A new crime incident dashboard designed to keep community members informed about crimes committed in Oak Park is the latest addition to the Village’s open data portal. This interactive tool provides clear, accessible data on crime trends in Oak Park, helping residents understand what is happening in their neighborhood. Users can explore the database and map by location, offense type and the time and date a crime was committed. To access the crime incident database, visit opendata.oak-park.us/CrimeIncident. The database is part of a growing number of resources available through the Village’s open data portal, which strives to put municipal government data at the fingertips of community members. Explore dashboards related to traffic crashes, building permits, water service, capital improvement projects and more at opendata.oak-park.us. 

The Village is partnering with EnergySense Resilience Center to host a series of energy efficiency workshops for commercial and residential building owners and their tenants. The upcoming workshop sessions focus on ways landlords and tenants can work together to reduce utility costs, lower energy use and improve energy efficiency. The workshops are scheduled for March 3, March 24, April 7 and April 28. All workshops are taking place from 3:30 to 5 p.m. at the Oak Park Public Library, 834 Lake St. For more details, visit www.oak-park.us/energysense or contact sustainability@oak-park.us.

Benchmarking scorecards are being sent to building owners this week by the Office of Sustainability & Resilience. These one-page summaries highlight the energy performance of large buildings and include resources and next steps to help improve efficiency. Building owners who receive a scorecard are encouraged to review it and consider sharing it with residents to help build awareness around building performance and energy savings opportunities. Information for building owners about how to better understand their scorecard is available on the Village’s Building Performance Helpdesk site. Residents can also check their building’s benchmarking status and results by visiting the community’s benchmarking map. For more information about the Village’s benchmarking ordinance, visit www.oak-park.us/benchmarking or contact sustainability@oak-park.us.

The Oak Park-River Forest Chamber of Commerce held its quarterly New Member Breakfast on Thursday at Belmont Village Senior Living. More than 30 business owners and representatives were in attendance to learn more about the benefits offered to Chamber members, as well as how to get more engaged in the community. Economic Vitality staff was in attendance and gave a brief presentation regarding assistance programs and resources available to Oak Park small businesses.

The Village held a sendoff today for Deputy Police Chief Dave Jacobson, who is retiring after 30 years with the Police Department. Dave has held many roles in the department including Resident Beat Officer, Community Policing Sergeant, Commander and Deputy Chief. We thank him for his service and wish him all the best in his retirement!

The Fire Department celebrated the completion of Firefighter/Paramedic Savannah Reinhart’s end of her one-year probationary period during a swearing-in ceremony Wednesday at the main fire station. The ceremony was held shortly after Savannah and her colleagues responded to a Level 1 box alarm fire on the 1200 block of N. Taylor Ave. (see item below for more details). In other employee news, Jose Torres arrived as a new Parking Enforcement Officer in the Development Services Department this week. Jose has a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice and work experience with Luna Security Services and as a Community Service Officer for the Northwestern University Police Department.

The Fire Department responded to a Level 1 box alarm fire Tuesday night on the 1200 block of N. Taylor Ave. The fire took 10 hours to suppress into Wednesday morning and included assistance from many neighboring fire departments. The building was vacant and no one was inside at the time the fire broke out. No firefighter injuries were reported during the response. The Office of the State Fire Marshal is leading an investigation into the cause of the fire. The Fire Department has also received assistance from the Police Department, Public Works Department and Neighborhood Services Department in securing the site in the aftermath of the fire.

Traffic signal improvements – The contractor will be troubleshooting issues with the traffic signal conduit that runs under Garfield Street next week as part of ongoing improvements to the traffic signal at the intersection of Garfield and Oak Park Avenue. This troubleshooting work will require the contractor to close Garfield Street from Euclid Avenue to Grove Avenue starting on Tuesday, Feb. 24 during normal working hours. The duration of these repairs is unknown at this time. At the end of each work day, the road will be reopened to traffic on Garfield Street. During this temporary closure, northbound and southbound traffic on Oak Park Avenue will remain intact, and Garfield will be open to local traffic only. Work will then continue with replacing the signal heads at the intersection.

Renew the Avenue update – Crews completed the removal of 27 trees within the Renew the Avenue project limits this week to make way for 40 new trees to be planted later this year as part of the new landscaping for the project. The contractor began water main installation on Oak Park Avenue between Lake Street and Ontario Street and will continue with this work through the end of next week. Sewer structures, pipe and materials continue to be delivered daily. The contractor will begin installing the new sewer main on Oak Park Avenue at Randolph Street early next week. Nicor and AT&T contractors are also onsite continuing to upgrade their existing facilities ahead of the streetscape utility improvements.

Sewer televising – The contractor is working to complete sewer televising on Chicago Avenue locations near Austin Boulevard. Crews will next move to locations in the east part of town north of I-290. Partial lane closures are anticipated while work is in progress. The contractor will post no parking signs 48 hours prior to any parking restrictions.

Nicor inspection project – Nicor Gas will return to Oak Park in early March to inspect and televise sewers for potential gas line cross bores in the Village sewer system. This year, the inspection locations are the 800 block of S. Cuyler Ave., 1100-1200 blocks of Edmer Ave. and 800 block of S. Ridgeland Ave. Nicor will distribute letters to impacted residents. The contractor will also post no parking signs 48 hours prior to any parking restrictions.

The Oak Park Area Arts Council is seeking artists to temporarily display their work in the 2026-27 Oak Park Sculpture Walk. The deadline for submissions is March 2. Plans call for sculpture or installation works to be part of the outdoor exhibits in the Oak Park Arts District, Downtown Oak Park and the Pleasant District from May 16 through April 10, 2027. Find the Sculpture Walk guidelines and application form on the Arts Council website at www.oakparkareaartscouncil.org/sculpture-walk.

The Chicago Sun-Times published an article featuring the Oak Park Area Arts Council’s mini-mural program, which transforms the railroad retaining walls along the Green Line corridor from dull, blank concrete into canvases. OPAAC Executive Director Camille Wilson White is quoted in the article along with several artists who have participated in the program. Click here to read the article, which appeared in the Sun-Times print edition on Sunday, Feb. 15.

Celebrate the Year of the Fire Horse in Downtown Oak Park during a special Lunar New Year celebration. A traditional lion dance will be performed at 1 p.m. this Saturday, Feb. 21 beginning at Byline Bank (1001 Lake St.) and continuing through the district. Don’t miss this free, fun, festive and family-friendly event — red envelopes will be passed out for kids (and adults, too) to “feed” the lions as they make their way through the district. Additionally, some restaurants in the district are offering specials now through March 3 as part of the celebration. Get all the details on the Downtown Oak Park website.