Jerry Shnay

Park Forest

Columnist at Chicago Tribune

Featured in: Favicon

chicagotribune.com Favicon

patch.com

ourcommunitynow.com

Articles

Column: Bird wars comes to a Park Forest backyard

1 week ago | chicagotribune.com | Jerry Shnay

There was a bird war going on in our backyard this spring between a family of sparrows and wrens over a nest. We liken it to the frustration of losing the last spot in a crowded parking lot to the driver ahead of you. Each year, a painted gourd made to house a wren family is hung on a metal pole in our yard. I am told it was specifically built for those chirpy little creatures, each of which, our bird book informs us, is about 4-inches long and weighs about 1 ounce.
Column: Bird wars comes to a Park Forest backyard

1 week ago | ourcommunitynow.com | Jerry Shnay

Share There was a bird war going on in our backyard this spring between a family of sparrows and wrens over a nest. We liken it to the frustration of losing the last spot in a crowded parking lot to the driver ahead of you.Each year, a painted gourd made to house a wren family is hung on a metal pole in our yard.
South Sububan Land Bank rehabs Park Forest house

3 weeks ago | chicagotribune.com | Jerry Shnay

No matter the community, there are vacant and neglected homes not fully owned and not legally abandoned. These are the “zombies” of local housing and, like the walking dead of movie fame, these dwellings are to be avoided. Uncut grass, decrepit gutters, a bad roof and unpaid taxes are the usual logos of decay, often caused by death, debt or disinterest. Be it the vacant house next door, down the street or in the community in which you live, this virus of neglect infects everyone.
Column: Park Forest to induct seven residents into its hall of fame

1 month ago | chicagotribune.com | Jerry Shnay

Park Forest has always been conscious of its history. Not many communities have had books written about the way it shaped city planning, such as “America’s G. I. Town” by Greg Randall, a best-seller about the creation of a new kind of corporate society. Or “The Organization Man” by William Whyte, or a display in the Smithsonian Institution’s Museum of American History on how the village helped change post- war commuting habits.
Column: Water leaks and costly repairs may doom Park Forest Aqua Center

1 month ago | chicagotribune.com | Jerry Shnay

The Park Forest Aqua Center, the last remaining iconic structure in the village will not open this year. Over the years, the slow drip of time has eroded the life expectancy of the four-pool complex. Massive water leaks affect all the pools, including the daily loss of 20,000 gallons from only one of the pools. Last week, Recreation and Parks Director Kevin Adam presented two options to village trustees.
Column: Is Park Forest’s history of nonpartisan elections fading?

2 months ago | chicagotribune.com | Jerry Shnay

Time is the great shape shifter in our lives. Our first view of the community we still call home, Park Forest, was Sunday, March 9,1961. It was the end of a 1,000 mile-plus journey from Albuquerque, New Mexico, in a cramped car which included two children, a dog and the needed rubbish of a family on the move. We rented for a year before moving into our present home on Shabbona Drive. It was during those first 12 months that shaped our feeling for the place.
Park Forest-Chicago Heights District 163 Board names associate as new superintendent

2 months ago | chicagotribune.com | Jerry Shnay

Ericka Patterson, the associate superintendent of Park Forest-Chicago Heights Elementary District 163, was selected Monday to replace acting Superintendent Joyce Carmine. A longtime employee of the district, Patterson will replace Carmine on May 1, for a three-year term at an annual salary of $213,870, officials said. Patterson is a graduate of Lindblom High School in Chicago and the University of Illinois.
Column: ‘I was devastated’: Park Forest residents react to news St. Mary Catholic Church will close

2 months ago | chicagotribune.com | Jerry Shnay

When Sharon McCarthy of Park Forest heard St. Mary Catholic Church would close its doors in July, she was in a state of shock. “I was devastated,” she said. “We joined 45 years ago, and our daughter was baptized there. I am disappointed and heartbroken by the news. Even though it was small in numbers these days, it is such a friendly accepting church.
Column: Erin Mathias, who revivied Park Forest PTO, appointed to District 163 Board

Feb 10, 2025 | chicagotribune.com | Jerry Shnay

When an energetic Erin Mathias enrolled her child at Mohawk Primary Center three years ago, she noticed the school’s Parent-Teacher Organization was, as she recalls, almost non-existent. She, her husband, Kevin, and their blended family of five children spanning 11 years had just moved from Merrillville, Indiana to Park Forest, and although she wanted to have an active hand in her children’s educational opportunities, the door to such an opportunity seemed to be shut.
Park Forest Board mentions mayoral confrontation

Jan 27, 2025 | chicagotribune.com | Jerry Shnay

Although not on its agenda but with the results of a Cook County sheriff’s report into a clash last August between Park Forest Mayor Joe Woods and two residents still fresh in its minds, it seemed inevitable that the Village Board find a way to take up the matter at last week’s meeting.