Sept. 1983 The first Newsletter appears, a handwritten two-pager called The No-Name Neighborhood News. July 1984 The big issue – open fire hydrants. No showers possible on hot days. April 1985 EVA testifies at city zoning hearing against drive-ins and fast food at Division and Ashland. We are told we are “lucky any developer wants to come to our neighborhood.” July 1986 Lead article thanked the police beat rep for taking care of a long-standing problem – chickens being raised in a neighbor’s apartment. Feb. 1988 “Face-to-face with a slumlord” – EVA members take a field trip to picket at the Hoffman Estate residence of an absentee owner of a problem property. Through 1990 Cut-Rite Liquors often in the EVA headlines. August 1990 EVA publishes details of complaints with then-Alderman Luis Gutierrez, which are then happily resolved and a stronger relationship forged. June 1991 In violation of their own ordinances, the City paves the sidewalk...

The East Village Association (EVA) was officially established as a nonprofit organization in 1982. It was created from a partnership between a block club that had been active for many years and a group of new residents who had recently moved to the area. The common bond was an appreciation of our neighborhood as a good place to live. Our charter states that we seek to maintain our diverse community while making it a cleaner and safer. In the past year, here are some of the ways we’ve worked toward this goal. · We have monthly meetings that provide a forum for representing and discussing issues. · We meet regularly with our alderman. · We’ve picked up trash during neighborhood clean-ups and removed graffiti from alleys during our paint-outs. And after three years of negotiations, we convinced the City to establish a weekly street sweeping schedule for Ashland Avenue, and made sure the police enforced the “No Parking” restrictions. We’ve also planted trees and continue to sponsor Frankie...

EVA president Mary Szpur convened the meeting about 6:30 p.m. at Happy Village Tavern. Also attending: Brian Thompson, Marjorie Isaacson, Scott Rappe, Roman Sundaralingam, Greg Nagel, Stephen Rynkiewicz, Mark Lawton (Wicker Park Booster). Newsletter/website John Sekowski bought the Web address eastvillagechicago.org , and Stephen Rynkiewicz built a prototype site at evachicago.blogspot.com to which board members can contribute. Planning and development commitee Mary proposed reviving the committee to give EVA a voice in development matters. Scott Rappe founded an EVA planning and development committee 10 years ago; it continued with other leaders but was disbanded a few years ago when landmarking had become a contentious issue. Rappe said the committee reviewed zoning changes, variances, special uses and liquor licenses. It worked with aldermen and city planners and established a fair and predictable process that gave residents notice of issues in time to affect the outcome. The Leona...

by M. Isaacson If you are a public transport user, I know you’ve noticed the deterioration of service – a sorry situation indeed. The Center for Neighborhood Technology* is launching a campaign to address the mass transit funding crisis in Northeastern Illinois. If you’re not a public transport user, you should still be interested in this issue – every person who uses public transportation makes the roads less congested and the air cleaner for everyone else. Reprinted from the CNT Update: CNT Launches Campaign to Improve Mass Transit If you’re frustrated with service on the CTA, Metra, or Pace, it’s time to take action! CNT is proud to announce the Transit Future Campaign. Recent funding by our state government has left our transit system with severely limited operating budgets and without the means to make crucial improvements to the system. To bring about real change in mass transit funding, CNT is launching a campaign of grassroots advocacy aimed at the Illinois General Assemb...

John and Carolina would like to announce the birth of their daughter Cecilia. She was born December 29, 2006, weighed 9 lbs. 5 oz, and 20 inches in length. Her hobbies including eating, sleeping, waking-up, looking around at everything, and strolling to pastry shops. Former EVA President Aaron Bilton and wife Amy welcomed daughter Carina Rose Bilton to the East Village neighborhood on January 31, 2007. Carina weighed 6 lbs 9 oz at birth, and she is doing very well. In fact, she attended her first Cubs game recently with Dad, and she managed to last all 14 innings!

by Mary Szpur First, I would like to thank Aaron Bilton for serving as EVA President for the last two years. His legacy comprises the hard work of keeping a community group functioning, but also, on a more exciting level—the strides he and others have made toward establishing a new library within East Village boundaries. Apparently, this wondrous event is a real possibility, and Aaron will continue to work on this project and keep us apprised. Thanks, Aaron. Thanks also to the other outgoing EVA officers: Vice President Adam Marton, Treasurer Ronda Locke (congratulations on her newly born baby), and Secretary Julie Rudloff. Thanks to Michael Furlong for serving as newsletter editor. Michael has recently married and moved to Ukrainian Village. Kudos to the new EVA officers, who have agreed to volunteer their time to work on civic matters of import to all of us: Vice President Brian Thompson (new to the group, and willing to serve), Treasurer Julie Rudloff, and Secretary John Sek...

by Mary Szpur My partner and I have started to become interested in birds. We have discovered that even in an urban environment, you can see a good variety of winged creatures, if you just pay attention. We took a stroll to Humboldt Park on a beautiful warm Saturday in April and walked around the marshes and lagoons. Below is a list of what we saw; had we brought our binoculars, we probably would have seen more. I would love to know what birds people here spot in their back yards and at the local green spaces. Red-crowned kinglet Wood duck Mallard duck American coot Northern flicker (probably) Red-winged Blackbird

East Village Association Board Meeting Minutes 6 PM April 3, 2007, Happy Village Tavern No business conducted. Quorum not met. East Village Association General Membership Meeting Minutes 7 PM April 3, 2007, Happy Village Tavern Members present: 24 Non-members present: 0 Announcements: CAPS Meetings announced Cook County Board of Review is open until April 19th to file a complaint regarding property assessments. You should have already received your tax assessment in the mail. A rule of thumb is that your assessment should be approximately 10% of purchase price. There are always individual exceptions. Please compare your individual assessment to like properties near yours as a guideline. April 1st begins Street Cleaning. Please check the signs. Post office customer advisory council. If you are interested in participating there are forms available at the 1st Ward’s office. Contact Chris. Old Business Guinness Oyster Fest will not be coming back this summer. They ran into confli...