South Lakeview Neighbors

Next Meeting: Tuesday, February 14, 2012

sstern — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 20:10:10 +0000

MEETING AT A GLANCE
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Location: Basement – St.Alphonsus Church
1429 W. Wellington
Agenda: Coffee @ 7:00 PM. Meeting begins @ 7:30 PM.

“By coincidence, our regular February meeting falls on Valentine’s Day this year, a once in seven years occurrence more or less. While most of our members may be a bit beyond the age of romantic love (should I speak for myself?), we must be solicitous of those who play into the hands of the flowers-and-chocolates-industries. So we have scheduled a type of “political speed dating” for the meeting: a forum between the two candidates for 32nd ward Democratic committeeman: Ald. Scott Waguespack (the challenger) and County Commissioner John Fritchey (the incumbent). You get to decide whom you want a second date with. And to show that we are truly equal opportunity, we’ve asked the unopposed Republican candidate John Curry to add his 2 cents worth.” — David Duggan, SLN President

Also at the meeting, the Alderman or a representative from the Alderman’s office will explain the recently passed redistricting as a result of the 2010 Census.

What’s happened since the last meeting in November? Check the newsletter.

Tagged: Curry, Fritchey, remap, Waugespack

Ward Remap Passed

sstern — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 22:08:36 +0000

The City Council passed the ward remap today. You can read the ordinance and view the official map on the PDF attached here. According to the Tribune, “The eight aldermen who voted no: Ald. Robert Fioretti, 2^nd; Ald. Roderick Sawyer, 6^th; Ald. Michael Zalewski, 23^rd; Ald. Michael Chandler, 24^th; Ald. Rey Colon, 35^th; Ald. Nicholas Sposato, 36^th; Ald. Scott Waguespack, 32^nd; Ald. John Arena, 45^th. Ald. Toni Foulkes, 15^th, was absent.”

Update 4 (Fri, 7:15AM): The Tribune has published a map that compares old and new boundaries and a story describing how the map came to be. South Lakeview Neighbors remains in the 32nd ward.

Update 5 (Friday afternoon): Alderman Waugespack’s office has confirmed that the Tribune map is correct and that the text description of the ward (published yesterday) is incorrect.

Update 3 (Thurs, 5:04PM): I just called Ald. Waugespack’s office. They’re doing some digging and will get back to me. As soon as I have authoritative word from the alderman, I’ll post it here.

Update 2: According to this map from WBEZ, SLN is still in the 32nd ward.

Update 1: See Mia’s comment — Ald. Waugespack’s office says we are still in 32, they think.

Tagged: 32nd Ward, remap, Waugespack

Next Meeting: Tuesday, December 13, 2011

sstern — Sun, 04 Dec 2011 18:16:37 +0000

Holiday Party

Will’s Northwoods Inn
3030 N. Racine
6:30 PM 0 8:30 PM

Cocktails & Appetizers
More cocktails & appetizers
Liquor Basket Raffle
Spilt the Pot Raffle

FREE for all dues paying members, family, friends, advertisers and those wishing to join SLN.

Those attending the Party are asked to bring a canned food donation or cash/check contribution for the Lakeview Food Pantry located at St. Alphonsus and serving the residents in our immediate neighborhood.

What happened at the last meeting?

Congressman Mike Quigley came to SLN for a more in depth talk on Washington D.C happenings.
Commissioner John Fritchey talked about the Cook County budget, combining the County Clerk and Recorder of Deeds offices, and plans to save money and free up to 80,000 hours of police resources by making 10 grams or less of marijuana a ticketable offense.
Friends of Burley School presented plans for a new community park.
The membership voted on whether the City should provide reserved, on-street parking for Zip Cars.

The next membership meeting will be February 14, 2012 at St. Alphonsus.

For more information, check the newsletter.

Tagged: Burley, Fritchey, Holiday Party, Parking, Playground, Quigley, Zip Car

Community Park at Burley Elementary School

sstern — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 12:37:02 +0000

The Burley Elementary School community invites you to a discussion and unveiling of plans for a state-of-the-art Community Park at Burley Elementary School: a multi-purpose green space designed to benefit all ages and areas of the community, including a turf athletic field, running track, new basketball court, playground and greening initiative.

Your project support and enthusiasm will make this dream a reality for students and neighbors to enjoy. The park will be funded by a combination of public funds, grants, corporate gifts and private donations.

Please download the flyer to see plans for the park.

Tuesday, December 6th at 7pm
Burley Elementary School
1630 W. Barry
Refreshments will be served.

Tagged: Burley, Parks

Next Meeting: Tuesday, December 13

sstern — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 20:25:27 +0000

SLN HOLIDAY PARTY December 13

Graciously hosted by Will’s Northwoods Inn at 3030 N. Racine. SLN will be collecting food items for the Lakeveiw Pantry at the Holiday Party.

Be sure to try Will’s Northwoods Inn new and improved Wisconsin Friday Night Fish Fry. A Wisconsin tradition in Lakeview.

Thanks to everyone who’s signed up to receive the newsletter and meeting announcements via email.

Tagged: Holiday Party

Next Meeting: Tuesday, November 8, 2011

sstern — Sun, 30 Oct 2011 18:55:58 +0000

MEETING AT A GLANCE

November 8, 2011
Location: Basement – St.Alphonsus Church
1429 W. Wellington
Agenda: Coffee @ 7:00 PM. Meeting begins @ 7:30 PM.

U.S. Congressman Mike Quigley
Mr. Quigley will give us a full-blown report from Washington D.C. on the war, political gridlock, budget deficits, job creation and unemployment among other topics.
Cook County Commissioner John Fritchey
Frequent visitor to SLN meetings, Mr. Fritchey will unveil his call for a New Marijuana Policy of ticketing for possession making practical and economic sense among other Cook County issues. As many of the SLN members were teenagers during the late 60’s and early 70’s, this should be a topic of interest.
Friends of Burley – Playground surface
Friends of Burley (Burley School) is a non-profit 501(c)3 organization focused on raising funds for various projects for the Burley School. The Friends will present plans to convert the old paved play space at Burley to a new community park and playground including an artificial turf athletic and play field, a soft running track, new basketball court, landscaping and more.
Zip Car Parking – Lakewood & Wellington
There will be a discussion and a vote on the issue of private businesses being allocated public parking spaces to conduct for-profit business. This issue has arisen as a result of a parking spot on Lakewood being allocated to the ZipCar venture without neighborhood input. The SLN Board has been communicating with the Alderman’s office on this issue. The immediate area will be flyered and there will be a VOTE.

What happened at the last meeting? Check the newsletter.

Tagged: Burley, Fritchey, Parking, Playground, Quigley, Zip Car

CPD Districts 19 (Belmont) and 23 (Town Hall) to merge

sstern — Sat, 15 Oct 2011 17:23:18 +0000

From Lt. John Willner, CPD

Hello,
By now I am sure that you have heard the news reports that indicate the 19th district police station will be closing. Since the announcement I have received many calls and emails asking questions about what will happen next, when the district will close, how the services we currently provide will be impacted and many other individual issues about manpower, response times and beat meetings.

Simply put, at this time I am unable to answer any of these questions. Ultimately, all of the concerns noted above in addition to many others will need to be planned for and addressed prior to making any changes.

Any large scale change in an organization such as this obviously takes some time to properly plan for and then accomplish. At this time the only information that I have is essentially the information that was released in the news media for the upcoming city budget meetings as they relate to the police department’s budget:

Following the restructure, the Department will consist of three Area commands: North, Central and South, and the Wood (13th), Belmont (19th) and Prairie (21st) Districts will be consolidated as follows: Wood (13th) will be consolidated with the Monroe (12th) District; Belmont (19th) will be consolidated with the Town Hall (23rd) District; and Prairie (21st) will be consolidated with the Central (1st) and Wentworth (2nd) Districts.

I will continue to update you as information is made available to me.

Thanks,
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

Tagged: CAPS, police, public safety

Property Tax Workshop for Taxpayers in Lakeview Township

sstern — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 01:01:34 +0000

A message from Commissioner John Fritchey:

Nobody wants to pay more in taxes than they are supposed to. If your property taxes are too high, you have every right to appeal them. Lakeview Township will soon open for appeals with the Cook County Board of Review, providing taxpayers in the township an opportunity to file an appeal of their taxes.

To help you with this process, I, and Cook County Board of Review Commissioner Michael Cabonargi, will be hosting an appeals workshop to answer any questions you may have and to assist you with filing an appeal. Details are as follows:

When: Thursday, October 20, 6:00-8:00pm
Where: Saint Luke, 1500 West Belmont Ave
What: Representatives from the Board of Review will explain the appeals process, answer questions and assist taxpayers in filing their appeals.

**Please remember to bring your most recent property tax bill**

For more information, please call Bridget
at 773-871-4000 or e-mail bridget@fritchey.com

Understanding Your Property Tax Bill

It’s that time of year again…property tax bills are making their way into your mailboxes. Because many of you may have seen the assessed value of your home go down, you might feel a sense of sticker shock when your property tax bill has increased. Or maybe your assessment stayed the same, but your bill grew sharply.

As a way to help my constituents understand why this might be happening, I want to provide this property tax overview to answer some questions you may have.

Taxing districts – from schools and parks to libraries and cities – need money to operate. They get this money from property taxes.

Generally speaking, from one year to the next, tax levies will remain the same regardless of changes in property values. Taxing districts still need money to cover their bills even though home values in the area may have gone down (the same holds true if home values increase).

If my property value assessment went down,
why are my property taxes going up?

An assessment is basically an estimate of what a piece of property is worth. This valuation of the property helps decide what part of the local property tax levy will be billed to the property – basically, it helps the Clerk figure out who pays what. But remember, your assessment is only part of the overall equation…

Tax rates are calculated by using the amount of dollars levied by the taxing district, the value of all taxable property located within its boundaries, and a state-issued equalization factor.

There are two main reasons your property taxes
may have gone up this year:

1. The major City of Chicago taxing districts have asked for a 3.4% increase in property tax revenue – going from $2.001 billion last year to $2.118 billion this year. Much of the overall increase is due to the Chicago Board of Education asking for a $117 million dollar increase in funding. To put it in simple terms, if the whole pie gets bigger, so may your slice…

2. The Alternative Homeowners Exemption (also known as the 7% Homeowner’s Exemption), is decreasing per state law and will be fully phased out in 2 years. As the temporary exemption is phased out, the relief provided by it gets smaller.

Tagged: appeal, Cook County, Fritchey, Lakeview Township, property tax

Next Meeting – Tuesday, October 11

sstern — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 01:24:51 +0000

MEETING AT A GLANCE
October 11, 2011
Location: Basement – St.Alphonsus Church
1429 W. Wellington
Agenda:

7:00PM : Coffee & Cookies
7:30PM : Meeting

State Rep. Ann Williams
www.everyblock.com

State Rep. Ann Willams
This will be Ms. Wiliams first visit to SLN since her appearance prior to her election last year. She will bring us the good news from Springfield for one and all to hear. Welcome.

WWW.everyblock.com
This is a website that collects 22 types of news in Chicago including crime, media mentions, neighborhood activities, real estate listings, and others. A representative will make a presentation on the use of this website

What happened at the September meeting? It’s in the newsletter.

Tagged: Anne Williams, Everyblock, neighborhood activities, state rep

Hookah Lounge: SLN President responds to Roscoe View Journal article

sstern — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 20:09:22 +0000

One fact that few people know about me is that before I went to law school, I was a working stiff journalist (Medill, MSJ ‘73), and I spent a fair part of my life attending various meetings. So I was a bit surprised, even dismayed when I saw the headline on the Roscoe View Journal’s article about the meeting at which South Lakeview Neighbors discussed, then voted on a “special use” permit for a hookah lounge: “Proposed Hookah Lounge Meets Ethnic Prejudice at SLVN Meeting.” I wasn’t sure that Mr. Fourcher and I had been at the same meeting.