BLUE ISLAND
Refinery site’s fate remains uncertain
Mayor Donald Peloquin said people have shown interest in purchasing land that once housed a controversial oil refinery.
The only problem is the city does not control the land where the former Premcor refinery once stood near Kedzie Avenue and 131st Street. Officials have failed to persuade Texas-based Valero Energy Corp., the landowners , to annex it to the city.
“Right now, they’re basically just sitting on the property, and it doesn’t do anything,” Peloquin said.
Demolition of the facility, which was fined $1.2 million in the mid-1990s by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration for excessive smoke-stack emissions, was recently completed.
Peloquin said the city has plans to build an ethanol, clean-coal-burning and biodiesel plant on the 72-acre site.
He said Valero officials told him nothing could be built on the land for up to 10 years because of an ongoing environmental cleanup of the site.
Carmen Greco Jr.
OAK LAWN
Schools chief says goodbye to district
Presiding over his last Community High School District 218 board meeting this week, outgoing Supt. Kevin Burns was praised for his years of service to the school district.
“I look around the room, and I see a lot of star-studded administrators and people and a lot of that has been Kevin’s doing,” said Thomas Kosowski, board vice president.
Michael Stillman, school board president, said Burns “not only had a love of his job, but wanted to make sure he affected” the communities he lived in and served in that [positive] way.”
“He was very approachable to all of the teachers, probably because he came up through the ranks,” Stillman added.
Burns is retiring June 30 after nearly 20 years in the district. He served as dean and assistant principal at Eisenhower High School in Blue Island, associate principal at Richards High School in Oak Lawn, assistant superintendent for the district and superintendent since 2001.
“I’ll certainly miss everybody, and I appreciate everything you’ve done for me,” said Burns, 55, an Orland Park resident. “We’ve had a lot of people band together to make this a great district.”
The board plans to dedicate a science wing at Richards to Burns.
John Byrne, assistant superintendent of technology and student services, formally takes over as superintendent July 1. He has been overseeing administrative functions since the board of education approved a two-year contract for him in September.
Janice Neumann
PLAINFIELD
Officials consider AT&T project
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Village officials have agreed to consider allowing AT&T to file permit requests to improve their fiber optic network in the village.
This week David Strahl, AT&T director of external affairs, updated the village board on the specifics of their Project Lightspeed, a fiber optic network that will allow video streaming into homes.
But in order to provide the service, and to upgrade their entire system, the company needs to install equipment boxes.
Strahl said he would not state how many boxes they would install.
But Village Administrator Chris Minick informed the board that each box can retrofit 300 to 400 households, and there are currently more than 35,000 residents in Plainfield.
Homes in new developments will be outfitted with the new equipment as they are built.
Patricia Trebe
WILL COUNTY
Plan allots jurors parking privileges
Jurors will be able to park closer to the county courthouse, under a proposed parking agreement with Joliet expected to begin in July.
The site, with approximately 100 spaces, represents the first parking specifically designated for jurors, said Court Administrator Kurt Sangmeister.
Currently jurors park in a city parking garage and other city-operated spaces, depending on availability.
Sangmeister said the county will pay $1,500 a month to the owner of the former Joliet Warehouse, which shares the property southeast of the courthouse.
But Sangmeister termed the action “a short-term solution,” because the vacant 100-year-old brick-and-timber warehouse is for sale.
Metra, a potential buyer, is hiring consultants to perform environmental analysis and transportation studies related to the four-story structure.
Joliet is also expected to open a 44-space lot next month for rail commuters.
Dennis Sullivan
WORTH
Resident honored for chasing suspect
Village officials commended resident James Geotis for bravery after he chased and detained a man who was accused of causing a disturbance in his neighborhood.
At about 10:30 p.m. on April 10, Geotis, 34, said he saw a man with his “face pressed to the bedroom window” of a young girl who lives in a home behind him in the 7400 block of 109th Street.
Geotis dialed 911 and then chased the man, who fled to the rear of the house when police arrived on the scene, officials said.
Police arrested Kirk D. Odell, 37, of the 9600 block of South Natoma Avenue in Oak Lawn. He is charged with disorderly conduct as a result of lewd behavior and battery for threatening Geotis, according to a police report.
“Mr. Geotis went above and beyond what is expected of a citizen,” Police Chief John M. Carpino said.
Barbara Dargis