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player ready...Evanston Ald. Ann Rainey (8th) found herself in the middle of a gang fight on the city’s southern boundary last week, and now she’s set to testify in court against three Chicago men charged with disorderly conduct after the melee.
Rainey was alone in her car at Howard Street and Custer Avenue shortly after 11 p.m. on May 25 when about 30 men broke into a fight in front of her vehicle.
“It was a knock-down, drag-out brawl,” Rainey said Wednesday. “It was horribly violent. I’ve never seen anything like it before in my life.”
She said she immediately called 911 and started blowing her car horn and flashing her headlights in an attempt to break up the fight. Several of the men banged on her car roof and window in an attempt to scare her off.
“I made a decision, I wasn’t going to call the cops and flee,” Rainey said. “I wanted to stay and identify to the police one guy in particular who was kicking and stomping another guy.”
Rainey said she will testify at the Cook County Circuit Court in Skokie on June 9.
Athletic moves: New Trier High School District 203, preparing for 1,000 freshmen who will fill its Northfield campus, is negotiating for some land to open three new athletic fields nearby.
The school district, which plans to open the freshman campus in fall of 2001, is working with the Northfield Park District on a joint purchase of 10 acres at Waukegan and Willow Roads, according to Assistant Supt. of Business Donald R. Goers.
Goers declined to reveal the cost, but he said he hopes to bring some news to the school board at its Monday night meeting. Under the proposal, the school district would own two athletic fields, and the Park District would own the third. The two entities would work out an agreement on how to share the fields, he said.
The Park District would use a $1.25 million state grant toward its portion of the land, said Edward Cottrell, president of the parks board.
The Holy Spirit Missionary Sisters own the total 30-acre plot of land, which will be sold to developer James Partners Limited before the school and Park District enter the transaction. The Village of Northfield must approve the developer’s plan before the athletic fields are built.
Zoning cleared: Abt, the giant family-owned electronics and appliances dealer, has passed several initial hurdles for moving to Glenview from Morton Grove.
The Glenview Plan Commission on Tuesday approved the final site plan for recommendation to the Village Board on June 20.
The Village Board recently authorized rezoning 27 acres of the former Zenith property for Abt’s planned 300,000-square-foot facility, which will include a store, warehouse and parking for 800 vehicles.
Abt officials want the store to open in the fall of 2001, but first they must obtain a conditional-use permit and site plan approval, which several trustees said would require lengthy consideration.
The new Abt facility, at 1000 Milwaukee Ave., is projected to boost Glenview sales tax and property tax revenue by $1 million, and also increase tax revenue for Glenview School District 34 by $700,000 and Northfield Township High School District 225 by $400,000, said Mary Bak, village development director.
Several opponents of the new facility, who are skeptical about the projected tax windfalls, complain that Abt’s move will worsen traffic along Milwaukee Avenue and threaten deer and wildlife nearby.