By Rich Anselmo Alderman Scott Waguespack (32nd Ward) has asked the East Village Association to participate in a "Master Plan/Developer Project." This is a good opportunity to establish a planning and growth path agenda. The project is similar to Ald. Tom Tunney's 44th Ward's Community Directed Development Council. Community group representatives and business leaders met in 2003 to talk about their vision for Lakeview. Groups worked individually the next year on subjects such as residential development, affordable housing, transportation, parks and city services, and their reports in 2005 were the basis for a master plan for the ward. The council continues to advise the alderman on zoning and other issues. The portion of East Village that is in the 32nd Ward is located at the southwest corner of the neighborhood — roughly Augusta, Honore, Chicago, Damen (the 11th precinct). Interested parties should check the 44th Ward's Web page for more on the that ward's c...

President's Message by Mary Szpur I would like to reflect on East Village Association's accomplishments over the last year: Thanks to the efforts of our webmaster Steve Rynkiewicz, EVA has joined the 21st century and has a website! What a great pleasure and immense help it has been to have a constantly updated online website: www.eastvillagechicago.org . Thanks to Marjorie Isaacson for her assistance in helping with the initial setup of the EVA website and for helping set up the evachicago discussion group on Yahoo! Also thanks to her for her help with many EVA issues, this year and for the last 20 years. Thanks to Scott Rappe for his careful analyses of complex architectural, zoning, planning and development issues that the Planning, Preservation, and Development committee he heads dealt with this past year. These included: proposed Walgreens development of the former Pizza Hut site at Division and Ashland (a very important issue EVA is still working on), proposed devel...

In the last year our East Village Association community group has really revitalized and made great progress! We have made a real impact on development in our area, reformed the Planning & Development Committee, grown our membership, created a website and discussion group, and had relevant speakers come to our meetings. We need to keep this momentum going and build on this progress. So in our March 4 meeting we need to elect new officers. Each candidate has written a short biography. Please make sure to come to the meeting and vote. Please remember that only active members can vote on March 4, so please pay your annual membership dues. You can do this online at our website by clicking on the “Join EVA” orange button in the bottom-left corner or by bringing a check to the next meeting. EVA membership dues are $30 business, $20 family, $15 individual or $5 senior. John Scheer, candidate for EVA president My name is John Scheer and I moved to the East Village in 1995. That’s 13 y...

By John Scheer Cook County Commissioner Earlean Collins ( 1st District ) has agreed to come to the March 4 East Village Association general meeting. Collins will present some of the recent activities in the 1st District and countywide. Additional information will be available on Cook County initiatives, and she will inform the audience of activities where they can contribute their support. Commissioners are trying to close a $239 million deficit in the county's $3.2 billion 2008 budget. Information about the committees that Collins chairs and the map of the 1st District can be found on her Web page Please submit your questions and topics of interest for Commissioner Collins to address.

By Brian Thompson and John Scheer, EVA membership committee It is time for EVA members to pay their 2008 dues. EVA members can pay dues online via PayPay or credit card. Simply go to the EVA website (www.eastvillagechicago.org) and click on "Join EVA/Pay EVA Dues" in the lower left corner, then follow the prompts. It is that easy! Paying your dues is important because only members in good standing can vote in the March, 2008 elections. As a reminder, those new members who joined EVA at the August, 2007 BBQ are already paid up for 2008.

By Aaron Bilton For the past several months, the effort to bring a new library to the West Town neighborhood has been in a holding pattern. We have been waiting for the city to enter into an agreement to purchase the AAA Distributing Co. building, 1830 W. Chicago Ave. Throughout we have been receiving updates, mostly stating that negotiations were continuing but they would still have to get the money to go forward. Late last fall, the City Council passed a property tax increase, part of which was to be for new libraries. We were informed that the West Town library was high on the list of proposed libraries. After the increase passed, the updates changed slightly but basically stayed along the lines of “negotiations are continuing.” That was true until recently. Due to the inability to reach an acceptable purchase price, along with an opening at another location, the city has broken off negotiations with the owners of the AAA building. The new plan is to locate the West Town branch ...