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.

Homes Get Demolished in Bensenville

This was when the homes in the Village of Bensenville were being torn down to make room for a new runway that lines up with Wilson Avenue. I had to have a ladder, a free weekend afternoon and will to get this shot because Irving Park Road is a parking lot and a nightmare, like, all the time this far west.

Norridge Theater closes after flooding

      
by CYRYL JAKUBOWSKI
      The AMC Lowes Norridge 10 Theater, 4520 N. Harlem Ave., closed on July 15 after a water main break flooded a portion of the theater.
      Norridge building commissioner Brian Gaseor said that a water main that fed into the theater broke and flooded several auditoriums in the western portion of the theater in a section that was part of the original theater building. The cost to repair and replace the carpeting and seating was estimated at more than $100,000, Gaseor said.
      The property was being leased to AMC Theaters, but in the past it operated as a Lowes Theater before AMC merged with that company in 2006. The theater also was a Sony Theater, and it opened as a Marks and Rosenfield Theater, Gaseor said.
      “They had it in their contract that if something ‘catastrophic’ happens, they had the option of walking away,” Gaseor said. “The theater operator is still responsible for fixing the main and providing maintenance for the building.” Gaseor said that the property manager is Colliers International.
      Colliers International senior property manager Gloria Valerugo said that AMC Theaters had a clause in their rental agreement that gave them the option of leaving and they chose to do so, citing the flooding as the reason. Valerugo said that AMC had been leasing the property since 1988.
      AMC Theaters spokesman Ryan Noonan said that the company decided to close the theater and concentrate on other venues.
      “We continually strive to upgrade the quality of our theatre circuit by adding new screens and by disposing of older screens through closures and sales,” Noonan said in a statement. “We do, however, look at our theaters on an individual basis, and we have decided to close AMC Norridge 10.”
      Gaseor said that the building will not be demolished. “We don’t want to send the message that this will be an abandoned building because we will keep an eye on it,” Gaseor said.
      Norridge Mayor Ronald Oppedisano said that while cost of the repairs was cited as the reason for
closing of the theater, the state of the movie industry and its competitive nature also may have played a factor.
      “It’s painful to see it close because it put the village into focus over the years and brought people into the village that otherwise might not have stopped here, and it also opened up room for people to visit other businesses, either before or after the movies,” Oppedisano said.
      Oppedisano reflected about the legacy of the theater and its impact on the village. “I remember when it opened in 1970 as a kid and how busy it was,” he said. “It was a pretty big deal back then because they were state of the art, with giant screens, and they had seats that rocked back and forth.
      “But as time went by and with the way that movies are today with the opening of these Muvicos, especially the one in Rosemont, where they cater to every need of the customer, it was hard for theaters like the Norridge to compete,” Oppedisano said.
      According to an article published in 1970 in Boxoffice magazine, a publication of the National Association of Theater Owners, the Norridge opened as a twin theater on a 10-acre parcel of land. It seated 1,200 people and 900 people in the two auditoriums, and there was parking for 932 cars, according to the article.
      The first movies that were screened there were “Paint Your Wagon” starring Lee Marvin and Clint Eastwood and “A Boy Named Charlie Brown,” according to an ad that ran in local newspapers at the
time. The Snoopy character was scheduled to make an appearance during the matinee, the ad said.
      The original building featured sloping white masonry walls that were capped at each end and at the entrance with a mansard roof made of metal siding, according to the article. The lobby had white walls with cedar panels and blue and green carpeting and a 14-foot-diameter chandelier, the article said.
      Gaseor said that two additional auditoriums were added to the original building in the late 1970s and that six more were added in the second building over time, he said.
      “From a municipal standpoint, we would prefer to have it demolished,” Oppedisano said. “You hate to see it standing there vacant, but unfortunately that is a part of the economy right now and it’s fairly common.”          
      Oppedisano said that there were plans to create a large retail development anchored by a Costco store. He said that the closing of the Maurice Lenell cookie factory and the Cookie Jar store in 2008 was to be a part of the expansion along with the theater, but that Costco instead built a store on the former Kiddieland site in Melrose Park.
      “The problem with developing that area is that there are many separate property owners and it’s
been hard getting them all together to some common denominator to sell the parcels so a big development can come in,” Oppedisano said.

Car in crash was fleeing cops

Six people were injured in a collision between a Toyota Camry and a Toyota Sienna
that occurred at about 6:05 a.m. Tuesday, Aug. 21, in the 4500 block of West Devon
Avenue, according to the Chicago Police Department Office of News Affairs.
The vehicles collided  on Devon, and the minivan struck a home at the intersection.
Two people were treated on the scene and four were transported to area hospitals,
according to the Chicago Fire Department.

(Photo by Cyryl Jakubowski)

(Photo by Cyryl Jakubowski)

(Photo by Cyryl Jakubowski)

by CYRYL JAKUBOWSKI
      What started as a car screeching its tires and doing doughnuts in the parking lot of a church in Sauganash ended with a car crash that injured six people at about 6:05 a.m. Tuesday, Aug. 21, in the 4500 block of West Devon Avenue, according to 17th (Albany Park) District police.
      According to police, a deputy chief saw a Toyota Camry doing doughnuts in the parking lot of Queen of All Saints Basilica, 6280 N. Sauganash Ave. The officer attempted to stop the Camry, and the vehicle fled into Lincolnwood, police said.
      As the Camry was traveling south on Kolmar Avenue, the driver drove through a stop sign, and his car collided with a Toyota Sienna that was traveling west on Devon, according to police. After the crash, the Sienna struck a home at the intersection and the Camry stopped in the front yard of the home.
      The Camry's engine burst into flames, and its four occupants were sent to area hospitals, while the two occupants of the Sienna were treated on the scene, according to police. The occupants of the Camry were between ages of 20 to 25, and the occupants of the Sienna were 43 and 30, police said.
      The 23-year-old driver of the Camry was cited for reckless driving, according to police.

Comic from Poland Sells Out Copernicus

by CYRYL JAKUBOWSKI
      If Poland had its version of Hollywood, then the Northwest Side Polish community had a chance to see one of its biggest stars recently.
      Popular Polish actor and comic Cezary Pazura performed on Nov. 14 at the Copernicus Cultural and Civic Center and reflected on his fame, the differences between American and Polish humor, and his opposition to political correctness.
      Nearly every seat in the 1,900-seat theater in the center, 5216 W. Lawrence Ave., was filled as Pazura joined the Polish sketch comedy group Ani Mru Mru, or “Don’t Say a Word,” to celebrate the 10-year anniversary of the group, which performed a mix of abstract sketches.
      The appearances highlighted the Copernicus Center’s practice of featuring headline groups from Poland and other European countries.
      Pazura, age 47, has performed in some 55 films dating back to the late 1980s, and he has received many acting awards since the 1990s. He is a staple of Polish cinema, television sitcoms, theater and cabaret, and he has been performing stand-up comedy for the past 12 years. He also is a dramatic actor.
      “The audience here at the Copernicus Center is fantastic,” Pazura said in Polish. He said that it is not only in Chicago, which has the largest Polish population in the United States, that people anticipate his shows.
      “Right now in Polonia, whether it’s in Chicago or in Ireland or New York, people wait for Polish artists to come and are not like people in Warsaw, who go when it’s convenient for them,” Pazura said. “Here, if you have a poster or a date is set, then people know that the performers are not coming for a long time.”
      While Pazura has an image as a wild man on stage, he is soft-spoken and intelligent away from the stage.
      “What is fame? Fame is something actors in Hollywood know about,” Pazura said. “Our fame is the way it is. We are known in our country and sometimes it’s better that way . . . There’s always good in bad, that someone is known only in Poland because he can go wherever and still have peace of mind without someone bothering them.”
      Pazura said that he has been coming to perform at the Copernicus Center for more than 10 years and that he enjoys his brief stays in the Chicago. He said that people come up to him and ask for autographs and quote his movies.
      However, he said even he can’t remember some of his film lines because he is involved in too many new things and that the nature of an actor is to constantly reinvent himself.
      “That’s a very hard aspect of this work because as we all know some careers burn out and artists burn out,” Pazura said. “There are artists who sing to the same tune, there are artists who work in one type of films and there are artists who are slaves to their one-hit wonders and never go anywhere after that.”
      While some view him as the Polish Jim Carrey because of his physical comedy, he thinks Carrey is the best at what he does. “I like Jim Carrey because his comedy is physical and he knows how to pantomime,” he said. “Plus he is a very intelligent man.
      “But if I had to introduce myself to an American audience, I would have to say that there is no place in the world, maybe a little in Poland, where actors must be able to do everything. Sometimes Americans ask me who I am and what do I do, and when I tell them that I’m an actor, they ask what kind of an actor, film or theater?
      “And I tell them that I’m in film, theater, stand-up comedy, I provide voice work for animated movies, etc., and they don’t understand. For us that’s an everyday thing because an actor must be able to do everything. It’s a necessity in Poland or in Russia that an actor must be able to play both in films and in theater and in other things.”
      Pazura said that he would never do off-color comedy. “I’m a big opponent when it comes to young comedians in a cabaret resorting to cursing on stage to get a laugh,” he said.
“I differentiate between a cackle and laughter because the two are different things. I don’t want to make the audience cackle, I want to make them laugh. Laughter is a reaction to abstract concepts in the mind and the comedian has to bring out those concepts using either himself or through words.”
      During the stand-up portion of the show, Pazura also spoke out against political correctness. “The thing that spilled out from America to all over the world is unfortunately political correctness,” he said. “President Obama after Fort Hood had to say that a friend killed a friend and couldn’t say that it was a Muslim, for example. It’s stuff like that and I don’t understand it at all because it backfires against us. It shouldn’t be like that.”
      Pazura also said that the jokes he performs are created with the Polish audience in mind and that sometimes humor can’t be translated into other languages.
      “Language is very specific,” he said. “When I watch Russian movies because I know the language very well and I hear Polish people trying to translate them, it’s just not the same thing. This specificity can’t be duplicated.”

(Editor's note: While Pazura can speak some English, this interview was conducted in Polish and translated verbatim into English.)

Fatal Crash Shocks Northwest Side Poles

by CYRYL JAKUBOWSKI

      Chicago’s Polish-American community is grieving the death of the president of Poland and 95 other Polish leaders in Russia over the weekend, with numerous memorial services held throughout the city.

      The plane that was taking them to Russia to mark the 70th anniversary of the massacre by Soviet

forces of some 20,000 Polish leaders crashed in dense fog early Saturday, April 10, in a forest near an airport in Smolensk, killing all aboard, including Polish President Lech Kaczynski, age 60, his wife, Maria Kaczynska, age 66, and top government officials, military officers and other society leaders.

      “It’s a very devastating tragedy for the people of Poland, the Polish Americans in Chicago and just Poles all over the world,” said Polish National Alliance president Frank Spula. Spula said that the Polish community was overwhelmed when it heard the news but that the people of Poland are resilient and that they will make it through the national disaster.

     Spula said that the association was preparing for Kaczynski’s visit to the United States that was scheduled from April 29 to May 1 and that he was scheduled to meet with the Polish secret service for a walkthrough of the PNA headquarters on April 13. Kaczynski has been the president of Poland since 2005.

      “I was speechless when I got the phone call,” Spula said. “We were supposed to see him at the building on May 1.” Spula said that the group is working to plan a memorial service. 

      Spula said that that the loss is immense because Poland has lost a president who cared about democratic issues including human rights. Kaczynski was going to Russia to mark the Katyn Forest Massacre of 1940, in which Polish military officers and civilian intellectuals were executed by Soviet secret police after the Set Union invaded Poland following a pact between Joseph Stalin and Adolph Hitler to carve up the country.

      Spula said that he knew at least 20 of the people who died in the crash. “These were people I knew, and they were brilliant people,” he said.

      Among those who died in the crash was Chicago resident Wojciech Seweryn, age 70, a native of Poland and an artist who designed a monument to the Katyn Massacre at Saint Adalbert Cemetery in Niles. Beginning Saturday the area around the monument began filling up with mourners who left flowers, lit candles and shed tears. Seweryn’s father was among the officers who were killed in 1940.

   Copernicus Foundation president Gregg Kobelinski said that Kaczynski also planned to visit the Copernicus Civic and Cultural Center following the Polish Constitution Day parade on May 1. Kobelinski said that the festival and celebration after the parade was to be held at the Copernicus Center instead of at Navy Pier for the first time this year.

      Kobelinski said that whether to go ahead with the celebration has not been decided. “It’s a sensitive issue and we need to decide what we will do,” Kobelinski said. Kobelinski said that once news of the crash broke, many local organizations held memorial services throughout the city.  “Most of the people have gone to church, because for many Poles that is the center of the social community,” he said. “That’s where the Poles naturally turn to."

     Kobelinski also talked about the connection to Katyn. “It certainly publicized what happened in Katyn and made many people aware for the first time what happened,” he said. “What a tragic way to have that come to light again in such a way.” 

     Polish American Association executive director Gary Kenzer said that the Polish consulate general’s office in Chicago was swamped with people who were waiting to sign the condolence book. Kenzer said that the association has created a virtual memorial book on its Web site where people can leave their thoughts and prayers. The site can be reached at www.polish.org. 

      Kenzer said that the circumstances behind the tragedy are bitterly ironic and that some may view it as a step backward in the relations between Poland and Russia. “But the country will survive and rebuild, and they have to grieve and let the healing begin,”Kenzer said. 

      A memorial service for the victims of the crash and marking the anniversary of the massacre will be held at 12:30 p.m. Sunday, April 25,at Saint Hyacinth Basilica, 3636 W.Wolfram St., followed by a memorial at 2:30 p.m. at Saint Adalbert, 6800 N. Milwaukee Ave., Niles. 

      A dinner will be held at 4 p.m. at the White Eagle restaurant, 6839 N. Milwaukee Ave., Niles. The cost is $40.

      For more information, call 773-934-1720.