Cook County's 1 percent sales tax increase, which raised the city's sales tax rate to 10.25%, stays in place after President Todd Stroger vetoed a repeal this month. The county board came three votes short of overriding the veto. Partial rollbacks passed more narrowly and also were vetoed. East Village's representative to the board, Earlean Collins , voted "present" on the May 19 vote to to override the veto. Collins voted for the tax last year to erase a $239 million deficit in the county's $3.2 billion budget. She told the Tribune the repeal vote was "totally unprofessional. ... Let's stop playing the games and get serious about what needs to be done." Collins is scheduled to speak Monday to the East Village Association. She'll discuss county services and take questions. Plan to be present at 7 p.m. in the Happy Village bar, at Thomas and Wolcott.

Division Street closes to at least some traffic this weekend from Ashland to Leavitt for the Do-Division Street Fest and Sidewalk Sale. This year's live music at Division and Damen features Montreal indie rockers Handsome Furs, Mizzou ska-clubbers White Rabbits, Oregon punk/funk/crunk artists Menomena and Chicago DJs Hollywood Holt and Flosstradamus. The main stage again is scheduled by Empty Bottle Presents , festival-booking extension of the Empty Bottle nightclub in Ukrainian Village. A separate stage on west end of the street festival at Division and Leavitt will benefit LaSalle II Language Academy, 1148 N. Honore, and A.N. Pritzker School, 2009 W. Schiller St. The Family Fun Fest includes performances for children, a bounce house, face painting, crafts, cookie decorating, petting zoo and pony rides. Division Street boutiques are to hold sidewalk sales. Concessions will feature Pabst Blue Ribbon beer. Admission is $5. Hours for the West Town Chicago Chamber of Commerce event ...

A high-profile neighborhood vote was first reported not on newspaper websites or blogs but on Twitter. Bulletins from the East Village neighborhood and the larger West Town community are available at http://www.twitter.com/evachicago . A May 4 message read, "After 1-hour Q&A on restaurant, EVA members voted for zoning change with stipulations (security, no deck) and only at 1924 Chicago." Twitter is a social networking service for Web browsers, cell phones and instant-messaging systems. Its short-message format (roughly 25 words or less) lends itself to announcements of new articles as they are posted at the East Village Association website, eastvillagechicago.org , or the related evachicago discussion group on the Yahoo! website. The May 4 vote on the zoning change was advisory to Ald. Manuel Flores (1st Ward). The Twitter feed @evachicago also relays Chicago Police crime reports, property transfer listings and neighborhood news from local websites. The nonprofit every...

1124 N. Damen, Ukrainian Village Landmark District Chicago has filed an appeal with the Illinois Supreme Court to support the city's landmarks ordinance. It expects in June to hear whether the high court will hear the case. Landmarks Illinois, Preservation Chicago, the Chicago chapter of the American Institute of Architects, the National Trust for Historic Preservation and other organizations and municipalities have signed a statement of amici curiae (friend of the court) to the Illinois Supreme Court in support of the city’s appeal. This is a reprint of Landmarks Illinois’ February Preservation Brief regarding the Chicago Landmarks Ordinance lawsuit. For more information and copies of the rulings and appeals, visit www.landmarks.org . Appellate court terms Chicago landmark ordinance “vague” Answers to common questions On January 30, 2009, the Illinois Appellate Court issued a decision, in the case of Hanna v. City of Chicago, that the Chicago Landmark Ordinance is unconstitutiona...

Submitted by Dana Palmer Attendance Board Members: John Scheer, Greg Nagel and Dana Palmer Committee Members: Scott Rappe, Steve Crane, Rich Anselmo and Steve Rynkiewicz Non-Board Members: Marjorie Isaacson Steve Crane was inducted into the Membership Committee role by Greg Nagel and John Scheer. Ways of promoting new membership to EVA were discussed. Rich Anselmo agreed to find out more about having a post card printed up informing neighbors of EVA and directing them to the EVA website. Greg Nagel discussed the possibility of attending Chamber of Commerce meeting in an attempt to make EVA more present and others aware of us. Greg Nagel also agreed to print out a report of new closures in the neighborhood as a way of finding out who our new neighbors are. The idea was presented that Steve Crane could obtain the attendance list from the previous EVA membership meeting and send and e-mail to the non-members asking them to attend the upcoming meeting and inviting them to join EVA. ...

Plan for 840-842 N. Wolcott (Wrap Architecture) Submitted by Dana Palmer Attendance Board Members: John Scheer, Brodi Cole, Dana Palmer, Scotte Rappe, Rich Anselmo, Stephen Rynkiewicz Non-Board Members: Marjorie Isaacson and Brian Thompson Membership: Ideas were discussed regarding recruitment of new members. According to John Scheer, Greg Nagel is working on a welcome letter for all new EVA members. Rich Anselmo agreed to speak with a representative from Hoosier Mama Pie Co. regarding the possibility of donating pies for sampling at the next membership meeting as an incentive for existing and new members to come. Rich Anselmo also suggested the possiblity of a postcard to distribute to East Village residents regarding EVA and directing them to check out the website. The Winchester/Billy Loumbardias: Discussion was circulated regarding changes made to the previous proposal. Changes included more sound proofing, raised chimney, no PPA license at this time, exhaust system using u...