Park District of Oak Park

83 www.pdop.org For more info, and to donate online www.parksfoundationop.org residents, community groups and partner organizations to support exceptional and extraordinary projects that enhance our parks and community life. All donations are tax deductible to the extent allowed by law. Austin Gardens Celebrating 40 Years of As an extension of the Park District of Oak Park, WSSRA offers our residents therapeutic recreation programs. Persons with disabilities, of all ages and ability levels are served by WSSRA. WSSRA programs are designed and supervised by Recreation Specialists who have educational backgrounds in working with persons with disabilities. Activities are adapted to allow all particpants to be successful. Programs include fitness, art, Special Olympics, social, camp, swim and excursion programs. Participants gain skills, make friends, increase self confidence, visit new places and have fun in WSSRA programs! A Lekotek family based toy lending/ play program is also available. FIND US ONLINE FOR MORE INFO west suburban special recreation association Registration for Summer programs start mid May, go to wssra.net for more info! Growing Community Subscribe at Oak Park.com Wednesday Journal...get it ALL! In print. Online. In your hands. J OURNAL March 2, 2016 Vol. 34, No. 29 ONE DOLLAR W E D N E S D A Y Harambee! More photos, page 16 of Oak Park and River Forest @OakPark @O Photo by Jonna Borgdor OPRF junior Jason Renteria gets red up during the Class 3A dual team state nals on Saturday, Feb. 27 in Bloomington. e Huskies defeated Marmion 33-24 to win the team championship. THREE PEAT! OPRF wrestlers win third straight team state title By BILL STONE Contributing Reporter Oak Park and River Forest senior wrestler Kendale McCoy avenged being pinned and finished with his most memorable victory Saturday at the Class 3A dual team state finals in Bloomington. Junior Deundre Garner had an emotional victory after the death of his brother, Diamond Garner, just days earlier. Diamond Garner, 23, was killed in a drive-by shooting in the South Austin neighborhood on the West Side. Senior Allen Stallings again contributed to the success, even though he is set to play football at Indiana. The overriding motivation for them was the same. "I shouldn't [be here], but it was also for the team," said Garner. "I wasn't planning on coming, but I knew that he'd rather have me here than anywhere else." The Huskies captured their third consecutive team title by beating Marmion 33-24 after being ranked No. 1 by IllinoisMatmen.com. OPRF (28-3) used six seniors in the final, and the five who wrestled ended victorious. The lineup had three individual 3A state champions from Feb. 20 – senior Isaiah White (30-0) at 160 pounds, junior Jason Renteria (22- 0) at 120 and Stallings (34-3) at 220 – six more top-six, all-state finishers and two additional state qualifiers. See DYNASTY on page 57 Cleanup of Oak Park Station could cost millions Village manager: Downtown TIF could cover environmental remediation By TIMOTHY INKLEBARGER Staff Reporter Petroleum tanks found underneath the site of the Oak Park Station development project near Lake and Harlem could potentially increase the cost of remediation to as much as $4 million. Village Manager Cara Pavlicek tells Wednesday Journal that soil samples taken at the village- owned parking lots where the residential mixed- use project will be built reveal that much of the site is contaminated by submerged petroleum tanks. The original cost of environmental cleanup was estimated at $1 million, she said. "It's just part of having an older community and redeveloping; it's not a farm field," she said. Pavlicek said the cleanup costs could be paid for with revenue from the Oak Park Downtown Tax Increment Finance District. Village Chief Financial Officer Craig Lesner said the TIF still generates about $8.3 million an- nually. "Keep in mind that there's a lot of debt service that eats that up," he noted. He said that once the project is completed, new tax revenue from the development could be used to offset the cleanup costs. The village, however, will have to pay upfront the remediation costs through borrowing money See CLEANUP on page 12 708.358.9800 www.mayadelsol.com 144 S Oak Park SUNDAY SPECIAL $5 mimosas & sangria

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