Wednesday Journal 092221

W E D N E S D A Y

September 22, 2021 Vol. 42, No. 8 ONE DOLLAR @oakpark @wednesdayjournal

JOURNAL of Oak Park and River Forest

D200 bus service snafu ends well But trust restoration will take longer

By F. AMANDA TUGADE Staff Reporter

Adebajo Amusa is frustrated.

During the first three weeks of school, Amusa’s younger son, Horace, was either not picked up by the school bus or picked up late. On top of that, Horace, who has special needs, was not provided a bus aide, a requirement listed on his Individualized Educational Plan (IEP) — and Amusa wanted to know why.

“I’m trying to understand,” said Amusa, whose son attends Oak Park and River Forest High School. “I’ve been racking my brain. How can people let this happen?”

Amusa even lodged two complaints with the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) after he felt that the school’s responses left him with more questions than answers.

The trouble began when Horace, a sophomore at OPRF, was not picked up by the bus during the first week of school. Amusa explained that his ex-wife, who is the primary custodial parent of their two sons, contacted First Student Inc., the high school’s hired bus company, and was told Horace “hadn’t been routed” but would be by the following week.

Amusa, a special education teacher in Chicago Public Schools (CPS), said OPRF reopened a week earlier than See D200 BUS on page 16

MELISSA ELSMO/Food editor

FENCED IN: Bill Loutos, owner of Al’s Grill, gives a tour of his back patio and shows off the sliding gate large enough for an emergency vehicle to pass through.

Al’s Grill and village at impasse over newly fenced parking lot Customers rally as two sides plan face-to-face meeting

By MELISSA ELSMO

Oak Park man faces hate charges, accosted Black woman, daughter Page 5

Oak Park Eats Editor

News that Al’s Grill, 1100 Madison St., must dismantle its outdoor dining area

by Oct. 31 was met with anger and con-

cern among supporters of the beloved diner. The tented dining area situated on the parking lot behind the restaurant boasts planter boxes and nine tables.

Owners recently enclosed the lot with a wrought iron fence.

In a letter dated Sept. 7 and sent to Bill

Loutos, owner of Al’s Grill, the Village of Oak Park said the temporary outdoor dining space constructed at the diner would need to come down by the end of October -- the same date all temporary outdoor dinSee AL’S GRILL on page 16

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Wednesday Journal, September 22, 2021

OAKPARK.COM | RIVERFOREST.COM

West Nile virus cause of bird deaths

Transferred through mosquito bites

By STACEY SHERIDAN Staff Reporter

A number of dead birds in Oak Park has caused confusion and concern among village residents. They were not flattened by cars but appear outwardly to be healthy-looking birds.

What’s killing Oak Park’s birds is West Nile virus-carrying mosquitoes.

The same irritating creature whose bites result in itchy, red welts is also an avian grim reaper, causing birds to drop dead left and right.

This summer’s weather conditions resulted in a growing population of the Culex mosquito, the species native to the area, which led to more mosquitoes picking up West Nile from invasive species carrying the virus, according to Susan Wolf, an environmental health professional employed by the Oak Park Public Health Department.

“We’ve had a number of invasive species that have traveled over here to the United States,” said Wolf. “That’s how [the virus] gets transported.”

The West Nile virus is then transferred into the blood streams of birds through mosquito

bites. Mosquitoes carry the higher amounts of the virus in early fall, resulting in a greater number of bird deaths in late August.

The health department turned to fogging, spraying a chemical solution in areas crowded with mosquitoes. The village utilized the services of Clarke Mosquito Control, which bills itself as an environmentally sustainable resource for mosquito abatement.

Clarke used the dual action adulticide DUET, which consists of both sumithrin and prallethrin. The fogging was completed Sept.

1. The chemicals are only harmful to mosquitoes, not humans or animals, according to Wolf.

The Oak Park Public Health Department has been tracking the spread of the West Nile virus through the collection of dead birds,

which are then sent to a diagnostic lab at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign for testing.

The biologists send weekly updates regarding the sample testing to the village. Lately, the reports have indicated a decline in the mosquito population, which is likely to cause a decrease in the number of West Nile-related bird deaths.

“The numbers are coming down,” said Wolf.

As the health department is no longer collecting dead birds, it is up to the resident to dispose of corpses found on their property by tossing them into trash bags, which should then be tied closed. People can also bury them.

To prevent the spread of disease, Wolf cautions residents to always wear gloves when removing carrion.

“Never touch the animal,” said Wolf.

For dead birds found on village-owned property, people should contact the Public Works Department. Public Works is not responsible for removing deceased animals found on private residences. However, if residents find a way to nudge the carcass onto public property, Public Works Director John Wielebnicki told Wednesday Journal, his department will come to remove it.

“I’m not going to split hairs here. We try to help people,” he said. “If you get it out to the street or the alley, we’ll pick it up.”

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Wednesday Journal, September 22, 2021

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We need more local journalists like Terry Dean

he legendary New York newspaperman Pete Hamill called Ted Poston, the first Black reporter at a mainstream daily newspaper — the New York Post — a “man of grace and generosity, particularly to those of us who were young.”

Poston retained his dignity despite going “over and over again” to the American South alone, “in the years when it wasn’t easy to be black and alone in that heartbreaking region with a notebook in your hand.”

“This is the best gahdamned business in the world,” Hamill recalled Poston telling him once. “We help more gahdamned people than any gahdamned government. So don’t you ever disgrace it, you hear me?”

I thought about this passage in Hamill’s 1998 meditation on the journalism industry, “News Is A Verb,” after learning of the death, Monday, of our former colleague, Terry Dean.

I got to know Terry well while working alongside him for about a month as I transitioned into the job he was leaving. Terry couldn’t have been more gracious and patient and decent and kind. He didn’t have to be that way, but he was.

And it was partly because of Commentary Terry’s strength of character that I, like Hamill after hearing Poston’s terse demand, felt a strong sense of responsibility to the work I was inheriting.

We’re not in the 1960s and the West Side is not the American South, but being a Black journalist is still a lonely job, wherever we may be assigned.

We’re either the relatively voiceless or powerless few in mainstream newsrooms dominated by whiteness or we are newsrooms of one, struggling (financially, emotionally, physically) to cover communities we love.

Terry, it turns out, was both: a Black reporter covering Oak Park schools in Wednesday Journal’s overwhelmingly white newsroom and, as the sole editor and lead reporter for Austin Weekly News, essentially a newsroom of one.

Like all of us in local journalism, he was overworked and underpaid. And yet, as a testament to the minor miracle that was then Wednesday Journal Inc. and is now Growing Community Media, Terry was empowered to imprint his vision on the paper and to publish a product that his neighbors and loved ones in Austin respected and revered, which is not a simple feat.

In her new book, News for the Rich, White, and Blue: How Place and Power Distort American Journalism, Nikki Usher helped me understand why.

Usher argues that the idea of local journalism many Americans have cultivated is actually “deeply problematic and somewhat ahistoric.”

For one, the term “local” is conceptually ambiguous. It can mean a metropolitan region as populous and geographically expansive as Cook County, a city of several million, a census block or just about anywhere in the country not Washington, New York or Los Angeles.

In our current age of digital networks and globalization, local is often thought of as anywhere associated with a fixed place, more often than not a place you want to leave.

Indeed, the term local can be a pejorative, used for anyone or anything that’s the opposite of cosmopolitan or worldly.

To be local is to be basic, simple … stuck.

In another sense, to be local is to be rooted, stable, home — notions most appreciated in the context of growing older, having children and paying property taxes.

MICHAEL ROMAIN

FILE

Terry Dean

Secondly, the kind of accountability journalism that we often associate with local news “is largely a boutique form of journalism” practiced in the wake of Watergate by large metro papers like the Chicago Tribune, which had the resources to hire their own Bob Woodwards and Carl Bernsteins.

“The romantic myth of the informed American citizen where every town had its own newspaper is missing an important detail: the United States was founded and existed for close to a century without a robust tradition of local news, and most of the news in these plentiful local newspapers was reprinted from other outlets,” Usher writes.

“For much of American history, local news was associated with either salacious scandal or boosterism (or both), and most newspapers were low on original news content,” she adds.

What’s more, Usher argues, most early newspapers existed not to speak truth to power; on the contrary, they were tools of the powerful.

“This booster journalism was meant to build up a ‘place,’ to make a place somewhere that people wanted to invest in and move to; critical local journalism was scant,” she writes.

“Boosterism” is a precursor “to what we now think of as local news, and local news in many places across the United States still serves as a site for community promotion rather than community critique. Frontiersmen ‘founded’ new towns and newspapers often at the same time, and many of today’s newspapers bear the mark of larger-thanlife figures trying to ‘settle’ the West.

“These settlers were also participants in Native American genocide, either directly or indirectly; to have a newspaper was to civilize and to fulfill manifest destiny. Men like Col. Alden Blethen of the Seattle Times used their power at the helm of a newspaper to create their cities.”

Even now, when people in Austin complain about our coverage, the criticism is often rooted in this collective desire for booster journalism.

The sentiment is this: With all the social forces working against Austin, the last thing she needs is her own newspaper working against her and painting her in a bad light.

There’s another dynamic at work.

Local newspapers everywhere are often “part and parcel of the establishment power structure and have a vested interest in its continuation” — if only because they’re financially dependent on those who can spend money on advertising or can dole out donations. To an extent, that’s also the case in Austin.

And yet, even though the boosterism origins of local news have been obscured by this hyper-focus on accountability journalism, we local journalists still take the post-Watergate commitment to speaking truth to power seriously.

This is an extremely difficult balancing act for a metro paper, let alone one man, but such was Terry’s task as editor of Austin Weekly News and that he did it so well for so long will be his legacy.

Quality journalism, journalism that creates a sense of place, is increasingly becoming a luxury commodity available only to people who live in places wealthy enough to pay for it — places like the coasts and big cities (places that, in Usher’s parlance, are typically rich, white and blue).

“Some places simply get more compassionate, consistent, humanizing coverage, while others, home to people of color, remain ‘unknowns,’ places of statistics rather than of lives that matter,” Usher writes.

Terry Dean made Austin known in the minds of people who otherwise would not have ventured beyond Austin Boulevard often enough or long enough or seen it deeply enough to discover its texture and its richness. And he made Austinites known to each other.

And that’s a powerful thing.

It would be a tragedy, however, if we didn’t find some way to systematically and equitably cultivate more local journalists like Terry, people who are so rooted in a place that they can authoritatively communicate its culture and values to others.

Perhaps this is a topic that can be broached when the state’s newly created Local Journalism Task Force starts to convene. Perhaps local business and nonprofit leaders in the west suburbs and on the West Side can convene to figure out how to fund such an endeavor.

To do so would be a fitting tribute to someone I believe fit the description that Pete Hammil had for Ted Poston: “He was a serious man. He wanted to help people. He felt he was doing more good than any gahdamned government.”

CONTACT: michael@oakpark.com

Services for Terry Dean Services for Terry Dean will be held Sept. 30 and Oct. 1 at Johnson Funeral Home, 5838 W. Division, Chicago.

Visitation will be Sept. 30 from 2:30 to 6:30 p.m. A wake and funeral service will be Oct. 1 from 12:30 to 2:30. More details can be found at smithandthomas.com.

Terry was preceded in death by his parents Thomas Dean Sr. and Mary Lee Dean. He is survived by his daughter, Amiri Dean, and his siblings, Yvette Dean (William), Thomas Dean Jr., Talman Dean Sr. (Celeste Dean), Letitia Noreiga and many nieces and nephews.

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Wednesday Journal, September 22, 2021

Taste of Uncorked Friday, Sept. 24, 6 to 8 p.m., Rubinstein Garden, Oak Park Conservatory Don’t miss the last one of the season. Enjoy music and drinks outdoors while celebrating the Friends of the Oak Park Conservatory’s 35th anniversary. Andy Pratt provides the entertainment; local beverage sponsors are Anfora Wine Merchants and The Beer Shop. $15, includes two drink tickets. 21+. Register: pdop.org.

615 Garfield St., Oak Park.

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BIG WEEK September 22-29

Designing with Dahlias

Thursday, Sept. 23, 7 to 8:30 p.m., Virtually with The League of Women Voters of Oak Park & River Forest Hear Jay Young and Tyler St. Clair, Common Cause Illinois; and Rebecca Greenberg, ACLU Illinois, on the concerning big picture regarding voting as well as what can be done here to protect the right of all citizens to cast their ballots. Free. Register: fppl. evanced.info/signup/Calendar

UNESCO World Heritage Celebration

Fall Fest

Jon W. Balke “Sixty Years in the Dark (Room)”

Bill Kerr “Rank and File” quilt

Local Art “Sixty Years in the Dark (Room)” Through Sept. 30, The Ferguson Art Gallery, Kretzmann Hall, Concordia University Chicago See Jon W. Balke’s black-and-white photography exhibit. Balke creates his environmental images with a large format camera and develops darkroom prints using the traditional gelatin silver process. He studied darkroom techniques with Ansel Adams and John Sexton and photographic composition with Willard Clay. Mask required.

Gallery hours: Mondays through Fridays, 9 a.m. to 7 p.m., and Saturdays and Sundays, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. 7400 Augusta St., River Forest.

Faculty Art Exhibition OK Classic Saturday, Sept. 25, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., Forest Park Park District Softball Fields Be part of a full day of fun and competitive co-ed, 14-inch softball. Softball allows Opportunity Knocks’ Warriors to stand on the same playing field as their peers in a fully inclusive space. The family-friendly festival features food and beverage, kids’ activity area (10 a.m. to 5 p.m.) and more. Also, bring used sports and fitness equipment (10 a.m. to 3 p.m.) to help raise funds for Opportunity Knocks. More: opportunityknocksnow.org/ok-classic-3. 7501 Harrison St.

Thursday, Sept. 23, 7:30 to 9 p.m., or Saturday, Sept. 25, 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., Zoom with the Oak Park Public Library Author Gwen Tolios breaks down what goes into getting a manuscript self-published without breaking the bank. From getting words on the page to creating a cover and formatting for distribution, learn the steps and costs on the self-publishing journey.

Register for one session only: oppl.org/calendar

SOS Democracy: The Fight for Voting Rights

Wednesday, Sept. 22, 7 to 8 p.m., Zoom with Friends of the Oak Park Conservatory Join certified organic grower Tania Cubberly of SkyFall Flowers for a lecture that covers an introduction to dahlias, planting, growing conditions and harvesting of this flower. Free. Register: pdop.org.

Saturday, Sept. 25, 10 to 11 a.m., Unity Temple Be a part of this important designation, Unity Temple’s inclusion as one of eight Frank Lloyd Wright sites around the country. World Heritage is a UNESCO designation of worldwide historic sites recognized for their outstanding universal value. There are only 24 World Heritage sites in the United States. A plaque will be unveiled on the front lawn followed by notable speakers and self-guided tours. Masks suggested outdoors; required indoors. Free. Register: utrf.org/ event/worldheritage. 875 Lake St., Oak Park.

Self-Publishing on a Shoestring

Through Oct. 22, O’Connor Art Gallery, Lewis Hall, Dominican University See a variety of art from faculty in the department of art and design including ceramics, photography, painting, fiber art and more. Includes Oak Parker and professor of graphic design Bill Kerr’s “Rank and File” quilt. Masks required. Gallery hours: Mondays through Fridays, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Saturdays, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. 7900 W. Division St., River Forest.

“Her Voice” Art Exhibition Reception Saturday, Sept. 25, 1 to 4 p.m., Expressions Studio Paper and Print Arts View the fifth annual juried show of women printmakers and guest artists. The show brings together women of different art background to exhibit prints, paintings, drawings, collage, fiber art and photography. Also, view works online: expressions-studio.org. 29 Harrison, Oak Park.

Sunday, Sept. 26, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., Rehm Park and Pool, and Oak Park Conservatory Enjoy games, activities, an obstacle course, scavenger hunt, train rides and food vendors at the park.

Each child gets to pick a pumpkin from the Conservatory pumpkin patch. Masks required. Free; drop in event. 515 and 615 Garfield St., Oak Park.

Telescope Night: Jupiter Friday, Sept. 24, 8 p.m., Lindberg Park Join NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador Mark Benson for a night of telescope viewing and a discussion of current and upcoming NASA missions and discoveries. Bring a telescope if you can. Weather permitting. Up next, Wednesday, Oct. 20, 8 p.m. at Barrie Park: Full Hunter’s Moon. More: pdop.org/events/ telescope-nights. 1150 N. Marion St, Oak Park.

Wednesday Journal, September 22, 2021

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Oak Park resident charged with hate crime, assault Spat on Black woman and her 7-year-old daughter, lobbed racial slurs

By STACEY SHERIDAN Staff Reporter

A confrontation over parking in the Jewel Osco parking lot, 438 Madison St., led to the Sept. 7 arrest of an Oak Park resident, who reportedly spit on a Black woman, drove his vehicle at her and insulted her with racial slurs.

Alberto Friedmann, of the 100 block of North Oak Park Avenue, is facing a hate crime charge and an aggravated assault charge for the incident outside of the grocery store.

Court documents state the woman and her 7-year-old daughter were sitting in their vehicle, parked along the traffic lane between the parking aisles and the store, but not obstructing traffic, while waiting for the woman’s mother to finish shopping, when they heard Friedmann, 53, in a Jaguar honking and shouting from behind them at around

4:33 p.m.

Friedmann, according to the bond proffer from the Cook County State’s Attorney’s office, yelled, “Move your [expletive] car,” followed by a racial slur. When she motioned for Friedmann to drive around her, Friedmann reportedly exited his car and approached the woman’s vehicle, continuing to yell racial slurs at her and her young daughter.

He then repeatedly pushed her door closed, as she attempted to exit her vehicle, and spat in the woman’s face. The court document states that Friedmann then told the woman the reason he spat at her was because “he doesn’t like Black people.”

The woman’s mother, who had finished shopping by that time, witnessed Friedmann calling the woman racial slurs and saw the saliva, according to the court documents.

After Friedmann returned to his vehicle he reportedly tried to hit the woman with his car, after the woman threw a water bottle at his Jaguar to prevent him from leaving before police arrived.

“As the [woman] walked around the back of her car toward the passenger’s side of

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Alberto Friedmann [Friedmann’s] car, [Friedmann] accelerated his car toward the [woman] nearly striking her with his car,” the bond proffer reads.

The Jaguar came “within inches” of the woman, who had to sidestep the car to avoid being struck, per the court filing. Friedmann then struck the rear driver’s side bumper and driver’s side front door of the woman’s car, causing damage, at which point witnesses began to intervene.

Shortly after, police arrived on the scene and took Friedmann into custody. The proffer states that Friedmann admitted to hitting the woman’s car and spitting on her.

A professor at the National University of Health Sciences, this is Friedmann’s first arrest. His LinkedIn page states he is “looking to continue making the lives of others better and helping to improve our country and our world.”

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Wednesday Journal, September 22, 2021

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D97 parents question quarantine policy What constitutes ‘close contact’?

By F. AMANDA TUGADE Staff Reporter

It’s been about a month since Oak Park School District 97 fully reopened, welcoming thousands of students back into classrooms. In that time, district officials, like many across the state, have dealt with a constant shift in COVID-19 guidelines, including a new vaccine mandate with pending deadlines for school employees.

Now officials are hit with another hurdle: Parents are questioning the district’s quarantine policy and the definition of a “close contact” and wondering what support quarantined children will receive during remote learning.

The conversation over the district’s quarantine protocol began two weeks ago, after a student at Mann Elementary School tested positive for COVID-19. Twenty-four students were identified as close contacts and immediately placed under a two-week quarantine, according to the district’s COVID-19 dashboard.

Some parents like Kate Odom said this case has been a source of contention and raised concerns over the district’s quarantine policy, which follows recommendations set by the Oak Park Department of Public Health and other agencies, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The student who tested positive was part of a daycare program run by an outside organization that uses Mann as a site, Odom said. The daycare program is operated by Hephzibah Children’s As-

sociation, a longtime nonprofit in Oak Park, that has partnered with Mann over the years to provide child care and afterschool activities.

Odom, along with other parents, have argued that since the daycare program takes place inside the school building and

follows the district’s safety measures, the students affiliated with that positive case who were named close contacts should have been more carefully considered.

The CDC has defined a “close contact” as someone who was within 6 feet of a person with COVID for more than 15 minutes

in a 24-hour period and advised closed contacts to stay at home for at least 14 days.

While that definition and recommendation still stands, the CDC has updated the See QUARANTINE on page 31

Teachers, schools agree on vaccine mandate policy OPRF and D97 board and staff meet state deadlines

By F. AMANDA TUGADE Staff Reporter

Oak Park’s District 97 school board voted unanimously Sept. 14 to approve a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with three collective bargaining units, laying out a full plan to comply with the state’s vaccine mandate.

The memorandum – which is between the district and the Oak Park Teachers’ Association, Oak Park Teachers Assistants’ Association and Oak Park Educational Support Personnel – requires members from those bargaining units and non-union staff to receive the single-dose COVID-19 vaccine or the first shot of a two-dose vaccine by

Sept. 19. Following state guidelines, workers planning for a two-dose Covid vaccine must receive the second dose within 30 days of getting the first shot. In this case, District 97 employees need that second dose by Oct. 19.

“We continue to work in partnership with our BOE [board of education] and administration to make decisions that are healthy and safe for our students, staff and community as a whole,” said Hannah Boudreau, copresident of the teachers’ association, in an email to Wednesday Journal.

Negotiations are still ongoing with Service Employees International Union (SEIU), said Amanda Siegfried, spokesperson at the district, via email to the Journal. Siegfried said she cannot comment on the details of

those negotiations or offer a timeline on when a decision could be made.

Among the other items listed in the memorandum, employees who are not fully vaccinated by Sept. 19 will be tested twice a week, starting the week of Sept. 20, on-site.

Siegfried said the district plans on using the SHIELD saliva test on staff. Employees are also now required to disclose their vaccination status and submit proof of their vaccinations, the MOU stated.

District 97 workers who are looking to opt out of the vaccine for medical or religious reasons are asked to file for exemption, which will be reviewed and granted or denied by the district’s human resources department. Employees who do not comply

with the plan may face disciplinary action, including “discharge in accordance with applicable collective bargaining agreement policy provisions,” according to the MOU. “Vaccination is still the leading strategy for protecting our community against COVID-19 and keeping our schools open for inperson learning,” Siegfried said. “While we are pleased that our overall staff vaccination rate is 88%, we are still aiming to reach or exceed our goal of 90%.

“We appreciate the collective efforts of our staff to comply with this mandate and protect the overall safety of our schools.”

In a separate agreement, District 97 and See VACCINTAIONS on page 31

Wednesday Journal, September 22, 2021

OAKPARK.COM | RIVERFOREST.COM

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Housing Center seeks input on Laramie Bank project Dilapidated Austin bank renovation planned. Input from Oak Park, River Forest residents welcomed

By MICHAEL ROMAIN Editor

A development team that secured a bid to redevelop the former Laramie State Bank building at 5200 W. Chicago Ave. in Austin, is inviting Oak Park and River Forest residents to a community meeting about the project.

The meeting will be held Thursday, Sept.

23, 6 to 7:30 p.m., at Bethel New Life Special Event Space, 1150 N. Lamon Ave. in Chicago.

The development team, Austin United Alliance, includes the Oak Park Regional Housing Center (OPRHC) in Oak Park and Heartland Alliance, an anti-poverty organization based in Chicago.

The Alliance was selected to develop the Laramie Bank building as part of Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s Invest South/West, a $750 million initiative designed to revitalize commercial corridors in 10 underserved communities on the city’s South and West sides.

The Alliance proposal for the historic bank building includes a new bank, 76 apartments (20 percent of which will be affordable), a courtyard plaza, a business

PROVIDED

RESTORED AND REMADE: If plans are realized the bank will be a commercial and affordable housing hub. incubator, a residential roof deck and a blues museum.

Athena Williams, executive director of the Housing Center, said Thursday’s meeting will focus on how affordable housing

can be leveraged as a strategy for ending gun violence in Austin.

“We’re looking at housing as one of the main factors people need,” Williams said.

“When people have a foundation of hous-

ing, they have more stability.”

Baxter Swilley, who heads up public affairs for the Housing Center, said the Laramie Bank project has a range of economic benefits that are catalysts for even more economic development along the Soul City corridor (the portion of Chicago from Austin Boulevard to roughly Cicero Avenue, now known as Mandela Road).

“We expect the increased density will improve walkability along the Soul City corridor and the retail and amenities will bring in more foot traffic for consumer density,” Swilley said. “That’s a really exciting benefit we expect from the development.”

Williams said the Alliance will be recruiting residents to become volunteer ambassadors for the Laramie Bank project, a strategy she hopes will enhance the community engagement process.

“There will be serious stakeholder engagement,” Swilley said.

Anyone who wants more information on the Laramie State Bank project can email info@AustinUnitedAlliance.org or visit www.austinunitedalliance.org.

CONTACT: michael@oakpark.com

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Wednesday Journal, September 22, 2021

OAKPARK.COM | RIVERFOREST.COM

Enter the world of a chef at Table and Lain

New boutique cooking class venue set to open in Forest Park next month

By MELISSA ELSMO Oak Park Eats Editor

Chef Louis Dourlain has some significant culinary chops and is bringing his wealth of kitchen experience to Madison Street in Forest Park. Table and Lain, 7322 W. Madison St., is expected to open in early October offering small scale in-person cooking classes and niche gatherings.

“We could not have asked for a better space than the one we found in Forest Park,” said Dourlain, chef-owner of Table and Lain. “It was a food photography studio previously and came with the kitchen, bar and dining room. When we walked in, I thought, thank God, this is exactly what we need.”

The space features a communal dining area at the front of the shop, ample room for cooking stations as well as a full kitchen with shared appliances. A comfortable seating area flanks the kitchen to facilitate conversation.

At Table and Lain, class participants might make cornbread in a cowboy skillet, cook in a traditional paella pan and may even use modernist iSi containers and immersion circulators.

No matter the lesson plan, cooks in the Forest Park kitchen will have access to top of the line All-Clad and Global Knives.

Dourlain, who is an adjunct faculty member at Kendall College, is hoping to become a teacher to the general public and is excited to use Table and Lain to “dip his toes into different pools.” He is offering an assortment of five to six preset cooking class menus focusing on themes like A Night in Spain, Southern Cooking, French Bistro. Participants will work side by side with professional chefs to turn out dishes like whitefish ceviche, cornflake fried chicken and vanilla crème brulee as they learn techniques like sautéing, browning and baking.

Following each cooking class the meal will be served family style at communal tables.

“People will barely break a sweat in these classes,” said Dourlain. “They will have fun and enjoy a great meal, but they will also learn valuable skills they can use in their everyday lives.”

Dourlain’s grandmother lived in Oak Park, and he grew up visiting her home on the northeast side of the village. He remembers learning how to make fresh pasta in her Oak Park kitchen and aspired to make the process as effortless as she made it appear. At 15, the aspiring cook took his first restaurant job at a pizza parlor and went on to attend culinary school at Kendall College. After graduating he benefitted from a fouryear stint at Everest in Chicago. The since shuttered regional French restaurant helmed by Chef Jean Joho served as a stan-

MELISSA ELSMO/Food editor

FOOD FOR THOUGHT: Chef Louis Dourlain standing in the dining room at Table and Lain. The new cooking class venue is set to open in Forest Park next month. dard-setting fine-dining establishment for 35 years.

“Everest was a dream job for me. They really take you in, break you down and build you anew,” said Dourlain. “I loved it. It was a good experience especially for the camaraderie and mentorship.”

From there Dourlain made his way to California and worked at Auberge du Soleil in Napa Valley before returning to Chicagoland, starting a family, and launching virtual cooking classes for corporate clients under the name Table and Lain. And now, the burgeoning business is putting down roots in Forest Park.

Virtual classes will support the in-person class offerings at Table and Lain and Dourlain hopes to use the Forest Park space to partner with other food artisans, chefs, and bakers to host cooking demonstrations.

“I am looking forward to working with Spilt Milk, Carnivore and other local businesses to help offer them more exposure

inside the community,” said Dourlain. “At Table and Lain we want a rotation of chefs to teach our classes.”

Upon opening, classes at Table and Lain will be focused on safety first and foremost. Classes will be limited to private parties of 16 guests. Proof of vaccination will be required, and masks will be worn during classes. All classes will be BYO until Table and Lain receives its liquor license.

“It is such an asset to have the Village of Forest Park in our corner,” said Dourlain. “They are excited to see this project get up and running and that’s a good thing because we have at least a dozen people a day telling us they want us to open.”

Dourlain is excited that Table and Lain will have room to grow and looks forward to offering drop-in weeknight classes as well as hosting small weddings and social gatherings in the future. Table and Lain is expected to host an open house during the first week of October. Follow Table and Lain on Facebook to stay up to date about their plans for opening.

Union Pacific finally workin’ on their railroad Fixing embankment along three miles of Oak Park track

By STACEY SHERIDAN Staff Reporter

After decades of decay and small bits of falling concrete, the Union Pacific railroad is finally making repairs to crumbling corners of its embankment which runs east-west through Oak Park between North and South Boulevards.

The wide embankment carries freight

traffic, the CTA Green Line and Metra trains.

The gradual deterioration, which has never involved any structural concerns, has been a source of low-grade tension between village government, car owners with cracked windshields and a railroad seen as unresponsive to local worries.

When repair work started early this summer village officials were surprised

as there had not been any advance notification.

“We’re doing routine maintenance work in Oak Park as part of our ongoing commitment to maintain the quality of our rail infrastructure,” said Mike Jaixen, senior communications manager of Union Pacific.

Maintenance work extends along three miles of track in Oak Park and began ear-

lier this summer, according to Jaixen, who confirmed that Union Pacific is paying for the work but could not divulge its cost.

“Rail traffic will continue along this stretch throughout this maintenance work,” said Jaixen.

Union Pacific expects the work will be completed by mid-October. In the meantime, construction crews will be “Workin’ on the Railroad” all their livelong days.

Wednesday Journal, September 22, 2021

OAKPARK.COM | RIVERFOREST.COM

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New law eases info-sharing for D97, 90 and 200 Senate President Don Harmon spearheaded the effort

By F. AMANDA TUGADE Staff Reporter

For almost seven years, education leaders from Oak Park School District 97 have advocated for non-unified school districts to have a more streamlined process to share student information. They teamed up with local legislators, helped draft a bill — and waited.

Now the fight is finally over.

Last month, Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed a bill that allows elementary and high school districts with “overlapping boundaries” and an intergovernmental agreement (IGA) to share student records and information. That means faculty and staff from District 97 and River Forest School District 90 — which serves as a feeder to Oak Park and River Forest High School District 200 — will have easier access to students’ files and information to build better datasets across grade levels.

“I kind of did a happy dance. I was so excited,” said Lou Anne Johannesson, an administrative liaison for the Committee of Legislative, Intervention and Monitoring (CLAIM), the D97 organization that lobbied for the bill.

Johannesson and CLAIM co-chair Theresa Jurgus, along with several other members,

trative assistant at D97. started working on this effort in For non-unified school districts 2014. They met with school dissuch as D90, D97 and D200, admintrict officials and Senate Presiistrators often require parents or dent Don Harmon (D-Oak Park), legal guardians to sign a release one of the bill’s major supporters. form just to attain student reJohannesson said “somewhere cords, a crucial step that needs folin 2015” their initiative was low-through. When there’s a delay paused, as stories surrounding in getting those signed forms, it data breaches surfaced, and repcauses a setback for students in resentatives in Springfield grew need of support and services, said wary of issues related to sharing DON HARMON Johannesson, an administrative data. assistant at District 97.

“Anything that has to do with “The thing we’ve been dealing with is the data-sharing got shut down for a couple of years in Springfield,” Johannesson said, not- border between eighth grade and freshman ing she, Jurgus and other CLAIM members year,” she said, adding that the new law gives revisited the conversation time and time high school-bound students a more solid, again, inviting more people to join in. They steadier learning experience. connected with area lawmakers, including Whatever support a student received in elstate Rep. Camille Lilly, who also sponsored ementary school will now be sent “over to the the bill. The rest is history. freshman team at the high school, continuing Johannesson and CLAIM co-chair Theresa whatever is working and what has been estabJurgus explained that teachers from a unified lished,” Johannesson shared. school district, a single district that includes From a big-picture perspective, this law both elementary and high schools, can seam- opens up a world of opportunities for the lessly obtain students’ files. “They just pass three districts to collect data from and study it on to the next teacher or the next group of groups of students. teachers because they’re all in the same dis“If we taught this in first grade, how would trict,” said Johannesson, a longtime adminis- this affect fourth grade?” Johannesson said

about the possibilities of what the data could reveal. “And if we taught this in fourth grade, how does it affect ninth grade? Is it a predictor of how successful a kid is going to be in high school and even post-high school?”

“We couldn’t share that kind of larger group data freely until this bill,” she continued. “So there’s the individual student who is supported, and educational instruction is enhanced by this.”

Jurgus reiterated, “It creates a functionality we didn’t have before.”

In an emailed statement to Wednesday Journal, District 200 spokesperson Karin Sullivan wrote that the law was a “significant step forward in opening the lines of communication.”

“Now we’re able to do a much better job of planning for the actual students we’re going to receive, so that when they walk through our doors, we’re ready for them,” Sullivan wrote. “It also will help us understand the impact and outcomes of different initiatives. For example, if the middle schools create new practices around attendance, we can track the effect through their high school years. Overall, this is going to help us do a better job of serving all the students in our community.”

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Wednesday Journal, September 22, 2021

OAKPARK.COM | RIVERFOREST.COM

Oak Park hires firm to create climate action plan Village to pay $125,000 from sustainability fund for work

By STACEY SHERIDAN Staff Reporter

Oak Park village board members have made a commitment as part of their annual goals to reverse climate change and increase local sustainability initiatives. As of Monday night, the board has secured a consulting firm that will assist in producing a detailed plan and engage the community with the efforts during the course of roughly a year.

Following the recommendation of staff, the village board voted unanimously Sept.

20 to hire Wisconsin-based engineering and consulting firm GRAEF to carry out a “comprehensive sustainability, climate action and resiliency plan” for the Oak Park community. The cost of the $125,000 contract will come from the village’s sustainability fund.

Present at the meeting were GRAEF’S Stephanie Hacker and Marcella Bondie Keenan, newly hired by the village as its internal climate change coordinator. Hacker will serve as the project lead for the consultant while Keenan will play that role internally at village hall. Keenan has worked in

the environmental sector for 20 years, according to Deputy Village Manager Ahmad Zayyad, and holds a master’s degree in urban planning.

The unanimity of the vote notwithstanding, some trustees still had reservations regarding GRAEF’s proposal. Trustee Ravi Parakkat, a former member of the village’s Energy and Environment Commission (EEC), worried the proposed schedule did not provide adequate time for inventorying Oak Park’s greenhouse gases, developing emissions drivers and forecasting future emissions.

Hacker told him that GRAEF could modify the timeline with staff upon starting the project, extending certain areas and shortening others.

Trustees Susan Buchanan and Arti Walker-Peddakotla shared concerns that GRAEF’s proposal lacked particulars with regard to the firm’s plan to prioritize equity and did not provide examples of how it had successfully done so in past projects.

GRAEF’s proposal and references indicated a “nuanced and bold understanding of what’s needed to operationalize equity and planning,” according to Keenan, who added

RESIDENTIAL — COMMERCIAL — RETAIL — CHURCHES — SCHOOLS

that the firm “specifically named the need “If your company is really focused on for representation from Black, indigenous that, then I would have expected, at least at and people of color, parents, people aged 65 a bare minimum, the words ‘environmental and older, and non-English speaking popula- justice’ in the proposal,” Walker-Peddakotla tions.” said. “I see that as a big miss in this.”

Before turning the metaphorical microShe added that “communities of color” phone over to Hacker, Keenan said much of are often the least responsible for climate that information was gathered during inter- change but bear the brunt of the impact of views and conversations with references. it.

By way of example, Hacker told the board Hacker told Walker-Peddakotla it was GRAEF, while working on a similar project “with regret” that environmental justice in Milwaukee, “really focused on individual was omitted from GRAEF’s proposal but relationships” and paid very stated that it was “near and close attention to “community dear to [her] heart,” being a relationship history in order to city planner by training with a elevate the focus on social equity background in environmental and also in racially equity.” science.

Buchanan, one of the foundWalker-Peddakotla cut in ers of the resident-led ad hoc to tell Hacker that she felt the climate sustainability action same way about food justice, group, asked how GRAEF enwhich was also not mentioned in gaged the community during GRAEF’s proposal, as she does that project. about environmental justice.

“We focus intensely, both durThe trustee believes both should ing the pandemic when it’s safe be core part of any governmento do so and before the pandemic, tal climate resiliency and action in being present,” said Hacker. plan.

“We’ll navigate how that’s safe Zayyad told the board that anyto do so as we go through our thing missing in the proposal next several months together.” could be incorporated into the STEPHANIE HACKER agreement’s scope of services, Looking for more specificity, Climate change consultant Buchanan rephrased her queswhich will come back to the tion, asking point blank how board after internal review. He GRAEF intended to engage “unalso told her that the EEC would der-represented and under-rereview the board’s comments sourced” community members. during its October meeting.

Hacker told Buchanan that GRAEF will Before deciding on GRAEF, the village re“drill down those specifics” during the first ceived a total of 13 proposals, eight of which meeting with village staff to customize a were found qualified. Those eight then reframework to meet the expectations of the ceived a price-blind review by staff across village board and the community groups different departments. Each reviewer used with which the firm will be engaging. a standardized rubric to score applicants “It really is highly and critically depen- based on professional experience, technident on that first meeting with the commit- cal approach and community engagement. tees that we’ll work with in Oak Park,” said The top three scorers received an additional Hacker. score based on price, which narrowed the Walker-Peddakotla was disappointed not pool down to two firms. Staff recommended to see the words “environmental justice” in GRAEF, and its subcontractor Eastern ReGRAEF’s proposal. She quoted in full to the search Group Inc. (ERG), following referboard the U.S. Environmental Protection ences checks and interviews.

“We looked at three key factors, which Agency’s (EPA) definition of the term: “Fair have been both highlighted by the board treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, national and the Environment and Energy Commisorigin, or income with respect to the devel- sion (EEC) repeatedly: equity, community opment, implementation and enforcement engagement and greenhouse gas modeling of environmental laws, regulations and accuracy,” said Keenan. policies.”

“We focus intensely, both during the pandemic when it’s safe to do so and before the pandemic, in being present.”

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Wednesday Journal, September 22, 2021

OAKPARK.COM | RIVERFOREST.COM

From cutting hair to being there

Cosmetologist finds work with Oak-Leyden Services fulfilling

By F. AMANDA TUGADE Staff Reporter

Six years ago, Chauntese Lewis was looking for another job to make extra money.

Lewis, a licensed cosmetologist by trade, said her salon was “pretty successful,” but the pay wasn’t always steady, and she needed something to help her lock down her dream home.

That opportunity came when she expanded her partnership with Oak-Leyden Developmental Services, an organization in Oak Park that focuses on helping children and adults with developmental disabilities.

“I had already been cutting some of the participants’ hair,” she said. “They would call me, and I would say, ‘Sure, bring them to the salon.’”

It wasn’t long before Lewis started thinking, “I could do this.”

Lewis is one of Oak-Leyden’s 85 direct support professionals, whose main responsibility is to work directly and assist people with intellectual or developmental disabilities in their everyday lives. Last week, Sept. 12-18, Oak-Leyden celebrated Lewis and dozens of others for Direct Support Professionals (DSPs) Recognition Week.

“I enjoy taking care of them, and I treat them like they’re just regular people,” Lewis.

“We have girl talk. The guys, we have guy talk.”

Lewis, who’s grown accustomed to the long hours and extended shifts, works mainly out of Geneva Community Integrated Living Arrangements (CILA) in Northlake. Lewis and many of Oak-Leyden’s DSPs are typically placed in 12 homes and two lifelong learning centers in the Chicago area, said Elisabeth Loren, the organization’s director of development.

Lewis noted that her work often feels more like a “getaway,” as there are days when she and the residents are spending time together, playing games or listening to the Beatles.

Lorraine Hemphill, another DSP at OakLeyden, echoed Lewis.

Hemphill, who began working with OakLeyden in 2010, spoke about the four women she works with at a home in Westchester. She talked about their independence and how her role is to be there for them.

“Sometimes they want the help, and sometimes they don’t,” Hemphill said. “Our job is to do the best we can and to just help the ladies as much as we can.”

Hemphill went on to say that she started working with the disabled community decades ago alongside her mother — and decided to continue the work in her mother’s memory.

“My heart is in the work,” she said. “As a tribute to my mom, I continue doing this work, and I really feel that I may retire from doing this work because I do love good work.”

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Wednesday Journal, September 22, 2021

OAKPARK.COM | RIVERFOREST.COM

ART BEAT

What are the arts up to?

The 2021-22 season

By MICHELLE DYBAL

N

Arts Editor

ew Yorkers may be hailing the return of Broadway, but Oak Park and River Forest residents have reason to celebrate the performing arts returning here. Whether your heart beats for Beethoven, your ears ache for opera or you desire drama, a live inperson performance will deliver.

The Symphony of Oak Park & River Forest has scheduled a full season, which opens Oct. 24, returning to their prepandemic venue, the Concordia University Chicago Chapel in River Forest, with “Celebrate Beethoven.” Concert-goers also have a virtual option. The Symphony found the pandemic protocols they adopted to be beneficial to the orchestra. The board, led by President and Symphony pianist David Leehey, who is also a doctor at Hines VA and Loyola Medical Center in Maywood, decided to require proof of vaccination for all orchestra and audience members.

“Loyola was the first major hospital in the Chicago area to mandate vaccination as a condition of employment,” Leehey said. “The VA subsequently became the first government agency to also do so. ...

Our Symphony board thought that it was only right that we should follow suit.”

Many musicians “were relieved that we had mandated vaccination,” according to Leehey. “I think we attracted our eight new string players, at least in part, because of this policy.” Wind players also applied, but their applications are on file due to lack of space in the orchestra right now.

Besides building up the orchestra, the Symphony has more to celebrate as they kick off their season, including a new logo chosen through a design contest; Music Director Jay Friedman is celebrating his 25th anniversary, and it is the orchestra’s 90th season.

This season’s programming includes music and several soloists originally scheduled “as part of our COVID-shortened 2019-2020 season or were planned for our 2020-2021 season which did not occur at all,” Leehey said. Concerts continue in Dec., Feb. and March.

An every-other-year choral and orchestral concert and fundraiser held at Symphony Center, which was canceled in 2020, is still on hold.

“We had initially hoped to reprogram our COVID-cancelled Symphony Center concert originally scheduled in April 2020 for this coming spring but had to abandon these plans because many choral directors

Photo provided by Nineteenth Century Charitable Association

BROADWAY BOUND: Baritones Evan Bravos and Bill McMurray perform “Lullaby of Broadway” at the Nineteenth Century Club on Oct. 4. were understandably unable to commit to a choral program with so much uncertainty on the horizon,” Leehey said. “We are still holding open the possibility of a choral concert performed locally next spring.

We hope it will happen, but no one knows at this point.”

Singing on a smaller scale, with soloists or small groups, is possible, however.

Nineteenth Century Charitable Association The Nineteenth Century Charitable Association (NCCA) returns to in-person programming this fall after providing a full slate of virtual programming during the pandemic. To kick off, “Lullaby of Broadway,” brings baritones Evan Bravos and Bill McMurray to the Nineteenth Century Club stage in their large ballroom on Oct. 4.

NCCA board member and Music Chair Diane Moses said Bravos, who just returned from performing in Europe, “could sing anything.” NCCA has cultural and educational programs every Monday afternoon October through mid-May, and among those, there are six other in-person musical performances, including jazz, the Three Tenors (all from the Lyric Opera chorus), and Gershwin- and Sinatra-

inspired shows. October and March dates will be available virtually.

“It will be wonderful to have an audience again,” Moses said. “Music keeps us human.”

NCCA is also bringing back Henry Fogel Presents as an in-person, evening program that includes discussion of music and conversation time with artists. On Oct. 20, soprano Jonita Lattimore and tenor Alan Glassman perform live at the Nineteenth.

Pianist Ann Chang is featured in March.

COVID-19 protocols for all NCCA programming includes socially-distanced seating and masks. NCCA plans to announce and follow Oak Park guidelines throughout the season.

Sundays with Beethoven Church of Beethoven has returned to monthly in-person performances. While some recent concerts were done in individual River Forest outdoor spaces, a more permanent location is being sought, ideally by February, according to Bradley Schuller, artistic director. On Oct. 17, violinist Cara Schlecker and pianist Paul Dykstra will perform, and on Nov. 21, Soprano Josefien Stoppelenburg sings with lute player Joel Spears. Schuller said those concerts will take place in a

“church or an indoor space large enough to allow our audience to be socially distant.” Regardless of location, Church of Beethoven is following CDC and Oak Park Health Department guidelines when it comes to COVID safety measures.

While soprano Christine Steyer is booked for January, Schuller is waiting to fill other months to “get a more clear picture regarding the direction of the Delta variant.” For now, Church of Beethoven is not offering virtual versions of these live performances. “If the sound quality would be good enough, we will do this, but it’s difficult to capture the true acoustic beauty of live music in a Zoom call,” Schuller said.

Hemingway Foundation The Ernest Hemingway Foundation of Oak Park (EHFOP) is following state and local mandates and guidelines and remaining flexible in its scheduling. Fridays@Hemingway (F@H) kicked off last week with an outdoor performance by American singer-songwriter, guitarist and percussionist Mike Mangione at the Ernest Hemingway Birthplace Museum. October’s event is “Haunted Hemingway, Ghost Stories,” followed by the Ethan Philion Jazz Trio in November and Illusionist Jeannette Andrews in December. Executive

Wednesday Journal, September 22, 2021

OAKPARK.COM | RIVERFOREST.COM

13

Performances for the 2021-2022 Season Symphony of Oak Park & River Forest Oct. 24*, Dec. 12*, Feb. 6*, March 7* “Cheers to 90 Years” season tickets available Concordia University Chicago Chapel, 7400 Augusta, River Forest More: symphonyoprf.org/2021-2022-season

Nineteenth Century Charitable Association Monday Enrichment Music Programming: Oct. 4*, Nov. 8, Dec. 13, Feb. 14, March 14*, April 4, May 2 Henry Fogel Presents: Oct. 20, March 23 Nineteenth Century Club, 178 Forest Ave., Oak Park More: nineteenthcentury.org

Church of Beethoven Oct. 17, Nov. 21, Jan. 16 More: churchofbeethoven-oakpark.com/2021-season.html

Fridays@Hemingway Oct. 15, Nov. 19, Dec. 10 Ernest Hemingway Birthplace Museum, 339 N. Oak Park Ave., Oak Park More: hemingwaybirthplace.com/programs-events

Unity Temple Restoration Foundation Unity Chamber Music Series: Nov. 6, Dec. 17, 2021 and Feb. 5, April 8, May 27, 2022 Unity Temple, 875 Lake St, Oak Park More: utrf.org

Oak Park Festival Theatre Madness of Edgar Allan Poe Pleasant Home, 217 Home Ave., Oak Park Wednesdays through Sundays, Oct. 13 to Nov. 7 More: oakparkfestival.com

Free Readers Ensemble

Photo provided by Church of Beethoven

LOVING LUDWIG: On Oct. 17, violinist Cara Schlecker and pianist Paul Dykstra, pictured here (left to right), will perform with Church of Beethoven, Oak Park.

Director Keith Strom said they are prepared to alter programming, such as switching “Haunted Hemingway” to virtual or cancelling a performance if it were unsafe to do so in-person due to a COVID spike.

NCCA, Church of Beethoven and EHFOP are not planning to check vaccine cards. “I don’t think we would get into vaccine proof or testing, unless it is required and guidelines are established to implement,” Strom said.

While EHFOP is working on a variety of programming for 2022, they are not rolling out announcements yet. “Our Friday@ Hemingway series will continue, timing is tbd, again based on the pandemic outcomes, restrictions, etc. as we just don’t want to develop all of these events and then have to cancel, so we may have to hedge things slightly.

We have an outdoor option for some of them,” Strom said.

Festival Theatre Oak Park Festival Theatre, like the Symphony of OP/RF, is requiring proof

of vaccination for their upcoming show, The Madness of Edgar Allan Poe, with previews beginning Oct. 13 at Pleasant Home.

“Due to the immersive nature of this show, there can be no exceptions. … Due to the lack of availability of COVID vaccinations for those 12 and under, we unfortunately will not be able to permit children 12 and under at this time.” Like all indoor locations, masks are required. No other productions have been announced for the season at this time.

Free Readers The Free Readers Ensemble has returned to presenting in-person monthly readings of plays at the Nineteenth Century Club.

A full season through May is planned, beginning with The Love List on Oct. 17. Face masks are required for audience members, while performers won’t be masked but will be distanced from the crowd. All performers are fully vaccinated and they are “respectfully requesting” audience members to be

Oct. 17, Nov. 21, Dec. 19, Jan. 16, Feb. 20, March 20, April 10. May, 15 Nineteenth Century Club, 178 Forest Ave., Oak Park More: nineteenthcentury.org

Chicago a cappella Dec. 12*, Feb. 19*, April 8* Pilgrim Congregational, 460 Lake St., Oak Park Season tickets available More: chicagoacappella.org/tickets.

Music of the Baroque Dec. 16 Grace Lutheran Church, 7300 Division St., River Forest More: baroque.org *also available virtually

vaccinated, too, according to Paulette Cary, founding member and PR director. Audience seating will be socially distanced. These free performances previously included coffee and cookies, which will not be available this season.

And others The Unity Temple Restoration Foundation is continuing their chamber music series. This season is being held in person

— Michelle Dybal

at the Frank Lloyd Wright designed Unity Temple with socially-distanced seating and mask requirements.

Chicago-based groups who routinely perform in the area have returned too.

Music of the Baroque has scheduled their Holiday Brass and Choral concert at Grace Lutheran Church in River Forest in December. And Chicago a cappella will sing three programs at Pilgrim Congregational Church in Oak Park this season.

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Wednesday Journal, September 22, 2021

OAKPARK.COM | RIVERFOREST.COM

River Forest adds solar option for residents

Added to electric aggregation program already in place

By ROBERT J. LIFKA Contributing Reporter

Environmentally conscious River Forest residents will soon have another green energy option following action by the village board Sept. 13.

Trustees voted 4-0 to support a recommendation by the Sustainability Commission to approve a resolution endorsing the Community Solar Clearinghouse Solution (CS2) residential solar program. Trustees Lisa Gillis and Bob O’Connell did not attend the meeting.

Sponsored by the Metropolitan Mayors Caucus and managed by the Power Bureau, the CS2 residential solar program is a partnership between the caucus and municipalities created in 2018 that offers the opportunity to obtain solar power credits to residents who may not own their homes or are unable to otherwise install solar panels.

The CS2 program is the second green energy program offered in the village, joining the Green Electric Aggregation Program that began in September 2020.

In a memo to the village board, Sara Phyfer, management analyst/deputy clerk, explained

that the CS2 program differs from the Green Electric program by directly connecting residents to a solar subscription offer, thus saving them money on the supply portion of their electric bills. They would continue to receive their electric supply from Commonwealth Edson. Participants in the Green Energy program receive their electric supply from MC Squared to support clean, renewable energy development through the acquisition of certified renewable energy certificates.

By subscribing to a solar farm in Illinois through CS2, participating residents would net a 20 percent discount from their annual Commonwealth Edison supply charges for their portion of the solar farm’s electricity generation, she added in the memo. The savings for those already participating in the Green Energy program would be slightly less.

All trustees present expressed support for the CS2 program with Trustee Respicio Vazquez calling it “a great idea” and village President Cathy Adduci saying she is “super excited” about the program.

“This is perfect,” Trustee Katie Brennan said. “It’s where we should be.”

Eric Simon, chairman of the Sustainability Commission, told trustees that there is no enrollment fee for residents to participate and he hopes the program will start in January.

Brennan and Trustees Ken Johnson and Erika Bachner stressed the importance of

educating residents about the program.

Noting that River Forest is not the first municipal participant, Simon said the village will be able to model its educational materials after those of municipalities that already are participating.

He also cautioned that the state’s energy policy overhaul that was recently passed by the Illinois Legislature could impact the CS2 program and other green energy programs in the state. However, he said that impact will not be known until the policy is studied more carefully.

Participating west suburban municipalities include Lombard and Oak Park with Brookfield expected to join. Other participants are Bannockburn, Deerfield, Evanston, Glencoe, Glenview, Highland Park, Lake Bluff, Lake Forest, Mount Prospect and Northbrook.

Initially, the Metropolitan Mayors Caucus opened up CS2 to municipalities in the Chicago region in 2019 following the completion of the Rainy Solar project in Elgin. Rainy Solar is a 1.18 megawatt rooftop solar array In September 2020, the Metropolitan Mayors Caucus and Power Bureau rolled out a CS2 residential pilot program to a consortium of seven North Shore communities. Each community serves as a “sponsor” for CS2 residential to connect homeowners and business owners to an “approved” solar subscription offer.

More than 1,300 North Shore residential customers have subscribed to receive metering credits that are applied to their electric bills, resulting in modest cost savings. According to the North Shore Community Solar website, “a typical North Shore home can support the deployment of 30 solar panels at a community solar farm and secure as much as $130 per year in their net metering credit value.”

A “typical” residential customer uses no more than 1,000 kilowatts of electricity per month, according to the website.

Subscribers to the community solar program accumulate metering credits, which are based on the size of the subscription and the amount of energy produced by the solar project associated with the community.

The Metropolitan Mayors Caucus is a membership organization of the Chicago region’s 275 cities, towns and villages that was founded in 1997. The caucus provides a forum for metropolitan Chicago’s chief elected officials to collaborate on common problems and work toward a common goal of improving the quality of life for the millions of people who call the region home.

The Power Bureau is a consulting company that, according to its website, “provides energy commodity procurement and planning services” to small and mid-size organizations, including municipalities.

Thanks flow as RF fire chief takes retirement Retired deputy chief will fill role temporarily

By ROBERT J. LIFKA Contributing Reporter

River Forest officials saluted retiring fire Chief Kurt Bohlmann at the Sept. 13 village board meeting and appointed Robert Nortier, a former deputy chief in River Forest, as his temporary replacement.

Bohlmann, who announced his retirement in July, has served as fire chief since 2017. His last day was Sept. 20.

With dozens of current and former firefighters packing the Community Room, village President Cathy Adduci thanked him for his service and presented him with a plaque.

“I want to thank you for stepping up to the big job,” she said. “You didn’t disappoint.

“You are the front line, you are the first responder to this community. It’s evident how professional and how respectful you are to our citizens. We appreciate all that you’ve done.”

Lisa Scheiner, acting village administrator, also thanked Bohlmann for his service, citing his leadership in starting a paramedic program in the village in 1998 and helping organize a COVID-19 vaccine distribution effort that led to 1,400 people receiving vaccinations.

“Care and compassion for others in evident in everything you do,” she said. “Your expertise and leadership have made you an excellent fire chief. You’ve been an excellent teammate and friend. Your kindness will never be forgotten.”

In turn, Bohlmann credited the firefighters for his success.

“They make me look good every day,” he said. “It’s not me; it’s them.

“It’s been an honor and a pleasure to serve here for 31 years. All of you have been great to work with. Thanks also go to my wife because she’s the one who took care of the kids.”

In recommending Nortier for the acting chief position, Scheiner noted his familiarity with the village and the fire department.

“While he will need to be brought up to speed on a few matters, he is already familiar with the staff, collective bargaining agreement, village and fire department policies and procedures, equipment, facility, community, geography, and infrastructure,” she said.

“Nortier will bring stability to the department during this time of transition and will be able to assist the village in onboarding the new fire chief.”

Nortier joined the River Forest Fire De-

PROVIDED

River Forest fire Chief Kurt Bohlmann (middle) poses with village President Cathy Adduci (right) and acting Chief Bob Nortier (left). partment as a firefighter/emergency medical technician in 1984 after serving the North Riverside Fire Department. He was promoted to lieutenant in 1996, captain in 2002 and deputy fire chief in 2004. He retired in 2015.

“I appreciate the opportunity,” Nortier said.

“This is a great group. I am looking forward to what lies ahead.”

He will serve at least until Bohlmann’s replacement is hired, possibly longer to help with the transition. Although an exact salary

was not available, the salary range for fire chief is between $126,925 and $171,109 annually.

In July, River Forest officials hired GovHR, a Northbrook-based public management consulting firm serving local government clients and other public-sector entities across the country, to conduct a search for a new fire chief. The application deadline was Sept. 3 and officials anticipate hiring a new chief in November.

Wednesday Journal, September 22, 2021

OAKPARK.COM | RIVERFOREST.COM

15

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Trio honored by Senior Citizens Center

By ISAAC STOPECK Contributing Reporter

The Senior Citizens Center of Oak ParkRiver Forest will honor Mary Kay O’Grady, Charles Williams and Robert K. (Bob) Downs at the 18th annual Ulyssean Awards Dinner on Sept. 24. The award, inspired by the hero of Homer’s “Odyssey,” celebrates individuals for their commitment to leadership and service in their elder years.

Mary Kay O’Grady started her career as a high school English teacher eager to spread her passion for writing. She eventually developed an interest in public relations, forming her own firm, the O’Grady Group.

She also headed communications for several years at Oak Park and River Forest High School. O’Grady is also a longtime contributor to Wednesday Journal. Her column, “Aging Disgracefully,” offers a humorous take on aging in addition to political and social commentary. O’Grady, who developed her political views through her participation in 1960s era Civil Rights movement, is particularly passionate about issues surrounding race and gun ownership.

For 37 years. Charles Williams owned Oak Park-based Drechsler, Brown & Williams Funeral Home. The funeral home, at Marion and Pleasant streets, will close soon. It is the last funeral home in Oak Park. He is also a past president of the Oak Park-River Forest Rotary Club and a former chair of its foundation. In retirement, he hopes to volunteer for a non-profit organization.

Bob Downs was born in Oak Park and grew up pursuing a career where he could make a meaningful impact on his community. During his time at Stetson University School of Law, he became involved with

Civil Rights activism in Florida. Upon graduation, he moved back to Chicago, where he continued his participation in social justice by helping establish 15 legal aid clinics and working to end housing and mortgage lending discrimination in Oak Park. Downs also has over 50 years of family law experience, and currently offers legal services to local residents at his firm, Downs Law Offices PC. When asked to reflect on his career, Downs said “the number one enjoyment of being a lawyer is that it has enabled me to help people. And I can hold my head up and say I’m doing something meaningful.”

In addition to his other efforts, Downs was president of the Illinois State Bar Association and the founding chair of Wednesday Journal’s board of directors.

Initially chartered in 1954 by Oak Parkers seeing a social and creative outlet, the Senior Citizens Center is the oldest senior center in Illinois. Early programs were hosted at Mills House, now known as Pleasant Home, but the center eventually moved to the Oak Park Arms.

Today, through a partnership with the Park District of Oak Park, the senior center is housed within the Dole Center on Augusta Blvd. Classes are offered in a variety of creative arts, including ceramics, weaving, lapidary, painting, stained glass and more.

The Ulyssean Awards were started in 2003 during the 50th anniversary of the Oak Park River Forest Senior Center and proceeds from this year’s event will go toward additional art materials and membership financial aid.

This year’s event is particularly significant, as it is the first Ulyssean Dinner to be held in the Pleasant Home. Cocktails and dinner will be served at 6:30 with the program starting at 7:30. The ceremony will also be available on Zoom for those unable to attend in person. For tickets and additional information, call 708-383-8167.

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Wednesday Journal, September 22, 2021

OAKPARK.COM | RIVERFOREST.COM

AL’S GRILL

Owner, village to meet from page 1 ing permits are set to expire throughout Oak Park.

“The date isn’t unique to Al’s Grill,” said Tammie Grossman, director of the community and economic development at village hall. “Even though it looks permanent, the chalet at Beer Shop will need to come down then, too.” The Beer Shop is located on North Boulevard in downtown Oak Park.

The letter, signed by Grossman, noted the permit for Al’s outdoor dining area had expired in July and had been temporarily extended through Oct. 31 by village staff. The letter went on to say village officials were aware the permanent fence had been installed around the parking lot on the property without a building permit and that approval for the fence construction would have been unlikely.

“According to village zoning code Al’s attached parking lot must be used for parking,” said Grossman. “The outdoor dining permit was approved as a temporary loss of parking.”

Grossman said village staff have been dedicated to supporting restaurants through the pandemic and knows Loutos to be a veteran restauranteur who understands the rules and regulations in Oak Park. She indicated multiple calls and emails asking Loutos to come into village hall to discuss his options had gone unanswered and admits the letter was “sternly worded” in hopes of setting up a meeting.

“There is a process they can go through with the zoning board of appeals to make their parking lot a permanent outdoor dining space, but there is a historically high bar when it comes to getting such approvals,” said Grossman. “We are more than willing to have a conversation, but no one can install a fence in the village without a permit. There is an ADA accessible parking space in the lot and fence impinges on it. The fence is something that definitely needs to be dealt with.”

D200 BUS

Addressing the problem from page 1 CPS, so “I was still at home on summer break, and I was dropping [Horace] off and picking him up from school.

“The bottom line is we provided them with all the information they needed,” said Amusa, adding he did not understand why this was happening to Horace, who had ridden the bus with his older brother, August, for years without any issues. “They knew where to pick him up. They didn’t route him.”

By the second week, Amusa said he was met with another problem. On Aug 23 and 24, Horace was over an hour late to school because of the school bus. Horace missed out on nearly three hours of instructional learning through “no fault of his own, through no fault of our own, but through the district’s fault in their partnership with the First Student bus company.”

What’s more is that August, who also has special needs and participates in OPRF’s Community Integration Transition Education (CITE) program at the River Forest Community Center, has not encountered any busing issues at all since the start of the school year.

Amusa explained that his sons were being

Alex Rogals/Staff Photographer

DISPUTED: The permanent patio at Al’s Grill off Madison.

Loutos does not deny he installed the fence without a permit.

“When I called the village about the permit, they told me it would take two or three months to get a permit approval and I didn’t have that kind of time,” said Loutos. “The fence does not prevent the lot from being used for parking. Why are they suddenly so concerned with Al’s Grill?”

There are three openings in the fence and one, a sliding gate, is large enough to allow an emergency vehicle to enter the lot. The fence represents a $12,000 investment to secure the patio area when the restaurant is closed and saves staff the daily task of breaking down the patio furniture. Loutos said he spent at least $15,000 dollars on the furniture and rents the tent covering the area for $4,500 per month. Loutos said fence was installed to protect his investment.

Loutos says both the police and fire departments have come to Al’s Grill in recent weeks. Though he has no idea who is calling the authorities on the diner, Grossman indicated there have been “complaints from residents” in the

picked up at two different homes. August was picked up at his mother’s home on Humphrey Avenue while Horace should have been picked up at his grandmother’s home on Lenox Street.

Amusa said August is more independent and can be left alone for longer periods of time. On a typical morning, Amusa’s ex-wife would leave August at their home where he waits for the bus and then Amusa drops off Horace at her mother-in-law’s home where she watches him until the bus comes. It is a routine that has not been disrupted until now.

As his frustrations grew, he called the bus company, leaving voicemails and waiting for a response. He also reached out to school officials and department heads, including Shalema Francois-Blue, executive director of Special Education, and Leslie Roberts, assistant director of Special Education, and poured out his concerns one by one.

Amusa said he received some assurance from Francois-Blue and Roberts that the issues would be resolved, but one major problem remained: August still did not have a bus aide.

On Sept. 8, Francois-Blue and Roberts notified parents of students with special needs via email that the First Student bus company was understaffed and unable to offer the bus aides that certain students required.

“In usual circumstances, our transporta-

area about the patio.

Al’s Grill has been in Oak Park since 1972 and operating in its current location since 2003. Loutos spent $2 million dollars to purchase the property and build a new diner. His taxes at the time were $9,000 per year. The taxes on the property today are $65,000 annually.

“We are not selling expensive food — we are making coffee and bacon and eggs. And we are in a pandemic,” said Loutos. “How am I supposed to cover all these costs without a place to serve customers. We did what was best for us on our property.”

Loutos and his staff are clear that many of their customers insist on eating outside.

“So many of our customers are vulnerable seniors and unvaccinated children,” said veteran server Anna Lassila. “Because of COVID and especially because of Delta we should be allowed to make decisions to keep our customers safe.”

Loutos has agreed to meet with village officials on Thursday to discuss a path forward. Though he looks forward to “meeting face-to-face to see what’s what” he does not intend to remove the fence. And though he had intended to take down the patio dining area this fall he has decided to hold off until he has a guarantee he can open it up again in the spring.

If the meeting does not go well, he is not opposed to taking legal action.

“I have wonderful customers who support us, but we all think the village wants us out of here,” said Loutos. “This is all about five parking spaces that no-one can even use after we close at 3p.m.”

Madison Street is a commercial corridor with parking ordinances requiring certain businesses to provide a certain number of parking spaces. Al’s Grill was grandfathered into the ordinance and is expected to provide five parking spots in its back parking lot according to the village.

“Every municipality throughout the country controls property through ordinances,” said Grossman. “If I did not enforce the orders the village board has enacted I would not be doing my job.”

tion company would provide bus aides to support our students with identified needs,” the two wrote in the email. “Due to labor shortages, they are unable to do so.”

At this time, the school’s paraprofessionals are stepping in and doubling as bus aides, the pair noted. Representatives from First Student Inc. could not be immediately reached for comment.

Amusa said the timeliness of FrancoisBlue and Roberts’ email was “far too coincidental,” as he filed the two complaints to ISBE just days before.

The state board has opened an investigation with the district, according to an emailed statement from Jackie Matthews, ISBE’s executive director of communications.

“If the district is found in violation of its obligation to provide a free and appropriate public education, ISBE will issue corrective action, which could include providing compensatory services to affected students,” she wrote.

Matthews mentioned that ISBE is offering resources for school districts experiencing a bus driver shortage. Districts can use federal pandemic relief funds to help recruit bus drivers, consider alternative transportation options or turn to local recreation departments for assistance.

Amusa said he wondered how long the district knew that the bus company was facing

staffing issues.

“I think they should have known right from the very beginning [that] there was a staffing issue if they wanted to be compliant with IEPs, if they wanted to make sure each of these students — children who utilize wheelchairs, children who have seizure disorders, children who have all sorts of sensory processing issues, children who might be medically fragile, right?” he said, his voice trailing off.

Francois-Blue said she cannot comment on any individual cases such as the Amusas’.

“What we can share is that when any concerns with bus service are brought to our attention, we work with our families and the bus provider to address them as swiftly as possible,” she wrote in an email to the Journal. “Our top priority is always to ensure that our students are safe and that they receive the services they need.”

But Amusa is not buying that response.

He said Horace now has a bus aide, but he has lost trust in OPRF. Every day, he checks in with August, asking him if the bus aide was there and if the ride to school or back home went smoothly.

“I can hear it in his tone and his text: ‘Dad, we made it safely,’” said Amusa, recalling a recent conversation with August. ‘And, yes, there’s a bus aide.’”

“The anxiety is still there,” he said. “The worry is still there.”

Wednesday Journal, September 22, 2021

OAKPARK.COM | RIVERFOREST.COM

17

C R I M E

Man points gun at Green Line passenger A resident of Sheboygan, Wisconsin, became the victim of an armed robbery after traveling on the CTA Green Line during the late morning of Sept. 11. The victim was seated in the train car when a man entered into the same train car at 9:33 a.m. at the Oak Park Avenue Green Line station in the 300 block of South Boulevard.

He pointed a silver handgun at the victim and snatched the victim’s red iPhone 11 out of his hands. The offender then ran off the train when it pulled into the Ridgeland Avenue stop. The police reports estimate the loss of the cell phone at $1,000.

Motor vehicle theft

Criminal damage to property

■ An unlocked gray Chevrolet Aveo was removed from a parking lot in the 200 block of Lake Street between 1 p.m. and 3 p.m., Sept. 15. The estimated loss is $2,000.

■ Someone stole a black 2018 Lexus ES350 that was parked on the street in the 1200 block of North East Avenue between 7:45 p.m. and 10 p.m., Sept. 15. The loss is estimated at $25,000.

■ A black 2015 Toyota Avalon was taken from the 6900 block of West Roosevelt Road between 5 p.m. and 8:13 p.m., Sept. 13. The estimated loss is worth $20,000.

Vehicular hijacking

Recovered stolen auto

After parking a white 2011 Volkswagen Jetta, an Oak Park resident was approached from behind by two men wearing ski masks; one of the men wrestled the keys to the vehicle out of the victim’s hand then both offenders drove off in the victim’s vehicle at 9:37 p.m., Sept. 11 in the 300 block of South Harvey Avenue. The estimated loss of the vehicle is $5,392.

The black Honda taken during a vehicular hijacking Sept.

3 in the 400 block of South Elmwood Avenue was recovered

by Chicago police in the 1000 block of North Kildare Avenue in Chicago at 4:04 p.m., Sept. 16.

■ Someone threw landscaping pavers at the front windshield of a black 2014 Chevrolet sedan between 11 p.m., Sept.

10 and 9:27 a.m., Sept. 11 in the 1500 block of North Austin Boulevard.

■ After refusing to wear a mask at the request of an employee at Enterprise, 25 Chicago Ave., a male customer walked behind the counter, grabbed the employee’s personal cell phone and threw it, shattering the glass window behind the counter then threw a chair at the victim between 9:30 and 9:34 a.m., Sept. 12. The offender departed from the scene on foot.

■ Someone broke into the pool area of Rehm Park, 515 Garfield St., and damaged three vacuums, a lifeguard chair and a couple line reels around 5:26 p.m., Sept. 12.

Battery Someone in a dark colored two-door vehicle threw an egg at an Oak Park resident, striking the victim in the face, while he was waiting at the bus stop in the 1100 block of North Harlem Boulevard between 11:15 p.m. and 11:22 p.m., Sept. 14.

Theft ■ The catalytic converter was cut from a silver 2005 Toyota Prius between 4:28 a.m. and 4:33 a.m., Sept. 10 in the 100 block of North Kenilworth Avenue.

■ Someone stole a brown lounge chair from the backyard of a residence in the 600 block of North Harvey Avenue between midnight, Sept. 8 and midnight, Sept. 13. The loss is estimated at $150.

These items, obtained from the Oak Park Police Department, came from reports Sept. 10 through Sept. 17and 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

We want to know which businesses courageously opened during a pandemic had amazing curb-side service supported first responders tirelessly worked for social justice have closed and why we will miss them! and spread the love for our business community

Submit stories to info@oprfchamber.org

18

Wednesday Journal, September 22, 2021

OAKPARK.COM | RIVERFOREST.COM

We care about our neighbors Oak Park Regional Housing Center | 1041 South Blvd, Oak Park | (708) 848-7150 | oprhc.org

Wednesday Journal, September 22, 2021

NEED TO REACH US?

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19

Homes

New affordable housing development opens in Oak Park The 801 attracts tenants who otherwise may be priced out of the village

ALEX ROGALS/Staff Photographer

By LACEY SIKORA

M

Contributing Reporter

ary loves the commute from her job to her apartment. As one of the tenants of the recently opened 801 Van Buren St. development – “The 801” for short -- in Oak Park, Mary walks across the street to her job at the bank where she been a bank employee for 32 years.

Previously, she had been priced out of Oak Park. Now, she can walk to work, and her mother also has a unit in the building, which allows Mary to take care of her in her off hours.

Kirk Albinson, project manager with The Community Builders, which developed the building, says Mary is a representative resident in a development that was built to provide high-quality, affordable housing to Oak Park’s workforce -- people who might have been displaced by Oak Park’s increasing housing costs.

With regional offices in Chicago, New York, Columbus and Boston and Washington, D.C., The Community Builders has built more than 30,000 residences for a mix of incomes during

its more than 50-year history.

This, their first Oak Park project, has not been without controversy. Several Oak Park residents filed unsuccessful lawsuits regarding the zoning variances granted to the development. Albinson would not comment on the litigation, but said, “We’ll do everything we can do to be good neighbors.”

Albinson says that roughly half of the building’s 37 units have a residency preference, as defined by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), that residents either live in or work in Oak Park.

Thirty-six of the 37 units have income requirements.

According to Albinson, income requirements range from minimum wage to a yearly income of $39,000 to $45,000 for a one-bedroom unit and $45,000 to $56,000 for a two- bedroom unit, which is roughly 30-60 percent of AMI, or Area Median Income.

Rents for individual units are based on income and unit size and currently range from $587 to $905 for a studio; $612 to $953 for a one-bedroom unit; and $1,137 for a twobedroom unit.

See 801 on page 22

UP ON THE ROOF: The 801, a just opened affordable housing project on Oak Park Avenue near the Blue Line sports a rooftop deck for tenants.

20

Wednesday Journal, September 22, 2021

OAKPARK.COM | RIVERFOREST.COM

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OAKPARK.COM | RIVERFOREST.COM

Saturday, September 25 • Sunday, September 26

CONDOS

ADDRESS

LISTING PRICE

TIME

226 N. Oak Park Ave., #3N, Oak Park . . . . Baird & Warner. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $139,500 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Open Sun 1-3 320 S. Maple Ave., Unit C, Oak Park. . . . . . Baird & Warner. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$435,000 . . . . . . . . . . . Open Sun 1:30-3 320 S. Maple Ave., Unit D, Oak Park. . . . . . Baird & Warner. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$389,000 . . . . . . . . . . . Open Sun 1:30-3 127 Washington, #3, Oak Park . . . . . . . . . . . BHHS Chicago. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $194,000 . . . . . . . . . . . . . Open Sat 12-2

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944 N Euclid Ave., Oak Park. . . . . . . . . . . . . Baird & Warner. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$749,900 . . . . . . . . . . . . . Open Sun 12-2 2623 Park St., Franklin Park. . . . . . . . . . . . . Baird & Warner. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$270,000 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Open Sun 1-4 1008 N Marion St., Oak Park . . . . . . . . . . . . Baird & Warner. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $495,000 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Open Sun 1-3 428 S Grove Ave., Oak Park . . . . . . . . . . . . . Baird & Warner. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$599,000 . . . . . . . . . . . . Open Sun 10-12 513 Highland Ave., Oak Park. . . . . . . . . . . . . Beyond Properties Realty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $310,000 . . . . . . . . . . . . . Open Sun 2-4 1037 Belleforte Ave., Oak Park. . . . . . . . . . . Beyond Properties Realty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$699,000 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Open Sat 1-3 715 S. Taylor Ave., Oak Park . . . . . . . . . . . . . BHHS Chicago. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$429,000 . . . . . . . . . . . . . Open Sun 12-2 415 S Euclid Ave., Oak Park. . . . . . . . . . . . . . BHHS Chicago. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $739,500 . . . . . . . . . . . . . Open Sun 12-2

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Wednesday Journal, September 22, 2021

OAKPARK.COM/REAL-ESTATE

OAKPARK.COM | RIVERFOREST.COM

801

Affordable in Oak Park from page 19 The building includes three studio apartments, 30 one-bedroom units, a pair of twobedroom units and two live/work units. One of the first-floor live/work units is restricted to someone who earns up to 60 percent of the area median income. The other live/work unit will be rented at market rent.

Albinson states that the live/work studios are a new concept for the developer. The affordable live/work space at The 801 has an artist’s preference, which means that the work space will be used for the creation of art.

“We have a mix of people living here from a chef, to a nutritionist, to teachers and bank employees,” Candyce Herron, onsite property manager, says of the current tenants.

“Eighteen units are set aside for those who live or work in Oak Park. Many other tenants are native to Oak Park and have wanted to come home.”

Herron says that 32 of the 36 affordable units are leased, giving the building an 89-percent occupancy rate. She expects that number to increase to 94 percent by the end of the month.

In addition to the rental units, The 801 includes a retail space that fronts Oak Park Avenue. Albinson says they are close to identifying a tenant for the retail space and are taking care to find a tenant who will contribute to the vibrant commercial corridor on Oak Park Avenue.

The building, which received $500,000 from Oak Park’s affordable housing fund, broke ground in January 2020 and saw its first tenants move in in June 2021. The total cost of the development was $15 million.

Albinson says that while Boston-based Community Builders has been involved in affordable housing for two decades in the Chicago area, the Oak Park location checked all the boxes for the company, which tends to hold the buildings it develops for the long term.

He notes the building is the definition of transit-oriented development.

“It’s so close to the Blue Line and bus lines,” Albinson said. “It’s a very walkable location with stores, parks and schools within walking distance.”

The developers studied other affordable housing developments such as Oak Park’s The Grove, and determined that given The 801’s proximity to public transportation and community resources, 23 parking spots was the appropriate amount for the building.

Herron states that 20 of the parking spots are currently rented by tenants at a rate of $20 per month.

The Community Builders took pains to

PHOTOS BY ALEX ROGALS/Staff Photographer

ALL THE COMFORTS: Units at the 801 have full kitchens, spacious baths and in-unit washer and dryer sets.

ALEX ROGALS/Staff Photographer

include communal spaces and quality finishes for tenants.

A top floor lounge and roof terrace provide spaces for residents to gather. The units have in-unit laundry, large closets and ninefoot ceilings with tall windows to allow an abundance of light.

On top of comfortable living conditions, the community is served by Rose Mabwa, Director of Community Life for The Community Builders, Chicago region.

“When the development is done, I come in,” said Mabwa of her work with The Community Builders. “I take care of the people.”

Mabwa works with what she calls “asset building” -- helping residents with children

enroll in local schools and aiding seniors who want to age in place. She works to foster community engagement, helping residents register to vote, connect with health services and financial services. She also promotes resident leaders, helping the residents advocate for themselves.

“When we empower the residents, we empower entire communities,” Mabwa said.

That is the focus of buildings like The 801 says Albinson.

“When we invest in a community, it’s our work,” he said. “We develop and provide services.”

Mabwa chimes in, “It goes to helping the community as a whole.”

OAKPARK.COM | RIVERFOREST.COM

S P O R T S

Wednesday Journal, September 22, 2021

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SPORTS Kent’s big night highlights Fenwick’s depth

By MELVIN TATE

Contributing Reporter

When fans talk about this year’s Fenwick High School football team, quarterback Kaden Cobb, center Jimmy Liston, and wide receivers Eian Pugh and Max Reese are the first names that come to mind, and for good reason — all have committed to play NCAA Division I football next fall.

But on Sept. 17, a senior running back stood out above all of them as Danny Kent scored four touchdowns (three rushing, one receiving) in the Friars’ 49-0 rout of host De La Salle. “[It was] pretty much the guys upfront,” said Kent, crediting his offensive line. “The game plan, we knew everything was going to work. We’d been working on it all week in practice, and all I had to do was run through open holes.”

Kent finished the evening with 114 yards on 15 carries and 3 touchdowns on the ground, adding 52 yards on two receptions and another touchdown.

“Danny’s a stud; the whole team knows it,” said Fenwick coach Matt Battaglia. “The kid works hard and doesn’t care who gets the attention; he’s just going to keep working his butt off for us.”

See FOOTBALL on page 24

ALEX ROGALS/Staff Photographer

FOUR TD’S: Fenwick’s Danny Kent (above) led the offense Friday night against De LaSalle, scoring four times. (Below) Hitting a hole in a previous game.

PROVIDED

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Wednesday Journal, September 22, 2021

S P O R T S

OAKPARK.COM | RIVERFOREST.COM

OPRF Field Hockey holds its own against top teams Huskie Invitational builds confidence looking ahead

By MELVIN TATE Contributing Reporter

The Oak Park and River Forest High School Huskie Invitational, hosted by the field hockey team, Sept. 17 and 18, is one of the premier events in Illinois. This year’s event included Chicagoland powers Glenbard West, Lake Forest, and New Trier, in addition to schools from Michigan and Wisconsin.

The host Huskies posted a respectable 3-2 record, and head coach Kristin Wirtz feels her players improved by facing the elite competition.

“There are a lot of positive takeaways from this weekend,” she said. “We learned we can score on any team. We may not have won every game, but we did some really nice things.”

OPRF started Friday with a 3-1 loss to

By MELVIN TATE

Pioneer (Michigan) followed by a 7-0 victory over Glenbard West.

On Saturday, the Huskies went 2-1 for the day, recording wins over Divine Savior Holy Angels (DSHA) of Wisconsin and Huron (Michigan), 2-0 and 2-1 respectively, then a hard-fought 2-1 loss to Lake Forest. In the match with DSHA, senior forward Audrey Glore tallied the only goals while senior goalkeeper Julia Maldonado secured the shutout.

“We definitely improved from the last invite,” said OPRF senior defender Shealy Callahan. “We like playing super-competitive teams; it gets us ready for the better teams in our conference.”

“There was a lot of playing time,” added sophomore forward Eva O’Keefe, who scored twice during the invitational. “Considering that we’ve been playing a lot of the same teams, it was nice to play [against]

new girls.”

OPRF has a very experienced team, with 16 seniors on the roster. Glore is the Huskies’ leading goal-scorer with nine for the season.

Senior forward Hailey Nowak (4 goals, 3 assists) and Tiala Ortega have been a strong attacking group in Wirtz’s estimation.

Callahan headlines a solid defensive group, along with classmates Halle Ridgen and Cate Barkdoll, who is the starting goalkeeper. The midfielders, including junior Katie Golla and seniors Greta McNulty and Ella Kuenster have also played a role in OPRF’s success this season.

“We have a lot of depth, which is really good for us,” Wirtz said. “We have a lot of tough games coming up in the next couple of weeks, and this was good preparation for them. I’m looking forward to what happens with the rest of the season because I think we’re going to get some big wins.”

Scoring can be hard to come by when two highly-talented teams meet, making those opportunities to put points on the board critically important. Wirtz feels the Huskies can do a better job of maximizing their chances, and it’s an area they’ll focus on in the next few weeks.

“We need to work on finishing inside the circle,” she said. “We’re creating opportunities for ourselves, but I’d like to see more goals come off of them. We’re also still working on using more of the outside lanes and being intentional with them.”

Callahan is also optimistic about OPRF’s chances the rest of the season if the Huskies bear down late in close contests.

“I think we can compete with any team, and it all comes down to that last push, whether it’s getting that final goal or saving the last shot,” Callahan said.

Grayden Rill follows familiar footsteps

Contributing Reporter

Fenwick High School boys cross-country junior Grayden Rill has some big footsteps to follow. His father, David, an accomplished runner who earned All-State status as a Friar in 1986 and 1987, has an upclose view of how Grayden is doing as his head coach.

But Grayden says his dad doesn’t show any favoritism at school.

“At practice, I’m treated just like one of

FOOTBALL Kent scores 4 from page 23 Wanting to atone for a tough 21-20 loss at Providence Catholic, Sept. 10, Fenwick (3-1, 1-0, Catholic League/East Suburban Catholic White Division) started the game in dominant fashion, stopping De La Salle (22, 0-1) three-and-out on the game’s opening series, then driving 30 yards on four plays for a touchdown, a Cobb 6-yard shovel pass to Reese.

After another quick stop defensively, the Friars pounded the Meteors on the ground, marching 52 yards for another score, a 7-yard run by Kent.

“It was huge for us; it was everything,” said Battaglia of the fast start. “We had a bad taste in our mouth and it didn’t matter

the guys on the team,” he said. “At home, it’s a different experience.”

Rill entered this fall following an impressive sophomore campaign. He placed fifth in the IHSA Class 2A Wheaton St. Francis sectional and would have qualified for the state finals had they not been canceled by the pandemic. In the spring he merited All-State honors in track and field, thanks to his fourth-place finish in the 800-meter race, during which he set a new Fenwick frosh-soph record time of 1:57.80.

Ask him about his accomplishments and

he says, “I haven’t really thought about that.” He did say he’s tries to maintain a consistent approach and credited teammates like Zach Daley and Lee O’Bryan for pushing and encouraging him in practices.

The Friars are off to a good start this year, and Rill believes it’s due to the tight bond the team has established.

“We’re having a lot of fun,” he said.

One way Rill relaxes when he’s not competing or studying is playing acoustic and electric guitars, which he’s been playing for a few years.

who or where we were playing, we wanted to get it out.”

In the second quarter, Fenwick put to rest any lingering doubt with a 29-0 scoring spree. Kent’s 45-yard reception helped set up Cobb’s second touchdown pass, 7 yards to Pugh. After Jacque Walls intercepted De La Salle quarterback Matthew Cleggs at the Meteors’ 44, it took just five plays for the Friars to find the house again as Cobb connected with Kent for a 7-yard touchdown.

Fenwick then recorded a safety as the De La Salle punter recovered a bad snap in his own end zone. On the very next play from scrimmage, Kent scampered for a 37-yard score. Finally, a 33-yard grab by Bryan Hunt set up Fenwick’s last first-half score, an 1-yard run by Kent.

Because the Friars had a 43-0 halftime lead, the second half was played with a running clock. Eddie McFadden’s 4-yard touchdown run late accounted for the final scoring.

“It was a tough loss last week. [Providence Catholic] is a game we should’ve won for sure,” Kent said. “But we bounced back this week, and we’re looking forward to the rest of the season.”

Up next for Fenwick are three consecutive home games at Triton College, the first of which takes place Sept. 24 against Loyola Academy. Led by quarterback Jake Stearney, the Ramblers, ranked #1 according to the Chicago Sun-Times, feature an explosive offense and a hard-hitting defense.

It’s sure to be a stern test for the Friars, but it’s also one they’re looking forward to.

“We’re going to be locked in this week. We know they’re a very talented team, but it’s nothing that we can’t beat,” Kent said.

“Our focus has been on getting better every day and week, and for the most part we’ve accomplished that,” added Battaglia.

“It’ll be nice to be back at home.”

Kickoff is set for 7:30.

As Fenwick gears up for the second half of the season, Rill, who is drawing interest from several schools, says, “Our big thing this year is that we’re going to have fun in every race and practice and see where that gets us,” he said. “We’re going to work our hardest. I just want to get in the front pack of every race and see how long I can stick with those guys. As long as I run my own race, that’s good enough for me.”

And what about breaking his father’s school records?

“They’re fast, but I’ll try,” said Rill.

Lyons Township 35, Oak Park-River Forest 13 Quarterback Joey Antonetti accounted for four touchdowns to lead Lyons Township High School (2-2, 1-1) past visiting Oak Park and River Forest High School, 35-13, in a West Suburban Silver affair Sept. 17 at Bennett Field in Western Springs.

Ryan Martin had a 50-yard touchdown run and EJ Locke scored on a 13-yard catch for the Huskies (1-3, 0-2), who face Hinsdale Central at Oak Park Stadium, Sept. 24, for Homecoming. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.

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

C O N S C I O U S

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Wednesday Journal, September 22, 2021

VIEWPOINTS

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Arlene Jones: A successfull summer of home improvement p. 27

A G I N G

In these days

n the Jewish High Holidays, the 10 days between Rosh Hashanah (New Year) and Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement) are referred to as the Days of Awe. It is a reflective, introspective, transformative time.

This year during the High Holidays, I glimpsed a connection between the Days of Awe and our aging with intention: ■ Treating oneself with honesty and tenderness ■ A changed rhythm ■ Self-reflection ■ Life review ■ Being a role model ■ Trust ■ Getting closer to being the person we’d like to be ■ Transformation Both the Days of Awe and our intentional aging offer these possibilities.

Transformation is all around us at this time of year and at this time of life. On the afternoon of Rosh Hashanah, as I strolled through our gardens, I saw a yellow caterpillar with black stripes eating non-stop on a milkweed plant.

This crawling larva is a future Monarch butterfly, a beautiful flying creature. The caterpillar exhausts its own capacity to consume. Its voracious appetite dissipates as a hard shell, a chrysalis, forms around it. The caterpillar tissue melts into a sloppy goo inside the chrysalis. The first phase of transformation — caterpillar soup, no structure, undifferentiated.

Does the caterpillar know what is occurring and what is about to happen? Does it trust? Do we know what is occurring and what is about to happen as we age?

Inside the chrysalis in the caterpillar soup, there are imaginal discs that retain the image of what is to come, the image of the Monarch. The unstructured immune system of the caterpillar, now just part of the goo, attacks the discs and breaks them down, but imaginal cells remain. Another part of transformation.

The imaginal cells have an affinity for one another; they find one another in the goo. They come together to form the nervous system of the soon-to-emerge Monarch butterfly.

Transformed.

It is natural for us to resist painful change as we age. Why do we fear and deny what is inevitable?

Trees are living at a different pace The beautiful, elegant reach of their limbs The heights they achieve The colors, textures Now, at the age I am I can see them growing and moving as they appear stationary Grasping their rhythms helps me understand my own rhythms as I age

MARC BLESOFF

Marc Blesoff is a former Oak Park village trustee, co-founder of the Windmills softball organization, co-creator of Sunday Night Dinner, a retired criminal defense attorney, and a novice beekeeper. He currently facilitates Conscious Aging Workshops and Wise Aging Workshops in the Chicago area.

FILE

Systemic secularism and what’s been lost

I

belong to a group that this year officially became a minority — church-goers. A recent Gallup poll cited in the Washington Post revealed that “for the first time, a majority of Americans do not belong to a religious institution such as a church or synagogue.”

That is not news to the minority of Forest Parkers who still go to church on Sunday, temple on Saturday, or the Islamic Center on Friday. St. Peter Lutheran, St. Paul Lutheran, the United Church of Christ, the Methodist and Presbyterian churches — all closed because of declining membership and therefore income.

That participation in organized religious communities has been shrinking nationwide is backed up by tons of data. A 2004 Gallup poll showed that 84% of Americans identified as Christians, whereas today the Washington Post referenced polling that in 2021 revealed only 65% say they are Christian, while surveys reveal 28% say they are atheist, agnostic or have no religious affiliation (nones).

And the trend seems to be accelerating. The younger the age group in this country, the less likely they are to be religious. The percentage of Americans in their 70s who say they are “religiously unaffiliated” is 12% but it’s 38% in the 18- to 29-year-old cohort.

I blame the decline on what I will call “systemic secularism.” Like the term systemic racism, the concept argues that although there may be individuals who are not secularized or racist, there is something about the system, something about the spiritual ecology that we live in that is secular or racist.

In contrast to Africa and South America, where the Christian church is growing, north of the equator it seems even the air we breathe is secular. A group of my friends and I were talking about how intractable many of the social problems our country is facing seem to be, and I asked them if they ever prayed for solutions. Half said “no.”

When I asked another group of friends what will happen to them when they die, 2/3 said “nothing” — no heaven, no hell, no reincarnation, no becoming one with the universe. Nothing.

To Dan Haley’s credit, this newspaper often covers stories about religion, both institutional religion, as in churches or denominational colleges and folks who are spiritual but not religious. But in the national media Judy Woodruff, who herself identifies as an Episcopalian, interviewed a person from one of the states in the South that had been hit hard by one the recent hurricanes.

The person interviewed said the devastation was so massive, all he and the members of his community could do was pray. With a look of genuine concern on her face, Woodruff said to the man, “Our thoughts are with you.” She just couldn’t say, “Our prayers are with you.”

Even though a Pew Research Center survey taken two years ago revealed that 90% of Americans believe in “some kind of higher power” and another Pew poll indicated that 55% pray daily and that another 16%

TOM HOLMES

See HOLMES on page 29

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Wednesday Journal, September 22, 2021

O U R

V I E W P O I N T S

V I E W S

Acting locally on climate

W

e are hopeful there is something new at work in Oak Park’s village hall as it embarks on an ambitious effort to create a thorough and bold plan for this single community to address the climate crisis.

The new village board started by putting climate high on its list of goals to address during its first year in office. It has since hired a staff member to work within village hall to lead climate efforts. This is a position that previously existed but was unfilled after the departure of a staff member several years back.

And Monday night the board unanimously voted to spend $129,000 from its sustainability fund to hire a consulting firm to drive a year-long planning process.

Like everyone else, we have a push-pull response to costly consultant contracts. We’ve seen too many failed efforts and we’ve seen solid efforts ignored.

Here’s what seems different: There is both unanimity on the board but also a pocket of passion among multiple board members on this critical issue. Susan Buchanan initially ran for office with climate topping her agenda. Arti Walker-Peddakotla rightly sees the intersection of equity and climate. Ravi Parakkat came to the village board from a seat on the village’s Energy and Environment Commission (EEC). And President Vicki Scaman has been clear in her support for determined action.

Further, in its hiring process the village is clear that the consultants must actively engage with both the EEC and with other active climate groups in Oak Park. That’s different and it hopefully reflects a more respectful connection between volunteer citizen commissions and village hall.

Finally, central to the mission set out in this process is an active listening and learning component with Oak Park residents, specifically residents of color.

Easier said than done but never done unless the charge is specifically called out. Monday night both Buchanan and Walker-Peddakotla were plain in emphasizing how critical a focus on environmental justice will be to the success of this effort.

There are inevitably those who see small-town Oak Park as an unlikely place to lead on climate. The crisis is worldwide and growing fast. But waiting for Washington, for the Paris Accords to solve this existential crisis only means more delay and frustration.

We can do much better. We can be an exemplar for local communities.

This is our start.

Sharing student data It took too long, but the determined lobbying of local education advocates finally paid off in a newly minted state law that will allow elementary and high school districts with overlapping boundaries and an intergovernmental agreement to share student information.

It sounds ridiculous but until now public elementary districts in Oak Park and in River Forest could not readily share data on student performance as our kids moved from one district to the next. Now under a bill shepherded over years by Senate President Don Harmon (D-OP) and now signed by Gov. J.B. Pritzker, that obvious communication is allowed.

All good. But we’d note that the failure to communicate has historical and cultural roots among these districts. State privacy laws were always pointed to as a blockade, but there has been a more elemental reluctance that new leadership will need to break down.

Remembering Terry Dean Terry Dean, an editor and reporter for our Austin Weekly News and Wednesday Journal for 10 years, died this week after a long, painful and grace-filled illness. He was 47. We remember him for his skills as a reporter — listening, questioning, reflecting what he learned.

Michael Romain, who replaced Terry, has a thoughtful piece today on page 3 about Terry as a mentor and as a leader in the sometimes lonely role of Black reporter in a mainly white newsroom.

For those of us who worked alongside Terry, we remember his love and devotion to his family, most profoundly to Amiri, his daughter. His care for her was a life lesson to each of us.

T

Equinox = Balance

oday is the autumnal equinox, when the Earth is in balance, evenly split between day and night, north and south, warm and cold. Equal day, equal night.

The Earth tilts back and forth each year like an enormous, slowmotion metronome. When the Northern Hemisphere tilts toward the sun, we experience spring and summer. When it tilts back the other way, the Southern Hemisphere gets spring and summer while we get autumn and winter.

When the Earth is, in effect, straight up and the sun is not taking sides, we have equinox. Our autumnal equinox is the Southern Hemisphere’s vernal equinox (spring). On each equinox, the sun rises due east and sets due west. It is in effect hovering directly over the equator. Tomorrow, the sun heads south (or appears to) and seems to be leaving us behind.

But we don’t have to take it personally. The sun is merely giving the Southern Hemisphere its due. Days grow shorter on our side until Dec. 21, otherwise known as the Winter Solstice, which is when the tilt reverses and the sun heads back our way again.

I don’t know why the Earth tilts back and forth, but if it only leaned one way, the other hemisphere would get the short end of the sun and those populating that hemisphere would be understandably miffed. And if the Earth did not daily rotate on its mythical axis — as is the case with the moon — there would be perpetual day on one side of Earth and perpetual night on the other.

So balance is a good thing and equinoxes (spring and autumn) provide a metaphor both to contemplate and celebrate: Light and darkness in equilibrium, in harmony, which only happens twice a year. The two solstices, on the other hand, are way out of balance but redeemed as they begin to right themselves.

Solstices are extremities, but extremities of fullness. Even balance needs to be balanced.

We celebrate Christmas, just after the Winter Solstice, as an antidote to oppressive darkness (historically, piggybacking onto Saturnalia, the already established solstice celebration in the Roman empire). We don’t formally honor the Summer Solstice, maybe because we’re too blissed out by the long-lingering daylight.

The dance between darkness and light is

one of our core metaphors, giving us an opportunity to explore the imbalance of light and dark within our souls or psyche, which do not always correspond to the seasons.

We may suffer a Winter Solstice within as the Summer Solstice reigns outside. Or we may be filled with light inside even as darkness rules. We are frequently out of synch with the natural world, some of us nocturnal, it seems, others diurnal.

As Camus said, “In the midst of winter, I found there was, within me, an invincible summer. And that makes me happy. For it says that no matter how hard the world pushes against me, within me, there’s something stronger — something better, pushing right back.”

But some of us endure an invincible inner winter and need help to see the light again.

It isn’t healthy to be all one and never the other. Just as twilight blends into night and dawn prefigures day, so we struggle to harmonize our inner light and darkness.

The poet Charles Finn describes the equinox as “night and day softly embracing / before going their separate ways” and “what perfect balance / between darkness and light / as they touch softly in passing.”

He describes our inner equinox as “trying to be mindful of the only dance there is / trying to hold in some kind of balance / so much joy, so much sorrow.”

We cannot run from our darkness any more than we can deny the light. Neither are we twilight or dusk or dawn beings only. We have seasons and storms and lingering afterglows and bright sunshine within that mirror the world without.

The sun is stealing away to the south. Night is gathering momentum. But if we can keep our balance, our inner equinox will see us through.

I greet you, spirits of darkness that dwell in the night and within me.

While you are frightening, you are also a source of power.

May I not fear you but learn to live in holy harmony with you.

Night within me, I welcome you as well.

May all your spirits that reside in me live in harmony with the Spirit of the Holy.

KEN

TRAINOR

Edward Hays

Prayers for a Planetary Pilgrim

V I E W P O I N T S

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Happy first day of fall!

f I had to grade myself on doing everything I should have done by this time, I’m only going to give myself a B-. I have huge expectations for myself, and I didn’t do all the one million and one things I should have. I had initially given myself an even lower score, but then I really looked at all the things I did and those I did do, I did very well.

One of the things that happens as we age is that our mind still sees our bodies as they were in the prime of our lives. So I have expectations for myself that are probably impossible to achieve at this point. My mind races at a hundred miles per hour. My body moves more like the speed limit.

One of my major achievements this past summer was to get my second-story deck ready. That involved stripping the horrific paint I had applied to the floor years back and restoring the wood to its natural glory. Not only did that take weeks, it also involved me getting on my hands and knees. But the end result was well worth it.

I love the coziness of my finished deck. For me, there’s a fine line between cozy and clutter. That line will be a reality when it comes time for me to store items that I don’t want to sit out for the winter. I’ve already started by taking the all-season rugs and power washing them. Even though, allegedly, they can take the weather, I really don’t want to tempt fate. Especially because they might interfere with the ability of the deck to melt the snow. After all the work I put into refinishing that wood, I don’t want to risk anything that might lead to mold, rot, etc.

I’m going to determine if I breached that line when

W E D N E S D A Y

I give myself less than two hours to close down the deck for the winter.

I also have a concrete patio out back.

For years I kept the slingback chairs that came with the outdoor bar set as the fabric wore thin. My goal was to replace the original fabric with new ones. This year, I ended up finding four replacement chairs. Sometimes we have to let go of the projects that aren’t going to get done so that we can move forward. I powerwashed that patio, planted my garden, and painted the patio table and chairs. I bought the spray paint to paint the bar, but it looks like that will be a next-year project.

I just finished painting my front security door. In 1989, that door cost me almost $600. Other than replacing the brass mail slot that has pitted over time, the basic door has held up well. I’m going to let the paint cure for a week and then use liquid car wax to add a waterproofing effect.

I write about these things not to brag, but to demonstrate that keeping these 100-year-old bungalow houses up in appearance is an ongoing, sometimes very slow, but necessary chore. And unlike those TV shows where they do a complete house renovation in an hour, the real world moves at a much slower, but steady, pace.

When even dilapidated houses in Austin are selling for at least $150,000 and more, keeping up the appearance of this neighborhood by maintaining and updating one’s property is imperative. Now that the fall is here, my projects will move indoors.

Arlene Jones lives in Austin and writes a weekly column for our sister publication, the Austin Weekly News.

ARLENE JONES

OPRF should host Q&A sessions on COVID Quotes from OPRF High School’s equity director, Patrick Hardy [Case by case, how OPRF faces COVID concerns, News, Sept. 15], suggests he is answering any questions raised by unvaccinated students about the COVID vaccines. He seems to empathize with their concerns and states, “If there’s something I can do to support you, please let me know.”

The article also suggests some serious misconceptions by students and their families that are contributing to the spread of the virus and encouragement of new variants, both public health problems.

Well, it’s great and appropriate to his job descrip-

Wednesday Journal, September 22, 2021

tion for Mr. Hardy to empathize with the students’ concerns, but for the sake of our community, how about doing more? For example, OPRF is in a great position to host regular question-and-answer sessions and have a mobile vaccination unit at the school, also involving parents. There are many capable and sensitive public health professionals who are employed by, or volunteer with, the Oak Park Dept. of Public Health who’d be glad to be involved for the sake of our entire community!

Marilyn Schlesinger

Oak Park

JOURNAL of Oak Park and River Forest

Editor and Publisher Dan Haley Senior Editor Bob Uphues Equity Editor/Ombudsman Michael Romain Digital Publishing and Technology Manager Briana Higgins Staff Reporters Stacey Sheridan, F. Amanda Tugade Staff Photographer Alex Rogals Viewpoints Editor Ken Trainor Real Estate Editor Lacey Sikora Food Editor Melissa Elsmo Arts Editor Michelle Dybal Columnists Marc Blesoff, Jack Crowe, Doug Deuchler, Mary Kay O’Grady, Kwame Salter, John Stanger, Stan West Design/Production Manager Andrew Mead Editorial Design Manager Javier Govea Designer Susan McKelvey Business Manager Joyce Minich Marketing Representatives Marc Stopeck, Lourdes Nicholls Development Manager Mary Ellen Nelligan Development & Sales Coordinator Stacy Coleman Circulation Manager Jill Wagner E-MAIL jill@oakpark.com Chairman Emeritus Robert K. Downs

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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.

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V I E W P O I N T S

Wednesday Journal, September 22, 2021

The more things change …

Regarding Michael Romain’s piece on the 9/11 attacks, he mentions first responders, and eventually includes the Jan. 6 Capitol Police who bore the brunt of that failed coup attempt, and how many of them have struggled to get help with PTSD and/or duty-related illness. He concludes (per my reading of his assessment) that the machinery of our politics and military is greased with blood money, revealed in a back-in-the-day rap recording that asserts “Don’t save her, she don’t wanna be saved (Ain’t nothin’ going on but the money and the power).”

How true!

Long before any of those references, and before 9/11, there was President Eisenhower warning against the “military-industrial complex.” That was in the late 1950s! Ike was the top general in World War II. He was right on the money, the same money that rapper Project Pat tossed out in “Don’t Save Her.” Who is “her”? To me it’s a rational, wellreasoned approach to power and how to use it. Since WWII, we have had a failed Korean War, a debacle in Vietnam, and two incoherently conducted military occupations in Afghanistan and Iraq. Never mind that we can’t any longer seem to defeat an enemy.

Victory isn’t really the objective these days (to the bitter disgust of those sent to fight).

It’s those military contracts. We have bases all over the world. Our military budget eats up over half of the federal budget, year after year. Education? Health care? Climate action? Infrastructure? Social safety net programs? Not so much. We have bombed so many countries post-WWII that Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Chris Hedges asserts we inadvertently got a taste of our own medicine on 9/11.

And as Michael Romain has come to realize, our money and military power abuses all skin colors, all ethnicities, with women and children given no special exemption.

Our recent retreat from Afghanistan has, of course, become cannon fodder for political

Block Party of the Week!

OAKPARK.COM | RIVERFOREST.COM points to be scored, with a now publicly revealed price tag of 2 trillion dollars’ worth of those contracts being emphasized far more than the 2,352 dead U.S. combatants. Yeah, money talks, Michael. But you knew that already, I’d like to think.

My generation had songs about materialism and mindless money grubbing, and cynically orchestrated military incursions.

Dylan wrote, “The times, they are a changing,” not long after Ike warned us against that military complex. If they are changing, it certainly doesn’t seem to be for the better.

Just look around. As a military veteran of the Vietnam era, for me it’s basically the more things change, the more they stay insane.

Joe Harrington Oak Park

What a country!

Let me get this straight: if a crowd forms outside my house, demonstrates, breaks in through my doors, breaks windows, trashes my office, steals objects, threatens to hang a family member, they would be considered criminals and prosecuted. But if they do this at the Capitol, they get a support rally and are celebrated as patriots by politicians and a former president. What a country! Makes you wonder how frightening it would be to be tried by a jury for anything.

Rick Klaus

Oak Park

Babies speak out

Our thanks to the neighbors from the 700 block of Wesley Ave. Want to get your September block party in the pages of Wednesday Journal? Contact Jill at 708-613-3340 or jill@oakpark.com. Keep in mind, we can only go to one party per week, so reserve your spot today.

It occurs to me that babies are rarely if ever mentioned in all the partisan pushing and shoving going on over the traumatic and emotional issue of abortion. For example, I reviewed the recent abortion law passed in Texas, and found no reference to babies throughout that entire Senate Bill 8.

But the little angels should be given a voice. Listen ... listen in the silence, and you’ll hear their tiny voices: I want to be born.

I want to be a baby for my mommy.

I pray she will want me, but if not, give me to someone who does.

I want to be held, and rocked, and fed, danced with, and sung to.

But most of all, I just want to be loved.

Please ... please ...

Don’t let me be torn out and thrown away.

I’m just a baby angel who wants a mommy to love.

Just listen ... hear them.

Tom Lynch Oak Park

V I E W P O I N T S

OAKPARK.COM | RIVERFOREST.COM

A shot

What’s in a shot?

Seems like a lot Freedom to choose A life to lose A nurse to bear The brunt unfair Risking life and limb For her or him Doctors take an oath To care for both Vaccine’d or not They give their best shot Years of research and testing With science investing Ensure it’s safe Your arm to embrace When the race was on We all wanted one A vaccine to kill

The virus at will But now it’s here It’s very clear That some don’t care What’s spread by air And to wear a mask Is too much to ask For people who scare Too badly to care Who is infected So go undetected In public places With unknown faces But with unhappy divide We all must abide And not get sad With what we deem bad We’re in this together No matter the weather Accept your neighbor Whatever their flavor.

HOLMES

Church members a minority from page 25

Val Gee Oak Park

Outdoor dining spaces are needed A note on the Al’s Grill outdoor dining space: Is there a village ordinance requiring a restaurant to provide parking?

What is not noted anywhere is that immune-compromised individuals are uncertain of vaccine efficacy for

them. As a result, outdoor dining spaces appear to offer greater safety than indoors. To the village: please leave Al’s Grill alone.

Don Lennie Oak Park

pray weekly, she reverted to the least common denominator: “Our thoughts are with you.”

In an environment characterized by systemic secularism, when push comes to shove, religion is what gets shoved.

When I was growing up in the 1950s the only businesses open on Sundays were restaurants and gas stations. Friday nights and Saturdays were when my neighbors did their shopping.

And then chains like Walmart came to town and were open on Sundays, which forced almost every other business to open on Sunday as well.

In the 1950s before corporate giants like Walmart upset the voluntary cultural equilibrium, there were no laws enforcing businesses being closed on the first day of the week. The peer pressure in the system, if you will, enforced the “no business on the Sabbath” rule. But by the time Walmart arrived, the cultural ecosystem had changed enough so that no one in town was able to form a critical mass of protest to convince Walmart to observe the Sabbath.

By then cultural climate change was making certain species of institutions endangered. It’s all in the name of freedom of choice, of course, but something has been lost in this free market of ideas and beliefs.

A friend of mine who grew up in a family of “nones” (no religion) and was religiously and

Wednesday Journal, September 22, 2021

biblically illiterate once told me with excitement in his voice that he had read in some progressive magazine like Mother Jones about an innovative concept — taking one day a week to “re-create” and restore by not doing any work.

I tried to respond by affirming his discovery but I had to let him know that the idea had been around for more or less 3,000 years.

“The deeper question,” wrote Derek Thompson in a piece for The Atlantic, dated Sept. 26, 2019, “is whether the sudden loss of religion has social consequences for Americans who opt out.

Secular Americans … may not have examined how organized religion has historically offered solutions to their modern existential anxieties.”

Creating and sustaining community, he noted, finding a place of calm in the midst of the storm, and making peace with an often unfair world is hard.

“Although belief in God is no panacea for these problems,” Thompson concluded, “religion is more than a theism. It is a bundle: a theory of the world, a community, a social identity, a means of finding peace and purpose, and a weekly routine.

“Those, like me, who have largely rejected this package deal, often find themselves shopping à la carte for meaning, community, and routine to fill a faith-shaped void. Their politics is a religion.

Their work is a religion. Their spin class is a church. And not looking at their phone for several consecutive hours is a Sabbath.”

And, he speculates, “Millions of Americans have abandoned religion, only to re-create it.”

Tom Holmes writes a regular column for our sister publication, the Forest Park Review.

De-Clutter.

Advertise your garage sale for just $25 in Wednesday Journal, Forest Park Review and Riverside-Brookfield Landmark

Call Stacy at 708.613.3342

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V I E W P O I N T S

Wednesday Journal, September 22, 2021

L

Thank you, River Forest

ast week, we remembered the devastation and loss of life of 9/11 in very solemn tributes. What I found even more frightening was the horror wrought by domestic terrorists on Jan. 6, although the destruction was not on the same scale. I find it difficult to believe that folks would take to violence to invade the Capitol to overthrow our government.

Both of these events were determined to destroy our democracy.

My extensive travel over my 97 years has taught me how difficult it can be for folks living under other forms of government. I am grateful for the opportunity to travel and learn the uniqueness and traditions of each place, such as the rain forests of the Amazon, the glaciers of Alaska, the romantic canals of Venice, the startling

waterfalls of Argentina. I saw the amazing Golden Buddha of China and even walked part of the expanse of the Great Wall.

I saw the Sphinx of Egypt, the Parthenon of Greece, and the Pyramids of Mexico. There was great beauty in the sculptures of Italy and the breathtaking gems of architecture of houses of worship, most probably slave-built. I’ll always remember these masterpieces.

Probably the most haunting experience I ever had in my travels was going into the dark attic where Anne Frank wrote her story.

The horror of man’s hatred and bigotry was palpable in that room.

What made my travels even more precious to me was the opportunity to individually travel with my five young grandchildren. I fashioned myself a bit of an “Auntie Mame” character. I wanted to

HARRIET HAUSMAN One View

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OAKPARK.COM | RIVERFOREST.COM

introduce each of them to the wonders of experiencing other cultures and traditions and also have them learn to appreciate our democracy and way of life.

Our River Forest cannot boast about any specific, awesome site. Yet River Forest is a peaceful island in a sea of chaos. When I stroll under the arch of trees, I feel like I’m in a great natural cathedral. The village offers a contrast from the hate and violence that permeates our society. Our town is a natural, beautiful area, complemented by its residents, most of whom are thoughtful humanitarians who care for each other.

It is shocking to me that there are other folks, here and outside our borders, who do not value living in a diverse democracy.

There are folks in our country willing to follow a path of lies, hatred, and violence which ekes away the very tenets on which this country stands.

Thank you, River Forest for being that refuge of peace and kindness.

Missing our faiths in secular space

n the Catholic world where I grew up, south of Roosevelt and north of Cermak, in the blocks surrounding Berwyn’s St. Mary of Celle Catholic Church, “secular space” was something I did not really encounter, at least not consciously. Back then, in the 1950s and ’60s, I’d move from church to school to neighborhood to home and back, experiencing seamlessly the Catholicity of our small world.

Most of my friends and I — close to 1,000 kids were enrolled in St. Mary’s grade school at the time — believed in the same God, followed the same Jesus, prayed the Rosary to the same Holy Mother, and even, despite some grousing, respected the authority of the same Pope. Some of us wore medals of the saints, crosses or small, sacred scapulars around our necks.

As far as I was concerned, the Jesus, Mary, Joseph, and saints portrayed on stained glass and in paintings in the sanctuary were also watching over us in the neighborhood. And at home, what with the prayers led by Dad and Mom, and the statues, crucifixes, and holy water fonts placed throughout the house, the Catholic milieu permeated every room.

That world, with its consistent narrative about why we were here, its sense of community, and yes, its contradictions, is no more. Rather, I find myself moving very consciously between expanding secular space and shriveling religious space here in Oak Park. With the school closed and

attendance at Mass down at St. Mary’s, I’m sure I’d feel something similar in Berwyn as well.

What I experience here, and more widely in our polity, is a place in which some are grasping for a unifying narrative, while others mistrust that very notion as a smokescreen for hiding systemic injustice. Rather, secular space is awash in competing critical narratives from the left and right, some more refined than others, among a racially, culturally and politically divided citizenry.

There is much referencing “the community,” but such allusions in reality denote groups with divergent claims, conflicting interpretations of history, and differing views of who ought to be moving in as we diversify.

As one who grew up in the old Berwyn and has lived for many years in Oak Park, I carry this yearning for community and my own, unresolved critical narratives within. That old, unified, Catholic culture of my youth generally looked the other way when it came to confronting racial segregation. Unchecked by the Church, Berwyn became known for defending it.

And the Church’s patriarchal structure treated girls and women like second-class citizens.

Religion can be a divisive force, but pushing religiosity out of the public square hasn’t led to a more unified, secular village. If anything, it’s been followed by more fragmentation and a more fren-

RICH

KORDESH One View

zied, vitriolic kind of public discourse.

The new political meanness has led many to simply opt out of public discussion, or to share their views only in private with those they most trust.

We need what our institutions of faith bring uniquely to the public table. We need them back in the public square to remind us that we are all God’s children.

Our egoism and a tendency toward selfworship that secularism encourages, need to be tempered by our souls’ yearning to do what God would have us do. Prayers, sacred rituals and the honoring of symbols from our different traditions can aid in this rebalancing.

Drawing on my faith tradition, I’ll use as an example, the “Kingdom of Heaven,” of which Jesus spoke. This loving domain of divine energy is here: it is “at hand.”

Genuine prayer invokes it. Reflecting on the Scriptures can lift it up. Treating one another with dignity, as children of the Holy One, can activate it in our midst.

In rejecting, rightfully, the failings of our religious institutions, we’ve also tossed out what they bring to community building. I don’t yearn for that old Catholic world of my youth, but I do know that we need a better way to experience our oneness, even as we argue passionately about how to make this a better community.

Our best traditions of faith can encourage the humility needed to make our vigorous democratic discourse a process of listening, learning and arguing that bonds us, rather than drives us apart.

Wednesday Journal, September 22, 2021

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QUARANTINE

‘There are no great solutions’

Parents have questions from page 6 rule to include an exception for K-12 students. Students in an “indoor classroom setting” will not be named close contacts if they stayed 3-6 feet away from the student with COVID and if they and the student with COVID are both masked “correctly and consistently,” according to the CDC’s directive.

The exception, however, excludes school staff, teachers and other adults.

“There has been a lot of confusion between the differences of what’s considered a close contact within the ‘classroom setting’ versus [an] after-school and daycare setting,” said Odom, a mother of two D97 students, adding that Oak Park’s public health officials may be using the “strictest” definition of a close contact and quarantine process.

But Theresa Chapple-McGruder, Oak Park’s public health director, disagreed.

“The CDC is really clear about what a classroom setting is,” said Chapple-McGruder during a Sept. 9 Zoom call with dozens of parents from Mann, fielding questions on the positive case and other COVID-19-related inquiries. “They reaffirm that ‘classroom settings’ are defined as ‘instructional time in an actual classroom.’

“And the reason why they would have different social recommendations in a classroom setting during instructional time is because it’s thought to be a more controlled setting.

Children are thought to be seated, quiet, listening, learning.”

The Zoom call, which was held on the evening of Sept. 9, was hosted by Mann Parent-Teacher Organization (PTO) and also featured Mann Principal Hussain Ali. Chapple-McGruder said the CDC’s exception is specific and doesn’t apply to other settings such as a lunchroom where students are unmasked and talking and eating or before- and after-school programs where students are more likely to play and engage in activities.

VACCINATIONS Agree on mandate from page 6 the Oak Park Teachers’ Association also agreed on a remote learning plan for students.

Students could only qualify for remote learning if they were ineligible to receive the COVID-19 vaccine and were under quarantine orders by a local public health department or the Illinois Department of Public Health, according to a previous resolution by the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE).

That ruling has since changed. State board members have expanded remote learning to include students who are quarantined after being possibly exposed to COVID-19 in school.

Based on the district and association’s agreement, students in remote learning will now have a “window into the classroom.”

That means, students in remote learning will be able to connect with their classrooms via Zoom, but there are some adjustments.

Students won’t be able to participate in discussion, raise their hand or use the chat

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During the Sept. 9 Zoom call, parents also asked whether the district would consider shortening the quarantine period, so their children could return to school earlier. Some cited that Oak Park and River Forest High School District 200 offered a test-back option for staff and students for the last four days of their quarantine. At D200, staff and students can take a rapid COVID-19 test on Day 11 and each day after, and if they test negative, they can return to school in-person.

Chapple-McGruder said she and district officials are talking about that option and trying to figure out how to roll out that plan.

Amanda Siegfried, D97 senior director of communications, said it’s tough to compare the elementary school district, which is made up of 10 school buildings, to D200, which only operates one building and is a “little more contained.”

What it comes down to is a lack of resources, said Siegfried in a separate interview with Wednesday Journal.

“We have our nurses. That’s it,” said Siegfried, and their nurses are already stretched thin by the amount of day-to-day tasks and COVID-19 responsibilities.

She explained further that the school nurses have to deal with contact tracing, notifying parents about their children who have tested positive for COVID-19 or are potentially exposed to the virus, keeping track of positive and negative cases — and possibly administering a rapid COVID-19 test.

“They’re doing a lot right now, and in order to implement the 10-day [quarantine], we have to

feature, an email announcement to district families outlined. Students can only listen in, as teachers are asked to turn the audio on for the Zoom session. Teachers who use a white board or are presenting can turn the camera on only for that portion of the lesson, the email stated.

The agreement noted that teachers who “choose to be available” for quarantined students during their personal planning period or after school will be paid at a contracted rate of $35 an hour. District 97 relied on providing remote instruction for quarantined students through substitute teachers, but like so many others, the district has faced a shortage of substitute teachers, “making it more difficult to implement the original plan for remote learning,” the email also stated.

OPRF also reaches agreement At Oak Park and River Forest High School District 200, the school board also approved a memorandum with its Faculty Senate, a collective bargaining unit, regarding the state’s vaccine mandate. The MOU between District 200 and the Faculty Senate – which was approved at a Sept. 9 special board meeting and applies to senate members and

make sure that we have a sustainable structure and system for all of our schools,” she said, noting the district is currently looking for certified nursing assistants (CNAs) to support the school nurses.

Parents at the Sept. 9 meeting wondered whether the district would allow them to purchase the COVID-19 rapid tests or use funding from the Mann PTO to supply the rapid tests.

In a separate interview with Wednesday Journal, co-interim Superintendent Griff Powell said the nurses do not support that course of action but maintained the district is looking at the logistics of making rapid testing a possibility.

The district also recently expanded its remote learning, which aims to offer a “window into the classroom.” Quarantined students now have the chance to watch or listen in on their classes instead of working with a substitute teacher for a few hours a day. Students, however, cannot participate in discussions, raise their hands or use the chat feature.

“There are no great solutions,” Powell admitted. “You have a child out of school and at home for 14 days, potentially 10 to 14 [days]. You want to support them as much as possible. You want to provide them access, but you also have the challenge of teachers that are now in their classes with the majority of students. You have two different learning spaces. So how do we manage that?” “... Hopefully, this will give students a little bit more access to their classroom and to their teacher.”

non-members – outlines similar deadlines and details on vaccination records, submissions and disciplinary actions.

The memorandum also stated that employees who test positive for COVID-19 will be placed on paid administrative leave during their isolation period. The MOU clarified that this is intended for employees who are either fully vaccinated or exempt from vaccinations and tested positive for COVID-19. Employees looking to return to work after completing an isolation period need to submit a release letter from a medical professional or the health department.

D200 employees who are not fully vaccinated against COVID-19 or have not submitted proof of vaccination by Sept. 19 will be tested once a week, the MOU stated. Like District 97, D200 plans to offer on-site testing, as well.

In an emailed statement to the Journal, District 200 and the Faculty Senate said they are “happy to have collaborated on this joint agreement to do what is in the best interest of not just our students, but our school community as a whole.”

“The top priority of administration and faculty is always the safety of those in our building,” the two entities wrote. “The testing program we’re implementing for unvaccinated employees not only complies with

the governor’s mandate but also helps ensure that we’re doing everything possible to maintain a safe environment for students and staff.”

As of Sept. 16, 89% of employees at OPRF are fully vaccinated, according to district data.

Another clause included in the memorandum centered on remote learning. Teachers can now provide “audio and video observational access to their classrooms” for students in isolation or under quarantine and learning at home.

Under the MOU, teachers at OPRF can livestream their classes as deemed “appropriate to the instructional needs of the lesson.” Students in remote learning can observe, watch or listen in, but they may be unable to interact with the class in “real time,” as “teachers are expected to teach inperson students.”

“With the state’s prohibition against fully remote or hybrid learning this year, being absent for COVID-related reasons has been stressful for our students and families,” D200 and Faculty Senate wrote in a joint statement. “We are pleased that we can offer students in isolation or quarantine the ability to observe their classes, so they have as much access as possible to a quality education during their absence.”

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Wednesday Journal, September 22, 2021

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O B I T U A R I E S

Roger French, 74 Committed to dialogue

Roger J. French, 74, died at home on Aug. 28, 2021, following a brief acceptance of cancer. In the process of passing from this world, he offered his loved ones a final gift of showing how to die serenely, with gratitude for what had come before and taking solace in having contributed to what will be. He said goodbye with the words, “Thank you for the love.”

A graduate of Fenwick High School, Northwestern University, and John Marshal Law School, he practiced patent law for many years, which he found to be rather job-like and overall OK, with the exception of appreciating the lives of others who he came to know throughout the years as clients, coworkers, and friends.

He will be remembered for sharing his light with the communities in which he found himself, especially his activism against American militarism and

commitment to dialogue in pursuit of authentic understanding and a more just society. The last book he was reading was The Origins of Totalitarianism by Hannah Arendt, which he found troublingly timely.

He was also known to tell a joke from time to time — many of which were hilariously awful — to help the playful bonds among fellows that he took care to nurture wherever he went.

Roger was the husband of Frances for 49 years; the father of Bill, who will always cherish his words “for you I have everything”; older brother of Marybeth; and grandfather to Daphne Lucille who was the final candle of his life.

He was preceded in death by his parents George and Eileen French.

He will be missed dearly. On behalf of so many, including the countless anonymous: Thank you for the love, Roger.

Rev. John Gambro, 92 Fenwick Latin teacher

Father John Louis (Mannes) Gambro, O.P., died peacefully on Sunday, Sept.

19, 2021, at Resurrection Village Life Center in Chicago after a long illness. The first of two sons of John Louis Gambro Sr. and Mary Frances Curry Born in Chicago on Sept.

26, 1929, he received his early education at St. Thomas Aquinas Church in Chicago’s Austin neighborhood and at St. Mel High School before going to Loras College in Dubuque, Iowa for most of his undergraduate degree.

At the age of 20, he entered the Dominican Order and was given the religious name of Mannes. He completed bachelor’s and master’s degrees at the Dominican House of Studies in River Forest and received another master’s degree in 1963 at Loyola University, this one in Classical Languages. He was ordained to the priesthood on May 25, 1957 by Archbishop Edward F. Hoban of Cleveland, Ohio.

Having completed his priestly formation and professional education, he embarked on a 45-year ministry as a high school Latin teacher at Fenwick High School from 1957 to 1963 and again from 1978 to 2002; and at Bishop Lynch High School, Dallas, Texas from 1963 to 1978.

He retired in the Chicago area, living at St. Thomas Aquinas Priory, River Forest and St. Pius V Priory, Chicago before moving finally to Resurrection Village Life Center.

Father John was an accomplished teacher and well-respected by his students. Besides his dedication to secondary education, he loved to travel and do genealogy. He was a member of the Vergilian Society, the Classical Association of the South, Classical Teachers of Texas, and the Chicago Genealogical Society.

His brother is Francis James Gambro (Joan Katzenbach). He has three nephews: the late Fran (Joyce Gromala), John (Beth Walker) and Timothy (Stephanie Schoewe) and many great nieces and nephews.

A Mass of the Resurrection will be celebrated on Thursday, Sept. 23, beginning at 10 a.m. (preceded by the Office of the Dead) at St. Vincent Ferrer Church, 1530 Jackson Ave., River Forest, followed by internment at All Saints Cemetery in Des Plaines. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Dominican Society for Vocational Support, 1910 S. Ashland Ave., Chicago, IL 60608.

Ed Galvin, 88

Hall of Fame Fenwick basketball coach Ed Galvin, 88, died on September 18, 2021 at his home in Glen Ellyn, surrounded by his wife and family.

Born in 1933, the son of Irish immigrants, he grew up on the West Side of Chicago and at an early age fell in love with the game of basketball on the hardwood and asphalt courts of school gyms and Chicago Park District playgrounds. A 6-5 Chicago Catholic League and All-City forward for renowned Coach Clem Naughton at St. Philip High School, he earned a basketball scholarship to Loyola University in New Orleans, where he set team scoring and rebound records, was the Wolfpack’s most valuable player for three straight years, a member of Collier Magazine’s All-American Basketball Team, and the 77th overall pick of the 1955 NBA draft, selected by the Syracuse Nationals (now the Philadelphia 76’ers).

He began his Hall of Fame coaching career as an assistant for three years at his alma mater, St. Philip, then became head coach at St. Rita High School on the South Side. He led the Mustangs to immediate and unprecedented Catholic League basketball success, winning 232 “heavyweight” and “lightweight” (5-9 and under) games in only six seasons, including one heavyweight and two lightweight league championships.

In 1969, he moved to Fenwick High School.

Tony Lawless recruited Galvin to succeed another Chicago basketball coaching legend, Bill Shay, as only the fourth head basketball coach in Fenwick history. During his 10 years at Fenwick, the Friars won two Chicago Catholic League Lightweight titles and was the first team to win three consecutive Fenwick Christmas Lightweight Tournament Cham-

PROVIDED

Ed Galvin during his playing days at Loyola of New Orleans.

pionships in the 34 years of the famed tourney. He was voted the Chicago Catholic League Coach of the Year for all sports in 1971.

While at Fenwick, he also served as the first head men’s Basketball coach at Rosary College (now Dominican University) from 1976 to 1978. Post-Fenwick, he was head basketball coach at North Central College (1980-82) and finished his 40-year coaching career at Illinois Math and Science Academy (1988-1997) with more than 600 coaching wins at all levels.

He also served as athletic director at St. Rita and Fenwick high schools and Rosary and North Central colleges.

As player and coach, he was selected as a member of five halls of fame: Chicago Catholic League, Chicagoland Sports, Illinois Basketball Coaches Association, St. Rita High School and Loyola University New Orleans Athletics.

He supplemented his income to support his family, working first as a trader at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, and then with Galvin Marketing, which he established with his lifelong friend Dan O’Donnell.

Jeff Carpenter, All-State and All-American player at Fenwick in 1974 and a member of Notre Dame’s only Final Four Team in 1978, said, “Coach Galvin had confidence in me from the start and I never wanted to let him down. Coach was gruff on the outside, but he loved his players. Plus, he had an awesome hook shot and drop kick. He was my favorite coach.

Neil Bresnahan, All-State forward at Fenwick in 1976 and University of Illinois fouryear starter and captain of the 1980 Illini, added, “Coach Galvin got the most out of every player. We always played hard, and we were always the best and most feared rebounding team in Chicago because of his teaching and emphasis on that aspect of the game. Outside of the game, he was always there for us. He will be missed by all who ever played for him.”

Even with all of these athletic achievements and recognition, Ed Galvin was most proud of his 63-year marriage to Eileen (nee Day), his six daughters, 18 grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.

Visitation on Friday, Sept. 24, from 4 to 7 p.m. at Williams-Kampp Funeral Home, 430 E. Roosevelt Road, Wheaton. To accommodate those who are traveling or those requiring special assistance, there will be visitation at St. James the Apostle Church, 480 S. Park Blvd., Glen Ellyn on Saturday, Sept. 25, from 9 a.m until time of Funeral Mass at 10 a.m.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to be made to St. James the Apostle Grammar School, 490 S. Park Blvd. Glen Ellyn, IL 60137 in Ed’s name, to support Catholic Education.

Wednesday Journal, September 22, 2021

Growing Community Media

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HOURS: 9:00 A.M.– 5:00 P.M. MON–FRI Deadline is Monday at 5:00 p.m.

BY PHONE: (708) 613-3333 | BY FAX: (708) 467-9066 BY E-MAIL: EMAIL@GROWINGCOMMUNITYMEDIA.ORG

HELP WANTED River Forest Public Schools District 90

River Forest D90 has an opening for a Evening Custodian. Responsible for cleaning of buildings and grounds, as assigned. A strong work ethic, interpersonal skills and custodial experience is required. Salary commensurate with experience. For consideration, please complete an online application on our District website at www.district90.org.

PART-TIME ELECTRICIAN’S HELPER

Must have own transportation.

For more information

CALL 708-738-3848

The Forest Park Police Department, seeks a Part-Time Civilian Information Management Call Taker.

Pay is $17.19/hr. Eligible candidates will be required to pass an aptitude test and an extensive background check. Qualifications include high school diploma (or equivalent), good verbal and written skills, working knowledge of the computer and Windows, ability to type accurately, a good working knowledge of the English language, the ability to treat customers and co-workers in a polite manner and the ability to work under pressure and meet deadlines.

Data entry skills and experience answering telephones/operating a switchboard are preferred. EVENING AND OVERNIGHT HOURS ARE MANDATORY. Open until filled. Applications are available at Village Hall, 517 Desplaines Ave. and should be returned Attn: Vanessa Moritz, Village Clerk, Village of Forest Park, 517 Des Plaines Avenue, Forest Park, IL 60130.

Email: vmoritz@forestpark.net.

PAID-ON-CALL FIREFIGHTER Job Title: Paid-on-Call Firefighter Description: The Village of Riverside Fire Department is seeking applicants for the position of Paidon-Call Firefighter.

Additional Status Information: This is not a full-time position.

Qualifications: - In good physical condition - Reside within 1.5 miles of the boundaries of the Village of Riverside at time of appointment - Be 18 years of age at the time of application - Possess a high school diploma or GED - Possess a valid driver’s license with a good driving record Miscellaneous Applications are reviewed in October 2021.

Application deadline is Friday, October 8th, 2021.

The Village of Riverside is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

SOFTWARE DEVELOPER

Responsible for Developing and Implementing real-time, clinical decision-support software for some of the most prestigious hospitals in the country. Requires Bachelor’s degree plus 5 years of experience or Master’s degree plus 2 years of experience in software development. Review full job duties online and apply to: employment@vigilanzcorp.com

VILLAGE OF RIVERSIDE SEASONAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY

The Riverside Department of Public Works is seeking energetic and motivated applicants who enjoy working outdoors. This is a parttime, seasonal position lasting from approximately October through the end of December. Applicants will be expected to work up to 40 hrs. per week or as scheduled by staff.

Primary tasks will include, but not limited to: cutting grass, general facilities maintenance, flushing hydrants, reading meters, assisting full-time employees, and other duties as assigned.

Applicants must be 18 years old, possess a valid Illinois driver’s license and high school diploma or equivalent. Applicants will be subject to a criminal background check, pre-employment physical and drug/ alcohol screening.

Applications can be downloaded from the Village website at www. riverside.il.us or picked up at the Riverside Village Hall located at 27 Riverside Rd, Riverside, IL 60546.

Completed applications should be submitted to the Riverside Village Hall or the Riverside Public Works Department, 3860 Columbus Blvd, Riverside, IL 60546. Applications will be accepted until all positions are filled. Pay rate is $15/hr.

The Village of Riverside is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

HELP WANTED

The Village of Oak Park is seeking qualified candidates for the position of Budget and Revenue Analyst in the Development Customer Service Department. This position will Serve the public with professional administrative and analytical duties in the areas of budget preparation, purchasing, payroll, data analysis and process improvement. Provides, prepares and maintains records, and financial and statistical reports and analysis which assist in the Village’s ability to improve business processes and gain efficiencies through better use of technology. Budget duties include assisting in the development, analysis and application of performance measures with regard to Village services and resources; preparing, modifying, tracking and monitoring Village expenses and transfers; and conducting budget-related research and analysis. Applicants are encouraged to visit the Village of Oak Park’s website http://www.oak-park. us/jobs. Interested and qualified applicants must complete a Village of Oak Park application. First review of applications September 24, 2021.

Illinois Classified Advertising Network WANTED

FREON WANTED: We pay $$$ for cylinders and cans. R12 R500 R11 R113 R114. Convenient. Certified Professionals.

Call 312-291-9169 or visit RefrigerantFinders.com

Hire Local.

Place an ad on GCM Classified’s Local Online Job Board.

Go to OakPark.com/classified today!

Contact Stacy Coleman for more information.

(708) 613-3342

scoleman@growingcommunitymedia.org

Find Marketplace listings on the next page!

In print • Online • Available to you 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, every day of the year OakPark.com | AustinWeeklyNews.com | RBLandmark.com | ForestParkReview.com | PublicNoticeIllinois.com

34

Wednesday Journal, September 22, 2021

CLASSIFIED

BY PHONE: (708) 613-3333 BY FAX: (708) 467-9066 BY E-MAIL: EMAIL@GROWINGCOMMUNITYMEDIA.ORG

MARKETPLACE YARD SALE Oak Park

FREE RUMMAGE SALE JUDSON BAPTIST CHURCH 1252 N AUSTIN AVE SATURDAY OCTOBER 2 11AM-2PM

Small home appliances, clothing, furniture, and more! Everything is free! Event will take place outside in church parking lot.

GARAGE/YARD SALES Oak Park

GARAGE SALE 1108 FAIR OAKS AVE SATURDAY 09/25 8AM-2:30PM

Items include furniture (including a large tv stand and a desk), outdoor portable basketball hoop, boys’ clothing (mostly sizes 8-10), women’s clothing and accessories, toys, children’s booster seats, and various household items (including a waffle maker, rugs, etc). Email: memillh@ gmail.com with any questions. We will add more photos to this gallery throughout the week. https://bit.ly/ OakParkGarageSale.

ITEMS FOR SALE PIANO FOR SALE

R E N TA L S & R E A L E S TAT E CARS WANTED

SUBURBAN RENTALS

Chickering 1938 grand piano, 5’4”.

Good condition. Refurbished and restrung in the past. Buyer must move.

Reasonable at $1000.

BERWYN DELUXE 4 RMS

Call 312-339-2370

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

Call Uncle Gary 708-522-3400

CEMETARY PLOTS 3 FOREST HOME CEMETERY PLOTS

(3) Side by side Forest Home Cemetery plots. Lot 83 Block SO Section 75. Located at west end of cemetery. Reasonable offers considered.

Contact: 815-671-9321

Riverside

GARAGE/ESTATE SALE FRI 09/24-SAT 09/25 9AM-4PM 156 ADDISON RD

CLASSICS WANTED CLASSICS Restored or Restored or Unrestored Unrestored

Cars Motorcycles Cars & & Vintage Vintage Motorcycles Domestic / Import Import Cars: Cars: Mercedes, Porsche, Corvette, Mercedes, Porsche, Corvette, Ferrari’s, MuscleCars, Cars, Ferrari’s,Jaguars, Jaguars, Muscle Mustang && Mopars Mopars Mustang Top $$ Etc. $$$$Top $$allallmakes, makes, Etc.

Collector James Collector James 630-201-8122 630-201-8122

Deluxe 4 RMS, 1 BDRMS apt. Close to train, hospital, school, park. Includes heat, water, all appliances, laundry facility, parking. Handicap accessible. Just painted, new blinds.

No pets. $995/mo. Sec. dep. 1 mo.

Credit Check. Available Sept or Oct. BROKER

708-347-2500

ROOMS FOR RENT Large Sunny Room with fridge, microwave.

Near Green line, bus, Oak Park, 24 hour desk, parking lot. $125.00. New Mgmt.

312-212-1212

CLASSICS WANTED Mercedes, Porsche, Corvette, Ferrari’s, Jaguars, Muscle Cars, Mustang & Mopars

$$ Top $$ all makes, Etc. 630-201-8122 HOME SERVICES Ceiling Fans Installed

ELECTRICAL

A&A ELECTRIC

Let an American Veteran do your work

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

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

FLOORS KLIS FLOORING INC.

HANDYMAN CURT'S HANDYMAN SERVICE

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

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

Drywall Repair • Painting Fans Installed • Carpentry Trim Gutter Cleaning • Window Repair

HANDYMAN Mike’s Home Repair

708-488-9411

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

708-296-2060

FREE ESTIMATES Excellent References No Job Too Small

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

773-637-0692 Ask for John

HAULING

PLASTERING

BASEMENT CLEANING

McNulty Plastering & Stucco Co.

Appliances & Furniture Removal Pickup & Delivery.

708-848-9404

LANDSCAPING BRUCE LAWN SERVICE Spring Clean-Up Aerating, Slit Seeding Bush Trimming, Lawn Maintenance brucelawns.com

PLUMBING Supreme Plumbing & Sewer Services

Town Center Realty Group LLC

OFFICE /RETAIL FOR RENT

OFFICE /RETAIL FOR RENT OFFICE SPACE FOR RENT THERAPY OFFICE OAK PARK

Free wifi; flexible leasing, and offices nicely furnished right down to the Kleenex. Secure building & friendly colleagues, often giving referrals to other office mates. Shared Waiting room, Conference room & option to join Peer Supervision Group. Ideal for new practice or 2nd location.

708-383-0729

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

PublicNoticeIllinois.com

PUBLIC NOTICES

100% Satisfaction Guaranteed Quality workmanship & service 20+ years’ experience Locally owned & operated

ZONING BOARD OF APPEALS LEGAL NOTICE

Free Estimates!

PLEASE TAKE NOTICE, that the Village of Stickney Zoning Board of Appeals (the “ZBA”) will convene a public hearing on Tuesday, October 19, 2021, at 6:00P.M. in the Board Room, at the Village of Stickney, 6533 West Pershing Road, Cook County, Illinois.

708-955-7844

johnlavin530@gmail.com License #PR-1234

708-447-1762

708.749.0011

AUSTIN RENAISSANCE APARTMENTS

A HUD subsidized affordable Apartment property announces the opening of its waiting list for both One and Two Bedroom Apartments! Resident rent is approximately 30% of gross household income, some restrictions apply. Our property is located on Washington Blvd in Chicago’s Austin neighborhood.

Apartments offered with an occupancy of one to four persons. Properties feature modern kitchens, include appliances, and offer onsite maintenance. Austin Renaissance will accept requests for application packages by U.S. Mail postmarked no later than , September 15, 2021. Send or email a written request for an application package that includes your name, mailing address. Daytime telephone number, Email address, and the number of persons in your household to: Town Center Realty Group LLC, PO Box 64, Huntley IL 60142-0064 or Email requests to mrpaul.tcrg@gmail.com Application packages available by mail or email delivery only. No walk-ins accepted.

Work Guaranteed

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

Evergreen trimming & more. Clean-ups.

Garden weed removal.

Storm Branch Tree Removal.

CLASSIC PAINTING

CITY RENTALS

VILLAGE OF STICKNEY NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING

NEIGHBORHOOD CLEAN UP

Fast & Neat Painting/Taping/Plaster Repair Low Cost

708-386-7355

Installation: kitchens, baths, showers •Sewer Systems Piping Clogged drains •Water heaters

708/386-2951 • ANYTIME

OAK PARK & FOREST PARK

MMpropMgmt.com

Small & big work. Free estimates.

Complete Plaster, Stucco & Re-Coating Services

708-243-0571

PAINTING & DECORATING

Best Selection & Service

Public Notice: Your right to know

Collector James

ELECTRICAL

STUDIOS, 1, 2 & 3 BR

RIVER FOREST–7777 Lake St. * 1116 sq. ft. * 1400 sq. ft. Dental Office RIVER FOREST–7756 Madison St. * 960 sq. ft.

OAK PARK–6142-44 Roosevelt Rd. * 3 & 5 room office suites FOREST PARK–7736 Madison St. *2500 sq. ft. unit Strand & & Browne Strand Browne 708-488-0011 708-488-0011

Restored or Unrestored Cars & Vintage Motorcycles Domestic / Import Cars:

Many nice items from Vermomt estate. Antiques, furniture, collectibles, much clothing, misc wrought iron table and chairs.

Lots to see!

SUBURBAN RENTALS

Reach the people making the decisions.

Place an ad in GCM Classified!

Call 773/626-6332

Said Public Hearing is convened for the purpose of considering and hearing testimony regarding a petition submitted by Stanislaw Pepek (the “Petitioner”), the owner of the property located at 4429 Wenonah, Stickney, Illinois, 60402, which is zoned Single Family Residential.

The Petitioner is requesting a variance in order to build two (2) new single-family residences on two (2) parcels with attached garages on the front of the houses which are thirty (30) feet wide each, where the use of said property would be consistent with the permitted uses in the Single-Family Residential zoning district (the “Petition”).

PIN: 19-06-310-010-0000; 19-06310-011-0000

PUBLIC NOTICES Legal Description: LOT 7 IN BLOCK 3 IN WALTER G. MCINTOSH’S FOREST VIEW GARDENS BEING A SUBDIVISION OF BLOCKS 14, 15, 20, 21, 22, 23, AND 28 IN THE CIRCUIT COURT PARTITION OF PART OF SECTION 6, TOWNSHIP 38 NORTH, RANGE 13, EAST OF THE THIRD PRINCIPAL MERIDIAN, ACCORDING TO THE PLAT OF SAID FOREST VIEW GARDENS, RECORDED JUNE 7, 1922 AS DOCUMENT NUMBER 75432229, IN COOK COUNTY, ILLINOIS. The ZBA will entertain the submission of documents, testimony and public comment regarding said Petition. All persons who are interested are invited to attend the public hearing to listen and be heard. The Petition and all related documents are on file at Village Hall, Clerk’s Office, located at 6533 West Pershing Road, Stickney, Illinois.

This Public Hearing may be continued to a further time, date and place without further notice being given except as may be provided in the Illinois Open Meetings Act. Chairman, John Torphy Published in RB Landmark September 22, 2021

Wednesday Journal, September 22, 2021

CLASSIFIED

35

BY PHONE: (708) 613-3333 BY FAX: (708) 467-9066 BY E-MAIL: EMAIL@GROWINGCOMMUNITYMEDIA.ORG

Let the sun shine in...

Public Notice: Your right to know

In print • Online • Available to you 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, every day of the year OakPark.com | PublicNoticeIllinois.com PUBLIC NOTICES

PUBLIC NOTICES

PUBLIC NOTICES

NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING VILLAGE OF OAK PARK PLAN COMMISSION DOCKET NUMBER: PC 21-06 HEARING DATE: October 7, 2021 TIME: 7:00 p.m. or as soon thereafter as the Agenda permits LOCATION OF HEARING: The Plan 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 Uverse 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 inperson public hearing is not practical 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. Written testimony or comments regarding the application may be provided prior to the start of the public hearing by email to planning@oak-park.us. The individual’s name and a reasonable part of 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. If email is not an option, written testimony or comment can be dropped off in the Oak Park Payment Drop Box across from the south entrance to Village Hall, 123 Madison Street, to be received no later than 5:00 PM on October 7, 2021. All written testimony and comments will be distributed to the Plan Commission and made a part of the official hearing record. Those wishing to provide public testimony at the hearing must contact the Village Planner at planning@oak-park.us for instructions on attending the hearing live via Zoom by 5:00 PM the day of the hearing. Interested persons may also participate in the hearing to cross examine the applicant and its witnesses by emailing a completed cross-examination form to clerk@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 hearing online through Zoom web-conference means or by phone. Questions regarding written testimony, comment or cross examination may be directed by phone to 708-358.5420 or email planning@oak-park.us SUBJECT PROPERTY ADDRESSES: 7 Van Buren Street, Oak Park, Illinois 60304 LEGAL DESCRIPTION: Lots 1 AND THE NORTHERN HALF OF LOT 2 IN BLOCK 2 IN H.W. AUSTIN’S SUBDIVISION OF BLOCK 2 AND 3 OF JAMES B. HOBB’S SUBDIVISION OF PART OF THE SOUTHEAST QUARTER POF THE NORTHWEST QUARTER OF SECTION 17, TOWNSHIP 39 NORTH. RANGE 13, EAST OF THE THRID PRINCIPAL MERIDIAN, IN COOK COUNTY, ILLINOIS. Vacation Area: ALSO INCLUDES THE PART OF THE SOUTHEAST QUARTER OF SECTION 17, TOWNSHIP 38 NORTH, RANGE 13 EAST OF THE THIRD PRINCIPAL MERIDIAN, BEING DESCRIBED AS FOLLOWS: BEGINNING AT THE NORTHEAST CORNER OF LOT 1 IN H.W. AUSTIN’S SUBDIVISION, THENCE SOUTH 88 DEGREES 24 MINUTES 45 SECONDS WEST ALONG THE NORTH LINE OF SAID LOT 1, 122.52 FEET TO THE NORTHWEST CORNER OF SAID LOT 1; THENCE NORTH 01 DEGREES 57 MINUTES 46 SECONDS WEST ALONG THE NORTHERLY EXTENSION OF THE WEST LINE OF SAID LOT 1, 15.00 FEET TO A LINE PARALLEL WITH AND 15.00 FEET PERPENDICULARLY DISTANT NORTHERLY OF SAID NORTH LINE; THENCE NORTH 88 DEGREES 24 MINUTES 45 SECONDS EAST ALONG SAID PARALLEL LINE, 122.52 FEET TO THE NORTHERLY EXTENSION OF THE EAST LINE OF SAID LOT 1; THENCE SOUTH 01 DEGREES 58 MINUTES 13 SECONDS EAST ALONG SAID NORTHERLY EXTENSION, 15.00 FEET TO THE POINT OF BEGINNING, IN COOK COUNTY, ILLINOIS. P.I.N.s: 16-17-131-013-0000 PROPERTY OWNER: Oak Park Residence Corporation, c/o Beth

Swaggerty, 21 South Blvd., Oak Park, IL 60302 PETITIONER(S): Oak Park Residence Corporation, c/o Beth Swaggerty, 21 South Blvd., Oak Park, IL 60302 REQUEST: The Plan Commission will conduct a public hearing on a planned development application for a six (6) story 45-unit multiple family building in the in the R-7 Multi-Family Residential Zoning District. The Petitioner seeks the following allowances from the Oak Park Zoning Ordinance associated with the Planned Development application, found in Article 4 – Table 4-1 Residential Districts Dimensional Standards: a decrease in minimum lot area from 35,100 sq. ft. to 11,085 sq. ft.; an increase in height from 45 feet to 71.85 feet; an increase in maximum building coverage from 70% to 85.17%; a decrease in minimum interior side setback from 9.05 ft. to 8.3 ft.; a decrease in minimum rear setback from 24.5 feet to 1.5 feet; a decrease in automobile parking from 34 spaces to 17 spaces; a decrease in loading area from one space to zero spaces. The Petitioner is also requesting to vacate a portion of the Van Buren right-of-way abutting the subject property a length of 122.52 feet by 15 feet wide.

A copy of the application and each of the applicable documents are on the Village Website at www.oakpark.us and also on file and available for inspection at the Village Hall, Development Customer Services Department, 123 Madison Street, Oak Park, Illinois 60302, during current business hours, Monday through Thursday, between 9:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. The Plan Commission may continue the hearing to another date without further notice by public announcement at the hearing setting forth the time and place thereof.

Anyone with questions about the application may contact the Village by phone at 708-358.5420 or by email at planning@oak-park.us.

ALL INTERESTED PERSONS ARE INVITED TO BE HEARD OAK PARK PLAN COMMISSION Oak Park, Illinois 60302

PUBLIC NOTICE OF COURT DATE FOR REQUEST FOR NAME CHANGE

LEGAL NOTICE STATE OF ILLINOIS) COUNTY OF COOK )ss

STATE OF ILLINOIS, CIRCUIT COURT COOK COUNTY.

STATE OF ILLINOIS, CIRCUIT COURT COOK COUNTY.

Circuit Court of Cook County, County Department, Domestic Relations Division.

Request of SANDRA ANNE CASTILLO-MEZA Case Number. 2021CONC001308

Request of VICTOR CRISTIAN ENCISO Case Number. 2021CONC001309

There will be a court date on my Request to change my name from: SANDRA ANNE CASTILLO-MEZA to the new name of: SANDRA MEZA

There will be a court date on my Request to change my name from: VICTOR CRISTIAN ENCISO to the new name of: VICTOR CRISTIAN CASTILLO-MEZA

In re the marriage of Arturo Montalvo Muro, Petitioner and Arcelli Landeros Sanchez, Respondent, Case No. 2021D006937.

The court date will be held: On November 19, 2021 at 10:30am at VIA ZOOM- Meeting ID: 958 9492 1843/Password: 226532 Cook in Courtroom # 1707 Published in Wednesday Journal September 8, 15, 22, 2021

PUBLIC NOTICES

NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING VILLAGE OF OAK PARK PLAN COMMISSION DOCKET NUMBER: PC 21-08 (Zoning Ordinance Text Amendment-Accessory Dwelling Units) HEARING DATE: October 7, 2021 – Continued from September 2, 2021 TIME: 7:00 p.m. or as soon thereafter as the agenda permits.

LOCATION OF HEARING: The Plan 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 Uverse 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.

Written testimony or comments regarding the application may be provided prior to the public hearing by email to planning@oak-park. us. The individual’s name and a reasonable part of 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. If email is not an option, written testimony or comment can be dropped off in the Oak Park Payment Drop Box across from the south entrance to Village Hall, 123 Madison Street to be received no later than 5:00 p.m. on October 7, 2021. All written testimony and comments will be distributed to the Plan Commission and made a part of the official hearing record. Those wishing to provide public testimony at the hearing shall contact the Village Planner at planning@oak-park.us for Instructions on attending the live Zoom meeting by 5:00 PM the day of the hearing.

Interested persons may also participate in the hearing to cross examine the applicant and its witnesses by emailing the cross-examination form to clerk@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.

Questions regarding written testimony or comment can be directed to 708-358.5420 or email to planning@oak-park.us.

PETITIONER: Village of Oak Park, 123 Madison Street, Oak Park, IL 60302 REQUEST: The Petitioner requests text amendments to the Oak Park Zoning Ordinance as follows: Article 2 (Definitions & Rules of Measurement) by adding a definition of an “accessory dwelling unit,” and Article 9 (“Site Development Standards”), Subsection 9.3A(3) by exempting attic, basement and attached accessory dwelling units from accessory structure setback regulations, and adding a new Subsection 9.3B (“Accessory Dwelling Units”) to allow attic and basement conversions with separate entrances and attached accessory dwelling units with separate entrances and detached first-floor accessory dwelling units with separate entrances. A copy of the application and each of the applicable documents are on file and available for inspection at the Village Hall, Development Customer Services Department, 123 Madison Street, Oak Park, Illinois 60302, during current business hours, Monday through Friday, between 9:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. The Plan Commission may continue the hearing to another date without further notice by public announcement at the hearing setting forth the time and place thereof.

ALL INTERESTED PERSONS ARE INVITED TO BE HEARD OAK PARK PLAN COMMISSION Oak Park, Illinois 60302

Published in Wednesday Journal September 22, 2021

Published in Wednesday Journal September 22, 2021

PUBLIC NOTICE OF COURT DATE FOR REQUEST FOR NAME CHANGE

PUBLIC NOTICES

The court date will be held: On December 6, 2021 at 9:00am at VIA ZOOM- Meeting ID: 965 2561 6475/Password: 553663 Cook in Courtroom # 1704

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, for Dissolution of Marriage and for other relief; and that said suit is now pending.

Published in Wednesday Journal September 8, 15, 22, 2021

Now, therefore, unless you, the said Respondent, file your response to

said Petition or otherwise make your appearance therein, in the Office of the Clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois, Room 802, Richard J. Daley Center, 50 West Washington Street, in the City of Chicago, Illinois, on or before October 26, 2021, 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 September 22, 29, October 6 2021

PUBLIC NOTICES

PUBLIC NOTICES

PUBLIC NOTICE The Village of Oak Park will receive sealed bids from qualified contractors at the Public Works Center, 201 South Boulevard, Oak Park, Illinois 60302 Monday through Friday, 7:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. local time until 10:00 a.m. on Thursday, October 14, 2021 for the following: Village of Oak Park 2021/2022 Water Meter Replacement Project Bid Number: 21-136 Bid documents may be obtained from the Village’s website at http://www. oak-park.us/bid. For questions, please call Public Works at (708) 358-5700 during the above hours.

Issued: September 22, 2021 Published in Wednesday Journal September 22, 2021

LEGAL NOTICE FOREST PARK PUBLIC LIBRARY ADVERTISEMENT FOR BIDS Lump sum sealed bids will be received by the Board of Library Trustees of the Village of Forest Park for Exterior Improvements at the Forest Park Public Library, 7555 Jackson Boulevard, Forest Park, IL 60130. Sealed bids will be received on or before, but not after 2:00 PM Wednesday, October 6, 2021 at the Forest Park Public Library, 7555 Jackson Boulevard, Forest Park, IL 60130.

Bids received after that time will not be considered. All Bids shall be addressed and delivered to the circulation desk immediately inside the entrance to the building on or before the time set forth above.

Sealed envelopes or packages containing the Bid Forms shall be transmitted to the attention of the “Library Director” and shall be marked or endorsed with the title of the Bid (“Sealed Bid for Forest Park Public Library Exterior Improvements”) and the Bidder’s full legal name. The bids will be publicly opened and read aloud in the main floor meeting room at 2:00 PM on Wednesday, October 6, 2021. Bids shall be submitted in the form and manner contained in the Bidding Requirements.

Contractors may obtain copies of the Bidding Documents from any BHFX Digital Imaging location beginning Wednesday, September 22. Please contact BHFX at (847) 593-3161 to obtain a set of Bidding Documents or visit their Plan Room online at www.bhfxplanroom.com. Bidding Documents may be downloaded from the BHFX online Plan Room at no charge to bidders. Bidders shall be responsible for the costs of reproduction of printed copies.

Each bid must be accompanied by a bid bond or a cashier’s check in the amount of 10% of the total bid, made payable to Forest Park Public Library, as a guarantee that the successful bidder will promptly execute a satisfactory contract, will furnish a satisfactory performance bond and payment bond and proceed with the work.

Upon failure to do so, the bidder shall forfeit the amount deposited as liquidated damages and no mistakes, errors, exclusions, or omissions on the part of the bidder shall excuse the bidder or entitle the bidder to a return of the aforementioned amount.

No bid will be considered unless the bidder shall furnish evidence

satisfactory to the Board of Trustees that the bidder has the necessary facilities, abilities, experience, equipment, financial and physical resources available to fulfill the conditions of the Contract and execute the work, should the Contract be awarded such bidder.

Bidders will examine the plans and specifications and the location in which said work is to be done and judge for themselves all the circumstances and surrounding known and reasonably foreseen conditions affecting the cost and nature of the work, and all bids will be presumed to be based on such examination, familiarity and judgment.

Questions about the bid documents should be submitted, in writing, to Andy Dogan, Williams Architects at ardogan@williamsarchitects.com. Responses to questions submitted by bidders during the bidding period shall be in the form of written addendum to all plan holders of record.

Questions will not be accepted after Friday, October 1.

The successful bidder shall be required to provide a Performance Bond and a Material and Labor Payment Bond in the amount of 100% of the Contract Amount, as well as liability and property insurance as required by the Bidding Requirements before commencing work. The successful bidder shall enter into a formal contract based on the conditions and requirements in the Bidding Requirements and the Bidding Requirements will be incorporated into the Contract.

Not less than the prevailing wage shall be paid for labor on the work to be done as required by law. The Forest Park Public Library is tax exempt.

The successful bidder will be required to comply with the provisions of all State of Illinois and federal laws concerning public works projects as well as the State of Illinois Human Rights Act and the regulations of the Illinois Human Rights Commission.

The Board of Trustees reserves the right to reject any and all bids, and to waive any technicalities and irregularities in the bidding and to hold the bid proposals for a period of ninety (90) days from the date of opening set forth above.

Published in Forest Park Review September 22, 29, 2021

36

Wednesday Journal, September 22, 2021

OAKPARK.COM | RIVERFOREST.COM

Growing Community Media & A Tribe Called Aging Present

wabi sabi F I L M F E S T I V A L

Our FREE GIFT to the community watch it free on ZOOM in your own home

Appreciating the beauty of impermanence, a quarterly Film Series encouraging everyone to embrace and respect our aging population and the transformation of our society.

Fast-

Forward Friday, October 1 • 10am

If you could see your family’s future, would you change anything? FAST-FORWARD, a documentary film narrated by Rosario Dawson, follows four millennials and their parents as they travel through time to meet their future selves. Wearing an MIT-produced “aging empathy suit” and working with professional make-up artists, they grapple with the realizations, conversations and mindset required to age with intention.

Family dynamics are a primary driver of success -or failure -as we age. Being intentional and talking about your future 20, 30 or 40 years ahead of time with your closest relatives is never premature or off-limits. With expert commentary by medical and aging professionals, we see sons and fathers, daughters and mothers laugh, cry, and have heartwarming ‘aha’ moments together. They revisit their plans, make big changes, and approach the rest of their lives with a whole new perspective.

FAST-FORWARD is a story that shows how successful aging is possible when intergenerational loved ones converse about their needs, communicate from the heart, and plan for the process ahead. Ultimately, the families learn they have more control over how they age than they thought.

Following the film we will be joined by director Michael Eric Hurtig for a live Q & A!

Sponsors

Learn more and register at: eventbrite.com/e/free-screening-of-fast-forward-tickets-173111540277