| Idiotic things that need legislative attention |
I'm continually stunned by the Republican party's stupidity in alienating a growing Hispanic voting bloc. Apparently, senators Graham and McCain were proposing that Congress take a hard look at amending the 14th Amendment, which grants citizenship to children born in the United States, because of the growing "birth tourism" industry.
Tuesday, September 07, 2010 |
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| Upending the planet, One garden at a time |
| GINGER BROWN VANDERVEER , One View |
Yesterday I got to see the world right side up for a little while. We were sitting in a sacred space five blocks from Oak Park on the West Side of Chicago. We sat in the shade of an elm - we a people of diversity, young, old, sunburners and those who do not sunburn. We sat in a garden
Tuesday, September 07, 2010 |
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| Reporter hit by car in OP 'kill zone' |
If I were to ever get hit by a car, I figured it'd likely happen near the Green Line somewhere in Chicago. I just never anticipated that I actually would and that it would have happened in Oak Park.
Tuesday, September 07, 2010 |
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| State must lead way if communities are to regain financial stability |
| FRANK PELLEGRINI, One View |
The state's budget crisis is hammering Illinois - and nailing Oak Park in the process. Already, the village has laid off 62 employees, or eliminated their positions - more than one in seven - shrinking the workforce to 377. Payroll has been cut by $4 million, to $26 million. And support for the village's partner agencies has been trimmed by a third over the last three years.
Tuesday, September 07, 2010 |
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| Don't be swayed by prejudices on Comcast project |
| ADAM SALZMAN, One View |
Praising diversity is easy. Real diversity is hard. I was reminded of this while reading Virginia Seuffert's most recent piece in Wednesday Journal on the development project proposed for the site of the now-defunct Comcast building in central Oak Park [Central Oak Park is vulnerable; Comcast project could sink it, Viewpoints, Sept. 8].
Tuesday, September 07, 2010 |
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| Central Oak Park's vulnerable, Comcast project could sink it |
Plans to convert the former Comcast building on Madison Street into ground-floor retail space and 51 units of supportive housing are meeting sharp opposition from residents of neighboring blocks. Living less than three blocks away myself, I take keen interest in this project. While proponents are touting supposed benefits, a review of village history and some present realities suggest that residents of surrounding blocks would suffer losses in both their quality of life and their housing values.
Tuesday, August 31, 2010 |
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| Project developers answer Journal's two Comcast questions |
| Gladys Jordan & Perry Vietti, One View |
I would like to thank the editorial board of Wednesday Journal for its editorial [Playing on Fears, Our Views, Aug. 4] that addresses several of the criticisms lobbed against the proposed redevelopment of the Comcast building on Madison affordable, one-bedroom apartments. I would like to respond to the two questions that the editorial cites as unanswered.
Tuesday, August 31, 2010 |
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| Time to take a stand against bigotry |
| Lynn Allen, One View |
I am increasingly alarmed with the pubic expression of bigotry that has permeated the national media in our country. While it is not as prevalent in Oak Park, it is very disturbing that so many institutions and people of good faith are remaining silent.
Tuesday, August 31, 2010 |
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| Work of commissions critical to effective governing |
| Teresa Powell, One View |
A recent letter to Wednesday Journal asked why a resident would want to serve on an Oak Park commission, since sometimes the board of trustees doesn't adopt advisory recommendations [Why bother joining an Oak Park commission, Viewpoints, Aug. 25]. Here's my answer.
Tuesday, August 31, 2010 |
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| Local women have historic role in supporting suffrage |
| Deborah Dowley Preiser, One View |
Ninety years ago this week, bells rang out in Washington, D.C. After a difficult 72-year battle, Secretary of State Bainbridge Colby issued a proclamation declaring that the 19th Amendment had been ratified and was now part of the U.S. Constitution. American women finally had the right to vote in 1920.
Tuesday, August 24, 2010 |
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| Behind the curtain: Who's running Oak Park? |
The doldrums of August have forced me inside where I have been watching lots of old movies, which have provided me some insight and inspiration into our village's workings.
Tuesday, August 24, 2010 |
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| Unpaid bills take toll on tax-exempt agencies |
| Daniel Kill, One View |
The National Conference of State Legislators recently released a report naming Illinois the state with the worst budget deficit in the nation. While the report is preliminary and a handful of states such as California have yet to submit their budgets, Illinois has one of the worst state deficits heading into fiscal year 2011, which began on July 1.
Tuesday, August 24, 2010 |
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| May cancel Journal subscription after knock on teachers |
| Rosemary Muller, One View |
Dear Mr. Haley,
I think you are a great journalist and Wednesday Journal is a better paper than the Tribune. My husband and I canceled our subscription to the Tribune after 30 years, however, because of the paper's editorial policy on the pensions for state workers - especially those greedy, overpaid, underworked scapegoats de jour, teachers.
Tuesday, August 17, 2010 |
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| Panic and denial twin enemies when drug abuse hits homefront |
| S.H., One View |
Thanks for reading this far. Often, when we see the words, "drug problem," we either freeze up with fear or roll our eyes with impatience. Keep going and I promise I'll give you some helpful information so reading this isn't a waste of your time.
Tuesday, August 17, 2010 |
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| CORRECTIONS |
In a July 28 news story headlined "Amid controversy, St. Giles nixes cell tower," we misstated the type of tower that T-Mobile wanted to put on the property of St. Giles Catholic Church in Oak Park. The company proposed to put "wireless communications antennas" on an existing smoke stack.
Tuesday, August 17, 2010 |
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| Pensions should reflect private-sector realities |
| Thomas Barnard, One View |
Usually, the Oak Park Library sale is conducted at the high school, which has large rooms to run it. This year the sale was conducted on village premises on Madison Street. It was a crowded, disagreeable affair.
Tuesday, August 17, 2010 |
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| Peg Studney was rare, indeed |
| Bob Kane, One View |
Peg was that all-too-rare an individual who truly believed in the essential quality of every human being [Peg Studney, 84, teacher, human rights activist, public intellectual, Obituaries, Aug. 11]. As a devoted follower of Thomas Aquinas and the founding fathers, she lived every day believing in the concept of natural law.
Tuesday, August 17, 2010 |
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| Non-Oak Park drivers threaten civility of community |
| John Murtagh, One View |
Civility was a significant factor in my family choosing to live in Oak Park [No thanks for Woodbine-Division stop sign, Viewpoints, June 30]. It was nice to live with people who were courteous, gave big hellos, and went out of their way to conform to the Oak Park culture of civility.
Tuesday, August 10, 2010 |
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| A theater critic recalls Circle's moments |
Everything has a shelf life, a wise friend often reminds me, whether it's a Twinkie, a nectarine or a relationship. Circle Theatre has been opening hundreds of shows in Forest Park since the mid-1980s. But that period is now suddenly, rather abruptly, over.
Tuesday, August 10, 2010 |
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| Parks a bargain on high Oak Park tax bill |
When you think of Oak Park you think of Hemingway, Wright, integration and high taxes. These viewpoint pages are often filled with criticism and complaints about how high real estate taxes are in our town. I feel this pain. We moved from our north Oak Park home in 2006 in large part because our property taxes were $18,000.
Tuesday, August 10, 2010 |
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| OPRF High School is right - students are not people |
| Paul Deziel |
I'm so relieved to find out that searches can now be conducted on students attending Oak Park and River Forest High School [OPRF clarifies procedures for searching students, News, July 28].
Tuesday, August 03, 2010 |
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| Neighbors are the real victims of mortgage schemes |
The causes of the real estate meltdown and ensuing banking crisis and recession are complex. You can blame Wall Street insiders who bundled toxic subprime loans and sold them to unsuspecting investors. You can blame the rating agencies.
Tuesday, August 03, 2010 |
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| How much low-income housing is right for Oak Park? |
| David Heidorn |
A village trustee responded to a neighbor about the Interfaith/Oak Park Housing Authority effort to build 51 low-income housing units at Grove and Madison [Opposition forming to proposed Madison apartments, News, July 28].
Tuesday, August 03, 2010 |
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| First Amendment rights should protect U of I prof |
With all the talk about Second Amendment rights and gun control buzzing about Oak Park, we risk ignoring a serious challenge to the First Amendment right of free speech in our state. In recent years, so-called "hate speech" prohibitions have silenced meaningful discussion on a variety of topics, including those related to gay and lesbian issues.
Tuesday, August 03, 2010 |
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| Thoughts on guns and the living wage |
| Adam Salzman, One View |
Conventional wisdom can be intimidating. This is particularly true in matters of law and economics. Therefore, I am not surprised that two very controversial decisions affecting our village - the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in McDonald v. Chicago, striking down Oak Park's handgun ban, and the Village of Oak Park's decision to cut off consideration of a living wage ordinance - have not yet been extensively debated.
Tuesday, July 27, 2010 |
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| Feeling sorry for LeBron James |
Taken together, two very different sporting events this month crystallize the deep ambivalence many of us fans feel about the games we play and follow.
Tuesday, July 27, 2010 |
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| Save the yieldus signus from extinction in Oak Park |
| Jerry Ostergaard, One View |
Being a good green Oak Parker, I was riding my bike recently to complete a short shopping trip, when I came across a scarce and disappearing species planted firmly in pairs at the corner of Monroe and Kenilworth avenues, and down the block at Adams and Kenilworth.
Tuesday, July 27, 2010 |
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| Armed citizenry preserves basic freedoms |
| Joseph Wemhoff, One View |
Thanks to the U.S. Supreme Court for restoring to the citizens of Oak Park our inalienable right to keep and to bear arms. Even as Chicago overreacts with new draconian restrictions, it is well to reflect on facts, and on the value of an armed populace.
Tuesday, July 20, 2010 |
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| Oak Park boot brigade should give locals a break |
I don't usually drive to work. I walk, ridding the environment of what little carbon monoxide spits from my 2002 Nissan Quest minivan in the short distance from home to my employer. I save a buck, too, not having to top off the ol' gas tank as much. But for whatever I have saved by footing it, last week it took only about an hour to lose it, due to my own ignorance and the Village of Oak Park's rigid constraints on parking tickets even for us locals.
Tuesday, July 20, 2010 |
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| The decline and fall of the expert |
As the world has become more complicated and complex, we the people have become increasingly dependent on experts. With the dawning of the Information Age and the cascades of data and information that pour into our brains, we simply can't process it all, and we have come to depend on experts to tell us what to think and do.
Tuesday, July 13, 2010 |
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