Talk of the Town

Remember: This too is a column about community concerns. Want to address an item that concerns you? Let us know.

Today I drove to work planning a quick stop at Walgreen’s because I was early — about a 5 minute drive, okay let’s give it 10 minutes. But today things were different or were they?

Someone was blocking the one 1-way street I needed to get to Western. No problem, I would go down the alley since the next 4-streets were all 1-way the wrong way for me. City planning?

My 1-block alley journey took 7+ minutes because the alley was close to impassable filled with gigantic holes, ruts and bumps. I drove about 10 miles per hour. Made a mental note not to try that again. Wondered if I damaged my car/tires? Cursed a little. Admonished myself--should have known better. Forgot where I was, but wondered why our alleys have never been paved.

Okay, made it to Western Avenue — uh oh, forgot I couldn’t turn into Walgreen’s- waited for two lights in order to jog around — 6-7 minutes drove down to Vincennes. Whoops, forgot I couldn’t turn into the Jewel parking lot, barricades all over the place.

Got to Vincennes, was going to go down Olive Street — no, that’s a dead end — made an executive decision and decided on a U-Turn on Vincennes to go back to 127th. Doubt if this is legal. Cursed. Another 3 minutes. Finally turned into Walgreens. Completed my errand and checked out in 2 seconds.

Wanted to continue down Western Avenue, so thinking I was slick, I tried Walgreen’s drive-in path, made another U-Turn to continue down Western Avenue although I knew this was definitely illegal — but, alas, hit the light — another 3 minutes. Cursed. Did not want to go to 126th, twist and turn down Greenwood and try to cross traffic into the right turn lane. Now by this time, I was running late, my blood pressure was up to the sky, but, above all, any semblance of a good mood that I started out with was shattered. Cursed.

In our last issue, we published a beautiful photo of the amazing quilts displayed on the church pews in First Evangelical Lutheran Church we neglected to give credit to photographer, Darren Thompson who runs the Tech Annex at the Blue Island Public Library. And if only the FORUM issue (in black and white) could have captured the real impact of both the quilts and Darren’s photo!

The small family memorial for Antonio Manrique which is located at 123rd and Irving met with a sad fate — well, more than just a sad fate—it met with desecration, vandalism and once again our community does not get “high marks” for tolerance. As you may recall, Mr. Manrique’s death was ruled a homicide although no one was prosecuted. In honor of the 5th anniversary of his death, someone broke and shattered a new cross that his family had placed at the site. Having driven by there just a day before the vandalism, we noticed how lovely the memorial looked—pumpkins, mums, a wreath and the wooden cross. Mr. Manrique’s death seems to be an unpleasant reminder for some vindictive people. Desecrating a cross is more than repulsive to most people.

In regard to Glen Szczypka’s letter sent to Senator Emil Jones which we published in FOR-U-MAIL, it is his intent to start a grassroots organization to do something about the Jewel situation. Again, think about contacting officials listed and maybe, just maybe, something will happen. You’ve read it here a thousand times — never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world. Indeed it’s the only thing that has. Many times, it is concerned, dedicated citizens that truly care about a community so they stand up for what they believe in—and maybe change occurs. Make an effort here and show support to Glen.

For your information, we gave you contact information at the end of his letter.

Aldi’s is wonderful, thank the Lord we have it, but it is limited. Hopefully we can challenge some laws that only benefit corporations, and leave citizens out in the cold.

And, in regard to what’s next. It’s got to be the railroads, the loud, blasting continual whistles which some operators go overboard as a warning (?). Then, we’re back to where we started years ago with blockage problems. In City Council what was addressed was an over 2-hour stall which occurred recently and DDE students unable to get to school who began trying to crawl between cars. Those trains are long—where do kids go? into Beverly? down to Posen? Speaking of Beverly, they have “quiet zones” and double gates in many locations. A FORUM plan will soon appear.

P.S. In situations such as this, protecting kids who cannot help but be frustrated should be our number one concern. It should be handled with tact and concern by police.