June Grayson

Grayson Enterprises Ltd.

POB 167

St. Charles, Il. 60174

(312)377-7073

First NA Serial Rights

2,000 words

for: Successful American Entrepreneur

 

BILL LAVICKA - RESTORATIONS

When Bill Lavicka wants something done well, he does it himself. A structural engineer, preservationist, and Marine Corps veteran, Lavicka owns Historic Boulevard Services and restores older, income-producing properties in the Tri-Taylor Historic District on Chicago's Near West Side. 

When Lavicka and his wife, Alys, formed their construction company in 1975, the concept of historic preservation had just begun. 

Spurred by the investment tax credit for rehabilitating income-producing historic buildings, a new industry began. 

"There are plenty of good old buildings in Chicago," Lavicka says. "The problem is to get to them before someone tries to tear them down." 

"What you see now is a complete resurgence of the central cities from the inside out," Lavicka continues. " People who want to live close to downtown and who appreciate the commerce and business and culture of a city and don't want to commute an hour and a half every day, are leading the way." 

Athough he earns his living restoring homes and churches, Lavicka also restores hearts - the hearts of thsoe 200,000 Vietnam veterans in Chicago. 

Suddenly, it all seems so long ago and far away: the years of rage when American soldiers fought in Vietnam. But Bill Lavicka remembers. And because he does, the 200,000 Vietnam veterans in metropolitan Chicago have their own Vietnam Veterans Survivors Memorial. 

The Vietnam Veterna's Memorial in Washington, D>C> cost ? and involved the work of hundreds of people. The Illinois Vietnam Veteran's Memorial in Springfield, cost one and a half million.  

By contrast, the Chicago Vietnam Veternas' Survivors Memorial cost $65,000 and Lavicka planned and built it himself, with a little help from his friends. 

If you think the Washington Memorial, with its walls of black granite, is stark, yo'll like Lavicka's memorial. 

Ten cast iron columns painted blood red enclose a circle of concrete. There is room for a wheelchair to maneuver between the columns. A names of Vietnam's major cities are highlighted in good on a black granite mosic map of Vietnam in the structure's center concrete disc. The structure is open to the sky. 

Don Quixote is alive and well and working in Chicago where he rehablitates homes and hearts.