Rep. Mike Quigley speaks Jan. 7 in the monthly EVA membership meeting at the Happy Village. East Village Association membership meeting Jan. 7, 2019, at Happy Village, 1059 N. Wolcott Ave. Presiding: Michael VanDam, president Chicago Avenue, Division Street bridges Soliman Khudeira of the Chicago Department of Transportation presented tentative plans for bridge construction at the Chicago River. A wider Division Street bridge at the North Branch accommodate two lanes of traffic each way, plus a left turn lane and riverwalk. Work should start in the third quarter of 2020 and finish at the end of 2021. On Chicago Avenue, a temporary bridge will be in place next month to replace the Halsted Street viaduct now being removed. The permanent bridge will be similar to the Division Street project. Expect construction to extend from the start of 2021 till mid-2022. 311 service upgrade Nelly Benitez of The William Everett Group demonstrated the new 311 Chi mobile app, part of ...

More than 50 people attended the Oct. 1 Happy Village vote. A recurring issue surfaced again in the recent Happy Village debate: EVA membership votes require EVA membership. What's wrong with that? In the case of Happy Village zoning, not all neighbors at the Oct. 1 vote were members. That shouldn't be an issue— membership is cheap —but for a twist in EVA bylaws : Voters must have three months' membership in the group. This requirement was added in 2011 after a contentious zoning vote . The concern was that visitors with an interest in the outcome would join just to tip the balance.

As Rahm Emanuel sorted out his Chicago residency bona fides early this year, East Village Association leaders started to weigh what makes someone part of the neighborhood. If members agree in April, EVA voters must be East Village residents or property owners. They won't need to pull a wedding dress from their crawlspace as proof. The idea is that while anyone can support East Village, only those directly affected should cast ballots on community issues. Residency comes up often in connection with EVA votes because it has not been a requirement. Anyone who identifies with the neighborhood may (and should) join — I signed up as an Oak Parker searching the real-estate listings. But I couldn't vote immediately, because a monthlong cooling-off period was in place to discourage single-issue voters. Often newcomers arrive with development interests before the group. Votes for such things as zoning changes and special land uses are intended to advise the alderman on neighborhoo...

President's Message | By Greg Nagel    At our last general meeting. a bylaw amendment was vigorously debated. The result was 11-10 against adding language giving the president the power to remove from a meeting a member who was not being respectful. I had promised East Village Neighbors leaders to propose this amendment as a prerequisite for them merging into the East Village Association, and felt it had additional symbolic value. I had only half my board’s support, and as it turns out just under half the vote in the general meeting. Many board members urged me not to push forward on this item but rather find other ways to promote respect within the organization. After all, there were reasonable objections, including the potential for the president to abuse the power and quell legitimate debate, and the vague nature of exactly what is disrespect. With that said, I’m pleased that I pushed forward and took it to a vote. One result was we spent nearly an hour in our general meeti...

Greg Nagel opens June 7 membership meeting with guidelines for respectful speech.   Board Meeting Minutes for June 14, 2010 Submitted by Dana Palmer   Attendance: Greg Nagel, Neal McKnight, Nicole Semple, Dana Palmer, Scott Rappe, Aaron Bilton, Tom Tomek and Stephen Rynkiewicz. Meeting commenced at 6:40 p.m. Respect Bylaw Amendment Alternatives: It was agreed by the board that the president will open each membership meeting with an opening statement regarding respect and will introduce the board members. Majorie Isaacson drafted a statement regarding respect that the president will use as an outline to the opening statement of each meeting: Welcome everyone, thanks to all for coming and special welcome to new attendees. Suggest that if people are newcomers, they are encouraged to introduce themselves to any of the Board members after the meeting. (This because some people are shy about speaking in public, and point people to the whole board so if one person is busy talking...

Peter Locke (with laptop) demonstrates energy-audit tests at the Happy Village.   Membership Meeting Minutes for June 7, 2010 Submitted by Dana Palmer   Business Minute: Dana and Matt Palmer presented Super Dog Walking as a local business. Guest Speaker: Peter Locke, a sustainability consultant with the city of Chicago, presented to the group. He spoke about the Chicago Climate Action Plan, which states that Chicago has proposed to decrease its greenhouse gas emissions by 25% by 2020. He also touched on the Chicago Retrofit Strategy, which involves retrofitting homes and businesses to be more energy efficient buildings. Respect Amendment: President Greg Nagel proposed a bylaw amendment regarding respect and expulsion of an individual being disrepectful. However, a vote of 10 in favor and 11 opposed did not allow the amendment to pass. Galleria Liquors. Benjamin Pourkhalili and associates presented plans to put a high-end wine and liquor store at Ashland and Division i...

East Village Association members on June 7 paved the way for a wine shop to lease the former Washington Mutual bank building at 1555 W. Division. Members voted 19-3 vote to support a new package-goods moratorium on the south side of Division Street, from Wood Street to Ashland Avenue, and to rezone the commercial Division-Ashland-Milwaukee block to B1-1. Galleria Wine & Liquor‎ made a presentation to EVA at the suggestion of 1st Ward Ald. Joe Moreno, who would have to lift a moratorium that now extends to Milwaukee Avenue. Downzoning after Galleria obtains a license would prohibit package-goods uses if the business fails or moves, said EVA planning co-chair Neil McKnight. A proposed bylaw that would allow the chair to expel members from EVA meetings failed on a 10-11 vote.

By Greg Nagel The East Village Neighbors split from EVA about 3 years ago citing a lack of a respectful environment as their only reason. I have spoken to multiple neighbors and business owners that do not attend EVA meeting because of certain people they feel are aggressively rude or because of a general lack of civility of the group. As president of EVA, I took initiative to broker the merger of EVN back into EVA. There was no road map for this. These were clearly unprecedented waters. One of the items that I promised the EVN leadership was that I would propose and promote a bylaw amendment on respect. I felt this would make the EVN people more comfortable while simultaneously truly improving the culture of EVA. I naively thought this was an absolute no-brainer. Who is going to oppose respect? The EVN bylaws had provisions for not only removing people from a meeting but also expulsion from the group. I felt that was overkill, and felt the simply being able to ask someone to leave...

By Marjorie Isaacson A proposed bylaw for the East Village Association would require that all members conduct themselves in a respectful, considerate manner in meetings, and gives the presiding officer the right to expel those persons who are judged to be disrespectful. I am opposed to this proposed bylaw for several reasons, and suggest that members think about these issues before voting. One reason I have heard for adding this amendment was that civility in meetings is so essential, the organization wanted to reiterate the commitment with a special mention in the bylaws. We should be respectful in our deportment, but the amendment will not accomplish this. Just because something is in the bylaws doesn’t guarantee it is carried out successfully. In my years of EVA membership, I have seen the bylaws misused on many occasions, both by people who claim the bylaws say something they don’t and by those ignoring policies that are in the bylaws. I have no desire to be a scold, and I think ...

By Chris Long I have lived in the neighborhood since 1996 and been a member of the East Village Association for most of that time. I am opposed to the proposed amendment allowing the chair of the meeting to expel members who fail to act in a respectful manner. I understand the president’s concern about maintaining a productive meeting environment but the amendment as proposed has several fatal flaws. It is unnecessary. We already have tools in place to maintain a respectful meeting environment. The EVA bylaws call for the use of Robert's Rules of Order to conduct our meetings. Robert's Rules or Order Revised Edition Section 43 already has a clause about decorum at general meetings, which would achieve the objectives of the amendment without unintended consequences. Robert’s rules were written to conduct orderly and respectful meetings. They have been tested and revised over more than a century and successfully used in organizations and governments large and small. It is va...

President's Message | By Greg Nagel  The group East Village Neighbors has merged with the East Village Association. I'm very excited to have our tiny community under one organization that represents everyone. I'm pleased that EVA will benefit from the energy and ideas of Aaron Bilton, founder of EVN, and Tom Tomek, its most recent president. I have appointed both to the East Village Association board. In addition, EVA is incorporating some of the ideas of EVN and taking the EVN lead in getting involved in school issues. In a sense, EVN lives on through the East Village Association and has helped make EVA even better. No good can come from rehashing the 2008 split. But we do need to make sure we unite as a neighborhood and benefit from our diverse backgrounds and perspectives. And to make this new broader organization work, we will be making sure that everyone’s voice gets heard, but in a respectful, neighborly way. Therefore, I'm sponsoring a bylaw amendment to be vot...

East Village Association members will continue to meet on the first Monday of the month. The new board members find the early date fits their schedule, and members have come out for nearly two years of regular 7 p.m. Monday meetings in the Happy Village game room at Wolcott and Thomas. Fourth of July or election dates often bumped EVA meetings off the calendar when the date was set as the first Tuesday, as set in the bylaws. The EVA board would reschedule those meetings, even though the postal service could never guarantee prompt notice of the change. This year's board is proposing that the first sentence of Article X of the bylaws be amended to read: "General meetings shall be held monthly and shall be open to the public." That would allow the board to schedule the meeting time, date and place, and use e-mail and this website to spread the word on schedule changes. The new language will be debated at the Monday, April 5 meeting, and members will vote on the proposal May...

By Marjorie Isaacson The East Village Association will be voting on an amendment to the Bylaws at the March General meeting on Monday, March 2. The purpose of this amendment is to restore the voting procedures to their original status. I reviewed this issue in an article in last month's newsletter, available here . To summarize the motion: I am proposing that our Bylaws be amended to remove the proxy and absentee voting. The vast majority of large and small democratically run organizations only permit voting by those in attendance. Furthermore, quoting Robert's Rules of Order, “proxy voting is incompatible with the essential characteristics of a deliberative assembly in which membership is individual, personal and nontransferable.” An essential point here is that an individual needs to be present for the discussion about an issue in order to make an informed decision on the vote. At our meetings, EVA goes to some trouble to provide a forum for stakeholders in issues to inform ...

By Marjorie Isaacson There is no substitute for your participation. For that reason, I am proposing that EVA amend its bylaws to remove the paragraph in Article VI referring to proxy voting. EVA made a controversial change in voting procedures in 1999, controversial because it was in opposition to long-established parliamentary procedures. (I can already see people reading this sentence, yawning or rolling their eyes, and moving on to the next article, but please bear with me). The change was to amend the bylaws to allow voting in absentia – that is, being able to vote on an issue without being present at the meeting. I was opposed to the change at the time, and from observing the practice in the years that have followed, my opinion has not changed. For that reason, I am proposing that our bylaws be amended to remove the proxy voting and in so doing, again bring our organization’s procedures back in accord with the vast majority of large and small democratically run organizations. The...

Name Boundaries Purpose Membership Officers Voting Board of Directors Committees and Activities ; The Frankie Machine Garden Newsletter General Meetings Budget and Finance Amendments History ARTICLE I. Name The name of the organization shall be the East Village Association (EVA), a non-profit organization chartered by the State of Illinois. ARTICLE II. Boundaries The area shall encompass that part of the city of Chicago, Illinois with boundaries as follows: North – Division Street (1200 North) South – Chicago Avenue (800 North) East – Milwaukee Avenue (800 – 1600 West) West – Damen Avenue (2000 West) ARTICLE III. Purpose The purpose of EVA shall be educational, social and civic. It is organized: To provide an opportunity for those who live in, work in, or identify with the social or business interests of the area, to work together for the common good of the community with a positive community spirit; To work for a cleaner, safer neighborhood; To assemble and dissem...