It was a historic year in the Aurora area, with Aurora electing its first African-American mayor, East Aurora School District starting everyday busing of students and voters getting their first chance to elect members of the Fox Valley Park Board.
Here is our list of the top 17 stories of ’17, as compiled by members of The Beacon-News staff.
Irvin elected Aurora mayor
Ald. Richard Irvin was elected as Aurora’s first African-American mayor in April.
In a primary a few weeks earlier, Irvin and Rick Guzman, assistant chief of staff in the mayor’s office, moved on to the general election, defeating candidates state Rep. Linda Chapa LaVia, D-Aurora, and Ald. Michael Saville, 6th Ward.
Irvin then beat Guzman in a tight race in early April to become the new leader of Aurora.
East Aurora begins busing
In a historic vote in mid-April, East Aurora School District 131 board members approved regular, everyday buses for students for what is believed to be the first time in the district’s history. District officials expected the move to boost attendance.
East Aurora previously offered buses for students in certain programs. The vote extended the buses to all students who live more than 1.5 miles from their school building. Officials since have expanded the program to include more buses and a round of late after-school activity buses.
Three Aurora area men killed in Wisconsin
Three Aurora area men were killed Aug. 13 at a southeastern Wisconsin drag strip. A couple of weeks later, the FBI announced a reward for as much as $25,000 for information leading to the identification and arrest of the person or people responsible for the shooting deaths of Khalid Howard, 30; Derek Edwards, 26; and David Watson, 30.
After the shooting, Kenosha County Sheriff’s Department Sgt. Mark Malecki said the three men killed were known gang members in Aurora and likely were targeted by a rival gang.
Edwards, Howard and Watson were among more than 5,000 people attending an event called Larry’s Fun Fest at Great Lakes Dragaway near Union Grove in Kenosha County, about 25 miles south of Milwaukee, sheriff’s officials said. A male gunned down two of the men, shot the third as he tried to get away around a tent and returned to shoot the two others again about 7 p.m. near a food vendor, according to the sheriff’s department.
School construction projects
Construction continued in East and West Aurora school districts.
In West Aurora School District 129, much of the $84.2 million worth of work approved by voters in a 2015 referendum wrapped up, including the completion of a new Hill Elementary School and demolition of the old building, parts of which dated more than 120 years. Work remains on a new early childhood center and a career and technical center, part of a “district campus” unveiled in 2015.
In East Aurora School District 131, much of more-than $70 million worth of construction also wrapped up in 2017. A new high school stadium was built to replace the now-demolished 1920s-era stadium, and most of the renovations and additions at East Aurora High School largely were completed. Work remains on a final phase of construction at the high school, and additional work is underway at the district’s middle schools.
Hostage situation at Geneva hospital
On May 13, Kane County inmate Tywon Salters, five days into his stay at Northwestern Memorial Delnor Hospital in Geneva, got a 9mm handgun off a corrections officer assigned to guard him. Salters escaped his hospital room, stormed down the third-floor hallway while the officer ran and hid, according to reports.
Salters took a nurse hostage in another room, then let her go at some point after a second nurse came in. He took the other nurse instead, and she led him downstairs to a decontamination room, where he tortured and violently raped her, she said in a complaint.
From that room, Salters held the nurse captive as a standoff developed between the patient-inmate and local law enforcement. A regional SWAT team eventually breached the room, ending the standoff when a North Aurora police officer on the team shot Salters. The bullet killed him and, the nurse said, went on to strike her in the arm.
Lawyers for both nurses taken hostage and their spouses have filed a lawsuit seeking both compensatory and punitive damages from the sheriff’s office, corrections officer and Apex 3 security, a private company contracted by the hospital.
Tragedy in St. Charles
Anjum Coffland was separated from her husband, Randall, and told police he scared her. One evening in March, he went over to her apartment, drank wine and told her he wanted to get back together. She told him she wanted a divorce, according to police reports. The next morning, he messaged her that he was going to kill himself. Later in the day, he told her to come over so he could tell and show her “secrets.” She went.
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The secrets were that Coffland had shot and killed their 16-year-old twin daughters, who had been living with him at a condo on First Street in St. Charles, shortly after they got home from St. Charles East High School, according to police reports.
Randall Coffland shot Anjum in the leg and told her he wanted her to “live with this the rest of her life,” according to reports. Police found her sitting on a hallway floor, covered in blood, screaming about what Randall had done. Police forced open the locked door to a bedroom where she said her husband was and found him dead in the bathroom.
Shooting outside La Flama
As workers at La Flama de Oro were wrapping up renovations to the restaurant on Aurora’s East Side, hoping to improve its image, violence struck at the adjacent bar. Anselmo Fernandez and Jermaine P. Taylor were killed and a third man injured in an early morning shooting March 10 outside the restaurant and bar on the 700 block of South Lincoln Avenue.
Several La Flama workers called in the shooting about 12:50 a.m., police said. Police found the three men who’d been shot just outside the business. All were taken to local hospitals, where Fernandez, 57, and Taylor, 35, were pronounced dead and the other man, 33, had surgery. Police initially described two male suspects, at least one of whom they believed to be the shooter.
Work begins on Aurora Arts Centre
Renovation work has begun at the old Waubonsee Community College campus at Galena Boulevard and Stolp Avenue in downtown Aurora, which is being transformed into the Aurora Arts Centre.
Over the next year the 80,000-square-foot building, purchased for $350,000 by Invest Aurora, the nonprofit development arm of the city, is being transformed into the $35 million Aurora Arts Centre. It will include an art gallery, fine dining restaurant, dozens of apartments for working artists, a rehearsal space for Paramount performers and a 25,000-square-foot performing arts school.
Spotlight on Old Copley building
The owners of the former Copley Hospital property on South Lincoln Avenue in Aurora agreed during the fall to take action to avoid a federal lawsuit from the city.
Raghuveer and Anita Nayak, of Oak Brook, have taken actions to try to secure the building and mitigate some of the public health factors at the site, according to Aurora officials.
The Nayaks have owned the building since 2007, but it has deteriorated in particular during the past four years, city officials have said.
Perimeter fencing was erected, broken windows were boarded and the owners hired security guards to patrol the property from 3 to 11 p.m. on weeknights and 24 hours a day on weekends, the city said.
Farnsworth Avenue project finished
Work on the Farnsworth Avenue interchange with Interstate 88 in Aurora was completed in November.
The Illinois State Toll Highway Authority said the project should bring “improved traffic flow through the interchange along with improvements for local and public access along Farnsworth Avenue.”
The $19 million project began in 2016 and included the construction of a new bridge and a ramp reconfiguration to extend the life of the interchange and increase traffic capacity. In addition, new access for bicycle and pedestrian use was created and LED lighting was installed.
East Aurora superintendent search
East Aurora School District 131 is searching for a new superintendent. The district has had two interim leaders since July 2016.
School board members are working with a superintendent search firm to conduct community surveys and meetings. Board members have not set a time frame to hire a new superintendent, saying it would depend on the search process.
Campana Building saga continues
The Batavia City Council in November again postponed a vote on a developer’s plans to put apartments in the historic Campana building on the border of Geneva and Batavia, this time until at least February.
Evergreen Real Estate Group has submitted a zoning application with Batavia to renovate the former Campana factory for a mixed-use, mixed-income development with 80 market-rate and income-restricted apartments.
Aldermen voted to have the developer return Feb. 5 to present a redesign of the plans to address issues opponents have with the project.
Opponents have raised a variety of concerns, from the suitability of a former factory being converted into residential units to the traffic it would generate at the Fabyan Parkway and Route 31 intersection as well as the safety of children living in the apartments walking to a nearby elementary school in Geneva School District 304.
Preservation advocates have praised the project, while others have endorsed the concept because it would fill a need for affordable housing in the area.
A first for Fox Valley Park District
For the first time, a seven-member Fox Valley Park Board was elected by the voters.
Six of the members were elected in the spring from three districts within the park district — two from each district — and the seventh was elected at large.
Because of the way voters originally organized and approved the Fox Valley Park District 70 years ago, board members had been appointed by the Kane County Board chairman.
That changed several years ago when the state legislature approved a law making the board elected rather than appointed and targeted spring 2017 for the first election.
Big project in downtown Oswego
Oswego recently approved a deal for a $64 million project with apartments and room for shops and a restaurant at the old Alexander Lumber property downtown.
Shodeen Group’s plans for The Reserve at Hudson Crossing call for a mixed-use development with two six-story buildings.
There would be 245 living units on the upper floors of the buildings and 12,000 square feet of commercial space for shops and a restaurant, as well as two parking facilities with approximately 500 spaces that the village will own.
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One year ago, village officials said the 2.38 acres at Washington and Adams streets was the largest vacant site in the downtown, and a development there could serve as a catalyst for the revitalization of the area.
New bridge coming over Fox River
The city of Aurora is moving forward with a $14 million project to enhance the Aurora Transportation Center, which includes a new pedestrian bridge over the Fox River.
The 900-foot curved pedestrian and bicycle bridge will connect bike trails on the west and east banks of the Fox River, going over Blues Island.
Aurora turns into ‘Wayne’s World’
Aurora partied in 2017 celebrating the 25th anniversary of the release of the film “Wayne’s World,” which was set in Aurora.
Events included a replica of the basement of Wayne’s parents, a karaoke contest, an air guitar competition, doughnut taste-off and a huge crowd head-banging to “Bohemian Rhapsody” on July 4 at RiverEdge Park.
Eclipse has people looking skyward
Aurora area residents, like millions across the country, became entranced by the solar eclipse in August.
Watch parties and events were held around the area, where people could see the partial eclipse, with about 87 percent of the surface of the sun covered. Many in the area who wanted to see a total eclipse headed down to southern Illinois.