BRIDGEVIEW
Soccer museum recalls glory days
The future of professional soccer in Illinois was brightened two years ago when Bridgeview built a $150 million soccer stadium to house the professional Chicago Fire.
But Toyota Park, where the Fire is playing its first full season, will also shine a light on the sport’s past.
The Illinois Soccer Hall of Fame and History museum recently opened on the third level in the southeast corner of the stadium at 71st Street and Harlem Avenue.
Officials have inducted more than 100 people in the museum, mostly players and organizers who have been involved with the sport in Illinois since the late 1800s. The first known amateur soccer team in Illinois dates back to 1883, when employees of Pullman Works fielded a team.
The museum will announce new inductees every three years, and many will be the original amateur players and coaches.
“They’ll be people from the grass roots,” said Branco Ilic, executive vice president of the Illinois State Soccer Association. “This is a lot of history.”
Exhibits at the museum include a photographic display of the first 127 inductees, the soccer ball that scored the first goal at Toyota Park and the 1981 championship trophy won by the Chicago Sting for the North American Soccer League.
At last week’s Village Board meeting, Ilic praised Mayor Steven Landek and other officials for reserving part of the stadium for the Hall of Fame.
“What you have done for soccer and us has not been done by anyone else in the world,” Ilic told board members.
Carmen Greco Jr.
FRANKFORT
Pesky intersections to be reconfigured
Things are looking up for the long-suffering motorists traveling U.S. Highway 30.
The Village Board last week awarded an engineering design contract for two problematic intersections.
Robinson Engineering will design interim improvements for the U.S. Highway 30 intersections at Locust Street and 80th Avenue for $111,495. The price includes a 10 percent discount the engineering firm offered for working on both projects, Village Administrator Jerry Ducay said.
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The engineers’ design will be submitted to the Illinois Department of Transportation, which has jurisdiction over the roadway and is expected to pay for the work.
If the design is approved, the intersections should be upgraded with turn lanes next year, a change that should ease traffic tie-ups created when lines of vehicles stop to wait for drivers to turn left on the busy two-lane thoroughfare, Ducay said.
Improvements are already scheduled for the intersection of U.S. 30 and Wolf Road.
Meanwhile, some portions of the highway’s crumbling pavement — near Elsner Road, west of LaGrange Road and between 80th and Harlem Avenues — are due for a fix this year.
Village officials have been pressing IDOT to improve the rapidly growing area’s major east-west highway, and the state agency offered this year to provide temporary upgrades even though no funding is set aside for a full renovation.
Pat Harper
OAK LAWN
Special education building is funded
Board members for Community High School District 218 voted Monday night to issue $625,993 in tax-exempt bonds to help fund a building for the special education cooperative used by district students.
The district houses Eisenhower Cooperative’s alternative school program for elementary school students and administrative offices on the second floor of the Administrative Center at 10701 S. Kilpatrick Ave. The new 36,200-square-foot building, which will be next to Nathan Hale Primary School at 5324 135th St. in Crestwood, will make room for those services, as well as a kitchen, storage space, a play area and a multipurpose room. The one-story building will be attached to the primary school.
Gilfillan Callahan Architects of Rolling Meadows is expected to start in September, with the classroom portion ready in August 2008.
“It’s often difficult to get some of the services we need on an independent basis,” said Supt. Kevin Burns. “We do have a vested interest in that building.”
The south suburban special education cooperative, which is used by District 218 and nine elementary school districts, offers services such as physical and occupational therapy, assistive technology and developmental learning assistance. The district pays on a fee-for-service basis.
Janice Neumann
WILL COUNTY
Program collects $200,000 in fines
The first week of a formal collection program generated more than $200,000 in overdue traffic fines and court costs, Circuit Court Clerk Pam McGuire said.
Most of the money has gone to her office, and Harris & Harris of Chicago collected an additional $19,305, McGuire said.
Harris & Harris started collecting the overdue county Circuit Court fines and court costs last month under a county agreement that allows the firm to add a 30 percent fee to the amount owed.
Chuck Squires, McGuire’s chief deputy, told the County Board’s Executive committee that the arrangement means “we get 100 percent of our fine.” But distaste for dealing with the collection agency prompted many people to go directly to the circuit clerk’s office, he said.
The move is a significant change from Will County’s previous attempts to recoup unpaid traffic tickets and court fines. “We sent failure-to-pay notices to the Illinois secretary of state’s office,” McGuire said.
The outstanding $2 million could go a long way toward solving some of Will County’s financial problems. But not everyone who owes money will be able to pay, McGuire said.
Squires said funds collected from those who pay are shared with the arresting agency and the state.
“Not all of the money goes to the county,” he said.
Dennis Sullivan