Wednesday Journal 102820

W E D N E S D A Y

October 28, 2020 Vol. 41, No. 13 ONE DOLLAR @oakpark @wednesdayjournal

JOURNAL of Oak Park and River Forest

Indoor dining shut down as COVID cases rise in Cook County Devastating but necessary says AbuTaleb, mayor and restaurateur

By STACEY SHERIDAN Staff Reporter

in creative ways.

LeVar Ammons, OPRF’s executive director of equity and student success, penned an essay that was posted to the high school’s website on Oct. 1 (see Viewpoints, p. 28).

“When it comes to the Black American experience, relative to the relationship with policing and the legal system in our country, justice has historically been an inaccessible luxury,” Ammons wrote.

The piece was accompanied by a photo of a mural created by OPRF teacher Lavie Raven, who conceptualized the idea for the mural, assembled a team artists and oversaw

As Oak Park and River Forest restaurants prepared to close up outdoor seating ahead of wet and wintry weather, they now will lose indoor seating as well. Starting at 12:01 a.m., Wed., Oct. 28, customers can no longer eat inside restaurants or bars in suburban Cook County, according to new safety procedures issued Monday by the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH).

Following an increase in COVID-19 positivity rates and hospitalizations, the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) has imposed resurgence mitigations in suburban Cook County under the state’s Restore Illinois plan.

While the new measures are intended to reduce further fatalities, they could also deliver a fatal blow to restaurants, which have not fully recovered from the state-wide shutdown last spring.

Oak Park Mayor Anan Abu-Taleb is in the unique position of being an elected official, responsible for keeping constituents safe, and the owner of Maya Del Sol, 144 S. Oak Park Ave. “It’s devastating for our business, the hospitality business and many other businesses,” said Abu-Taleb. “But public safety takes priority.”

Not long after the first positive cases of COVID-19 popped up in Illinois, the village of Oak Park issued a shelter-in place order March 18. Abu-Taleb said doing so was a “hard decision.” A few days later on March 21, Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s similar state-wide stay-at-home order went into effect,

See MURAL on page 16

See DINING on page 16

ALEX ROGALS/Staff Photographer

OPRF teacher Lavie Raven stands in front of the Breonna Taylor mural he created on Saturday, Oct. 24, 2020, on the wall at Homan Square Park in Chicago’s Homan Square neighborhood.

Breonna Taylor verdict prompts OPRF staff response

Outrage channeled into a call to action and work of art

By MICHAEL ROMAIN

L

Staff Reporter

ast September, after a grand jury decided not to charge the officers who shot 26-year-old Breonna Taylor during a “no knock” raid at her Louisville home, conducted while she was asleep, protests erupted across the country. The news prompted two Oak Park and River Forest High School employees to channel their frustration

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Wednesday Journal, October 28, 2020

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E VE RYW H E R E E L S E I T ’ S H E A LT H C A R E

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Wednesday Journal, October 28, 2020

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Stray thoughts a week before Election Day

W

ith the election a week away, I The Epoch Times looks newsy, authoritative thought I’d share some random, but (its motto, just under the masthead: “Truth & loosely connected observations that Tradition”), but don’t buy it. I bought it and read I hope will help guide you through it, so you don’t have to. Perhaps I’ll share the exwhat is likely to be a long, long perience in detail some other time, but suffice it seven days. to say now: reading Epoch for 30 minutes before In the last few weeks, I’ve come across no reading the Times for 30 minutes is, well, quite fewer than three news stories heralding what Orwellian, to use an overused phrase. is sure to be with us beyond Election Day — Most data gurus have Donald Trump actually disinformation. getting more Hispanic votes than he did in 2016, Here’s one from the New York Times, pubin part because of “a web of disinformation lished Oct. 19: “As Local News Dies, a Pay-forsites aimed at Latino Americans” started by a Play Network Rises in Its Place.” Reporters YouTuber named Sean Reynolds.

Davey Alba and Jack Nicas shed light on a Politico first reported the existence of the netnetwork of “nearly 1,300 websites that aim to work and FiveThirtyEight obtained an exclusive Commentary fill a void left by vanishing local newspapers interview with Reynolds, who said he’s really across the country. not political at all — just profit-seeking.

“Yet the network, now in all 50 states, is built not on “I am non-discriminating towards opportunities where traditional journalism but on propaganda ordered up by there is demand and no supply,” Reynolds told reporters dozens of conservative think tanks, political operatives, Kaleigh Rogers and Jaime Longoria. corporate executives and public relations professionals.”

If Joe Biden wins this thing, we have to make federal And there is a River Forest connection here. Brian Timfunding for media literacy and genuine local newspapers pone plays a notable role in this project. and real journalism, a real policy priority. Perhaps it’s time It’s one thing to read stories like these on the internet; that journalists learn to be our own advocates and lobbyquite another to go into the 7-Eleven on South Boulevard ists. to pick up the thick Sunday print edition of the New York Which brings us to the big ‘if.’ I’ve spoken to people in Times, glimpse the cover story, “How an Obscure Newspathe past week who say they feel differently about 2020 than per Became a Bullhorn for the Far Right,” and see what they did about 2016 — despite the lingering PTSD. appears to be a print edition of said obscure newspaper, the Those accounts have shored up my fragile optimism. So Epoch Times, on the rack just below the Gray Lady. have a few other indicators that signal 2020 is much differ-

MICHAEL ROMAIN

ent than 2016, among the brightest: Dave Wasserman, the U.S. House editor of the nonpartisan Cook Political Report, saw trouble for Clinton four years ago, when he noticed (and Clinton’s people ignored, apparently) Trump’s support surging in Congressional district-level polls. Now, he sees Trump’s support significantly diminished (like 10 points, on average, down from ’16) in most of those same districtlevel polls that silently spelled doom for Clinton.

Plus, there’s a good chance of record youth turnout in key swing states like Florida and Texas, and record voter turnout overall, which spells doom for the GOP every time.

Hopefully, there are enough votes (that get counted) to overwhelm the steal, as the invaluable Greg Palast might say.

What gives me pause — the way our political elites just accept, as a given GOP voter suppression efforts (Democratic strategist James Carville said casually on MSNBC the other day that D’s have to win by at least 5 million votes nationally to be confident of an Electoral College victory); the conservative Supreme Court for reasons that don’t need to be mentioned; and the susceptibility of US voting machines to hacking (please follow election security expert Jennifer Cohn on Twitter to learn more).

I’ll stop here. I have no predictions, but I do have a plea: go vote and then read Timothy Snyder’s “On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century” for a guide to navigating the ensuing chaos.

CONTACT: michael@oakpark.com

Police budget talks turn to strategy debate

By STACEY SHERIDAN Staff Reporter

Police Chief LaDon Reynolds proposed an expansion of community policing during an Oct. 26 village board review of the village manager’s 2021 budget.

Reynolds realignment includes two current officers being reassigned as youth officers and, for the first time, creating a designated commander post to oversee community policing.

The budget proposal for the police department reflects a year-over-year spending increase from $25.5 million to $26.3 million.

Despite other spending cuts included, continuing hikes in police pensions make up the bulk of the increase.

The budget discussion though quickly shifted to a debate led by Trustee Arti Walker-Peddakotla over her concerns of alleged racial profiling by Oak Park police and her frustration over a lack of public discussion about current contract negotiations with the union representing police officers.

Walker-Peddakotla called the proposed police department budget a “shame” after questioning the police chief on racial profiling.

Reynolds said the mission of the remade community policing unit is citizen engagement; the unit includes the popular resident beat officer (RBO) program.

“This program increases the scope of interaction between police and the public, correct?” Walker-Peddakotla asked the chief.

The chief confirmed.

“What does that mean for people in our village, especially young Black males who we know are already profiled?” Walker-Peddakotla asked.

Reynolds disputed Walker-Peddakotla’s racial profiling claims, saying he disagreed.

“I do not agree that there is racial profiling in Oak Park. I do agree that African Americans are stopped for field interrogations more so than others,” Reynolds said.

Her statements on racial profiling, Reynolds said, made “some assumptions that aren’t founded in evidence.”

As for the impact of a fully staffed community policing unit, Reynolds believed that was a discussion to be had once the request for proposal (RFP) process to hire a third-party consultant to audit the police department was completed.

“If you’re saying that African Americans are stopped more in field stops, how is that not racial profiling?” Walker-Peddakotla continued.

Mayor Anan Abu-Taleb tried to intervene, telling Walker-Peddakotla, “The chief is not under investigation.”

Abu-Taleb told Walker-Peddakotla to make her statements to the police chief, so the board could continue with the budget discussion.

“The statement I want to make to the police chief is this budget is a shame,” she said. “It’s a shameful budget.”

She said it was “shameful” that the board was even considering a budget that did not significantly reduce the number of police officers to bring it in line with FBI averages.

The recommended 2021 budget calls for 147 sworn officers, compared to 151 in the 2020 budget – total reduction of four sworn officers.

“Furthermore, we are going through this without even having talked about in significant detail the police union contract,” said Walker-Peddakotla.

The patrol officer contract expires at the end of 2020; the village began negotiations with the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) union this past September.

Walker-Peddakotla said she asked questions about the contract negotiations two months ago and hadn’t received any information. “We should not be talking about this police department budget without figuring out how we can improve in the police union contract the transparency and the accountability of the current police department,” she stated.

Abu-Taleb took issue with Walker-Peddakotla’s use of the word “we.”

“I’m sure when you say ‘we,’ you mean ‘you,’” the mayor said. “You’re not representing my views.”

Walker-Peddakotla said the police con-

tract needed to be discussed and her questions, which she called “vital to ensuring accountability,” answered prior to any police budget conversations taking place.

“In a year where we have had a massive civil uprising about the fact that the police absolutely are racial profiling certain individuals, nation-wide and in our community, we are approving a method that actually increases the scope of interaction between the police and civilians,” said Walker-Peddakotla. “It’s not something that I agree with at all.”

Walker-Peddakotla said the board has “done nothing to address the over 400 emails” they have received calling for a reduction of the policing budget.

Trustee Dan Moroney took WalkerPeddakotla’s use of the word ‘shame’ and flipped it, saying, “It is a shame. I think it’s a shame, Arti, that you can’t work with our police chief.” He continued telling WalkerPeddakotla that it was a shame she couldn’t acknowledge the crime in Oak Park, the rate of which he said was up 10 percent since 2016. “Those crimes have victims,” he said.

“It’s a shame that you disparage residents who are concerned about crime.”

Moroney concluded by telling WalkerPeddakotla, to get off her “soapbox and stop moralizing” and that her “act is getting old and people are seeing it.”

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Wednesday Journal, October 28, 2020

OAKPARK.COM | RIVERFOREST.COM

Mind Boggle: Domestic Violence Awareness

BIG WEEK October 28-November 4

Supported Halloween Saturday, Oct. 31, 11 to 11:30 a.m., Zoom with the Oak Park Public Library: Children with disabilities ages 3 and up, along with a caregiver, are invited to join librarians for Halloween books, songs, dancing and more. Costumes encouraged. Siblings welcome.

Register: oppl.org/calendar

Coffee Monday Nov. 2, 10 to 11 a.m., Zoom through the River Forest Public Library Join Officer Ben Ransom, who will share resources through the River Forest Police Department for those dealing with dementia. Minerva McLaren, Volunteer Coordinator at Triton College, will talk about the Retired Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP) and their volunteer programs during COVID. Ruth Reko will speak about other local volunteer opportunities. Held the first Monday of each month. Brought in partnership with River Forest Township. Register: riverforestlibrary.librarymarket.com/events/coffee-monday-zoom-6

Thursday, Oct. 29, 6:30 p.m., Zoom with the Nineteenth Century Charitable Association Join Cook County Assistant State’s Attorney Aileen Bhandari and learn about the Cycle of Domestic Violence, the difficulties of leaving abusive relationships and resources on how to break the cycle of domestic violence. Register/more: nineteenthcentury.org

Virtual Workforce Readiness Festival Seeks Youth Video Entries Submission deadline Friday, Nov. 6; Festival Nov. 14, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Creative minds ages 15-19 and 20-24 interested in sharing their passions may submit three- to seven-minute video clips for use at the festival. There is a cash prize for each group. The festival includes workshops, entertainment, live performances and fun activities focused on art, music, entertainment, sports and culinary arts. Brought in partnership with Mi Casa Holiday, BUILD Chicago and YourPassion1st. Free. More: eventbrite.com/e/virtual-workforcereadiness-festival-tickets-123158499387

Genuinely Fake: A History of Fraudulent Art Monday, Nov 2, 1:30 p.m., Zoom with the Nineteenth Century Charitable Association Art historian Dr. Giovanni Aloi will look at cases of fakes, frauds, misattributions and thievery to understand the motives behind art crimes, including the unsolved heist at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston, and the forgeries of Eric Hebborn, who sold thousands of fake paintings and drawings made in the style of the Old Masters.

Register: nineteenthcentury.org

Writers’ Word Feast: NaNoWriMo Kickoff and Come Write In Saturday, Oct. 31, 11 to 11:59 p.m., and Sundays, 1:30 to 4:30 p.m., through Nov. 29, Zoom with the Oak Park Library

“A Thirties Affair”

National Novel Writing Month is a challenge to write 50,000 words of a novel in 30 days. (Learn more: nanowrimo.org) Join the local writers’ group – all are welcome – for a late night kickoff to discuss plans and set up NaNoWriMo profiles for the upcoming month. At midnight, be prepared to write. Starting Sunday, Nov. 1, spend time on writing with prompts and sprints.

Register: oppl.org/calendar.

Thursday, Oct. 29, and Friday, Oct. 30, 6 p.m., Zoom See OPRFHS’s student directed production, “a show with a big love triangle, hard decisions and many 1930s movie references.” Free.

Tickets/more: oprfhs.org/theatre/currenttheater-season

Restorative Justice Conference

Peace Vigil

Rags to Witches V

Wednesdays and Fridays, through Oct.30, Zoom with the Oak Park Library

Sunday, Nov. 1, 5 p.m., Lawn of First United Church Join in prayer for a stop to gun violence as well as for the loss of so many lives during the pandemic. Prayers will also address violence in the streets of Kenosha and the hope that the upcoming national election will occur peacefully. The vigil concludes with candlelight and ringing of the church bells to memorialize those who perished due to violence and COVID-19. 848 Lake St., Oak Park.

Friday, Oct. 30, 4 p.m., and Saturday, Oct. 31, 5 p.m., Virtually with Ragdale artist community First, enjoy a family friendly Kids Edition of this 5th annual event. On Halloween, teens and adults can take part in the Ghostathon featuring performers and artists. Free; donations welcome. Register/more: ragdale.org/event-details?eid=122746302495

This year’s theme is The Medicine Wheel: Balancing Humanity. Each week, explore one of the four quadrants - mental, spiritual, emotional or physical. More/register: oppl.org/news-events/teens/ all-october-participate-in-the-virtual-restorativejustice-conference/

Wednesday Journal, October 28, 2020

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O

When gateways go south

dds and ends with some a bit odder than others: A lonely bank: It would be hard to overstate how decrepit and discouraging the southwest corner of North Avenue and Austin Boulevard was 30 years back. A ramshackle strip of marginal businesses in buildings that hadn’t seen any repairs in a long while.

This was the very tough gateway to Oak Park’s northeast corner and it sent only a message of decay and failure.

It took the bold leadership of Mike Kelly and his First Bank of Oak Park (later renamed Park National Bank) to clear the corner through demolition and to construct a beyond handsome branch bank there.

With its large plaza and pergolas, parking and a drive-thru, actual bankers working in a handsome building, the welcome it presented, the message it sent that Oak Park was strong and on the rise could not have been more powerful.

This history lesson comes as US Bank announced last week that it is permanently closing the North and Austin branch as of year’s end. Like many banks, US Bank is shedding branches rapidly. Previously it had abandoned its not-handsome hold on another Oak Park gateway at Austin and Roosevelt. While no one will be wild about the Taco Bell penciled in there, it may actually improve the aesthetics of the intersection. Two weeks ago we reported in our Forest Park Review that US Bank is pulling out of its branch at Madison and Desplaines. And if plans go forward for a new apartment building on Lake near Grove, US Bank will also lose that drive-thru.

It is a lot of disinvestment from a national entity that made its mark in Oak Park only because Kelly got royally shafted by the federal government in the early days after the financial collapse of 2008. A travesty that robbed both Oak Park and the Greater West Side of a banker who plowed resources into those neighborhoods year

after year.

So now we have a handsome branch bank with no apparent adaptive re-use.

New investments: I know nothing about architecture, but in my uneducated opinion the new apartment building going up at Oak Park and Van Buren is sharp.

The brick — maybe its bricklike — cladding is handsome and distinctive.

This project, which got a boost from village government’s affordable housing fund, is entirely affordable housing aimed at low-wage workers with some set aside for people with disabilities. There is a fraction of retail on the ground floor.

There was some opposition from locals who never ’fessed up to their irrational worries about the affordable nature of the project, instead describing it as giant-sized.

Fits right in by estimation and looks somewhat better than the long-abandoned BP station it replaces.

Meanwhile on Madison: Actually never thought I’d see the day when Albertson’s, Jewel’s corporate parent, would drop a nickel into its store on Madison Street. Lo and behold, stopped in last week for a few things on my way home from work and this sorry store had been actively “refreshed.”

New lighting. Some new fixtures. Some rearranging. The River Forest Jewel it ain’t, but as a reasonable place to do some mid-week filling in, it works just fine.

Always baseball: OK, the White Sox didn’t make it to the World Series. Turns out you need more than two starting pitchers to go deep in the playoffs. But we played one more post-season game than the Cubs.

And here’s the thing: The future for the Sox is so much brighter than the aging, almostready-for-a-rebuild Cubs.

Finally, the White Sox should not hire AJ Hinch, the disgraced Astros manager, who either knew about the cheating scheme or damn well should have known. Character counts. When will we learn that?

DAN HALEY

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Wednesday Journal, October 28, 2020

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ART BEAT

A mural for this COVID moment

Community Foundation funds Arts Council project

By MICHELLE DYBAL Arts Editor

The latest mosaic mural to revamp a neglected wall in Oak Park is reflective of the time we are in now, with deep meaning, as imagined by a small group of young artists – all Oak Park and River Forest High School grads and former participants of the Oak Park Area Arts Council (OPAAC) Off the Wall summer mural program.

“You Are My Other Me,” the title of the work and part of the mural itself, is taken from a Mayan phrase and addresses “the way people of color and working-class people, among other groups, are systemically oppressed and exploited in this country,” according to the artist statement. The premise is: If I do harm to you; I do harm to myself.

If I love and respect you; I love and respect myself, the statement said.

Artists Jenn Eisner, Darren Edwards, Zaria Gilmore, Greta Olson, Alison Schiff-

G

ALEX ROGALS/Staff Photographer

INNER-CONNECTED: Master artist Carolyn Elaine, middle, cuts a ribbon, Oct. 17, to dedicate a new mural on the train embankment across from 1025 North Blvd. ner, Emma Vejcik and Atlan Arceo-Witzl worked on the concept and design. These young artists are all in college or recent college graduates. Having worked at Off the

Wall in the past, creating mosaic murals in Oak Park was not new to them. Eisner, Gilmore, Olsen and Vejcik also worked on the recent Black Live Matter mural in Oak

Park. “You Are My Other Me” was led by master artist Carolyn Elaine.

To make this work possible, OPAAC received a Rapid Response and Recovery grant from the OPRF Community Foundation, said Camille Wilson White, head of the Arts Council. “The grant was to put artists to work,” she said. Off the Wall was cancelled this summer to keep artists safe and as part of budget cuts by the Village of Oak Park.

The design, featuring masked essential workers in an embrace and a message of peace and love, came together quickly over two Zoom meetings in one weekend. The result is an embodiment of 2020.

“During times of great vulnerability, many feel pressured to act out of fear rather than love,” the artist statement explains. “It’s important to remember that societal progress comes from unity. By practicing empathy in our daily lives, we can build connections that make the world feel safer for everyone.“ A professional installed the mural to ensure it was in place before cold weather made conditions unworkable for the medium. It went up in four weeks. It is located on the Union Pacific Railroad embankment near 1025 North Blvd.

Great advice: Act like you’re having a good time

rowing up on Clinton Place in River Forest, a corner house with what I thought was the largest back yard in the universe, I was the youngest of six in less than eight years. I dreamed of being a writer, although ballerina also looked exciting as a dream career, but less plausible since I was not especially athletic. I did love to dance, still do.

My latest book, Act Like You’re Having A Good Time, is my sixth nonfiction book, and first book of essays. In 16 narrative essays I Guest Author explore themes of life, work and meaning, in an attempt to discover — not solve — where I have been, where I am and where I am going in a third act of life during an intensely complicated time in our culture.

The essays touch on privilege, multi-generational friendships, parenting, aging, childhood memories, style, faith, art and many more questions that are not neatly answered.

It is my wish that this book resonates with women like and unlike me, plus a broader audience of ages and genders.

Many of us seek these same deep interrogations, even with vastly disparate experiences.

The title comes from a phrase my father told the six of us often if we ever refused to comply with a request from him or my mother. Opting out of any duty was not allowed.

“Just act like you’re having a good time,” he would say.

MICHELE WELDON

My loving father’s instruction was about positivity, not inauthenticity, and realizing that no matter what, we needed to acknowledge we were blessed and act responsibly.

I wanted to write about parts of my childhood that contributed to my identity and also about the adult path as an author, journalist, professor, mentor, parent and mature woman still trying every day to find purpose in my work.

I write about disappointments and fears of invisibility, worrying if I have done enough, or will ever be able to achieve my ambitions.

There is no neat checklist to happiness or 15 ways to live a better life. There are inquiries and discoveries.

I have been writing and publishing essays since I was a teen, writing in Seventeen magazine, and local papers.

Professionally, I have been writing for major outlets across the country and internationally for 40 years. The genre of essays is extremely satisfying -- and challenging -- because of all you can accomplish in a short space. It is creatively and intellectually athletic to articulate a truth in a limited number of words. Because the goal of all I do in my work is to tell the truth.

Most all of the essays in the book are new; I wrote them for this collection, but a few have been published earlier. And because book publishing has deadlines almost a year ahead of

publication, the final draft was due Jan. 15, before the world became infected with COVID and the protests over social injustice dominated daily thoughts. Revisions were due March 15 when the beginning of the lockdown was mandated. Then my editor allowed me to add in updates in June, as COVID and racial injustices required reshaping of some essays to make more sense and be timely and relevant.

River Forest is my home again — and still. I write about the 1932-built home where I raised my three sons and still live in after 24 years. I went to school here, graduated from Oak Park and River Forest High School, where my three sons did also. This place, this community helps define me.

There is truth hiding in tradition and new truths reveal themselves in every experience. My hope is this small book — it is only 145 pages — can have a big impact during a chaotic time. It is my wish that these essays can offer solace, some laughter and introspection during these heated and intense moments in our country and world.

The River Forest Public Library — the same library I went to as a little girl — is hosting a virtual event on Sunday, Nov. 8, 2 to 3:30 p.m., where I will be introduced by Village President Cathy Adduci (register: riverforestlibrary.librarymarket.com/events/michele-weldon-author-event). The Book Table, 1045 Lake St., Oak Park, has signed copies available.

Wednesday Journal, October 28, 2020

OAKPARK.COM | RIVERFOREST.COM

INSIDE REPORT

Sheina Dixon (left) and Alicia Thomas

‘Meaningful Living’ Zoom series for 55+ group People in the 55+ age group are “bombarded” with change, according to Alicia Thomas, a licensed mental health therapist and co-facilitator of the “Meaningful Living” group, launching on Nov. 4. These changes include losing loved ones, ending careers, empty-nesting, physical or health issues, and so many other things that can severely impact people’s lives.

To help individuals in the over-55 age group dealing with these changes, an online program “to promote meaningful living into old age” has been created through a collaboration between Concordia University, Oak Park and River Forest Townships, and the Oak Park Community Mental Health Board.

The free eight-week group begins on

Nov. 4 and will be run entirely on Zoom.

Each meeting is from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Participants can attend as many sessions as they like, but they’re encouraged to join the online meetings regularly.

The program was initiated by graduate students from Concordia University and, according to River Forest Township Supervisor Carla Sloan is “a great collaboration between the townships and Concordia University, specifically the counseling center. It provides a practicum for the grad students in counseling. It also provides free mental wellness counseling for seniors age 55-plus. This is a group with unique mental wellness needs that are not often met.”

Although the program is free, participation is limited. Contact Alicia Thomas at 312-869-2226 to reserve a spot.

Maria Maxham

That’s Deputy Chief Johnson now Someone should take a broom to the Oak Park police station to help sweep up the shards of the glass ceiling veteran policewoman Shatonya Johnson just broke. Johnson was promoted to deputy chief Oct. 23, making her the first woman in the history of the department to achieve that rank.

Johnson joined the Oak Park police force in 2000 as a patrol officer. Prior to her appointment as deputy chief, Johnson served as commander of the investigation division internal affairs. Throughout her time in Oak Park, Johnson has also served as sergeant, detective, juvenile specialist, neighborhood resources officer and patrol officer.

As deputy chief, Johnson is filling the vacancy created by the retirement of former deputy chief Frank Limon. She is joined in the role by Deputy Chief Joseph Moran, who was promoted to the rank in 2019.

Stacey Sheridan

COVID-19 cases spark in Oak Park As Illinois sees a statewide trend of rising COVID-19 cases, Mike Charley, Oak Park’s health director, reported 106 Oak Park residents tested positive for coronavirus since Oct. 12. In River Forest 35 additional residents have tested positive during that span.

Charley also reported on Oct. 23 that one Oak Park resident has died after testing positive for COVID-19. The resident, who was a 102-year-old woman, marks the 32nd reported COVID-19 related death in Oak Park. River Forest’s COVID-19 database does not contain information regarding COVID-19 related deaths.

On Oct. 25, Illinois public health officials reported over 4,000 new COVID-19 cases in the state, totaling 80,123 confirmed cases and 5,426 deaths in Cook County since the beginning of the pandemic.

In northeast Illinois positivity rates have generally been higher, according to regional data from the Illinois Department of Public Health. The positivity rate in Region 10, which includes Cook County, increased from 7.2 percent on Oct. 19 to 7.7 percent on Oct. 23, the last time the IDPH updated its database.

James Kay

Local producers in film festival The Chicago International Film Festival is featuring a documentary produced by Oak Park’s Rachel Pikelny and River Forest’s Amy Ostrander.

Titled “The Road Up,” the film chronicles five Chicagoans as they seek to transform their lives for the better and find gainful employment with assistance from the nonprofit job-training organization Cara. While chronicling their successes and struggles, the film shines an intimate light on poverty, homelessness and addiction.

Stacey Sheridan

Geppetto’s launches campaign to support Hephzibah

Shatonya Johnson

7

To help make the holidays a little brighter for kids in care, Geppetto’s Toy Box is partnering with Hephzibah Children’s Association. With the presentation of a coupon, people who make purchases at Geppetto’s will have 10 percent of the proceeds from their sale go toward purchasing gifts for children in Hephzibah care. Geppetto’s is located at 730 Lake St. “It’s essentially a donation,” said Geppetto’s co-owner Eric Masoncup. “When you come in to shop with us this holiday season, present this coupon and 10 percent of your purchase will go towards fulfilling the holiday wish lists from the kids at Hephzibah Home.”

Mark your calendars! The shopping event starts Nov. 26 and ends Dec. 18.

Stacey Sheridan

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Wednesday Journal, October 28, 2020

OAKPARK.COM | RIVERFOREST.COM

D200 forms COVID-19 advisory committee 48-person group to consult on transition to hybrid learning model

By MICHAEL ROMAIN Staff Reporter

District 200 has formed an advisory committee to provide input to the official steering committee tasked with transitioning Oak Park and River Forest High School from a full remote learning model to a hybrid model — a transition that could happen in the second semester, depending on the rate of COVID-19 spread in Cook County.

During a regular meeting of the school board on Oct. 22, D200 Supt. Joylynn Pruitt-Adams said the new committee has met twice already — on Oct. 15 and 20.

“The role of the advisory committee is not to tell us whether we come back in-person, hybrid or remote, but to help us address areas of concern, such as equity, staff and faculty training, teaching and technology, facilities and operations, and medical data and guidance,” said Pruitt-Adams, adding that the committee has approximately 48 members, including four OPRF students, four OPRF alums, seven former OPRF parents, 12 current OPRF parents, a project manager, a strategic planner, representatives from elementary school districts 90 and 97, and nine members of the medical profession.

The steering committee is different from the advisory group in that the former comprises 85 OPRF faculty, staff members, administrators and parents and has been meeting weekly since first convening in May. The advisory commit-

tee’s membership includes more community members.

Pruitt-Adams said the advisory committee is roughly half white and half minority, with one person of color from the medical profession.

“We were clear that equity has to permeate throughout and we were deliberate in trying to recruit a diverse group of committee members,” she said on Oct. 22.

D200 board member Gina Harris wanted to ensure that the students on the committee have an adequate voice in the planning process.

“I’m mindful of ensuring [students’] voices are heard in that space because they are quite the minority in that group,” Harris said during the board meeting.

Pruitt-Adams said her administration is working to get more students’ voices incorporated in the process. The students currently on the advisory committee suggested doing public service announcements for students and surveys to make sure more students are providing feedback.

Board President Sara Dixon Spivy lauded the volunteers who have been part of the committee process so far.

“I’ve been really impressed with the quality of conversations I have been privy to,” she said, adding that she’s been particularly impressed with the student volunteers who have been thinking about ensuring that the process is equitable.

Pruitt-Adams said the next advisory committee meeting is on Oct. 29. That meeting, she said, will be a dialogue with a subgroup of the committee’s medical experts.

“The goal is to have a focused, robust discussion around the following key questions: What specific threshold metrics should we use for moving from stage to stage? What type of

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testing program would really be useful — type of test and frequency? Are there any scenarios where less than 6 feet of social distancing would be safe?” Pruitt-Adams explained in her latest Monday Memo, a document updating the district’s pandemic progress that she releases each week.

Administrators will present a final plan for transitioning from full remote learning to a hybrid model to the D200 school board for approval on Dec. 3, according to a Monday Memo Pruitt-Adams released on Oct. 19.

Readers can watch the committee meetings and access the full list of the committee’s members at oprfhs.org.

CONTACT: michael@oakpark.com

River Forest D90 halts return to school ‘Pause’ based on region’s troubling COVID spike

By MARIA MAXHAM Staff Reporter

River Forest District 90 Superintendent Ed Condon announced on Oct. 26 that schools will revert to full remote learning for 15 days, from Oct. 28 to Nov. 11 because of a spike in Illinois COVID infections.

Last week, the district had begun implementing a phased-in transition to in-person learning, but Governor J.B. Pritzker’s announcement on Oct. 26 that Region 10, suburban Cook County, was experiencing an ongoing elevated COVID-19 positivity rate and an increase in hospitalizations, led to the change. A rise in cases and the positivity rate of COVID-19 in River Forest also contributed to the decision, said Condon.

“District 90 will begin an ‘Adaptive Pause’ shift to remote learning for two weeks,” said Condon in a letter to families, faculty and staff.

“The remote learning model will follow the same model that was instituted in the fall of 2020. Recommended by the Cook County Department of Public Health and the Illinois Department of Public health as an effective risk mitigation strategy, a pause of in-person instruction allows school districts to respond to the safety concerns presented by increases in community disease transmission,” said Condon in the letter.

He acknowledged that the district had only just begun a phased transition to inperson learning but said this “pause” is necessary to ensure the safety of students, staff, families and the community.

“Administrators recognize that this pivot to remote instruction in the midst of returning to in-person instruction will cause scheduling and other challenges for many of our families and genuinely regret the need for this step,” Condon said. “Talks are underway with the West Cook YMCA about reinstating the Supervised Remote Learning program for district families. More information will be forthcoming within the next few days.”

Wednesday Journal, October 28, 2020

OAKPARK.COM | RIVERFOREST.COM

By STACEY SHERIDAN

Infant Welfare delays clinic move

Staff Reporter

Beyond being a major health and economic crisis, COVID-19 is also the ultimate spoiler of plans. Had the pandemic not occurred, the Oak Park River Forest Infant Welfare Society (IWS) would be wrapping up the remodeling of its new clinic. Now the plans to move their health clinic are on hold, thanks to the many uncertainties presented by COVID-19.

“What we decided was just to sort of take a step back and wait until we get through this period a little bit more, before we move forward with the construction project,” said IWS Executive Director Peggy LaFleur.

For the last 20 odd years, the century-old non-profit children’s healthcare provider has been operating the clinic out of rented space at 320 Lake St. IWS purchased a former U.S. Bank office building 28 W. Madison St. in January 2019 with the intention of remodeling it into a new health clinic. The purchase was made entirely with donated funds.

IWS had hoped to begin remodeling last April but the pandemic prevented it from doing so. Had the project started then, the new clinic would have likely been completed by the end of this year. IWS will eventually remodel the building, but not anytime soon.

As to the duration of the project’s delay, LaFleur is erring on the side of caution.

“I would think at least a year to be practical,” she said.

Two-third of IWS patient visits are for dental services. When COVID-19 hit, routine teeth cleanings and cavity fillings became high-risk activities as transmission of the virus happens primarily through personto-person respiratory droplets, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Under safety orders, IWS was required to shut down for two and a half months.

“That was a big loss of revenue,” said LaFleur. “Significant.”

IWS reopened the clinic and resumed services the last week of May. However, the clinic is not operating at its full capacity to comply with CDC infection control guidelines. The number of patients coming to the clinic has also decreased.

“I think all healthcare is experiencing some level of reduction of visits because people are nervous,” said LaFleur. “It’s a difficult time, you know?”

While certainly a difficult time, the clinic is not on the precipice of closing. Through fundraising efforts, grants and a Paycheck Protection Program loan, IWS has been able to continue providing care to children of limited means, many of whom are on Medicaid. LaFleur is more than aware that other non-profits and businesses haven’t fared as well.

“We’re in relatively good shape,” she said.

“There’s been tons of businesses and nonprofits that have gone broke.”

But the length of the pandemic is still completely uncertain and IWS staff is being mindful of that.

“We’re trying to be financially cautious,” said LaFleur.

IWS has received a fair amount of rapid response funding, including a $100,000 grant from the Illinois Children’s Healthcare Foundation – intended to help recoup lost revenue during the lockdown. The non-profit also sent an emergency appeal to its donors, many of whom responded generously, according to LaFleur.

“We really have jumped on every opportunity that’s presented itself,” said LaFleur.

All of that funding has helped to cover the costs of personal protection equipment (PPE) and other supplies that have become necessities in the COVID-19 era, including masks, gowns, coveralls and air purifiers with filters.

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Wednesday Journal, October 28, 2020

OAKPARK.COM | RIVERFOREST.COM

OPRF High School to hire trauma interventionist

New position would help replace police resource officer

By MICHAEL ROMAIN Staff Reporter

During a regular meeting on Oct. 22, the District 200 school board voted unanimously to create a new Trauma Informed School Interventionist position.

Funds for the new position — which accompany a salary somewhere between $76,000 and $100,000, with approximately $15,000 for benefits — will be offset by the board’s elimination earlier this year of the School Resource Officer program, district officials said.

The person who fills the new role will be responsible for helping to ensure that staffers at Oak Park and River Forest High School are equipped to effectively deal with the effects of trauma on students in the school and to help implement systemic practices and procedures at the high school that deal with trauma in ways that are healthy and equitable, according to D200 officials.

“Each year, we have seen an increase in the number of students who have experienced high levels of trauma from a variety of sources in their personal lives that might have become exacerbated in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic and have made func-

tioning in daily life challenging and often impossible,” officials explained in an Oct. 22 statement drafted by D200 Assoc. Supt.

Greg Johnson, Director of Student Services Lynda Parker and Lead Dean Janel Bishop.

“Traumatic experiences are manifested for some of our students in behaviors such as defiance, physical or verbal aggression, or inability to focus in the academic environment, to name just a few,” they stated.

“These students need attention and assistance in a way that is not the same for students who have not experienced such disruption in their formative years. As a result, we desire to be more intentional about how we increase our institutional capacity to meaningfully support such students.”

The D200 school board approved the elimination of the Student Resource Officer (SRO) position in July. But the board had been critical of a previous presentation by administrators that outlined the duties and functions of the Trauma Informed School Interventionist that would replace the SRO role.

Board consensus was that the administration did not give enough detail about how the new administrator’s effectiveness will be measured and how that person will be held accountable. Board members were also concerned that too much attention on one administrator’s responsibility for addressing trauma might overshadow the importance of improving how the high school

addresses trauma systemically.

At the Oct. 22 meeting, board members said that administrators had effectively dealt with those two issues.

“Thank you so much for this,” said board member Gina Harris. “This is exactly what we asked for [earlier this year]. Seeing this scope is a lot different than what we saw before, with the job description. Actually understanding how it’s implemented makes a huge difference.”

Board member Ralph Martire said hiring a trauma interventionist “is one of the best evidence-based practices you can implement. It has really been shown to enhance student achievement over time.”

Johnson was careful to emphasize that the new administrator, despite specializing in trauma, would nonetheless not absolve other parts of the administration from addressing how the district handles trauma intervention on a systemic basis.

“We don’t want anyone to interpret that this person is individually going to bring about these outcomes,” Johnson said.

Those outcomes include improvements in attendance, grades, behavior and school culture among OPRF’s most traumatized and marginalized students.

“These are outcomes we know we care about as a school, and this person will be part of the system that helps produce them,” Johnson said.

But even as board members voiced unanimous praise for the new position, some members said the district needs to be vigilant about making sure the new hire is worth the cost of adding yet another administrator to the payroll.

“Since I’ve been on the board, we’ve added 48 positions, which is over 10 percent of the staff,” said board member Tom Cofsky, who was elected to the board in 2013. “The student population has increased by 1 or 2 percent during that time.”

Board member Jackie Moore, who was also elected in 2013, echoed Cofsky’s guarded praise of the new hire, adding that while she supports the position, the district needs to ensure that another administrator will have the effect on the student experience that the administration intends.

Board member Matt Baron recalled the conversation that preceded the board voting to remove the SRO program after nearly 20 years in the school. Administrators at the time told board members that they did not have comprehensive data related to the officers’ job performance, including a full reporting of disciplinary encounters between the officers and students.

“We had the SRO program for 18 years and didn’t do a good job of evaluating it,” Baron said, adding that he hopes the district makes sure the trauma interventionist position is “reassessed very closely all of the way.”

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treatment area for analysis of Perchloroethylene (PCE) levels. The confirmation sampling results received afterwards identified significant reductions in contaminant concentrations throughout the treatment zone. While the remediation objective was achieved for approximately 95% of the project site, PCE levels remained above the soil saturation limit in one of the confirmation soil borings. “The remediation process involves several rounds of testing, approvals, treatment and coordination with the IEPA.” said Greg Bednarz, the Development Project Manager with Sedgwick Properties. “We’re very happy with the results of the first round of treatment, which indicate that the site will be fully compliant following the next round.” Given the reductions achieved to date, Pioneer recommended resampling this area to determine if any of the residual oxidizing agent has yielded further reductions during the time since the initial treatment. To expedite the process, Pioneer requested IEPA approval for the additional sampling within the contingency for the existing budget. Budget approval for the sampling was received this month, and the supplemental soil borings were

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Wednesday Journal, October 28, 2020

OAKPARK.COM | RIVERFOREST.COM

Oak Park’s 2021 budget reflects COVID’s impact Down roughly $22 million due to pandemic

By STACEY SHERIDAN Staff Reporter

The Oak Park village board of trustees began discussions of the recommended budget for fiscal year 2021 in earnest Oct. 26, as department heads walked board members through their substantially sliced and diced finances. Due to the economic toll of COVID-19, the total cuts to the budget as recommended by staff are approximately $22 million.

“The extended duration of the pandemic is not something that I think anybody has experienced while working in recent times in local government,” said Village Manager Cara Pavlicek.

While compiling the recommended budget, Pavlicek said staff did their best to determine what the village’s ongoing response to the COVID-19 pandemic would look like and tried to plan accordingly.

“The fiscal stability of the village is dependent upon both sources of revenue coming in and expenditures deemed essential going out,” said Pavlicek. “It has become something that we cannot predict with great certainty, the duration of the pandemic and what public resources are needed in that response.”

Pavlicek assured the board that staff took into account the direction to increase the tax levy by no more than three percent.

Staff was able to keep the increase to three percent despite, the $1.3 million dollar increase to the police and fire safety pension funds.

The budget is based on fund accounting under state laws, according to Pavlicek. The village of Oak Park has 35 funds, categorized into different classifications. Special revenue funds include money from federal resources, including community block development grants (CBDG), while fiduciary funds handle the village’s pension obligations. Capital funds support the fleet of emergency response vehicles and construction of capital improvement funds.

The village’s general fund finances its day-to-day operational budget, while the internal service funds track expenditures and revenues supported and related to but separate the general fund. The village’s enterprise funds derive revenues from fee-based services, such as water, parking and refuse collection. The general fund and enterprise funds make up the majority of the village’s expenditures.

In the recommended 2021 budget, the general fund projected expenditures total $61.1 million, a 3.4 decrease from last year’s pro-

jected expenditures. Police and fire spending make up the majority of those expenditures, largely due to pensions.

The village is estimating under $59 million in total revenue for fiscal year 2021 and $61 million in expenditures, resulting in an expected deficit of $2.1 million in the general fund.

Some of the deficits were created intentionally, as in the water fund where the village purposely accumulated reserves to spend that money on infrastructure projects, according to Oak Park Chief Financial Officer Steve Drazner. The water fund has a negative budget deficit of about $5.4 million for next year.

“There is more than adequate cash to pay for that deficit,” said Drazner, in the general fund’s fund balance.

The village has a policy that the general fund maintains an unreserved fund balance of no more than 10 percent and no less than 20 percent of the current year’s estimated operational expenses.

Trustee Dan Moroney felt it was a good strategy to draw on the accumulated general fund balance to keep the tax levy to an increase of 3 percent, giving residents some predictability when it comes to their tax bills.

The main capital improvement fund has a deficit of $3.6 million dollars.

“The reason for that is we’ve already issued bonds of about $11 million dollars this year; not all of it’s going to be spent on the Lake Street [reconstruction] project,” said Drazner. “Some of that will carry forward into next year, which will cover that deficit.

The total expenditures across funds are expected to be around $146 million, a reduction from this year’s budgeted expenses of $168 million.

Sales taxes are another important stream of revenue for the village. However, the revenue from sales taxes greatly decreased as the majority of that revenue is collected from bars and restaurants – both industries have suffered major financial losses from COVID-19.

With the state-mandated cessation of indoor restaurant and bar service in suburban Cook County beginning Oct. 28, those struggles will continue, as will the decreased revenue from sales tax collected from bars and restaurants.

Mayor Anan Abu-Taleb, who is also a restaurant owner, expressed a desire for further financial relief from the federal government across the board.

“With this new regulation, as a small businessowner I still have to make it work,” said Abu-Taleb. “Families, municipalities, small businesses in general – we’re all having a tough time and I do wish the federal government would get its act together and help us get through this god**** thing.”

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Wednesday Journal, October 28, 2020

OAKPARK.COM | RIVERFOREST.COM

‘She was awesome’ Trinity mourns loss of Sr. Michelle Germanson

By MARIA MAXHAM Staff Reporter

On Oct. 21, Trinity High School announced the death of Sister Michelle Germanson, O.P, the former president of the school.

Germanson served as president of Trinity on Division Street in River Forest for 27 years. In 2017, she announced her plans to step down as head of the school, which she had overseen for 25 years. She was replaced by interim president Sister Judith Schaefer, O.P. until Laura Curley was appointed to the position in November 2019.

Germanson, known for her ebullient spirit and sense of humor, has been credited with saving Trinity High School during the 1990s, when it was at the brink of closure.

Enrollment was suffering, and the board discussed closing the school at the end of the 1992-93 school year.

Because single-gender education wasn’t as popular as it had been, Fenwick High School in Oak Park and Trinity were talking about the possibility of merging the two schools. But disagreements about whether the boards and administration of the schools should be kept caused the plan to fall

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through, and Trinity opted to stand alone.

In an interview with Wednesday Journal in 2012, Germanson said the consensus at the time was, “We can take our investment and try to build an awesome school and if we close at least we know we tried, or we’ll make it.”

Make it they did, bringing the International Baccalaureate program to Trinity, the second school in the state to do so. Initiatives to recruit students from Chicago and farther away suburbs prompted Trinity to provide transportation, and the school built up programs like theater, arts and sports.

The way subjects were taught was studied, and then changed, with the implementation of block scheduling.

Prior to coming to Trinity, Germanson had only taught and worked at co-ed schools, including her most recent position as dean at Dominican University in River Forest.

But although Germanson initially had doubts about an all-girl school and refused the board’s offer several times before accepting the position as president, she later embraced the atmosphere, which she found empowering.

As the story goes, she was eating lunch in the Trinity cafeteria, while trying to decide if the presidency of the all-girls school was right for her. She began talking to some of the students, and that’s when she knew.

Sister Michelle Germanson (left) and Donna Carroll “I could feel that there was something very unique about the all-girls environment,” she said. “Somehow, it felt right.”

Donna Carroll, president of Dominican University where Germanson previously served as dean of students, spoke highly of Trinity’s leader for over two decades.

“She was awesome,” Carroll said. “Her determination and personal will carried Trinity forward, and behind that was a deeply felt responsibility to the legacy of women’s education. She had a bigger than life personality that galvanized the students, but she also had a serious commitment to that

legacy.”

Her love for Chicago sports was a big part of her personality, Carroll said. “She brought that in-the-stands cheerful competitive attitude to Trinity.” The gymnasium at the school is named after her.

Carroll shared a story about Germanson attending a gala after a treatment for cancer.

“She had lost all her hair, and she came to the Trinity gala bald and extraordinarily beautiful,” said Carroll. “She was regal, despite her illness. It was evidence of her determination and selfless nature. She wasn’t afraid to share who she really was.”

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OPRF grad makes run for Congress from Long Island Nancy Goroff, a scientist, ‘infuriated’ by Trump, GOP rep

By BOB SKOLNIK Contributing Reporter

A woman who grew up in Oak Park is locked in a tight race for Congress on Long Island. Nancy Goroff, 52, who was one of three valedictorians in the Oak Park and River Forest High School Class of 1986 is trying to unseat three term Republican incumbent Lee Zeldin in New York’s 1st Congressional District which covers the eastern half of Long Island.

Goroff grew up in a house at 1043 Forest Ave. in northwest Oak Park, went to college at Harvard and then earned a Ph.D. in chemistry from UCLA. She has been a chemistry professor at State University of New York’s Stony Brook Campus for 23 years and lives in Stony Brook.

Last year, enraged by President Donald Trump and the support he was getting fr om her congressman, she decided to take off her lab coat and run for Congress.

“It was frustration,” Goroff told Wednesday Journal Sunday in a telephone interview.

“I really believe that our kids deserve to live in a world where the government is trying to make people’s lives better and is basing policy on facts and reality and I was frustrated and infuriated by our representative and the president and their willingness to ignore facts and evidence on so many issues.”

The race is considered competitive. The Cook Political Report classifies the race as Lean Republican a shift from Likely Republican a few months ago. The district is now thought to be a swing district. While

Trump carried the district in 2016 by nine points Barack Obama carried the district in 2008 and 2012. In 2018 Zeldin defeated his Democratic opponent, Perry Gershon, by four points winning with 51.5 percent of the vote. In June Goroff defeated Gershon in an expensive and hard-fought Democratic primary in June eking out a victory by just 661 votes.

The race between Goroff and Zeldin is an expensive one with both candidates having to pay dearly to advertise on New York City broadcast television stations. Goroff has raised nearly $6 million and has personally loaned her campaign $1,150,000 while Zeldin has raised about $7.5 million.

“This election is just critically important so I’m putting my full effort in it, working full time at this for a year and a half almost,” Goroff said acknowledging her personal loan to the campaign.

If elected Goroff would be the only Ph.D. chemist in the Congress and only the second Ph.D. scientist. Rep. Bill Foster, (D-Illinois) has a Ph.D. in physics and has advised Goroff.

Goroff said she has fond memories of growing up in Oak Park. She was a very active high school student.

“I had a fantastic experience at OPRF,” Goroff said.

She fondly remembers her Advanced Placement United States History class taught by Michael Averbach.

“He taught it like a real college class,” Goroff said. “We had textbooks but those weren’t the main things we used. We used mostly scholarly articles.”

In addition to ranking at the top of her class she was the president of the Human Affairs Club, a club focused on student af-

fairs and was the president of the Pollution Control Club. As a high school student, she served on a village advisory commission focused on environmental affairs. There she worked to distribute blankets for hot water heaters and shower flow restrictors to save water and learned that government could do good things.

“I’ve always been concerned about environmental things,” Goroff said.

Goroff said the value of citizen engagement that is so prominent in Oak Park has stayed with her.

“I think it had tremendous impact,” Goroff said of growing up in Oak Park pointing out that she absorbed the values of diversity, a belief in public schools, and the ability of government to improve things.

Classmates recall her as a brilliant but nice person.

“Nancy was always incredibly bright and incredibly motivated,” said Dr. Jeffrey Greenwald who met Goroff at age 9 or 10 at the Oak Park Temple Sunday School and was a classmate of hers at OPRF. “I never knew that she had political aspirations but I knew that whatever she touched she was going to be very successful because she’s so incredibly bright. Her understanding, whether it was in the sciences or in math or even in English class she was always very quick to identify key information and process it in a way that was, frankly, way above my pay grade. But at the same time she was always warm and never made you feel bad for not being as sharp as she was. She was a nice person and a caring person and always went out of her way to help other people who were trying to catch on to things.”

Goroff ’s mother, Mimi Cooper, lived in Oak Park for nearly 41 years before moving

Nancy Goroff. OPRF, Class of '86 east in 2008 to be near her grandchildren.

She died in 2010. Cooper and Goroff ’s stepfather Bob Cooper who died in 2008, ran a small market research firm from a house on Marion Street.

Goroff said that she has fond memories of Frank Lloyd Wright houses, Shakespeare in the park at Austin Gardens and Hemingway when she thinks of Oak Park.

“We were so steeped in Oak Park; it was only the grandkids that could get my mother to move away,” Goroff said. “I love where I live now and I feel very lucky to be here, but I also feel very lucky to have grown up in Oak Park.”

Early voting down vs. 2016 at Oak Park village hall Decrease of 16.45 percent in early votes cast

By STACEY SHERIDAN Staff Reporter

The 2020 presidential election is one of the most highly anticipated races in recent times. Although early voting in Oak Park doesn’t seem to reflect that. The number of votes cast during the first week of early voting at Oak Park village hall is down 16.45 percent from the first week of early voting in the 2016 presidential election.

In early voting any voter registered in suburban Cook County can vote in Oak Park or one of other regional sites set up by the county.

This year, early voting at the Oak Park site began on Monday, Oct. 19 with a total of 620 votes cast that day. From that day to Sunday, Oct. 25, Oak Park village hall had a total of 4,608 votes cast, an average of about 658 votes cast per day. Friday, Oct. 23 had the highest number of votes of that seven-day period, ringing in at 793 votes, according to the Cook County Clerk’s Office.

Four years earlier, 5,515 votes were cast in Oak Park in the first week of early voting, according to data from the Cook County Clerk’s Office.

Last week started off strong with 864 and 868 votes cast on Oct. 24 and Tuesday, Oct. 25, respectively. Oak Park village hall had its biggest day Saturday, Oct. 29, with a total of 909 votes cast but only 579 votes were cast at village hall the following day – the week’s lowest day.

Oak Park Village Clerk Vicki Scaman believes COVID-19 is the reason for the drop in early voters this presidential election year.

The fear of contracting the virus by spending hours waiting in line with large numbers of other people may have dissuaded voters from casting their ballots in the first week.

COVID-19 has necessitated the village of Oak Park to implement certain safety precautions so as not to cause the virus to spread further.

Many voters this year have also opted to vote via mail-in ballot. However, the Cook County website is behind in tracking the status of mail-in ballots, due to the increase in mail-in ballots, according to Scaman. For those who have submitted mail-in ballots but have not gotten confirmation of their receipt through the website, Scaman says to

be patient.

Attacks on the legitimacy of mail-in voting have caused some would-be mail-in voters to distrust the U.S. Postal Service and opting for the secured ballot drop box.

“We’ve been seeing more and more people bringing in their mail-in ballot and choosing to turn them in and vote in person,” said Scaman.

In spite of the delays, Scaman asks people to be patient if they come into contact with short-tempered polling judges and to remember that the judges are putting their own health at risk to facilitate voting.

“All of the judges that I have spoken to, while very tired, are also very excited to see the number of people that are voting,” said Scaman. “And so, we’re grateful for every person who’s come out to vote.”

14

Wednesday Journal, October 28, 2020

OAKPARK.COM | RIVERFOREST.COM

RF residents form slate for park district election

Candidates cite communication as biggest problem with current board

By MARIA MAXHAM Staff Reporter

River Forest residents Mike Grant and Carl Bade have announced their candidacies for seats on the River Forest Park District Board of Commissioners. Grant and Bade will be running as a team in the April 6, 2021 election. Two 4-year terms will be open on the five-member board of commissioners.

Both Grant and Bade have served in volunteer roles in the village, Grant heavily involved in coaching sports, including little league, baseball, soccer, softball and basketball. He was the president and founding member of the travel softball team on which his children played. A resident for over 25 years, Grant has owned a business in town for 30 years.

Bade moved to River Forest seven years ago. In 2017, he joined the Youth Soccer board and serves as the registrar for the organization. He is a volunteer for the PTO at Lincoln School.

“We’re two guys with fairly different backgrounds, but with the same goals and perspectives,” Grant said in an interview with Wednesday Journal. He added that because they associate in different social circles, they “have a good pulse on the community.”

The biggest goal they have if elected to the

ALEX ROGALS/Staff Photographer

TANDEM: Mike Grant, left, and Carl Bade are running as a two-person slate for the River Forest park board. park board is to see improved communication between the board and the larger community. With the issue of platform tennis, for example, Grant and Bade said they don’t have a strong opinion on the potential expansion because there hasn’t been enough communication from the park district about the project.

“They’re not providing the ‘why’ behind the project,” Bade said. For example, according to Bade and Grant, the disregard for the community survey was never properly explained by the board. In the survey,

a majority of respondents said they did not support the creation of additional platform tennis courts and a paddle hut, yet the board decided to proceed with a feasibility study all the same.

Grant said additionally, there is a lack of understanding in the community that the park district, so far, has only approved the feasibility study, not the construction itself.

It’s this sort of confusion that Grant and Bade want cleared up, and this, they say, will happen with better communication from the park board if they are elected.

“If paddle is thriving, we can expand it responsibly,” Grant said. “It should be a winwin, and the park district should go about it the right way.” That includes communication about every aspect of the project.

“We want to be the watchdog,” said Bade.

“We want to ensure that everything is done the way it’s supposed to be done.” For example, if traditional tennis courts are moved to make room for more platform tennis, the money must be paid back to the district from the paddle tennis enterprise fund.

The team also wants to see better direction from the park district board on muchneeded basic infrastructure improvements, like leveling the fields and taking care of trees falling down on the east side of Keystone Park.

“John Beto [superintendent of parks] does such a great job,” said Grant. “But better direction from the board should be given in terms of necessary improvements.”

Grant says that now, the timing is perfect for him to become involved in the park district.

“My kids are grown and done with the park district,” Grant said. “I have no ties, so I can evaluate and make good objective decisions. I’ve coached over 40 sports seasons, and I understand the community because I’ve lived here a long time and own a business in the community. I have a really good pulse on where we need to go. And I’m an empty nester. I’m ready for a new project.”

Bade said River Forest is a great community, and he’s enjoyed his roles with the soccer league and PTO. “This is the next step of my involvement,” he added.

Partnership with Dominican approved River Forest board passes resolution of support for racial justice effort

By ROBERT J. LIFKA Contributing Reporter

River Forest officials took another historic step at the Oct. 26 virtual village board meeting, unanimously approving a resolution supporting a community partnership with Dominican University to fight racial and social injustice.

The action follows the Twin Villages Covenant they entered into with Maywood earlier this year.

Officials from the village and Dominican are eyeing a mutually-beneficial partnership that will assist the village in becoming a community where there is a commitment to a culture of equity and inclusion and help the university expand its Truth, Racial Healing and Transformation efforts.

Any uncertainty about the decision was dispelled by Dominican senior Jonathan Seals, who described how unsafe and unwelcoming it feels for him as a Black man to walk in River Forest.

“In the past, when I walked in River Forest, I felt unwel-

comed and out of place by community members, including the River Forest Police Department,” he said. “When I would walk through the community, parents and children would stop playing and talking to stare at me as I walked past their homes.”

Seals described an incident the morning of the meeting in which a police car slowed down so the officer could look at him, apparently because a Black man with a beard resembling him was suspected of committing a crime.

“That’s scary,” he added.

Seals also expressed optimism that the partnership between Dominican and River Forest could change that culture.

“At the current moment it’s not safe to walk in River Forest,” he said. “I don’t feel safe right now, but I hope, with this new partnership, River Forest will become more welcoming to people of color by creating a culture that embraces and values diversity.

“To create change in the community, you have to create that culture that everybody follows. This partnership could be a big step in the right direction.”

Fellow Dominican senior Lauren Bergert also addressed the board, saying she “fully supports” the partnership.

“Our nation is suffering right now,” she added. “We must

actively work together to implement effective change.”

After discussing the partnership thoroughly at the Sept.

29 and Oct. 12 village board meetings, comments by elected officials were brief.

“This is truly a historic moment for River Forest,” Village President Cathy Adduci said. “I didn’t think we would get here this quick.”

In response to a question from Adduci, Sheila RadfordHill, chief diversity official for Dominican, explained that the executive committee of the Dominican Board of Trustees would discuss the partnership in November with the full board expected to vote on the matter in December.

Trustees Erika Bachner and Patty Henek thanked Bergert and Seals for addressing the village board, with Henek calling the students “brave to speak.”

Citing the “importance of the work of changing the mindset of people in the community,” Bachner said she is “looking forward to working on this.”

As outlined previously by Radford-Hill, one or two village trustees are expected to be designated to serve as liaisons to the partnership.

The resolution calls for Dominican and River Forest to collaborate with Concordia University, also in River Forest, as well as Maywood through the Twin Villages Covenant.

Wednesday Journal, October 28, 2020

OAKPARK.COM | RIVERFOREST.COM

15

Turning grief into memoir

Oak Park native chronicles her journey following the death of her mother

By STACEY SHERIDAN Staff Reporter

In her newly published memoir, Oak Park native Caitlin Garvey shares with readers her very intimate quest to find understanding in her grief, having lost her mother to breast cancer during her freshmen year of college. Titled “The Mourning Report,” the book chronicles Garvey’s exploration of her lengthy battle with depression following her mother’s death. Oak Park, where her mother lived for 30 years, features heavily in the book.

“I mostly wanted to collect people’s stories to get more information about my mom and to kind of feel at peace,” said Garvey, of writing the book.

What started as a graduate school creative writing assignment became the foundation of the book. Garvey began to interview people who knew her mother, especially during the last few moments of her mother’s life, and people who regularly dealt with loss.

“I just wanted to get a sense of comfort,” said Garvey.

“And what I got instead was just a lot of stories about her and that brought me a different kind of comfort.”

For her first essay, Garvey interviewed Charlie Williams, funeral director and owner of Drechsler, Brown & Williams funeral home. Williams embalmed her mother; Garvey acknowledges that could sound a tad morbid, albeit unintentionally.

“I was able to know more about my mom and figure out

like more of who she was at that time,” said Garvey.

Garvey interviewed her mother’s hospice nurse, as well as her mother’s longtime hairstylist who became her mom’s close confidant. She also interviewed Rev. Thomas Dore of St. Giles Catholic Parish, who administered eucharist to her mother while in hospice.

“I feel like a lot of my memories were sparked by talking to these people in the first place,” said Garvey. “There are a lot of things about my mom that I was forgetting, so it kind of forced me to remember certain things.”

In a special coincidence, “The Mourning Report” was published on Oct. 6 – right at the beginning of Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Authors Rachel Jamison Webster, of “Mary is a River,” and S.L. Wisenberg, of “The Adventures of Cancer B*tch,” have praised Garvey’s debut book.

Lambda Literary Foundation listed it as one of October’s most anticipated LGBTQ books, as Garvey, who identifies as gay, details how she came to grips with not only her grief and mental health struggles but her own sexuality.

“My sexuality is something I wish I told my mom; I wish we had a conversation about it,” said Garvey. “But we never did because I was just too afraid to be out.”

Her mother’s poor health made Garvey even more reluctant to come out to her mother.

“You don’t want to feel like, ‘Oh, I’m making this about me,’” said Garvey.

The feeling of wanting to open up but not wanting to burden her mother Garvey called “very specific and confusing.”

Garvey’s mother always encouraged her and her sisters to express themselves through writing. When they were young, she would cut out sentences from newspapers and have the girls weave them into short stories they’d write.

She hopes the book will start honest conversations about depression and grief, which has no medically determined expiration date. For some, grief never truly goes away; the acuteness of it just dulls over time.

“Our grief stays with us, but most people want it to be neatly wrapped up,” said Garvey.

2020 Fall leaf collection set to begin..

The annual fall leaf collection program is scheduled for Nov 2 – Dec. 11 with eight pickups planned for each section of the Village. Residents should rake leaves into the street at least 18 inches from the curb the day before the scheduled pickup dates indicated on the map. Leaves raked into the street will be pushed into piles by Public Works crews during the night to reduce impact on traffic and parked cars. Leaves will be collected the following day.

Residents who miss a scheduled pickup date should keep their leaves on the parkway until the night before the next scheduled pickup. Sweepers will be scheduled to run at the end of the collection program to clean up residue. Cooperation is essential to the success of this operation, so please follow these simple rules:

For more information call 358.5700 or email publicworks@oak-park.us

Nov. 5 Nov. 12 Nov. 19 Nov. 26 Dec. 3 Dec. 10

EAST AVE.

THURSDAY

Nov. 4 Nov. 11 Nov. 18 Nov. 25 Dec. 2 Dec. 9 Last day to rake is Tue. Dec. 10

Last day to rake is Wed. Dec. 11

SOUTH BLVD. TUESDAY Nov. 3 Nov. 10 Nov. 17 Nov. 24 Dec. 1 Dec. 8

Last day to rake is Mon. Dec. 9

EAST AVE.

HARLEM AVE.

• Do not park on or near a pile of leaves, which can hinder leaf removal operations. Heat from a car also could ignite the leaves.

• Rake leaves onto side streets whenever possible. Try to avoid major thoroughfares where piles of leaves might create traffic hazards.

• Do not rake leaves into or close to cul de sacs or traffic diverters. The equipment needs room to operate.

• Do not rake leaves into or close to bus shelters or bicycle racks.

• Keep catch basins clear of raked leaves to avoid flooding.

• Inform landscape services of the leaf collection schedule.

• Obey all parking restrictions. Regulations will be strictly enforced.

• Dampen piles after raking to avoid leaves being blown by the wind.

• Drive carefully. Leaves are slippery when wet and large piles may hinder visibility.

• Drive cautiously – crews will create safe work zones and close intersections for a few minutes while removing large leaf piles.

WEDNESDAY

MONDAY Nov. 2 Nov. 9 Nov. 16 Nov. 23 Nov. 30 Dec. 7 Last day to rake is Sun. Dec. 8

ROOSEVELT RD.

2020 FALL LEAF COLLECTION SCHEDULE

AUSTIN BLVD.

• Consider composting or using the leaves as garden mulch as an alternative to raking.

• Rake leaves out the day before the scheduled pickup date.

• Leaves only -- do not add brush, grass clippings or yard waste.

NORTH AVE.

16

Wednesday Journal, October 28, 2020

OAKPARK.COM | RIVERFOREST.COM

MURAL

Channeling outrage from page 1 its creation on a wall in Chicago’s Homan Square neighborhood all in the span of a few days.

“When the Kentucky verdict happened, I was anxious and thinking about things,” Raven said during an interview on Oct. 27. “I was tired of solidifying our hearts against those things and I thought, ‘We have to paint something.’ So I reached out to five dependable brothers and asked them if they’d be willing to help out. It took two-and-a-half days to conceive it and bring everyone together around the mural.”

Raven said the artists — Eduardo Luna, Jocorey Jenkins, Roderick Sawyer and Eric Villarreal — “felt the need to celebrate women and to send the message that it’s time to change and we’re in solidarity.”

The mural centers Breonna Taylor’s name, which hovers over the words, “Women are the Center.”

Ammons said he hadn’t known that Raven was working on his mural, but their thoughts nonetheless joined on the tragic reality of justice denied. He said Jackie McGoey, OPRF’s communications and community relations coordinator, hatched the idea to post his piece alongside a photo of Raven’s mural on the school’s website.

Raven said the Homan Square location was particularly resonant, since it’s the site of the infamous warehouse complex that, according to multiple media reports, allegedly housed a secret detention facility where many Blacks were tortured by police.

“A block away from the mural was the center of many torture allegations, as Black males were forced to settle and plea to stuff they didn’t do,” Raven said. “So it’s this centrifugal space.”

Ammons said the mind-meld between himself and Raven didn’t come out of nowhere. Raven teaches the race equity course at OPRF “and we collaborate on multiple levels. We’ve had sidebar conversations

ALEX ROGALS/Staff Photographer

OPRF teacher Lavie Raven’s mural honoring Breonna Taylor adorns a wall in Homan Square Park in the Homan Square neighborhood of Chicago. about what’s happening and about everything from equity to music. For this to happen the way it did was just organic.”

Ammons was frank about how he’s been affected by incident after incident of unarmed Blacks being shot by police officers.

“Brutality against Black bodies is nothing new in American history,” he said. “We can trace this back to the Slave Trade. The justification of this treatment is always a thing to contend with, so when I see these instances of brutality happening over and over again, I become numb, especially given

DINING

Taking a step backward from page 1 to which Oak Park then deferred. Just as he did in spring, Abu-Taleb continues to support safety orders imposed by the state.

“It’s not an easy decision to make,” said Abu-Taleb. “But we elected officials are entrusted with the public’s safety and I support the measures taken by the state, even though it costs us financially heavily and it’s devastating for our businesses.”

In addition to the ban on indoor dining, the restrictions require bars and restaurants to close at 11 p.m. and to open

the line of work I’m in.

“It’s frustrating,” he added. “It puts me in a space of rage when I see it. The breaking point for me was Tamir Rice, the 12-year-old who was unjustly gunned down in Ohio [after officers saw him playing with a toy gun in a park]. As the father of an 8-year-old boy, that one struck a chord with me. Lavie’s mural matched my sentiment exactly. We have to protect all people, but particularly our women who do so much for us. In this situation, Breonna Taylor was not protected.”

In his essay, which you can read at oprfhs.

no earlier than 6 a.m. the following day. Reservations at bars and restaurants are required for each party. Multiple parties cannot be seated at the same table. All parties must be seated outside at tables placed 6 feet apart.

Patrons may not congregate, order or sit at a bar nor are people allowed to congregate outdoors or indoors while waiting for a table or exiting. The mitigation measures require the removal of all barstools. Dancing and standing indoors are prohibited in bars.

Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle and the Cook County Department of Public Health (CCDPH) confirmed the mitigation measures in an Oct. 26 press release.

“Yesterday the state reported over 4,000 new cases of COVID-19 in a 24-hour period. The numbers are very concerning and a wake-up call as we head into colder weather, flu season and the holidays,” Preckwinkle said in the press release.

“We are all experiencing COVID fatigue, but we must remain vigilant and continue practicing the commonsense

org or as a One View in Viewpoints (page 28), Ammons said Taylor’s death should prompt some tough questions for Blacks and whites alike. At the end of the piece, he lists resources on race, antiracism, equity and education for readers to explore.

“Our legal system, in this situation, failed to offer the quality of fairness that justice and equity require,” Ammons wrote. “Additionally, this outcome positioned us to ask ourselves, ‘Do all Americans have equal protection under the law?’”

CONTACT: michael@oakpark.com

strategies that have been proven to slow the spread of COVID-19 and save lives.”

The press release states that CCPDH has seen an eight day increase in COVID-19 test positivity and seven days of increased hospital admissions, which necessitated the state to impose mitigations in suburban Cook County, also referred to as Region 10.

According to the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office, the number of COVID-19-related deaths in the county has reached 5,426, which includes an additional 57 deaths since Oct. 19.

The new safety requirements have no set expiration date.

According to the resurgence mitigations portion of the Restore Illinois plan, IDPH will continue to track the COVID-19 positivity rate over a 14-day period to determine if restrictions can be relaxed, if current restrictions should remain in place or if the situation requires the implementation of additional restrictions.

Wednesday Journal, October 28, 2020

OAKPARK.COM | RIVERFOREST.COM

17

C R I M E

Woman dragged along after carjacking A woman’s car was hijacked after a man hit her vehicle while she was driving along in the 1000 block of Lexington Street at 4:52 p.m., Oct. 22. When the woman got out of her vehicle to assess the damage from the minor accident, the man exited his vehicle and entered the woman’s. The woman grabbed onto the man in an attempt to stop him taking her vehicle and was dragged several feet before she let go. A second offender drove off in the man’s car.

Police describe the man as Black, about 20 years old, thin and around 5-feet-7-inches tall. He was last seen wearing a white and blue shirt with a blue facemask. Police reports have no description of the second offender. The estimated loss is unknown.

Burglary ■ Someone entered a residential garage through an unlocked side door and removed a RYOBI leaf blower, an air compressor, a drill, a Skil circular saw and a Snap-On power screwdriver in the 800 block of Linden Avenue between midnight and 11 p.m., Oct. 22. Estimated loss is $700.

■ Someone broke a window of a parked vehicle and then removed a Ridgid mixing drill, a Ridgid impact drill, a Workforce impact drill, a DeWalt impact drill and a floor

stapler between 1 a.m. and 9 a.m., Oct. 25 in the 1100 block of South Oak Park Avenue.

The estimated loss is $850.

■ Someone broke into a locked storage shed and took out a men’s black 26-inch Schwinn bicycle between 4:20 p.m., Oct. 15 and 4:20 p.m., Oct. 21 in the 400 block of South Kenilworth Avenue. The estimated loss is $500.

Recovered stolen auto The 2016 Honda Civic reported stolen Oct. 22 from Oak Park was recovered after it was involved in a crash in the 200 block of North Sacramento Avenue in Chicago at 11:25 a.m., Oct. 24. No apprehensions were made.

Motor vehicle theft Someone removed a 2009 Toyota RAV4 that was parked in the 100 block of Harrison Street between 10 p.m., Oct. 18 and 8:15 a.m., Oct. 20. The estimated loss is $7,000.

Theft ■ Someone cut the catalytic converter from a vehicle parked in the 800 block of Lexington Street between 5 p.m., Oct. 18 and 8 a.m., Oct. 19. Estimated loss is $500.

■ Multiple packages were removed from a

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porch in the 500 block of Clarence Avenue between 7 a.m., Oct. 12 and 3 p.m., Oct. 14.

Estimated loss is $2,100.

■ Someone removed multiple packages containing a pair of Nike shoes, a foot scrubber and a sweater from a front porch in the 400 block of South Harvey Avenue between noon, Oct. 9 and 1:16 p.m., Oct. 20. The estimated loss is $225.

■ A delivered package containing a Wahoo heart rate monitor was taken from the 200 block of North Kenilworth Avenue between 11:01 a.m. and 12:10 p.m., Oct. 21. The estimated loss is $50.

Criminal damage to property ■ Someone threw a rock at a resident’s window and damaged it in the 200 block of Chicago Avenue at 5:10 p.m., Oct. 20. Esti-

mated damage is unknown.

■ Someone punctured the front and rear passenger side tires of a vehicle parked in the 100 block of Forest Avenue between 4 p.m., Oct. 23 and 8:45 a.m., Oct. 24. The estimated damage is $230.

These items, obtained from the Oak Park Police Department, came from reports Oct. 19 – Oct. 26 and represent a portion of the incidents to which police responded. Anyone named in these reports has only been charged with a crime and cases have not yet been adjudicated. We report the race of a suspect only when a serious crime has been committed, the suspect is still at large, and police have provided us with a detailed physical description of the suspect as they seek the public’s help in making an arrest.

Compiled by Stacey Sheridan

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18

Wednesday Journal, October 28, 2020

OAKPARK.COM | RIVERFOREST.COM

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Wednesday Journal, October 28, 2020

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19

Homes

Photos provides by GrtHomes

Grove Avenue grande dame hits the market Victorian retains much of its original 125-year-old detailing

By LACEY SIKORA

T

Contributing Reporter

he grand Victorian beauty at 139 S. Grove Ave. in Oak Park has just hit the market, and it’s sure to attract a lot of attention.

Just west of Oak Park Avenue, the home might win the award for most breathtaking restoration in the village. That’s a tough title to win on a corner once voted the most beautiful corner in town, and where the two other houses designed by architect H.G. Fiddelke have also been carefully restored.

The house is listed at $1.4 million by Chris Garvey of the GRT Homes Group of EXP Realty. At roughly 7,600 square feet and with eight bedrooms and counting, the home has plenty of space to spread out.

In a town filled with historic homes, the 139 S. Grove Ave. stands apart not just for the amazing quality of the original finishes, but because so many original details have survived the past 125 years.

The home was constructed in 1894 by John Seaman at the cost of $17,000, when the cost of the average nearby home was $2,000. Seaman was a cooper who automated a barrel making process. He bought the entire block when it was still prairie and constructed several homes, See VICTORIAN on page 21

WOODEN WONDER: The house at 139 S. Grove Ave. was built by a cooper, whose profession is evident by the profusion of wood detailing -- birch, ash and mahogany -- that adorn the interior of the grand interior.

20

Wednesday Journal, October 28, 2020

OAKPARK.COM | RIVERFOREST.COM

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ADDITIONAL OPEN HOUSES SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 2020 RIVER FOREST 1135 FOREST • OPEN SUNDAY 12:302:30

ELEGANT CRAFTSMANSHIP can be found throughout this 5 BR French Normandy home. Sophistication from the moment you walk in the door.

Impressive foyer, formal LR with fireplace and built-in benches, family room, separate formal DR, updated kitchen, home office. ................$999,000

1427 THATCHER • OPEN SUNDAY 1112:30

N E W LISTI NG!

CLASSIC CHICAGO BUNGALOW in HOT West Logan Square Neighborhood. Extraordinary home where vintage meets modern. This large brick bungalow boasts 5 ample sized BRs and 2 full baths. Large finished basement with laundry room and separate workshop. Do not miss this one! .................................................................................. $399,000

RIVER FOREST HOMES

FRENCH COUNTRY ESTATE built for flexible living. Fully renovated and expanded to preserve the feel and charm of a 1946 home, with all the conveniences of modern amenities and finishes. Sits on a private, double lot. Large pool, 5 BRs w/BAs, 2nd Fl laundry, private office, finished basement. ...........................................................$1,749,950 MODERN DREAM HOME centrally located on a corner lot with fenced in yard has plenty of entertainment space! Designer touches throughout the 6 bedroom, 6 full and 1 half bath home with beautiful LR, DR and large kitchen with open floor plan to the family room. So much more to see! ...................................................................... $1,699,000 STATELY SOUTHERN COLONIAL blends old world craftsmanship with elegant modern updates ideally located. Grand foyer, elegant LR with fireplace, recently remodeled gourmet kitchen, mudroom, family room, large basement with den/office. Meticulously maintained and ready to move in. ................................................................. $1,599,000 STUNNING FRENCH NORMANDY house that has been remodeled and refinished from top to bottom. New wiring, plumbing, hvac, all floors, generator, roof work, and more. Just drop in your furniture and enjoy, from the fantastic front entrance all the way to the basement. ..............................................................................................$1,349,000

SPLITLEVEL HOME offers a newly refreshed contemporary style and wonderful space. Three bedrooms, three brand new bathrooms, beautiful front entryway, vaulted ceiling family room, sunroom, game room, deck, spectacular backyard, attached two-car garage ...........................$599,000

P R IC E R E DUC E D!

922 N HARLEM • OPEN SUNDAY 13

CENTER ENTRANCE COLONIAL offers wonderful space! Deep lot, large deck, and original details throughout the home. Features include large living room, sunny sitting room, hardwood floors, updated kitchen, family room, full finished basement, and a two-car garage..................$440,000

BEAUTIFUL, CLASSIC HOME offers everything for today’s modern living. Custom-built with highest quality finishes. No detail missed.

Brick and stone exterior, wrap-around porch, eleven-foot ceilings and oversized windows. LL has 2,000 ft of living area..................$1,295,000 STATELY HOME located on a picturesque River Forest block! This 5 bedroom, 3 full/2 half bath home includes four floors of living with two finished family rooms, a large study and three fireplaces. Large sundrenched rooms with elegant cove molding and windows. In-ground outdoor pool. ...................................................................................$819,000 GRAND SPRAWLING HOME with an abundance of interior and exterior living areas. 5 BRs, upstairs laundry, 3 full & 1 half BAs, 3 fireplaces, full basement with recreation room. Grand two story family room incorporated into an open plan kitchen. Hardwood floors throughout main level. ...................................................................$787,000

OAK PARK HOMES

COLONIAL REVIVAL STYLE with Tudor Revival influences built in 1909. This stunning six-bedroom home displays sophistication and tasteful elegant décor. It offers wonderful space for family and entertaining with beautiful views of the spectacular oversized corner lot. .................................................................................................. $1,395,000 ARCHITECTURAL INTEGRITY of this 4 BR, 3BA farmhouse has been preserved whenever updates were completed. Double door entry, antique light fixture, hardwood flooring, art glass windows, natural trim work and high ceilings throughout this home .................. $599,000

RARELY AVAILABLE, “Cavalcade of Pride” award-winning home on 50 x 170 ft lot. Includes high ceilings, oak staircase, marble fireplace, separate formal dining area, den/family room, stained glass and builtin bookcases, eat-in kitchen, and full basement with storage.$599,000 CHARMING BRICK HOME on a quiet Cul-De-Sac. 4 BR, 2-½ bath home offers spacious LR with fireplace, family room with Walls of Glass, and 1st-floor office. Lower Level has Rec Room with another fireplace, workshop area, laundry room with tons of storage space........$549,500 PRICE REDUCED GREAT MOVEIN READY HOME with 3 bedrooms and 1st Fl office. Features include a screened-in front porch with new hardwood floors, enclosed back porch that doubles as a mud room, all BRs with hardwood floors, finished basement with large living area, fenced yard, 2-1/2 car garage.....................................$415,0000

MELROSE PARK HOMES WELL CARED FOR BEVERLY in great location! Features beautiful hardwood flooring in most rooms, remodeled master bath, updated kitchen, and finished basement with second kitchen for those large family parties! Freshly painted. Fenced yard. Absolute move-in condition!....................................................................................................$329,900

SUPER CHARMING light-filled home on extra-large lot. Delightful front porch, spacious foyer, formal LR & DR all with beautiful hardwood floors. Efficient galley kitchen opens to family room. Gazebo area out back surrounded by natural landscaping. Vintage barn off alley with a loft.....................................................................................................$449,000

CONDOS/TOWNHOMES/2 FLATS RIVER FOREST 2BR, 2BA. Completely updated. .................$264,000 NEW LISTING RIVER FOREST 1BR, 1BA..........................$169,000 OAK PARK Two Flat ...................................................................$699,000 OAK PARK Two Flat ...................................................................$550,000 OAK PARK 3BR, 2 full/1 half BA. Vintage beauty..................$285,000 OAK PARK 3BR, 2 full/1 half BA. Downtown OP. ...................$257,000 OAK PARK 2BR, 2BA. Courtyard view......................................$249,900 OAK PARK 1BR, 1BA. Parking space included. .......................$124,500 OAK PARK 1BR, 1BA. Vintage building....................................$110,000 OAK PARK 1BR, 1BA. No stairs!...................................................$97,500 CHICAGO 2BR, 2BA. Chic, move-in ready! .............................$499,950 CHICAGO 2BR, 2BA. Open floor plan. .................................... $424,000 CHICAGO 2BR, 2BA. Secure gated lot. ....................................$209,900

Find that Fall Home!

Shop for homes online at GagliardoRealty.com

Contact a Gagliardo Realty Associates Agent for a free market analysis

Wednesday Journal, October 28, 2020

OAKPARK.COM | RIVERFOREST.COM

VICTORIAN

A preservationist’s dream from page 19 keeping this one for himself.

The interiors reflect his barrel-making connections to the lumber trade. Seven different kinds of wood adorn the interior of the house, including curly birch, white ash and mahogany. The original wood was hand carved by Arts and Crafts wood carver Frank Ellis, with a wreath design repeated throughout the home in the wood trim.

Seaman didn’t skimp on the other fine details. Stained and leaded glass adorn most of the rooms, including a depiction of the book of knowledge in the library and other colorful glass windows with prism designs.

“They bounce rainbows about the rooms throughout the day,” Garvey said.

Also still in evidence are the home’s ornate ceiling murals. One front parlor has a ceiling depicting cherubs, while the library’s sports a floral design. The grand three-story staircase also includes a cherub light fixture on a newel post.

Garvey says Seaman was influenced by both the Paris World Fair of 1889 and the 1893 Columbian Exposition when he designed the home, painting the exterior white like the buildings in the Columbian Exposition.

Preservationist past In spite of its grandiose beginning, by the 1980s the house had fallen on hard times. Its exterior had been covered in asbestos siding, and its interior had been chopped up

into a boarding house.

In the early 1980s Warren Stewart was working in real estate in Oak Park while also rehabbing smaller homes in the village when he walked by the house on a summer night.

He said there was a lamp on in the front office, but no signs of life, so he walked onto the porch to peek inside.

“Something just went through me,” Stewart said. “When I saw the mantle and the cherubs on the mural, I said, ‘I’ve got to buy that.’”

It took him a few years, but when he was 28, he purchased the house. He says that in 1986, it was the most money ever paid for a house south of Lake Street in an era when Oak Park was facing hard times.

Much of Lake Street was vacant and many of the village’s grand homes were in disrepair or in danger of being torn down.

Indeed, the landlord from whom Stewart purchased the house intended to tear it down and replace it with apartments. Instead, he sold the entire home, along with 17 long-term tenants, to Stewart.

Long fascinated by the details of older homes, Stewart was a self-taught rehabber.

He started out stripping paint off old wood, and with lots of help from the TV show “This Old House” and research at the Oak Park Public Library, he became a preservationist who would own and restore more than 20 homes in the area, including the Hales Mansion at 509 N. Oak Park Ave. and the Bohlander Mansion in Maywood.

“It had provenance, original features and everything you see in old house catalogues,” Stewart said of the Grove Avenue home.

“The wood, the murals, the three-story staircase, the wainscot, the original refrigerator.

Yeah, the house was shabby and tired, but it was intact.”

Stewart has moved on from Oak Park, but he still has fond memories of the house, saying “I was born to own that house. That house has been the hub of my life.”

He is quick to stress that while he was the first to start the preservation process, the current owners took things to the next level.

“They’ve done so much,” Stewart said.

“They’ve been amazing stewards of the home. What I did was act as the go-between.

I reversed the direction of gravity and they went further up. It’s inspiring and empowering.”

Current owner Ed Amstutz says that

GRAND TRANSFORMATION: Original stained glass adorns many of the rooms in the home, including the Book of Knowledge leaded-glass design in the library (top). Before being restored, the grand Victorian was covered in asbestos siding (above), hiding its inner beauty.

21

when he and his wife Elizabeth bought the house from the owners who purchased it from Stewart, they were looking for something with a sense of history and character.

“A house has a vibe, until you strip it clean and make it antiseptic,” Amstutz said about historic homes that have had all of their original details removed. “For better or worse, you have to find things that were made a long time ago to find that character.”

For Amstutz, the home’s many original details and the fact that there isn’t another home like it anywhere were part of its appeal. From the pocket doors to the cold water tap in the kitchen, which was connected to the original ice box, Amstutz says that it all adds up to the kind of house that he feels lucky to have called home.

Garvey says that with the onset of COVID-19, large suburban homes like this are experiencing a renaissance.

“It’s been a huge change. For years, people were downsizing, but now due to COVID and unrest in the city, people from the city are looking for more space,” Garvey said.

“Large homes in Oak Park and River Forest in the $1-2 million range are selling at or near ask. Homes of size are swinging back into vogue.”

Garvey thinks that as more and more people seek the space to work from home and attend school from home, these old grand houses of the past will find a new appreciation.

According to Amstutz, the house adapts well to the circumstances of the past year and beyond. There is room for everyone to have their own space for work, recreation or school, but the house also lives large for holidays and special occasions.

While he says the house was perfect for their family of four, it also expanded well for holidays and yearly parties that they loved to host.

“It’s not a historical marvel, it’s a home,” he said

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Wednesday Journal, October 28, 2020

OAKPARK.COM | RIVERFOREST.COM

CONDOS

SINGLE FAMILY HOMES

Sunday, November 1 ADDRESS

OFFICE

LISTING PRICE

TIME

808 S. Scoville Ave, Oak Park. . . . . . . . . . . . . Gagliardo Realty Associates. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$449,000. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-3 1215 N. Grove Ave, Oak Park . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Baird & Warner Oak Park/River Forest. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$650,000. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12-2

ADDRESS

OFFICE

LISTING PRICE

TIME

210 S. Lombard Ave. UNIT B, Oak Park . . . . Baird & Warner Oak Park/River Forest. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$224,000. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-3 339 Home Ave. UNIT 2F, Oak Park . . . . . . . . Baird & Warner Oak Park/River Forest. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $315,000. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12-2

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Wednesday Journal, October 28, 2020

VIEWPOINTS

23

Questions begging for answers p. 28

My dear friend Ginie

O

n Friday afternoon, Oct. 16, my dear friend, Ginie Cassin, peacefully passed away with most of her children at her bedside. Ginie leaves a lifetime of love and memories for her family and her many friends, and a rich and enduring legacy for the village she loved, and those whose lives she touched. Ken Trainor wrote an incredibly thoughtful tribute, capturing both the essence of Ginie and her many accomplishments. My compatriots, Dick Martens and Alex Alexandrou, wrote heartfelt letters describing not only Ginie’s wonderfully generous and kind nature, but also the strength and determination that underlay this gentle nature. They also spoke of her willingness to take on any project or task for the good of her village or to advance any of the many good causes she believed in.

These well-written tributes leave me free to instead share a couple of my treasured personal recollections. I do this to share a little more of this precious person with you and, also, for selfish reasons, sharing these recollections will help me grieve her loss. Maybe reading them will help you in the same way.

In June of 1975 a number of us were hired by the village of Oak Park within the same week to serve in a variety of capacities. I was hired as a law clerk for the Law Department. About two weeks into our employment, Ginie and a couple other village administrators invited us to a welcome lunch at a small restaurant on North Avenue. I had recently purchased an old Buick “beater,” put new license plates on it, and wired-up the muffler and exhaust pipe to the bottom of the car to keep them from falling. In my mind, I now had a roadworthy vehicle.

I drove my “new” car to the restaurant for our welcome lunch. It was a nice lunch. Ginie welcomed us, told us about good government in Oak Park GINIE CASSIN and reminded us that we were all now representing Oak Park. After lunch I offered to drive Ginie back to village hall.

We drove for a couple of blocks when Ginie mentioned that I had quite an impressive collection of old Oak Park vehicle stickers up and down the right side of my windshield. Thinking nothing of it, I agreed with her that it was a fine collection, and mentioned that I bought the car from an old Oak Parker. She smiled and said very nicely, “Well, Ray, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but I am pretty sure that three old village vehicle stickers do not equal one new one.” She caught me flatfooted, and she knew it, as I sat slack-jawed with no words coming out of my open mouth. Ginie, still smiling, very nicely said, “Don’t worry Ray, I think we can fix this when we get back to village hall.”

We drove a few more blocks and heard music in the distance.

I don’t think it was a Good Humor Truck, but rather some generic equivalent ice-cream vending truck. When the truck came into view, Ginie asked me to pull over and park along the curb across the street from the truck. She asked me to walk over to the truck with her. She introduced herself as the village clerk and mentioned that one of her responsibilities was to issue permits to ice-cream truck vendors wishing to do business in Oak Park. The man smiled and turned off the music without being asked, I assumed so that he could hear Ginie clearly. She

RAY HEISE

One View

See HEISE on page 29

ALEX ROGALS/Staff Photographer

PATIENT, PASSIONATE VOTERS: More than 150 early voters lined up outside Oak Park Village Hall for the first day of early voting. The line stretched along Madison Street and then down Lombard Avenue.

Hoping for turnout … and turning out

T

he Trump/Biden duel feeds today’s headlines, but history may see the more important battle to be between Trump and Dr. Anthony Fauci. The ignorant blustering leader versus the intelligent persistent scientist is a forerunner of democracy’s critical questions: How do we select our leaders and other representatives? In 2020, has our country’s Constitution locked us into governance by a fearful irrational minority who bend rules to stay in power?

Seeking answers in American history, I was gobsmacked to find that in his last years, Thomas Jefferson encountered a Dr. Fouchee, pronounced like Fauci. It concerned a political vacancy, but this blast from the past invites me to consider why we have an electoral “college” fostering ignorance, a Senate dominated by a minority, and a Supreme Court staffed capriciously with political supplicants and approved solely by that same Senate rather than the more representative House?

Jefferson kibitzed from France as his peers wrote our Constitution and wrestled with the question we face today: How do we put good men in positions of responsibility? While popular vote would have given the presidency to Al Gore and Hillary Clinton, the Electoral College gave it to George W. Bush and Donald Trump. Historical consensus places Bush’s administration among the worst in U.S. history and Trump’s will hardly be judged kindlier.

The Constitutional Convention’s task 230-plus years ago was to find rules for 13 colonies perched along the Atlantic seaboard to fend off European domination.

Some compromises, such as the 3/5ths count for the enslaved population made sense to them if it helped them hang together, rather than hang separately. That

rule is repugnant to us today, although if Donald Trump could order that mail-in ballots counted only 3/5th of a vote, he probably would. But we must ask whether our Constitution is a living document or just one that fearful judges can interpret to get results that enforce their blinkered upbringing.

The Supreme Court now has a majority of justices appointed by presidents who lost the popular vote but were empowered by the Electoral College. The current election will determine the Senate majority and do not be surprised if a close-vote Senate seat is decided by these justices.

Jefferson in his later years was upset that judges had life tenure.

Is the Constitution failing us or is it just old white men? Could our choice for president in 2024 come down to Nikki Haley versus Kamala Harris? Far stranger things have happened. Those playing the long game and staying behind the curtain invest in a diverse portfolio to keep control.

Living as I do in a liberal community in a “blue state,” where so many share dismay over Trump and Republican hypocrisy, it is hard to know how to influence the rural voter aligning with Trump. Aware as I am of limited progress on social issues over my lifetime and of the inevitable messiness of forthcoming changes in climate and demographics, I’m not comforted by Jefferson’s statement that “I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just.”

My hope is for turnout. Turnout that turns Trump out, turns fear-mongering senators out. Turnout that continues for mid-term elections, for local elections, for science seminars, for listening to others, for listening to silence and the silenced.

Jeff Petertil is a longtime Oak Park resident.

JEFF

PETERTIL One View

24

Wednesday Journal, October 28, 2020

O U R

V I E W S

Mental health and cops

H

ere’s a success in these dark days. Over a decade, our culture has made real headway cutting into the stigma around mental health treatment. It is still there. It still divides families. There are pockets where the stigma of seeking treatment remains stronger. African Americans are still less likely to seek help and there are far too few Black mental health practitioners.

Another hot spot for denial is police departments where there is reluctance to reach out for help even though policing is clearly a job that rachets up stress. And in a time of so much rightful focus on evolving policing to foster greater connection with citizens and active de-escalation in moments of conflict, the mental wellness of officers is paramount.

So good for Oak Park Police Chief LaDon Reynolds and the village board for bringing a new mental health program to the department. Using a third party, every officer in the department — and Reynolds counts himself among those officers — will take part in an evaluation session. Outcomes might range from a thumbs up to a practitioner urging an officer to keep talking with a professional. In rare circumstances, the third party might raise a red flag to the department.

This is an inexpensive approach to introducing mental wellness as an ordinary part of self-care for our police officers. We look forward to hearing more from the department as it evaluates the service being offered.

No right answer on schools

Three public school districts in Oak Park and River Forest. Each one attempting to thread the needle on how to educate our youngsters in the face of a COVID-19 pandemic determined to show us it remains in control.

We’ve been reporting since mid-summer on the many and changing plans school administrators and school boards have discussed, implemented, ditched and remade as they faced up to a resurgent COVID virus in our villages, tried to balance the real needs of families for some stable approach with the genuine concerns of teachers and staff for safe conditions.

This week we report on a new OPRF committee charged with forming a plan on remote and in-person learning. We also report that the District 90 public elementary schools in River Forest, who have faced their own drama in making these impossible choices, will now go fully remote for two weeks as cases rise sharply. And two weeks back, we reported on the District 97 Oak Park elementary school board taking the unusual step of detailing an administration plan to reintroduce a level of in-person classes sooner than later.

The conclusion? There isn’t a right answer. There is nothing approaching a consensus among school leaders, staff and parents on what the right mix might be. And especially given the abysmal federal leadership in knocking down COVID, the virus remains a moving target and an immediate threat.

The woman who saved Trinity Not quite 30 years ago, Trinity High School in River Forest was in real trouble. Enrollment was falling and ongoing talks about a merger with Oak Park’s Fenwick High School were hung up on the particulars of how to meld the two proud institutions into a co-ed Catholic school.

When Fenwick decided it would simply become a co-ed school, Trinity was left adrift and expectations of its closing were loud and clear.

That’s when Trinity’s board made the fateful choice to recruit Sr. Michelle Germanson, then a dean at neighboring Dominican University, to be its president. Germanson, one of the great positive forces we’ve encountered, made the bet to celebrate Trinity’s all-woman model but substantially upgrade its curriculum, grow a more diverse student body, and raise a lot of money.

She was all in on Trinity and her enthusiasm was a determining force in giving the school a new identity, a new sense of purpose, and always, a new sense of pride and fun.

V I E W P O I N T S

Wisdom to pull us through

W

ith one week till the election, many are tense and concerned about the outcome. So I thought some inspiration might be a balm for our nerves. The Sunday before last, my favorite radio show, On Being, focused on the late Howard Thurman, a minister and prolific author. Martin Luther King Jr., reportedly, always kept three publications close at hand: The Bible, The Constitution, and Thurman’s book, Jesus and the Disinherited.

That inspired me to look up some of his best-known quotes (thanks to GoodReads.com), which I offer here in the hope that they might help pull us through the perilous, nerve-wracking, week ahead.

routine. All imperialism functions in this way.

Keep alive the dream; for as long as a person has a dream in their heart, they cannot lose the significance of living.

(From “Meditations of the Heart”) Above and beyond all else it must be borne in mind that hatred tends to dry up the springs of creative thought in the life of the hater, so that their resourcefulness becomes completely focused on the negative aspects of his environment.

The urgent needs of the personality for creative expression are starved to death. A person’s horizon may become so completely dominated by the intense character of the hatred that there remains no creative residue in mind and spirit to give to great ideas, to great concepts. (From “Jesus and the Disinherited”)

KEN

TRAINOR

Whatever may be the tensions and the stresses of a particular day, there is always lurking close at hand the trailing beauty of forgotten joy or unremembered peace. (From “Meditations of the Heart”) Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive. (From “The Living Wisdom of Howard Thurman: A Visionary for Our Time”)

A strange necessity has been laid upon me to devote my life to the central concern that transcends the walls that divide and would achieve in literal fact what is experienced as literal truth: Human life is one, and all are members of one another. This insight is the hard core of religious experience.

(From “The Luminous Darkness”)

It’s a wondrous thing, that a decision to act releases energy in the personality. For days on end a person may drift There is something in every one along without much energy. Having no of you that waits and listens for the HOWARD THURMAN particular sense of direction and havsound of the genuine in yourself. It is ing no will to change. Then, something the only true guide you will ever have. happens to alter the pattern. It may be And if you cannot hear it, you will all of your life something very simple and inconsequential in itself. spend your days on the ends of strings that someBut it stabs awake, it alarms, it disturbs. In a flash, body else pulls. one gets a vivid picture of oneself, and it passes.

The result is decision. Sharp, definitive decision. In There are two questions that we have to ask ourthe wake of the decision, yes, even as a part of the selves. The first is “Where am I going?” and the secdecision itself, energy is released. The act of decision ond is “Who will go with me?” If you ever get these sweeps all before it, and the life of the individual questions in the wrong order, you are in trouble. may be changed forever.

Often, to be free means the ability to deal with the realities of one’s own situation so as not to be overcome by them. (From “For the Inward Journey”) There must be always remaining in every life, some place for the singing of angels, some place for that which in itself is breathless and beautiful.

If a man knows precisely what he can do to you or what epithet he can hurl against you in order to make you lose your temper, your equilibrium, then he can always keep you under subjection.

He recognized with authentic realism that anyone who permits another to determine the quality of his inner life gives into the hands of the other the keys to his destiny. (From “Jesus and the Disinherited”) If a person is convinced he is safe only as long as he uses his power to give others a sense of insecurity, then the measure of their security is in his hands. If security or insecurity is at the mercy of a single individual or group, then control of behavior becomes

Perhaps the life of a nation will be changed forever as well, if our decision is to vote to save our democracy. If we vote wisely and if our country undergoes a new birth of freedom as a result, we will be filled with renewed effervescence — as well as the satisfaction of knowing we have done something of immense importance, that we will have made a real contribution to something greater than ourselves.

If all turns out well on Election Day (or however long it takes to count the ballots), we can then look forward to the holidays, even though they will be much altered this year. Scaled back and smaller, they will be nonetheless more meaningful — if we embrace what Howard Thurman said: When the song of the angels is stilled, when the star in the sky is gone, when the kings and princes are home, when the shepherds are back with their flocks, the work of Christmas begins: to find the lost, to heal the broken, to feed the hungry, to release the prisoner, to rebuild the nations, to bring peace among the people, to make music in the heart.

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

by Marc Stopeck

Wednesday Journal, October 28, 2020

W E D N E S D A Y

JOURNAL of Oak Park and River Forest

Editor and Publisher Dan Haley Senior Editor Bob Uphues Staff Reporters Michael Romain, Stacey Sheridan, Maria Maxham Viewpoints Editor Ken Trainor Real Estate Editor Lacey Sikora Food Editor Melissa Elsmo Arts Editor Michelle Dybal Sports/Staff reporter James Kay Columnists Marc Blessoff, Jack Crow, Doug Deuchler, Linda Francis, Mary Kay O’Grady, Kwame Salter, John Stanger, Stan West Staff Photographer Alex Rogals Design/Production Manager Andrew Mead Designers Mark Moroney, Javier Govea, Debbie Becker Business Manager Joyce Minich Marketing Representatives Marc Stopeck, Lourdes Nicholls Sales & Development Mary Ellen Nelligan Circulation Manager Jill Wagner E-MAIL jill@oakpark.com Chairman Emeritus Robert K. Downs

Growing Community Media BOARD OF DIRECTORS Chair Judy Greffin Treasurer Nile Wendorf

Tell the Truth

It’s taken a “minute” for me to come to a decision about sharing details about an act of disobedience I’m committing. I was prompted spiritually, and rationally aided and abetted, by two men I have known near 30 years: Dr. Carl Spight, and Deacon Wiley Samuels — we go back.

We named ourselves AMENS group and formed a mentoring group some 23 years ago. Since that time, we have continued to advocate for the view that everyone in the community adds value to the community. Over the years we have participated in community policy-making activities, to helping children discover and use their gifts. But that’s another story.

The Veracity Project, sponsored by AMENS Group invites you to think about the importance of the phrase, “Tell the Truth.” The goal of communal action through dialogue is an old but venerable democratic tradition.

Whenever democracy is endangered by the intentional dismantling of its most critical functions and basic social practices, citizens are justified in responding to executive decision-making that puts us at risk.

We are taking this action to engage our community in authentic discussions about the rhetorical force the phrase “Tell the Truth” makes possible.

Our country is experiencing inflection points that could very well disable traditional mechanisms by which we have navigated our great “American Experiment.” The prospects of deepening and sustaining our “more perfect union” are increasingly imperiled, and the center posts of our democratic republic are in danger of being overthrown.

We are being challenged by four simultaneous pan-

Gary Collins, Darnell Shields, Sheila Solomon, Eric Weinheimer

About Viewpoints

PROVIDED

AMEN: (L-R) George Bailey, Wiley Samuels and Carl Spight demics: a highly contagious, deadly virus; an economic collapse exposing deep social disparities; the ravages of human-induced climate change; and the social split of a long-deferred racial reckoning.

Our current national leadership appears unable or unwilling to attend to the interests of the people. Our once-vaunted national decision-making apparatuses are in disarray. Intentional, misleading confusion has been weaponized to political ends. We need our government, and the politicians who serve it to be transparent and to “Tell the Truth.” How do we encourage and support them to do so?

Oh yeah, the disobedience part — you may see this phrase affixed to a few light poles around town.

George Bailey Oak Park

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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Wednesday Journal, October 28, 2020

OAKPARK.COM | RIVERFOREST.COM

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A bevy of Berwyn breakfasts Looking for a delightful way to start the day? Try coffee and Bloody Mary from Lavergne’s Tavern

The best way to the start the day is with a hearty breakfast

MELISSA ELSMO

Rise and shine hungry friends!

Berwyn is just to the south and ready to meet your early morning desires.

From pancakes to eggs and coffee to cocktails there is something for everyone to enjoy in Berwyn. Check out some of our recent discoveries!

Melissa Elsmo

The breakfast bowl and brunch burger from Lavergne’s Tavern.

Melissa Elsmo

Mission House Café:

Lavergne’s Tavern:

Known for serving up some serious burgers, street food inspired tacos and even decadent Chicagostyle eggrolls, Lavergne’s Tavern, 6546 Windsor Ave., also serves up a mighty fine brunch from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. every Sunday.

Whether you are looking to soak up some debauchery from the night before or dine while supporting the Chicago Bears, the brunch menu at Lavergne’s is not shy. Most menu items will fill your belly for the better part of the day.

Breakfast purists can order eggs and toast and health conscious diners can order the vegan skillet or avocado toast, but folks looking to splurge should check out the brunch burger or Food Writer

Fruit topped pancakes from Tastee Corner Café.

A breakfast array from Mission House Café.

Melissa Elsmo

Melissa Elsmo

loaded breakfast bowl. The brunch burger is a savory-sweet explosion featuring an all-beef patty served open faced on a bed of French toast. Topped with a smattering of cheese, maple syrup, bacon and a sunny side up egg the dish dabbles on the culinary dark side.

The loaded breakfast bowl features an assortment of breakfast meats, hash browns, veggies, eggs and a drizzle of house-made buttermilk ranch dressing.

Don’t forget a cocktail. Flavorful house made Bloody Mary mix forms the base for a classic breakfast cocktail garnished with celery and

skewer of pickles, olives and cheese — create your own chaser by ordering a 5-ounce beer to enjoy alongside the spicy drink.

Tastee Corner Café: Traditionalists will adore the timeless diner feel at Tastee Corner Café, 3207 Oak Park Ave. For the past eight years this family-owned joint in Berwyn’s Depot District has been churring out reliable breakfast favorites for folks working at the neighboring hospital or waiting to hop on the train.

Owners are particularly proud of their steak and egg options as well as their varied skillets.

The Mexican skillet, topped with eggs cooked to order, brims with chorizo, jalapenos, and cheese. Fruit topped pancakes will bring a smile to the young or young at heart.

Tucked inside a warm and welcoming home Mission House Café, 6818 W. 34th St., attracts guests with vintage charm, friendly service and a simple, yet confident, menu of morning fare.

The six-year-old business boasts tin ceilings, Edison bulb light fixtures and a whimsical mask-clad, wall-mounted faux deer head. In the space, customers work in the internet café while enjoying an array of gourmet coffee and espresso drinks like pumpkin spice lattes made with house-made syrup.

Hearty breakfast burritos come in two sizes to accommodate different appetite levels, while attractive oatmeal bowls topped with colorful fresh fruit appeal to health-conscious diners.

Barista, Z, enjoys working the collaborative environment and is proud to use the café to promote local artists and musicians. The café will host their next art pop up on November 7.

After expenses a portion of profits from sales at Mission House Café are donated to local and global organizations like Solutions for Care in North Riverside, among others.

Bananas and strawberries crown the oatmeal bowl at Mission House Café.

Melissa Elsmo

The Mexican skillet from Tastee Corner Café.

Melissa Elsmo

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Wednesday Journal, October 28, 2020

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We are not enemies, but brothers and sisters

espite our present divisions, we are deeply connected by our human experience. The solution to our polarization is in the basic fabric of our existence. We felt it as a country on 9/11, and as a world when Neil Armstrong walked on the moon. We are not the monsters our ideological opponents perceive, but neither are they the fools we suspect.

When we hold ideas so dear that they inspire hatred, those ideas are the enemy.

However, as Matthew preached, we must remove the beam from our own eye before we can see clearly to remove the speck from another’s.

Specifically, each of us must recognize that facts are facts; they include events, people, places, and times — the who, what, when and where. The “why,” however, is a conclusion, an interpretation, a narrative. It is an analysis arising from facts. It must be left open for debate because facts are facts, but narratives are not facts. In a democracy, compromise, statesmanship, and progress evaporate when we confuse them.

The media is partly to blame, having abandoned its critical role of informing our democracy, instead it has become entertainment. Its new purpose is to capture our attention to sell advertising. Cable “news” combines minutes of fact with hours of spin to support a narrative. Print and digital

media conflate fact and opinion, selling stories instead of information. Electronic partisan rags spawn colonies of divisive voices cheered on by commenters without accountability. Talk radio spews caustic opinions over airwaves or streams them as podcasts. Hearing our narratives validated keeps our attention, making content more valuable to advertisers at the expense of balance and the truth.

Special interests seize upon our division to advance their agendas, selectively focusing on facts and generating “motivated arguments.” Unions develop talking points for teachers, police, and pensioners seeking victory for leaders, portrayed as justice for workers. University professors rally students, pandering for relevance portrayed as social justice. The NRA, ACLU, AARP, BLM, MAGA, and other single-interest acronyms deliver dogma to politicians and media outlets. Corporations issue press releases rationalizing layoffs, pollution, and profiteering to protect and advance quarterly share prices. All see opportunity in division, neglecting long-term consequences.

In response, political parties focus on converting polarization to power rather than leading. The ends are thought to justify the means, but they don’t. They spin narratives

as fact to influence voters: wear masks or be free; kids in class or protect teachers; protest racism or condemn looting; kill babies or control women; a right to bear arms or stop school shootings.

Leaders announce a party line and members adopt it. Opponents react, substituting strategy for study.

Agendas develop that benefit only some. Elder statesmen seek common ground, but one party uses polarization to energize its base and the other must follow suit or devolve into irrelevance.

More recently, social media platforms have begun to monetize our divisions. Artificial intelligence accelerates our antagonism with algorithms that keep our attention by feeding us posts that fit our narrative, increasing screen time and dividing us into demographics. This creates an illusory world where almost everyone agrees with us.

Emboldened in our information bubbles by apparently overwhelming support, we announce our narratives in posts and reposts, tweets and retweets. Those few in our cyber world who disagree appear ignorant and divisive. Feeling heroic, we call opponents out as foolish, weak, blind, and amoral — even longtime trusted friends and family.

We convince no one who doesn’t already agree, but our opponents become increasing-

JOHN PHELAN One View

ly convinced that we are the ignorant, weak, delusional, and amoral. We stop listening, waiting for our turn to talk. Eventually we unfriend friends, stop seeing them socially, and transport our delusion to the real world, reinforcing our isolation.

Our isolation makes us increasingly vulnerable to manipulation, creating a vicious cycle that spirals us toward chaos. Enemies of democracy see us divided and invent facts to support our narratives, purposefully accelerating our division. Lies spread six times faster than truth because they are dramatic and enthusiastically support what we already believe. We repost and retweet them without critical thought or analysis.

Discernment long surrendered, we accept this disinformation as we did the earlier misinformation. The alternative is to admit that we have been blind at the top of our lungs.

Now a pandemic has hit, right when we feel most hopelessly divided. But hope springs eternal. Like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz, we have always had the power to click our heels and return to reality. We all simply need to stop substituting narrative for fact to realize that those around us are not our enemies, but our beloved brothers and sisters.

John Phelan, a River Forest resident, is a former member of the District 200 Board of Education.

ONLINE and IN PERSON options for Private Lessons for Language, Music and Academic Tutoring.

In Person option for 2020/21.

Multi-Age K-5th Grade “Homeschool in School“ program

The Language and Music School At International Mansion 509 N. Oak Park Ave., Oak Park, IL 60302 info@internationalmansion.com • (708) 524-5252 • InternationalMansion.com

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Wednesday Journal, October 28, 2020

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A few questions begging to be answered

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reetings, OPRF High School and community, It has been just a few weeks since the announcement of the verdict in the Breonna Taylor case. In these instances of racialized social injustice, historically an event happens, we react, and then move on with life.

This outcome, however, is another teachable moment in which we can all learn a bit more about ourselves and society in order to make us better. Upon hearing the Jefferson County grand jury announcement, I could not help but think about the notion of liberty and justice for all. We all know this espoused value is at the foundation of America’s promise but far too often, America falls short on the delivery of this promise at multiple levels.

When it comes to the Black American experience, relative to the relationship with policing and the legal system in our country, justice has historically been an inaccessible luxury. Global anti-Blackness as the social norm, particularly in America, is what creates the space for stark racial disparities to flourish. As we can see with the Breonna Taylor case and countless others, the racialized disparities in experiences with police interactions can hold life or death implications for Black Americans.

In thinking about justice, it is most certainly aligned with equity, as they are both outward expressions of fairness. At this time, our system has not held anyone accountable for the death of Breonna Taylor. This lack of accountability is a clear communication on the value of Black American life in the U.S, as the one indictment in this case is not related to Breonna’s death in any way. Our legal system, in this situation, has failed to offer the quality of fairness that justice and equity require.

This outcome has positioned us to ask ourselves “Do all Americans have equal protection under the law?”

As the conversation around police brutality, protests, and the value of Black American life continues in our country (and in our classrooms), it is important to consider the detrimental impact these lived experiences have on all of us. For people of color, the very real trauma and pain associated with these events maintain hostile academic and social environments for them to navigate. As for White Americans, messaging around the dehumanizing treatment of Black American people via social imagery, media, etc., perpetuates the lack of compassion and empathy that impedes progress toward authentic racial healing.

LEVAR AMMONS One View

SUBMITTED

Breonna Taylor mural, created by OPRF High School teacher Lavie Raven in Chicago’s Homan Square neighborhood.

The Breonna Taylor case is yet another heartbreaking example of why we need to continue the fight for racial equity in all of our social institutions. Here are some questions to ask ourselves every day as we strive to create a more just school and society for the students and people that we love. In answering these questions, I encourage you to think deeply about your answers and push beyond your initial reactions. Also, feel free to reach out to me with any questions you may have.

■ How have I contributed to the racial trauma that creates hostile environments for people of color?

■ Am I having authentic conversations with people that challenge my belief system relative to race relations in America?

■ How do my relationships and practices with people of color compare to my relationships and practices with people who are white?

Listed below are some resources to assist you in critically thinking about the impact of race on the lived experiences of people of color in America: Article: “This is the Casual Racism That I Faced at My Elite High School” Resource: Racial Healing Resource: Anti-Racist Reading List Article: “Ahmaud Arbery Could Have Been Me” LeVar Ammons, Ed.D, is executive director of Equity and Student Success at OPRF High School. This first ran on the OPRF website, oprfhs.org.

Thank you to all the OPRF businesses taking the COVID-19 Safety Pledge and keeping our community safe & healthy.

COVID-19 SAFETY PLEDGE Sponsored by:

Face Coverings

Clean Hands

Sanitation

Social Distancing

Public Health Guidlines

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Wednesday Journal, October 28, 2020

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Thoughts on class vs. caste New politicians instead of a new tax Michael Romain’s column, “What rights?” [News, Oct. 21] reports a decision by Devon Horton, superintendent of Evanston/Skokie School District 65, “to give students from marginalized groups first priority for seats in in-person learning and all other students would be taught remotely.” Horton received harsh reactions and threats for this decision.

The column got me thinking more broadly about the subject of human rights and how it seems to be so difficult to think at all objectively about our rights. How do we achieve balance between one person’s or group’s rights and those of another?

The subject seems to raise emotions to the boiling level. In the abstract, a liberal thinker can see the fairness in measures designed to correct the serious inequities in our society, but a concrete proposal such as Supt. Horton’s gets strong opposition. My questions: What is the threat?

What is the fear?

I have learned a lot from Isabel Wilkerson’s book, Caste: The Origins of our Discontents.

Wilkerson defines a caste system as “an artificial construction, a fixed and embedded ranking of human value that sets the presumed supremacy of one group against the presumed inferiority of other groups on the basis of ancestry and often immutable traits.” She distinguishes caste from class. Class is a measure of one’s standing marked by education, income, occupation, taste and manners.

She states: “If you can act your way out of it, then it is class, not caste.” Caste systems run deeper than class, or race, or gender, or other “isms.” The caste system is pervasive in society, expressed at levels ranging from the most extreme forms of oppression to more subtle forms of discrimination.

Wilkerson makes the important point that lower-caste achievement and success disrupts the social order and is seen as a threat to some upper-caste members. She gives many examples of lowercaste groups rising up in achievement in education and economic prosperity, only to be met by extreme oppression by the dominant upper caste.

We see this dramatically as we study the caste system of American slavery.

As our nation undergoes a “reckoning” with the history of slavery and the longlasting effects that remain with us, we find countless examples of the progress of the Black community, followed by destructive, intimidating violence by the more privileged majority.

What is it about seeing another person, or another group, get ahead that evokes such an anxious reaction? I believe we need to understand the deep, instinctual roots of caste behavior, be it racism, sexism, or any other “ism,” if we are to make progress toward the more equitable, humanistic, sane society that we long for.

Stephanie Ferrera

Faculty, Center for Family Consultation

We are told the solution to the problems in Springfield is the “Fair Tax.” I would suggest that what we need more than a new tax is new politicians. Illinois’ main problem isn’t that the state doesn’t have enough money. It’s that the people in Springfield don’t know how to use the money they already have — and haven’t known how to use it for years. Which is why we’re in the mess we are in.

Giving more money to the politicians we have now will not result in better programs and more things done well. It will, rather, result in more of what we already have: Poorly-run government that spends too much and accomplishes too little.

I am not saying Illinois government might not need more money to do the things that need to be

done. What I am saying is that the people we have in Springfield now couldn’t accomplish those things no matter how much money we give them.

For example, the problems we have regarding pensions are the result of really bad laws and really bad decisions made over a long period of time. Some of those bad decisions can’t be changed now and we have to live with them.

What we don’t have to live with is the politicians who were around when those decisions were made.

There is no reason to give Springfield more money until we have new people in Springfield who can properly use the money we give them.

Patrick Allen

River Forest

Memories of Father Hurlbert

Back in 2018, St. Valentine’s Day coincided with Ash Wednesday. In his homily at Ash Wednesday Mass, Father Jim Hurlbert, pastor of Ascension Church, connected the two occasions by speaking about the image of the Sacred Heart of Jesus to give us some new insight about faith as we started our Lenten journey. He suggested printing out an image of the Sacred Heart and putting it someplace where we could view it regularly. I printed out one for my bedroom and one for my desk at work, and to this day they remain in those places.

That sacred heart image was one of a few examples I can recall of thoughtful insights Father Hurlbert shared in his homilies during his time

as Ascension’s pastor.

Another fond memory I have of him was a year ago: After my Religious Education eighthgraders were confirmed, he stopped by our Tuesday evening class to follow up with the students.

He engaged them in a great conversation about what they experienced at Confirmation. It was an instance of how he offered such a wonderful pastoral touch.

Memories like those make me grateful for Father Hurlbert’s ministry at Ascension Parish.

Thank you, Father Hurlbert, and, as we say at the conclusion of Mass, thanks be to God.

Paul Rubio Oak Park

Time to make end-of-life health-care plans

The deadly COVID-19 crisis is heightening awareness of mortality among many of us, not just those who are elderly. Now is the time to make or update our health-care plans for the end of life. Such planning requires completing an advance directive and appointing a medical decision-maker (health-care proxy) to help

HEISE

Remembering Ginie’s warmth from page 23 asked the man if he knew that ice-cream trucks were not permitted to play music while in the village. He said he was not aware of that. She was prepared for that response and, to my amazement, handed him literature containing the wording of the ordinance that she just happened to have with her. She then said that the village was happy to have him doing business in Oak Park. He responded by saying he liked doing business in Oak Park.

Then very nicely, but clearly, she said that if he wished to continue doing business in Oak Park, he would have to follow Oak Park laws.

health-care providers honor our wishes for endof-life care if we cannot speak for ourselves.

Given the harsh reality that millions of people have lost their jobs since this pandemic started, and countless others have seen their income plummet, many people cannot afford to hire a professional to help them with end-of-

life care planning.

Fortunately, Compassion & Choices, a nonprofit, end-of-life care advocacy organization, has a free online COVID-19 toolkit available in English at CompassionAndChoices.org and in Spanish at CompassionAndChoices.org/informacion-del-covid-19. Free online webinars also

are available to help people understand the variety of matters that concern their end-of-life care options: CompassionAndChoices.org/ webinarseries.

People will find this resource very helpful.

Always wanting to end on a positive note, she reiterated that as long as he followed the rules, he was welcome here. I learned much on my first short car ride with her. I would learn much from her in this way over the next several decades.

These instances were quintessential Ginie. If it needed to be said, you could count on her to say it. If it needed to be done, you could count on her to do it. And whatever it was, you could also always count on her to say it or do it with kindness, understanding and respect.

I enjoy delivering Christmas wreaths during the holiday season to people who are special to me. One of my most cherished holiday memories over the last almost 40 years has been my annual visit to Ginie’s house to deliver her Christmas wreath to her. The wreath was an important part of

our tradition and an excuse for a long visit.

We would not only talk for hours, we did so in the warmest, coziest room in all of Oak Park — the Cassin den/reading room in the northwest corner of the first floor, just off the foyer. First, we would hang the wreath in the foyer above the entrance to the den and then spend the next couple of hours sipping tea or cider and talking about anything and everything in my favorite room. The entire house, but that room in particular, exuded Ginie’s warmth.

While she was still living in that house on Grove, I had an opportunity to bring my then 3-year-old granddaughter, Serafina, to visit. They really hit it off. Ginie showed Serafina the beautiful small rocking horse that Ginie rode on when she was a little girl and told Serafina that she could ride it.

Serafina was thrilled. A special connection

was made that day. When we were leaving and headed down the front steps, Serafina stopped, ran to the storm door and stuck her head in to give Ginie a last hug and said, “Ginie, I love your house.” Serafina felt the warmth of her home as much as I did. Somehow, I managed to record that moment and I have that recording to treasure.

Last year, we still managed to do a good job of keeping our tradition going. I had a wreath delivered to Ginie’s place in Minnesota and we talked on the phone for a long time. This year will be different but we got our long visit in by phone a few weeks ago, and I feel blessed for that. Happy Holidays, Ginie! Serafina and I can still feel your warmth.

Ray Heise is the former Oak Park Village Attorney and ex officio Cassin family member.

Catherine Marienau

Co-chair, Oak Park/Western Suburbs Action Team

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Wednesday Journal, October 28, 2020

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Unfair to Illinois taxpayers

olitical corruption and unfunded pension liabilities are “unfair to Illinois taxpayers”. Initiatives that address government ethics reforms or fiscal responsibility as gerrymandering, term limits or public pension obligations are not on the Nov. 3rd ballot.

These initiatives are stalled in Springfield and all attempts to get them on the ballot before the voters were rejected by the political party who controls the Illinois legislative and executive branches.

Commonplace in Illinois are news reports such as: Commonwealth Edison agrees to pay $200 million to resolve a federal criminal investigation into a years-long bribery scheme that included various associates of high-level Illinois elected officials.

Federal investigations continue as more pay-to-play schemes are uncovered in Cook County.

Illinois Lottery revenues do not make it into the classrooms; rather, it is eaten up by pensions.

The Illinois tollway system is available for lease to the highest bidder as the state seeks revenue for pensions.

RICK WILLIS

One View

Today, Illinois does not tax retirement income; however, this could change if a referendum on the Nov. 3 ballot passes.

This referendum promoted as “Fair Tax” would allow seniors’ social security and pension income to be taxed at rates greater than that of “billionaires and millionaires.”

Whenever a politician needs to coin a tax initiative you know it’s a “wolf in sheep’s clothing.” The Illinois state treasurer has confirmed the true legislative agenda behind this ballot initiative. In speaking before the Chamber of Commerce, the treasurer stated that if passed, “You can have graduated rates when you are taxing retirement income. And it’s something that’s worth discussion.”

Illinois retirement income should not be taxed — vote No on this referendum. The proponents of this new tax forget there are many states with no income tax, 49 with lower effective real estate tax rates and 44 with lower sales tax rates than Illinois.

Illinois Democratic senators and representatives should immediately pass legislation with the following measures (note: in Illinois only Democratic support is required since legislation can become law without a single Republican vote): ■ A tax rollback from 4.95% to 3.0% for individuals and 7% to 4.8% for corporations — an un-kept Springfield promise

from 2011. It will stem the flow of citizens who left Illinois, which exceeded 1.6 million between 2014 and 2018 along with businesses.

■ The tax rollback would be funded with savings resulting from structural reforms of state agencies driven by a cabinet level department managed by someone with business experience.

■ Adopt ethics reform to eliminate gerrymandering and the disenfranchisement of millions of Illinois citizens.

■ Increased mental health funding and elimination of the unpaid bills backlog to this safety network.

Furthermore, Illinois Democratic senators and representatives should adopt the following joint resolutions to be presented as referenda to voters at the next general election: ■ Pension reform that addresses the local real estate tax burden ■ Term limit ethics reform I agree with legislators from surrounding states that any request for federal bailout support be denied until Illinois implements state government ethics and structural reforms and gets its financial house in order.

If Illinois elected officials are not up to the task they need not seek re-election.

Richard Willis is a resident of Oak Park.

ANNUAL TREASURER’S REPORT Village Of River Forest • Fiscal Year Ending April 30, 2020 SUMMARY STATEMENT OF CONDITION General Fund

Beginning Balance Revenues/Trans In Expenditures/Trans Out Ending Balance

Special Revenue

Debt Service

Capital Project

Enterprise Fund

Trust & Agency 39,637,827

9,812,053

541,178

216,251

5,835,764

11,384,328

16,712,017

442,181

269,736

2,237,221

4,997,965

3,324,114

(16,319,765)

(398,475)

(259,461)

(2,896,277)

(4,458,645)

(4,538,918)

10,204,305

584,884

226,526

5,176,708

11,923,648

38,423,023

REVENUES BY SOURCE

Property Taxes 7,079,926, Utility Tax 580,871, Communication Tax 229,384, Non Home Rule Sales Tax 780,935, Other Taxes 277,917, State Income Tax 1,210,870, State Sales Tax 1,844,478, Motor Fuel Tax Allotments 412,265, Personal Property Replacement Tax 151,747, Cannabis Tax 2,355 Use Tax 406,340, Intergovernmental, Grants and Contributions 148,834, Licenses and Permits 1,799,425, Fines and Forfeits 1,043,459, Water Sales 2,996,567, Sewer Sales 1,927,463, Refuse 1,109,020, Parking Fees 191,414, Other Charges for Services 506,640, Investment Income 162,269, Sale of Assets 72,336, Miscellaneous 991,126, Transfers In 456,795, Bond Proceeds 525,000, Employer Contributions 3,075,798, Total Revenue 27,983,234

VILLAGE VENDOR PAYMENTS

Accela Inc #774375: 4315.00, AEP Energy: 19385.52, Air One Equipment Inc: 23147.89, Alternative Energy Solutions Ltd: 2522.14, Amity School Children’s Aid: 2500.00, Anderson Elevator Co: 4647.00, Andy Frain Services Inc: 95600.26, Aqua Fiori Inc: 5500.15, Arthur Clesen Inc: 4704.50, AT&T: 4422.37, AT&T Wireless: 4117.98, Avalon Petroleum Company: 67821.07, AVI Systems Inc: 90038.00, AXA Equitable Retirement: 131300.69, Axon Enterprise Inc: 6538.50, B&B Networks Inc: 8768.56, B&F Construction Code Services Inc: 97054.23, Baltic Networks USA: 12384.75, Baxter & Woodman: 14968.75, Bell Fuels Inc: 24162.22, Benistar/Hartford-6795: 131386.25, Best Technology Systems Inc: 2870.00, Bio-Tron Inc: 2910.00, BKD LLP: 38500.00, BLA Inc: 4645.41, Blackboard Inc: 8000.00, Brothers Asphalt Paving Inc: 652154.14, Bulat, Leonard M: 3075.00, Burke Engineering Ltd, Christopher B.: 3500.00, Caliber Collision: 6399.43, CALL ONE: 17700.13, CAMZ Communications Inc: 7115.00, Cargill Incorporated: 54882.84, Cassidy Tire & Service, Wm. J.: 2844.71, CDS Office Technologies Inc: 111888.88, CDW Government Inc: 6255.44, Certified Fleet Services Inc: 51675.03, Chicago Communications LLC: 3640.00, Chicago Title and Trust Co: 543000.00, Chicago Title and Trust Co: 353254.35, City of Chicago: 1467532.74, City of Chicago FMPS: 3976.00, City of Lake Forest: 2916.67, Clark Baird Smith LLP: 40076.25, Classic

Graphic Industries Inc: 2750.05, ClientFirst Consulting Group LLC: 145272.00, Comcast Cable: 4642.28, ComEd: 7996.32, ComEd: 40979.14, ComEd: 24538.59, Commercial Tire Service Inc: 6143.01, Conway, Linda: 4820.84, Cordogan Clark & Associates Inc: 22373.21, Core & Main LP: 52032.75, Cronin Enterprises LLC: 10317.34, Currie Motors: 38102.21, D’Alise, Melissa: 4000.00, Daly, Timothy & Anna: 4000.00, Datasource Ink: 7397.13, Davis Tree Care Inc: 85443.00, DCG Roofing Solutions Inc: 3878.50, De Lage Landen Financial Svcs Inc: 7412.41, Deep Roots Project: 6700.00, Denler Inc: 81457.68, Division 11 Mutual Aid Association: 10000.00, Dixon Engineering Inc: 28700.00, Economy Iron Inc: 7185.00, Eden Brothers LLC: 5495.00, Elevator Inspection Services Co Inc: 3240.00, Elmhurst Memorial Hospital: 5268.00, Emergency Medical Products Inc: 2700.18, Environment Mechanical Services Inc: 7800.00, Envirosafe: 5005.00, Ernst & Young US LLP: 15035.50, ESO Solutions Inc: 3734.70, Fifth Third Bank: 80780.02, Fishman, Maryanne: 3475.00, Fleet Safety Supply: 15678.36, Forest Park National Bank: 259461.00, Forest Park Stucco Inc: 3390.00, Forest Preserve Distr of Cook County: 12000.00, Fredriksen Fire Equipment Co.: 3608.10, Futurity19 Inc: 36865.00, Galls LLC: 4482.62, Gecko Robotics Inc: 5000.00, Genesis Employee Benefits Inc: 245810.11, Goodmark Nurseries LLC: 15401.25, GovHR USA LLC: 3087.00, GOVTEMPSUSA LLC: 12034.75, Graf Tree Care Inc: 4125.00, Great Lakes Concrete LLC/Susan Spriet: 3905.78, Greenwood Transfer LLC: 23612.46, Griffon Systems Inc: 6030.00, Gulbrandsen Ret., Hon. Perry J: 6000.00, H&H Electric Co: 168349.60, Hampson, Brett: 2735.00, Harmon, Jessica: 7500.00, Hawkins Inc: 3110.80, Hayes Mechanical: 12564.89, Health Inspection Professionals Inc: 15450.00, Healy Asphalt Company LLC: 4238.87, Homer Tree Care Inc: 28438.50, Honter Inc: 2550.00, Houseal Lavigne Associates: 48115.39, Ice Miller LLP: 5750.00, ICMA Retirement Corporation - 302614: 123256.13, Illinois Dept of Employment Security: 33372.54, Illinois Environmental Protection Agency: 917145.80, Illinois EPA: 5000.00, Illinois Fraternal Order of Police Labor Council: 14990.00, Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund: 403912.10, In & Out Fitness Inc: 5512.25, Infant Welfare Society: 2500.00, Insituform Technologies USA LLC: 142477.00, Intergovernmental

Personnel Benefit Cooperative: 1533318.72, International Union of Operating Engineers: 13594.71, International Union of Operating Engineers: 2665.50, Intren LLC: 29750.40, IRMA: 380508.58, Isaac Ray Forensic Group LLC: 6600.00, Jenn Sales Corp: 16071.79, JG Uniforms Inc: 7329.52, Kane, McKenna & Assoc Inc: 3625.00, Kelty Lawn Care: 6549.00, Kiefer, Patrick: 4000.00, Kiening, Arthur: 4000.00, Klein Thorpe and Jenkins Ltd: 211159.10, KLOA Inc: 29635.04, Lake Lathrop Partners LLC: 161629.24, Leyden Lawn Sprinklers Inc: 3488.35, Lyons & Pinner Electric Companies: 83337.05, McGill Construction Co LLC: 82600.00, MegaSecur Inc: 25173.46, Menards: 4193.79, MGP Inc: 41033.28, MidCity Plumbing Inc: 16750.00, Midwest Operating Eng-Pension Trust Fund: 22032.00, MOE Funds: 167075.00, Morbark LLC: 87431.00, Morrison Associates Ltd: 3000.00, Motorola Solutions - Starcom21 Network: 3351.35, Motorola Solutions Inc: 15639.90, MQ Sewer & Water Contractors Inc: 630342.10, Municipal Collection Services Inc: 20025.56, Municipal Systems Inc: 11400.00, MWM Consulting Group Inc: 4250.00, MYS Inc: 287128.82, NFPA: 2691.00, NG Plumbing Inc: 28000.00, North East Multi-Regional Training Inc: 12145.00, Northeastern Illinois Public: 3010.00, O’Herron Co. Inc, Ray: 27738.56, Old World Brick Paving: 12501.00, Ozinga Ready Mix Concrete Inc: 7739.70, Patten Industries Inc: 10537.20, Pete’s Automotive Service Inc: 39456.25, Piemonte National Fleet: 35120.00, Printing Store Inc, The: 3329.75, Promos 911 Inc: 2808.62, Radarsign LLC: 39936.00, Regal Business Machines Inc: 3962.17, Regional Truck Equipment Co: 28431.96, Resource Management Associates Inc: 3958.96, Response Graphics & Embroidery LLC: 14750.62, RFTC 1 Corp: 10883.28, River Forest Public Library: 16352.77, Russo Power Equipment Inc: 2640.97, Rydin Decal: 3626.33, Sarah’s Inn: 2500.00, Sebis Direct (Postage): 6462.83, Sebis Direct (Printing): 2853.09, Seeco Consultants Inc: 4814.00, SHI International Corp: 2954.13, Skincare - SC Inc: 9062.50, Springbrook Software LLC: 26819.00, St. Aubin & Bros Inc, Eugene A. de: 13980.00, Standard Equipment Company: 4010.74, State Disbursement Unit: 23880.62, State Treasurer: 347265.83, Stefl Inc, Tim: 6662.84, Steiner Electric Company: 3874.36, Stelton Motors: 5127.12, Sterling Codifiers Inc: 5659.00, Sternberg Lanterns Inc: 3807.00, Strada Construction Company: 65088.78, Strand Associates Inc: 17703.39, Strom Refuse Removal Inc, Roy: 1214992.71, Suburban General Construction Inc: 35359.41, Suburban Laboratories Inc: 3005.00, Superior Road Striping Inc: 41758.04, Sutton Ford Inc: 116434.00, TAPCO: 37151.77, Tetra Tech Inc: 3003.50, Third Millennium: 15395.23, Thomson Reuters-West: 3153.46, Thrive Counseling Center: 8500.00, TKB Associates Inc: 9032.25, Total Administrative Services Corp: 10082.35, Tower Works: 4760.00, Traditional Concrete Inc: 5815.00, Traffic Control & Protection Inc: 3328.15, Treasurer State Of Illinois: 94283.64, True North Consultants Inc: 5125.00, U.S. Geological Survey: 11250.00, Union Pacific Railroad Company: 6755.00, Unique Plumbing Company: 46600.00, Unique Products & Service Corp: 5583.76, United States Treasury: 1477828.60, US Digital Designs: 15776.14, Verde Sustainable Solutions: 7007.22, Verizon

OAKPARK.COM | RIVERFOREST.COM

The sucker amendment

Am I the only person who finds it disturbing that the misnamed “Fair Tax” is being promoted through ads fanning class warfare?

Speaking as a greedy irresponsible multimillionaire, I will admit that my effective Illinois state income tax rate last year was a paltry 1.33 percent. If the constitutional amendment passes, my effective tax rate on the identical income will be … 1.33%. Most of my income consists of retirement income, which Illinois does not tax.

Folks who are serious about addressing the state’s fiscal woes need to do four things: cut state spending, and I mean muscle and bone not just fat; get control over the public employee feeding-trough pension system; tax retirement income; and elect state legislators who have the cojones to do it. We could certainly have a rational discussion about a graduated tax system if the state got its finances under control.

Unfortunately, the constitutional amendment surrenders the taxpayers’ best control over the tax system in return for nothing. This amendment vote should be viewed as a negotiation between the taxpayers and the legislators. In a negotiation, the party who gives away the most valuable bargaining chip for nothing is, to quote our President, a sucker and a loser.

Bob Stigger

Oak Park

Wireless: 3930.38, Village of Forest Park: 21470.44, Village of Romeoville Fire Academy: 3850.00, W.S. Darley & Co: 3096.80, Warehouse Direct Inc: 6371.94, Webitects: 5605.00, Wednesday Journal Inc: 6929.00, Wentworth Tire Service Inc: 5088.32, West Central Municipal Conference: 15705.57, West Cook County Solid Waste Agency: 4718.00, West Suburban Consolidated: 458666.04, Wigit’s Truck Center: 17691.54, Wojack, Kimberly: 3356.25, Yard Crew, The: 14925.00, Zoll Medical Corporation: 23306.67, VENDORS PAID UNDER $2,500: 249699.35, TOTAL: 16297457.17

POLICE AND FIREFIGHTERS PENSION FUND VENDOR PAYMENTS

AndCo: 47740, Cook Castle: 9956, First Midwest Bank: 7127, Garcia Hamilton & Associates, L.P.: 21278, Illinois Department of Insurance: 7722, IRS: 495004, Karlson Garza, LLC: 11673, Lauterbach & Amen: 58310, Segall Bryant & Hamill: 10191, Wells Fargo: 8500, VENDORS PAID UNDER $2,500: 7665, TOTAL: 685166

VILLAGE PAYROLL

Under 25,000: Brown, Caballero, Daugherty, Fernandez, Fine, Finnegan, Flosi, Franco, Gomez-Morales, Hills, Monahan, Montiel, Newberry, Nolan, Pisciotto; 25,000 - 49,999: Carroll, Holguin, Monterubio, Morris, Rouse, Szcesny, Vaclav; 50,000 74,999: Bajak, Carlini, Cepak, Espana, Foytik, McNabb, Palm L, Phyfer, Pusave, Raymond, Sabia; 75,000 - 99,999: Balaguer, Basa, Boyer, Buchholz, Cassidy, Decosola, Heneghan, McKenna, Ostrowski, Pape, Petrulis, Pickens, Pluto, Radatz, Raddatz, Rose, Schwarz, Sheehan, Skoczek, Spears, Thomasino, Wiley, Zermeno; 100,000 – 124,999: Bencik, Bowman, Buckner, Casey, Cromley, Eberling, Fields, Fries, Grill, Howe A, Humphreys, Janopoulos, Krall, Landini, Murillo, Ransom, Seablom, Tagle; 125,000 and Over: Anderson, Bochenek, Bohlmann, Boyd, Carter, Czernik, Doran, Finfrock, Fischer, Greenwood, Howe E, Labriola, Loster, McAdams, O’Shea, Palm E, Scheiner, Smith, Swierczynski, Viera, Zipperich

POLICE AND FIREFIGHTERS PENSION FUND PAYROLLS

Under 25,000: Bauer, Daudelin, Marrocco, Petrulis, Rausch R, Sargent, Shuster A, Shuster R, Strauch; 25,000 - 49,999: Anstrand, Barth, Fahy, Hlavaty, Law D, Neault, O’Brien, O’Loughlin, Rausch P, Schejbal; 50,000 - 74,999: Bernahl, Blasco, Blesy, Carroll, Diebold, Ford, Galassi, Gerard, Gray, Katsantones, Lahey, Law M, Linden, Lombardi, Newberry, Novak, Riley, Schauer, Smith, Sullivan, Victor M, Warnock, Weiglein; 75,000 - 99,999: Barstatis, Bentel L, Bentel R, Daugherty, Dhooghe, Higgins, Jandrisits, Lidinsky, Ludvik, Maher, Powell, Rann, Rose, Rutz, Samuel, Stamm, Telkamp, Victor R, Vondracek, Witken, Zawacki; 100,000 – 124,999: Finnegan, Nortier, Nummer, Schoff, Weiss

V I E W P O I N T S

OAKPARK.COM | RIVERFOREST.COM

Wednesday Journal, October 28, 2020

31

I double-dog dare you to run for school board

D Hart family tradition

Here is my photo from October 1985 with nine pumpkins grown in my garden. Thirty-five years later, my three kids, Olivia, Madison, and William Hart, have grown 13 pumpkins, which they are selling for Housing Forward.

Here’s my original write-up in the DeKalb Chronicle, Oct. 29, 1985: “Betsy Hart, 6, of DeKalb shows off her nine pumpkins, each one complete with one or two missing teeth,

PUMPKINSHIP: The Hart kids are following in Mom’s footsteps. that she not only carved, but also grew herself in her backyard garden. Betsy will be displaying her pumpkins through Halloween which creeps in on Thursday.

Betsy and Alyssa Hart Oak Park

Early voting brings out people’s best I am volunteering along with several other women at the polls at Oak Park Village Hall.

Anecdotes each day and lots of rain on day five. The wait times have come down considerably since day one, and average about two hours.

I would like to give a shout-out to my fellow volunteers, especially Cathy Kestler, who escorted countless people through the accessible entrance up to first-floor voting, and the kind and respectful voters who greeted each other and made offers to help. Several surrendered their own chairs to give to someone else; two ran to the front of the line to aid a woman who collapsed; and inside Village Clerk Vicki Scaman and her deputy work tirelessly with the Cook County team.

In particular, Nathan, walked to Dunkin’ Donuts and purchased a carton of coffee and hot chocolate which he gave away to people in line!

Cynthia Breunlin Oak Park

oesn’t that sound like an awkward comingling of schoolyard antics with the important work of adult elected officials? It’s that time again. The next Consolidated General Election is April 6, 2021, and some of our best citizenry find themselves stuck with a tight monkey-bar grip above what’s becoming a playground instead of a playbook for academic excellence.

Awakened by a clearer understanding of educational uncertainty, yet paralyzed by a system pointlessly politicized. Adrift in its own sea of acronyms, and more recently made unattractive by a handful of bullies. Fear is favored to win this election cycle, and I want to shine light on one place it’s hiding.

That dark corner is the River Forest District 90 Caucus. My facts and any bias come from being a 2019 candidate.

Caucus needs defining so we’re connecting on the same point. Today, Webster says it’s a closed meeting of a group of persons belonging to the same political party or faction usually to select candidates or decide on policy. There’s just one closed group for D90 and it’s the only faction secretly operating to influence elections among all five of River Forest’s elected boards. Oak Park’s District 97 and 200 don’t use a caucus.

Not a politician, I was versed in the overhaul of curriculum and instruction underway but hadn’t explored the dark corners of the playground. Advanced warning suggested the caucus was an invisible long arm of the school board and this squared with two early findings. First, it has a history of endorsing incumbents, odds that begin to wear on the notion of neutrality. Second, the 2019 caucus chair was recruited by an existing board member. Coincidence? Perhaps, but unlikely given the pattern.

The chairperson this cycle was both 2019 caucus delegate and campaign manager for one winner last cycle. I know, I was the lone opponent on the twoyear ticket and target of a contemptible campaign. It played out through insolent email blasts, stinging social media

and even fake rumors that entangled school officials. The attacks kept attention off education at a time when more is needed.

Probably worse, the behavior of bullies stands as a deterrent today to those considering candidacy. Nobody dared me to run; I was volunteering for civic duty.

To be fair, years ago I remember caucus organizers first working publicly to create a pool of candidates. Now the focus seems to be furthering support for an agenda using a top-secret interview. Mine was scheduled for February, and as skepticism brewed, I ask about a governing document. After all, “they” wanted me to come sit for a many-on-one interview where the questions, questioners and my answers would all remain confidential.

Afterward, this faction would transmit an endorsement to this paper where readers might confuse it with something resembling democracy. Request denied.

This year is different. A caucus website has a bottom link to the “constitution.”

You won’t find the names of caucus delegates, no plans to live-stream or post recordings of candidate interviews. Most disconcerting is a schedule that should limit candidate participation.

Last cycle, the caucus began interviewing candidates in February, months after the Cook County Board of Elections December filing deadline. This cycle, organizers are using an early caucus “application deadline” to ward off participation, and an interview schedule concluding in October. They’ll pick their winner months before the Dec. 21 candidate filing deadline. What’s so important to this group that the current board won’t condemn anti-democratic behavior?

I can smell a charge of “sour grapes,” and that’s OK. What isn’t OK is how frequently it’s been said, “I wouldn’t consider running after what happened to you.” If fear wins, then we all continue to lose.

Now more than ever our students and communities need democracy. We need cohesion over coercion.

District 90, I dare you to abolish the caucus.

STEVE LEFKO

One View

The cost of charging for parking

PROVIDED

DOING THEIR PART: Volunteers are doing their best to make early voting a more pleasant experience.

I think Oak Park and Forest Park are hurting restaurants and businesses by charging for parking. Neither Elmhurst nor Downers Grove charge and both have very good dining choices. My wife and I eat out very often and rarely frequent Oak Park and Forest Park restaurants.

Rich Ingersoll

Melrose Park

32

Wednesday Journal, October 28, 2020

OAKPARK.COM | RIVERFOREST.COM

V I E W P O I N T S

What it will take to vote Trump out

J

udging from the rising number of deaths and new COVID-19 infections over the past few weeks, it is obvious that President Trump’s “herd immunity” plan, survival of the fittest, is working. Although he considers himself Superman, Trump is just as susceptible to the horrible effects of the virus as the rest of us are. Now that he has endured a mild case, he believes he is immune to a recurrence.

Science and the doctors disagree with him.

If he does not take precautions, he is subject to re-infection. He will probably not make it public, but Trump will take the necessary precautions for himself and “to hell with the rest of us seniors and vulnerable folks.”

Next to Hitler’s regime, Trump’s leadership is the most vicious and selfish “king style” in history, and we’re all his pawns.

As a teenager, I was an American History nerd. Democracy, as described in my books, was an exciting experiment in government.

For me, the Constitution was a sacred guide and the Supreme Court was the epitome of fairness and justice. I was naive in my belief that most people, regardless of race, religion, or creed, followed rules. It seemed ideal, safe, and secure. Justice reigned for all. By the time I entered high school, these rosy ideas were shattered, and were even more severely shattered by the Second World War, and now Trump’s U.S.A. Trump’s deliberate herd immunity plan, successful or not, can be added to his tragic “legacy” of destruction and dishonor to the office of President of the United States.

His persistent lying; his encouragement of environmental abuses, allowing big business to pollute our air, land and water; his illegal business deals; his total obedience to Russia; his so-called “law and order” policy, using his own militia to intimidate those legally protesting and marching; his illegal obstruction of our safe elections; his acts of racial discrimination; his public pronouncements against immigrants; his hate for his opponents; and his lack of empathy for war heroes and all those who have fought for our country, not to mention (which he doesn’t) those who have lost homes and lives in the wild fires and floods, and for those who have suffered because of the pandemic — all of this will forever be attributed to his legacy of failed and destructive leadership.

Trump is also invalidating our Constitution and our nation’s foundational rights with his emphasis on division instead of inclusion between rich and poor, whites and people of color, immigrants and citizens, and the political parties. The expression “reaching across the aisle” is an impossibility today because Republicans and Democrats are so divided. Unfortunately, Republicans are further divided between “Trumpers” and the proponents of the once proud conservative party. We, the general public, are watching the horror of our nation being torn apart.

Our judicial system is also being destroyed by his power madness. With the compli-

ance of his Republican Senate Trumper puppets, he is trying to establish himself as dictator for life, packing almost 200 Federalist judges and now another justice to the Supreme Court, his third appointee. One of the significant reasons Trump desires that Judge Barrett be placed on the Supreme Court is his devious plan to invoke the court to decide the election in his favor if Biden wins. The Constitution never intended the Supreme Court to decide election results. Voters are meant to decide the election.

Our once fairly impartial Supreme Court is now in jeopardy. I’ve watched the so-called Supreme Court hearings featuring Amy Coney Barrett, Trump’s rushed selection to fill the seat that the Honorable Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Aside from the fact that this nomination should not have been proposed so close to the national election, Ms. Barrett should be disqualified because she has written and made public statements expressing her bias against the Affordable Care Act and also her position against abortion for any reason.

These two issues will be debated soon in the Supreme Court.

When Senator Amy Klobuchar asked Judge Barrett if she’d recuse herself from the court if the issues under discussion were relative to her previously stated positions, she refused to answer.

I question whether she was purposefully insulting the knowledge of her audience, or if her thinking was muddled. In the hearings, Barrett wouldn’t even answer questions rooted in well-established law and unrelated to her position on court issues.

The Democratic Senators were extremely frustrated, not receiving answers as to her eligibility. Whatever happened to plain and straightforward truth? This entire “hearing” was shameful, a charade for public viewing, demeaning of our intelligence.

It should be noted that the last time the Supreme Court was invoked to decide an election was during the Bush-Gore fiasco.

Florida was the state in question, performing two vote recounts, each having different results. Instead of another recount, it headed to the Supreme Court. Two of our presentlyseated Supreme Court justices, Roberts and Kavanaugh, along with Ms. Barrett, were all involved, and were photographed together when George W. Bush was awarded the Presidency. This speaks volumes as to why Trump chose Judge Barrett for the vacant Supreme Court seat and his rush to do so.

If Biden wins by a narrow margin, Trump’s packing the Supreme Court to assure his return to the Presidency could be successful. We can stop this scenario if Biden gets an overwhelming majority of the votes. We’re all anxious to end the pandemic with guidance and advice from scientists and doctors. We also want to tackle our multiple problems without the chaotic, fearful, Trump atmosphere. Let us all get this done, Independents, Democrats, and true Republicans, and vote President Trump out, permanently.

HARRIET HAUSMAN One View

O B I T U A R I E S

Charlotte Lee, 90 Teaching, administration and civic engagement

Charlotte Elizabeth Outland Lee, 90, died on Oct. 12, 2020, at her home in Oak Park, surrounded by her family. One of 13 children, born to Ellis and Rosie Outland of Boligee, Alabama, on July 13, 1930, she grew up on the family farm, graduated with honors from Greene County Training School, and earned the following degrees: a B.S. in Chemistry and Mathematics (Knoxville College), an M.S. in Food Chemistry and Nutrition (Tuskegee Institute), and a PhD in Biochemistry (University of Kansas). She also published numerous research papers in scientific journals.

She became an assistant or associate Professor at the University of Kansas, Alabama A&M University, Nassau Community College (New York), Southern Illinois University and Triton College (Illinois), from which she retired in 1995 after serving several years as the Science Department chairperson.

An active member of Unity Temple Unitarian Universalist Congregation in Oak Park, for 41 years and a devout Christian, she was a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, the Society of Sigma Xi, Chi Sigma Honorary Biological Society, Alpha Kappa Mu Honor Society, the American Association of University Professors, the American Chemical Society, and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

In addition to being a full-time teacher and administrator, she was passionate about her involvement in civic, educational and church activities. She volunteered at school science clubs, judged school science fairs, served as a local election poll worker, and was a champion for local school bond issues.

In 1959, Charlotte married Ralph H. Lee, a fellow graduate student and PhD candidate in Chemistry. Their 61-year marriage produced four daughters, five grandchildren and one great-grandchild. She drove her four daughters to music lessons, recitals, theater rehearsals, Girl Scout meetings and Sunday school. In spite of the many things that demanded time in her life, it was always important for her to be a very present and positive influence in her daughters’ lives.

She loved to travel, had a vibrant personality and a clever sense of humor, was compassionate but stubborn when warranted, and was dearly, fully loved.

Charlotte is survived by her husband, Ralph; her four daughters, Krystal Stankowski (Denis), Karla Baldwin, Rachel Innis, and Rosalind Lee; her sister, Janie O. Huddleston; three brothers, Benjamin A. Outland (Doris), Wiley J. Outland (Cathy), and Thomas C. Outland (Dianne); five grandchildren, Evanne

Johnson (John), Alexander Innis, Sydney Stankowski, Olivia Baldwin, and Stacey Stankowski; one great-granddaughter, Adrina Johnson; and a host of other relatives and friends.

In lieu of flowers, contributions can be made in remembrance of Charlotte, to one or more of the following organizations: Tuskegee University (www.tuskegee.edu), the United Negro College Fund (www.uncf.org), the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (www.naacp.org), and the Alzheimer’s Association (www.alz.org).

Access to her Zoom memorial service on Saturday, Nov. 7, 2020, may be obtained by request at rhlee@comcast.net.

Doris Gruskin, 102 Worked until she was 99

Longtime Oak Park resident, Doris Markman Gruskin, 102, died peacefully on Oct. 22, 2020 at Belmont Village. She lived in Oak Park since childhood, attending the former Hawthorne School (now Julian Middle School) and Oak Park and River Forest High School. She graduated from Purdue University with a degree in textile science.

Over the decades, she showed remarkable dedication to the Oak Park community. A past president of the sisterhood at West Suburban Temple Har Zion and director of the Oak Park Senior Center at the Oak Park Arms, she also served on the Oak Park Arts Council and the Brandeis University Women’s Organization.

She retired from her position as the part-time activity director at the Montclare Senior Residences of Galewood at age 99.

She will be remembered for her kindness, friendship, and zest for life. She enjoyed spending time with her family in Colorado and New Jersey and attending weddings and bar and bat mitzvahs of her grandchildren, greatnieces and great-nephews and extended family. One of her recent highlights was dancing at her granddaughter, Rachel Lutz’s wedding in Breckenridge, Colorado at an elevation of 10,000 feet. She was an avid reader and loved her monthly book club, which lasted for decades.

Doris is survived by her daughter, Nancy Warner; her son, Mark Gruskin; her grandchildren, Abigail Warner, Rachel Lutz (Zach) and Yoni Gruskin; and her great-grandson, Jude Lutz. She was preceded in death by her husband, Alex Gruskin; her brother, Charles (the late Gloria) Markman; and her sister, Selma (the late James) Shamberg.

Contributions in her memory may be made to West Suburban Temple Har Zion, 1040 N. Harlem Ave., River Forest, IL 60305; the Brandeis Fund, Brandeis University, 415 South Street, MS 126, Waltham, MA 02453; or the Oak Park Area Arts Council, 123 Madison Street, Oak Park, IL 60302.

Wednesday Journal, October 28, 2020

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

YOUR WEEKLY AD

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

WEDNESDAY

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HOURS: 9:00 A.M.– 5:00 P.M. MON–FRI

Deadline is Monday at 5:00 p.m.

Please Check Your Ad: The publisher will not be responsible for more than one incorrect insertion.

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The newspaper reserves the right to edit or reject any advertisement.

Place your ad online anytime at: www.OakPark.com/ClassiďŹ ed/

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HELP WANTED

ONLINE ORIENTATION FOR PERSONAL ASSISTANTS Become a Personal Assistant and support people with disabilities.

Progress Center is offering free, online personal assistant orientations throughout the month of October.

Orientation dates include October 17, October 24 (Spanish Language), October 25, and October 30. After completing the orientation, you will be eligible to work with people with disabilities at $13.48 an hour. For more information, contact Rhychell at rbarnes@progresscil.org

PART TIME DRIVER

HELP WANTED CASHIER/RECEPTIONIST Looking for a detailed oriented individual with dealership experience.

Alternate Saturday schedule, must be exible. call 708-848-8500 BILINGUAL CCP SUPERVISOR Sahara Homecare is hiring a Bilingual CCP Supervisor for the Melrose Park location. We provide homecare services to seniors through the state-funded Community Care Program. Duties for the position include managing both homecare aides and client cases.

Requirements -Able to communicate in both Spanish and English -Minimum High School Diploma -Familiarity with Microsoft OfďŹ ce including Excel -Strong written and verbal communication skills Please send your resume to Human Resources Coordinator Habeeba Nazneen at: habeeban@saharahomecare.com.

For more information on job opportunities, please visit https://saharahomecare.com.

ELECTRICIAN’S HELPER PART-TIME Part-time Electrician’s Helper.

Must have own transportation.

Call for more info.

708-738-3848 HAPPY KIDD’S WEST INC. 6928 W 16th St Berwyn, IL 60513 We are seeking a Director and 2 teachers. Director must be qualiďŹ ed and have Associate’s degree or equivalent. Teachers must be director or teacher qualiďŹ ed. Mon thru Fri. working with Infants to 6 yrs old. Compensable salary negotiable based on experience.

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

TEACHER AND TEACHER AIDE MINI ME BUNCH seeks teacher and teacher aide to enhance and expand daycare serving children ages 6 weeks to 5 years. Teacher must have at least Associates’ degree in Early Childhood Education. Minimum 1 year experience preferred in each position. Must love children and be outgoing, patient, exible.

Contact 773-521-9499.

Advertise in Wednesday Classified.

Call 708/613-3342

Local Co looking for Part time Driver.

Must be able to lift 75lbs, Valid Drivers License.

Hours 6 am til 12 pm.

Email HR@sievertelectric.com

SUBURBAN RENTALS FOREST PARK 3BR Jackson Blvd, 3 BR apt., 2nd oor w/dining room and breakfast nook.

New kitchen w/granite & stainless, new bath, central air, free laundry. 2 blocks to blue line, 2 blocks to Madison Street. 1700 + deposit & credit check required. Garage available.

312-802-8291 OAK PARK 2BR 2BA CONDO Condo for rent on a great location near downtown oak park: 2 bedroom 2 bath condo, only electric bill not included. $1400 a month, $1400 deposit. For more information please call 224-475-7929.

OFFICE SPACE FOR RENT RIVER FOREST–7777 Lake St. *1116 sq. ft. suite *569 sq. ft. with patio OAK PARK–1053 Lake St. *Entire 3rd Floor, 1275 sq. ft.

OAK PARK– 6142-44 Roosevelt Rd. *3 and 5 room office suites Strand& & Browne Strand Browne 708-488-0011 708-488-0011

COMMERCIAL/ RETAIL SPACE A RETAIL SPACE FOR LEASE IN A 6-SPACE SHOPPING CENTER: 1600 Sq Ft. • 321-B S. Harlem Ave./Madison St. area – Forest Park, IL. • Very Good Condition – Recently Updated. • Heavy foot/road trafďŹ c area. • End space. 45-Space Parking Lot! • For more details: Serious Inquiries ONLY: CALL/TEXT, at: Or: D.B. (708)828-6491

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

ď ? ď ? ď ? ď ? ď ? ď ? ď ? ď ? ď ?

SUBURBAN RENTALS

SUBURBAN RENTALS

M&M

property management, inc.

708-386-7355 • www.mmpropmgt.com 649 Madison Street, Oak Park Contact us for a complete list of available rentals throughout Oak Park and Forest Park.

Apartment listings updated daily at:

GARAGE/YARD SALES Oak Park

GARAGE SALE 1234 KENILWORTH SAT 10/31 8AM TO 3PM

Assorted items—not to be missed!

Riverside

GARAGE SALE 715 ARLINGTON ROAD SAT 10/31 9AM TO 2PM

Items include furniture, lamps, DVD/ Blue Ray movies, video games, bedding, kitchen items, and many other great ďŹ nds. No early birds and please wear your mask.

ITEMS FOR SALE BENCH PRESS WITH WEIGHTS Set includes (4) 3 lb weights; (9) 5 lb weights; (7) 10 lb weights; (2) 50 lb weights together with poles. $79.00 708-488-8755 COLLECTION ITEM LLADRO STUDIOS About 30 years old. Madonna and Child by Martinez. No. 11. Inscribed in sculpture. Brown porcelain, approx. 2 ft tall. $651.00 708-488-8755 FISH TANK AND STAND 75 gallon ďŹ sh tank and stand $50.

(630) 697-1739 CHERRY WOOD CHAIRS Two beautiful cherry wood chairs with leather seats. $60.00 ea.

FAN $20.00 AUDIX SPEAKERS Two new Audix speakers. $60.00 ea.

Call Nell 708-383-7892 SMALL METAL FILE CABINET 13�w x 30�h x 10�d. 6 skinny drawers.

708-488-8755

CEMENT

CEMETERY PLOTS 4 FOREST HOME CEMETERY PLOTS 4 Forest Home cemetery plots available together or separately. Garden Sec. 61, Lot 342-A spaces 1,2,3,4. $1800 each, transfer costs not included.

Call 847-468-0013 and leave message

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

Call Uncle Gary 708-522-3400

PETS While you’re away, your pets are okay . . . at home

cat calls

Oak Park’s Original Pet Care Service – Since 1986

Daily dog exercising Complete pet care in your home )PVTF TJUUJOH t 1MBOU DBSF Bonded References

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Call 708-6133342 to place an ad.

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C O N C R E T E C O N S T RU C T I O N

ELECTRICAL Ceiling Fans Installed

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FLOORS KLIS FLOORING INC.

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

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34

Wednesday Journal, October 28, 2020

CLASSIFIED

OAKPARK.COM | RIVERFOREST.COM

(708) 613-3333 • FAX: (708) 467-9066 • E-MAIL: CLASSIFIEDS@OAKPARK.COM | CLASSIFIEDS@RIVERFOREST.COM

HEATING/ AIR CONDITIONING

Let the sun shine in...

Public Notice: Your right to know In print • Online • Available to you 24/7/365

HEATING AND APPLIANCE EXPERT Furnaces, Boilers and Space Heaters Refrigerators Ranges • Ovens Washer • Dryers Rodding Sewers Lic/Bonded 25 yrs experience

FREE SERVICE CALL WITH REPAIR AND SENIOR/VETERAN DISCOUNT.

708-785-2619 or 773-585-5000

PAINTING & DECORATING CLASSIC PAINTING Fast & Neat Painting/Taping/Plaster Repair Low Cost

708.749.0011

PLASTERING McNulty Plastering & Stucco Co.

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

PUBLIC NOTICES PUBLIC NOTICE Notice is hereby given, pursuant to “An Act in relation to the use of an Assumed Business Name in the conduct or transaction of Business in the State,” as amended, that a certification was registered by the undersigned with the County Clerk of Cook County. Registration Number: Y20004736 on October 6, 2020 Under the Assumed Business Name of MARISSA KELLEY VIRTUAL ASSISTANT with the business located at: 1410 N 12TH AVE APT 2, MELROSE PARK, IL 60160. The true and real full name(s) and residence address of the owner(s)/partner(s) is: MARISSA MARIAH KELLEY 1410 N 12TH AVE APT 2, MELROSE PARK, IL 606160, USA Published in Forest Park Review 10/21, 10/28, 11/4/2020

PublicNoticeIllinois.com • OakPark.com | RiverForest.com PUBLIC NOTICES

PUBLIC NOTICES

PUBLIC NOTICES

PUBLIC NOTICES

NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING ON THE VILLAGE OF RIVERSIDE’S PROPOSED BUDGET FOR FISCAL YEAR 2021

NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING Park District of Oak Park November 5, 2020, 7:30 p.m.

NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN to all interested parties that the President and Board of Trustees of the Village of Riverside, Illinois will hold a public hearing on Thursday, November 5, 2020, at 7:00 p.m. in Riverside Township Hall Auditorium (2nd Floor), 27 Riverside Road, Riverside, Illinois, 60546 on the Tentative Annual Budget for the 2021 fiscal year of the Village of Riverside, Illinois, commencing January 1, 2021, and ending December 31, 2021.

Notice is hereby given that the Board of Commissioners of the Park District of Oak Park will conduct a public hearing concerning the adoption of the Park District’s 2020 Property Tax Levy on November 5, 2020, at 7:30 p.m. at the Hedges Administration Center, 218 Madison St, Oak Park, IL, during the Board of Commissioners’ committee of the whole meeting.

PUBLIC NOTICE Notice is hereby given, pursuant to “An Act in relation to the use of an Assumed Business Name in the conduct or transaction of Business in the State,” as amended, that a certification was registered by the undersigned with the County Clerk of Cook County. Registration Number: Y20004939 on October 20, 2020 Under the Assumed Business Name of BLACK FAVES with the business located at: 4508 IDLEWILD LANE, HILLSIDE, IL 60162. The true and real full name(s) and residence address of the owner(s)/partner(s) is: TANISHA BLAKELY 4508 IDLEWILD LANE, HILLSIDE, IL 60162, USA.

LEGAL NOTICE ZONING BOARD OF APPEALS RIVER FOREST, ILLINOIS Public Notice is hereby given that a public hearing will be held by the Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) of the Village of River Forest, County of Cook, State of Illinois, on Thursday, November 12, 2020 at 7:30 p.m. in the First Floor Community Room of the River Forest Village Hall, 400 Park Avenue, River Forest, Illinois on the following matter:

Published in Forest Park Review 10/28, 11/4, 11/11/2020

Section 4-8-5 of the Village Code provides the Zoning Board jurisdiction to hold public hearings and offer recommendations to the Village Board concerning variations to Zoning Ordinance.

Public comments on the Proposed Annual Budget are welcome at the public hearing. Emailed comments may be sent to Village Treasurer Karin Johns at kjohns@riverside. il.us. Written comments may be submitted to the attention of the Village Clerk at 27 Riverside Road, Riverside, Illinois. Emailed or written comments should be submitted prior to 5:00 on November 5, 2020.

While emailed or written comments are strongly encouraged, comments may also be made in person. Physical spacing will be observed, and public access to the physical meeting site may be limited due to the ongoing public health emergency, but public commenters will be accommodated.

The Proposed Annual Budget will be available for public inspection on and after, October 15, 2020 at the Finance Department of the Village of Riverside, Illinois, 27 Riverside Road, Riverside, Illinois, 60546 from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., Monday through Friday, except on Tuesday, November 3, 2020, when Village offices will be closed to the public, and for any day being a legal holiday.

Disabled persons needing assistance to attend said hearing should contact the Office of the Village Clerk before the hearing by calling (708) 447-2700.

Said hearing may be continued without further notice except as required by the Illinois Open Meeting Act. The tentative annual budget may be further revised and passed without any further notice or hearing.

PRESIDENT AND BOARD OF TRUSTEES VILLAGE OF RIVERSIDE, ILLINOIS By: Cathy Haley Village Clerk Published in RB Landmark 10/28/2020

Illinois Classified Advertising Network WANTED TO BUY

FREON WANTED: We pay CA$H for cylinders and cans.

R12 R500 R11 R113 R114. Convenient. Certified Professionals.

Call 312-598-1758 or visit RefrigerantFinders.com

OakPark.com | RiverForest.com

2020 Tax Levy

By: Commissioner Chris Wollmuth Secretary, Board of Commissioners Park District of Oak Park Published in Wednesday Journal 10/28/2020

PUBLIC NOTICE Notice is hereby given, pursuant to “An Act in relation to the use of an Assumed Business Name in the conduct or transaction of Business in the State,” as amended, that a certification was registered by the undersigned with the County Clerk of Cook County. Registration Number: Y20004905 on October 14, 2020 Under the Assumed Business Name of VONLONGMIRE with the business located at: 1639 N. LOREL AVE., CHICAGO, IL 60639. The true and real full name(s) and residence address of the owner(s)/partner(s) is: DAVONTE LONGMIRE 1639 N. LOREL AVE. CHICAGO, IL 60639, USA. Published in Wednesday Journal 10/21, 10/28, 11/4/2020

PUBLIC NOTICE Notice is hereby given, pursuant to “An Act in relation to the use of an Assumed Business Name in the conduct or transaction of Business in the State,” as amended, that a certification was registered by the undersigned with the County Clerk of Cook County. Registration Number: Y20004886 on October 14, 2020 Under the Assumed Business Name of ETEACH UEXCEL with the business located at: 2027 S. 17TH AVE. APT. 5, BROADVIEW, IL 60155.

The true and real full name(s) and residence address of the owner(s)/ partner(s) is: CHERIAMOR HOUSTON 2027 S. 17TH AVE. APT. 5, BROADVIEW, IL 60155, USA. Published in Forest Park Review 10/21, 10/28, 11/4/2020

PUBLIC NOTICE River Forest Park District Cook County, Illinois “Notice of Availability” Annual Statement of Receipts and Disbursements Fiscal Year Ended April 30, 2020.

The River Forest Park District has the Annual Statement of Receipts and Disbursements on file at Park District Headquarters, 401 Thatcher Avenue, River Forest, IL 60305. It will also be on our website at www. rfparks.com Published in Wednesdsay Journal 10/28/2020

PUBLIC NOTICE Notice is hereby given, pursuant to “An Act in relation to the use of an Assumed Business Name in the conduct or transaction of Business in the State,” as amended, that a certification was registered by the undersigned with the County Clerk of Cook County. Registration Number: Y20004951 on October 20, 2020 Under the Assumed Business Name of FLAWEDDBLACK with the business located at: 8141 S INGLESIDE AVE, CHICAGO, IL 60619.

The true and real full name(s) and residence address of the owner(s)/ partner(s) is: THENIKA NEELY, 8141 S INGLESIDE AVE, CHICAGO, IL 60619, USA Published in Wednesday Journal 10/28, 11/4, 11/11/2020

The ZBA will consider an application for a major zoning variation submitted by Daniel J. Brown, owner of the property at 1134 – 1136 Harlem Avenue, who is proposing to construct a new detached garage in the rear yard.

The applicant is requesting a major variation to Section 10-10-8 that would allow the new garage to provide a total of two enclosed parking spaces, thereby providing only one enclosed parking space per dwelling unit. The Zoning Ordinance requires two enclosed parking spaces to be provided for each dwelling unit on the property.

The legal description of the property at 1134 – 1136 Harlem Avenue is as follows: LOT 25 IN GREY AND BRAESE’S RESUBDIVISION OF LOT 1 IN THE SUBDIVISION OF BLOCKS 1, 8, 9, 10, 11, 14, 15 AND 16 IN BOGUE’S ADDITION TO OAK PARK, BEING A SUBDIVISION OF THE SOUTHEAST 1/4 OF SECTION 1, TOWNSHIP 39 NORTH, RANGE 12 EAST OF THE THIRD PRINCIPAL MERIDIAN, IN COOK COUNTY, ILLINOIS. A copy of the application will be available to the public at Village Hall and on the Village’s website at www. vrf.us/zoningvariation no less than 15 days prior to the public hearing.

The Zoning Board of Appeals meeting packet will also be available at www.vrf.us/meetings no less than 48 hours prior to the public hearing.

All interested persons will be given the opportunity to be heard at the public hearing. For public comments to be considered by the Zoning Board of Appeals and Village Board of Trustees in their decision, they must be included as part of the public hearing record. Interested persons can learn more about how to participation in the hearing by visiting www.vrf.us/zoningvariation.

Sincerely, Clifford Radatz Secretary, Zoning Board of Appeals Published in Wednesday Journal 10/28/2020

REAL ESTATE FOR SALE

REAL ESTATE FOR SALE

IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF COOK COUNTY, ILLINOIS COUNTY DEPARTMENT CHANCERY DIVISION DEUTSCHE BANK NATIONAL TRUST COMPANY, AS TRUSTEE FOR FFMLT TRUST 2005-FF11, MORTGAGE PASS-THROUGH CERTIFICATES, SERIES 2005FF11 Plaintiff, -v.BRIAN HOLLOWAY Defendants 19 CH 00561 125 SOUTH LOMBARD AVENUE OAK PARK, IL 60302 NOTICE OF SALE PUBLIC NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale entered in the above cause on January 23, 2020, an agent for The Judicial Sales Corporation, will at 10:30 AM on November 25, 2020, at The Judicial Sales Corporation, One South Wacker Drive, CHICAGO, IL, 60606, sell at a public sale to the highest bidder, as set forth below, the following described real estate: Commonly known as 125 SOUTH LOMBARD AVENUE, OAK PARK, IL 60302 Property Index No. 16-08-302-0150000 The real estate is improved with a yellow vinyl siding, one story single family home with a detached two car garage.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

MCCALLA RAYMER LEIBERT PIERCE, LLC Plaintiff’s Attorneys, One North Dearborn Street, Suite 1200, Chicago, IL, 60602. Tel No. (312) 346-9088.

THE JUDICIAL SALES CORPORATION One South Wacker Drive, 24th Floor, Chicago, IL 60606-4650 (312) 236-SALE You can also visit The Judicial Sales Corporation at www.tjsc.com for a 7 day status report of pending sales.

MCCALLA RAYMER LEIBERT PIERCE, LLC One North Dearborn Street, Suite 1200 Chicago IL, 60602 312-346-9088 E-Mail: pleadings@mccalla.com Attorney File No. 268445 Attorney ARDC No. 61256 Attorney Code. 61256 Case Number: 19 CH 00561 TJSC#: 40-595 NOTE: Pursuant to the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, you are advised that Plaintiff’s attorney is deemed to be a debt collector attempting to collect a debt and any information obtained will be used for that purpose.

Case # 19 CH 00561 I3155753

Starting a New Business This Year?

Call the experts before you place your legal ad! Publish your assumed name legal notice in • Wednesday Journal • Forest Park Review • Riverside/Brookfield Landmark • Austin Weekly News Call Mary Ellen for details: 708/613-3342

Wednesday Journal, October 28, 2020

OAKPARK.COM | RIVERFOREST.COM

Available to you 24/7/365 www.OakPark.com | RiverForest.com

PUBLIC NOTICES

PUBLIC NOTICES

live local?

work local.

Find your local job here!

On Wednesday Journal’s Local Online Job Board.

Search our ads today at OakPark.com/classified

To place an ad, contact Mary Ellen Nelligan (708) 613-3342 • maryellen@oakpark.com

35

36

Wednesday Journal, October 28, 2020

OAKPARK.COM | RIVERFOREST.COM

be notorious HAPPY HALLOWEEN