chili crema. For dessert Kettlestrings is offering a plum crostada made with handmade pie crust, plum compote, honey whipped ricotta. Kettlestrings bartenders have used Becker’s honey to craft syrups for use in a variety of drinks. Notably, the Golden Kettle is a lemonade-based bourbon cocktail made with honey infused simple syrup. “You know, I never would’ve thought about a honey collaboration, said Katie Ashton, Kettlestings co-owner and Guenther’s wife. “We started with the local breweries like Kinslahger, but I hope this [process of collaboration] keeps
ALEX ROGALS/Staff Photographer
A SWEET BUZZ: A collaboration between Deb Becker, a local beekeeper, and Rob Guenthner and Katie Ashton, owners of Kettlestrings, a new restaurant at 800 S. Oak Park Ave., has resulted in several new dishes and drinks using Becker’s hyper-local sweetener. growing year-over-year.” Kettlestrings opened just days before COVID-19 shuttered restaurant dining rooms throughout Chicagoland and Becker, who also hosts Airbnb guests in her home, was sensitive to the timing of the restaurant’s opening. “My guests love walking over to Kettlestrings and I love having it there,” said Becker. “They opened at a terrible time and I wanted to support them by offering them something unique to attract local interest.” Kettlestrings has been doing a robust patio and carryout business, but the owners do have some concerns about
sustaining their business when the weather turns cold. To compensate, the young business is looking into tents and tabletop heaters to combat the forthcoming chill. “This type of collaboration is just one of those things that I really love about Oak Park. I mean a restaurant doesn’t work in a pandemic without the community rallying behind it,” said Ashton. “We’ve been blown away by how many people have gone out of their way to support us.” Editor’s note: Deb Becker is a long-time staff member at Wednesday Journal where she is an editorial and ad designer.
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Wednesday Journal, August 26, 2020
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Answer Book 2020
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OPRF Chamber of Commerce Community Guide & Membership Directory
Everything Oak Park & River Forest Read and referenced by thousands of local residents throughout the year, the Answer Book is filled with a host of useful listings and phone numbers, including the full Chamber of Commerce membership directory. It also comes with loads of unusual, un-Googleable local factoids, photos and info-graphics. Buying an ad in Answer Book will give year-round exposure to your business, heighten your name awareness and build your local brand.
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Wednesday Journal, August 26, 2020
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C R I M E
UPS driver robbed at gunpoint Three men and an unknown fourth person robbed a UPS delivery driver at 1:21 p.m., Aug. 21 in the 1100 block of Highland Avenue. The offenders, at least one of them armed, approached and ordered the victim to get on the ground. Two of the offenders then removed packages from the UPS vehicle. The offenders fled the scene in a silver Kia. Chicago police arrested one of the offenders later that day. Darius Young, 24, of Berwyn was arrested for the robbery at 6:50 p.m. in the 5200 block of West Polk Street in Chicago. Chicago police turned Young over to Oak Park police for further prosecution. Police described two of the offenders as Black and of average height. The first was wearing a face mask, dark hooded sweatshirt and light-colored jeans. The second offender was described as being of medium build and wearing dark blue sweatpants with white stripes, a royal blue hooded sweatshirt and a facemask. Police described the third offender as Black, taller and of heavier build, wearing a facemask, dark blue sweatpants with white stripes and a dark blue hooded sweatshirt.
Armed robbery
■ A man carrying a firearm approached two people and demanded their property on Aug. 20 in the 1150 block of South Euclid Avenue, Oak Park. The offenders reportedly stole $20 from both victims and fled in a dark vehicle driven by an unknown person. ■ A man displaying a handgun approached a man at 9:27 p.m. on Aug. 20 in the 1150 block of Home Avenue, demanded his property and then reached into the victim’s pocket and took his gray Apple iPhone 11 Pro. A total estimated loss of $1,000.
Vehicular hijacking ■ A person brandishing a firearm approached a man at 9:40 p.m. on Aug. 20 in the 1100 block of Lyman Avenue, demanded his property and then took his wallet and the key fob to his 2011 Mercedes E350. The offender fled the scene in the victim’s vehicle. The estimated loss is $20,520. The vehicle was later recovered by Chicago police in the 5200 block of West Polk Street in Chicago. ■ Two offenders approached a woman in her vehicle at 1:41 p.m. on Aug. 21 in the 1200 block of North Lombard Av-
Student injured in hit-and-run An Oak Park and River Forest High School student was injured in a hit-and-run at around 2:44 p.m., Sunday, Aug. 16 at 746 S. Ridgeland Ave. The Oak Park Police Department is investigating the incident but were unable to provide further details due to the victim’s status as a minor. The student and the student’s father declined to speak with Wednesday Journal, but according to a GoFundMe account set up to help pay the student’s medical bills, the student’s ankles were broken and suffered a head injury with a concussion as a result of the accident. To preserve the victim’s privacy, Wednesday Journal has opted not to publish a link to the GoFundMe page, which was started by a fellow OPRF student who also declined to speak on the record.
Stacey Sheridan
enue and demanded she exit the vehicle, as a man pointed a firearm at her. The two offenders then entered the victim’s black 2016 Volkswagen Tiguan and were last seen driving east on North Avenue.
Burglary
■ Someone entered an unlocked vehicle at 5:27 a.m. on Aug. 19 in the 7100 block of Roosevelt Road and took miscellaneous items and a brown Louis Vuitton wallet that contained two silver bracelets. The estimated loss is $2,700. ■ Someone entered a residence through an unlocked front door between 1 and 6 a.m. on Aug. 23 in the 1000 block of Wesley Avenue and took the keys to a vehicle, a black bag containing a Surface laptop and a Lenovo laptop and a purse containing wallet, cash and cards. The estimated loss is $1,700.
Motor vehicle theft Someone took a red 2003 Dodge Caravan parked in the 1100 block of Washington Boulevard between 2 p.m. on Aug. 15 and 8 a.m. on Aug. 17. Chicago police recovered the vehicle on the night of Aug. 18 in the 1600 block of South Kedvale Avenue.
Theft
Man shot in robbery attempt
Victim in stable condition By STACEY SHERIDAN Staff Reporter
A man is in stable condition after being shot twice running from a masked man who intended to rob him Aug. 18. The masked man approached the victim from behind
in the 300 block of Clinton Avenue and tried to remove the victim’s property at 11:42 p.m., Aug. 18. When the victim began to run away, the masked man discharged a firearm striking the victim in his thigh and his shoulder. According to police reports, an ambulance transported the victim, who is in stable condition, to Loyola Medical Center. The victim was unable to provide any further description of the assailant to police.
Someone took a delivered package containing various items of Ricchezza clothing from the secured vestibule of a building in the 1000 block of North Boulevard between 9:17 a.m. and 4 p.m. on Aug. 17. The estimated loss is $970. These items, obtained from the Oak Park Police Department, came from reports Aug. 17-24 and represent a portion of the incidents to which police responded. Anyone named in these reports has only been charged with a crime and cases have not yet been adjudicated. We report the race of a suspect only when a serious crime has been committed, the suspect is still at large, and police have provided us with a detailed physical description of the suspect as they seek the public’s help in making an arrest.
Compiled by Stacey Sheridan
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Wednesday Journal, August 26, 2020
OAKPARK.COM | RIVERFOREST.COM
RESOLUTION
Reforming police oversight from page 1 Oak Park must “engage in efforts to defund the Oak Park Police department and redistribute those funds towards social services.” “We are not having the right conversations at the board table,” Walker-Peddakotla said. “The stuff that we are doing is the bare minimum that the public has called for.” Walker-Peddakotla said that the board is “unwilling” to have the “hard conversations” surrounding why the village pays so much for policing. The resolution also dictates that the village of Oak Park must “reduce unnecessary and often racially-motivated and harmful contact between Black and Latinx people and Oak Park police.” The resolution calls for decreasing the amount spent on policing by reducing the number of sworn officers during the budget cycle of fiscal year 2021 and commit to making further reductions in future budget cycles. The resolution does not specify a funding target. “In the resolution, you won’t see defund by X amount or by X number of police officers,” said Walker-Peddakotla. Walker-Peddakotla wants the resolution to start the conversation regarding how much to defund by and when, so
LEARNING
New approach to STEM from page 1 super-inspired by the experience. It was virtual, but they did an incredible job of making it interactive. It had the benefit of modern technology and innovation with the high level of engagement that project-based learning provides.” “We had these kits we could assemble that helped us learn about different things, different facts about things like harnessing energy, and hydro and wind power,” said Caroline. Makesha Benson, co-president of the Oak Park Diversity Council, whose 10-year-old daughter Lucy participated in the Heph Ed summer program, said the Conners have “cracked the code in bringing kids creative, smart ways to learn that are engaging. “They’ve been able to transcend traditional learning and engage students in ways that are super-fun,” Benson said, adding that Lucy also got to know and engage with kids across D97 through the program. Her daughter has ADHD and struggles with traditional learning, but the Heph Ed program taught her executive functioning skills. Benson lauded the program’s ability to engage the most vulnerable students. “Through my work in the community as an equity advocate, I know some of the struggles kids can have and I believe they’ve figured out how to engage students in ways that I don’t think traditional education can,” she said. “We have to engage them in
staff can begin researching a plan to carry out cuts. The resolution also calls on the village to rescind ordinances and laws that could be used to unfairly target Black and Latinx youth and to acknowledge harm done by policing by enacting a memorial day for victims of police violence. “We know that in Oak Park Black youth get unfairly targeted,” said Walker-Peddakotla. “There is data to show this.” The number of emails from citizens in favor of defunding the police sent to the board of trustees greatly exceeds the number of emails from those who oppose actions to defund, according to Walker-Peddakotla. “We’ve recently received over 150 emails at the village board email in favor of this,” said Walker-Peddakotla. The board has received fewer than 10 emails from people not in favor of defunding, she said. “Most people in our community already know what defunded police looks like,” Walker-Peddakotla said. The argument that the crime rate makes funding police necessary, Walker-Peddakotla called a “false notion,” as is using perpetrator statistics. “That is a very racialized way of saying, ‘Well, it’s always Black people that commit crime,’” she said. The resolution also calls for removing any funding for a new police station from the village’s 2021 capital improvement plan. It would also commit to amending the section of village code dictating the responsibilities of the Citizen Police Oversight Committee (CPOC) to give to make the committee “truly independent, empowered and transpar-
ways that are more personal and that fascinates and interests them.” Heph Ed Incredicamp was founded by Steve Conner and his wife Sheila Conner roughly six years ago to address a growing problem in the United States — young people have been avoiding careers in science, engineering, technology and math. “We realized that, somewhere around the seventh to the 10th grades, there’s a massive fall-off [in interest] because kids find STEM boring,” said Steve, 58. “They certainly use technology quite a bit — we’re really big on consuming these things — but in terms of going into the field and building things ourselves? Not so much.” According to the National Foundation for American Policy, roughly eight in 10 graduate students in the U.S. attending school fulltime in electrical engineering, computer science and industrial engineering are foreign nationals. “A lot of our kids weren’t necessarily going into STEM or STEAM, and that was really concerning,” Steve said. The Conners recognized that something simple was missing from STEAM education in America — pure fun. “The crux of the matter is, this is boring stuff, at least the way it’s taught,” Steve said. So the couple, who once owned a film production company in New York before moving to Oak Park in 2004, set out to make hard subjects like math and science entertaining. Young people learn about distance, speed and force by playing football. High school students are taught immunology through a video game. Middle-schoolers learn engineering concepts through online conversations with an expert who leads a team of engineers building Formula One race cars.
Oak Park Trustee Arti Walker-Peddakotla ent.” The resolution calls on the board of trustees to uphold and enact the ideals laid out in the Oak Park Equity, Inclusion and Diversity statement. “If that is our moral compass,” Walker-Peddakotla said, “our budget needs to be realigned to fit that moral compass.”
The engagement may very well be the future of remote learning, and Oak Park residents could be in the vanguard of that pedagogical shift, the couple believes. “Our neighborhood and the surrounding neighborhoods are the microcosm of the U.S.,” Steve said. “If we can accomplish this here, we can be a model for the rest of the country.” The Conners said that before the pandemic, they would facilitate their unique curricula within schools in districts 97 and 200, and during popup venues, such as the popup coding shop that materialized in the Hemingway District last year. “Now, because of COVID-19, we are 100 percent virtual, but we also incorporate offscreen time, so the kids have challenges and scavenger hunts that they have to do that take them off screen,” said Sheila, 57. The Conners said Heph Ed Incrediverse has four employees on staff, with about 15 people on board for the summer camp they facilitated in partnership with D97. Many of those employees, they said, conduct online courses from all over the world. They said their New York film production and marketing businesses were models for how they currently operate Heph Ed. “When we were running our other businesses, we were early adapters of off-site employees,” Steve said. “One of our lead designers lives in a van powered by the sun, and it’s filled with computer equipment. He’s physically out and about beside some lake or mountainous area and that’s how he’s working. So we found for the last 15 years that having a virtual work environment is really advantageous.” The Conners said those early businesses also formed the basis for their approach to
adapting technology to their needs. “Think about all the technology that goes into visual effects and what happens inside film production,” Steve said. “Back in New York, we had a company of about 15 employees. We had a room filled with 18-, 19- and 20-year-olds building computers. We were engineers out of necessity and because of that, we pretty much wound up building everything from computers to video games.” “Our motto is, ‘Can we build it in the basement?’” Sheila said. It’s a fitting motto, considering the “Heph” in Ed comes from Hephaestus, the Greek god of tools and weapons. The Conners said they want to make learning about technology frictionless — even if it means creating their own custom-made computers. The couple said they’re in conversations with D97 administrators about fall programming and are also working with families who are forming what are called pandemic learning pods, or small groups of students who go through online learning together, similar to an in-person classroom, but only remotely. The Conners said they’ve had discussions with eight pods in the area. And the demand for Heph Ed could become even more intense as remote learning becomes part of the new pandemic norm in education. “The key for us is how we can create curious mindsets and growth mindsets,” Steve said. “This is a new pedagogy that unlocks their mindsets and suspends their disbelief. We play around with technology and experiment with chemistry and read graphic novels, [and students] come out on the other side believing they are engineers and chemists and scientists.”
CONTACT: michael@oakpark.com
Wednesday Journal, August 26, 2020
OAKPARK.COM | RIVERFOREST.COM
JUST LISTED
407 KENILWORTH, OAK PARK $2,000,000 :: 6 BED :: 4.5+ BATH Fabulous renovated Victorian with coach house & pool.
MOVE-IN READY
JUST LISTED
900 FRANKLIN, RIVER FOREST
7204 IOWA, RIVER FOREST
$749,000 :: 4 BED :: 3.5 BATH Brick Colonial home. New kitchen & baths.
$574,900 :: 3 BED :: 2.5 BATH
Dutch Colonial. Great home!
KATHY & TONY IWERSEN 708.772.8040 708.772.8041 tonyiwersen@atproperties.com
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Wednesday Journal, August 26, 2020
OAKPARK.COM | RIVERFOREST.COM
WE’RE BY YOUR SIDE 401 N Cuyler Ave Oak Park | $725,000 Mary Carlin
1204 Rossell Ave Oak Park | $575,000 Swati Saxena & Cathy Yanda
1201 N Ridgeland Ave Oak Park | $545,000 Sandra Dita Lopez
101 N Euclid Ave, Unit 28 Oak Park | $539,000 Hughes Home Team
17 Forest Ave River Forest | $494,900 Patricia McGowan
111 Bishop Quarter Lane Oak Park | $395,000 Hughes Home Team
1014 Hayes Ave Oak Park | $389,900 Bobbi Eastman
170 N Marion St, Unit 4 Oak Park | $369,000 Bethanny Alexander
2715 Clinton Ave Berwyn | $318,000 Sandra Dita Lopez
300 N Oak Park Ave, Unit 1 Oak Park | $314,900 Roberta Ruiz
324 N Marion St, Unit 2N Oak Park | $289,000 Sheila Price
7228 Washington St, Unit B Forest Park | $284,000 Maya Puentes
812 North Blvd, Unit 202 Oak Park | $259,000 Mary Carlin
164 N Humphrey Ave, #3S Oak Park | $259,000 Catherine Simon-Vobornik
716 Portsmouth Ave Westchester | $235,000 Annette Shelton
6 Division St Oak Park | $235,000 Swati Saxena
1104 S Humphrey Ave Oak Park | $230,000 Roman Lewis
715 Washington Blvd, #2D Oak Park | $225,000 Bethanny Alexander
7753 Van Buren St, #205 Forest Park | $199,999 Steve Green
213 N Marion St, #1C Oak Park | $148,000 Cathy Yanda
Baird & Warner Oak Park/River Forest | 1037 Chicago Ave. Oak Park, IL 60302 | 708.697.5900 | oakpark.bairdwarner.com Source: BrokerMetrics® LLC, 1/1/2019 - 12/ 31/2019Detached and Attached only. Chicagoland PMSA
Wednesday Journal, August 26, 2020
19
Homes
NEED TO REACH US?
oakpark.com/real-estate email: buphues@wjinc.com
Using history as a template A new, traditional kitchen in a house built by beer By LACEY SIKORA
T
Contributing Reporter
he Edward and Emma Stege House on South Elmwood Avenue in Oak Park was built in 1916 of sturdy red brick. Edward Stege, along with his two brothers, ran Chicago’s E.R. Stege Brewing Company, which was founded by their father. Current owners Jennifer and Bob Hall learned a lot about the history of the Stege family through a book, which includes an entire chapter devoted to the family home at 307 S. Elmwood Ave. In that chapter, C.E. Stege recalls growing up in the house on Elmwood with his sister and three brothers. The home was built at a cost of $14,000 and provided years of enjoyment for the family. Stege recalled a prohibition basement with rooms for both wine and beer making. Another source of family fun
Photo by Michael Scarpelli
FITTING IN: Jennifer and Bob Hall’s Oak Park home was blessed to have much of its original interior detailing intact -except for the kitchen. Now they have a kitchen that looks like it might have been designed for the 1916 original home. was the laundry chute. Leading from the attic to the basement, the children often lowered smaller siblings down the chute on a rope. When Jennifer and Bob Hall purchased the home 16 years ago, they fell in love with the stately interiors, which included detailed wood and plaster work. While most of the home retained the grand Georgian details that were originally designed for the Stege family, there was one part of the house that didn’t fit in: the kitchen. “It was a 1970s remodel, and it was small,” said Bob Hall. “It’s the only part of the home that was not historic.” When the couple was ready to tackle the project, they interviewed a handful of designers but didn’t have to go far. They immediately loved the design ideas of kitchen designer Denise Hauser, who happens to live just a block away. The couple says Hauser was the designer who really understood the context of the project. “Denise was great at picking up the historic details of the
house,” Bob said. “A lot of the others had their own models and dropped them into the house. Denise picked up on the details like the dark mahogany, the colors and even the inset molding in our dining room.” Jennifer chimed in, “The kitchen has all the modern amenities, but it almost feels original. The rest of the home is this beautiful, historic space, but the kitchen was so dinky. Denise really understood how to make this a reality. When you walk into the house now and get a view into the kitchen, it flows.” For Hauser, that is the highest compliment. “Some people have come in and asked if parts are original,” Hauser said. “It really does blend in with the house.” For several years, Hauser said the trend in kitchens was leaning towards modern designs. She found fewer and fewer clients looking for kitchens that tied into their historic See TEMPLATE on page 21
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Wednesday Journal, August 26, 2020
OAKPARK.COM | RIVERFOREST.COM
Generations of Excellence since 1958
708.771.8040 • 7375 W. North Ave., River Forest DonnaAvenue Barnhisel 7375 West North Dan Bogojevich MANAGING Anne Brennan River Forest, Illinois 60305 BROKER/OWNERS Karen Byrne Calkins 708.771.8040 Kevin Tom Carraher Andy Gagliardo
Tom Poulos
Pat Cesario Joe Cibula
Don Citrano Alisa Coghill Kay Costello Maria Cullerton Julie Downey Kurt Fielder Yvonne Fiszer-Steele Ramona Fox
Laura Gancer Lisa Grimes Dan Halperin Sharon Halperin Greg Jaroszewski Vee Jaroszewski Noa Klima Jack Lattner
Iris McCormick Vince McFadden Elizabeth Moroney Colleen Navigato John Pappas Rosa Pitassi Sue Ponzio-Pappas Jenny Ruland
Laurel Saltzman Laurie Shapiro Tom Sullivan Debbie Watts George Wohlford Nancy Wohlford Randy Ernst • 773-290-0307
815 JACKSON • RIVER FOREST OPEN SUNDAY 13
221 KEYSTONE • RIVER FOREST OPEN SUNDAY 13
1004 COLUMBIAN • OAK PARK OPEN SUNDAY 1112:30
414 WISCONSIN UNIT A • OAK PARK OPEN SUNDAY 13
STATELY SOUTHERN COLONIAL blends old world craftsmanship with elegant modern updates ideally located. Grand foyer, elegant LR with fireplace, recently remodeled gourmet kitchen, mudroom, family room, large basement with den/office. Meticulously maintained and ready to move in. ...........$1,650,000
BEAUTIFUL, CLASSIC HOME offers everything for today’s modern living. Custom-built home has the highest quality finishes. No detail was missed. Brick and stone exterior, wrap-around porch, eleven-foot ceilings and oversized windows. LL has 2,000 feet of living area. ........................................................................$1,295,000
MEDITERRANEAN INFLUENCE HOME offers 5 BR’s/2BA’s, 2 story LR with WBFP, beamed ceiling, French doors and original 1920’s terra cotta tiled floor. Dramatic staircase leads upstairs. New finished bsmt. The yard has patio and charming pergola. Tasteful decor found thru-out the house ...........................$519,000
MOVEIN READY townhouse in a highly desirable OP location. First-floor den with radiant heat and built-in storage. Upgrades include dark stained hardwood floors, paint throughout, redone kitchen, redone master bath, walk-in closet, retiled gas fireplace. Attached garage..................................................................$434,000
1446 ASHLAND • RIVER FOREST
LOVELY BRICK HOME offers wonderful space with beautiful views of the spectacular lot! Original details with two story foyer and hardwood floors throughout. This elegant home is beautifully constructed and large enough to accommodate family and friends for years to come..............................................................................................$1,299,000 STUNNING BURMABUILT HOME is an absolute must-see property. You will appreciate the high-quality craftsmanship and sophisticated details throughout, including art glass doors, elegant Palladian Windows, a custom milled cherry mantel, and custom kitchen cabinetry. .........................................................................$1,275,000 MAGNIFICENT CERNY ENGLISH TUDOR is a spacious home that offers quality and stunning details throughout. Bright and open floor plan with great flow of grand sized rooms. Offers 5 bedrooms, 3 full/1 half baths. This home is a rare gem --- vintage flair with exceptional upgrades.............................................................................$1,249,000 ELEGANT CRAFTSMANSHIP can be found throughout this 5 BR French Normandy home. Sophistication is evident from the moment you walk in the door. Impressive foyer, formal LR with fireplace and built-in benches, family room, separate formal DR, updated kitchen, home office. ..................................................................................$1,100,000 ELEGANT HOME located on a picturesque River Forest block! This stately 5 BR, 3 full/2 half bath home includes four floors of living with two finished family rooms, a large study and three fireplaces. Large sun-drenched rooms with elegant cove molding and windows. In-ground outdoor pool. ............................................................... $879,000 GRAND SPRAWLING HOME with an abundance of interior and exterior living areas. 5 BRs, upstairs laundry, 3 full & 1 half BAs, 3 fireplaces, full basement with recreation room. Grand two story family room incorporated into an open plan kitchen. Hardwood floors throughout main level. .................................................................$845,000 CONTEMPORARY HOME with 3 bedrooms, 3-1/2 baths. 1st floor features include an expansive foyer, unique bamboo floors, multi-faced gas fireplace, office, updated kitchen & family room. 2nd FL includes a laundry and office/or nursery. Finished basement. In-ground pool. Great updates.................................................................................. $789,000 BEAUTIFUL BURMA with all the space you need and more! Gracious foyer, separate dining room and living room both with French doors and hardwood floors, sun room, large window lined kitchen, back deck and big yard. 4 large bedrooms, 2 full & 1 half bath, and bonus office space ..........................................................................$629,000
LOVELY SPLITLEVEL HOME offers newly refreshed contemporary style and space. Three bedrooms, three brand new bathrooms, beautiful front entryway, vaulted ceiling family room, sunroom, game room, deck, spectacular backyard, attached two-car gar ....... $599,000 CITY LIVING CONVENIENCE in a charming village atmosphere. This large Cape Cod is not a drive-by. Ten large rooms with four bedrooms, four full baths, and a huge 1st-floor family room with a wet bar. Three-season room, and a kitchen with 42” oak cabinets. ..... $575,000 IMPECCABLY REHABBED, sprawling RF craftsman bungalow. No detail undone. Remodeled kitchen, bathrooms, and basement. Pristine, original woodwork and leaded windows/doors. Professionally landscaped yard with privacy fence and patio. Move right in! $569,000 LOVELY BUNGALOW offers wonderful space for family and entertaining. Original details blend with all current updates. Four BRs and 3 updated full BAs on each level. Kitchen opens to family room. Full finished bsmt, rec rm, laundry area, bar & wine storage.. $569,000 LOVELY CENTER COLONIAL ENTRANCE offers wonderful space! Deep lot, large deck, and original details throughout the home. Features include large living room, sunny sitting room, hardwood floors, updated kitchen, family room, full finished basement, and a two-car garage...............................................................................$448,800
1011 S ELMWOOD • OAK PARK
NE W LISTI NG! EXQUISITE STONE HOME situated on a double lot is the perfect combination of quality, luxurious livability, and functionality. This 4 BR, 3 and ½ bath home offers an elegant foyer, rich hardwood floors, large bay windows, eat-in kitchen, and an expansive yard with in-ground pool, cabana, and patio. .......................$1,098,000
RIVER FOREST HOMES STUNNING CUSTOM BUILT HOME on corner lot. Elegant interior offers fine detail and wonderful space. Impressive foyer, beautiful staircase, serene master suite, two laundry rooms, fully finished LL. Incredible value and luxury from top to bottom! ...................$1,895,000 BURMABUILT BUHRKE HOUSE combines Tudor revival & chateau style architecture elements. Gorgeous décor and impeccable attention to detail and landscaped grounds, fabulous in ground pool and patios. Perfect for entertaining. ........................................ $1,795,000 FRENCH COUNTRY ESTATE built for flexible living. Renovated and expanded to preserve feel, charm of a 1946 home, with all the conveniences of modern amenities and finishes. Private, double lot. Large pool, 5 BRs w/BAs, 2nd Fl laundry, private office, finished basement. ... .........................................................................................................$1,749,950 STUNNING FRENCH NORMANDY house that has been remodeled and refinished from top to bottom. New wiring, plumbing, hvac, all floors, generator, roof work, and more. Just drop in your furniture and enjoy ......................................................................................$1,398,000
OAK PARK HOMES
THREE STORY GRAND VICTORIAN on 100 x 218 lot in heart of the FLW district. This estate features 6 Bedrooms, 2 Full baths, 3 fireplaces, many historic details including double front entry doors sourced from the Historic Pullman Estates section of Chicago. .............$650,000 BEAUTIFUL SIDE ENTRANCE COLONIAL with 4 BRs, 2 full & 1 half baths, spacious family room, cooks’ kitchen with mud room, gas fireplace, built-in shelving & art glass windows. Beautiful woodwork & hdwd floors. Finished LL. Front & back heated walkway ........ $639,000 CLASSIC OAK PARK HOME on large corner lot in Harrison Arts district. Four BR, three BA boasts four levels of living space. Tall ceilings, hardwood floors, vintage leaded glass windows, updated kitchen with breakfast bar. Finished 3rd floor, newly finished basement. ... $549,000 LIMESTONE GEORGIAN with wonderful space! Light-filled rooms, large LR, separate DR/eating area, French doors, three generously sized BRs, 1-1/2 BAs. Full finished basement with extra room. Meticulously maintained yard, two-car garage and two extra spaces...............................................................................................$495,000
Shop for homes online at GagliardoRealty.com
N E W L ISTIN G! TURN KEY LIVING awaits you in the 3 BR, 2 bath ranch all made up and ready to go! All new stainless steel appliances and granite counters highlight the twenty-foot long eat-in kitchen. The expansive finished lower level practically doubles the size of the living space. Two car garage. ............................................. $314,900
BEAUTIFULLY UPDATED 3 BR American Four Square located in the heart of the Arts District in Historic OP! Vintage features include arched entryways, hardwood flooring, art glass windows, sunroom, kit/breakfast rm combo, mud room, refinished backyard deck, fenced yard and two-car garage. ..............................................................$417,900 DUTCH COLONIAL with rehab already started, already gutted. Originally 2 BRs, but now open to new floor plan and added bedrooms and baths. Could be a flip or a great home to live in..................$185,000
CONDOS/TOWNHOMES/2 FLATS PRICE REDUCED RIVER FOREST 3BR, 2-1/2 BA. .........$435,000 RIVER FOREST 2BR, 2BA. Open concept floor plan.............$269,000 PRICE REDUCED RIVER FOREST 2BR, 2BA...................$200,000 OAK PARK 3BR, 2 full/1 half BA. Vintage beauty..................$285,000 OAK PARK 3BR, 2 full/1 half BA. Large BRs/ample closets. .$269,000 OAK PARK 1BR, 1BA. Parking space included. .......................$129,000 PRICE REDUCED OAK PARK 1BR, 1BA. ............................$115,000 NEW LISTING OAK PARK 1BR, 1BA. ....................................$99,900 NEW LISTING FOREST PARK 2BR, 2BA. ..........................$183,500 FOREST PARK 1BR, 1BA. Original woodwork...................... $100,000
Wednesday Journal, August 26, 2020
OAKPARK.COM | RIVERFOREST.COM
TEMPLATE
History lesson from page 19 houses. Hauser, who lives in an old house herself, loved taking inspiration from the past for the Halls’ project. Designing in the formal style of the rest of the house, she combined the small kitchen, butler’s pantry and a back porch to create a 20-by-20-foot kitchen that was inspired by a conservatory from the early 1900s. The home’s original mahogany woodwork inspired the high-gloss mahogany cabinets in the new kitchen. The 10-inch triple crown molding was made to match original
moldings in the house, and an antique, brass pot rack adds a touch of history to the space. Bob Hall points out that Hauser also utilized skilled craftsmen to recreate some old-world details. Original handetched glass from the front room was matched and copied into new glass in the kitchen. While the design details speak to the home’s history. Hauser says the house still lives well for a more modern family. “It feels like an original part of the house, but it’s very modernized with its function,” Hauser said. “There are two microwaves, one of them a steam microwave. The original kitchen wasn’t meant to do what we do with kitchens today. Now, it really performs as an entertaining space.”
21
Completed just before the pandemic, the new kitchen has been a great gathering spot for the Hall family. Jennifer Hall notes that their 11-year old daughter has taken the time at home to hone her cooking skills. For Hauser, creating a space where family can gather is always a priority. She incorporated a 7-by-6-foot island in the space to foster family time, something she says everyone wants to focus on, whether their kitchen is modern or traditional. With so many people spending more time in their homes, Hauser thinks there will be an industry shift in kitchen design. “We are going to see a trend away from minimalism back to maximalism,” Hauser said. “There will be more color and more decoration.”
Photos by Michael Scarpelli
BUILT TO FIT: By combining adjacent spaces, the Halls were able to enlarge the kitchen and then used the home’s historic details to inform design decisions there, like the 10inch triple crown moldings atop the high-gloss mahogany cabinets. Torie Hall (left) takes advantage of the new space to perfect her baking skills.
Wednesday Journal, August 26, 2020
OAKPARK.COM | RIVERFOREST.COM
Growing Community.
SINGLE FAMILY HOMES
Sunday, August 30th ADDRESS
OFFICE
LISTING PRICE
TIME
1014 Hayes, Oak Park . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Baird & Warner Oak Park/River Forest. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$389,900. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12-1:30 1004 Columbian Ave, Oak Park . . . . . . . . . . . Gagliardo Realty Associates. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $519,000. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11-12:30 516 Malden Ave, La Grange Park . . . . . . . . . . Baird & Warner Oak Park/River Forest. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$549,000. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-3 221 Keystone Ave, River Forest . . . . . . . . . . . Gagliardo Realty Associates. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$1,295,000. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-3 815 Jackson Ave, River Forest . . . . . . . . . . . . Gagliardo Realty Associates. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $1,650,000. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-3
ADDRESS
OFFICE
LISTING PRICE
TIME
242 S. Maple UNIT 3E, Oak Park. . . . . . . . . . . Baird & Warner Oak Park/River Forest. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $129,000. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12-2
CONDOS
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715 Washington Blvd. UNIT 2D, Oak Park . . Baird & Warner Oak Park/River Forest. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$225,000. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12-1:30 812 North Blvd. UNIT 202, Oak Park . . . . . . . Baird & Warner Oak Park/River Forest. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$259,000. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-3 414 Wisconsin Ave. UNIT A, Oak Park. . . . . . Gagliardo Realty Associates. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$434,000. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-3 110 S. Marion St. UNIT 403, Oak Park . . . . . . @properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $515,000. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12-2
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Wednesday Journal, August 26, 2020
VIEWPOINTS
DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSIONS IS FRIDAY 5 P.M. Call Viewpoints editor Ken Trainor at 613-3310 ktrainor@wjinc.com
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Learning from Claude Hughes p. 29
What I did and didn’t do on vacation
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or the last 40 years my family has gone on a week’s vacation in early August to northern Michigan. In 1981 there were only four of us, but the three boys got married and had children of their own. So now we are up to 15. Because of COVID, some of us didn’t make it this year, but those who did had the usual great time. As an added bonus, we missed the criminal storm that hit Michigan Avenue and the meteorological storm that hit Oak Park. Vacations are great because they shake up your life. Northern Michigan is very different from Oak Park. You see and do different things. You think different thoughts. You have more time to think. So on my summer vacation, I climbed a giant sand dune with my son and two oldest grandchildren. Swam in a clear lake, and jumped off a boat dock. Got knocked down by waves in Lake Michigan. Saw both the bluest and starriest skies in a year. Tried my hand for the first time at pickle ball. Saw a glowing sunset in a cloudless sky over Lake Michigan. Ran in the darkest dark. Played golf with 11-year-old Lily, my oldest granddaughter. I brought a scorecard with me of the last round of golf I played with Chris before Lily was born. I wanted to cry. Here’s what I did not do on my summer vacation: I did not worry about institutional racism, global warming or income disparity. I did not think about Joe Biden, Donald Trump, Roger Stone, the post office, or school openings. I did not fret over the adequacy of my wokeness or the burden of my white privilege. Don’t get me wrong. I care about all of these things — just not as much as other things that are more important to me. My preening egoism had caused me to believe that I somehow have some agency over the world. I don’t. I need to disengage from the world of politics and COVID. I can wear a mask and vote. That’s about it. I can walk with Marsha, run in the early morning, read my John Adams bio, play with my grandkids in the sprinkler, have dinner with friends, prepare for my philosophy class, watch Endeavor and tour Morton Arboretum. On my summer vacation, I figured out that the limited pursuit of a happiness that is possible is preferable to wallowing in fear and anxiety on matters over which I have not a scintilla of control. Oh and I realized I need to take more Michigan vacations.
JOHN
HUBBUCH
PHOTOS PROVIDED
LUV GUV: Jim Prescott worked for Gov. Jim Thompson from 1981 to 1988. The handwritten captions beneath the lower right photo were penned by Thompson: “Prescott, I’m telling you for your own good ... Are you listening, Prescott? ... Wake up, Prescott!”
How Jim Thompson changed my life
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ot everyone can remember the moment their life changed and where they were when it happened. But I can. It was a steamy Sunday afternoon in August 1981 at the Illinois State Fair, and I was a week from finishing an internship in Gov. Jim Thompson’s press office. The Governor, who loved the State Fair, was stopping at exhibitor booths, saying hello to vendors and visitors, and taking his daughter on carnival rides as he made his way around the sprawling fairgrounds. The regular press office staff had the day off. As the shortterm kid on the team, I had media duties for what should be a slow news day. At one point, Thompson peered down at me. “Prescott,” he said with a smile, “what are you doing with the rest of your life?” “Uh, well,” I stammered, “I start a master’s in journalism program in a few weeks after my internship ends.” “You could do that,” he said. He paused, smiled again, and said the words that would change the direction of my life: “Or you could talk to me tomorrow.” The conversation the next day was brief because when Big Jim asked you to work for him full-time, the answer was yes. But that change of plans gave me the opportunity to work for and with the longest-serving governor in Illinois history, who died on Aug. 14 at age 84. The Governor had a strong connection to Oak Park. Jayne Thompson, his wife, is an OPRF High School graduate, and his parents lived in Oak Park when he was in office. I was born and still live in Oak Park and my wife, Sally, and I raised our five children here.
When I got word of his death early the morning after he died and a request from Mrs. Thompson to handle media duties for her and the family, the memories of working for him and the experiences that shaped my life came flooding back: ■ How he never demonized the other side and was always willing to take a call and make a call to move Illinois forward. ■ How he will be remembered for keeping the White Sox in Chicago, Navy Pier, roads and bridges and buildings across the 102 counties in Illinois. ■ How his lasting legacy will be the hundreds of people who worked for him. ■ How he was the best at the three parts of being governor: politics, process and policy. ■ How he loved parades and worked them from curb to curb. And then backward. Then did it again. No walking and waving from the yellow stripe or riding in a convertible. I didn’t know it that afternoon at the State Fair, but working for Gov. Thompson was an opportunity to see firsthand what set him apart from governors who served before him and those who followed. It also explains why the tributes that came from both sides of the political aisle were genuine and full of respect. It’s fitting and accurate that another Oak Parker, Senate President Don Harmon, said in his statement, “No one enjoyed being governor more than Jim Thompson.” True. Here’s to you, JRT. Thank you for the opportunity of a lifetime. Jim Prescott is an Oak Park-based public affairs consultant who worked for Gov. Jim Thompson from 1981 to 1988.
JIM
PRESCOTT One View
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Wednesday Journal, August 26, 2020
O U R
V I E W S
A worthy police debate
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uesday evening, after our deadline for print, Oak Park’s village board was to meet to talk more about policing. We hope we can report that the discussion was civil and productive. That would be a positive change. The agenda for the evening had two notable items. There was a resolution proffered by Trustee Arti Walker Peddakotla under the unfortunate rubric of “defunding the police.” Talk about an unnecessary brick wall to smash oneself into. Regardless, there are portions of the resolution that work to put intentional changes in our policing in sync with a worthy portion of this village’s history. The resolution goes back to 1968 and Oak Park’s nation-leading leap forward to Fair Housing. It continues to 1973 and the adoption of the eloquent and glorious Oak Park Diversity Statement even as it proudly notes the evolution of that document into an Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Statement. The resolution then calls on Oak Park to be similarly brave today and to acknowledge that systemic racism/white supremacy is baked into Oak Park and every other corner of America. Further that police forces across our history have been actively used to support a white power structure and to put down enslaved Black people, union organizers, civil rights heroes and, sometimes, though not in Oak Park, to squash peaceful protests in the aftermath of George Floyd’s murder by police officers in Minnesota. If this village board could do right and get that far, then the resolution gets to the heart of reordering resources to provide greater public safety services to Oak Park. And this is a worthy debate. Should the police department shrink some to allow the hiring of mental health workers and social workers to address issues of homelessness? Not an unreasonable thought. The resolution also calls for the shelving of planning and funding for a new police station. We’d say the budget havoc of COVID-19 has already accomplished that. And the resolution calls for rethinking the role of the Citizen Police Oversight Commission to make it “truly independent, empowered and transparent.” Not coincidentally, there is a memo on Tuesday’s agenda to the village board from the assistant village attorney and the HR director recommending at least baby steps toward making the citizen commission more transparent. We’ve reviewed two years of minutes from the commission and it is clearly not transparent when all disciplinary action against officers happens in executive session and those sessions last an average of seven minutes. The problem is that having two village bureaucrats making these recommendations is not transparent. Announcing that the police chief is reviewing department policies is not transparent. Having the police department reviewing the rightly pulled “Guide to the Suspicious” is moving toward laughable and certainly tone deaf. Also on Tuesday night’s agenda was the boilerplate 40-pluspage Request for Proposals for the ill-defined third-party audit of the police department. Read hard enough and one will find a sentence that teases the possibilities of what this exercise is purportedly about. “Making specific recommendations for change to improve techniques, policies and practices of the Oak Park Police Department.” There is a reference to equity and implicit bias. There is a request for an assessment of use-of-force and de-escalation policies. This moment calls for listening and engaging with residents. Not such a scary notion. An initial 90 minutes of listening resulted in the realization that the Guide to the Suspicious was too often cover for white people to call 911 because they find Black people suspicious — and putting Oak Park cops in lose-lose situations. Let’s listen more. Let’s open the reform process to more than the people being reformed. Oak Park can do better.
V I E W P O I N T S
The American Dream of belonging
L
ast week, I received an email from a friend from high school. Ours is a long friendship, tested occasionally by the fact that we vigorously disagree on matters political. I send him my column each week which sometimes causes grinding of teeth. But we respect each other’s sincerity, which is essential. Dave, who grew up and lives in Chicago but has some connections here, generously consented to let me share his email in the interest of promoting dialogue. My response follows.
I will note that if you walked all the streets of Oak Park, you would find plenty of American flags flying proudly from their porch stanchions. I counted five in a row on one block recently, and it’s not even July. You stated well what the flag represents: love of country, pride in nation, respect, a sense of belonging and togetherness as Americans, marveling at the audacious dream America could be for every citizen. I would add “liberty, justice and equality for all” to that list. But America has not yet achieved that audacious dream, and progressives will not rest until we do. That’s the progress we hunger for. And we become downright “cranky” as you put it, when we find ourselves moving in the opposite direction. One of the ways we channel our dissatisfaction is putting up lawn signs proclaiming “Here we believe. …” It’s a start. We believe Black Lives Matter, No Human is Illegal, Love is Love, Women’s Rights are Human Rights, Science is Real, Injustice Anywhere is a Threat to Justice Everywhere, and Kindness is Everything, as one sign I recently saw proclaimed. You describe these signs as “lecturing” and “hectoring” and “standard progressive warnings.” I don’t see “Black Lives Matter” as a warning. I see it as an overdue statement of solidarity with African Americans who have suffered from inequality for too long. These signs are expressions of our patriotism, which can be distilled to five words: “Everyone is welcome. Everyone belongs.” Conservatives tell me that when they see “Hate Has No Home Here,” they feel unwelcome, even accused. Mostly, that message is directed at this president and his White Nationalist supporters, but it’s important for progressives to hear your concern about the broadness of our brush. Are Oak Park’s lawn signs “preaching an ironic gospel of exclusion pretending to be inclusion”? It’s a question worth asking. Stating what you believe is important, but meaningless unless you live it. There has always been too great a gap in this country between aspiration and action. The truest patriots, like Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King Jr., and John Lewis call on us to live up to our creed. The greatest patriots are also prophets. The only thing in your email I truly take issue with is the notion that the “dream of America” might be dying. The dream doesn’t die. It beckons us ever onward to be better citizens and to create a better country. How did it all get this crazy? I think conservatives need to ask how they have contributed to the current craziness. And progressives need to do the same. That’s the first step toward genuine dialogue. We have a road map. Abraham Lincoln identified True North for us: “With malice toward none, with charity for all …” We must learn to speak from the better angels of our nature to the better angels of the other’s nature. That’s the only way to create Dr. King’s “beloved community,” where everybody belongs. Which, let’s face it, is the real American Dream. Thanks, Dave, for taking a step in that direction. And if the cicadas ever shut up, maybe we’ll be able to hear one another at last.
KEN
TRAINOR
I was waiting for my wife who is seeing a doctor at Rush Oak Park Hospital today (can’t be with her because of COVID concerns). While killing time I took a little walk down Wisconsin and Wenonah and all the other little side streets in the neighborhood. I thought of you and how you too like to walk through the streets of your home town. That’s why I am writing this email — to tell you what I saw. I wanted to experience that small-town America feel that Oak Park creates and about which you sometimes write — that ‘village feel’ for which the community is known: the porches dotted with wicker chairs, the wide lawns, kids playing, and cicadas screeching their late summer song. I saw something different though. Yes, there were wide yards and some kids playing. But there was also a plethora of lecturing message signs with what has come to represent the standard progressive warnings: ‘Black Lives Matter’; ‘Hate Has No Home Here’; ‘We believe in ...’ The number of signs was actually very impressive — sure enough, Oak Park is now a certified progressive village if one judges this notion by the placards Oak Parkers plant next to their traditional four squares and bungalows. I even saw many rainbow flags — fitted into old stanchions on their porch pillars — telling everyone the folks inside are gay or at least devoted in one way or another to LGBTQ rights. Ironically, these are the same flag holders which an earlier generation of Oak Parkers employed to express a different message — love of country, pride in the nation, respect, perhaps even a sense of belonging and togetherness as Americans. Displaying the Stars and Stripes was to marvel at the audacious dream America could be for every citizen. Now, amid the hectoring signs of special interest, preaching an ironic gospel of exclusion pretending to be inclusion, there were no American flags in any yard I saw. Not one. So perhaps the dream of America, the land of the free and the home of the brave, has died, leaving in its place a desolate, cranky and bickering collection of deaf people interested in nothing other than their ‘just’ cause of the moment. I turned back to the hospital. The cicadas stopped for a moment. The sunny day began to set, sending those slanted August afternoon rays bouncing off the yard signs. I mused over just how much ‘progress’ Oak Park has really made, and wondered how it ‘all got this crazy,’ to borrow the Eagle’s line. Thanks, Dave, for your challenge. No truly progressive community should ever feel their progress has been “enough,” whether it’s Black Lives Matter or Conservative Opinions Matter. So we’ll start there. Your opinion matters. But
V I E W P O I N T S S H R U B T O W N
by Marc Stopeck
Wednesday Journal, August 26, 2020
W E D N E S D A Y
JOURNAL of Oak Park and River Forest
Editor and Publisher Dan Haley Senior Editor Bob Uphues Staff Reporters Michael Romain, Stacey Sheridan, Maria Maxham Viewpoints Editor Ken Trainor Real Estate Editor Lacey Sikora Food Editor Melissa Elsmo Arts Editor Michelle Dybal Sports/Staff reporter James Kay Columnists Marc Blessoff, Jack Crow, Doug Deuchler, Linda Francis, John Hubbuch, Mary Kay O’Grady, Kwame Salter, John Stanger, Stan West Staff Photographer Alex Rogals Design/Production Manager Andrew Mead Designers Mark Moroney, Javier Govea, Debbie Becker Business Manager Joyce Minich Marketing Representatives Marc Stopeck, Lourdes Nicholls Sales & Development Mary Ellen Nelligan Circulation Manager Jill Wagner E-MAIL jill@oakpark.com Chairman Emeritus Robert K. Downs
Growing Community Media BOARD OF DIRECTORS Chair Judy Greffin Treasurer Nile Wendorf
Pride and prejudice The Oak Park Area Gay and Lesbian Association+ recently canvassed Oak Park, River Forest, Forest Park and Galewood, conducting a “census” of pride flags and pride displays. Thirty volunteers photographed over 200 homes that visibly shared their pride with our diverse community. Thank you to all for showing your support of your LGBTQ+ friends and family members. Established in 1989, OPALGA+ is one of the largest LGBTQ+ membership organizations in Illinois to promote full equality for, and positive attitudes toward, the LGBTQ+ community. Since our founding we have accomplished a great deal: ■ worked to amend Oak Park’s Human Rights Ordinance to bar employment and housing discrimination (1989), ■ helped secure Domestic Partnership benefits for Oak Park village employees (1994), ■ fought to secure Oak Park’s Domestic Partnership Registry for same-sex couples — a first-ever achievement in Illinois, and since used as a model for other communities (1997), ■ collaborated to educate local school administrators to establish a Human Dignity policy for LGBTQ school employees (1999), ■ served as a Gay Games VII sponsor and hosted events in Oak Park (2006),
Gary Collins, Darnell Shields, Sheila Solomon, Eric Weinheimer
■ rallied locally and in
Springfield for the passage of Civil Unions and Marriage Equality in Illinois (2013) and travelled to Springfield to advocate for inclusion of LGBTQ+ history in school curriculum (2018). In the past seven years, we have awarded more than $90,000 in scholarship funds for LGBTQ+ and allied students. As a regular participant making donuts at the Farmers Market, volunteering at FILE PHOTO the Greater Chicago Food Depository, marching in River Forest’s Memorial Day Parade and Oak Park’s Fourth of July Parade, and providing public education and resources at Day in Our Village, we are an integral part of the villages we all call home. As such, it was with disbelief and sadness that we heard reports of pride flags stolen or vandalized on Harvey, Mapleton and other streets in Oak Park. This tells us all that our work is not done. We will continue to advocate for the equal treatment of all. We expect that next year the number of flags displayed proudly in our community will double in numbers. We are counting on you to stand with us and be proud of our diverse community.
Kendall Alexander, Brian Bollenbacher, Marsha Borders, Jim Gibson, Jan Grillos, Rylan Martin, Bob Personett, Greg Raub, Alisa Ray, Kelly Soprych, Tim Silver, Roger Wilson OPALGA+ Board of Directors
About Viewpoints Our mission is to lead educated conversation about the people, government, schools, businesses and culture of Oak Park and River Forest. As we share the consensus of Wednesday Journal’s editorial board on local matters, we hope our voice will help focus your thinking and, when need be, fire you to action. In a healthy conversation about community concerns, your voice is also vital. We welcome your views, on any topic of community interest, as essays and as letters to the editor. Noted here are our stipulations for filing. Please understand our verification process and circumstances that would lead us not to print a letter or essay. We will call to check that what we received with your signature is something you sent. If we can’t make that verification, we will not print what was sent. When, in addition to opinion, a letter or essay includes information presented as fact, we will check the reference. If we cannot confirm a detail, we may not print the letter or essay. If you have questions, email Viewpoints editor Ken Trainor at ktrainor@ wjinc.com.
LETTER TO THE EDITOR ■ 250-word limit ■ Must include first and last names, municipality in which you live, phone number (for verification only)
‘ONE VIEW’ ESSAY ■ 500-word limit ■ One-sentence footnote about yourself, your connection to the topic ■ Signature details as at left
Email Ken Trainor at ktrainor@wjinc.com or mail to Wednesday Journal, Viewpoints, 141 S. Oak Park Ave., Oak Park, IL 60302
H O W
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R E A C H
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ADDRESS 141 S Oak Park Ave., Oak ParkIL 60302 ■ PHONE 708-5248300 EMAIL Dan@OakPark.com ■ ONLINE www.OakPark.com Wednesday Journal is published digitally and in print by Growing Community Media NFP. The newspaper is available on newsstands for $1.00. A one-year subscription costs $38 within Cook County and $45 outside of Cook County. Advertising rates may be obtained by calling our office. Periodical rate postage paid at Oak Park, IL (USPS 10138). Postmaster, send address corrections to Wednesday Journal, 141 S. Oak Park Ave., Oak Park, Il 60302. © 2020 Growing Community Media, NFP.
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V I E W P O I N T S
Wednesday Journal, August 26, 2020
Where’d you come from?
Communal composting program for a “small fee”
How our staff came together Right place, right time My story of becoming a staff reporter with Wednesday Journal is a mixture of being in the right place at the right time and working hard. Last June, I completed my master’s degree in journalism from DePaul University. I had been working as a freelance reporter while trying to nail down a permanent gig that was both right for me at the moment and right for my future. Here’s the important bit for graduates: School may be over, but your relationship to your favorite professors doesn’t have to be. After getting frustrated by the tedium of job applications, I reached out in September to my professor, Amy Merrick, former Wall Street Journal reporter and Oak Park resident, who told me there just hap-
OAKPARK.COM | RIVERFOREST.COM
pened to be an open position with one of Wednesday Journal’s affiliate papers. So I gathered some of my clips and emailed Dan Haley, who very politely told me that the position had been filled, but would I still like to come by the newsroom to meet him. Not knowing what to expect, I treated it like I would an interview. (Graduates, when in doubt, treat it like an interview!) This served me well as I was informed there was a soon-to-be open position at WJ. I left thinking, “I really would love to work here.” A few days later, I got a call from Dan and the rest is history. I now think to myself, “I really love working here.”
Stacey Sheridan
This is the fourth round of articles about Oak Park’s composting program. In this round, we discuss Clair Dolinar’s Aug. 19 Viewpoints letter, “Why not a communal composting program?” I agree with everything Dolinar said. She made three critical points: 1. The benefits of composting are communal (a common good) so everyone should have the privilege to participate. [Everyone does not have to “own” a bin but everyone should have access to one, e.g. public bins/carts distributed throughout the village)] 2. A successful and efficient composting program must have an educational component. 3. An expanded composting program must be done in a cost-conscious manner. [What would be a “small fee”?] To quantify these points, we did a cost analysis using a simple spreadsheet. The objective is to determine the number of compost carts/bins for a variety of cost options. In the spreadsheet, we made the following assumptions: ■ There are two constants: the number of households (20,000), and the waste haul-
er’s monthly charge per compost cart ($15). ■ There are two variables: the cost to every household (included with the water bill), and an annual cost for Maintenance, Monitoring, and Education (call it the MME fund). In the analysis, we varied the monthly cost per household from $1 per month to $15 per month. The MME fund was varied from $1,000 per year to $200,000 per year. Results: If, for example, we choose a household cost of $5 per month and a $40,000 MME fund, the spreadsheet shows that the number of compost carts that could be distributed is 6,444. For a copy of the entire report (Community Composting, A Service for Everyone) contact the Interfaith Green Network at mrobinet@ameritech.net. What you can do: ■ Continue the discussion. Write the next article. ■ Tell the Energy and Environment Commission, and the trustees that you are ready for the village to provide a community composting service.
Mac Robinet
Interfaith Green Network
Eleven33 Apartments 1133 South Blvd., Oak Park (708) 529-8320
Congratulations to Eleven33 Apartments on their fabulous mural! See it at 1133 South Boulevard eleven33apartments.com
In the photos above: Camille Wilson White, Oak Park Area Arts Council; Anan Abu-Taleb, Village of Oak Park; Forartist; yourJillian ownKing ribbon cutting contact us on by oprfchamber.org Shawn Bullen, Larkin, Eleven33 Apartments Lincoln Property Company.
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Wednesday Journal, August 26, 2020
a u o y e r A ? t s i t r a l a c o l ONLINE & IN PRINT
by e n o d k r artwo l a n i st g a i r p o e f h o t f s ents o image v r e o f c i g t n a i dram s look e i h l t a , n o r t u y Jo onse a p d s s e r e n n i d by, or d The We e r i have p s u n i o y s t f I s i . , etc y h local art p a r g tially oto n . h e s t p h o , t a p n i o d d s an six m d me u e x h i t i m w , s e shar wing a o r t om. d c e , . k s i k l r e r a d l u P t u k p u wo @Oa o , scul 0 y s 4 t g J a n i h t W t n i t o Pa of ar of it t k e r pear g o p a w a l m i o a t n n i n a g hose il us c a an ori e m b e l , l i p i w ersh ber. them o t f c o O n f o i our read o t end selec e a h t , t s a e t g h ima ng ou i g m u o o c n 0. e 2 k 0 o e 2 v o i , B e 5 c r 1 e e ber nsw A m If we r e 0 t 2 p 0 e 2 S y by n the in print i ail us your entr m Please e
Send us an email, with your submission to WJ40@oakpark.com, by September 15, 2020
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Wednesday Journal, August 26, 2020
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V I E W P O I N T S
Wednesday Journal, August 26, 2020
Learning from Mr. Claude Hughes
From 2000 to 2040, it is estimated the numSometime between the evening of July 26 and the morning of July 27, Mr. Claude ber of people over the age of 65 will double. Hughes, one of our neighbors, walked away This means an increasing number of our from his home in Oak Park. On Aug. 7, Mr. older neighbors, with or without dementia, Hughes was found dead in the Forest Pre- will need our help. Mr. Hughes shows they serve, near the Des Plaines River at 1st Av- already live with us. However, we don’t see them clearly enough because enue. Claude Hughes was 77, he of the invisibilities of age and walked with a limp, and he had of race and of mental health dementia. needs. Arbor West Neighbors (AWN) As one of our AWN members expresses condolences to Claude Hughes’ family, to his friends and commented, “My cellphone to his community. We have all lost gets an emergency call whenin his passing. ever a child becomes the focus AWN recognizes and supports of an Amber Alert, but I’ve rethe impressive ongoing local efceived no phone alert for Silver forts to educate about and support Search.” our neighbors with dementia and Silver Search is a statewide CLAUDE HUGHES their caregivers, including but not alert program for older people limited to: gone missing. Let’s help make our outrage and concern for our missing older people ■ Dementia Friendly River Forest and Dewith dementia match that for our missing mentia Friendly Oak Park designations children. ■ Training our first responders and busiThe first public statement about Mr. nesses Hughes came from a village of Oak Park ■ Bracelet identification programs for news release on Aug. 3, a full week after those with dementia Mr. Hughes went missing. Especially dur■ Memory Café program ing the COVID-19 pandemic, communicaOur local efforts are truly pioneering and tion channels will always be subject to the laudable. And we can do better by identify- specific details of a crisis, and everyone ing inevitable weaknesses and learning from involved is trying to do their best. As with cellphones, email networks can be a fast them.
Dangerous falsehoods shouldn’t be published
right to protest and march, the “Dictator” President disregards the protesters’ legal standing. Portland officials have expressed strong objections to these unrequested and unwanted troops. “Dictator” Trump’s power play has stirred horrific memories recorded in the Holocaust history. The similarity to the early Hitler days are frightening! Because there have been several criticisms of his actions against protestors (who for the most part have been peaceful), “Dictator” Trump now claims he deployed these aggressive troops to quell violent behavior. Trump is either uncaring or ignorant of the fact that violence cannot end violence. He threatens to send large numbers of troops to cities around the nation — including Chicago. All cities have rejected his offer. Trump’s power moves have accomplished one basic desire of his … to divert support of the legal protestors. These folks had a worthwhile goal, to eliminate racism while striving for voting rights, eliminating police brutality, and furthering civil rights and justice for all. Accomplishing this goal would continue John Lewis’ legacy. And so yes, I will “beat the anti-Trump drum” again and again, in hopes of alerting or annoying folks into voting him out of office.
The Viewpoints piece by Mary Ann Porucznik on Grace Wilbur Trout to honor the centennial of women’s right to vote [Remembering Grace Wilbur Trout, Aug. 19] prompted me to recall a noteworthy judicial decision in the 1920s that I read about in law school. Hannah Beye Fyfe was the daughter of William Beye, a U.S. Steel magnate after whom the Oak Park elementary school on Cuyler is named. Hannah filed a Mandamus action against the Cook County Board to force the inclusion of registered women voters on jury summonses. The government opposed her. Her position was simply that jurors were selected from voting lists and women now appeared on those lists. She prevailed and women were henceforth summoned for jury duty. As a law student proud of a fellow Oak Parker, I always wondered about her background, besides the eponymous connection to the school. It turns out she was a highly regarded artist after graduating from the Art Institute of Chicago. https://www.askart.com/artist/Hannah_Christabel_Beye_Fyfe/11313219/Hannah_Christabel_Beye_Fyfe.aspx
I usually read Jim Bowman’s incoherent blog rants as a curiosity and nothing more, since I think it’s clear that the vast majority of our region find his uber-conservative views abhorrent and ill-informed. But sometimes, ramblings can also be dangerous. I find it quite troubling that this newspaper would give space to his recent diatribes against science and mask-wearing (see his recent blogs on Aug 13 and 21). Jim is not a doctor, nor an epidemiologist, nor even a scientist of some other variety, yet he seems to be advocating against social distancing and mask-wearing, two of the best measures that we have to protect against the insidious virus affecting so many — not only globally but here at home in Illinois and Oak Park/ River Forest. There is overwhelming scientific evidence that social-distancing and mask-wearing help reduce and eliminate transmission of SARSCoV-2, which has so far claimed the lives of 175,000 Americans and over 8,000 Illinoisans. It’s hard for me to fathom how someone could claim that we shouldn’t be social-distancing. And there is now also reasonable evidence that wearing a mask may protect not only others from you if you are shedding the virus, but may also offer the wearer protection against severe COVID-19 by reducing viral loads that are received. If even one person reads Jim’s column and decides to take unnecessary and potentially dangerous risks, that is one person too many. It is true that this newspaper, and indeed, all newspapers, should be a marketplace of ideas. But as a scientist myself, I find it appalling that we would give space to antiscience rants in my hometown periodical. I doubt that I would read a story about the type of cheese that the moon is made out of in these pages. Why? Some statements are scientifically wrong, plain and simple. In this case, it is one that is potentially fatal in addition to being false. The beauty of science, when done properly, is that it learns from past mistakes and self-corrects toward the truth. Science has brought us closer to a vaccine than anyone thought possible in such a short time, and has taught us how to largely halt the virus until that time arrives, if we all do our part to keep each other safe. Ignoring science is appalling at best, and dangerous at worst. I respectfully request that this paper support and nurture the local community it represents and stop giving space to this ignorant anti-science crusader.
River Forest
Oak Park
Oak Park
Beating the anti-Trump drum Dear Friends, I thank the many folks who have responded to my letters published in Wednesday Journal. I assume our polite community prompted the favorable messages. Today I received a negative note, and I agree to some extent with the correspondent’s annoyance. She questioned, “Isn’t it about time to stop beating the same antiTrump drum?” I am sorry that my deep concern relative to Trump’s outrageous actions has caused me to “repetitiously beat the anti-Trump drum,” but my fears and alarm cause me to persevere. Mean-spirited Trump is both reckless and unpredictable. It seems as if each day there is a new action that adds to the chaos and divisiveness in our country. Recently, the news reported the painful irony of the passing of civil rights icon, the honorable John Lewis, at the same time, that “Dictator” Trump deployed his secret militia in Portland. This violent, intimidating force in camouflaged gear equipped with guns, tear gas, gas masks, etc. were proudly endorsed on Twitter by Trump. His stated purpose was to rid the city of “violent, anarchist protestors.” His personal militia actually provoked violence with their Hitlerian tactics,” snatching folks off the streets into unmarked cars, and using force and tear gas on these civil rights groups. Although the Constitution guarantees the
and widespread blanket to alert our communities. One of the lessons Claude Hughes’ death can impart is that regional coordination and preparation to address the needs of our older neighbors is crucial. What does it mean to be a dementia-friendly town if our communities fail to become engaged in an emergency? Toward that end, the AWN Advocacy Committee recommends the formation of a Neighborhood Age-Friendly Collaborative. This will be an intergovernmental and intercommunity body composed of elected officials, local government organizations, libraries, NGOs, grassroots organizations and others. It will be an important step in further organizing our “neighborhood” to not just recognize the changing age demographic but educate about it and act on that change. Over the next month, the Arbor West Neighbors Advocacy Committee will build on work already being done to convene a series of online meetings to help organize our local Neighborhood Age-Friendly Collaborative. We look forward to working with any organization or individual who supports this effort. Please keep an eye out for our upcoming notices and emails.
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Harriet Hausman
Susan Stall, chairperson, Sandra Sokol, Ed Solan, Betsy Kelly, Ruth Reko, Marc Blesoff, Brooke Mcmillin, and Kathy Clark
Arbor West Neighbors Advocacy Committee
Another overlooked local notable
Randy Kadlec
Jahred Adelman
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Wednesday Journal, August 26, 2020
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The road goes on forever about anything except how angry and sad they are. Have you tried introducing other topics? It’s a nonstarter. Traveled lately? Nope. Been to any good restaurants? Uh-uh. All conversations really devolve down to “What are you doing to cope?” and more and more the answer is that coping strategies are increasingly ineffective. So what’s left to talk about? I’m not interested in hearing people rehash the same opinions, the same politics, the same news stories, and the same resigned misery as everyone else. I am way over listening to fretting about schools and bars and protests and how people are behaving in other parts of the state/nation/world. But you can’t change the subject or the speakers will get suspicious that you’re one of the Others. Besides, what can you talk about that isn’t pandemic? Fitness? I canceled my gym membership. They promised they’d be distant, but I’m not quite ready. New hobbies? I have thought about it, but I’m not sure what I would take up. I’m not a collector and I don’t want to accumulate crafts made by my own hand. Food? It’d be nice to drop a few pandemic pounds. Sex? Everyone is tired of everyone they know and new friends are hard enough to come by before you introduce the notion of
t was just after the dumpster blew into the side of a car I’ve owned less than a week that I decided it was time to tap out and let 2020 take the win. Emily and I were rushing home from what should have been a nicer afternoon because a really nasty storm was coming. Our phones told us that, alarming with the sound I associate with tests of the Emergency Broadcast System, except this was no test. The advisory suggested we take shelter immediately. The wind was blowing so hard it blew gravel into the car like pollen when we opened the doors to make a run for it, and the aforementioned dumpster that skated across the alley like it was light as a cardboard box crunched the fender of a car with temporary plates, so farewell deductible. And everything is like that this year; the literal fender-bender was a bookend to waking up this very day to more stories of police violence, more stories of looting, and ever-climbing infection rates of COVID. I’m supposed to write the light and fun stuff, but this is the third month in a row of trying to find something fun to talk about and I’m obviously overreaching by this point. I’ve canceled vacations, I’ve been working way too much at the day job, and no one wants to talk
ALAN
BROUILETTE
PHOTO BY BRUCE FILES
smooching in the time of COVID. Lots of folks, I know, do not share this view. I am equally uninterested in hearing from them. Conspiracy theories are fun as a parlor game but not as a topic of conversation among peers. Mask efficacy and lawyerly arguments over the limitations of authority are all conversations of merit but not by proxy via openers like “Apparently masks make things worse.” (“Apparently,” by the way, has become a one-word codephrase indicating that one is citing an opinion acquired from an article shared on social media. Now that I have pointed this out, you won’t be able to stop noticing it.)
Back to the recent windstorm — which added “weather” to the list of things trying to kill us this year. It’s an eerily long list, albeit a super-inefficient one. Downed trees are 100 percent effective when aimed accurately, but the trees I saw tonight were just strewn everywhere, haphazardly. The wind was breathtaking but couldn’t strengthen into a tornado. It’s as though the weather has given up, too. I don’t want to root for the end of the world, but if it has to happen, I would appreciate it happening before the November election. I mean, haven’t we been through enough? Alan Brouilette is a columnist for our sister publication, the Forest Park Review.
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Hallie’s corner
uring the 1960s, she was a fixture in our Berwyn neighborhood. She’d stand on the corner, her dog on a leash, resting at her feet. She’d watch the kids, the cars and the homes for hours, every day. I don’t know how, since we rarely, if ever, talked with her; but we knew, or at least we thought we knew, her name: I’ll call her “Hallie.” To kids she sure looked old. I remember her chewing like maybe she was missing some teeth. Her dog appeared a bit disheveled, and aged too. But she also showed physical vitality: she walked with a fluidity that always surprised me. I’d saunter past her on the way to the corner grocery store (next to which she lived in a tiny house, with her husband). Once in a while I’d say hi. She’d either watch me or stare in another direction, but never smiled. We were all a little afraid of her. She would, at times, leave the corner. More than once my sister, Annie, saw her poised on the sidewalk in front of our house, looking in our front windows. On other occasions she encountered Hallie standing on our front porch, gazing through the screen door. Mom would say, “Don’t worry, it’s only Hallie.” Hallie showed an interest in Annie. She figured out her name. Annie would pass in front of her on the sidewalk and hear Hallie say, “Annie, Annie.” Annie would turn around, “Hallie, I know it was you.” Hallie would look away, silently. Then she’d start up again, “Annie, Annie,” as soon as my sister commenced her walk. Most of the time, kids and adults left Hallie alone. But some youngsters teased her. One boy would ride past her on his bike, making fun of her and her dog, calling out some cynical adaptation of a
‘T
Wednesday Journal, August 26, 2020
nursery rhyme. She’d respond with silence, sometimes shaking her head. This was the neighborhood’s way with Hallie: we didn’t challenge her claim to the corner. We tolerated her presence. We kept our distance. She maintained hers. Once in a while, she’d be there at our windows. “Tolerance” can carry different connotations. One can be tolerant toward the different behavior of another as a gesture of respect or civility. Or, one might more reluctantly tolerate another’s discomforting presence by remaining present, yet apart. I think with Hallie, we practiced each type. I figured that the ever-present woman on the corner had to be lonely and unhappy. I assumed she had a story that we’d never learn. I also found her presence troubling — a reminder that in this stable neighborhood where kids played happily, there was this sad, silent, seemingly ancient woman and dog, alone, right there in front of us every day. We felt for, and we endured, Hallie. She never asked for anything, at least not overtly. She never initiated any real conversation. No one ever called the police or social services about her. She didn’t look exactly poor; more sullen and alone. She’d stand there every day with her dog, and then she’d go inside. As an adult, I’ve asked myself how I would have responded to Hallie had she, or someone like her, shown up with a dog on the corner of our residential block in Oak Park. Homeless and mentally ill folks have a presence in downtown Oak Park. There are the men and women with regular spots at certain intersections, asking for money. But I don’t recall encountering
RICH
KORDESH One View
hey can go after the looters, but can’t find the shooters,” is the current rallying cry by those who want to backhandedly defend the criminals who were out looting following the recent incident in Englewood. Let me be clear, I don’t believe the looting truly had anything to do with the shooting. It was the excuse by those within the black community who are criminalminded to go out to Michigan Avenue, Oak Street and along North Avenue to high-end stores and steal what they wanted. Nobody can convince me that any of them had a need for Gucci or anything at Best Buy or Water Tower Place. Those Black folks who can mouth/key that phrase and see no difference between finding the looters and identifying a shooter are par for the course when it comes to the “excuse-filled”
SUBMITTED
LOOKING BACK: The block where the author grew up in Berwyn in the 1960s, overseen by an eccentric neighbor. anyone like Hallie. I’m sure we would have discussed her situation with our kids. With all the social workers and psychologists in town, plus the quality mental health services, there would have been a proactive response to someone like her. The same would likely be true in today’s Berwyn. My self-interest as a homeowner might have encouraged a pre-emptive response as well. No, my thinking might have gone, we can’t have someone “like her” standing a few strides from our house, day in and day out. I suspect that back then we let her be, in part because she didn’t look all that different from some of our rougher-edged, immigrant grandmothers. And it was a time when you left people around you free
to live their lives, as long as they let you live yours. Calling mental health services wasn’t as natural an act then. We were her neighborhood. She was our neighbor. She chose silence. We gave it. The scenes with her play in me, unfinished. I am not that kid in Berwyn anymore. I’m one of those people with training in psychology and community development. We’d reach out to her today. I’m inclined to think that by engaging her, nudging her off those patches of grass, referring her to services and staying connected, there would be no solitary neighborhood corner claimed by Hallie today. Rich Kordesh grew up in Berwyn, raised his family in Oak Park, and currently lives in Chicago.
Jail the shooters and looters segment of folks within the community. And for me, their illogical comparisons come as no surprise. Here’s a couple of major points regarding the difference: The majority of those businesses that were looted had cameras within. Those owners quickly shared the videos with the Chicago Police Department. When it comes to shootings, very few are actually caught on camera. And even if caught on a camera system, how many homeowners or cellphone tapers are quick to share the video with CPD? I won’t hold my breath for that response. Far too many of us have become so
accustomed to being in the victim role that some just refuse to believe in the criminality of our people. Even the young fool who has been accused of broadcasting his alleged attempt to break into an ATM using a hammer has his defenders claiming that he is not the brightest star in the sky. One even went so far as to claim trying to break into an ATM with a hammer is akin to going to a gunfight with a knife. I countered that he used the tools he had with him. Had he brought a blowtorch, he would have used it. But the tool of choice was a hammer, so that’s what he used. And to broadcast criminal activ-
ARLENE JONES
ity over some streaming video service is called “confession.” Which brings me to the conclusion that those folks gathering without masks and so intent on their dastardly deeds have become so disregardful of COVID-19 that they forget this is a real pandemic. As with a lot of the initial beliefs about the virus, like Black folks couldn’t get it, the truth is we can. Then children were having a hard time getting it, but guess what? Now reports are coming out saying they are getting it. If those who were out looting come down with it, so be it. That’s a consequence for the actions they took. I want to live in a society where criminals are held accountable for their behaviors. My motto is: Jail the shooters and the looters! Arlene Jones is a columnist for our sister publication, the Austin Weekly News.
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Wednesday Journal, August 26, 2020
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The village loses $1,500 for every person uncounted
t started with a knock on my door. A Census worker asked me to complete our questionnaire even though we had already submitted ours. I had been an enumerator myself, so I gladly cooperated. When I did the Census in Forest Park in 2000 and in Cicero in 2010, most people I approached claimed they had already submitted it. After finishing my questionnaire, I told the enumerator there are two vacant apartments on our property that had been occupied on April 1, 2020. I offered to put her in contact with our landlord. When I was an enumerator, I relied on landlords, management companies and neighbors to give me information on former residents. Now I feared an undercount of four people on our property alone. An undercount will cost us. In 2010, we had a 74 percent response rate and lost over $7 million in funding for education, infrastructure and other community needs. Our response rate this year is 68.3 percent with one month to go before the Census ends. Why is Forest Park falling short? “We have a hard-to-count community,” Mayor Rory Hoskins admitted. We have high-rise apartment buildings, where it’s difficult for enumerators to connect with residents. I know a condo board president who refused a Census worker access to her building. Getting cooperation from condo owners and management offices is crucial for getting a complete count. Another factor in Forest Park is our transient population. Some residents are staying with family and friends and don’t want to disclose their presence. There is also an increasing number of residents who are distrustful of the government, or fear contracting the virus. Census workers are finding it difficult to get people to open their doors, let alone fill out forms. Fear of spreading the disease is also the reason why Mayor Hoskins is not proposing a Census Day, like other communities. He
doesn’t want a gathering that could become a super-spreader. During a normal summer we would have held a Census Day at The Park. We would have also had a Census booth at events like the 4th of July. Instead we’re spreading the word by placing signs all over town. This includes an electronic sign at 16th & Harlem that displays appeals in Spanish, English and Tagalog. It’s been difficult, though, to make personal appeals to residents. Fortunately, we have the Forest Park Census Committee canvassing residents to stress the importance of complying with the Census. Besides this in-person approach, the village is making it as easy as possible to complete questionnaires remotely. The new village website features a direct link to the Census Bureau. Our Census coordinator, Tanzla Davis-Rodriguez also accesses the bureau to identify sections of the village where questionnaires haven’t been completed. So far, the south end of the village has had the lowest response. The Census Bureau provided the village with a tablet and laptop to assist people who don’t have access to a computer. Residents can also call the mayor’s office, at 708-6156203, for assistance with filling out their questionnaire. If they come to village hall for help, they can walk out with a gift bag containing Census goodies. Mayor Hoskins is passionate about the Census. We stand to lose $1,500 for every uncounted resident. Substantial money for schools, street repairs and other community needs will be lost. More volunteers are needed to contact residents. Mayor Hoskins has scheduled a meeting for volunteers, on Aug. 29 at 1 p.m. in the village parking lot. I will be there because I know a successful Census starts with a knock on the door. John Rice, who grew up in Oak Park, writes a column for our sister publication, the Forest Park Review.
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JOHN RICE
Jim Thompson, 84 Longtime governor of Illinois
James Robert Thompson Jr., 84, the longest-serving governor in Illinois history, died in Chicago on Aug. 14, 2020 of heart failure. Born on the West Side of Chicago on May 8, 1936, the son of J. Robert and Agnes (Swanson) Thompson, he had a number of Oak Park connections. His parents, who had moved from DeKalb County to Garfield Park to be near Bethany Hospital, where Dr. Thompson worked, moved to 1129 N. Elmwood Ave. in Oak Park in 1956. Jim Thompson lived at home until the early 1960s while he finished law school. During an interview with Wednesday Journal in 2005 after his mother died, he recalled delivering the Austinite and Oak Leaves newspapers in the 1950s. His wife Jayne (Carr) grew up in Oak Park and graduated from Oak Park and River Forest High School. His two brothers and his sister attended Oak Park schools. After his father died in 1992, his mother moved into Holley Court Terrace (now Brookdale) and lived there until her death. Thompson served as Illinois governor
PHOTO PROVIDED
Gov. Jim Thompson (right) from 1976 to 1991. He is survived by his wife and a daughter, Samantha. A memorial service will be scheduled at a later date. See Jim Prescott’s remembrance of Gov. Thompson on p. 23 of Viewpoints.
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I’m an Assistant Scoutmaster for Boy Scout Troop 20 in Oak Park. We hold our Troop Meetings every Monday night at 7:00pm & had been meeting at the Park District’s Barrie Center. But the Park District is keeping the rec centers closed for the time being. We are looking for a large indoor empty space (maybe an empty store front) to meet. We would bring our own camp chairs, space ourselves out for social distancing & wear masks at all times. We would clean up and wipe down anything we touch with disinfectant wipes when we leave. We follow the BSA policy of “Leave No Traceâ€? so you wouldn’t know that we were ever there when we left ;-) So, does anyone know of a large empty space we can use until the Park District reopens their centers? Let me know at Info@Troop20.com Also, if you are boy who has completed the ďŹ fth grade and are at least 10 years old and looking to join a Boy Scout Troop, then consider joining us at Troop 20. Check us out: Troop20.com
HELP WANTED PART TIME DRIVER Local Co. seeking part time driver to deliver parts around Chicago area. Must be able to lift 75lbs. Must be able to pass drug test and have valid IL DL. Email resume HR@ sievertelectric.com HAPPY KIDD’S WEST INC. 6928 W 16th St Berwyn, IL 60513 We are seeking a Director and 2 teachers. Director must be qualiďŹ ed and have Associate’s degree or equivalent. Teachers must be director or teacher qualiďŹ ed. Mon thru Fri. working with Infants to 6 yrs old. Compensable salary negotiable based on experience. Call 773-619-5545 or fax resume to 773-728-5437. MAINTENANCE AND SAFETY PT Pleasant part-time, morning and afternoon. Set up canopy, move some chairs (10-20), disinfect and general cleaning. Once things are set up, you do a lot of watching and very light maintenance. In the afternoon, if you are still working, the canopies come down. You will be respected in a clean and happy environment. 7am shift, M-F, 8-20 hrs/wk. $15+/ hour. Job starts in 2 weeks. Must lift, carry on stairs. Neat appearance a must. (Owner is a strong middle-aged woman and she can do all of these tasks.) Great for a college kid who wants to make some money at the start of the day. Come and see us. We can be somewhat exible with hours for the right person. Open interviews. Arrive at 500 Madison St., Oak Park (at Scoville, by Jewel store) with MASK, driver’s license, and cell phone. Written application is a part of the interview morning. Apply in person. August 27, 7am. August 28, 7am.
Applicants are encouraged to visit the Village of Oak Park’s website at http:// www.oak-park.us/jobs. First review of applications September 8, 2020.
SUBURBAN RENTALS COZY TOWN HOME FOR RENT Cozy Town Home for Rent. Two bedroom, One Bath, with partial ďŹ nished basement and washer and dryer. 1 block from the amazing Lincoln Elementary School. Walk to the Blue Line, Grocery Store, Cafe, Ice Cream Shop, and great parks. One parking space included. Tenant pays all utilities. One month rent and one month security deposit required. Credit and background check required. Owner pays water and refuse. Available October 15, 2020. Please email townhomeoakpark@gmail.com for inquiries. OAK PARK: ROOSEVELT/ OAK PARK AVE. CORRIDOR 2BR 4RMS close to blue line. On site laundry, parking, heat & water incl. $1200/ month 708-383-9223
ROOMS FOR RENT AUSTIN CLEAN ROOM With fridge, micro. Nr Oak Park, Super Walmart, Food 4 Less, bus, & Metra. $116/wk and up. 773-637-5957
OFFICE SPACE FOR RENT RIVER FOREST–7777 Lake St. *1116 sq. ft. suite *569 sq. ft. with patio RIVER FOREST–7756 Madison St. *926 sq. ft. OAK PARK–6597 North Ave. *598 sq. ft. 6142-44 Roosevelt Rd. *3 and 5 room suites Strand& & Browne Strand Browne 708-488-0011 708-488-0011 Lost & Found, Items for Sale, and To Be Given Away ads run free in Wednesday Classified. To place your ad, call 708613-3342
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M&M
IRON MUSIC STAND WITH BRASS FINISH $35.00 708-488-8755 VINTAGE HOWELL RED CHAIRS 6 beautiful vintage red chrome steel dining chairs by furniture maker Howell (St. Charles, IL) from the 1950s. All chairs in great condition. Small tears in two of the seats and extremely minor tear in third. Other three are in excellent condition. Wear is consistent with age/vintage condition and all chairs have been temporarily repaired to prevent further tearing. Price is $100/chair or $500/set of 6. Delivery available. 773-780-6315
ITEMS TO BE GIVEN AWAY TOSHIBA TV 18 inch Toshiba older model TV in good shape. Non-at screen. 708-903-7053
WANTED TO BUY WE BUY RECORDS!! We pay cash for your jazz, soul, punk, metal, rock, reggae, country records! Give us a call at 773-3726643. We make house calls!! WANTED MILITARY ITEMS: Helmets, medals, patches, uniforms, weapons, ags, photos, paperwork, Also toy soldiers – lead, plastic – other misc. toys. Call Uncle Gary 708-522-3400
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B & B SERVICES B&B Services is mentor-mentee a group of Oak Park-River Forest student-athletes and grads who can provide assistance for any project you need to be completed. We pride ourselves on taking time to make sure that we deliver professional-level work with every job! The equipment we use for every job is eco-friendly to help better the planet. B&B Services is in compliance of all CDC Covid-19 guidelines for your safety. Landscaping (Drainage, Mulch, Lawn, Pavers, Edging) Moving Painting Power Washing 708.446.9934 bnbservices96@gmail.com
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Wednesday Classified 3 Great Papers, 6 Communities To Place Your Ad, Call: 708/613-3333
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Wednesday Journal, August 26, 2020
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PUBLIC NOTICES LEGAL NOTICE LAW OFFICE OF LINDA EPSTEIN Attorney for Petitioner 722 W. Diversey Parkway Ste. 101B Chicago, IL 60614 STATE OF ILLINOIS) COUNTY OF COOK )ss Circuit Court of Cook County, County Department, Domestic Relations Division. In re the marriage of Maria I. Martinez, Petitioner and Ruben Martinez, Respondent, Case No. 20 D 005511. The requisite affidavit for publication having been filed, notice is hereby given to you, the above named Respondent, that a Petition has been filed in the Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois, by the Petitioner, Maria I. Martinez, for Dissolution of Marriage and for other relief; and that said suit is now pending. Now, therefore, unless you, the said Respondent, e-file your Appearance and Response to said Petition with the Office of the Clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County, on or before September 23, 2020, default may be entered against you at any time after that day, and a judgment for Dissolution of Marriage entered in accordance with the prayer of said Petition. DOROTHY A. BROWN, Clerk. Published in Wednesday Journal August 26, September 2, and September 9, 2020
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PUBLIC NOTICES
PUBLIC NOTICES
LEGAL NOTICE ZONING BOARD OF APPEALS RIVER FOREST, ILLINOIS
LEGAL NOTICE ZONING BOARD OF APPEALS RIVER FOREST, ILLINOIS Public Notice is hereby given that a public hearing will be held by the Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) of the Village of River Forest, County of Cook, State of Illinois, on Thursday, September 10, 2020 at 7:30 p.m. in the First Floor Community Room of the River Forest Village Hall, 400 Park Avenue, River Forest, Illinois on the following matter: The ZBA will consider an application for a major zoning variation submitted by Shaun and Julie Krueger, owners of the property at 346 Park Avenue, who are proposing to construct a second story addition onto the existing home. Section 4-8-5 of the Village Code provides the Zoning Board jurisdiction to hold public hearings and offer recommendations to the Village Board concerning variations to Zoning Ordinance. The applicants are requesting a major variation to Section 10-9-7 that would allow the north wall of the home, which has a non-conforming side yard setback of 2.98 feet, to increase in height from one story to two stories. The applicants are also requesting a variation for a roof overhang of 1’-6” at the second floor level, resulting in a setback of only 1.48 feet to the roof edge. The Zoning Ordinance prohibits any increase in height of a wall which maintains a non-conforming side yard setback. The Zoning Code requires the roof eave to have a minimum 3-foot side yard setback. The legal description of the property at 346 Park Avenue is as follows: LOT 25 IN RIVER FOREST PARK HOMES SUBDIVISION OF PART OF THE WEST HALF OF THE SOUTHWEST QUARTER OF SECTION 12, TOWNSHIP 39 NORTH, RANGE 12 EAST OF THE THIRD PRINCIPAL MERIDIAN, ACCORDING TO THE PLAT THEREOF RECORDED AS DOCUMENT NUMBER 14446645 IN THE VILLAGE OF RIVER FOREST, IN COOK COUNTY, ILLINOIS. A copy of the application will be available to the public at Village Hall and on the Village’s website at www. vrf.us/zoningvariation no less than 15 days prior to the public hearing. The Zoning Board of Appeals meeting packet will also be available at www.vrf.us/meetings no less than 48 hours prior to the public hearing. All interested persons will be given the opportunity to be heard at the public hearing. For public comments to be considered by the Zoning Board of Appeals and Village Board of Trustees in their decision, they must be included as part of the public hearing record. Interested persons can learn more about how to participation in the hearing by visiting www.vrf.us/zoningvariation. Sincerely, Clifford Radatz Secretary, Zoning Board of Appeals Published in Wednesday Journal 8/26/2020
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PUBLIC NOTICES
VILLAGE OF OAK PARK REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS The Village of Oak Park will receive sealed proposals via email at development@oak-park.us, until 4:00pm on Thursday, September 10, 2020 for the following project: Village of Oak Park Snow-Ice Removal for Public Parking Lots, Sidewalks and Snow Plowing Detailed specifications for this project may be obtained from the Development Customer Services Department via email at development@oak-park.us, or on the Village’s website www.oak-park.us. The Village of Oak Park reserves the right to accept or reject any and all proposals or to waive technicalities, or to accept any item of a proposal. The original RFP and any subsequent Addendum will be posted to the Village’s website. It will be the Contractor’s responsibility to obtain all addenda issued. Award of a contract shall not be final until a written contract has been approved by the Village of Oak Park Board of Trustees and entered into between the Parties. The Board of Trustees reserves the right to accept or reject any and all proposals or to waive technicalities, or to accept any item of any proposal. The Village of Oak Park Development Customer Services Department 123 Madison St., Oak Park, IL, 60302 Published in Wednesday Journal August 26, 2020
PUBLIC NOTICE Notice is hereby given, pursuant to “An Act in relation to the use of an Assumed Business Name in the conduct or transaction of Business in the State,” as amended, that a certification was registered by the undersigned with the County Clerk of Cook County. Registration Number: Y20003966 on August 5, 2020 Under the Assumed Business Name of PRIVATE POOK GAMES with the business located at: 1016 S CUYLER AVE, OAK PARK, IL 60304. The true and real full name(s) and residence address of the owner(s)/ partner(s) is: MICHAEL GROSSO, 1016 S CUYLER AVE, OAK PARK, IL 60304, USA. Published in Wednesday Journal 8/12, 8/19, 8/26/2020
PUBLIC NOTICE Notice is hereby given, pursuant to “An Act in relation to the use of an Assumed Business Name in the conduct or transaction of Business in the State,” as amended, that a certification was registered by the undersigned with the County Clerk of Cook County. Registration Number: Y20003983 on August 5, 2020 Under the Assumed Business Name of NEW AGE BABY with the business located at:400 KENT RD, RIVERSIDE, IL 60546. The true and real full name(s) and residence address of the owner(s)/partner(s) is: THERESA INTRAVARTOLO, 400 KENT RD, RIVERSIDE, IL 60546, USA. Published in RB Landmark 8/12, 8/19, 8/26/2020
Public Notice is hereby given that a public hearing will be held by the Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) of the Village of River Forest, County of Cook, State of Illinois, on Thursday, September 10, 2020 at 7:30 p.m. in the First Floor Community Room of the River Forest Village Hall, 400 Park Avenue, River Forest, Illinois on the following matter: The ZBA will consider an application for a major zoning variation submitted by Brad Ament and Georgina Fabian, owners of the property at 7820 Augusta Street, who are proposing to construct a one story addition onto the existing home. Section 4-8-5 of the Village Code provides the Zoning Board jurisdiction to hold public hearings and offer recommendations to the Village Board concerning variations to Zoning Ordinance. The applicants are requesting a major variation to Section 10-95 that would allow the addition to increase the Lot Coverage area from 3,107 square feet (31.68% of the Lot Area), to 3,569 square feet (36.39%). The Zoning Ordinance allows a maximum Lot Coverage of 30% of the area of the lot. The applicants are also requesting a major variation to Section 10-9-7 that would allow the north wall of the addition to the home to have a rear yard setback of 5’-6 3/8” from the north property line to the wall, and a setback of 3’-7 3/8” to the fascia board of the roof overhang of the addition. The Zoning Ordinance requires a minimum rear yard setback equal to 15 % of the Lot depth or 26’2”, whichever is greater. The legal description of the property at 7820 Augusta Street is as follows: THE EAST HALF OF LOT 13 (EXCEPTING FROM SAID TRACT THE WEST 6 INCHES THEREOF) AND THE EAST HALF OF THE SOUTH 40 FEEET OF LOT 14 IN HENRY E. GRAVES SUBDIVISION OF BLOCK 10 IN SNOW AND DICKINSON’S ADDITION TO RIVER FOREST, A SUBDIVISION OF THE WEST HALF OF THE SOUTHWEST QUARTER OF SECTION 1 AND THE EAST 17 ACRES OF THE SOUTHEAST QUARTER OF SECTION 2, TOWNSHIP 39 NORTH, RANGE 12, EAST OF THE THIRD PRINCIPAL MERIDIAN, (EXCEPT PARTS CONVEYED TO THE CHICAGO AND WISCONSIN RAILROAD COMPANY), IN COOK COUNTY, ILLINOIS. A copy of the application will be available to the public at Village Hall and on the Village’s website at www. vrf.us/zoningvariation no less than 15 days prior to the public hearing. The Zoning Board of Appeals meeting packet will also be available at www.vrf.us/meetings no less than 48 hours prior to the public hearing. All interested persons will be given the opportunity to be heard at the public hearing. For public comments to be considered by the Zoning Board of Appeals and Village Board of Trustees in their decision, they must be included as part of the public hearing record. Interested persons can learn more about how to participation in the hearing by visiting www.vrf.us/zoningvariation. Sincerely, Clifford Radatz Secretary, Zoning Board of Appeals Published in Wednesday Journal 8/26/2020
PUBLIC NOTICES
PUBLIC NOTICES
NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING VILLAGE OF OAK PARK HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMISSION HEARING DATE: September 10, 2020 TIME: 7:00 p.m. or as soon thereafter as the Agenda permits APPLICATION: The Village of Oak Park Historic Preservation Commission (“Commission”) will conduct a public hearing on an application for a Certificate of Appropriateness filed by Focus Acquisition Company LLC to demolish one residential building and one garage at 203 South Marion Street, Oak Park, Illinois, P.I.N. 16-07-308-008-0000, which is located in the RidgelandOak Park Historic District. A copy of the application and applicable documents are on file and are available for inspection at Village Hall, Development Customer Services Department, 123 Madison Street, Oak Park, Illinois 60302, Monday through Friday between 8:30 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. The Commission will conduct the public hearing remotely with live audio available and optional video. The meeting will be streamed live and archived online for on-demand viewing at www.oak-park.us/commissiontv as well as cablecast on VOP-TV, which is available to Comcast subscribers on channel 6 and ATT U-Verse subscribers on channel 99. The remote public hearing is authorized pursuant to Section 7(e) of the Open Meetings Act. The Village President has determined that an in-person public hearing is not practical or prudent due to the COVID-19 outbreak during Governor JB Pritzker’s current disaster proclamation. It is also not feasible to have a person present at the public hearing due to public safety
concerns related to the COVID-19 outbreak. All interested persons will be given an opportunity to be heard at the public hearing. Interested persons may provide written evidence, testimony and public comment on the application by email to historicpreservation@oak-park. us or by drop off in the Oak Park Payment Drop Box across from the entrance to Village Hall, 123 Madison Street, Oak Park, Illinois, to be received no later than 5:00 p.m. on September 10, 2020. An individual’s name and their testimony or comment will be read aloud into the record at the public hearing if received no later than 30 minutes prior to the start of the public hearing. Interested persons may also participate in the hearing to cross examine the applicant and its witnesses, present evidence, testimony or public comment by emailing historicpreservation@oak-park.us before 5:00 PM on the day prior to the public hearing to sign up. Individuals who sign up to participate in this manner will receive an email from Village staff with information about how to join the meeting online through Zoom web-conference means or by phone. The public hearing may be adjourned by the Commission to another date without further notice other than a motion to be entered upon the minutes of the hearing fixing the time and place of the date. The Commission shall issue or deny the Certificate of Appropriateness within fifteen (15) days following completion of the public hearing.
Published in Wednesday Journal August 26, 2020
PUBLIC NOTICE Notice is hereby given, pursuant to “An Act in relation to the use of an Assumed Business Name in the conduct or transaction of Business in the State,” as amended, that a certification was registered by the undersigned with the County Clerk of Cook County. Registration Number: Y20004121 on August 18, 2020 Under the Assumed Business Name of ALMOST ANYTHING IMPRINTING with the business located at: 62 NORTH HERBERT ROAD, RIVERSIDE, IL 60546. The true and real full name(s) and residence address of the owner(s)/partner(s) is: KATHRYN EILEEN MINAGHAN 62 NORTH HERBERT ROAD, RIVERSIDE, IL 60546, USA Published in RB Landmark 08/26, 9/2, 9/9/2020
REAL ESTATE FOR SALE IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF COOK COUNTY, ILLINOIS COUNTY DEPARTMENT CHANCERY DIVISION DEUTSCHE BANK NATIONAL TRUST COMPANY AS TRUSTEE FOR HIS ASSET SECURITIZATION CORPORATION TRUST 2007OPT1, MORTGAGE PASSTHROUGH CERTIFICATES, SERIES 2007-OPT1; Plaintiff, vs. CHARLES T. GRANT; JUANITA J. GRANT AKA JUANITA LACOURT; PRAIRIE PLACE AT 6436 ROOSEVELT CONDOMINIUM ASSOCIATION; UNKNOWN OWNERS AND NON RECORD
REAL ESTATE FOR SALE CLAIMANTS; Defendants, 19 CH 14415 NOTICE OF SALE PUBLIC NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale entered in the above entitled cause Intercounty Judicial Sales Corporation will on Tuesday, September 15, 2020 at the hour of 11 a.m. in their office at 120 West Madison Street, Suite 718A, Chicago, Illinois, sell at public auction to the highest bidder for cash, as set forth below, the following described mortgaged real estate: P.I.N. 16-18-428-043-1019 & 16-18428-043-1064. Commonly known as 6436 Roosevelt Road, Unit 311, Oak Park, IL 60304. The mortgaged real estate is improved with a condominium residence. The purchaser of the unit other than a mortgagee shall pay the assessments and the legal fees required by subdivisions (g)(1) and (g) (4) of Section 9 of the Condominium Property Act Sale terms: 10% down by certified funds, balance, by certified funds, within 24 hours. No refunds. The property will NOT be open for inspection. For information call Law Clerk at Plaintiff’s Attorney, The Wirbicki Law Group, 33 West Monroe Street, Chicago, Illinois 60603. (312) 3609455. W18-0641 INTERCOUNTY JUDICIAL SALES CORPORATION intercountyjudicialsales.com I3153810
REAL ESTATE FOR SALE IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF COOK COUNTY, ILLINOIS COUNTY DEPARTMENT CHANCERY DIVISION U.S. BANK NATIONAL ASSOCIATION, AS TRUSTEE FOR MASTR ADJUSTABLE RATE MORTGAGES TRUST 2007-1, MORTGAGE PASS-THROUGH CERTIFICATES, SERIES 2007-1 Plaintiff, -v.ELLEN M. RAVITZ, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA - INTERNAL REVENUE SERVICE, UNKNOWN OWNERS AND NON-RECORD CLAIMANTS Defendants 18 CH 03457 123 S. EUCLID AVENUE OAK PARK, IL 60302 NOTICE OF SALE PUBLIC NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale entered in the above cause on February 13, 2020, an agent for The Judicial Sales Corporation, will at 10:30 AM on September 15, 2020, at The Judicial Sales Corporation, One South Wacker Drive, CHICAGO, IL, 60606, sell at a public sale to the highest bidder, as set forth below, the following described real estate: Commonly known as 123 S. EUCLID AVENUE, OAK PARK, IL 60302 Property Index No. 16-07-400-0160000 The real estate is improved with a single family residence. The judgment amount was $657,505.06. Sale terms: 25% down of the highest bid by certified funds at the close of the sale payable to The Judicial Sales Corporation. No third party checks will be accepted. The balance, including the Judicial Sale fee for the Abandoned Residential Property Municipality Relief Fund, which is calculated on residential real estate at the rate of $1 for each $1,000 or fraction thereof of the amount paid by the purchaser not to exceed $300, in certified funds/ or wire transfer, is due within twenty-four (24) hours. No fee shall be paid by the mortgagee acquiring the residential real estate pursuant to its credit bid at the sale or by any mortgagee, judgment creditor, or other lienor acquiring the residential real estate whose rights in and to the residential real estate arose prior to the sale. The subject property is subject to general real estate taxes, special assessments, or special taxes levied against said real estate and is offered for sale without any representation as to quality or quantity of title and without recourse to Plaintiff and in “AS IS” condition. The sale is further subject to confirmation by the court. Upon payment in full of the amount bid, the purchaser will receive a Certificate of Sale that will entitle the purchaser to a deed to the real estate after confirmation of the sale. Where a sale of real estate is made to satisfy a lien prior to that of the United States, the United States shall have one year from the date of sale within which to redeem, except that with respect to a lien arising under the internal revenue laws the period shall be 120 days or the period allowable for redemption under State law, whichever is longer, and in any case in which, under the provisions of section 505 of the Housing Act of 1950, as amended (12 U.S.C. 1701k), and subsection (d) of section 3720 of title 38 of the United States Code, the right to redeem does not arise, there shall be no right of redemption. The property will NOT be open for inspection and plaintiff makes no representation as to the condition of the property. Prospective bidders are admonished to check the court file to verify all information.
P
PB
Wednesday Journal, August 26, 2020
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(708) 613-3333 • FAX: (708) 467-9066 • E-MAIL: CLASSIFIEDS@OAKPARK.COM | CLASSIFIEDS@RIVERFOREST.COM
Let the sun shine in...
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In print • Online • Available to you 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, every day of the year OakPark.com | RiverForest.com | PublicNoticeIllinois.com
Wednesday Journal, August 26, 2020
OAKPARK.COM | RIVERFOREST.COM
REAL ESTATE FOR SALE
REAL ESTATE FOR SALE
REAL ESTATE FOR SALE
REAL ESTATE FOR SALE
REAL ESTATE FOR SALE
REAL ESTATE FOR SALE
REAL ESTATE FOR SALE
If this property is a condominium unit, the purchaser of the unit at the foreclosure sale, other than a mortgagee, shall pay the assessments and the legal fees required by The Condominium Property Act, 765 ILCS 605/9(g)(1) and (g)(4). If this property is a condominium unit which is part of a common interest community, the purchaser of the unit at the foreclosure sale other than a mortgagee shall pay the assessments required by The Condominium Property Act, 765 ILCS 605/18.5(g-1). IF YOU ARE THE MORTGAGOR (HOMEOWNER), YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO REMAIN IN POSSESSION FOR 30 DAYS AFTER ENTRY OF AN ORDER OF POSSESSION, IN ACCORDANCE WITH SECTION 15-1701(C) OF THE ILLINOIS MORTGAGE FORECLOSURE LAW. You will need a photo identification issued by a government agency (driver’s license, passport, etc.) in order to gain entry into our building and the foreclosure sale room in Cook County and the same identification for sales held at other county venues where The Judicial Sales Corporation conducts foreclosure sales. For information, Alexander Potestivo, POTESTIVO & ASSOCIATES, P.C. Plaintiff’s Attorneys, 223 WEST JACKSON BLVD, STE 610, Chicago, IL, 60606 (312) 263-0003. Please refer to file number 109484. THE JUDICIAL SALES CORPORATION One South Wacker Drive, 24th Floor, Chicago, IL 60606-4650 (312) 236SALE You can also visit The Judicial Sales Corporation at www.tjsc.com for a 7 day status report of pending sales. POTESTIVO & ASSOCIATES, P.C. 223 WEST JACKSON BLVD, STE 610 Chicago IL, 60606 312-263-0003 E-Mail: ilpleadings@potestivolaw. com Attorney File No. 109484 Attorney Code. 43932 Case Number: 18 CH 03457 TJSC#: 40-924 NOTE: Pursuant to the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, you are advised that Plaintiff’s attorney is deemed to be a debt collector attempting to collect a debt and any information obtained will be used for that purpose. Case # 18 CH 03457 I3152293
Commonly known as 1185 S. LOMBARD AVE., OAK PARK, IL 60304. The mortgaged real estate is improved with a single family residence. If the subject mortgaged real estate is a unit of a common interest community, the purchaser of the unit other than a mortgagee shall pay the assessments required by subsection (g-1) of Section 18.5 of the Condominium Property Act. Sale terms: 10% down by certified funds, balance, by certified funds, within 24 hours. No refunds. The property will NOT be open for inspection. For information call Mr. Ira T. Nevel at Plaintiff’s Attorney, Law Offices of Ira T. Nevel, 175 North Franklin Street, Chicago, Illinois 60606. (312) 357-1125. 18-04613 INTERCOUNTY JUDICIAL SALES CORPORATION intercountyjudicialsales.com I3153814
the purchaser to a deed to the real estate after confirmation of the sale. The property will NOT be open for inspection and plaintiff makes no representation as to the condition of the property. Prospective bidders are admonished to check the court file to verify all information. If this property is a condominium unit, the purchaser of the unit at the foreclosure sale, other than a mortgagee, shall pay the assessments and the legal fees required by The Condominium Property Act, 765 ILCS 605/9(g)(1) and (g)(4). If this property is a condominium unit which is part of a common interest community, the purchaser of the unit at the foreclosure sale other than a mortgagee shall pay the assessments required by The Condominium Property Act, 765 ILCS 605/18.5(g-1). IF YOU ARE THE MORTGAGOR (HOMEOWNER), YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO REMAIN IN POSSESSION FOR 30 DAYS AFTER ENTRY OF AN ORDER OF POSSESSION, IN ACCORDANCE WITH SECTION 15-1701(C) OF THE ILLINOIS MORTGAGE FORECLOSURE LAW. You will need a photo identification issued by a government agency (driver’s license, passport, etc.) in order to gain entry into our building and the foreclosure sale room in Cook County and the same identification for sales held at other county venues where The Judicial Sales Corporation conducts foreclosure sales. MCCALLA RAYMER LEIBERT PIERCE, LLC Plaintiff’s Attorneys, One North Dearborn Street, Suite
1200, Chicago, IL, 60602. Tel No. (312) 346-9088. THE JUDICIAL SALES CORPORATION One South Wacker Drive, 24th Floor, Chicago, IL 60606-4650 (312) 236SALE You can also visit The Judicial Sales Corporation at www.tjsc.com for a 7 day status report of pending sales. MCCALLA RAYMER LEIBERT PIERCE, LLC One North Dearborn Street, Suite 1200 Chicago IL, 60602 312-346-9088 E-Mail: pleadings@mccalla.com Attorney File No. 267501 Attorney ARDC No. 61256 Attorney Code. 61256 Case Number: 18 CH 12736 TJSC#: 39-8007 NOTE: Pursuant to the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, you are advised that Plaintiff’s attorney is deemed to be a debt collector attempting to collect a debt and any information obtained will be used for that purpose. Case # 18 CH 12736 I3151985
Defendants 10 CH 36359 500 EASTERN AVENUE BELLWOOD, IL 60104 NOTICE OF SALE PUBLIC NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale entered in the above cause on December 3, 2019, an agent for The Judicial Sales Corporation, will at 10:30 AM on September 22, 2020, at The Judicial Sales Corporation, One South Wacker Drive, CHICAGO, IL, 60606, sell at a public sale to the highest bidder, as set forth below, the following described real estate: Commonly known as 500 EASTERN AVENUE, BELLWOOD, IL 60104 Property Index No. 15-09-311-0580000 The real estate is improved with a single family residence. The judgment amount was $311,057.79. Sale terms: 25% down of the highest bid by certified funds at the close of the sale payable to The Judicial Sales Corporation. No third party checks will be accepted. The balance, including the Judicial Sale fee for the Abandoned Residential Property Municipality Relief Fund, which is calculated on residential real estate at the rate of $1 for each $1,000 or fraction thereof of the amount paid by the purchaser not to exceed $300, in certified funds/ or wire transfer, is due within twenty-four (24) hours. No fee shall be paid by the mortgagee acquiring the residential real estate pursuant to its credit bid at the sale or by any mortgagee, judgment creditor, or other lienor acquiring the residential real
estate whose rights in and to the residential real estate arose prior to the sale. The subject property is subject to general real estate taxes, special assessments, or special taxes levied against said real estate and is offered for sale without any representation as to quality or quantity of title and without recourse to Plaintiff and in “AS IS” condition. The sale is further subject to confirmation by the court. Upon payment in full of the amount bid, the purchaser will receive a Certificate of Sale that will entitle the purchaser to a deed to the real estate after confirmation of the sale. The property will NOT be open for inspection and plaintiff makes no representation as to the condition of the property. Prospective bidders are admonished to check the court file to verify all information. If this property is a condominium unit, the purchaser of the unit at the foreclosure sale, other than a mortgagee, shall pay the assessments and the legal fees required by The Condominium Property Act, 765 ILCS 605/9(g)(1) and (g)(4). If this property is a condominium unit which is part of a common interest community, the purchaser of the unit at the foreclosure sale other than a mortgagee shall pay the assessments required by The Condominium Property Act, 765 ILCS 605/18.5(g1).IF YOU ARE THE MORTGAGOR (HOMEOWNER), YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO REMAIN IN POSSESSION FOR 30 DAYS AFTER ENTRY OF AN ORDER OF POSSESSION, IN ACCORDANCE WITH SECTION 15-1701(C) OF THE ILLINOIS MORTGAGE FORECLOSURE LAW.
You will need a photo identification issued by a government agency (driver’s license, passport, etc.) in order to gain entry into our building and the foreclosure sale room in Cook County and the same identification for sales held at other county venues where The Judicial Sales Corporation conducts foreclosure sales. For information, Alexander Potestivo, POTESTIVO & ASSOCIATES, P.C. Plaintiff’s Attorneys, 223 WEST JACKSON BLVD, STE 610, Chicago, IL, 60606 (312) 263-0003. Please refer to file number 113876. THE JUDICIAL SALES CORPORATION One South Wacker Drive, 24th Floor, Chicago, IL 60606-4650 (312) 236SALE You can also visit The Judicial Sales Corporation at www.tjsc.com for a 7 day status report of pending sales. POTESTIVO & ASSOCIATES, P.C. 223 WEST JACKSON BLVD, STE 610 Chicago IL, 60606 312-263-0003 E-Mail: ilpleadings@potestivolaw. com Attorney File No. 113876 Attorney Code. 43932 Case Number: 10 CH 36359 TJSC#: 40-1855 NOTE: Pursuant to the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, you are advised that Plaintiff’s attorney is deemed to be a debt collector attempting to collect a debt and any information obtained will be used for that purpose. I3154976
IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF COOK COUNTY, ILLINOIS COUNTY DEPARTMENT CHANCERY DIVISION US BANK TRUST NATIONAL ASSOCIATION NOT IN ITS INDIVIDUAL CAPACITY BUT SOLELY AS OWNER TRUSTEE FOR VRMTG ASSET TRUST; Plaintiff, vs. LORNA J. RANKER; CHARLES K. RANKER; CITIZENS BANK NA; Defendants, 18 CH 2459 NOTICE OF SALE PUBLIC NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale entered in the above entitled cause Intercounty Judicial Sales Corporation will on Tuesday, September 15, 2020 at the hour of 11 a.m. in their office at 120 West Madison Street, Suite 718A, Chicago, Illinois, sell at public auction to the highest bidder for cash, as set forth below, the following described mortgaged real estate: P.I.N. 16-17-327-034-0000.
IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF COOK COUNTY, ILLINOIS COUNTY DEPARTMENT CHANCERY DIVISION SELENE FINANCE LP Plaintiff, -v.LARSENIA HORTON, NEIL SMITH, ASSURANCE RESTORATION & CONSTRUCTION, INC., PRAIRIE HOUSES OWNERS ASSOCIATION, UNKNOWN OWNERS AND NONRECORD CLAIMANTS Defendants 18 CH 12736 14 DIVISION STREET, # 14 OAK PARK, IL 60302 NOTICE OF SALE PUBLIC NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale entered in the above cause on December 16, 2019, an agent for The Judicial Sales Corporation, will at 10:30 AM on September 28, 2020, at The Judicial Sales Corporation, One South Wacker Drive, CHICAGO, IL, 60606, sell at a public sale to the highest bidder, as set forth below, the following described real estate: Commonly known as 14 DIVISION STREET, # 14, OAK PARK, IL 60302 Property Index No. 16-05-127-0480000 The real estate is improved with a brown brick, three story townhouse with an attached one car garage. Sale terms: 25% down of the highest bid by certified funds at the close of the sale payable to The Judicial Sales Corporation. No third party checks will be accepted. The balance, including the Judicial Sale fee for the Abandoned Residential Property Municipality Relief Fund, which is calculated on residential real estate at the rate of $1 for each $1,000 or fraction thereof of the amount paid by the purchaser not to exceed $300, in certified funds/ or wire transfer, is due within twenty-four (24) hours. No fee shall be paid by the mortgagee acquiring the residential real estate pursuant to its credit bid at the sale or by any mortgagee, judgment creditor, or other lienor acquiring the residential real estate whose rights in and to the residential real estate arose prior to the sale. The subject property is subject to general real estate taxes, special assessments, or special taxes levied against said real estate and is offered for sale without any representation as to quality or quantity of title and without recourse to Plaintiff and in “AS IS” condition. The sale is further subject to confirmation by the court. Upon payment in full of the amount bid, the purchaser will receive a Certificate of Sale that will entitle
IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF COOK COUNTY, ILLINOIS COUNTY DEPARTMENT CHANCERY DIVISION MWD ASSET SERVICING, LLC Plaintiff, -v.TINA MCDONALD A/K/A TINA N. MCDONALD, JOANNE MCDONALD, MORTGAGE ELECTRONIC REGISTRATION SYSTEMS, INC
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