Have you driven down Roosevelt Road and noticed an increasing number of trucks parked near the Chicago Bulk Mail Center? Village Administrator Rachell Entler explained why at the village council meeting on July 14.
Entler said that, earlier this month, the village discovered that two other U.S. Postal Service bulk mail facilities have recently closed, rerouting their services to the Chicago Bulk Mail Center — a mail processing and distribution location intended to process large volumes of standardized mail, such as catalogs and flyers.
“The Forest Park facility renovated and remodeled to accommodate for the increase in postal service traffic,” Entler told the Review after the council meeting. She added that, while the village was aware of the renovations, the increase in truck traffic could pose a safety concern.
Entler said the new truck traffic recently became an issue when the Forest Park Fire Department was called for a dumpster fire near the Forest Park Plaza, and one of the mail center’s trucks was blocking a fire hydrant.
“That was a red flag immediately,” Entler told the Review.
Entler said the Forest Park Fire Department is working with the Bulk Mail Center to determine, after renovations, where the fire suppression system is located and where the fire department has access to the building. She added that they’re having the same conversations with the Illinois National Guard, which has moved into the Armed Forces Reserve Center building.
The Illinois National Guard previously told the Review that it would initially make small repairs to the building with larger alterations in coming years. Because of such repairs, Entler said she’s discussing with the Illinois National Guard an opportunity to get village police and fire fighters a tour of the property so they can appropriately respond in case of emergency.
“Because the building has been vacant for so many years, we want to make sure that, now that it’s in use again, our departments know the layout,” Entler said during her administrator’s report at the last council meeting.
Entler told the Review that the village is currently updating its emergency operations plan, and the team working on that is considering the Bulk Mail Center in its conversations.
“We are reaching out to them. We want to try and get a handle on this truck traffic that’s coming into Forest Park,” Entler said at the council meeting. “We want to make sure we’re doing our part to make sure it’s not disrupting the neighborhood and that we have a better understanding of what’s going on.”