BRIDGEVIEW
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Town may build skateboard park
Bridgeview may join a growing number of suburbs that have built skateboard parks to dissuade young sidewalk surfers from playing in parking lots and other areas where they could hurt themselves or others.
The idea was spurred by the growing number of complaints about skateboarders, officials said at this week’s Village Board meeting.
One of the skateboarders’ favorite spots is a raised concrete flag circle in front of Village Hall near 75th Street and Oketo Avenue.
“Someone’s going to come around the circle and hit a child,” said Trustee Claudette Struzik. “I’m not against children. I have children and grandchildren, but we have to make it safer.”
While some officials said better enforcement would be the answer, other trustees said a better alternative would be to confine skateboarders and in-line skaters to a designated skateboard park. “We have no other place for them to go,” said Trustee James Cecott.
Mayor Steven Landek said village administrators will come up with recommendations for the full board to consider this fall.
Carmen Greco Jr.
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PALOS HEIGHTS
Basketball team scores for kids
On Friday nights, most teenagers can’t wait to gather and socialize with friends, but this Friday night, a group of athletes from Shepard High School in Palos Heights will spend their time reading to children.
The half-dozen members of the girls varsity basketball team will participate in the Palos Heights Public Library’s Family Fall Fest at 7 p.m. by reading to children. They will also oversee games and crafts. Snacks will be served.
Mary Cullen, youth services librarian, said she thought it would be “great for the younger children to see high school basketball players as heroes…using books.”
But the event is also one of the ways Community High School District 218, which includes Shepard, is emphasizing to its students the importance of reading, said Bob McParland, district spokesman.
“We thought it would be a great idea for our kids to experience reading to preschool children,” said McParland, who suggested the reading effort to Cullen.
The district has stepped up its reading and writing requirements in recent years. It has also boosted literary projects, such as a schoolwide arts and poetry competition in the spring and literary magazines at each school.
Janice Neumann
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RIVERDALE
Free boat checks set for Saturday
South suburban boaters can have their vessels checked for free Saturday at a special event in Riverdale sponsored by the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary.
The event will run from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Riverdale Marina, 13100 S. Halsted St.
“If you can teach somebody how not to get into a problem, you can make rescuing them unnecessary,” said Bob Allen, a vessel examiner for the auxiliary.
The checks will let boaters know whether they have all the necessary life-safety equipment on board and whether their boats are mechanically sound.
The safety inspections ordinarily take about 20 minutes, Allen said. Results of the checks will not be reported to safety enforcement organizations, he said.
For more information, call Allen at 630-621-5544.
Carmen Greco Jr.
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WILL COUNTY
Tax break granted proposed IKEA site
The Will County Board on Thursday unanimously endorsed a five-year tax abatement that will save the home furnishings giant IKEA $109,000 on its proposed distribution center in Joliet.
The 25-0 vote is a sharp departure from sentiments expressed earlier by board members during party caucuses. Democrats, who account for less than a third of the board but all of Joliet’s core representation, initially balked because IKEA representatives had not contacted them.
Republicans, meanwhile, vowed the tax break probably would be the last the county offers to a distributor.
County Board Chairman Jim Moustis (R-Frankfort) said he did not believe IKEA is seriously looking at other locations in Indiana and Wisconsin, citing the Joliet location’s proximity to freight lines and interstate highways.
The international retailer is proposing a 1.4-million-square-foot facility on about 72 acres at the intersection of Illinois Highway 53 and Laraway Road.
Joliet’s City Council, which approved a planned unit development proposal for the project in August, endorsed the abatement. The issue was brought to the board by the Will County Center for Economic Development, which is the county’s economic development arm.
Dennis Sullivan
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WILL COUNTY
County’s finances are called ‘healthy’
Will County Chief Executive Larry Walsh’s “state of the county” address Thursday touted, among other things, the government’s balanced budget.
“The fundamental fiscal condition of our county is quite healthy,” Walsh said, crediting other elected county officials and staff. “We are more financially sound than other county governments in the region.”
The address is one of the duties of the county executive, who primarily administers programs that have been developed by the County Board.
Walsh’s staff has worked closely with key board members to help develop Will County’s first three-budget plan, which includes a balanced budget for 2008 as well as revenue and expenditure forecasts for 2009 and 2010.
Walsh predicted allocations in the coming year would include $2.5 million for capital improvements. Additionally, the county has committed more than $3 million in county road improvements in the next year. Even so, he warned, the county’s roads face “overwhelming” infrastructure needs.
Dennis Sullivan