Cook Co. considers renaming forest preserve to honor Hansen
Cook County Board members next week will consider renaming a forest preserve in honor of former Commissioner Carl R. Hansen.
Timothy Schneider, the 15th District Commissioner, said that during Wednesday's Cook County Forest Preserve District meeting he'll ask members to vote on renaming the Shoe Factory Road Woods the Carl R. Hansen Woods. That area lies southwest of the corner of Shoe Factory Road and Rte. 59 near Elgin.
"I thought it was an appropriate way to commend Carl," Schneider said.
Hansen, a longtime Mount Prospect resident, died on Feb. 2. He was 83.
Schneider incidentally defeated Hansen in the Republican Primary in 2006, ending Hansen's 32-year tenure as the Northwest suburban representative on the Chicago- and Democratic-dominated county board.
Hansen battled for years in the 1980s to block the creation of a landfill at the Poplar Creek Forest Preserve, eventually drafting and passing a resolution banning sanitary landfills in the preserves. The victory became one of Hansen's proudest memories, saving 600 acres of forest preserve land.
"Carl was a major factor in opposing landfills in the forest preserve district; it was one of the things he claimed he was most proud of in his service to the people of Cook County," Schneider said.
In addition, Cook County Board President Todd Stroger is listed as the chief sponsor of a proclamation scheduled to be read during Tuesday's county board meeting honoring Hansen. The resolution mentions Hansen kept every board document going back to 1970 "in perfect order, complete with his notes and backup material." The archive was donated to the county.
"Be it resolved, that the president and the Cook County Board of Commissioners, on behalf of the more than five million residents of Cook County, do hereby honor the memory of Carl R. Hansen, celebrate his extraordinary life, and herby express the gratitude of the residents of Cook County for his many years of distinguished service," the proclamation reads.