Something for most every local wish 
from state's Illinois FIRST program

By ERIC LINDEN

The Children's Museum of Oak Park has been on the drawing boards for
years but has not progressed to a new home largely because of a lack of
funding. But the museum has turned up on the massive list of projects to
be funded by the state government's Illinois FIRST program.

Locally, the state's latest list of local projects funded includes work
and financial assistance to organizations of every sort in Oak Park,
River Forest, Forest Park and surrounding communities. Topping the local
list, as reported previously, is nearly $18 million to Oak Park
Elementary School District 97 to build the new Percy Julian and Emerson
middle schools and renovate three of the districts elementary schools.
But everything from property renovation, park district projects and more
has, is or will receive funding from Illinois FIRST.

Illinois FIRST, an acronym that for a "Fund for Infrastructure, Roads,
Schools and Transit," is a five-year, $13 billion program conceived by
Gov. George Ryan to build, repair and upgrade infrastructure in the
state. The "primary targets" of Illinois for the funding are aging roads
and bridges, neglected highway construction, mass transit systems,
construction of needed public school classrooms, clean-up of
environmental hazards, upgrade of water and sewer systems and other
publicly property commonly known as "infrastructure."

That description might fit a funded proposal to reconstruct the
intersection of Thatcher Avenue and Division Street in River Forest, but
where does money for an Oak Park Children's Museum fit in? In the
catch-all category for "improvement of quality of life projects
throughout the state." Besides "quality of life," Illinois FIRST funding
categories also include more specific areas of economic development,
environment, infrastructure, mass transit, public safety, schools and
transportation.

Shortly after his election in 1998, Ryan proposed and the Illinois
General Assembly passed a series of increased fees and taxes to fund the
multi-billion-dollar Illinois FIRST program. Ryan hands out grants based
on his own criteria, and the following funding list is only some of the
amounts given out in the three local villages and in the surrounding
communities of the Austin neighborhood in Chicago to the east of Oak
Park, the city's Galewood community to the north of Oak Park and the
suburbs of Elmwood Park to the north of River Forest, Melrose Park to
the west of River Forest, Maywood to the west of River Forest and Forest
Park, Berwyn and Cicero to the south of Oak Park and Riverside and North
Riverside to the south of Forest Park.

The Oak Park Public Library, which has sought Illinois FIRST funding to
assist in funding construction of a new main library at Lake Street and
Grove Avenue,  is one of the few local organizations not--yet at
least--gaining Illinois FIRST money, which has gone out in the following
amounts, among others.

$17,711,857: for the construction of two new middle schools in Oak Park,
demolition of the existing junior high buildings and renovations at
Beye, Holmes and Irving elementary schools

$4,475,207: to Berwyn North School District 98 for the construction of a
new elementary school

$2 million: for the construction of about 900 feet of storm sewers in
Riverside and North Riverside, adjacent communities who are cooperating
jointly on the project

$1,931,000: toward the reconstruction of the Metra station at Marion
Street and North Boulevard in Oak Park

$1.5 million: for enhancements to the water system in North Riverside

$1.236 million: for repaving Augusta Boulevard from Austin Boulevard on
Oak Park's eastern border with Chicago to Sacramento Avenue in the city

$1.05 million: for the Village of Cicero to acquire land and build a new
police station and community center

$1.03 million: to repave Narragansett Avenue from North Avenue on Oak
Park's northern border north to Forest Preserve Drive in the suburb of
Norridge

$1 million: for the restoration and repair of Unity Temple, the Frank
Lloyd Wright-designed national landmark in Oak Park

$905,000: for repair of 62.5 miles of streets in Berwyn

$773,000: for reconstruction of the intersection of Thatcher Avenue and
Division Street in River Forest

$515,000: for reconstruction of First Avenue in Maywood from the train
tracks south of Lake Street south to the Eisenhower Expressway

$500,000: to the Ernest Hemingway Foundation of Oak Park for restoration
of the Hemingway birth home at 339 N. Oak Park Ave.

$350,000: for the Austin Peoples Action Center to establish a pilot
program to help individuals, small businesses and non-profit groups
expand their operations in Austin

$300,000: for the Berwyn Fire Department to purchase a new fire engine

$260,000: for improvements to the community swimming pool and other
facilities and parks in Maywood

$250,000: more for restoration of the Hemingway birth home

$200,000: toward the new track and stadium project at Concordia
University, 7400 W. Augusta St. in River Forest

$200,000: for the Village of North Riverside to purchase a new fire
truck

$200,000: for roadway and streetscape improvements to the Broadway
business district in Melrose Park

$175,000: for the Town of Cicero to complete phase two of an interactive
play facility

$150,000: for improvements to the Oak Park Children's Museum

$150,000: for road improvements in Oak Park

$145,000: for Cicero to build a "Safety Town" play facility

$130,000: for the lining of existing sewer mains that serve Madison
Street in Forest Park

$100,000: toward Elmwood Park's cost to build a new public library

$100,000: for Maywood to remodel and move its municipal departments to
the former public works building on Madison Street in Maywood across
from River Forest and near Forest Park

$100,000: for the Northwest Austin Council's Save Haven Program

$100,000: to Oak Park village government, which gave the amount to the
restoration of the Hemingway birth home

$100,000: for new T-ball fields and other park improvements in Berwyn

$85,000: for a community theater program at Living Word Christian
Center, which is now based in the former Forest Park Mall at 7600 W.
Roosevelt Road in Forest Park

$75,000 for Chicago Sinfonietta, the orchestra which partially operates
and performs at Dominican University, 7900 W. Division St. in River
Forest, to perform educational outreach programs, youth mentoring
programs and an underwriter ticket program that's educational or related

$75,000: to provide operating, technical and professional support and
services for the fledging Austin Chamber of Commerce

$70,000: for development and implementation of a gang prevention program
to be run by the Interfaith Leadership Project of Cicero

$60,000: for the PCC Community Wellness Center to renovate and expand
the office space in its headquarters at 14 Lake St. in Oak Park

$50,000: for reconstruction of two playgrounds in Stevenson Park at Lake
Street and Taylor Avenue in Oak Park

$50,000: for roadway resurfacing in Forest Park

$50,000: to renovate park facilities and build new sports fields in
Maywood

$50,000: for the Village of Maywood to buy new park equipment

$50,000: for Cicero Family Services Mental Health Center to upgrade its
computers and to purchase office equipment

$50,000: for the Village of Maywood to purchase playground equipment, an
air-conditioning unit and a tractor and for upgrades at a gymnasium

$47,500: for the hazardous waste collection program run by the West Cook
County Solid Waste Agency, a municipal cooperative that includes Oak
Park, River Forest, Forest Park and other near-west Chicago suburbs

$45,000: to buy some new equipment for the Shriner's Hospital for
Children at 2211 N. Oak Park Ave. in Galewood

$40,000: for the Montclare Elmwood Park Chamber of Commerce to do
streetscaping and hang lamp post banners at various locations in the
suburb and adjacent Chicago neighborhood

$40,000: to the Maywood Fine Arts Association for program funding and
renovations to a bathroom in the association's facility

$40,000: to the organizers in Galewood-Montclare community to create a
community guide, scholarships and a job-search program

$40,000: for a street and landscaping project by the Galewood Montclare
Garden Club

$30,000: for expansion of programs, field trips, tutors and other
activities offered by the Austin-based Westside Ministers Conference

$27,000: for the South Austin Coalition Community Council to purchase
passenger vans to transport senior citizens and youth to community
activities

$25,000: to the Village of Oak Park for more costs of the Hemingway
restoration

$25,000 for building improvements at the park district's aquatic
facility and swimming pool at Rehm Park, Garfield Street near East
Avenue

$25,000: for the Park District of Forest Park to establish a youth and
teen recreation area

$25,000: for the Austin Chamber of Commerce to pay for space, equipment
and consultants for a project "designed to increase use of public
transit"

$25,000: for the Austin Youth League to pay for computers, supplies and
salary for a new community computer lab

$25,000: for the West Central Municipal Conference, another municipal
consortium that includes the local villages, to pay consultant costs for
a feasibility study on how to implement a shared dispatch system by area
police and fire departments

$25,000: for program operation assistance to the Austin Youth Leadership
League

$25,000: for the Maywood Public Library to purchase a back-up generator

$10,000: for part of the Maywood Fine Arts Council's costs to renovate
an old bank building in Maywood