The Village’s newly formed Neighborhood Partnerships Division within the Neighborhood Services Department is leading efforts to improve service delivery and expand civic engagement across Oak Park. With a neighborhood-focused lens, the division supports resident engagement, service navigation and internal coordination across departments. Current efforts include streamlining meeting room scheduling, creating standardized procedures for internal workflows and resident communications, and reimagining the Welcome Center to be more inclusive and welcoming—while maintaining staff-only spaces and safety protocols. The division will also manage the Village’s special events permitting process and coordinate closely with departments to support public-facing activities. The division is additionally working with the community to develop a Neighborhood Registry, which aims to strengthen resident-to-resident connections, support neighborhood identity and create a more accessible pathway for community groups to engage with Village resources and services. The team includes Administrator Paola Garibay, Welcome Center Coordinator Ele Hein and Customer Service Representative Carlton McBeth. Together, they aim to strengthen transparency, responsiveness and connection between residents and their local government.

Oak Park’s annual Juneteenth Celebration is right around the corner, with a flag-raising ceremony set for Wednesday, June 11 and a community cookout coming up on Saturday, June 14. Both events take place at Village Hall. The flag-raising ceremony will feature speakers, live performances and food as the Juneteenth flag is raised outside Village Hall. Visit www.oak-park.us/juneteenth for complete details about Oak Park's Juneteenth Celebration.

The Village coordinated a Gas-Powered Leaf Blower Trade-In event on May 31 at Oak Park’s two Ace Hardware locations. A total of 28 residents and six registered landscape companies took advantage of the opportunity to trade in their gas-powered leaf blower for a voucher toward the purchase of a new battery-powered leaf blower. The event included demonstrations of battery-powered lawn tools and took place one day before the Village’s permanent ban on gas-powered leaf blowers took effect. Village staff is continuing to explore options for additional outreach to assist landscape companies with the transition to electric leaf blowers. More information about leaf blower regulations is available at www.oak-park.us/leafblowers.

The Mission Curiosity Bookstore cut a ribbon last week to celebrate its grand opening at 319 Madison St. The bookstore is an extension of Our Future Reads, a non-profit organization that empowers readers by providing access to literature in the Chicagoland area. Every purchase at the Mission Curiosity Bookstore funds book donations to 15 non-profit organizations. In attendance, along with various Oak Park River Forest Chamber of Commerce staff and members, were Village staff representatives Cameron Davis, Noemy Diaz, Dawn Skoda, Danny Vargas and Nick Meier.

The Fire Department hosted a push-in ceremony at Fire Station No. 2 on Augusta Street on Thursday. The old community tradition symbolizes the official welcoming of a new apparatus into service, hearkening back to the days of horse-drawn pumpers. In this case, the Fire Department welcomed its new Engine 602, which is a 2025 Pierce Enforcer. This new engine is similar to the current Engine 603, which increases consistency across the fleet. It is equipped with a 1500 gpm pump, a 500-gallon water tank with a mounted deck gun and high-efficiency LED emergency and scene lights. It is replacing a 2010 Central States HME. Click here to view video footage from the event.

More than 125 activity booths representing Oak Park civic, cultural, social service, educational and religious organizations filled Scoville Park on June 1 for the 51st A Day in Our Village festival. The annual showcase of ways to get involved in community life benefitted from abundant sunshine on a beautiful day as robust attendance remained steady throughout the five-hour event. Live music, a food court featuring local businesses and extensive activities for kids were a few of the event highlights. Recordings of several of the bands that performed during the event are available on the Village’s YouTube page. A Day in Our Village is sponsored by the Village and made possible thanks to organizing support from the A Day in Our Village volunteer committee.

The Village announced that John C. Melaniphy has been named Assistant Village Manager to lead the Village’s newly established Office of Economic Vitality. In this executive leadership role, John will lead the Village’s strategic efforts to support and enhance Oak Park’s economic vitality, working closely with business owners, developers, residents and community stakeholders. His first day with the Village will be June 16. A proven industry leader, John brings nearly four decades of experience in economic development, site selection, real estate market analysis and public-private partnerships. He most recently served as the Director of Economic Development for the Village of Niles. Click here to read more about John’s background.

The Public Works Department welcomed four summer interns as Benjamin Streiffer, Layla Conner, Milo Hansen and Sampres Dmello arrived this week to help various Public Works divisions while gaining valuable experience. Layla and Sampres will spend the summer with the Engineering Division. Layla graduated from North Carolina A&T last month with a civil engineering degree. Sampres also has a civil engineering degree and is currently pursuing a master’s degree in construction engineering and management at Illinois Institute of Technology. Benjamin, a recent high school graduate who plans to study electrical engineering at Case Western Reserve starting this fall, will be working with the Streets Division. Milo, a lifelong Oak Park resident who graduated from Oak Park and River Forest High School last month, is assisting the Fleet Division. In other employee news, Takisha Rogers joined the organization this week as the Finance Department’s newest Cashier.

The Village processed a permit for the filming of a General Auto Insurance commercial that took place on Thursday on the 100 block of S. Taylor Ave. The filming activity required parking to be blocked on the west side of the street to make way for the film crew’s trucks and vans. More information about the Village’s film permit process is available on the Village website at www.oak-park.us/communityrelations.

Get a quick tutorial on how to respond to an opioid overdose and use Narcan nasal spray from the Oak Park Public Health Department’s Opioid Overdose Response Trainer from 9 a.m. to noon this Saturday at the Oak Park Farmers’ Market. Free Narcan will also be available. Visit www.oak-park.us/overdoseprevention to learn more about overdose prevention efforts in Oak Park. The page also includes a form to sign up for more comprehensive, 90-minute trainings offered by the Public Health Department. The Farmers’ Market takes place from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. every Saturday through October at 460 Lake St.

National CPR and AED Awareness Week is June 1-7, and the Public Health Department and Fire Department are encouraging community members to learn this life-saving skill and feel empowered to act if a loved one, friend or neighbor experiences cardiac arrest. Health officials say that about 70% of out-of-hospital cardiac arrests happen in homes, meaning if you are ever in a situation to give CPR in an emergency, you will most likely be trying to save the life of someone you love. The Fire Department offers CPR and AED trainings all year long. Check out the schedule, fees and how to sign up at www.oak-park.us/cpr.

If someone calls or knocks on your door promising a better deal on electricity, be cautious — you could be misled into switching to a supplier that will cost more. The Village is offering this reminder after recent reports of an unscrupulous solicitor visiting the homes of Oak Park residents. Salespeople who offer to save you money may ask for your account number or to see your bill. Most likely they are selling a low introductory rate or trying to get your account number so they can switch you to a different provider without your permission. Representatives from the Village and its electricity supplier, MC Squared Energy Services, never solicit door-to-door or by telephone. More information, including some basic guidelines to help avoid scams, is available at www.oak-park.us/electricscam.

Alley improvements – The first nine alleys completed have had garage access restored. By the end of this week, the alley between the 1200 blocks of N. Harvey Ave. and N. Ridgeland Ave. and the 1000 blocks of N. Harvey and N. Lombard Ave. will be reopened. Work is expected to resume for alley locations adjacent to schools the week of June 11. The estimated completion date for the entire project is July 15.

Water and sewer improvements – The start of a water and sewer improvement project on Forest Avenue between Division Street and Greenfield Street is postponed to the week of June 16. Crews will start with water main work at the intersection of Greenfield and Forest. The sewer work on Columbian Avenue between Division and Augusta Street is postponed to the week of June 23. The contractor will be onsite next week root pruning and installing tree protection fencing at both locations. All affected residents have received parking passes. The estimated completion date is November 14.

Pavement preservation – The contractor began pavement patching this week, and the remaining patch locations will be completed next week. Crack fill and microsurfacing will also begin next week.  A map showing the proposed improvements is available on the Village’s capital improvement project website. All work is still expected to be completed by mid-July.

Bike boulevard update – The contractor finished all major concrete work for the bike boulevard project. Site cleanup will begin this week at all locations. The contractor will install pavement markings the week of June 23.