Great waste and recycling seminar this morning!  We had a full house and lots of informative discussion.

Please check out the following resources:

OPDC Waste and Recycle Worksheet

Shaw Recycling Toolkit

For those not able to make it, we are asking all participants to fill out the OPDC Waste and Recycling Worksheet before our next seminar.  This will help you determine the type of waste contract best suited for your business.  And hopefully save you money!

OPDC Green Team!

 The inaugural Gloor-Longwell Award is presented to celebrate the long-standing commitment of a business in the community, both honoring the entrepreneurial spirit of its ownership and recognizing its impact and staying power.  The new award is named for A. Richard Gloor and Llyn Longwell who have served as Founding Directors of OPDC since its establishment in 1974, and have themselves been Oak Park entrepreneurs who changed their business models to meet changing times.

The Gloor-Longwell Award was proudly given to Barnard’s Schwinn located at 6109 West North Avenue.  Currently owned by 3^rd generation family, Greg and Jeff Hajduk, this Oak Park shop began in 1911.  For over 101 years, old fashioned values and principles like being courteous, interested, enthusiastic, and fair have sustained this business that just keeps rolling along to the delight of the entire community.

 The 2012 award winners were selected from a field of over 50 nominees.  The following 13 projects/businesses represent investment in excess of $3.5M and provide employment for more than 360 individuals.

Green Home Experts – 811 South Boulevard

Oak-Leyden Developmental Services – 411 Chicago Avenue

Demo Duck and Heave-Ho Productions – 115 North Oak Park Avenue

Lemonmade Style & Snips for Kids – 187 North Marion Street

Harlan J. Berk Rare Coins – 455 North Harlem Avenue

West Cook YMCA Interior Renovations – 255 South Marion Street

Jason and Peter Skiouris – 1047-53 West Madison

Bee Home and Garden – 128 Chicago Avenue Building Renovation

Kellie Scott, Divine Consign and Trends Expansions

MacSpecialist – 805 Lake Street

Geri and Don McLauchlan – 900-912½ Madison

Cardiology and Vascular Specialists – 7035 West North Avenue

About the Nicholas Award:

The Nicholas Award is named for Robert E. Nicholas, a pioneer commercial developer in the early 1900s in downtownOak Park.  In selecting winners, an OPDC committee considers the amount of each business’ investment, its innovative product or concept, the prestige the business brings to the community, and the “ripple effect” created by a new or expanding business.

Oak Park Development Corporation presented the Nicholas Awards for 2012 to 13 recipients at the organization’s Annual Meeting, February 6, 2013.  These annual awards are given to Oak Park property owners and/or businesses that have made significant commitments to the economic well being of the community.

Oak Park Development Corporation (OPDC) continues to partner with the Village of Oak Park (VOP) to offer grants to tenants or building owners contemplating changes to exterior facades of local commercial buildings. Grants are available for façade improvement, storefront replacement, exterior lighting, awnings and signs. Building repair and maintenance are ineligible. Projects may receive grants of up to 50% of the first $5,000 in expenses and 25% thereafter, with a cap per project. Projects already contracted or begun are ineligible, and projects must begin within 30 days of grant commitment and be completed in 2013. After the project is complete and paid for in full, the grant is processed as a reimbursement.

Information about the grant program and the two-part application—1) Application and 2) Guidelines–is available on our website: www.opdc.net.

OPDC will begin accepting completed applications on February 7, 2013.  In order to allow all applicants an equal opportunity for funds, applications will not be accepted prior to February 7.  A completed application includes all items listed as required on the grant application, including both signed 1) Application and 2) Program Guidelines. Grant funds are committed on a first-come, first-served basis.

For more information, please contact:

Michelle J. Uhler

Grant Administrator

Oak Park Development Corporation

104 N. Oak Park Ave.

Oak Park, IL 60301

708/383-3838

Oct. 29, Nov. 5, Nov. 12 – 7:00 pm

AdWords: Wringing Positive ROI from Google

Monday, October 29 – 7:00 pm

Community Meeting Room of Rush Oak Park Hospital – 610 S. Maple, Suite 2000, Oak Park

When people search Google for highly commercial keywords (meaning they want to buy), 65% of them click on the AdWords ads. And, 47% of those people don’t know they clicked on an ad. This simply means small and medium business cannot afford to ignore Google AdWords. Come learn PPC management and how to make AdWords work for you.

Presented by: Rod Holmes, Chicago Style SEO

SEO For Business Owners

Monday, November 5 – 7:00 pm
Community Meeting Room of Rush Oak Park Hospital – 610 S. Maple, Suite 2000, Oak Park

Come join us for a workshop designed to explain what SEO is and how can business owners take small steps to improve their chances the major search engines will take note of them.

Presented by: Rod Holmes, Chicago Style SEO

Branding: Differentiate Your Business

Monday, November 12 – 7:00 pm

Community Meeting Room of Rush Oak Park Hospital – 610 S. Maple, Suite 2000, Oak Park

Developing a brand strategy can be one of the most difficult steps in the marketing process. Discover how to choose the elements that will set your business apart from the crowd, integrate it into every point of communication, and ensure customers see you as the only possible solution.

Presented by: John Harris, a5

RSVP to 708-383-3838 or contact@opdc.net

To list your property on this free online database, simply submit the brief online form for buildings or sites or contact us at 708/383-3838. Interior and exterior photos and floor plans can be attached to listings in JPG, GIF and PNG formats. Prospective renters and buyers can “shop” the database by putting selected listings in their property folder and printing fliers with property info and photos.

Please don’t forget to tell us when the property is leased or sold, or removed from the market, so we can delete the listing from the active list and keep our database current.

For additional questions or information contact Michelle Uhler at m.uhler@opdc.net.

“The Illinois Small Business Development Center (SBDC) at the Duman Entrepreneurship Center provides one-on-one counseling at no charge for start-ups and pre-existing small businesses in the Chicago metropolitan area. The Center offers entrepreneurial training, business assistance, mentoring and access to capital. The Center has been helping small business owners since 2001.

Made possible through a generous gift from Louis Duman to the Centennial Campaign of the Jewish Federation for the JVS Endowment Foundation and a grant from the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, the Center partners with local banks, government agencies, business professionals, business schools, organizations and the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago.”

-www.jvschicago.org/duman/

The Replogle Award for Community Merit

Presented to Martin J. Noll

28 February 2012

As presented by Mike O’Neill, President

Oak Park Area Association of Realtors

Community Merit Recipient 1994

The Oak Park Development Corporation’s Community Merit Award, named for our founding President, Arthur S. Replogle, is a special citation that honors the long-term commitment of an individual or institution.  Past recipients have demonstrated excellence in their particular field and each has had a far-reaching influence on the economic well- being of Oak Park.  This is particularly true of tonight’s honorees.

As your program indicates, in nearly 40 years this award has been presented just 14 times.  It is not an award we present annually — so it is particularly remarkable that OPDC will present two awards this evening.

Our first honoree has an exemplary record of investing time, talent and money in the community.  Although not a native to Oak Park, he was named one of the 100 people who’ve had the greatest impact on Oak Park.

As a businessman he has officed in Oak Park since 1988, presiding over financial institutions, including Oak Park Trust, First National Bank of Chicago and The Avenue Bank.  In 1996, with a symphony of support, he orchestrated the opening of Community Bank of Oak Park River Forest – a locally owned bank dedicated to the community it serves.

Marty Noll has served on, or as President, of a long list of Boards in our community including West Suburban Hospital, Dominican University and the Oak Park Education Foundation.  Most recently Marty served as one of the co-chairs of the Community Works Campaign that concluded in 2011 with over $5 Million of new gifts for the OPRF Community Foundation.

Marty began his commercial banking career in 1968 and it has provided him with important relationships, including service on Illinois Bankers Association and American Bankers Association.  But the most important relationship to come from banking is the one he shares with Mary Lou, his beloved wife and partner.  Together they have raised two accomplished daughters, Cassie and Rosemary.  And now, they enjoy time with grandson Liam, and twin granddaughters Charlotte and Annabel.

Marty has been an integral part of the Oak Park Development Corporation for 25 years, serving as its Chairman for more than 20.   As a member of the OPDC Board, I have time and time again seen the value of his leadership.  His dedication is only exceeded by his enthusiasm.

It is a great pleasure for me to present the Arthur S. Replogle award for Community Merit to Martin J. Noll.

The Replogle Award for Community Merit

Presented to Willis & Shirley Johnson

and The Lake Theater

28 February 2012

As presented by Mike O’Neill, President

Oak Park Area Association of Realtors

Community Merit Recipient 1994

Oak Park Development Corporation’s Community Merit Award, named for our founding President, Arthur S. Replogle, is a special citation that honors the long-term commitment of an individual or institution.  Past recipients have demonstrated excellence in their particular field and each has had a far-reaching influence on the economic well- being of Oak Park.  This is particularly true of tonight’s honorees.

As your program indicates, in nearly 40 years this award has been presented just 14 times.  It is not an award we present annually — so it is particularly remarkable that OPDC will present two awards this evening.

You will find few bigger fans of Art Replogle than tonight’s honorees.

The recipients of the second Replogle Award presented this evening have equally distinguished themselves; both within their industry and as an economic engine for Oak Park.

Thirty years ago he joined the Oak Park community when he leased a business in need of a more than a little TLC. The economic impact of that decision for Oak Park is hard to measure BUT it’s a lot more than popcorn sales (which are substantial).  As when they invested, so did others.

In 1984 Willis Johnson bought the Lake Theatre.  And so began the relationship between the Lake Theatre, Oak Park and Willis and Shirley Johnson.  First one screen, then three, then four in 1989 — and then, in 1996, there were seven.

Through the years they didn’t just run an arts-related business, they created art by painstakingly replicating the Art Deco detail of the 1936 Thomas Lamb creation.  All the while meeting the market on modern conveniences or staying up to date on the movie industries’ necessities.

Willis, who believes ardently in the importance of downtowns, was the first President of the Lake Harlem Corporation in 1988.  Now called Downtown Oak Park, he served again on its Board and as President.  Willis also brought the first Starbucks, among other regional and national tenants, to Oak Park.

The importance of the Lake Theatre is not just the iconic sign or the ability to see a movie on the big screen in a graceful building.  It’s more than the “first” job opportunities for kids and adults of differing capabilities.  There is a long list of businesses that chose an Oak Park location because the Lake Theater has been there to drive traffic past their doors day and night.

The Lake Theater and the Johnsons are true stars in our downtown and community.

Although I cannot present an Oscar as was suggested in Monday’s Tribune, I am very pleased to present the Replogle Award to Willis and Shirley Johnson of Classic Cinemas and the Lake Theatre.