The Eye

The Eye

The Business Ledger is happy to announce its first newborn after 16 years without any new additions (but plenty of editions). Senior advertising consultant Jon Twitty and wife Moira welcomed Grace Elizabeth into the world at 12:08 p.m. on July 8. Grace weighed 6 lbs., 10 oz. and is 21 inches long. Congratulations, Jon and Moira!

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Lisle Mayor Joe Broda and the Lisle Village Board recently hosted a reopening and ribbon-cutting ceremony at The Garden Walk Fountain, located at 4744 Main Street, for the Downtown Lisle Streetscape Improvement Project. Residents, business owners and local and regional elected officials attended the event to celebrate and learn more about the downtown’s numerous beautification and infrastructure improvements and the economic development benefits to the Village.

“After years of planning, and a year of construction, the completion of the streetscape has transformed downtown Lisle into a destination which will foster business growth and serve as a community gathering place,” said Broda.

The downtown’s new prairie-style streetscape complements the village’s existing Garden Walk and reflects Lisle’s brand as “The Arboretum Village.” The improvements include new streets, prairie-style lighting, expanded sidewalks with decorative pavers, a nature-themed fountain, additional seating and extensive landscaping.

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Crain’s Chicago Business, suffering from falling ad revenue like so many newspapers and magazines, is taking a sabbatical of sorts and will skip five weeks of publishing. Instead, the Chicago media company is publishing two double issues this month, two in August and one in November, around Thanksgiving.

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The West DuPage Special Recreation Association (WDSRA) has changed the name of its Golf Classic this year to commemorate the memory of one of the truly “good guys” in the philanthropy community...Charlie Long. Organizers called Charlie a “long-time friend to WDSRA, a shining example of someone who understands the meaning of community, philanthropy, support, and dedication. We are proud to have been a part of Charlie’s family and he will always be a part of the WDSRA family. We hope that his legacy of community and philanthropy will continue to inspire others for years to come.”

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Our best wishes to Charley Henderson, former PR director at Elmhurst College. Charley was always gracious and accommodating and helped Elmhurst partner with The Business Ledger during the three years that the college hosted “Tomorrow’s Leaders Today,” the predecessor of our Entrepreneurial Excellence Awards program.

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Congratulations and a tip of the hat to Dave McGowan, executive director of the DuPage Community Foundation, who was recently honored with the “Distinguished Service Award” by the West Suburban Philanthropic Foundation. It’s particularly a tough year for non-profit organizations. Dave’s success as a professional fund raiser comes with a lot of hard work. We also know from personal experience that he gives his time freely in helping prospective job seekers find work in the philanthropic industry.

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We see many organizations pitching in this year to do what they can to help people find jobs. The Elgin Chamber of Commerce regularly sends out e-mails to its members with a list of job openings. Its most recent communiqué listed 69 specific job openings from financial advisor to Spanish teacher. The chamber also includes links to local job sites of the area’s larger employers.

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Overheard talking on the golf course recently were two recently retired local banking executives who have stayed active with volunteer boards. “We work just as hard now but we don’t get paid for it,” they said. We also noted the aging golf items such as tees, balls, umbrellas that with logos from the Harris, Northern Trust, Oak Brook Bank, just to name a few. “Oh do I miss the good old days of community banking,” one of them commented. “Nobody gives that stuff away anymore.”

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You can’t win for losing! Dan Haley is the founder, publisher and editor of the Wednesday Journal Newspaper Group headquartered in Oak Park. We have always known Dan to be a good journalist with a wonderful sense of humor. Dan’s newspaper recently published a letter to the editor in which the reader complimented Dan on a recent column while twice referring to him as a “shameless hack.” With friends like that, who needs enemies?

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We were recently given a copy of Elmhurst College’s Strategic Plan 2009-2014. The college went through an eight-month process which involved students, faculty, staff, administrators, alumni, trustees and members of the community. Its goal was to create a direction for the College’s development over the next five years and beyond. It’s a plan that serves as a great model for all businesses and institutions. You can read the entire product on the college’s web site at http://public.elmhurst.edu/leadership/strategicplan.

Posted on Wednesday, August 05, 2009 (Archive on Wednesday, August 12, 2009)
Posted by jstoltz Contributed by jstoltz

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