Meetings scheduled for next week:
- Monday, October 16:
- Village Board, 7 p.m. in Council Chambers
- Tuesday, October 17:
- Citizen Police Oversight Committee, 7 p.m. in Room 215
- Wednesday, October 18:
- Community Relations Commission, 7 p.m. in Room 101
- Housing Programs Advisory Committee, 7 p.m. in Room 215
- Thursday, October 19:
- Building Codes Advisory Commission, 5:30 p.m. in Room 215
The Oak Park Fire Department is hosting its open house from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. this Sat., Oct. 14 at the main fire station located at 100 N. Euclid Ave. The free event returns as part of Fire Prevention Week, allowing residents of all ages to get up close to equipment and talk to the firefighter/paramedics who keep the community safe. In addition to touching the cool equipment essential to the mission of a modern fire department, the event also will include tours of the fire house, presentations about safety and fun handouts. To help supply local community blood centers, a Vitalant blood drive is being held during the open house. Limited appointments are still available – click here to register. More information about the open house is available at www.oak-park.us/fireopenhouse2023.
To increase access to immunizations for the un- and under-insured members of our community, the Oak Park Department of Public Health is participating in the Vaccines for Children (VFC) program as well as the new Bridge Access program through the State of Illinois. These programs allow the Village to host school vaccine clinics to provide required immunizations to students who are unable to obtain them due to lack of insurance. Many students served by this program will be asylum seekers or migrant families who are now entering Oak Park schools and do not have access to any form of health insurance. The VFC program serves children up to age 18, and the new Bridge Access program will support people ages 19 to 64. Many adults seeking asylum in our community will need updated vaccines to be protected from vaccine preventable illness. More than a dozen children who would otherwise be excluded from school will be attending a clinic next week to receive their vaccines.
The Village announced this week that it will host a pair of community forums to discuss the topic of unhoused persons living within the community. The sessions will be held on Nov. 30 and Dec. 7 from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., with both taking place at the Oak Park Public Library Veterans Room, 834 Lake St. The first forum on Nov. 30 will focus on community education and ways to best interact with, and provide support to, Oak Park’s unhoused population. The event on Dec. 7 will center around affordable housing and the role of private landlords. Click here for more information about the forums. More information about resources for unhoused individuals is at www.oak-park.us/unhoused.
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The Village’s first-ever ¡Viva Festival! was a success as a good crowd turned out last Saturday for the Hispanic Heritage Month celebration on the south lawn at Village Hall. Attendees were treated to entertainment from an all-female mariachi ensemble and Peruvian folk dancers, face painters, activities for kids, piñatas, food trucks and more. The Village’s series of Hispanic Heritage Month events concludes at 6 tonight with a screening of Encanto. The event was originally planned to be outdoors but was moved to the Madison Street Theater due to rain in the forecast. Popcorn has been generously donated by Wells Street Popcorn. Admission is free, but registration is encouraged as space is limited. The registration link and more information about the Village’s Hispanic Heritage Month celebration can be found at www.oak-park.us/HispanicHeritage.
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In conjunction with the Cross Community Climate Collaborative (C4), Village President Vicki Scaman, along with Broadview Mayor Katrina Thompson and River Forest Village President Cathy Adduci, recently received the 2023 Greentelligence Award from the West Central Municipal Conference (WCMC). With the guidance and expertise from Gary Cuneen from Seven Generations Ahead and Darnell Johnson from Urban Efficiencies Group, C4 has created a collective impact model with 14 neighboring communities to apply for County, State and Federal funding to reduce greenhouse gases regionally while centering issues of environmental justice and effectively maximizing the return on all of our investments towards addressing climate change.
The first Vision Zero steering committee meeting was held on Oct. 5 and served as both an introduction and overview of the project. The meeting was followed by a community walkshop, during which feedback and comments were received from about a dozen community members who participated in the evening walking tour. A narrated digital version of the walkshop is in the works and will be posted on the Vision Zero project page at www.engageoakpark.com/visionzero as a way to gather additional community feedback.
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The Village’s Economic Vitality Administrator Cameron Davis was honored by the Oak Park-River Forest Chamber of Commerce this week with the organization’s Mentor Award. According to Chamber Executive Director Darien Marion-Burton, Davis was chosen as one of the Chamber’s Community Titan Award recipients for being a community business leader who never hesitates to help those in need. He is the type of leader who is always there when needed and seems to always know the answer to the question no one else knows. Davis received the honor at the Chamber’s Business Spotlight Celebration on Tuesday evening. Other Community Titan Award recipients included local businesswoman Laura Maychruk (Buzz Café and Maychruk Real Estate) in the Visionary category and Oak Park business owner Moses Valdez (Selleria Veneta) for his business collaboration efforts. Longtime public accountant Jeff Schroeder (Sassetti, LLC) was recognized with the Chamber’s Community Impact award and business owner Jacque Shalo (Kribi Coffee) was recognized as a business innovator.
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Public Health Director Dr. Theresa Chapple gave a presentation as part of a panel at the Chicago Urban League on Wednesday. The event, “The State of Black Chicago: From Data to Impact,” focused on highlighting paths from data to action and elevating promising practices that are driving change in the Chicago area. Dr. Chapple presented the Oak Park Public Health Department’s work on opioid overdose prevention and violence prevention as examples of initiatives that can improve community health.
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The Fire Department welcomed another new Firefighter/Paramedic when Ryan Peacocke was sworn in during a ceremony Monday at Village Hall, marking the start of his one-year probationary period. Ryan attended Bradley University and earned a bachelor of science degree in psychology before attending paramedic school at Lincoln Land Community College. He began his emergency medical service career seven years ago as a camp medic for Boy Scouts.
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The Village issued eight new business licenses in September, bringing the total number of new business licenses issued this year to 72. The new businesses are PS Salon and Spa, W4Sight, Krimson Security, Hot Mess Studio, Elite Beauty, Kirbi Coffee (Lombard Avenue location), Custom Classic Auto Sound & Accessories and Exclusively Fashion. A list of all new business licenses issued, going back several years, can be found at the Village website at www.pickoakpark.com/newbusiness.
The Oak Park Area Arts Council is hosting a ribbon cutting for a special new mural that commemorates Oak Park and River Forest High School students who have left the earth too soon. The ribbon cutting is planned for 11:30 a.m. this Sat., Oct. 14 where the mural is located on South Boulevard at Scoville Avenue. The mural was created by local artist Tia Etú. The project is made possible by funding from the Village and State Senate President Don Harmon. Click here for a flyer with details about the event.
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The Collaboration for Early Childhood is teaming up with businesses in the Hemingway Business District to host Fall Family Fun on Oct. 28. Free, family-friendly programming is being planned from 9:30 a.m. into the early afternoon. The highlight will be a costume parade through Scoville Park, with lineup beginning at 9:30 a.m. and the parade stepping off at 10 a.m. Following the parade, an early childhood resource fair will take place at the Oak Park Public Library and trick-or-treating will ensue at participating Hemingway District businesses along Lake Street, Oak Park Avenue, North Boulevard and South Boulevard. Click here to view a promotional flyer for the event.
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The Park District of Oak Park's annual Frank Lloyd Wright Races will bring street closures along the route from about 7:30 to 10:30 a.m. on Sun., Oct. 15. Several streets will be closed and traffic flow on others will be restricted to one way. Click here to view the race route. Please observe all no parking signs and give yourself extra time to maneuver around the race course. More information about the event is posted at www.flwraces.com.
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Street resurfacing project – Work moved ahead this week on the project to resurface various streets throughout the Village with stone placement and excavations at the Augusta Street and Berkshire Street locations and the intersection of Chicago Avenue and Scoville Avenue. New curb and sidewalk was also placed along Augusta and Berkshire. Next steps include pouring concrete at the Greenfield Street and Cuyler Avenue locations prior to site preparation for upcoming asphalt work.
Sidewalk improvements – All concrete work and angle cutting is complete. The contractors are expected to complete the punch list items and corrective work in the next few weeks.
Water & Sewer Improvements – Exploratory digging is in progress on Euclid Avenue between Lake Street and North Boulevard as part of the second phase of this year’s water & sewer improvement project. Traffic control and message boards will be set up early next week. Water main installation is scheduled to occur on Euclid the week of Oct. 23. The remaining underground work on Augusta Street is complete. The site is partially open to traffic in both directions, and concrete restoration will begin on Augusta next week.
Pete’s Fresh Market update – ComEd completed its service transfer from overhead to underground wiring at the site of the new Pete’s Fresh Market on Madison Street. Next steps include ComEd cutting lines from existing poles. AT&T has approximately one week of cable splicing left. Restoration of Euclid Avenue will be scheduled in the next few weeks.
Forest and Ontario improvements – The lighting contractor finished installing the new conduit this week. However, road and sidewalk closures in the vicinity of Forest Avenue and Ontario Street remain active as brick and concrete removals continue.
Pleasant & Marion update – ComEd was on site this week to liven the new Focus development at the corner of Pleasant and Marion streets with permanent power. Right of way construction is scheduled to start this month on Marion Street with plans calling for the work to remain within the extent of the jersey wall. The parking spots along 212 S. Marion St. have been blocked off for the work. The contractor expects to remove the jersey wall and reopen Marion Street by mid-November. Alley demolition and restoration is scheduled to start in early November.
Miscellaneous construction updates – Pavement striping is in progress along Division Street, with the contractor aiming to stripe the remaining stop bars and crosswalks in the coming days as part of the months-long water & sewer improvement and street resurfacing project. Elsewhere, Nicor sewer inspections continued this week with crews excavating the 700-800 blocks of S. Taylor Ave., 700-800 blocks of Gunderson Ave., 800 block of S. Humphrey Ave. and 800 block of S. Lombard Ave.
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