Iris Sims News Today

Illinois’s first co-housing development saw shovels hit the ground last week, and membership chair Susan Stall said it is gratifying to see the project coming to fruition after years of planning.

Oak Park currently has two vacant church buildings which sit in residential neighborhoods. But with church attendance declining across America, the prospect that the village will face additional empty churches in the years ahead led village officials to attempt to get in front of the issue with a zoning change which would allow additional uses of such spaces. But at a July 31 village board meeting, being proactive on one topic crashed directly into Oak Park’s most enduring challenge. Parking....

Neighbors fiIed a formal request to see consistent zoning rules applied to both of Oak Park’s hospitals. Their request was denied in a 7-2 vote by the Plan Commission.

During a contentious meeting in which its chair left before voting took place, the Oak Park plan commission recommended approval of an apartment building proposed for a vacant lot near Julian Middle School.

Ray Charles, shown here in an OBSERVER file photo, passed away this week. He was 92. Charles was Sacramento’s first Black fire chief. Raymond J. Charles didn’t initially envision a career with the Sacramento Fire Department and was talked into completing an application by friends. He applied himself and would go on to rise through the ranks and become the city’s first African American fire chief. There have only ever been two others since. The pioneering civil servant died on December 15....