Ward Council Meeting #5 Summary

Here is a short summary of the Ward Council Meeting on April 12, 2012. These were written by Dara Salk, 47th Ward Community Liason. My apologies for the tardiness, but I just received them and have been out of town so much this month that I haven’t had the chance to transcribe my notes.

1. We heard about the $750,000 capital campaign at the Neighborhood Boys & Girls Club. They
have been stalwarts in the neighborhood since the 1960’s. They continue to positively influence
the lives of the thousands of kids who come attend the programming provided there.
They have raised $500,000; if you are looking for a worthy organization to support – this is one.

2. Alderman Pawar described the Aldermanic Menu. Per the new menu policy of the City it must
be spent down 100% every year. There has been and will continue to be a great deal of thought
given to where and how this money is spent. For instance: if a street is scheduled for sewer
work next year, curbs won’t be done this year. Saving money by coordinating the work being
done in the ward is a priority.
The Alderman’s office welcomes your input and will continue to ask for your Block Audits yearly.

3. Jim Poole gave us more specifics on the Aldermanic Menu – all of this specific information will
be on our website. CAPS Meetings are held monthly.
Please see the schedule on our website and ask if one of your neighbors would like to be your
representatives at CAPS meetings. Jim also recommends that you register your group with CAPS
for communication, programming and resources out of the CAPS office. CAPS helps fight crime
in the area, set up neighborhood watch groups and educate us on how to stay safe.

4. Karen Kolb from our newly formed Senior Council updated us on the work that group is doing to
make “aging in place” easier, healthier and more of a priority for all of us to be aware of. If there
is a member of your group or perhaps your block coordinator could be aware of where the older
adults are in the neighborhood and make an effort to include them in neighborhood activities
and know if they would like to be on your email list or become a part of a phone tree if they
aren’t on the internet.

5. CUB – Citizen’s Utility Board – is beginning an initiative in our ward – the first ward in the city!
Saving money, saving energy can be as painless as signing up online for ideas, coupons and a
simple way to actually track the money you are saving. Each neighborhood group has their own
spot where you can sign up

I believe it is time for another meeting to discuss the above items and a few other things. I am securing a place and I will keep you updated. The next Ward Council Meeting will assess the Ward Council and is planned for Wednesday, May 16th at St. Ben’s Social Hall from 6:30-8:00pm.

Thanks so much!
Rebecca

Ravenswood Hospital Community Meeting 4/23, Ravenswood Run 4/29

Hello neighbors!

I wanted to alert you to two upcoming events that affect our area, an update about the Mariano’s project and an article about Alderman Pawar…

1) Ravenswood Hospital redevelopment meeting

Ald. Pawar will be hosting a community meeting on the redevelopment of the Ravenswood Hospital Site located at 4550 N. Winchester/1945 W. Wilson. The meeting will be held next Monday, April 23rd, 6:30pm at All Saints Episcopal Church (corner of Hermitage and Wilson). Please enter through the door at 1757 W. Wilson. Our voices and opinions are an important part of this process, so I wanted to encourage everyone to attend. If you have any questions, call or email Jim Poole in the 47th Ward Office at 773-549-4462 or jim@chicago47.org. For full information on this project, initiated by the Lycee Francais of Chicago, please visit http://chicago47./wp-content/uploads/Zoning-Info-form-9-23-11.pdf

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2) Ravenswood Run

This year’s Ravenswood Run will be coming through our neighborhood on Sunday, April 29th. The Alderman’s Office and organizers have been making an effort to alert affected residents and businesses with postcards, door hangers, etc. But I wanted to remind you–particularly about the restricted parking and closed traffic along Paulina, Hermitage, Ravenswood, Wilson, and Leland in and around Area 5. Please take a look at the above flyer, which includes both the race route and alternate parking options.

 

3) Mariano’s

The Mariano’s construction is planning to start this summer. The developers are still working out some zoning issues with the city, but as far as I was told, that is the plan.

4) One more thing:

Here is a Q & A with Alderman Pawar from Chicago Magazine. I thought it would be good to share.

Block Audit Deadline This Week and Spring Cleaning

Hello Neighbors!

Happy Spring!!! What a wonderful Spring we are having. I hope you’ve been enjoying it:)

I wanted to touch base about a few things:

1. The Block Audits are due this week. If you haven’t already done one, please do so. They take about 15 minutes and it is very important that our collective voice be heard, especially on the stuff that needs fixing. The more people who participate the better. If you can’t get it in by tomorrow, it’s better late than never:) We all really appreciate your participation. You can download it from this website, in the Ward Links section to the right.

2. There is a Ward Council meetingWednesday, April 11 from 6:30 PM – 8:00 PM at the Neighborhood Boys & Girls Club, 2501 W. Irving Park…As always, all 47th Ward residents are welcome to attend. Click here for the Agenda of the 5th Ward Council Meeting.

3. Spring Clean and Green, the citywide beautification and clean-up is coming up on April 21st. If you are interested in beautifying a corner in our neighborhood Dara Salk at the Ward office can help you get volunteers, materials, and tools. Please contact her at dara@chicago47.org by April 13th. Click here to learn more: Clean & Green 2012 Flyer

4. I was walking by the Cultural Center last week and noticed they were cleaning spray paint graffiti from the stone building. I asked them what they were using that was working so well. They showed me a can of Claire Mark and Stain Remover. They said you could get it at any industry cleaning supply store, but I saw you can get it online for about $5 for a can. Since 311 is slow to respond to graffiti, it’s in our hands to get rid of it. Thanks for your help in doing so…

47th Ward Council Meeting #4 Minutes

March 6, 2012

I. Alderman Pawar gave a 15 minute update:
A. Greenway on Berteau

1. The idea came as  a response to complaints about garage break-ins and speeding. When there are more people riding bikes and walking, traffic slows. There is a spectrum of things to do to slow cars, you can block them with signs, turnarounds and speed bumps, make wider sidewalks, a bike lane. Ultimately increasing property values.
2. Berteau has been a problem and the city was looking for a place to put an east-west bike lane between Clark and Western and Wilson and Addison.
3. The  final Greenway will be determined by neighbors as it was initiated by a block club. The Alderman’s office wants our input. It’s not going to be a top-down decision making process. There will be further meetings.
4. Because things are still getting sorted out, they didn’t want to break the story to the press, but CDOT was very excited to announce the prospect of this project and other greenways in the city so the information has yet to be put on the website but will be there soon.

B. Local School Council Elections

1.   April 10 there will be a forum meet and greet of candidates sponsored by the Center Square Journal at Dank House.

2.   Please join if you can, the Alderman is looking for ways to scale up efforts to act as one community on schools, especially because selective enrollment in high schools is becoming even more selective.

C. STEM High Schools

1. Last week Mayor Emmanuel announced that Lakeview High School is going to be a STEM school.
2. STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering and Math.
3. Any student enrolled in 2012 will be automatically enrolled in this program.
4. It will give students the opportunity to take college courses in high school
5. Microsoft is going to help develop the curriculum.
6. There are 400 spots, first spots will go to students from feeder schools in the area and then the network.
7. To know more Lakeview High School will be having meetings throughout the rest of the year. Please contact the Alderman’s office for more details.

D. Mariano’s

1. Things are moving ahead as planned and they have coordinated with the Lawrence Streetscape project to move forward.
2. Learn more about the project at Chicago47.org

E.  Bill Higgins (47th Ward Staff) elaborates on Greenway project.

1. Handed out timeline that will a lot of time for the project. Waiting for everyone’s input and are looking forward to receiving it.
2. Why this street?
   1. 2020 bike planning it was brought up
   2. Berteau looks good because of all the complaints
   3. There is no recommended bike route between Wilson and Addison that connects several different bike routes.
   4. Will it be concrete or asphalt? There is construction going on with the  water management right now. That decision might be determined by their project. It has yet to be determined.
   5. Will it continue to be a 2-way street? Yes, they are plannin on keeping it that way. They are looking forward to public meetings to get more solutions.
   6. There are a lot of options on the table right now and a lot of room for discussion. If you are interested in being involved, please visit Chicago47.org for information regarding the next meeting.
   7. They are looking for a system that make sense and will connect the neighborhood, not a piece meal way that will effect other neighborhoods in the ward negatively.
   8. Seattle and Portland is the example for this sort of project and it has worked very successfully there.

II. Ward Council Discussion of Progress of Neighborhood Associations:

A. Dara Salk, Ward Council Liason in Ward Office spoke:

1. The goal of what we’re doing is to create a voice for the neighbors
2. Block Parties are a big part of that – it is an excellent way to get to know your neighbors and the community.
3. The Alderman’s office wants more involvement
4. Break up into small groups to discuss what’s working and not working in your areas. What progress have you made in organizing?
5. For block parties, there is no deadline. You can contact the office at anytime to start setting it up for this summer.

B. My comments:

1. I feel very lucky to have inherited such a dedicated group of neighbors.
2. East Ravenswood Neighbors is one of the most organized areas with one of the longest residencies. Thank you all for your commitment to making our neighborhood one of the best!
3. I told them about the blog and our successful canvassing campaigns.

C. Other’s comments/questions from the discussion:

1. Center 47, another neighborhood association, uses groupspaces.com for their communication efforts.
2. Winnemac neighbors hold regular meetings with speakers from the community.
3. Different people want different amounts of communication, how do you please everyone?
4. What about forming a 501C3? The Alderman said that they would assist in the formation of that if we wanted. They are working with the Friends of Ravenswood and Friends of Bell to learn more about the process so that fundraising efforts are more easily managed.
5. If we want to put a meeting or other information in the weekly newsletter, please email jim@Chicago47 2 weeks prior to the event.

IV. Final Remarks

1. Chicago’s Citywide Clean & Green

Volunteer Clean up day April 21, 2012. If you’d like to participate in cleaning and greening a part of our Neighborhood please register by April 13 at 311 or the Alderman’s office. The City will work with you to provide brooms, rakes, shovels and bags to help get the job done.

2. Next Ward Council meeting is April 11^th. The Alderman’s office is asking for all the Block Audits to be in by then. If you haven’t completed this for your block yet, you can download here and return it to the Alderman’s office.

3. If you have any tips about incidents in our area, please don’t hesitate to let me know so I can post them on our blog. The more we know, the more we can help watch out for one another. Thanks for helping to make our neighborhood one of the best in the Ward!

Police redistricting to go into effect this weekend…

Hi Everyone!

There is a Ward Council Meeting next week, click: Agenda 4th Ward Council to see what we’ll be talking about. Alderman Pawar is most interested in knowing how the Block Audits are coming along so please let me know. And if you haven’t yet, please fill one out and return it to the Ward office. You can download it here. Should you need printed copies I can make some for you, so please don’t hesitate to contact me. The Ward Council meeting will take place Tuesday, March 6, 6:30 pm at Pilgrim Lutheran Church 4300 N. Winchester. As always, you are more than welcome to join us.

I also wanted to forward a letter from the Chicago Police Department about the redistricting…

Last week the Chicago Police Department informed members of the 19^th District that 03 March 2012 will be the last day the current 19^th district facility will be used by the officers who patrol this area.

Beginning on 04 March 2012, all police matters that involve the 19^th district will be addressed at the police station located at 850 W. Addison . This facility will be the home of the newly redistricted 19^th district that will include both the former 19^th district and the 23^rd district. This will result in one police district with the following boundaries:

 

                                                                                North:                 Lawrence Avenue

                                                                                South:                 Fullerton Avenue

                                                                                East:                     Lake Michigan

                                                                                West:                   Chicago River

 

As a result of this combination of districts, all the current beats will be replaced by new beats with new boundaries and beat numbers. The beat meetings that have already been scheduled for 19^th district residents will continue to be held through June so you can be informed as to your new beat number and beat boundaries, along with providing you with any other information as it becomes available.

 As of today, the department has not announced who the Commander of the new 19^th district will be. The current staff of the 19^th district Community Policing office should be available at the new station to assist you as they have in the past with any community issue. The phone number to the Community Policing office is 312 744 4247. The phone number to the new district desk is 312 744 8320.

Finally, I will not be assigned to the new district. It has been a pleasure to work with you in our combined efforts to address the issues in our community and I am proud of the success we have been able to enjoy. I hope each of you remains active in your community and continues to work with your new district’s Community Policing office to ensure your district remains the great place to live that you have made it….

 Thanks,

 John

 Lt. John E. Willner

District 019

2452 W. Belmont Ave.

Chicago, Il. 60618

312 744 5574 Office

312 744 3103 Fax

john.willner@chicagopolice.org

February 2012 Meeting Minutes

Hello!

Thank you to all the new and old faces who attended our last meeting. A special thank you to Bonnie Perry of All Saints Church for joining us and being such an incredible hostess. We covered a lot of ground in a short time. Attached are the minutes from the meeting taken by Ray Ballard (thanks Ray:). Please click: 12.02.13 Minutes to download them. Thank you also to Mary Stamler for your report from the CAPS meeting on February 8. Notes from which can be viewed by clicking: February 2012 CAPS meeting recap.

There were two main topics discussed that evening: Permit Parking and Block Audits. Bill Higgins, a representative of the Alderman’s office was in attendance to help answer questions.

As for permit parking, for those of you who would like to make changes to existing residential permit parking areas in our neighborhood, they must receive the petition submissions by March  1. If you want to add permit parking where there is none, there is no deadline but a petition of 65% of residents from the block interested in permits must sign the petition. Click here to download the petition form.

Another important piece of business was the Block Audit. This is a tool that the Alderman’s office is employing to get a better sense of what needs improvement in our neighborhood. They’ve asked neighbors to fill it out and return it to them by the end of March so that they can get going on planning the budget for the next year. There were questions about if one person was to fill it out for a number of block should each block be accounted for separately, and after talking the alderman’s office, the answer is yes. The more people who participate the better they can get a sense of the important trends on what needs improvement. Many people asked about an electronic copy. I spoke with the office about that too, and they said that they would work on it, but they preferred a hard copy because nothing beats walking around and writing your comments as you see things that need improvement. The squeaky wheel gets cleaned and since the weather  is getting so nice, this can be good excuse to get outside:)

Please click: 47th Ward Block Audit to download it and begin helping the East Ravenswood Neighborhood improve. When you are finished please send or deliver it directly to the office at 4243 N. Lincoln Ave. Chicago, IL 60618. They are open M-F 9am – 5pm. If you have any questions about the block audit, please call the office at (773) 868-4747 or email info@chicago47.org.

In other news, I want to introduce our to new logo designed by neighbor Sharon Banis for our fliers, Thanks Sharon, we are moving forward with style! And I also want to send a huge thank you to the people who flier our neighborhood to announce upcoming meetings. We have 1500 neighbors and only 150 names in our email list and many who subscribe to the blog, but it’s imperative we include everyone. It is so successful and we don’t want to leave out any block. We are still looking for people to flier the 4600 block of Hermitage and Ravenswood, 4700 block of Hermitage and Ravenswood and the 4600 block Hermitage and Paulina. If you live on one of these blocks and would like to pass out fliers before we have neighborhood meetings, please contact me at eastravenswoodrep@gmail.com so I can send you the information before our next meeting. And if you haven’t already subscribed to the blog, please do so.

We’ll look forward to meeting you at the next meeting!

East Ravenswood Neighbors Meeting, Tonight 2/13

Hello All,

I wanted to send out a quick reminder that Bill Higgins, the 47th Ward Transportation Specialist will be joining us for our neighborhood meeting tonight: Monday, February 13th at 7pm at All Saints Church on the corner of Wilson and Hermitage (please enter on Wilson).

He will be there to discuss residential permit parking and the petition process for changing or adding permits. We will also be discussing the Block Audit. The Alderman’s office has asked neighbors to evaluate every block in the ward to find trends and areas for improvement. In the meeting we will discuss how best to facilitate the survey. Click here to view it so you can start thinking about your answers to these questions. It will be a great tool for making our area the best in the ward.

We’ll also get an update from the latest CAPS meeting.

Looking forward to seeing you tonight!

Metra Permit Parking Meeting Notes

Hello Neighbors!

This past Monday, January 20th at Bethany Retirement Community, I attended the Residential Permit Parking meeting for the Ravenswood Metra area.

Before I get to my notes from the meeting, I want to let you know that our next East Ravenswood Neighbors meeting will be on Monday, February 13th at 7pm at All Saints Church on the corner of Wilson and Hermitage.

At the Parking meeting on the 20th, many other East Ravenswood neighbors were in attendance, as this affects many of us, if not all. Many permits were added and changed with the past aldermanic administration. The current administration is planning to consolidate and coordinate a consistent permit parking program that makes sense for the residents that it affects. They hired Bill Higgins, a former transportation planner for IDOT, to work with Ward residents to evaluate the current situation and improve it. They are planning to make sure this consolidation occurs by the time we need to buy new city stickers in June to make the transition easiest. Most of the meeting was a presentation, followed by a question-and-answer period at the end.

Please click here to view the presentation.

The main change that will be made in East Ravenswood is that several parking permit areas will be consolidated into “Neighborhood Zone 62″.

• Existing 62 remains
• 26 changes to 62
• 1394 changes to 62

This change is automatic, time restrictions will not change. If you don’t want permit parking on your block, you and your neighbors on your block will need to petition. If you want to add permit parking to your block, you will also have to petition the neighbors on your block. 65% of residents must approve it. Please contact the Alderman’s office for further details.

Q&A

Here are some questions from residents that came up at the end. The answers are from Alderman Pawar and Bill Higgins:

Q: How do you make sure people who have a garage will park in their garage [instead of on the street]?
A: There is nothing to enforce people who own garages to park in them…

Q: What about the people who live just outside of the permit area and the 1/2 block buffer zone… Are they allowed to get permits even though they often have to park in a permitted area to park close to home?
A: The half-block zones are tricky. You can get a letter to get a permit when you live a half block from the zone. Petition forms can be provided if you want to get a permit on your street. You have to start the process with a petition by city ordinance.

Q: Will there be changes to the industrial zoning along Ravenswood?
A: Maybe, but right now they a focusing on residential.

Q: Do we have to wait for other things to happen?
A: No, you can get the petition going now.

Q: Will you be mailing to everyone to sign the petition?
A: No, you have to go door to door.

Q: A constituent got a petition and a 24/7 parking permit zone went in on 4700 N. Hermitage 4 years ago. It was changed unexpectedly and there is no record of it. It was a lot of work.
A: If it’s an impact in the surrounding blocks, the office will help. They are happy to facilitate.

Q: Is the consolidation already set?
A: In June when stickers are renewed they will all say 62. There are a lot of different things that come together and it takes 4-8 months to get things done.

Q: Can all the numbers be the same in the ward?
A: [No clear answer.]

Q: Do you have to go door to door?
A: The petition has to happen. It’s in the city ordinances.

Q: Won’t the Mariano’s residential development make more cars?
A: No, it’s self-contained. The developers are marketing to people who don’t have more than one car, or don’t have a car at all. Even within the zone, it’s kind of like a gated community so wouldn’t have a permit.

Q: Do businesses fall into the petition? Churches, etc.?
A: They should individually come to the office and will be in conversation.
Business owners are allowed to get one permit and can purchase guest passes.

Q: Isn’t the Metra lot already crowded? How can it fit more?
A: Metra has a long-term plan to make more room for people and for more trains stopping.

Q: Can you (the ward office) be available to buy temporary permits?
A: The office has to rent the machine from the city clerk for $7,000 annually and the ward office doesn’t get any of the profit. There is not enough money in the menu for this. You can buy them online and they are shipped within a few days. Alderman Pawar has suggested to the city to try and figure out how to be able to print out and buy for specific times on an as-needed basis.

Q: Why would any neighborhood need 24/7 permitting?
A: You don’t. New petitions have to exhibit a high impact to grant restrictions.
Pawar is hoping employers start to subsidize mass transit for employees. The city is still catching up to national trend. There are people who move here because of the closeness to public transit.

Q: Do you have a sense that this will be expanding to new zones?
A: Not really. But there is a ripple effect of positive and negative impacts. Only zones that are already in place have already been evaluated as trouble zones for parking. They’re going to be pretty strict and make sure to only do something that is necessary and that majority of residents want. Just because you turn in a petition doesn’t mean you’ll be granted a permit parking zone. They want to work with the block clubs to come to an agreeable decision. It has to be a deliberate process.

Q: What is the plan for facilitating the reassessment of parking permits?
A: We hope to grow the Ward Council and get a pulse of what neighbors would like and need. Eyes and ears of your block.

Other questions not pertaining to the Residential Permit Parking:

Q: What will enforcement be during Mariano’s construction and streetscape?
A: Bill is working with the development team but there is no way to take on major improvement construction and not be disruptive. There will be negative consequences.

Q: Will you try and make sure they don’t enforce parking restrictions during this period along Lawrence during construction?
A:There’s no perfect system. Residential streets will not be penalized for the Lawrence Ave. streetscape project. The Alderman’s office has already been in touch with businesses along Lawrence to take their needs into consideration.

Q: What about curbside pickup of recycling?
A: As they are moving toward grid, things are falling through the cracks. There are a lot of kinks. Curbside pickup is trouble because there’s a lot of confusion. The ward office is working on it and Alderman Pawar apologizes.

The City is trying to get all services optimized with a technology infrastructure so all assets are talking to each other. They are literally building it from scratch. Open 311 will be the first of its kind next year. They will slowly build it and integrate all other programs.

So what’s next for East Ravenswood Neighbors?

Bill Higgins is excited to help, so I asked him to come to our next meeting which will be on Monday, February 13th at 7pm at All Saints Church on the corner of Wilson and Hermitage. If people want to submit a petition, the Ward Office is asking to do so by March 1. In addition to talking about the Permit Parking changes, we will also talk about the Block Audits–a survey the ward office has asked us to fill out so that they can get a better sense of overall trends and what really needs fixing. I hope to see you there!

Thanks,
Rebecca

Metra Permit Parking Meeting and Ward Council Meeting #3 Notes

Hello Neighbors,

We had tentatively scheduled an East Ravenswood Neighbors meeting for January 30. However, the Ward Office has schedule the Metra area permit parking meeting for that evening. Permit parking is first on the table in 2012 and since we live near the train tracks, this will affect many of us, if not all. If you can, please attend the permit parking meeting to learn more and voice your opinion. The dates are confusing on the website, so I am contacting the office to clarify. Keep checking the Alderman’s website for more information. This is the most recent information I have for the meeting:

Monday, January 30th, 6:30pmBethany Retirement Community 4950 N. Ashland

If you have any questions please call the ward office at 773-868-4747 or email info@chicago47.org.

Notes from Ward Council, Meeting 3, Tuesday, January 17th.

Linda Wilson (East Ravenswood Rep Alternate) and I attended the third 47th Ward Council meeting on January 17. These are my notes.

Alderman Pawar spoke for about half an hour.

Protests, Parades, and Assemblies

An ordinance was passed in advance of the upcoming G8/NATO meetings, which gives the police more power to intervene in protests. Some Chicagoans are angry because they weren’t included in the discussion. If you want to protest, let the Alderman and Mayor’s Office know–they can answer your questions for legality. If you can’t afford liability insurance, the city will waive the fees but you have to get clearance first. The Alderman’s office will be sending out an email about the G8/NATO events that will be occurring this summer.

Redistricting and Remapping
A compromise map passed on Tuesday. The district is changing very little, but the 47th Ward will probably shrink by about 2,500 people. The whole city lost 200,000 people and the City Council is looking to have fair representation. In every version of the map, there is a cut at Ainslie or Winnemac. The Black Caucus map cuts at Lawrence, and was more popular. It preserved North Center as a whole–the other map would cut the southern part of the ward and the northern part. The Alderman said remapping is “all politics,” and he had to play it that way to keep up working relationships. Many other wards are getting even more distorted–this ward may be changing the least citywide. He said he’s being strategic to negotiate. Constituent groups or citzen groups may force a referendum, which would be very expensive. In terms of services, we’re moving to a grid-based systems so the remap shouldn’t affect that. The Alderman now represents your “interests,” not so much services anymore. Redistricting happens ever 10 years after the census to comply with the Voting Rights Act. If there is interest, Ald. Pawar may put put together a special meeting to explain the changes. The TIFs for Chappell and Amundsen will be affected but students that go to those schools still live in the ward. The Mariano’s/Ravenswood Station project could be in the 40th Ward, but again not for 10 years. But these remapping lines won’t effect voting until 2015.

Permit Parking (Presented by Bill Higgins, 47th Ward Transportation Expert)
The Alderman wanted to figure out the state of permit parking before making changes, because changes were made without notice as he came into office. In 1930–3.3 million people in the city, few cars. Now 2.6m, with over 1 million cars, so there are pros and cons to permits. Ald. Pawar put together a Transportation Committee last August, with a permit parking task force to deal with the 13 residential permit parking zones including LV2 (Cubs Night Game parking) in the ward.

Goals/Steps for the Committee:

1. Rationalize the neighborhood parking zones
2. Criteria for approval policy of residential permit parking, inc.uding surrounding blocks and busineesses
3. Interpreting input from neighbors
4. Alderman approval and implementation.

They’re looking at grouping the zones into permit parking regions. So, for instance, they’d combine Lincoln Square permits into same number. The hours of enforcement would vary within each area. They’re planning to do an annual review. 65 percent of blocks must in favor of changes. All units including non owners especially for a major event like at Wrigley field. They want to finalize this before city stickers need to be purchased. They may start by consolidating in Lincoln Square and Metra this year and others next year. The permit policy is on the website, as well as new  procedures for a block to get together and change or improve the permits. Bill Higgins is in charge of this project (bill@chicago47.org) at the Alderman’s office and will join at your meeting to discuss all the changes and they are holding public hearings now for the different areas to explain. They strongly urge you to attend if it will effect you.In Area 5, they are going to combine permit parking for the part of the area close to Metra. This will be from Lawrence to Wilson along Ravenswood to Paulina. If you are in a corner building you will probably be included but they didn’t go into the specifics. They said they would explain it at the Metra Permit Parking meeting.

Block Audits

The Alderman’s office is asking block clubs to do “block audits” to give the ward office an overall picture of the block, to help find out what is happening as it’s happening so they can better implement city services and workshops. They passed out surveys for the block audits but they will be revising them. Questions on the audit include, how many single family homes on your block, how many neighbors above 65, etc. They’d like to have each block accounted by April. Volunteers from each block of our area will be needed to thoroughly report the information.

Crime/Police
The vast majority of the crime in the ward is property crime. If you see something suspicious call 911 and let them make the decision. It’s better to call than not. The more feedback the better. Our CAPS officer will most likely change after the merger of police districts. We always should have a representative at CAPS meetings. The email to send questions to is: Caps019district@chicagopolice.org.

There is a new system that the new Police Chief is implementing called COMPSTAT. This system drills down and holds commanders accountable based on data. There has been no beat realignmenet in 40 years. That’s going to change soon based on crime patterns. There will always be at least one car in our beat. If they go off to respond, there will be a roving car to back them up. After the merger, we’ll have the second-most amount of police coverage in the city. The Alderman’s office is looking for a community liason between the alderman’s office and the police. They’re looking for a direct line from their office to continue a conversation and be able to hold someone accountable.If you call 911, the police report may get changed to 311. This is okay. You want to be able to be proactive, and keep officers on the street for more effective policing. You can follow up with your CAPS office to find out what happened. There are court assistance for the community who can show up at trials–that helps the trials.

Odds and Ends
Mayor Emanuel has been making a lot of public information available (see http://Data.cityofchicago.org). Ald. Pawar is going to Google camp with city CIO John Tolva to learn about changes to Open 311. Google technology has created a system  so we can proactively spot and react to crime trends.

The next Ward Council meeting is Tuesday, March 6th.

Changes to Condominium Refuse Rebate Program

A letter from the Alderman (APPLICATIONS ARE DUE 1.31.12 for 2011):

 

Dear Neighbor,

Please be aware that the Committee on Finance has made changes to the Condominium Refuse Rebate program based on the 2012 budget.  Read the details below and if you have any questions do not hesitate to contact Jim Poole in my office at 773-549-4462 or jim@chicago47.org.

The most important change to note is that applications and supporting documentation for 2011 should be dropped-off at our office or emailed (pdf) to Jim no later than January 31, 2012.  Ideally we would like to have them before next week’s council meeting on the 18th, but since this change is taking effect so quickly you can turn in the forms to us until the 31st for refuse costs incurred during 2011.  Any form turned in after January 31, 2012 will not be accepted.  

In addition, no additional units will be added to the condo refuse rebate program.  Only owner-occupied units that received one or more rebates between January 1, 2009 and November 9, 2011 will be eligible for a rebate going forward.   If you fail to turn in your rebate before January 31 you will not be eligible for future rebates.  No exceptions can be made.

Large management companies should have already been alerted to this.  To read a full list of changes please click here.  As always, applications are available through the Committee on Finance’s website.

Sincerely,

Additionally:

Beat 1922 CAPS Meeting is coming up!

February 8, 2012 7:00 pm

Venue: Chase Park Field House

Address: 4701 N. Ashland Ave., Chicago, IL, United States