The viaduct on Des Plaines, between the Howard Mohr Community Center and Blue Line terminal, has been cleaned in a cross-governmental effort to improve safety in the area. Though the tents where unhoused people live remain, miscellaneous blankets, clothing, trash, needles and feces have been removed and discarded.
On Oct. 23, the Cook County Sheriff’s Department joined the Forest Park Police Department and public works department in cleaning the viaduct near the CTA Blue Line terminal at 711 Des Plaines.
“Many of us know that there have been encampments of unhoused persons,” Mayor Rory Hoskins said of the area during his commissioner’s comment at the Oct. 26 council meeting. “Sometimes that comes with hazards, so the Sheriff’s Office brought resources that helped our public works clean up that area in a very significant manner.”
Sal Stella, director of Forest Park’s public works department, told the Review that he and his team have historically cleaned up the area, near daily, but it’s gotten a lot worse.
“This has been going on for as long as I can remember under there, but nothing to this level,” Stella said. “I’m not sure if new people came off the train and decided to house themselves here, but it’s gotten worse over the last six months.”
Stella said there used to be only one or two people living under the viaduct, but now there’s a handful. And with them, more miscellaneous items, especially needles, in the area.
So Stella alerted the Forest Park Police Department and Hoskins, who reached out to the Cook County Sheriff’s Office for help.
“I didn’t want them to be susceptible to the needles. God forbid they got poked or anything like that,” Stella said of why his team needed assistance. The county “Brought in their people with their equipment and their SWAT team, which took care of all the needles.” They bagged items, then public works personnel hauled them away, Stella added.
Stella said that, when he arrived at the cleaning, the people who live under the viaduct weren’t there, so he’s not sure whether they were offered any social services.
Hoskins said cleanings like this will likely be something Forest Park continues with twice a year or quarterly — “until this region comes up with a serious plan to provide affordable housing and to decrease the population of unhoused.”
NITA could create affordable housing
During his commissioner’s comment at the end of the Oct. 26 council meeting, Hoskins said the newly created Northern Illinois Transit Authority that oversees the CTA, Metra and Pace, has the authority to build transit-oriented development — maximizing residences and businesses within walking distance from bus and train stops.
“That can help a community like Forest Park because we’re such a transit hub,” Hoskins said during his commissioner’s comment at the Oct. 26 council meeting. “NITA will have the authority to actually build on underutilized land near transit for purposes of boosting ridership and for purposes that include lessening road congestion.”
In July, Hoskins was appointed to the first-ever NITA board, where he will help implement changes in local transit, including in Forest Park.
NITA will also be able to engage in public-private partnerships, Hoskins said. He added that Forest Park is working long-term with the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning, which also advocated to create NITA.
“We’re going to be working with them over the next several months to formulate a plan that will let Forest Park become a more walkable community, to bring measured growth to Forest Park, and of course, with the goal of providing affordable housing,” Hoskins said.