F O R E S T PA R K
ForestParkReview.com Vol. 107, No. 17
$1.00
REVIEW APRIL 24, 2024
Rep. La Shawn Ford spotlights opioid crisis with Harm Reduction Solidarity Week
Future efforts to prevent overdoses include opening prevention sites and continuing to destigmatize substance use disorders By JESSICA MORDACQ Staff Reporter
Dancing for charity, page 9 @ForestParkReview @FP_Review
CLOUD WINE
Forest Park celebrates its Annual Wine Walk More photos, page 9
Illinois Rep. La Shawn Ford is ramping up the fight against the opioid crisis by pushing to create overdose prevention sites and declaring a new Harm Reduction Solidarity Week. Ford, whose district includes Austin, Oak Park and Forest Park, has long been a drug-treatment advocate. In late 2022, for example, he proposed House Bill 0002, which proposes the opening of pilot overdose prevention sites in Illinois. Earlier this year, Ford filed House Resolution 665, which, when it passed, declared April 14 through April 20 Illinois’ first Harm Reduction Solidarity Week. At a news conference in Springfield April 17, Ford
Early expansion plans are in place at Roos Recreation Center to make space for day camp and more members
See PREVENTION SITES on page 3
By JESSICA MORDACQ
Redoing the Roos
Staff Reporter
TODD BANNOR
Much like the rest of the village of Forest Park, the Roos Recreation Center lot at Harrison Street has a history more than a century long — and its history will soon expand, both physically and figuratively. In 2013, the Park District of Forest Park bought the 85,000-square-foot building on Harrison Street, constructed in 1918, for $499,000. A month later, a portion of the ceiling collapsed. The village then slated the structure for emergency demolition. But when the reconstructed 15,000-square-foot building reopened in 2018 as Roos Recreation Center, visitors far surpassed its capacity, leading to a discussion about how See ROOS on page 6