The search is over
The following originally appeared in Ken Trainor’s blog at WednesdayJournalOnline.com:
After Frank Limentato departed for Elmwood Park, I knew I wouldn’t be following him there. My barber needs to be local. The next most local barber was just a few blocks down Oak Park Avenue in the Oak Park Arms Retirement Community.
Jill Wagner, marketing director at The Arms, after reading our extensive coverage of Frank’s departure from Oak Park – and my search for someone to tend my aging locks – sent me a coupon for a free haircut from Emil Messina, the aforementioned barber at The Arms.
Emil is located in a tiny shop that harkens back to the days when The Arms was a swank hotel, well known throughout the Chicago area. Emil hasn’t been there that long, but he’s been a barber for a very long time. He grew up in central Sicily in a small town not far from where Frank Limentato grew up, so I’m continuing my Sicilian string here.
Emil’s grandfather and father were both barbers, and in those days, he explained, when it came time to make a living, you pretty much did what your father did.
“I was born in a barbershop,” he says. I assume he doesn’t mean literally, but I didn’t ask. During WWII, when he was 13 years old, he started giving haircuts to the invading American G.I.s, and he’s been cutting hair ever since.
For several decades he plied his trade in the lower level of the Palmer House in Chicago’s Loop. He’s been here for the last 23 years and now lives in Westchester.
“You don’t get rich cutting hair,” he says, “but you make a living.”
He works Wednesday through Saturday, but the best thing about Emil is he takes appointments. I waltzed in without one a few Saturdays back and found Marty Noll, CEO of Community Bank, awaiting his turn. In the chair was P.J. O’Dea of Ennis, County Clare, Ireland, who promptly gave me his card and told me not to call him. With clients like this, I figured, how could I lose?
Emil told me to come back at 2:30 and he’d take care of me. It was worth the wait.
Oh woe is the escalator
After suffering stutters and stops during 2008, the escalator was finally blocked off for repairs back in November. The original date for the escalator to reopen was early May, according to numerous signs inside the el station. The date was pushed back to May 18 (with a sticker stating the new date slapped over the old one). Another new sticker has now been placed over that one: June 1.
According to CTA spokeswoman Catherine Hosinski, “The escalator, installed in 1962, was removed in late January/early February for the reconditioning of major parts, including the replacement of track and chain. It has been 25 years since its last reconditioning in 1984. Due to the complexity of the work being performed and the age of the original equipment, repairs will take slightly longer to complete.”
Wednesday Journal will keep track of any future sticker changes.
Sheffel improves access
As a child, Joel Sheffel suffered through bouts of spinal meningitis and rheumatic fever, which left him weak and “uncoordinated.” As an adult, he suffered numerous seizures and deepening depression, which intensified to the point where he was confined to a nursing home in 1999. When he was well enough to get out 18 months later, he realized he faced a different set of problems.
“I came out and had no idea where to go for assistance and information,” Sheffel said. “Fortunately, I connected with Progress Center for Independent Living and was told about the Community Reintegration Program.” Through that program, Sheffel found appropriate housing in Oak Park.
The experience left him commited to helping others understand their options and rights. “I said no one is going to have to go searching to find information about programs and services which they might need,” said Sheffel, who founded the non-profit West Suburban Access News Association (WSANA) in 2001. He mailed out monthly newsletters informing members about items of interest to persons with disabilities until September 2005, when he launched the Website www.wsana.org. The site, which features over 200 pages of information on subjects of interest to individuals with disabilities, has been visited by over 125,400 unique visitors.
But he still wasn’t satisfied. “My concern was that nobody knew who an ADA coordinator was.”
He spoke with state Sen. Don Harmon in early December. “He was very receptive,” said Sheffel. By January he’d already introduced the amendments. The bills then picked up sponsorship from Rep. Deborah Graham and LaShawn Ford in the House.
This spring Sheffel traveled to Springfield to testify for the bills. Last week the state legislature passed the two bills, SB 134 and SB 133, into law. The first requires that anyone who leaves a nursing home be given a listing of organization and the services they provide and that the Illinois Department of Public Health create an 800 number for persons who live in the community to call for services. The second requires the local ADA coordinator’s contact information to be published on a town, village or city’s Web site, along with local grievance procedures.
“He really deserves all the credit, said Harmon.