The Rundown: Palos Heights Approves Two New Businesses

Harlem Happenings: Two new businesses will soon be opening their doors along Harlem Avenue after receiving final approval from the City Council.

Pack Leader Academy, which will offer dog training and specialty pet supplies, will move into 12332 S. Harlem Ave.

Fine Arts Stageworks, currently located at 128th Street and Harlem Avenue, will move to a new location at 12228 S. Harlem Ave. The arts center offers music, dance and theater lessons. In the new location musical instruments and dance equipment will also be available for purchase.

At the last City Council meeting on May 3, Fine Arts Stageworks owner Brooke Kosowski expressed her desire to bring the arts to the city's central business district.

"Fine Arts Stageworks also promotes community involvement to the young families looking for a culturally rich community to raise their children in," Kosowski said.

Cal-Sag Trail Update: The Cal-Sag Trail project is moving along. The next phase of the massive project involves input from local residents about signage needs and ways in which the trail can have the most impact on the community.

Charles Crump, a planner working on the trail, asked the Council to recommended residents for a steering committee that would offer input on the ways the trail can be most beneficial to Palos Heights.

"Our goal is to keep people on the trail, and get people off the trail and into the community to spend money," Crump said.

The Cal-Sag Trail will be a multi-use path that spans the shores of some 30 miles of waterway stretching from Lemont in the west, to Burnham in the east.

The trail is expected to open in 2014. With 80 percent of the funding coming from federal grants and 20 percent from local communities, private fundraising will be an important part of the process, Crump said.

Mayor Bob Straz encouraged residents interested in serving on the steering committee to contact City Hall.

Odds and Ends: Tuesday was Ald. Jeff Key's first Council meeting 10-year incumbent Jean Gnap last month.

The city's road program project was awarded to Crowley-Sheppard Asphalt who came in with a low bid of $268,387.23.

Starting Aug. 1 garbage pickup on all public roads in Palos Heights will take place on Thursdays.