Who’s fixing the train embankment?
Passersby may have noticed someone is fixing the crumbling embankment at Ridgeland Avenue and South Boulevard. Is it the village or Union Pacific Railroad, which owns the property?
Neither, according to Village Engineer Jim Budrick. The Chicago Transit Authority is tackling the work, taking down loose pieces of concrete near the Ridgeland Green Line stop. The CTA has an agreement with Union Pacific to maintain the embankment near its stations.
“The concrete was in a very precarious position, and they didn’t want to take any chances, so they took anything down,” Budrick said.
The CTA started the work late last month, and Budrick expects it to be finished in the next two weeks. The village has been urging Union Pacific for years to address the crumbling state of the embankment, which runs the entire width of Oak Park. The CTA, however, felt it was necessary to take action on the crumbling wall immediately. The sidewalk on the east side of the viaduct has been closed off, but the west side is still open. Access to the Ridgeland station has not been affected.
The Village of Oak Park has held multiple meetings with the CTA and Union Pacific over the condition of the embankment walls, and Budrick hopes to see further upkeep in the future.
Oak Park plans to start work on another viaduct soon, at Oak Park Avenue and South Boulevard. Repairs will include cleaning, painting and putting up lighted signs, similar to the viaduct at Marion and South. Eighty percent of funding for the $565,000 project will come from a state grant.
Traffic will drop to one lane at some point, with cars being diverted to Euclid, according to Budrick. Work will finish by September.
The village had planned to put a mural up on the embankment at Oak Park and South, but because of the crumbling state of the wall (requiring $60,000 in repairs), the plan was scrapped.
Trash barrels?
You may have seen all the rain barrels around Oak Park lately. They’re colorful, they’re creative, they’re an attempt to educate and raise consciousness.
Apparently it’s not working for a few of our less evolved souls who have lately taken to tossing trash into them, mistaking them for receptacles even though the holes on top are closed off, perhaps precisely to keep mindless twits from discarding their trash.
The problem is the trash has been there for most of the past week.
Talk about eco-unfriendly.
Pieritz Brothers thwarts trash by topping their pencil-themed rain barrel with a pot of flowers.
Time to rate restaurants
“A fun place, with a Chicago feeling. Great mojitos!”
“Ah, the sweet potato on the rooftop.”
“A solid standby for breakfast with friends on Saturday morning.”
Can you name these three local restaurants?
Click to DineOakPark.com and you’ll see what the buzz is about.
In the last week, Wednesday Journal has revamped its new local dining Web site to allow you to post thoughtful, critical and pointed (but not vicious) comments about neighborhood places – not just the 28 establishments we recently featured during Restaurant Month, but also the more than 100 spots in the village and along the streets bordering it.
So let your fellow diners hear your opinions, provocative insights and recommendations on where to take out-of-towners. And if you’ve got something to quietly bring to the attention of the folks running a place, we’re there for you, too: Just click the “E-mail the owner” button and speak out in a private way.
You’re welcome.
Now go find out where “the scallops are especially luscious, almost equaling the crab cakes.”
Bumper sticker battle
Entering Austin Gardens by the back gate (off the alley behind the Lake Theatre), we noticed two almost identical silver compact cars parked there, likely belonging to members of the cast of Festival Theatre’s Cyrano de Bergerac, which was in full rehearsal that afternoon. We couldn’t help noticing that one car had two Obama bumper stickers while the other had bumper stickers for Libertarian candidates Ron Paul and Bob Barr. We don’t know how this affects the cast chemistry, but we did notice a lot of sword-fighting.
You can see more when Cyrano starts its run in Austin Gardens on July 15.