Top 10: A look back at some of Northbrook's most newsworthy moments in 2021
It was another eventful year in Northbrook. Here are some of the top stories over the past year.
Rough and tumble
For those unsatiated by the national election there were barbs aplenty in the Northbrook village board race between the challenging United4Northbrook slate and the Northbrook Caucus. In the April 6 consolidated election the Caucus' Kathryn Ciesla won the presidency with 63% of the vote, trustees Muriel Collison and Dan Pepoon earned reelection and the Caucus' Joy Ebhomielen became the first Black trustee in village history.
A Democrat-leaning trend also delivered Shiva Mohsenzadeh's victory for Northfield Township supervisor, surprising in that it ended Jill Brickman's five-term run. Mohsenzadeh won by 165 votes, or 1.18% of the votes cast.
Heir apparent
A two-time Gatorade Illinois boys basketball player of the year who led Glenbrook North to the Illinois High School Association Class AA title in 2005, on June 4 Jon Scheyer was introduced as Duke University's 20th head men's basketball coach starting with the 2022-23 season. Blue Devils associate head coach since 2018, Scheyer will succeed his own college coach, Chicago native Mike Krzyzewski, following his retirement after this season.
Dylan Buckner's legacy
Not just an all-conference, record-setting quarterback for the Glenbrook North Spartans football team, he typified accomplishment on and off the field. Thus his death by suicide on Jan. 7 crystallized the toll the COVID-19 pandemic took on children's mental health, shook a community and kick-started local efforts to address the problem.
Allstate sale
Who will lay claim to the 232 acres Allstate agreed in November to sell to Nevada-based Dermody Properties for $232 million remains to be seen, but since 1967 it's had a Northbrook address, 3075 Sanders Road. Spurred by Allstate employees' post-COVID predilection to work remotely, the deal, planned to close in 2022, likely paves the way for a logistics facility.
Happy days (briefly) here again
Between the second COVID wave and its variants' arrival life seemed almost normal. Back into that in-person space came Northbrook Days in August, and Shermerfest in September. The decades of the Northbrook Civic Foundation holding court at Village Green may be gone but Northbrook Days' 97th rendition in a parking lot near the Metra station raised $95,000 for college scholarships and community grants. The Northbrook Historical Society's 43rd Shermerfest and its popular Cow Pie Moo-lette were back live.
CAP
Those village board "Green Moments" weren't just talk. A plan of 190 "action items" devised by all walks of Northbrook life to reduce greenhouse gases 35% by 2030 and 80% by 2040 insured that future boards, and developers, would have to observe a Climate Action Plan after it was adopted on Aug. 10.
Champs
On June 19, Glenbrook North's boys volleyball team beat Lake Park to capture its second state title in program history. Coach Chris Cooper's squad, featuring all-state setter Louie Batang, became the sixth undefeated state champion since the boys volleyball state series began in 1991-92.
Headed by Class 3A medalist Jason Gordon, who tied a state record with his two-day total of 137, coach Justin Gerbich's Spartans boys golf team outlasted New Trier and ace James Pryor 575-578 to win the program's first title on Oct. 8-9 at The Den at Fox Creek Golf Course in Bloomington. As a team the Spartans' Gordon, Issa Kuwahara, Carl Gustin, Troy Nason, Robby O'Regan and Eli Myers set a state scoring record.
The Emerald
The 127-acre former site of the Green Acres Country Club will be the place to be for a fortunate developer. Since 2019, the village board has twice dashed proposals over things like density and lack of affordable housing. On Oct 26, however, Erickson Senior Living's proposal for up to 1,000 independent living units plus 200 health care units in 10 interconnected 3- to 5-story buildings made headway. On to the Plan Commission, Village President Kathryn Ciesla suggested.
Pizza rolls
The Lou Malnati's restaurant, 1326 Shermer Road, will stay, but in July Malnati's announced in spring 2022 it would move its corporate headquarters to 900-950 Busch Parkway, Buffalo Grove. Based at 3685 Woodhead Drive, Northbrook, since 2003, Lou Malnati's Pizzeria needed more space. The 15,000-square-foot Buffalo Grove location, with eight docks and 16-foot ceilings, will provide it.
Transition game
Ciesla succeeding retired Village President Sandy Frum was the tip of the iceberg. In to replace retiring icons with decades of combined experience were Police Chief Christopher Kennedy (Roger Adkins), communications specialist Kylie Cerk (Cheryl Fayne-dePersio), Development & Planning Director Michaela Kohlstedt (Tom Poupard), Chief Financial Officer Iwona Petryszak (Jeff Rowitz) and Village Manager Cara Pavlicek (Rich Nahrstadt).
"This year will be a year of transition, but Northbrook is well-prepared for it and will proceed without a beat," Frum said at her final State of the Village address on Jan. 27.