4/17/08

New Florist in Riverside
Click HERE for more information.

3/13/08

Property Tax Assessment Appeal
Process Re-Opened March 17 through 31

The Cook County Review Board has announced that it will re-open the period to file property tax assessments and give taxpayers in specific suburban townships an additional two-week window to appeal their property tax assessments. The additional period to file complaints will be March 17-31 of 2008. The affected townships include:

Berwyn	Lyons	Orland
Bremen	Maine	Palos
Calumet	New Trier	Proviso
Cicero	Niles	Rich
Elk Grove	Norwood Park	River Forest
Evanston	Oak Park	Riverside
		Stickney

For more information you can go to www.cookcountyboardofreview.com to download the complaint form and obtain further details on this additional two week filing opportunity. You may also call the Board of Review at 312-603-5542.

4/11/08

Frederick Law Olmsted Society
Landscape Workday

Please join us to help weed & maintain a landmark of Riverside!

Saturday, April 12, 2008
9am - 12pm
The Scottswood Commons

The Riverside Public Works Department & the Riverside Frederick Law Olmsted Society are teaming up in 2008 to help beautify Scottswood Commons & the Longcommon. These public parks serve as the backbone of Riverside’s landscape architecture. Both were intended to be part of a green space stretching all the way to downtown Chicago. Frederick Law Olmsted designed these parks to provide changing vistas for both pedestrians & vehicles. His plan can be better realized by reducing shrub overgrowth & eliminating weeds. Join us as we tame, and then maintain two landmarks of Riverside.

During the March workday, volunteers completely weeded the bed in front of 156 Scottswood Road. See the attachments for before & after (1 oak & 3 witch hazels) pictures. We also began weeding the bed in front of 157 Scottswood Road. During the April workday, we hope to mulch the 156 bed & finish weeding the 157 bed. We need your help!

BEFORE	AFTER

Look for the Riverside Public Works dump truck. Supervised children are welcome. Bring your favorite work gloves & a water bottle. All other supplies & snacks will be provided.

1/22/08

Frederick Law Olmsted Society
2008 Landscape Workdays Scedule

The Riverside Public Works Department & the Riverside Frederick Law Olmsted Society are teaming up in 2008 to help beatify Scottswood Commons & the Longcommon. These public parks serve as the backbone of Riverside’s landscape architecture. Both were intended to be part of a green space stretching all the way to downtown Chicago. Frederick Law Olmsted designed these parks to provide changing vistas for both pedestrians & vehicles. His plan can be better realized by reducing shrub overgrowth & eliminating weeds. Join us as we tame, and then maintain two landmarks of Riverside.

All workdays are scheduled for Saturdays from 9am-12pm. Look for the Riverside Public Works dump truck. Come for an hour or three, whatever your schedule allows. Supervised children are welcome. Bring your favorite work gloves & a water bottle. All other supplies & snacks will be provided.

HELP WEED OUR COMMONS
March 8th 9am – 12pm Scottswood Commons
April 12th 9am – 12pm Scottswood Commons
May 10th 9am – 12pm Scottswood Commons
June 14th 9am – 12pm Scottswood Commons
July 12th 9am – 12pm Scottswood Commons
August 9th 9am – 12pm Scottswood Commons
September 13th 9am – 12pm Longcommon & Downing triangle
October 4th 9am – 12pm Longcommon & Downing triangle
November 8th 9am – 12pm Longcommon & Downing triangle

For more information or to be added to our FLOS
landscape committee e-list, please contact:
Holly Machina & Cindy Kellogg
Olmsted Society Landscape Committee Chairpersons
hmachina@ameritech.net or 447-0226
Mike Collins
Riverside Forester
mcollins@riverside.il.us or 442-3590 ext. 502

1/9/08

2008 Garbage Schedule

Holiday	Date	Service Schedule	First Pick-up	Second Pick-up
Independence Day	07/04/08	Friday Service delayed	Tuesday 7/1/08	Saturday 7/5/08
Labor Day	9/1/2008	Tuesday/Friday Service delayed	Wednesday 9/3/08	Saturday 9/6/08
Thanksgiving Day	11/27/08	Friday Service delayed	Tuesday 11/25/08	Saturday 11/29/08
Christmas	12/25/08	Friday Service delayed	Tuesday 12/23/08	Saturday 12/27/08
New Year's Day	1/1/2009	Friday Service delayed	Tuesday 12/30/08	Saturday 1/3/09

1/4/08

Attention Artists 7-13 Years Old
5K T-Shirt Design Contest

The Riverside Recreation Department is looking for a design to put on t-shirts that will be worn at the Fourth of July’s 5K Run.

The Recreation Department is looking for designs that capture the history and pride of Riverside, the 4th of July, and the 5K Run. The winner will receive a prize. All entries should be submitted by May 9, 2008 to the Recreation Department at 10 Pine Avenue. For more information call 708-447-7025.

Contest Rules:
1. Each entry must include "5K Independence Run" in logo
2. Each participant must include his/her name, age, phone & address

12/20/08

The Asian Long-Horned Beetle is close to Riverside. It was discovered in Summit in 1998. The most recent reports of that population state that the population has been destroyed by the removal of infected trees. Beetle is suspected to have come to the U. S through shipping pallets. Discovered in New York, it is now in the Chicago area. It is very important that this insect be controlled because it could become a significant forest pest.

The insect feeds an a variety of trees but the preferred species are maple and cottonwood with some incidence of predation on horse chestnut, elm, willows and fruit trees. Oaks and hickory, the dominant trees of our area, have not had any incidence of predation. The feeding of this insect does kill infested trees.

The adult Asian long-horned beetle is about an inch long and black with white spots. Its horn-shaped antenna are black with white rings extending out further than the length of the beetle's body. They leave large round holes the size of a dime anywhere on the tree upon exiting it. Other signs of infestation include oval to round wounds in bark resulting from females burrowing into the tree to create sites to lay eggs and large piles of sawdust on and at the base of the tree.Please call the Village should you discover and insect or suspect the possibility of infection. We are committed to controlling this pest just as we are with Dutch Elm Disease and other tree problems.
Kathleen Rush
Village of Riverside

Dutch elm disease is a vascular disease. The pathogen, Ophiostroma ulmi, is a fungus which spreads through the vascular system of elm trees. The natural response to infection in trees is a process called occlusion. This defense response blocks the trees vascular system in an effort to stop the spread of diseases. The flow of water to the occluded area is also stopped, and the infected branches wilt. Branch wilt is a diagnostic feature in which our forestry surveyors look for to find infected elm trees.

Dutch Elm Disease is spread to other elms by elm bark beetles and root graft connections. Bark beetles bore into elms and deposit eggs into the vascular region of the trees. The beetle larva then eat the vascular tissue. This creates tunnels where the reproductive structures of the fungus develop and attach to the mature beetles. The beetles then leave the infected elm to find another elm thereby spreading the disease.

Dutch elm disease can spread among elms in close proximity to each other. The spread is through connection of vascular canals in the roots known as root grafts. Infected trees in these situations must be removed immediately.

Sanitation or removal of diseased trees is the most important tactic in the control of this disease. Therefore, the Village is removing its diseased elm trees as soon as they are detected. The Village also requires diseased private elms to be removed within thirty days upon notification. These measures will help to preserve the remaining elms within the Village.

Some General Information about Skunks
From a phone conversation a resident had with Cook County Animal Control, 708/974-6140.

• First, Cook County Animal Control does not relocate or respond to wild animal calls. ("they are in the wild where they belong")
• Skunks prefer to eat insects, such as grubs they dig up.
• They usually only come out at night
• They burrow into the ground for a home
• The burrow is 3-4 inches across and cone shaped

How do Home Owners Control Skunks?
Suggestion 1: Put red fox urine around the perimeter of the yard (Available at hardware stores and nurseries)
Suggestion 2: A wire fence around the yard, buried 1 to 2 feet down into the soil to prevent them tunneling under

Some Thoughts from an Animal Control Company...
A lot of communities are having problems with skunks. Skunks will sleep just about anywhere underground they can - burrows, drain tiles, culverts etc. Each female will give birth to 8-10 babies, and about half are female. Once they get large enough, each of the babies will find their own burrow Skunks and raccoons carry a lot of diseases. Random traps are worthless, you will catch numerous opossums and raccoons before you catch a skunk that way.

The way that "animal control" companies handle the problem of catching a Skunk is to place a specially made traps over the burrow, and hope to catch them as they come out at night.

Included in the "virtual" tour are five Frank Lloyd Wright homes including the Coonley Estate, the Playhouse, and the Tomek House. Also featured are buildings by Architect William LeBaron Jenney, of which the water tower has become the signature trademark of the village. In addition to the Internet, the application can also run from a CD. Please contact the Historical Museum for more information.

The original concept was the idea of Keith Burnham, a past commissioner of the Riverside Historical and Preservation Commissions, and owner of Burnham Graphic Arts, who wanted to improve upon a guide printed by the Preservation Commission. Mr. Burnham, a Riverside resident for over 40 years, thought it would be a unique and fun way for anyone to learn more about the history behind Riverside's outstanding architecture. His son Jim, an internet design specialist from West Chicago, took the concept and developed the interface over the Summer with help from Ann Nowotarski, chair of the Historical Commission, who provided historical text and photos from the Riverside Historical Museum archives. Keith originally photographed the houses used in the application.

"We are excited!," adds Nowotarski, "This is a first step to publishing information about our National Historic Landmark Village electronically so we can make it more easily accessible and reach a broader audience."

To view the application, visitors must have the latest Macromedia Flash Plug-in (version 4.0) installed on their browser. Most browsers have this plug-in, but if not, the visitor will be directed to the correct location where it is available free of charge from macromedia.

The Riverside Historical Museum is located next to the Riverside water tower at 10 Pine Avenue and is open Saturdays from 10AM to 2PM. For more information, call the Riverside Historical Commission at the Museum at (708) 447-2542.

Burnham Graphic Arts is a family-owned corporation located in Riverside IL, West Chicago IL and Leland Michigan. The company specializes in traditional and digital graphic design, web design elements, custom presentations and applications made for distribution on CD-ROM or the Internet. For more information on Burnham Graphic Arts and the services they have to offer, visit their website at http://www.burnhamweb.com, email Jim@burnhamweb.com or call (708) 442-8634.