CHICAGO — Park Ridge aldermen Monday rejected a pitch to erect a statue of acclaimed actor Harrison Ford in the city, citing the high cost of the project and Ford’s lukewarm relationship with the city.
Ford was born in Morton Grove and attended high school in Park Ridge’s Maine Township High School, which is now known as Maine East, in the 1950s. He has said publicly that high school was a difficult period for him. At a 2015 Star Wars themed event in Park Ridge, eventgoers told Pioneer Press/Chicago Tribune that Ford was bullied while living in town to the point that other kids would roll him down a hill into thorny bushes on a daily basis.
Omri Amrany, the co-owner of Rotblatt Amrany, the art studio behind the pitch, said that they would “make the communication and arrange it and get permission” from Ford if the city signaled it would like to proceed.
