June 16, 2000

Austin neighborhood in Chicago getting 
new police station--near Oak Park

By ERIC LINDEN

Oak Park has a building boom with a two new public schools under
construction and a new public library coming soon, and River Forest
continues to expand schools and parks and other public facilities. And
now Chicago's own building expansion is coming close to Oak Park, with
city hall last week unveiling plans for a new police station blocks from
Oak Park's eastern border.

Mayor Richard M. Daley and other city officials on June 14 announced
plans to build a new 15th District police station on Madison Street near
Menard Avenue, which is about three blocks east of Oak Park. The new
station would replace the 82-year-old 15th District station at 5237 W.
Chicago Ave., which is the southeast corner of Chicago and Lotus
avenues, a block west of Laramie Avenue.

Austin's 15th District is bounded by Austin Boulevard on the west,
Division Street on the north, Cicero Avenue on the east and Roosevelt
Road on the south, so the new police station would move police
operations further south and east and further away from the nearest
Chicago police station, the 25th District at 5555 W. Grand Ave.

According to the city, the new Austin police station, plus new ones also
slated for the communities of Englewood, Chicago Lawn, Marquette and
Albany Park, would each be approximately 42,000 square feet and would
cost "about $11 million."

The new Austin station is to be equipped with, among other features,
multi-purpose rooms, state-of-the-art computer systems, fitness rooms,
expanded locker facilities, what the city called "a stress-relieving
quiet room" and offices for CAPS, the Chicago's Alternative Policing
Strategy in which police and residents are to work together to combat
and prevent crime.

Daley in a statement said the new police stations would be designed to
be "community anchors" and would "make the city safer and its
neighborhoods stronger." Designs for the Austin station are now only in
the prototype stage.

The new Austin station and the others also are to include parking for
employees and citizens who need to use the station. The current Austin
station has limited parking for either group, and they mostly are forced
to park on surrounding residential and commercial streets.

"These new stations will provide our officers with the facilities they
deserve," said Chicago Police Superintendent Terry G. Hillard.

Daley said future use of the current Austin police station, a brick
building that went up 82 years ago, has not been decided. The mayor said
he will ask local aldermen and community organizations to develop and
propose plans for the future uses for all the old stations that are
being replaced. The Austin station is in the 37th Ward, which is
represented by Ald. Emma Mitts, who was appointed by Daley last year
after the conviction on corruption charges of former Ald. Percy Z. Giles
led to his resignation.

"The people in these communities are best qualified to determine the
best use of the old stations," Daley said. "All I ask is that they make
sure it benefits the greatest number of people."

Much like Oak Park's programs that have used property tax increases to
improve infrastructure and public property, to build two new middle
schools and to approve a new main public library, the Austin station is
part of a building program that is being financed by property tax and
fee increases. The city's program, called Neighborhoods Alive 21, has
led to and continues to lead to construction throughout the city.

The property tax hike is estimated by the city government to be costing
approximately $1 additional per month for the owner of a $150,000 home.
An accompanying hike in Chicago's water-and-sewer rate is reported to
cost another $1 per month, and those increases are to be in effect for
four years. In announcing the Neighborhoods Alive 21 program last year,
Daley said the spending and extra taxes are needed to "secure a better
quality of life and a better future for all of Chicago's neighborhoods."

Using the added funds from water-and-sewer fees and property taxes,
Chicago issued $800 million bonds allowing the city to build new branch
libraries, improved schools and to take on much other work, including
the new police stations proposed this week. New stations already are
being built in three other police districts in Chicago. And also, a
$65.5 million new Chicago Police Headquarters is under construction in
the Bronzeville community on the South Side and is slated to open at the
end of the year.

Also regarding the neighborhood construction plan, Daley added that,
"Commonwealth Edison has shown us what happens when maintenance is
deferred and needed upgrades are not made. Reliability and service
suffer, and quality of life declines."

Without naming the electric company, Oak Park officials have used the
same argument to favor the local tax increases. River Forest also has
increased property taxes through referendum in recent years to expand
its public elementary schools, to develop more public park space and to
build a new public library. Also, voters in Oak Park and River Forest in
the mid-1990s approved a property tax hike to allow for additional
capital improvements for Oak Park and River Forest High School in Oak
Park.