Tuesday, January 22, 2013
The Maine South dance team won a national award for giving back to the community, and the Park Ridge City Council honored the team at its Monday meeting.
Jackie Graney, the coach of Maine South High School's award-winning Hawkettes dance team, had plenty to say when Park Ridge Mayor David Schmidt asked her to describe the girls' contributions to the community. Graney ticked them off: packing more than 13,000 meals for a charity called Feed My Starving Children, which sends food to the malnourished; participated in a "Walk and Roll" to raise money to help children with Spinal Muscular Atrophy; performed at the 9/11 Hopefest; volunteered with the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society's FAM JAM and at Marillac House, a charitable institution, helped raise breast cancer awareness and other projects. "That’s a small part of what they do, on top of practicing a ridiculous amount of hours a day," Graney…
Monday, November 19, 2012
In Park Ridge's effort to boost business and lessen the property tax burden for homeowners, owners of retail businesses are invited to confab with the mayor and city council at 6 p.m.
Sheila Duda, owner of TeaLula, has a message for owners of Park Ridge retail businesses: be at Park Ridge City Hall at 6 p.m. Monday. "Mayor Schmidt wants our ideas on ways the city can help promote shopping in Park Ridge this holiday season. We can’t afford to miss out on this opportunity," she wrote to business owners in her capacity as Retail Committee Chairman of the Park Ridge Chamber of Commerce. Duda ticked off some possibilities for expanding business, and invited businses owners to add their own suggestions to the mix. So far, suggestions include: Likewise, the city's website reads: "(Mayor Schmidt) has scheduled a workshop meeting on November 19, 2012 at Park Ridge City Hall at 6:00 p.m. so that businesses can discuss ways …
Friday, October 12, 2012
Mayor Dave Schmidt tells the Park Ridge Chamber of Commerce things may be starting to turn around, but the city still faces challenges. He wants to move forward on economic development.
Mayor Dave Schmidt started his talk at the Park Ridge Chamber of Commerce luncheon by joking that his speeches usually comprise warnings of doom and gloom. This time, though, the speech, which touched on topics from trees to budgets to airplane noise to economic development, admitted just a sliver of sunshine. Maintaining that the city's budget is at the base of everything, Schmidt said some budget numbers recently came in and put the city's general fund at a $1.4 million surplus. "A lot of factors went into it--me saying no a few times, a confident finance director, a city council that has started to see the light, just in recognizing and dealing with the problems we have," the mayor commented. Sales tax revenues up One other bit of …
Ziggy
2:05 pm on Friday, October 12, 2012
It would be a lot easier to shop local if the employees of these businesses would not take up the prime parking spaces in front of the businesses. How about staying open as expected, some of the businesses close early or don't open at all on some days. They need some coaching on running a business. Over the years, five gas stations have closed on the north side of town. Oakton is a heavily … more ›