THE WEEKS >
Meetings
Flossmoor School District 161 Board of Education will meet at 6 p.m. Monday, Jan. 22, in Normandy Villa, 41 E. Elmwood Drive, Chicago Heights.
- Find the agenda here.
- Highlights: The board will discuss plans for the 2024 Summer Academy and will vote on two facility improvements at Western Avenue School — resurfacing the gym floor and repainting lockers. The board will also consider making March 19 an e-learning day. Three schools will serve as polling places for the primary election that day.
Flossmoor Community Relations Commission will meet at 7 p.m. Monday, Jan. 22, in village hall, 2800 Flossmoor Road.
- Find the agenda here.
Homewood Board of Trustees will meet at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 23, in village hall, 2020 Chestnut Road.
- Find the agenda here.
- Attend remotely here or dial 312-626-6799. ID 980 4907 6232, passcode 830183.
- Contact the board at [email protected] or by placing written comments in the drop box outside village hall. Comments submitted before 4 p.m. on the meeting date will be distributed to all village board members prior to the meeting.
- Highlights: Trustees will consider:
- A 2.5% water and sewer rate increase per 1,000 gallons for 2024.
- An inducement resolution that ensures the village and any future developer will be reimbursed for qualified expenses incurred prior to the establishment of the proposed West 183rd Street TIF district for 3003-3025 183rd St., recently acquired by the village.
- An intergovernmental cooperation agreement with the municipalities that are members of E-COM and SOUTHCOM emergency dispatch services as part of the consolidation of the two organizations.
- A budget adjustment to account for the village’s payments to the state for ambulance service reimbursements.
- An extension of the deadline for Stoney Point Grill to open from the original October 2023 date to March 31, 2024. The restaurant in the new Hartford Building at Martin Avenue and Ridge Road is expected to open in mid-February, according to the developer.
Homewood Planning and Zoning Commission will meet at 7 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 25, in village hall, 2020 Chestnut Road.
- Find the agenda here.
- Attend virtually here or call 312-626-6799. Use ID 991 8481 1606 and passcode 573812.
- Highlight: The commission will consider a request for a special use permit from Dionne Townsend to add fitness to the existing offerings of an event hosting service at 18205 Dixie Highway.
Stuff to do
Monday, Jan. 22
Bingo with Senior Medicare Patrol. Homewood Public Library, 17917 Dixie Highway, will host bingo games for anyone age 55 and up starting at 11 a.m. No registration required.
Art in STEAM Flossmoor Public Library, 1000 Sterling Ave., will host an opportunity to explore the creative side of science, technology, engineering, art and math from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. For kids age 5 and up. Children under 9 years old must have an adult caregiver stay with them at the program. Register here.
Young Engineers’ Building Challenge #1. Flossmoor Public Library, 1000 Sterling Ave., will host an engineering challenge from 5:30 to 7 p.m. Kids age 7 and up will create structures using just toothpicks and styrofoam balls. Children under 9 years old must have an adult caregiver stay with them at the program. Register here.
Tuesday, Jan. 23
Flossmoor Public Works Open House. From 6 to 8 p.m. residents can ask questions and learn about the second phase of the Flossmoor Road Viaduct Drainage Improvement Project, set to begin this summer with a new storm sewer line from the viaduct to near Heather Hill School. The open house will be held at village hall, 2800 Flossmoor Road.
Young Engineers’ Building Challenge #2. Flossmoor Public Library, 1000 Sterling Ave., will host an engineering challenge from 5:30 to 7 p.m. Kids age 7 and up will create structures using just toothpicks and styrofoam balls. Children under 9 years old must have an adult caregiver stay with them at the program. Register here.
Spice It Up. Homewood Public Library, 17917 Dixie Highway, will host an opportunity for anyone age 18 and up to learn how to make South African curry powder. The event will begin at 6 p.m. Register here.
Wednesday, Jan. 24
Pursuing the Dream. Journalist and suffragist Ida B. Wells will be remembered at the eighth annual “Pursuing the Dream” event at Homewood-Flossmoor High School. Her great-granddaughter, Michelle Duster, will be the event’s keynote speaker. The program, at 7 p.m. in the Mall Auditorium, 999 Kedzie Ave., is dedicated to celebrating Black history and encouraging unity. H-F students and community members will perform and speak about their experiences and impact at the annual event, including Poetic Expressions, the H-F speech team, Steppers dancers and the H-F Gospel Choir.
Flossmoor Public Works Open House. From 6 to 8 p.m. residents can ask questions and learn about Brookwood Bridge and Butterfield Road Culvert Reconstruction Project. The open house will be held at village hall, 2800 Flossmoor Road.
Homewood PTA general meeting. The PTA will hold an open meeting at 7 p.m. at the James Hart School gym, 18205 Aberdeen St. Parents, teachers, families and community members are welcome.
Know Your Rights. The Cook County Public Defender’s Office and Cook County Commissioner Monica Gordon will host an informational session from 6 to 7:30 p.m., at Hazel Crest village hall, 3601 183rd St. Learn about rights during an encounter with police and about new laws taking effect this year.
Friday, Jan. 26
Cabin Fever BYOB Bingo. An adults-only bingo night for anyone age 21 and up with progressive cash prizes from 7 to 9 p.m. at FCC Community House, 847 Hutchison Road. Bingo cards are $5 per game and $2 per additional card, cash only. Five games will be played. Doors open at 6:30 p.m.
Saturday, Jan. 27
Pajama Party Progressive Sale. Homewood Business Association members will offer specials from 7 a.m. to noon to shoppers who show up in their jammies. Specials vary among participating stores, but typically discounts get progressively smaller with time. Participating stores include Art 4 Soul, Art Corner, Gaia’s Market and Refillery, Loulou Belle, The Rock Shop, The Villager Gift Shop, Upsa Daisy Boutique and Vickie’s Fashion.
Homewood Indoor Farmers Market. The first indoor market of the year will be from 8 a.m. to noon in the Homewood Auditorium, 2010 Chestnut Road.
H-F Baseball Boosters Club Hot Stove fundraiser. H-F High baseball standout Bryce Gray will be the guest speaker at the event, which starts at 6 p.m. at Balagio Ristorante, 17501 Dixie Highway in Homewood. Tickets are $75. To purchase tickets, or for more information, visit www.vikingsbaseballboosters.com.
Sunday, Jan. 28
H-F Theatre Arts Booster Club Zumbathon. Get a workout and help support the HF Theatre Arts Booster Club from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. at FCC Community House, 847 Hutchison Road. Instructor Gloria Tarrer will lead the fun. Tickets are $20 each.
News & Notices
Flossmoor man found guilty. Christopher Young, 56, was convicted of predatory criminal sexual assault and aggravated kidnapping, according to a story in the Daily Southtown. A jury found Young guilty of kidnapping and sexually abusing a then-6-year-old girl from Homewood. He was arrested by Homewood police in 2019. The incident occurred in 2013.
Homewood police take the icy plunge. Homewood police officers are participating in the Polar Plunge, a fundraiser for Special Olympics.
Popular farmer pulls out of Homewood market. Fox at the Fork has been a regular produce vendor at the Homewood Farmers Market for the past few years, but in a newsletter posted Sunday, Jan. 21, the owners, Josh and Morgan Snedden, said they were rethinking their distribution practices and would not be doing farmers markets, which are labor intensive.
“The truth is that farming is hard work and has been taking its toll on our bodies and our minds,” they said in the newsletter. “Rest assured; this is not goodbye. We are doing what we need to do for our own mental and physical well-being, and we will let you know when our produce is available locally.”
Morgan said the farm’s produce likely would still be available in Homewood. Fox at the Fork produce has been sold at Red Bird Cafe at 2057 Ridge Road and she said that connection with the village will continue.
New film by Ava DuVernay based on title featured in “One Book/One Flossmoor.” A new film by Ava DuVernay, “Origin,” is based on a book some H-F residents read in 2021 as part of the One Book/One Flossmoor reading program. The film portrays the ideas from “Caste: The Origins of Our Discontent” by Isabel Wilkerson.
The book is an eye opener for those of us who were steeped in American exceptionalism during our formative years. We were taught to believe that the U.S. is a free and just country, in spite of our failings, which we are always in the process of rectifying. We’re the good guys.
Wilkerson offers a compelling and nuanced corrective, examining the parallels among racial hierarchies in India, America and Nazi Germany.
Reading that Nazi leaders studied the American strategies for subjugating Black and Indigenous people — and considered some of them too extreme — is shocking, especially considering the fact that the Nazi regime has been regarded as the acme of evil for the past 75 years.
Wilkerson invites us to wrestle with this: We defeated Nazi Germany, yes, but only after we provided inspiration for the Holocaust.
I didn’t like reading that. But recognizing that connection underlines the importance of dismantling racial hierarchy if we ever want to become the nation we believed ourselves to be.
< THE WEEK
- Soup-tasting event will raise money for the Center for Food Equity in Medicine (Jan. 21).
- Honors continue to pour in for H-F boys track coaches (Jan. 20).
- Trail Mix concert featuring the Tray Wellington Band moves to Thornton Distilling Co. (Jan. 20).
- MLK Day 2024: H-F female wrestlers show how it’s done (Jan. 19).
- New state task force aims to promote state’s Underground Railroad history (Jan. 18).
- Rover’s Run dog park will now be free for all pets (Jan. 18).
- Homewood, GoodSpeed Cycles to host open house on bike infrastructure (Jan. 18).
- Obituary: Rowe Ellen Crowley Moore (Jan. 17).
- Letter: Flossmoor resident urges consideration of flooding relief project costs (Jan. 17).
- HF Robotics celebrates a decade of building (Jan. 17).
- Trustees request more details for proposed soul food restaurant in Flossmoor Commons (Jan. 17).
- Obituary: Judith Clause Garber (Jan. 16).
- Flossmoor Public Works to host information events on downtown viaduct drainage, Brookwood Bridge/Butterfield Culvert projects (Jan. 16).
- Caddie Jalen Allred-Coleman earns Evans Scholarship (Jan. 16).
- Homewood announces Name the Snowplow contest for village residents (Jan. 16).
- Weather disrupts school days, provides a chance for winter recreation (Jan. 15).
- MLK Day 2024: Community members prepare seeds for planting despite subzero cold (Jan. 15).
- MLK Day 2024: Spotlight singers, others join together for blanket project (Jan. 15).
- Flossmoor Public Art Commission report highlights sculpture changes planned for 2024 (Jan. 14).