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Showing posts from March, 2008

New top cop for 13th District

Police Supt. Jody Weis replaced 21 of the city's 25 district.commanders in March. The new Wood Street commander is Judith Martin, the police department's former domestic violence operations coordinator. Channel 5's Mary Ann Ahern reported that in a private ceremony, Weis told newly promoted officers that all eyes will be on them. "You will be held accountable to an even higher standard that defines this department's commitment to police service and personal responsibility," Weis said.

Plan this year's garden with an expert

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By John Scheer   Wicker Park veteran gardener Richard Tilley offers his view of gardening in the city April 1 when the East Village Association meets at 7 p.m. at the Happy Village Tavern, 1059 N. Wolcott. Tilley teaches seed starting and tool sharpening workshops, has 3 city lots of gardens, grows great vegetables and about 2,000 flowers from seed each year. Richard also is one of the teachers in Wicker Park each Saturday. He has about 50 years of experience in urban gardening and is a very interesting speaker. He is interested in addressing starting plants from seed, giving timetables for vegetable plantings and tips on good vegetable gardens, and working with flower and shrub gardens.

A new East Village Association board springs into action

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President’s Message by John Scheer  The seasons are changing, the clock has been changed for daylight saving time and the EVA officers have transitioned. I am pleased to tell you that your new officers and supporting board members have completed the turnover activities and are actively working on their responsibilities. Thank you to the EVA members who cast your vote of confidence for the new officers: myself for president, Greg Nagel for vice president, Brian Thompson for treasurer and Joe Hunnewinkel for secretary. Our transitional board meeting was in March. I want to extend a major thank you to the previous officers: Mary Szpur, president; Brian Thompson, vice president; Julie Rudloff, treasurer; and John Sekowski, secretary. Each of these officers deserves a big round of applause for their dedication and leadership. And a second round of applause for the EVA board members and volunteers that supported these officers throughout last year. Their time and effort is greatly appr...

East Village Landmark District: When are renovations wrong?

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Planning, Preservation and Development  By Scott Rappe   Recently there has been a spike in illegal window replacements and other alterations in violation of the city's landmark ordinance. When the city reviews a construction project in the East Village Landmark District, the Department of Planning and Development issues a summary of "approval conditions" that outlines the approved work. The following summary of approved work in the East Village and Ukrainian Village landmark districts has been excerpted from the city Landmarks Division approval summaries for the past 12 months. Work not listed or in conflict with the description should be reported to the 311 city-service hotline. 1139 N. Winchester, 1056 N. Damen (Photos/S. Rynkiewicz) Damen (Ukrainian Village District) 1056 N. Damen 3/22/2007 Renovation/alteration - basement and 1st floor conversion from commercial to residential use per Landmarks stamped plans dated 3/22/07. For all windows the existing vertical m...

Earlean Collins an East Village no-show

East Village Association officers for the following year were elected Tuesday by show of hands: John Scheer, president Greg Nagel, vice president Brian Thompson, treasurer Joe Hunnewinkel, secretary Scheer is seeking volunteers to serve on the board, which next meets at 6:30 p.m. Monday at Happy Village Tavern, 1059 N. Wolcott. Earlean Collins , the Cook County commissioner representing East Village and the invited guest speaker Tuesday, did not attend. The county board voted just days ago to raise the sales tax. EVA members gave details of a new West Town library plan and fund-raising to expand Commercial Club playground , 1845 W. Rice. Details will appear here soon.

Grateful thank you to Brian Roman, EVA newsletter editor

By Mary Szpur   In my last President's Message for the EVA newsletter, to my dismay I realized I neglected to acknowledge the extremely important contributions of our devoted newsletter editor for the last year, Brian Roman. Brian, who also served as EVA President for two terms in recent years, has worked tirelessly to design, lay out, and edit the EVA newsletter on a monthly basis. He accepted late admissions and revisions without complaint, and also oversaw the printing process of the newsletters. While he served as EVA President, Brian worked to resolve important financial issues for EVA, and, among other accomplishments, started a popular monthly restaurant club. He has volunteered his time and efforts to countless community issues. I would like to apologize to Brian for in error leaving him off the list of EVA accomplishments for the year. Please join me in thanking for all of his efforts.

Wicker Park Post Office: Don't get mad, get even

By Dan Nehm   In December, our mail situation became intolerable. I searched through the U.S. Postal Service website and finally found a e*SnrvPi&xssl=">complaint page . (They keep it well hidden.) When I have problems which I consider serious (Like getting someone else's first class mail, or mail I'm expecting, like my paycheck, never showing up) I've been filing an official complaint. This is happening about twice per month. Every complaint is assigned an incident number, and I get a phone call for each one apologizing, and telling me they are monitoring my mail, or talking to the carrier, or whatever. Most of it is nonsense, but they do apparently have to respond, and I have no doubt someone higher up is tracking all this. The more official complaints they get and need to respond to, the more the situation is going to be intolerable for them . So don't get mad, get even and file a complaint online when there is a problem. The web page has a long, cry...
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