The Oak Park Fire Department was featured in a story first broadcast by NBC 5 Chicago on Thursday afternoon. Chief JT Terry and Firefighter/Paramedic Ryan Peacocke were interviewed by reporter Regina Waldroup about the department's participation in a study being conducted by the University of Illinois Fire Service Institute. The goal of the study is to evaluate how firefighting affects firefighter/paramedics’ health with a focus on cancer screening. Volunteer participants will provide blood and urine samples and complete some questionnaires, including a baseline health questionnaire, an annual cancer survey and an exposure log form. Dr. Farzaneh Masoud, IFSI's Director of Research, was also interviewed for the piece. Click here to watch the story.

On Tuesday evening at approximately 8:30 p.m., OPFD was called to a residence for a possible childbirth. Upon arrival, it was quickly determined that the woman was in active labor, and that it had advanced to the point that it was not safe to transport her. As such, OPFD Battalion Chief Jacob Gloodt and Firefighter/Paramedics Anthony Lein, Colin Burgess, Colin McManus, Pedro McDaniel, Joshua McNabb, Jacob Haag and Cameron Russell delivered a healthy baby boy on scene and then transported the new mom and her son to Loyola University Medical Center for further evaluation. Chief JT Terry happily reports that both Mom and Baby were both doing well when the OPFD crew was returned service! 

The Village’s Office of Economic Vitality and the Triton College’s School of Continuing Education recently completed their inaugural offering of the Oak Park Workforce Academy. The workforce-training series ran for four consecutive weeks from July 14 to Aug. 4 at the Office of Economic Vitality, 1010 Lake St. Designed for public-facing workers such as receptionists, cashiers, servers, hosts, baristas and customer service staff, sessions covered a variety of topics including Building Relationships, Persuasion & Sales, Managing Conflicts and Developing a Leader’s Mindset. Participants were awarded a certificate from Triton College upon completion. The training was offered at no cost to employers and participants alike. Organizations that participated in the program included Café Cubano, Mosaic Counseling & Wellness, Wonder Works Children’s Museum, UPS Store Downtown Oak Park and America Cares Too. Click here for more information.

The Village is partnering with Wild Ones West Cook again to subsidize the purchase of native trees for Oak Park residents to plant on their property. Trees can be ordered online through the West Cook Fall Tree and Shrub Sale now through Sept. 13. Trees are available for residents at a 50% discount. The full price for trees ranges from $27 to $46 per tree. Most trees are available in a five-gallon container. Enter the discount code OPTREES26 at the time of purchase. Click here to place an order. The discount for Oak Park residents applies towards the purchase of up to two trees per property. Tree pickup will take place Sept. 26. The initiative is tied to the Village’s Climate Ready Oak Park goal to establish 30% of the land as green infrastructure by planting native plants and increasing tree canopy coverage.

Community members are invited to provide feedback on design alternatives for expanded bridge decks over the I-290 expressway at a public information meeting from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 20 in the Veterans Room at the Oak Park Public Library, 834 Lake St. The meeting builds on an initial public meeting held in April and will give community members a chance to see various layouts for new public spaces including plazas, park areas and potential commercial development above the expressway. The Village’s Bridging the Ike project is a federally funded study examining the existing conditions and future possibilities for the I-290 bridge crossings within the Village. The latest design alternatives incorporate input from the previous public meeting and subsequent stakeholder group sessions to address safety, mobility, connectivity and potential uses of these new spaces. Find more information and share input ahead of the public meeting at www.engageoakpark.com/ike.

he Village’s free workshop series designed to help Oak Park residents manage utility costs and increase comfort at home continues with a virtual workshop at 6 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 20. The focus of the workshop will be saving more with solar and renewable energy. Visit www.oak-park.us/SaveEnergyAtHome for more info and to RSVP. The workshop series is offered by the Village of Oak Park and Elevate, a national nonprofit based in Chicago.

The Oak Park Public Health Department is accepting nominations for its annual community awards. The Dr. William Fitzsimmons Public Health Award honors individuals whose work has advanced public health in Oak Park through leadership, community engagement or health equity. The David Haennicke Award honors those who work to reduce stigma, prevent overdose, support recovery and promote education around substance use disorders. The deadline for nominations is Oct. 31. Find more information and submit your nominations at www.oak-park.us/healthawards. For information about the Village's other annual stewardship awards, visit www.oak-park.us/communityawards.

The Neighborhood Services Department celebrated the promotion of Jewel Dillard to the position of Housing Licensing Coordinator this week. Jewel most recently served for the past five years as a Property Maintenance/Community Development Inspector. She also worked as a Customer Services Representative in the Parking Services Division when she first arrived at the Village in 2019.

Congratulations to Oak Parker Terry Lavery, who won the July monthly drawing for $250 in Biker Bucks that he can spend at participating businesses as part of the Bike to the Biz campaign to support businesses along Oak Park Avenue during the ongoing Renew the Avenue construction project. Three more winners will be announced on the first of each month through November. To participate, be sure to keep your purchase receipts from participating businesses, spend a minimum of $10 at four different retailers and enter to win the monthly drawings.

Renew the Avenue project – Excavation of the old sub grade between the buildings and the roadway will be completed this week on the south block of Oak Park Avenue within the project limits. Once the utility installation is completed, the contractor will place new structural soil and aggregate base for the new sidewalk concrete base. The backfilling should wrap up next week with sidewalk and concrete installation beginning the week of Aug. 24. Further to the north, excavation for the new concrete roadway base will begin along later next week along Oak Park Avenue between North Boulevard and Lake Street. Other project updates include the following:

• The installation of the new lighting, electrical and traffic signal conduits on the south block should wrap up next week. The electrical contractor will continue conduit installation on South Boulevard later next week.
• AT&T will finish constructing the new communications manhole by Hunter Court this week and move to install the precast manhole on North Blvd early next week.
• Union Pacific will be wrapping up their concrete parapet improvements on North Boulevards early next week.
• The Village is helping Hemingway District storefronts with monthly window washing. Adding to the brightness of the new roadbed and sidewalks, businesses and shoppers will notice clean windows and awnings throughout the remaining months of construction. Monthly window washing will begin from North Boulevard to Lake Street the week of Aug. 17, then from Pleasant to South Boulevard the week of Aug. 24.

Alley Improvement Project – The alley between the 800 blocks of N. Harvey Ave. and Mapleton Ave. was completed and reopened to traffic early this week. All asphalt patching for the project has also been completed. The remaining work for this year’s alley project includes punch list items, such as minor landscaping and the installation of plaques that will identify the green alleys (brick alleys) that were installed this year and funded by the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District (MWRD).

Water and sewer project – Sewer service installations were completed on Monday this week on Scoville Avenue. Throughout the remainder of this week the contractor conducted water meter and water service inspections at each home that is having their lead water service replaced as part of the project. Water service connections are expected to start on Monday next week. The contractor expects water service connections to take 2-3 weeks to get all 64 houses connected to the new water main. To the north, the installation of the new 8-inch water main is expected to be completed this week on Euclid Avenue. The water main will be pressure tested and chlorinated next week, and in the interim the contractor will finish connecting all remaining sewer services. Water service connections are expected to begin in the next few weeks.

Resurfacing project – The contractor poured concrete curb and sidewalk at Erie Street between Elmwood Avenue and Taylor Avenue and at Van Buren Street between East Avenue and Ridgeland Avenue this week. After all concrete work is completed at these locations, the contractor will move to Marion Street between Division Street and August Street and the section of Augusta between Harlem Avenue and Oak Park Avenue. Meanwhile, the removal crew is currently working on Euclid Avenue between Division St and Greenfield Street, Grove Avenue between Chicago Avenue and Augusta, and Lombard Avenue between Iowa Street and Division. Once completed at these locations, they will proceed to Iowa between Linden Avenue and Fair Oaks Avenue, Iowa St. between Ridgeland and Harvey Avenue and to Scoville Avenue between South Boulevard and Washington Street. The sewer repair crew is currently adjusting manholes at each project location. The sewer crew is also working on sewer point repairs on the 1100 block of N. Euclid. Asphalt roadway milling is expected to start next week, starting at Erie Street between Elmwood and Taylor Avenue, followed by Van Buren Street between East Avenue and Ridgeland.

Rectangular Rapid Flashing Beacon (RRFB) installations – As the contractor finalizes installing the remaining signage this week, all RRFB’s and bike buttons are planned to be fully operational by the end of this week.

Sidewalk project – The sidewalk contractor began preliminary work on the sidewalk project this week, including saw cutting in preparation for upcoming removals. The contractor will be starting removals on the east side of the street, focused on the southeast quadrant of the Village.

Sewer lining project - The contractor finished televising all the project locations earlier this week. The contractor expects to begin lining the sewers in the next two weeks.