Illinois
‘The kids chose a great playground’: Geometric climbing structure coming to Rolling Meadows park
Quito, a 15-foot high play structure manufactured by Pennsylvania-based Playworld, will be installed in July at Countryside Park in Rolling Meadows.
Courtesy of Rolling Meadows Park District
A Rolling Meadows park is set to become the first in Illinois to feature a geometric net climber on its playground, officials said.
The unique play structure is called Quito, a 15-foot high playhouse that allows kids “to climb, balance, and teeter their way in, over, and through,” according to Playworld, the commercial playground equipment manufacturer.
The structure will be installed in July, along with friendship swings for families and tire swing-style equipment for multiple users, at Countryside Park, 4360 Euclid Ave.
Children selected the new playground out of three proposals brought by vendors to a community input meeting in February.
“The kids chose a great playground,” said Superintendent of Parks Brian McKenna. “Out of the choices, this would have been the one I would have picked.”
The park district is paying Westchester-based sales agency Imagine Nation $165,000 for the new playground equipment, but officials expect to save about $65,000 by doing the installation in-house, McKenna said.
Park districts commonly donate old playgrounds around the world, but officials said the old Countryside Park playground, at 20 years old, is too outdated to be reused or donated.
Quito is named after the capital city of Ecuador, not only the highest capital in the world, but the one closest to the equator. The webbed play structure has bells at the top and ground levels, triangle windows and a triangle roof.
McKenna said the structure promotes a creative play experience as children attempt various ways to climb through the web.
“Children can climb on it differently each time they use it,” McKenna said. “With the slide, you go up the steps, sit on the slide and slide down. That experience isn’t going to change much. When you have a large climbing structure like Quito, children are offered a range of options for navigating and traversing the framework from various angles.”
The first Quito climber was installed in 2022 at a park in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, where Playworld is headquartered.
People ran out of their homes into the cold overnight Tuesday into Wednesday after a fire broke out in an apartment building in the western Chicago suburb of Woodridge.
The fire broke out in a multi-family building at 7900 Janes Ave., near Forest Drive.
Smoke was seen billowing as firefighters stood on the roof.
One firefighter suffered minor injuries fighting the blaze, according to the Lisle-Woodridge Fire Protection District.
Fire officials said several units have major damage, and the families who reside in them have been displaced.
The American Red Cross was assisting the displaced residents Wednesday morning.
STICKNEY, Ill. (WLS) — The future of racing at Hawthorne Race Course in south suburban Stickney is in jeopardy.
The Illinois Racing Board suspended its harnesses racing license. In a letter sent Monday to Hawthorne’s president and general manager, the state agency said the track failed to prove its financial integrity.
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Jeff Davis, president of the Illinois Harness Horsemen’s Association, says the past two months have been rough.
“We don’t really know details, but what we do know is people have not been paid since before Christmas,” Davis said.
Davis says checks started bouncing, which led to races being canceled over the past few weekends.
SEE ALSO | Hawthorne Race Course not offering window betting for Kentucky Derby amid Churchill Downs dispute
“Six weeks ago, they couldn’t cash a $400 check to a trainer,” Davis said.
The remaining three races left this season are unlikely unless Hawthorne owners can prove financial stability. Hawthorne officials have not returned messages seeking comment on the issue. But it is just one of many issues facing the track. There has been an effort for nearly six years to get an approved casino up and running, but the owners cannot find a partner.
“Horse racing in every state now only survives because it has additional forms of revenue from casinos, slot machines,” said Paulick Report Publisher Ray Paulick.
Hawthorne is the only racetrack in the Chicago area and has the right to veto another one built within 35 miles. But those in the industry hope a bill before the state legislature will repeal that.
“The harness horsemen are asking the state legislature to take away that exclusivity, because Hawthorne isn’t in a position to build another track if they can’t keep the one they have going,” Paulick said.
READ MORE | Hawthorne Race Course, Illinois’ oldest horse racing track poised to be first with casino
In the meantime, Davis says he hopes the season can be salvaged.
“It really is sad. It’s a 100-year-old business. They’ve been trying, but I don’t know if they have the ability to actually get done what they’ve been awarded to do,” Davis said.
The Illinois Racing Board will hold its monthly meeting on Wednesday, and Hawthorne’s owner is scheduled to give an update on the track.
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Police pursued suspects wanted in an armed 7-Eleven robbery in Cicero, Illinois, on Tuesday morning.
According to police, officers responded to a call for an armed robbery at 35th Street and Austin Boulevard around 3:30 a.m.
Staff told police several armed and masked individuals came into the store, possibly from two vehicles, and fled with cash.
Police identified and pursued one of the vehicles onto 290, but the chase was terminated on 290.
No injuries were reported.
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