Auction 2011, Saturday, June 18, 6:30 PM to 11:00 PM, Beverly Unitarian Church, 10244 S. Longwood Dr., Chicago. Service, silent and open auction. Lots of beautiful, interesting or old furniture, art, tools, household furnishings, objects d’art, etc. along with food, wine and beer. Call (773) 233-7080 for tickets.
Impact Corporate Prayer Conference, June 25, S. A. Chapel, 2900 W. 127th St. The Impact of the Praying Multitude. When an Impact takes place it involves having a direct effect to make a change. Prayer has a direct effect against obstacles that are placed in our paths for destruction. We believe that with our impacting prayers lives, situations and circumstances will be changed for the Glory of God. Prayer 9:00 AM to 12:00 PM. Refreshments. No registration fee required. For further information call Pastor Myrtle Townsend (773) 266-4219 or www.gloriouswomen.net.
Salem Lutheran Church: New Beginnings 12951 S. Maple Ave. Blue Island
708-388-1830 Spaghetti Dinner Fundraiser for Capital Improvement Fund. Tickets are available in the church office $10.00 each. July 16, 2011 4:00-7:00 p.m. in School Basement.
Sones de Mexico Ensemble Free Concert - Presented by Comcast. On Sunday, June 26 at 2pm MetroSouth Park the Corner of York & Western Ave in Blue Island.
Hosted by City of Blue Island Special Events, MetroSouth Medical Center, Illinois Arts Council, Consulado General De Mexico Chicago, IL, Volaris
Plant Exchange On Saturday, June 18th, CARR home-garden-holiday will be holding their plant exchange and hot dog day! Dig up those extras from your garden and bring them in to exchange with fellow gardeners. We will be serving FREE hot dogs, chips, and soda. Exchange some plants, have a hot dog, and pick up a present for Dad, all on the same day! When: Saturday, June 18, starts at noon
Where: CARR home-garden-holiday, 2357 York St
EVERY WEDNESDAY evening at 7:30 private meetings are held for any and all veterans, men and women, all ages, from all wars and regardless of discharge status. These meetings are free, confidential and not connected with any organization. They can help detail benefits, offer counseling and support. At St. Joseph and St. Aidan Episcopal Church, 2453 Oak Street. For more information, call Pastor Reinhart at (708) 528-9862.
Alderman Mike Janko did not attend the May 24th, 2011 City Council Meeting. Alderman Nancy Rita arrived late. Mayor Donald E. Peloquin presided.
ST. DONATO’S CARNIVAL: Church officials asked permission to hold the Carnival on August 3rd thru 7th. This was agreed to.
VINCENNES APARTMENTS: The courts have agreed to open bidding on a property near 119th Street on June 8th. There is an interested group ready with a bid.
UNION STREET PROJECT: Christy Webber Landscaping will accept increment payments on a landscaping project to decorate the area along the parking lots on Union and High Streets. Funding is to come from the Hospital TIF District.
CAL SAG TRAIL: Marketing Director Mary Poulsen introduced Charles J. Grump of URS to talk about the Signage + Wayfinding Development Plan. Blue Island is to administer a grant for $253,000 received through Senator Dick Durbin’s office, for the towns along the trail. It is to be matched by the Friends of the Calumet Trail. It will run from Burnham to Lockport. It will include bike and walking trails. The grant is for a two phase plan for developing signage showing directions. East of Blue Island, signs will also be erected showing natural history, while on the east, signs will show the area’s cultural history. The first phase of the plan will develop a preliminary gateway plan, taking into consideration elevation, craft specification and cost estimate. This will take approximately 24 months. A report will be filed with I.D.O.T. Phase 2 will advance the gateway plans, specification and cost estimate to completion or until the project can stand on its own. This will begin once I.D.O.T. approves the plans. Signage will be developed for each key jurisdiction, noting key attractions and upcoming events.
A steering committee needs to be selected in each community to monitor the scope of the signage and how the community wishes to use the trail. Blue Island’s committee has three members now, and can use more, although the group shouldn’t be huge. There will be public meetings in June or July and input will be welcome.
Grump explained that Blue Island will be an integral part of the fabric that is the trails. This should bring approximately 50 to 80,000 trial users to town, whether it is for recreation, or an easy route to work.
BIKE EDUCATION: Coke has provided $11,000 to the Rails to Trails program. Fifteen students from District 130 will be given bikes, helmets and lights. The bikes need to be built and the kids will take four weeks of classes to do so. They will also learn about bike safety, maintenance and repair. Participants will be present at the July 10th TGIF picnic. A storefront with pop-up bike repair will be available Uptown on July 11th. July 13 is ‘Ride Your Bike to Work Day’, and Aldermen are expected to ride their bikes to the next City Council Meeting.
URBAN FORESTRY BOARD AND TREE CITY USA: During the last 14 months Superintendent Ken Stachulac has been working with the Urban Forestry Board to plant trees east of Western and Vermont. The group has been identifying new areas in need of trees, including 119th Street, and Vincennes. He acknowledged his team: Perry Recker Val Kehoe, Bob Manthei, Dan Lynch, Mike Schlom, Sandy Quinn, Carol Short, Chris Cheatle, Fran Blouin, Julie Schlom, Barb Recker Melissa Fuller, Frank Ferrina, Brian Burke and Mike Malina. Through Tree Keeps, a program operated by Open Lands, which has been in existence for 20 years, this group was taught about the biology, plots, mulching, and pruning. They have been tested and “can work on any tree in town.” Superintendent Stachulac held up a plaque declaring Blue Island “Tree City USA.” Signs will be put up on 127th and Western. On My 6th, the group planted a ‘Patriot’ elm at Veteran’s Memorial School.
TRAILER PARKS: Alderman Dexter Johnson reported that residents of trailer parks on Western have complained that there are maintenance items not being addressed, and that vacant homes are being vandalized. The City helped out last year and residents hope for help again. Mayor Peloquin promised to send Building Commissioner David Mindeman to investigate. Currently the City has only electrical and plumbing codes in place. They are trying to get information from the State about their regulations. The City would like to be in such a position that the trailer park owners would be forced to regulate themselves. Trailers fall apart after so many years. The City would like to place a cap on the number of years trailers are used so that they are replaced when necessary. The Judiciary Committee is working on this.
CITY CLERK PAM FRASOR’S BUSINESS: California Gardens Christian of Love Baptist Church asked to be allowed to tag on August 13th and 20th. The Cardinal Dance Team asked to be allowed to tag on July 15th and 16th. Both requests were agreed to.
ATTORNEY TERRY SULLIVAN’S BUSINESS: An ordinance rescinding handicapped parking restrictions at 2033 High Street was presented. The Council agreed.
COMMITTEE REPORTS: Alderman Jan Ostling chairs the Public Health and Safety Committee. The Fire Department responded to 339 total fire and medical emergencies in March. In April, they responded to 284 total fire and medical emergencies. It was noted that response times have not changed with the closing of the bridges. Total collections for 2011 came to $107,641.68, with $10,225.95 going out in process fees.
In April the Police Department wrote 804 parking citations, 291 moving citations, answered 2,248 calls, and made 243 traffic. In March, they wrote 937 parking citations, 511 moving citations, answered 2,252 call, and made 407 traffic stops. The Detective Division was assigned 26 cases in April and 41 cases in March. The Department is currently down 5 officers. They are working on a hiring grant.
CITIZENS WERE INVITED TO SPEAK:
Willie Scott said that the ‘no parking’ signs in front of his house was removed and wanted to know why. Alderman Domingo Vargas explained that the City is removing all ‘no parking’ and ‘resident only’ parking signs because they are confusing. As in Mr. Scott’s situation, most were put up so that people taking the trains couldn’t take up spaces on the streets that were suppose to be for the residents. If the commuter is actually a Blue Island resident, or has bought a city sticker from the Clerk’s Office, they are entitled to park in ‘Resident Only’ parking spaces. This also causes problems when the residents who actually live where the signs are posted plan to entertain out of town guests, as the guests can be cited for illegal parking. Residents think that they can just get a pass from the Clerk’s Office and the problem is solved. There are no passes. The Judiciary Committee is working on a solution to this. It might include color coded bumper stickers as well as new signage.
Mr. Scott asked about the City filling pot holes in front of his house. His street hasn’t been repaved in a few years. He was told that according to the last census, income on his block showed that it wasn’t poor enough to qualify for block grants. Mayor Peloquin said that a new census has been conducted.
Claudine Younger attended a City Council Meeting after the bad storm to find out why Hoyne wasn’t plowed. She paid a service to have it plowed and wanted to be reimbursed. Mayor Peloquin responded that there were cars on the street. No, she said, there weren’t. He promised to talk to Superintendent Stachulak about it.
David Prater asked if there was any information about the problems in Deer Point. Mayor Peloquin responded that the bank would file for receivership on May 31st. He will hear the results in about thirty days.
The meeding ended at 7:50PM. The next meeting is scheduled for June 14th, at 7PM in the East Annex.
Committee Meetings:
Finance: 6:15PM, East Annex,
2nd and 4th Tuesday
Appropriations: 6/13, 6/20 and 6/27 (if needed), 6PM, East Annex
Judiciary: July 5th, 5PM,
East Annex, 1st Tuesday
Municipal Services: July 5th, 6PM, East Annex, First Tuesday
Community Development: July 5, 7:30PM, East Annex, First Tuesday
Public Health and Safety: Tuesday, June 21st, 6:30PM, Lower Level of the Police Station
One alderman from each ward is now required to attend the Community Development Committee meeting.
Membership for all committees (which were newly formed after the election) will again be listed in the July FORUM.
Song!
Devoted Blue Island chorister Sue Rishworth spent four days rehearsing and then singing before hundreds of people at the 2011 Baha’i Choral Festival near Chicago. She joined close to 250 other talented voices from several nations singing beautiful sacred music at the renowned Baha’i Temple on May 29th.
The Baha’i Choral Festival included rehearsals, workshops and performances. Songs were sung a cappella (without instruments) and included classical liturgical music of many religions, gospel music and other multicultural selections. The architecturally stunning Baha’i Temple near Chicago is a gleaming white lace-like building surrounded by gardens, pools and Lake Michigan panoramas. It’s a beautiful national landmark serving North America as one of seven Baha’i temples in the world, unifying and depicting all major world religions.
The Baha’i Faith, founded in Persia in 1844, is the youngest of the world’s independent monotheistic religions and is one of the fastest-growing, with approximately 170,000 members throughout the United States and more than five million in the world.
For information on the Baha’i Faith, contact the Blue Island Baha’is at 708-612-4493 or 800-22-UNITE and www.bahai.us.
Beautification
Save the Date: Public Meetings for Comprehensive Plan
As a part of a comprehensive planning effort, the City of Blue Island invites local residents, business owners, community leaders and other stakeholders to share their ideas about what the future of Blue Island should look like.
The public will have two opportunities in June to contribute to the comprehensive plan by attending a special community planning event. These sessions will feature a brainstorming exercise in which participants can state their preferences regarding issues they feel should be addressed in planning for the future of Blue Island. These events will be held in the evening, and are open to all members of the Blue Island community. For more details and to RSVP, please contact Jessica Simoncelli via email or call (312) 386-8631.
Workshop #1
Date: Monday, June 20th, 2011
Time: 6:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. (6:00 p.m. registration)
Location: Salvation Army, 2900 W. Burr Oak
Workshop #2
Date: Tuesday, June 21st, 2011
Time: 6:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. (6:00 p.m. registration)
Location: Blue Island Recreation Center, 2805 141st Street
Music!
Sunday afternoon, July 10th at 4 pm at MetroSouth Park, at York and Western, for a family concert by the Southwest Symphony Orchestra, under the direction of David Crane! The Blue Island Special Events Committee along with the MetroSouth Medical Center and the Blue Island Public Library are sponsoring an afternoon concert–fun for the whole family!
There will be a piece featuring each instrument family (Strings, Woodwinds and Brass) and the concert will end with Prokofiev’s “Peter and the Wolf.” Join the Symphony on stage to have a close up look at the instruments following the concert.
Food will be available for purchase from Cafe Metro. If it rains, the concert will be held at ( Christ Memorial Church located at 2440 York St.)
Compassion
You can reach out to a terminally ill person and caregiver when you become
a hospice visiting volunteer.
VOLUNTEER with MetroSouth Hospice, Blue Island for a meaningful and
rewarding experience.
Do something GOOD.
You will be trained and supported.
Call Nancy Roesner, Volunteer Coordinator, 708 385 0372
Interfaith Day of Prayer to Heal and Renew the Environment
Tell A Friend…
Please be with us at our June 19 day of action and prayer to save the environment. We are calling on people of every faith and persuasion to meet at 4:00 pm, Sunday June 19, at Water Reclamation Station beside the Cal-Sag Canal in Blue Island. There, we will speak out against pollution and environmental destruction. We will also participate in rituals and prayer to bring spiritual healing and renewal to the natural world.
All too many religious groups today deny or ignore the problem of global
climate change. With this event, we are encouraging religious leaders to
become more actively involved in the quest to care for and preserve the
world that God created.
This will not be a strictly religious event. We invite secular environmentalists
to come and speak out for the preservation of the natural environment.
This is our forth annual Day of Prayer to Heal the River, and Renew our World,
and has become a very popular event here in the south suburbs. We hope you will plan to be with us. After we have completed our work at the river, we will be going to a reception at the Cornerstone Gallery at 13168 Old Western Ave. in Blue Island. For more information, please call Father Rod Reinhart, at 708-528-9862.
Music and Drumming,
Blessings and Prayers,
Action and Words
We must spiritually cleanse and heal
our natural world.
A reception and public meeting will follow at Cornerstone Art Gallery at 13168 Olde Western Avenue in Blue Island.