Attempted Abduction in Bolingbrook

The Daily Herald reports an attempted abduction of a 15-year-old in Bolingbrook:

http://www.dailyherald.com/story.asp?id=331717

Bolingbrook Has a New Resident!

Beth pushed out Bolingbrook’s newest resident on Monday, April 23rd.   Austin arrived into the world weighing a whopping 11 pounds and 12 ounces!

Get Your Money Ready!

Bolingbrook now has a new “downtown” that’s located on the far east side of town. A new outdoor mall is set to open on April 29th and will include Macys, Bass Pro Shops, Houlihan’s, Coldwater Creek and hundreds more.

You can read more here: Chicago Tribune Story.

Traffic Making You Crazy??

I don’t know about you, but I’ve lived in this town for 18 years and I’ve watched the traffic go from almost nothing to crazy in the passing years!  I live in a newer subdivision, Lakewood Ridge, which is off of Orchard and Boughton.  It’s a nice subdivision with close to 500 homes in it.  We have a nice new park that is smack in the middle of the subdivision. So one half of the subdivision has to cross Orchard Street to get to the park, which is proving to be a “life threatening” task.  There are no stop signs on Orchard from Boughton to Briarcliff and with the way some cars drive,  you would think that stretch of road was the Indy 500 straightaway!!  Several of us residents have complained to the police and to the village that we wanted a stop sign erected near the park so that there would be a stop in the flow of traffic.  By stopping the traffic,  kids and everyone else would have a safe place to cross the street. 

 As a result of our complaints, we had meetings with the village officials and they initially felt that a stop sign was not necessary based on their evaluation of the situation.  The police did a traffic study and discovered that the VAST majority of people speed down that road all day long. 

So far, we haven’t gotten the village to put in a stop sign but they have agreed to put in a new kind of crosswalk, something that the mayor, Roger Claar, first saw on a visit to California a while ago.  It’s called an “illuminated crosswalk” and it’s pretty cool.   There will be the painted crosswalk on the street but there will also be lights that are imbedded into the road that will flash to warn motorists when someone is trying to cross the street.  The lights will be activated by a person pushing a button at the crosswalk sign. Our subdivision is going to be the first in the village to try out this new crosswalk system.  I am concerned though that drivers still won’t stop even if lights are flashing so only time will tell if it’s going to be successful.  We are hoping to add a sign to the crosswalk that states, “stop for pedestrian’s in crosswalk”. 

That’s our crazy traffic story, but I bet a lot of you out there have your own stories to tell as well.  Let us know what you think about the traffic situation and post a comment!  Thanks.

Beth

A Sunset in Bolingbrook?

When Beth and I first uploaded our picture of a sunset, Beth remarked that no one was going to believe that it was taken in Bolingbrook.

But yessiree, the sunset picture was taken in the backyard of my home.  The picture was shown on NBC 5 during one of the weather sessions.

Welcome to the Bolingbrook Blog!

Hello!  We’re Beth and Karen– long time Bolingbrook residents and best friends.  Between the two of us, we’ve lived in Bolingbrook for (gulp) 34 years.  Beth has lived in Bolingbrook for 18 years, Karen for 16 years.  Beth has moved a total of four times, Karen has moved three times.

 This blog will explore every aspect of Bolingbrook, from the residents, business owners, village workers, events in town and more. 

In all those years, we’ve watched our town grow from a small bedroom community to a large, thriving town.   We remember the days of having to drive quite a distance for shopping or a good steak.  We were surrounded by cornfields and empty roads. 

Today, it can take a good twenty minutes to drive from one end of town to the other.

But we’re not complaining!  We’ve enjoyed all the new stores and the many new neighbors we’ve met through the growing  years.

 Join us for the journey…