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The City is in close contact with ComEd as they work to respond to numerous reports of power outages and downed power lines due to the high winds on Friday, March 13. When storms impact a large portion of the ComEd service area, ComEd triages each report for prioritization. ComEd crews will continue working until all areas are addressed and power restored. ComEd encourages residents to report outages via comed.com/outage, the ComEd app, or by dialing 1.800.EDISON1.

As a reminder, please do not approach downed power lines. There are approximately 2000 trees on wires throughout ComEd's north region territory. If a tree or tree limb is resting on a power line, please contact ComEd immediately by calling 1.800.334.7661. Do not touch, move, or drive over any downed power lines.

The National Weather Service is forecasting severe weather this weekend, with warm temperatures and the potential for severe thunderstorms on Sunday expected to transition to unseasonably cold temperatures and wintry weather overnight on Sunday into Monday, March 15 - 16. City Public Works crews are prepared for snow and ice control.

On-street parking is prohibited during the hours of 2:00 AM to 6:00 AM through March 31. To permit City plows to most effectively clear City streets, it is recommended that residents avoid parking on the street during any significant snowfall until after the City has completed its snow removal operations. Crews appreciate your cooperation.

Please help support our neighbors in Kankakee as they recover from the devastating tornado that impacted their region. They are in need of nonperishable supplies, including:

• Hygiene products (deodorant, toothbrushes, toothpaste, soap)
• Gatorade/Powerade juices
• Dry cereal
• Non-perishable food items
• Fruit snacks
• Storage bins/totes
• Grocery bags

Please deliver donations to City Hall, 1707 St. Johns Ave., by Thursday, March 19, 2026.

The City of Highland Park, North Shore School District 112 and other organizations are partnering on this collection drive. Thank you for your support of the Kankakee community!

At the Monday, March 9 joint special meeting of the Highland Park Committee of the Whole and the Historic Preservation Commission, Councilmembers and Commissioners discussed considerations pertaining to the permanent place of remembrance’s primary location at the Rose Garden, located adjacent to City Hall and the current site of the temporary memorial. The Rose Garden was originally conceptualized as three distinctive natural spaces extending from the lawn at St. Johns Ave., through the temporary memorial to the ravine. The spaces commemorate the contributions of three gardeners important to Highland Park. While this plan of three connected but distinct natural spaces was never fully realized, the property was designated a local historic landmark in 1992. 

Given this local historic designation, City Councilmembers and Commissioners agreed that the design process for the primary location at the Rose Garden will ultimately require a Certificate of Appropriateness from the Historic Preservation Commission. 

The working group will continue to lead planning efforts, working closely with SWA Group, the landscape architecture firm, and All Together, the community engagement consultants, to develop design concepts that will be presented to the City Council for review. There will be multiple opportunities for community members to see and provide feedback on the designs, including through an upcoming online survey and in-person workshops.

Once a design proposal has been prepared and advanced by the Council, it will be referred to the Historic Preservation Commission for Certificate of Appropriateness consideration. The Commission will review the design to confirm that it meets certain standards related to characteristics such as height, scale and proportion, alterations to existing historic features, and protection of natural resources, among other considerations. At Monday’s meeting, Councilmembers and Commissioners encouraged the team at SWA to approach the project creatively.

The City’s priority is to memorialize those whose lives were taken with a space that honors their legacies and reflects their families’ input, and to honor those who were directly impacted, especially those who were injured. For more information about the planning process, please visit hpremembrance.org.

The City of Highland Park is committed to providing trauma-informed community resources to all who were impacted by the Highland Park shooting. For support, please reach out to the City's Resiliency Division; visit resilienthpil.org to learn more or reach out to Jazmin Alejandro, LSW, Resiliency Specialist, at jalejandro@cityhpil.com or 847.875.1043.

Now through April 1, the Historic Preservation Commission is accepting nominations for the 2026 Highland Park Historic Preservation Awards! These awards recognize projects that preserve, conserve, and protect structures and landscapes of historic significance in Highland Park. Highland Park has a rich historic fabric and the Historic Preservation Commission is appreciative of the exquisite projects that continue to take place.

The 2026 Historic Preservation Awards will recognize projects in five categories: Restoration, Rehabilitation, Adaptive Reuse, Landscape Restoration and New Construction.

Nomination forms are available online on the City’s HPC Preservation Awards homepage. Nominations are due April 1, 2026.

For more information, please contact Maddy Markle, City Planner, at mmarkle@cityhpil.com.

The City of Highland Park is excited to participate alongside the United States Conference of Mayors and the National Endowment for the Arts as part of the America250 City Art Poster Project.

Residents of all ages and artistic ability are invited to create a poster that represents what America250 means to you and to the Highland Park community. The winning submission will be displayed in Long Beach, CA from June 4 - 7 during the semiannual United States Conference of Mayors meeting.

The guidelines are simple! Using your imagination, creativity, and any medium you choose, create a 24” x 32” work of art representing America250 and the City of Highland Park. Be sure to include “America250” and “Highland Park” somewhere in your poster. Once your masterpiece is complete, use the link below to upload a PDF of 300 DPI at 100% scale in CMYK color mode by March 15. Posters must be created without the use of generative AI.

Calling all photographers! The Capture the Heart of Highland Park photography contest is now accepting submissions in four categories: Arts & Architecture, Daily Life, Environmental, and, new this year, Food Photography. The contest is open to all resident photographers, professional or hobbyist, in Highland Park. For the first time, student photographers are invited to submit their work to the elementary/middle school and high school categories! Entries will be accepted through March 15.

Photographers are encouraged to review additional information on the City's website at cityhpil.com/photocontest, including more details about the Food Photography category, the student contests, the public voting portal, and the new judging rubric that the Cultural Arts Advisory Group will use to evaluate submissions this year.

Winners of the photography contest will be honored at the Highland Park Awards Ceremony in April.

As spring approaches, Public Works is undertaking seasonal cleanup and maintenance throughout the City. The City sweeps approximately 3,418 curb miles of roadways annually as part of seasonal infrastructure maintenance from March through November.

Street sweeping occurs weekly throughout the season in Downtown Highland Park and the Ravinia District. In these areas of high pedestrian traffic, sidewalk sweeping will also occur weekly on Friday mornings. All other curbed streets are swept once monthly; non-curbed streets are swept twice per year.

The City specifies the use of regenerative air street sweepers. Regenerative air systems are more environmentally friendly than vacuum or mechanical broom sweepers and are capable of picking up and capturing smaller micron particles.  

As spring approaches, additional seasonal maintenance work on public infrastructure will resume; information will be provided via eNews. To learn more, visit cityhpil.com/publicworks.

As part of a pilot project, Pace is improving and expanding service on Route 213. Route 213 operates mainly along Green Bay Road between the CTA Howard Station in Chicago and the Metra UP-North Line Highland Park Station. On weekdays and Saturdays, the hours of service will be improved, and trips will be added to extend the availability of more frequent service throughout the day. The added service will enhance connections with numerous Pace and CTA bus routes, the Metra UP-North Line at multiple stations and with the CTA Red, Purple, and Yellow Lines.

A summary of the changes follows:

Weekdays:

• New trips added to extend the availability of more frequent service and improve the hours of service.
• Service will be available from 4:45AM to 12:11AM.
• Buses will run approximately every 15-60 minutes.
• Most trip times changed.

Saturday:

• New trips added to extend the availability of more frequent service and improve the hours of service.
• Service will be available from 5:05AM to 10:37PM.
• Buses will run approximately every 30-60 minutes.
• Most trip times changed.

During the St. Patrick’s Day holiday, the City of Highland Park urges drivers to drive responsibly and fasten their seat belts. There are a number of advantages to wearing a seatbelt and ensuring that all passengers, especially children, are properly buckled up: 

• Seatbelts provide safety to everyone in the vehicle.
• Seatbelts are designed to work with your airbags.
• Avoid fines for not wearing your seatbelt.
• Seatbelts reduce the risks of serious injuries and death.

As a reminder, in Illinois, children are required to be in a car seat or booster seat until at least age 8 and all children younger than 13 should ride in the back seat. In addition, adult rear passengers are required to wear seatbelts in Illinois. 

The Police Department is collaborating with the Illinois Department of Transportation and law enforcement throughout the state to encourage occupant protection. From March 13 through March 23, 2026, motorists in Highland Park will see an increase in patrols and traffic stops, along with additional messaging on the dangers of not wearing a seat belt. 

The Illinois Click It or Ticket campaign is administered by IDOT with federal highway safety funds managed by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.