OLR to stay open after Presence Health finds buyer

by CYRYL JAKUBOWSKI

Our Lady of the Resurrection Medical Center, 5645 W. Addison St., is being sold to Community First Healthcare of Illinois after Presence Health signed a letter of intent with the newly formed benefit corporation to sell the financially struggling hospital, according to officials.

The hospital is part of Presence Health, the largest Catholic health system in the state, which was created in 2011 through the merger of Resurrection Health Care and Provena Health. Presence has 12 hospitals and 22,000 employees, 4,000 medical professionals and a revenue base of nearly $3 billion.

"They have met the criteria that we have set to best serve the health care needs of the community," Presence Health spokeswoman Angela Benander said. Benander would not disclose the financial details of the agreement until the deal is completed.

Community First Healthcare spokesman Ed Green said that the benefit corporation was formed in order to help hospitals like Our Lady of the Resurrection to continue to serve the community. Green said that benefit corporations operate like a mix of nonprofit and for-profit organizations. He said the corporation's mission is not only to maximize profits but also to make a commitment to benefit to the community.

Governor Pat Quinn signed the Benefit Corporation Act into law in 2012. The law provides that a corporation may elect to become a benefit corporation by amending its articles of incorporation. The corporation must have the purpose of creating a general public benefit, and it is required to file an annual report with the Secretary of State's Office.

The New York-based Muneris Capital Group, which works to turn around hospitals experiencing financial difficult, is financing the corporation, Green said.

"We have excellent senior executives who have experience, we have idea men, we have the finances from Muneris, and we are hoping that things will fall in line to do what's right," Green said. "We are excited about this opportunity."

The investors have "resources to support a turnaround for the hospital that will enable it to continue to serve an important role in promoting the health of its community now and in the future. The Community First Healthcare local executive team has significant health care experience in the Chicago market," according to a Presence Health press release.

Green said that venture intends to make improvements to the hospital. "We are going to invest $20 million over 5 years into the facility itself," he said. "One idea that we have is to take the aging emergency room and take that ER and tweak it, modernize it."

"If you modernize that ER and put some resources in it, remodel it, now you have a facility that can take in more patients and that hopefully increases admission rates," Green said. "There is no silver bullet, and this will definitely take some time, but we like the communities around that hospital, how engaged people are, and we want that."

Presence announced that it was selling the hospital in March, citing years of operating losses and anticipated financial shortfalls this year. The announcement to sell came after months of speculation that the center might close or move away from providing inpatient care because of industry trends.

Our Lady of the Resurrection suffered an operating loss of $12.5 million in 2012. The loss was reduced to $9.8 million last year after cost-cutting measures, but an estimated $19 million loss was anticipated this year, officials said.

Presence also has signed a letter of intent with Glen Health and Home Management to sell the Presence Ballard Rehabilitation nursing facility, 9300 W. Ballard Road, Des Plaines, and the Presence Saint Andrew Life Center, 7000 N. Newark Ave., Niles, Benander said.

Benander said that the buyers agreed that they will strengthen the facilities and keep Our Lady of Resurrection an inpatient care facility, Ballard as a skilled nursing facility and Saint Andrew as a retirement and senior care facility.

"The bottom line is that they have signed a letter of intent and they can maintain their existing services, and the employees would be able to keep their sick time for their years of service," Alderman Timothy Cullerton (38th) said. "From the perspective of the community, I think that this is a good thing because before we were talking about closing the hospital. They might bring in new management staff or some job loss might happen because of attrition, but I think they are committed to keeping it the way it is."

Cullerton said that the hospital's emergency room will remain open.

"We are pleased that Community First Healthcare and Glen Health and Home Management will continue to serve the respective acute care and senior care needs of these communities," Presence Health president and chief executive officer Sandra Bruce said. "Both organizations have expressed their desire to continue our commitment to serving the needs of these communities and are committed to retaining employees and maintaining existing charity care. As a Catholic health care system, these were all critical factors in our selection process."

Bill Brownlow, who will serve as the president of Community First Healthcare said that the leadership of the corporation has experience with transforming hospital operations and that organizing Community First as a benefit corporation will allow people to strike a balance between meeting the needs of the community and the financial strength of the medical center.

Green said that Brownlow has worked on projects in Joliet "that rely heavily on Medicaid and are in urban settings." He said that Our Lady of the Resurrection fits the organization's model and that the corporation's officers are confident that they can revive the hospital and implement community services.

"We are going to be working on the financial agreements by the end of the summer with the goal of closing on all transactions by the end of the year," Benander said.

The hospital opened as Northwest Hospital in 1955, and it changed its name to John F. Kennedy Medical Center in 1986. An intensive care unit opened in 1969, and the hospital was formed as a nonprofit institution in 1968.

The hospital became a part of Resurrection Health Care in 1988, and Chicago-based Resurrection Health Care and Mokena-based Provena Health merged in 2011.

NW Side residents review Milwaukee Avenue proposals

by CYRYL JAKUBOWSKI

Opponents of a city proposal that may include reducing traffic lanes to improve safety on sections of Milwaukee Avenue appeared to outnumber supporters at a packed open house that was held on July 2 at the Copernicus Center Annex, 5214 W. Lawrence Ave.

More than 200 people attended the event, which featured engineers from the city Department of Transportation who presented three options for the "Complete Streets" safety improvement plan. The department was seeking community reaction to the plans, and officials answered questions, which at times led to heated exchanges between residents and Alderman John Arena (45th), who supports the project.

The proposed project would affect Milwaukee between Lawrence Avenue and Elston Avenue, but fewer changes are expected between Lawrence and the Kennedy Expressway, where traffic is more congested due to the relatively narrow roadway.

One option calls for all existing lanes of traffic to remain north of the expressway and the existing bike lanes on Milwaukee to be made wider. The current bike lanes measure 5 1/2 feet wide and are located to the left of the parking lane, which the department refers to as outside the parking lane.

Under a second option a lane of traffic would be eliminated in each direction but the bike lanes would be positioned to the outside of parked cars.

The third option option would eliminate 20 percent of street parking and one lane of traffic in each direction, and barriers, such as concrete waiting areas for bus riders, would be used to protect bike lanes that would be located along the curb.

All three options include high-visibility crosswalks, pedestrian refuge islands and curb extensions, which shorten the distance of crosswalks. In addition, traffic signal improvements would be made in an effort to improve the flow of traffic, including places where lanes of traffic would be removed.

"There's a lot of people that are coming up to me that don't want to grandstand and just want to say 'thank you,'" Arena said at the meeting. "I've actually had more than I thought that came up to me and said 'I like option C,' which is not what I thought I would hear, but I do have a lot of people saying that."

Arena has not endorsed any of the options.

Arena said that one purpose of the project is to reduce speeding. He said that many motorists drive 45 miles per hour on Milwaukee and that more than 900 accidents have occurred in the area since 2008.

"If we can calm speed, then we can get more people involved in the roadway," Arena said.

"Pedestrians are shoppers, and if any business is not thinking about how to make their shoppers comfortable walking into their business, then I don't think they are doing themselves a service.”

At the meeting the Gladstone Park Chamber of Commerce gave CDOT officials a petition containing about 4,000 signatures that opposes the Milwaukee Avenue "road diet."

The petition states, "While we fully support the improvement of Milwaukee Ave. from Lawrence Ave. to Elston Ave., we do not support the idea of a 'road diet' that would reduce Milwaukee Ave. to one lane of traffic in either direction to make room for a protected bike lane and eliminate parking along the curb."

Chamber board member John Garrido said that there are other ways to slow traffic without reducing Milwaukee to two lanes. Garrido and chamber president David Wians made the presentation during the meeting.

"These petitions were signed by 90 percent of the local residents, business owners and stakeholders in the area," Wians said. "These contain signatures and addresses and are legitimate. Five to ten percent are not from the area."

"This is not like the business community is trying to freak everybody out and that their businesses will be hurt," Wians said. "I want to thank the people of this community who are smart enough to figure this out themselves, and that's why we've had such an outpouring of petitions."

Arena said that he does not see the logic in the chamber's "grandstanding."

"I don't know what their agenda is," Arena said. "It doesn't seem like a good business decision for a chamber of commerce to walk into something like this and especially stand next to a political candidate and turn it into a show because he wants to have credibility."

Arena was referring to Garrido, who is running for alderman in the 45th Ward. Garrido lost to Arena by 30 votes in the last election.

Arena said that the purpose of the meeting was to get reaction from the community to make an educated decision regarding the proposed options. He said that the transportation department has done research on the street and that the goal of the project is not to create congestion but to improve safety. Arena said that department officials will examine the petition to see if "there is any validity to it."

"We don't have a choice yet, and we need to see what the community wants," project consultant John Wirtz said. "I think most people don't like the idea of removing travel lanes from the road, but we'll need to look at the comments and see what people say."

"Safety is the goal of the project and speeding is a big part of reducing safety," Wirtz said. "Right now 75 percent of the cars on the road are speeding."

"People are under the impression that this is creating bike lanes and leaving less room for cars, but the majority of people who will benefit from this are pedestrians," Jim Merrell of the Active Transportation Alliance said after the meeting. "I think that the people who attended the meeting were under the impression that there was a definite plan in place and that lanes are being reduced."

"At the end of the day, the purpose of the project is to increase the safety on that roadway by reducing speed," Merrell said. "I think because the road is so wide in certain parts, people tend to speed. I found it interesting to learn that so many accidents, more than 900 occurred within the past few years."

Merrell said that the alliance, which works to make bicycling, walking and public transit safe, supports the "Complete Streets" project and that the transportation department has found that the project would not cause congestion and people would not lose time because of synchronized traffic lights.

Those who attended the meeting were not allowed to make public comments, but many were willing to speak to reporters. Some residents and business owners spoke against the proposals and questioned the format of the meeting.

"There's no one here to walk me through it," one resident said. "They just have these stills addressing only minor issues of it. They don't realize that it's just not going to be about bike safety; who is going to be against bike safety?

"Bicyclists ride seven months out of the year. This is going to affect traffic and congestion of the neighborhood 365 days out of the year."

"I thought this was going to be a town hall meeting, but it's not," another resident said. "It's a quick sales job to try to market something that they've already approved without consent of the residents of the neighborhood.

"If they wanted to do this in a democratic manner, they would have put a referendum on a ballot and let us decide whether we want it. It's going to stifle the businesses on Milwaukee Avenue."

"The important thing to note here is that there is no plan yet and that there are three options on the table,"

A resident said that reducing Milwaukee to one lane in each direction would create bottlenecks that would cause cars to speed down side streets to make up for lost time.

"You're going to have all this traffic that will back up," the resident said. "You're going to have problems in the winter. Who is going to plow the bike lanes? Who will plow the streets?"

"I've talked to many people here and not one person had a good thing to say about narrowing the streets," a business owner said. "I have nothing against bike lanes, so this is not about that. Why don't they just leave everything alone, repave it, remark it, visible marks where you can cross and where you can park."

Near the end of the event after most of those who attended the meeting had left, a group of about 15 residents spoke with Arena about the proposal.

"You're saying we're wrong and you're right," one resident shouted. Another said that the alderman is not listening to the voice of the community. Arena replied that it takes more than 15 people to make up a community.

"The representative body at (a previoius meeting held at Saint Tarcissus School) wasn't good enough for you either, so tonight you decided, let's not have a discussion, let's not have the public have their view when I've got a full room shoulder to shoulder," a resident said. "I'm not going to ask them what they think, I'm going to wait until three quarters of them leave."

"I'm saying you just smugly counted how many people are standing here, but you did not give any of the people standing here when it was shoulder to shoulder the opportunity to raise their hands and say anything in public with everybody here," the resident said.

Arena said that the meeting provided the opportunity for residents to voice their opinions by filling out a form that was available at the meeting.

The final meeting on the proposal will be held later this summer.

OLR may scale back operations at its Northwest Side hospital

by CYRYL JAKUBOWSKI

Our Lady of the Resurrection Medical Center officials are exploring options that would change the function of the hospital from an inpatient facility to an outpatient and primary care facility with an emergency room, according to Alderman Timothy Cullerton (38th).

Cullerton said that his office has received numerous calls from residents about rumors that the hospital, 5645 W. Addison St., is closing. He said that as a result he arranged a meeting with hospital officials and state and local government representatives and that the officials assured him that the hospital will change its function but will not close.

“They gave a presentation about . . . their intentions and that their presence in our community would be diminished, and that they were thinking about going from an in-house facility to a more patient-care business,” Cullerton said.

Cullerton said that hospital officials said that demand for in-patient care has decreased by 8 percent in Illinois and by 10 percent in the nation. He said that officials said that their operating losses have been between $7 million and $10 million each year for the past 5 or 6 years but that some staff members have said that those figures are inflated.

“The community has been very supportive of this hospital for the past five or six decades, and we would not like it to leave,” Cullerton said. “They say that the beds are not being filled, and they certainly can do what they want because things are changing in the health care business, but I am concerned.”

State Representative John Mulroe (D-10) said that hospital officials reported that only about 80 of the 269 beds in the hospital are occupied.

“They seem to think that they need to restructure that business,” Mulroe said. “It sounds to me that they are going to go where the business is going, which is more about outpatient services and not inpatient care. OLR had been losing money and I think it would be in their best interest to be transparent about their profits and tell people what is going on.”

Cullerton said that hospital officials plan to keep the emergency room open, but that in order for that to happen, they must keep at least 100 beds at the hospital under state law. He said that a public meeting will be held on the issue in the near future.

“Some services like obstetrics and pediatrics would be diminished, but I don’t know how that would work,” Cullerton said. “My primary concern is how this will affect the community and what is going to happen. I want people to be transparent about this.”

“I told them bluntly that to me this is an abandonment of our community and that some of the people feel that way, but the jury is still out on this and we will keep our eyes open,” Cullerton said.

The hospital is part of Presence Health, the largest Catholic health system in the state, which was created in 2011 through the merger of Resurrection Health Care and Provena Health. Presence has 12 hospitals and about 22,000 employees, 4,000 medical professionals and a $3 billion revenue base.

The hospital opened as Northwest Hospital in 1955, and it changed its name to John F. Kennedy Medical Center in 1986. An intensive care unit opened in 1969, and the hospital was formed as a nonprofit institution in 1968.

The hospital became a part of Resurrection Health Care in 1988, and Chicago-based Resurrection Health Care and Mokena-based Provena Health merged in 2011.

Resurrection operates six hospitals, Our Lady of the Resurrection, Resurrection Medical Center, 7435 W. Talcott Ave., Saint Joseph Hospital, 2900 N. Lake Shore Drive, Saints Mary and Elizabeth Medical Center, 2233 W. Division St., Holy Family Medical Center, 100 N. River Road, Des Plaines, and Saint Francis Hospital, 355 Ridge Ave., Evanston. The system is sponsored by the Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth and the Sisters of the Resurrection.

Provena also operates six hospitals, Provena Covenant Medical Center in Urbana, Provena Mercy Medical Center in Aurora, Provena Saint Joseph Hospital in Elgin, Provena Saint Joseph Medical Center in Joliet, Provena Saint Mary's Hospital in Kankakee and Provena United Samaritans Medical Center in Danville. Provena health ministries are sponsored by the Franciscan Sister of the Sacred Heart, the Servants of the Holy Heart of Mary and the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas.

In response to some of the plans, a Web site that contains a petition to “save the hospital” has been set up at www.olrourhospital.org.

The Web site contains a statement attributed to “Medical Staff of Our Lady of Resurrection” that says, “Our administrative leaders tell us we are single-handedly bringing down Presence Healthcare because of poor financial performance. Remember that less than a year ago we were the model of efficiency which was touted by all the Presence leadership.”

The statement continues, “All of this has occurred, despite having the leanest staffing of all Presence health institutions. The number of patients has not declined substantially and the payor mix is no worse than our competitors. When we ask how the numbers have changed so drastically, we are told to trust them and that they have changed the accounting methods and say that all the prior numbers were miscalculated.”

The Web site contains a petition seeking signatures in support of keeping the hospital open with an intensive care unit and operating rooms. “The proposed conversion to a lesser service facility will endanger the well being of our community,” the site states.

“What is happening is that OLR is being looked at to meet the needs of health care in the community,” Our Lady of the Resurrection spokeswoman Maria Salemi said. “Health care is changing, and as an organization we are looking at a number of options and if those options are being met at OLR. We are not closing. Closing is not one of the options.”

City mulls acquisition of Mayfair Lumber site

by CYRYL JAKUBOWSKI
The City of Chicago has expressed interest in purchasing the Mayfair Lumber site, 4825 W. Lawrence Ave., and the Leprecan Portable Restrooms site, 4808 W. Wilson Ave., to consolidate operations of the Department of Water Management, the Mayfair Sanitation facility and the Department of Fleet and Facility Services to a centralized location on the Northwest Side.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel introduced an ordinance at the City Council meeting on June 26 that would authorize the city to enter into negotiations to purchase the two properties. The ordinance was referred to the Committee on Housing and Real Estate.

The Department of Water Management facility at 4900 W. Sunnyside Ave., which also is used by Fleet and Facility Services, would be closed.

Alderman John Arena (45th) said that if the purchase is approved, the gas station that is used by city vehicles at the Sunnyside site would remain because it is too expensive to move it. The Mayfair Sanitation facility, 4639 N. Lamon Ave., also would be moved to the new site to the north across the railroad tracks.

Area residents have complained about city workers who report to the facilities parking their cars on side streets.

"The water department identified the sites as valuable in order to consolidate some of the operations on Sunnyside, and streets and sanitation have their space at Lamon and Wilson consolidated as well," Arena said.

The ordinance states that the city has the funding needed to acquire the properties. The ordinance contains a clause that states that if the city cannot come to terms with the property owners, the law department will be authorized to institute eminent domain proceedings.

Arena said that this is just the beginning step in a journey that could be a "game changer for the Northwest Side."

"It basically gives the city the authority to enter into negotiations with the two owners," Arena said. "It's a real opportunity to find the most land use. That area is sandwiched away from the residential community. It has some development challenges, but this is a way to start a conversation. It's an ideal site for our purposes."

Arena said that the owners have expressed interest in selling the properties.

Arena said that his biggest concern would be traffic on Lawrence Avenue, which is north of the Mayfair Pumping Station, 4850 W. Wilson Ave., and the sanitation facility. He said that there are two viaducts in the area and that he would like the city Department of Transportation to determine if traffic signals and other improvements are possible there.

Arena said that when the Mayfair Lumber site went up for sale after the company closed in 2011, conversations began about purchasing that site for city use. He said that when city began its grid garbage collection system last year, workers from several ward sanitation facilities began meeting at the centralized location on Lamon Avenue.

In the past, garbage collection workers reported to a sanitation office in each ward and either were either picked up or drove themselves to the start of their route. Under the new system, workers report to the facility on Lamon, where 40 trucks that serve all or parts of the 30th, 33rd, 35th, 38th, 39th, 40th, 41st and 45th wards are based.

"It's a matter of unifying everything," Arena said. "Before we had 40 trucks there that would go out and get workers, and now we've got 40 drivers and about 125 workers that meet up there."

"At that point, we took some steps as a city to compromise and we relocated the salt piles to a site in the 38th Ward in order to make some room for the Streets and Sanitation operations," Arena said.

However, Arena said that that proved not to be efficient because empty trucks would have to be driven to the 38th Ward facility, which is east of Oak Park Avenue, between Forest Preserve Drive and Irving Park Road. He said that if the city buys the properties, the salt piles could be moved to the new site to increase efficiency.

Arena said last year that residents who live near the storage yard have complained about an increase in odor that results from garbage being left in trucks, but the city's policy has been to dump the garbage after crews arrive at 8 p.m.

Arena called the process positive and said that if the city can purchase the two parcels it would be a great asset for the Northwest Side.

"It would be a great chance for us to increase efficiency and create a better quality of life for the residents that live near by," Arena said.

"The Mayfair Pumping Station would probably use the old sanitation yard because they are planning to move away from steam to other power sources and they would probably need to build a new building behind it," Arena said.

Arena said that it was too early in the process to determine how the water department site would be used, but he said that he would welcome some sort of a green space project such as a park in that area.

The family-owned Mayfair Lumber started phasing out its operations in 2011 after operating on a 6-acre site on Lawrence Avenue for 82 years. Mayfair Lumber was among many lumber yards that have closed in recent years due to the decline in new construction.

The site contains a saw mill and a staining shed which was built in the late 1950s. At its peak, Mayfair had about 50 employees and a dozen delivery trucks, and until 2010, train cars of lumber would enter the yard from a spur off a Union Pacific Railroad line which runs along the east side of the property.

The site, which is adjacent to a Metra railroad line, has 400 feet of frontage on Lawrence and is zoned M1-1 for manufacturing uses. The triangular parcel narrows as it approaches Wilson Avenue to the south.

A portable toilet storage yard which was once used by the former Miller Brothers Lumber is at the south end of the site, north of the pumping station.

About 7 years ago Concord Homes built a complex consisting of rowhouses and single-family homes on a former industrial site on the other side of the tracks west of the Mayfair yard.

From Northwest Side Press, Wednesday, July 3, 2013.

Groups raise concerns over O'Hare traffic shift

by CYRYL JAKUBOWSKI

     Northwest Side community groups are voicing concern that the opening of a new runway at O’Hare International Airport will cause a significant increase in the number of planes flying over their neighborhoods beginning in October.

     The opening on Oct. 17 of new Runway 10 Center/28 Center, which lines up with Wilson Avenue, will cause a shift in the airport’s runway use patterns, according to Federal Aviation Administration Great Lakes Region spokesman Anthony Molinaro. 

     "That new runway is changing everything, and there will be some increase in traffic in some areas, but we are trying to keep a balanced airport," Molinaro said. He said that use of the northwestsoutheast diagonal runways at the airport eventually will be discontinued and that air traffic at the airport will have a predominantly east-west flow, although the two northeast-southwest diagonal runways will still be used.

      Molinaro said that some flight tracks are not a part of the “Fly Quiet” program, including the one that will open in October over Wilson Avenue. The voluntary program encourages pilots and air traffic controllers to use flight tracks that direct planes over forest preserves, highways and commercial and industrial areas to mitigate noise in residential areas.
   The Chicago Department of Aviation briefed the O’Hare Noise Compatibility Commission about the opening of the new runway in November. The department provided information about the new east-west  flow configurations at the airport, the noise contours that were forecast in 2005, the progress of the sound insulation program and what the department will do in terms of community outreach.
      The new Wilson runway will be used for 24.5 percent of arrivals during the day and for 1.2 percent of landings at night on 28 Center, and  or 11 percent of landings during the day and 7.6 percent of landings at the night on 10 Center. The runway will not be used for departures, according to the FAA.
     “When the new runway 9 Center/27 Center is built, the ultimate goal is to have west flow and east flow, and that’s why we are changing the configurations,” Molinaro said. The new runway, which is scheduled to

be built by 2020 after a new terminal is opened, will line up with Granville

Avenue.

       AS PART OF the opening of the new runway, traffic will increase on Runway 9 Right/27 Left, which lines up with Thorndale Avenue. According to the FAA, arrivals will increase to 58.1 percent of total landings on 27 Left at night and to 24.4 percent during the day, depending on the wind direction. The increase will amount to more than 100 flights at night, according to the Sauganash Com-munity Association.

      Also beginning in October, Runway 9 Left/27 Right, which lines up with Pratt Avenue and which opened in 2008, will see an increase in daytime arrivals. The runway will see a minimal number of departures.

     Runway 9 Left will have 10 percent of arrivals during the day and 6.6 percent of arrivals at night, and Runway 27 Right will have 23.2 percent of arrivals during the day and 3.7 arrivals at night.

  The Sauganash Community Association has sent letters to avi-ation administration officials and elected officials denouncing the change in usage patterns at the airport. The letter states that jet noise created by the changes will have a negative effect on Northwest Side neighborhoods.
  Association member Andrew Ginocchio, who is the 39th Ward representative on the O’Hare Noise Compatibility Commission, said that he worked with the group to write the letter. Ginocchio is the chairman of the association’s O’Hare Noise Committee.

      Ginocchio said that other groups are drafting their own letters.

    Ginocchio said that based on his analysis of numbers provided by the city Department of Aviation, flights over Sauganash will increase from an average of 15 landings a day to more than 100, with many at night. He said that the runway which lines up with Thorndale is one of the oldest and shortest runways and that the main runway that lines up with Lawrence Avenue is safer and more modern but that it will rarely be used for night landings from the east.

     The FAA documents show that Runway 10 Left/28 Right, which lines up with Lawrence, will not be used for night landings on 28 Right but for 20.1 percent of night landings on 10 Left.

     However, 36.9 percent of departures at night and 24 percent of arrivals during the day will happen on 10 Left, and 13 percent of departures during the day and 22.1 percent of departures at night will happen on 28 Right.

     Molinaro said that the administration is trying to split up traffic on the north side and the south side of the airport. “Sometimes people look at only the arrivals, but you can’t split them up like that without looking at the departures,” Molinaro said.

     Molinaro said that many arrivals, especially night landings, are done so they can be as close to the terminals to eliminate delays.       
   The letter from the Sauganash association states that the numbers show that the FAA plans to shift 80,000 landings per year that fly over the  north and northwest suburbs to fly over the near north suburbs, over the lake and back over the Northwest Side in order to land. Ginocchio  said that the shift would add 40 miles of distance and 15 minutes of flying time, using an additional 40 million gallons of jet fuel and costing the airlines more than $120 million a year.

     Ginocchio said that many airports use diagonal runways to compensate for wind direction and that the O’Hare plan was based on Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport. He said that it is dangerous

to use parallel runways for virtually all of the traffic at the airport and that not using diagonal runways would waste money.

    Molinaro said that the airport intends to use the remaining diagonal runways and that the parallel runways are designed not to cross

and pose safety hazards.

    Edgebrook Community Association president Jeff Manuel said in a letter to elected officials that the group opposes the planned changes in runway use. “These changes will adversely impact our community in numerous respects including but not limited to increased noise levels in the early morning and late at night, decreased property values and an overall reduction of quality of life standards,” the letter states.

    Spokesmen for Alderman Margaret Laurino (39th) and Alderman Mary O’Connor (41st) said that the aldermen plan to hold public meetings on the issue.

   The Sauganash Community Association said that the old diagonal runways should be kept open and used to maintain O’Hare’s competitiveness and safety.

     “We feel that the main runway and the two brand new runways should be used more than part-time for landings,” association president Renee Bennett said in the letter. “We believe flights should be directed over no-people commercial and park zones as much as possible, and we believe homes in flyover zones where heavy traffic cannot be truly avoided should get home insulation assistance.”

     Ginocchio said that the reason for the shift of traffic to the Thorndale runway has to do with the noise insulation program. He said that complaints from other municipalities over noise would cause an uproar and  that’s why the majority of night landings will be kept over the city.

Officials stress importance of participating in census effort

by CYRYL JAKUBOWSKI
      The U.S. Census Bureau has opened an office on the Northwest Side and is urging residents to participate in the effort to count the country’s population.
      Alderman Ray Suarez (31st) joined community groups to discuss the importance of responding to the census at the new office, 4230 W. Belmont Ave. “The census is a very important task,” Suarez said. “It will be our responsibility to get the word out to different ethnicities who are afraid of big government.”
      Suarez said that community outreach efforts are important because they raise awareness about how the federal government will distribute more than $400 billion to states and communities based on census data.
      According to the bureau, the government uses the population data to allocate funds for educational agencies, Head Start programs, food grants, public transportation, infrastructure, senior programs, emergency food and shelter programs and other services. The data also is used to determine the locations of schools, retail stores, hospitals, new housing developments and other facilities and to determine how many seats each state will have in the U.S. House of Representatives.
      “If everyone keeps talking, we will get the word out,” Suarez said. “A lot of people who are here illegally are  afraid to give out the information, but believe me, the government already knows you are out there.”
      Local census office manager Miguel Mora said that he wants to make sure than enough people are recruited as temporary workers before the count begins on April 1. Mora said the census questionnaires will be mailed in March and that the bureau must submit state population totals by Dec. 31.
      Mora said workers will go door to door from late April through July and that the number of jobs that will be available through the new office will be released in late March or April.
“In 2000, when we did the census, a lot of people were unaccounted for,” he said. “This year we
want to make sure we count everyone.“
      5th U.S. House District office representative James Yoo said that the forms are confidential and that it is against the law for the government to share the information it gathers.
Under the law, it is illegal for the bureau or its employees to share the information with any other agency, including law enforcement, the Internal Revenue Service, the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security or federal immigration agencies. Bureau employees are subject to a $250,000 fine or a 5-year prison term for  disclosing information that could identify a respondent or a household.
      Households are asked to provide demographic information including whether the house is rented or owned, the address of the residence and the name, gender, age and race of everyone who lives in the home. The bureau will not ask about social security numbers or legality status.
“It’s 10 questions, it takes 10 minutes and it’s every 10 years,” Yoo said.
      1st Ward chief of staff Raymond Valadez said that he was a census taker in 2000 and that he knows the importance of community response. “That $400 billion is distributed based on the census,” Valadez said. “It is crucial for our communities to get the services that they deserve so that there can be more job creation, more schools and more infrastructure programs.”
      Representatives of groups that are involved in creating and running various “complete count” committees discussed the challenges that some ethnicities and communities are facing. The volunteer committees are established by local governments or community leaders in an effort to increase awareness about the census and to motivate residents to respond to it. The committees also aim to provide services such as overcoming language barriers.
      Community partnership specialist Kasia Rivera said that the Albany Park neighborhood is one of the most diverse in the nation and that more than 100 languages are spoken there. Rivera said that in 2000 about 30,110 foreign-born residents were counted in the neighborhood, making it the neighborhood with the highest percentage of immigrants in the nation — 52 percent. However, she said that many immigrant groups were undercounted, with some response rates in areas of Albany Park being as low as 42 percent.
      “I have this local office, but we have 18 committees set up at this point,” Rivera said. “My job is to educate the people in order to make sure that the surveys get returned. Whether it’s an issue of confidentiality or a language barrier, we are here to try to raise our response rate by 10 percent (in Albany Park).”
      George Borovik of the Northwest Business Collaborative Complete Count Committee said that the group has been targeting ethnic businesses in order to raise awareness about the importance of the census. “If you live at Belmont and Central, you can live there all your life without ever knowing English because there are so many Polish businesses there,” Borovik said.“We’re trying to dispel the rumors. The rumors are that if you fill out the forms, then INS or the police will come and get you, and that’s complete nonsense.”
      The bureau plans to hire more than 60,000 people in the state and about 20,000 people in Chicago. To qualify for a job with the bureau, applicants must speak English, but bilingual skills are preferred in certain areas, according to census officials.
      Job salary ranges from $14.25 to $18.25 an hour and are mainly to help collect questionnaires that have not been filled out after April 1. Workers are usually sent into neighborhoods to help people complete the census form, answer questions and conduct interviews.
For information on testing dates, call the local census office at 773-355-5790.

St. Monica Academy observes "Earth Day."

This was a lot of fun because it was a sunny afternoon and the children gathered outside to form Earth by wearing blue to represent oceans and green to represent land. Getting to the rooftop of the school was a challenge because even the most able-bodied principal had trouble up that darn ladder. Getting the kids to line-up was a different matter. They were trying to spell "Earth Week" in case some people don't get it. They did a good job.