Advocate Christ Wants More Time To Address Village's Infrastructure Questions

Advocate Christ Medical Center is skipping Monday's Planning and Development Commission meeting while it addresses village's impact study "punch list."

Advocate Christ Medical Center has asked to be taken off the agenda for tonight’s (Monday, May 21) Planning and Development Commission. Following the marathon PD&C meeting that went for four hours on May 7, medical center officials have asked for more time to address the village’s impact study “punch list.” Be the first on your block to know stuff. Sign up for the O-L Patch newsletter and breaking news alerts. Planning commissioners voted 5-2 to continue a public hearing into Advocate Christ Medical Center’s nine zoning variance petitions for “Phase II” of the $600 million hospital campus expansion. The latest addition, if approved, is expected to be viable until 2021. The Oak Lawn Planning and Development Commission want Advocate Christ …

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The Rundown: The Poop on Dog Poop, New Chamber Digs, Liquor Licenses

Highlights of the Oak Lawn Village Board meeting from May 8, 2012.

It was a thin agenda for the Oak Lawn Village Board during their Tuesday meeting. Mayor Dave Heilmann was out of town so Trustee Bob Streit (Dist. 3) served as president pro tem. Sign up for the O-L Patch newsletter and breaking news alerts. On a scale of 1 to 10 for village board tension, this meeting scored at five on the tension scale. Here are some of the highlights. Trustee Cindy Trautsch (Dist. 1) reported that “dog litter” signs have been installed on 93rd Street between Oak Park and Natchez Avenues, running parallel to Centennial Park. Trautsch said that her constituents have complained of people walking their dogs in the park, which is illegal in all Oak Lawn parks except for Bailey’s Crossing Dog Park. Leashed dogs are also …

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The Blade

THE BLADE: Dogs in Politics, Deetjen Tells Off Advocate

Daring to ask the question: "Would you let your dog run for the Oak Lawn Village Board?"

The results of Oak Lawn Patch’s unscientific mayoral poll have been counted. Last week, we asked our readers, which candidate would they vote for if Oak Lawn mayoral election were being held tomorrow. A total of 362 votes were cast. We suspect some readers voted multiple times but there is no limit to how many times you can vote in a Patch poll. In fact, it’s encouraged. Be the first on your block to know stuff. Sign up for the O-L Patch newsletter and breaking news alerts. According to our poll, Mayor Dave Heilmann, who says he’s going to run for a third term next year, received 117 votes. The rest of our hypothetical mayoral candidates, including village board members, some-other-yet-to-be-named person, a cat and a dog received 245 votes…

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Christ Hospital President 'Disappointed' By Request for Additional Impact Study

Village wants medical center to pay for independent review of plans for new 9-story patient tower before approving Advocate Christ's zoning variances.

The Oak Lawn Planning and Development Commission want Advocate Christ Medical Center to vet some of its plans for a 9-story patient tower because there are still too many “unknowns” about traffic, flood control and economic impact on the village. Steve Radice, chair of the plan commission, told hospital officials on Monday that commissioners still don’t have enough information to recommend the medical center’s nine zoning variances for approval by the Oak Lawn Village Board. “We want to get it right,” Radice said. “I can’t go through with this and feel 100 percent comfortable. It’s bigger than anything [the village] has ever dealt with.” The latest addition to the medical center campus is part of a $600 million expansion plan to increase …

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Trustees Approve Hiring Assistant for Village Manager

Expressing concern that the village manager is working too hard, Oak Lawn trustees are getting Larry Deetjen some help.

Whether he wants it or not, the Oak Lawn Village Board approved the hiring of an assistant for the village manager during Tuesday’s board meeting. Village trustees approved a motion to participate in the ICMA fellowship program, paving the way to hire an assistant for the village manager at a salary not to exceed $40,000. Some trustees have complained that Village Manager Larry Deetjen’s response time has been too slow in getting back to them on constituents’ requests. Read the 'Cover It Live' blog replay of Tuesday's village board meeting. Deetjen told trustees that he has reached out to International City/County Management Association, a professional association for municipal managers, in referring candidates for a one-year fellowship to…

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Trustee Trautsch Uses 'A' Word

Did someone forget to add a new position of assistant village manager to 2012 budget?

Trustee Cindy Trautsch (Dist. 1) brought up the “A” word during Tuesday’s Oak Lawn Village Board meeting—“assistant village manager”—when she asked for a status update on the possibility of bringing in help for the village manager. The District 1 trustee has complained in the past of Village Manager Larry Deetjen’s “slow response time” to her emails and phone calls. TAKE THE POLL: Should Oak Lawn create a new position of assistant village manager? “Is that something we’re still discussing?” Trautsch asked. Mayor Dave Heilmann said such a matter of creating a position for an assistant village manager that it needed to be put on the board agenda. Trustee Alex Olejniczak (Dist. 2) expressed confusion “because I felt we budgeted for that …

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QC

10:26 am on Thursday, April 12, 2012

Cap, regarding you statement: "Are you still living with your parents? It said in the article you moved in with your parents again after the age of 40. Isn't there a movie about that?" Andy still lives at home with his dad. He never left .   more ›

Lawyers, Lost Dogs and Commuter Horror: Feedback Friday

A weekly update to help you keep up with the news updates and conversation on Oak Lawn Patch's Facebook page and what O-L Patch users are saying in the comments section.

Oak Lawn Patch readers had plenty to say about news topics this week and we’re especially vocal on our Facebook Page. We’ve had some great feedback. Many thanks to the 923 fans who’ve joined the Patch revolution on Facebook. A tanker truck tipped over on I294 in the southbound lanes between 95th Street and 127th Street/Cicero. The Tri-State was shut for several hours on Tuesday, diverting a convoy of big rigs down 95th Street not seen since C.W. McCall’s one-hit wonder "Convoy." Carol Ellis Sheahan – “My friend was trapped on 294 for 5.5 hours with a 7yr old, 6yr old and a one-year old. No food, no "potty", almost out of gas, etc. She said it was just awful!” Christina Pender – “You want a horror story I'll give you a horror story! I was …

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The Blade

THE BLADE: Larry Deetjen Takes It Like A Man, News from the ‘Phelan Tattler’

The village board meets tonight (Tuesday) which means ‘fun night’ for Oak Lawn Patch.

After being publicly spanked by the mayor on Ch. 4 at the Feb. 14 Oak Lawn Village Board meeting, and then having his ethics called into question when a  developer joined an annual competitive golf tournament organized by his brother-in-law in Florida—is it any wonder that Village Manager Larry Deetjen might be considering making a job change? Deetjen showed considerable grace during Mayor Dave Heilmann’s soliloquy that the village manager had gone behind his back meeting with the prospective developers of the former Beatty Lumber Co. who came back with a preliminary concept for a 9-story office tower—one of several “alternative scenarios” that are being explored. This is the third or fourth time the village manager has explored his …

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Mayor Outs Village Manager for Inviting Beatty Developer to Golf Tourny

Oak Lawn Village Manager Larry Deetjen calls mayor's latest accusations "much ado about nothing."

The day after he publicly accused the village manager of holding a secret meeting with developers to discuss the former Beatty Lumber property, the mayor forwarded to news media email from the village manager inviting one of the developers to an out-of-town golf tournament. “The manager and developer and the realtor all went on a golf trip to Florida a few weeks ago,” Mayor Dave Heilmann said. “During the pendency of a major development proposal that Oak Lawn will have to approve, the village manager invites and then goes on a week’s vacation to Florida with the developer?” Sign up to receive the Oak Lawn Patch daily newsletter and breaking news alerts. During his report at Tuesday’s village board meeting, Heilmann revealed that one of the…

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wyatt erp

11:18 am on Monday, March 5, 2012

the mayors fair allegations were poo pooed by one lisa madigan. whod a thought right/   more ›

A 9-Story Office Tower for Beatty Lumber Property?

Mayor accuses village manager of holding secret meeting with developers.

Mayor Dave Heilmann had terse words for a possible 9-story development on the site of a former lumberyard that has been a blight on the neighborhood for the past seven years. Heilmann’s remarks came at the end of his president’s report at the Oak Lawn Village Board meeting on Tuesday, where he also accused Village Manager Larry Deetjen of holding a secret meeting with the developers who now own the property. A conceptual sketch of a 9-story office tower on the former Beatty Lumber property at 9537 S. 52nd Ave. was presented at the village board’s finance committee meeting on Feb. 8. Sign up to receive the Oak Lawn Patch daily newsletter and breaking news alerts. Developers Tony Ruh and Karl Shea, who developed the new Bally BFit Center at …

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