In Blue Island, seeing the recession's toll

"If south suburban Blue Island long ago was a geological mix of boulders and other debris dropped by a glacier, the Illinois Department of Human Services office there now is a moraine of human travail deposited by the recession," writes Jim Warren in a column on the Chicago News Cooperative.

"A parking lot the size of a football field was jammed Tuesday, and caseworkers laughed about my three-minute search for a space. This was a slow day, they informed me; show up on the first of the month, when various benefits are due, and you would think the Rolling Stones were in town. Lines form outside shortly after sunrise.

"By 10 a.m., about 150 people of diverse economic strata were applying for, or seeking urgent counsel about, welfare, food stamps, and Medicaid and disability payments, among other matters. They were in financial, social, mental and physical distress, and this office — whose budget-stressed staff deals with 81,000 cases in a suburban area up to the Will County border — is a lifeline."

With all the talk of a recovering stock market and the beginnings of an upswing in the economy, this is what the Great Recession still looks like in the Southland.

New bevy of benches in Tinley

We hear the weather's going to warm up this week, so we'd like to recommend a stroll down Oak Park Avenue in Tinley Park. You'll get some exercise, and you can exercise your appreciation of fanciful works of art.

Tinley Park's "Benches on the Avenue" program is back with a new collection of artfully crafted benches on both sides of Oak Park Avenue (between 172nd and 176th streets). The theme that local artists worked from is "When I Grow Up." The 21 benches are scheduled to be on display through October 1.

Photos by Chuck Ingwersen/
Southland Savvy

New business review: Half Price Books in Orland Park

By Chuck Ingwersen
Southland Savvy
My wife and I love book stores, so we spent part of our Saturday checking out Half Price Books, which opened May 13 in Orland Park (as announced by Savvy's own Bob Bong). The Half Price Books moniker is a bit misleading, since the store sells not only books but CDs, vinyl albums, DVDs, video games, board games and more. Plus, there are many items than go for considerably less than half the original retail price. There's a selection of paperback books for a buck, and a good-size clearance section of both fiction and non-fiction books for $2 and $3.

We brought about a dozen of our own old books to trade in, and got a receipt for $24 that could be used as store credit or could be cashed out. I had hoped to get a better price for our books, but wasn't too surprised by the offer. To be sure, a few of the books we brought in were real clunkers. We bought six books and a DVD ("The Graduate") that totaled $22.54, so we left with cool new merch and a bonus $1.46 to boot.

We were surprised the store is so big and the selection so wide ranging. Can't help but wonder how many customers of the nearby Borders and Barnes and Noble will make Half Price Books their first stop. I plan to continue shopping all three, because each offers its own unique bargains, and each has inventory that can't be found in the competitors.

Half Price Books is located at 31 Orland Square Drive (just off LaGrange Rd.). Store hours after this weekend will be 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday.
Click Half Price Books, Orland Park for the website.