This morning, the wonderful “gals” at Garland Flowers at 137 South Oak Park Avenue in Oak Park were met by an unannounced street closure on Oak Park Avenue. The Village of Oak Park, the Township of Oak Park and the Seniors Center decided that this morning was the perfect day to partially close Oak Park Avenue to disconnect the old water and sewer service to the soon-to-be-opened Senior Center on the east side of Oak Park Avenue.

If a private real estate concern were to engage in trenching the street, there would have to be permits and notifications. There was not advance notice to either Garland Flowers – a wonderful flower shop, if you’re interested – or Maya Del Sol restaurant over at 144 S. Oak Park Avenue.

Does the fact that the owners of Maya Del Sol restaurant have been critical of the Village’s plan to tear up Oak Park Avenue have any bearing on the situation? What are the plans for Oak Park Avenue? The Village of Oak Park is acting like a three-year-old not making any noise. Parents recognize that when a kid is not making noise, he or she is making trouble. The sound of “crickets chirping” from the Village is troubling.

How much effort does it take to alert business owners that construction will take place? It seems as if our governmental entities – the Village and Township feel that they can be bad neighbors.

Memorial Day is Monday, May 28^th.

The Combined Veterans of Berwyn and the City of Berwyn – Town of Stickney, will host their annual Memorial Day Parade on Sunday, May 27. The parade will begin at 2 p.m. at the intersection of Windsor and Oak Park avenues and continue down Oak Park Avenue until they reach Mount Auburn Cemetery, 4101 Oak Park Ave., Stickney, where a remembrance service will be held.

The River Forest Service Club and the River Forest Park District present the River Forest Memorial Day Parade which starts at 10 am on Monday, the 28^th of May.

Unless a member of your family is serving or has served in our Armed Forces or you’re a history buff – as am I – you might be forgetful of the fact that the United States has been engaged in combat operations for more than eleven years.  No matter how you feel about the War, everyone must recognize the fact that with service come sacrifices.  At Memorial Day, we are reminded of those who have given their lives for our freedom.

But what’s often overlooked is the sacrifice of the families of servicemen and servicewomen.  And the handicaps that many members of the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard, National Guard and National Reserves bring back home.

Please take a few moments while engaged in the parties and shopping to remember the reason for Memorial Day?

Mother’s Day is Sunday May 13th, this year. Now almost everyone will agree that everyday should be Mother’s Day. But seeing as how it has been declared that the second Sunday in May is Mother’s Day, I’ll just say, “Happy Mother’s Day” and encourage those who have their Mom’s still alive to reach out and let their Mothers know that they did a pretty good job!

After all, you’re still alive – you are reading this – and doing at least as good as everyone else in your circle of friends and family. So, your Mom deserves a “Hello”, “Shout Out” or maybe an “Atta-girl”.

I’ll bet that you know that the busiest day for restaurants is Mother’s Day. But did you know that many Moms do not want to go out on that day?

Since the “economy” hasn’t picked up for many, maybe a dinner of luncheon at your home might be a grand idea. Remember that the way to Mom’s heart may well be her stomach… It worked for Dad so why not Mom too!

One of the Village of Oak Park’s more obnoxious entities, the Oak Park Board of Health will hold a a forum on Jan. 24th from 6 to 9 pm, to gather input from residents on guns.  But there’s been only one mention of it buried in the Wednesday Journal: “Oak Park Plans Gun Forum At Village Hall”

Oak Park’s decades-old unconstitutional handgun ban was ended by the US Supreme Court in 2010.  District Of Columbia et al. v. Heller and Chicago v. McDonald are now the law of the land.  But that hasn’t stopped either Chicago or her little sister the Village of Oak Park from consipring to limit the civil rights of their residents.

Our fear is that the Oak Park Board of Health will create and get passed laws that will be litigated in court – at great expense to Oak Park Taxpayers, for no result other than massive legal bills – does anybody really care that Oak Park taxpayers shelled out more than $650,000 for legal fees over the DTOP TIFF?

UPDATE:

From the Village of Oak Park…

Firearm regulation forum set

A community forum to gather public input for consideration in regulating the sale and possession of firearms is scheduled for 7 p.m., Tues., Jan. 24, at Village Hall, 123 Madison St. Hosted by the Board of Health as a public safety issue, the forum is part of a process that ultimately will lead to recommendations to the Village Board for possible action. Prohibiting businesses from selling firearms is considered unlikely, officials say, given recent U.S. Supreme and Appellate Court rulings. However, laws that regulate where, how and to whom firearms are sold and kept are among those considered legally defensible. For more information on the meeting, e-mail health@oak-park.us.

UPDATE 01/26/2012:

There appears to be a bit of difference in the coverage of the Forum.  From the Oak Leaves:

Headline: Gun owners rip Oak Park regulation plans

” The largely civil 90-minute event, technically a meeting of the Oak Park Health Board, saw handgun proponents outnumber pro-regulation speakers 15-7. ”

“David Schweig… challenged Barwin to openly discuss what he said was a $1.6 million legal bill the City of Chicago and Oak Park still owed to the NRA lawyers who argued the case before the Supreme Court.”

From the Wednesday Journal:

Headline: Big crowd for Oak Park gun forum

“”It’s quite clear that firearm violence, accidents and crimes are very costly to our society in myriad ways,” Barwin said. “Medical responses, rehabilitation from debilitating injury, loss of life, police and court costs, incarceration all add up to monumental costs. From the board’s perspective, firearm safety is clearly an important public health issue.”"

“Reshma Desai thinks Oak Park should require owners to store guns separately from ammunition and to keep them locked up. Local police could do “spot checks” at homes and issue fines to make sure people are complying, she said…”

There are two sides to every story…

As the year 2011 is coming to a close, we just wanted to wish all our viewers and readers a Happy, Healthy, Rewarding, Fulfilling and Prosperous New Year!

Here’s Hoping for a better 2012!