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August 20, 2024

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Greetings Skokie73.5! 

💉 August is Immunization Awareness Month! Skokie Health and Human Services offers vaccinations for children and adults.

🚊 Elementary and high school students can get free rides on Pace, CTA and Metra on August 26.

🗳️ There’s still time to nominate your favorite local business for Skokie’s 2024 Business of the Year award.

We hope to see you at Skokie’s Backlot Bash this weekend! The free end-of-summer street festival will take place Friday, August 23 through Sunday, August 25 at Oakton Street and Floral Avenue in Downtown Skokie. View a schedule of activities and performances. 

See you there: Look for the Village of Skokie tent in front of Village Hall for a fun photo activity and giveaways on Saturday afternoon.

Traffic reminder: Starting on Thursday, August 22, street closures will occur on Oakton Street and will be in effect through Sunday, August 25. 

Farmers’ Market: The Skokie Farmers’ Market will temporarily relocate to Skokie Public Library’s west parking lot on Sunday, August 25, and will be open from 7:30 a.m. to noon. 

Village Hall: Skokie Village Hall will be open on Friday, August 23 from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. If visiting, please allow extra time due to parking and traffic impacts. The Village Hall food scrap drop-off site will be unavailable beginning Wednesday, August 21 and will reopen Tuesday August 27.

Plans for the transformative two-phase redevelopment of Westfield Old Orchard are now going through the Village’s formal review process.

Phase 1: Plans call for first demolishing the former Bloomingdale’s space at the northwest portion of the mall and constructing a five-story and a seven-story mixed-use building with more than 400 residential apartments, 16,000 square feet of restaurant and retail space, and a new public common area and event space.

Driving to Downtown Skokie? The Village has provided a new free and convenient parking option to make it even easier to visit your favorite local restaurants, services and retail.

Free 3-hour public parking is now available on the northeast corner of Babb Avenue and Louise Street, located just south of Alexander’s Breakfast & Lunch. The lot has space for approximately 50 vehicles. View a map of downtown parking options (PDF).

Skokie Village Board elections will next occur in 2025 and will include the offices of Mayor, Clerk, At-Large Trustee and District Trustee. This will be the Village’s first election since voters approved three citizen-initiated electoral referendums that changed Skokie Village Board elections.

Map: The Village has provided a searchable map to help you find your newly established Board of Trustees election district. 

Resources: Additional resources are available on the Village Clerk’s Office’s 2025 Skokie Election Resources web page.

The Village has received a $347,000 grant from the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago (MWRDGC) to support the construction of three new green alleys in Skokie.

Why it’s important: Collectively, the alleys will provide nearly 158,000 gallons of stormwater storage every time it rains, reducing the burden on our sewer system.

Skokie Public Works has transitioned to fully electric landscaping equipment.

Looking to make your landscaping services more sustainable? Start here! The Village’s Sustainability team has compiled a list of environmentally friendly landscaping practices (PDF) in English and Spanish – share it with your landscaper and start the conversation.

Spread the word: Share your landscaping service provider so that the Village can provide them with sustainability resources, events and information.

The Village’s Health and Human Services Department continues to offer free Mpox vaccinations. Call for an appointment: 847-933-8252.

Learn more: The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) provides information on Mpox symptoms, testing, treatment and more.

Four new Skokie Police officers were sworn in at Monday evening’s Village Board meeting!

Welcome: (Pictured, from left) Adrian Almeida, David Huang, Trevor Johnson, and Alexander Alvey.

Unless otherwise indicated, all meetings are held at Skokie Village Hall, 5127 Oakton Street.