Library reinvention underway: Forest Park’s library cast off the “shhhh” stereotypes a good long time ago. Our library has become a pulsating hub of welcoming and innovation, active inclusion and respect.
Now though, after a lot of planning, the library has begun a major renovation that works to transform its still-small space into a physical form that reflects the culture and programs it has long provided.
So matching the need for social spaces for kids and for teens with the quiet rooms that draw traditional patrons, adding the digital resources of a modern library while keeping stacks filled with books and videos is the challenge undertaken.
Phase one is underway. Phase three ought to be complete by early 2020. Good job.
Welcome to the Rec Board: It took us a long while to figure out that Forest Park had both a park district and a village-run recreation board, that the park district basically owns Harrison Street while the village owns and manages those five small pocket-parks that dot the landscape, plus the dog park, plus whatever the Altenheim turns into when it grows up.
We’re still not sure why this is the way it is. But for now, it is. So good to see a public call for volunteers to join the rec board. This is a group that has ebbed and flowed over the years. Look forward to new energy, new voices, new ideas.
