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...

A Lego birdhouse model of St. Boniface Church at Chestnut and Noble, by Kuklinski + Rappe Architects. Artists and architects designed birdhouses are now being displayed at Alliance Bakery , City Soles , Stitch and other Wicker Park businesses. They'll be auctioned June 6 in a fundraising auction for A.N. Pritzker School , 2009 W. Schiller St. The pocket aviaries, no larger than 20 by 20 by 48 inches, were created for the group Friends of Pritzker , which is trying to raise $40,000 to build a preschool and kindergarten playground. See all the entries here . They'll be auctioned at a mixer from 6 till 10 p.m. at the studio of painter Wesley Kimler , 2046 W. Carroll Ave. The reception includes drinks and appetizers. Tickets are $25; $20 in advance. The craft fundraiser reflects the project's creative bent. Playbround plans call for painting easels and a stage as well as the more conventional swings, slide and sandbox. In a separate fund-raiser this weekend, the west end of th...

50 neighbors crowded the Happy Village bar for a presentation on plans for the Winchester restaurant, 1924 W. Chicago. Planning, Preservation & Development Committee report by Scott A. Rappe 1924/1916 West Chicago Avenue After a presentation by the landlord and tenant of the proposed Winchester restaurant at the last monthly meeting, a motion was made to not oppose the requested zoning change from RT-4 to B3-2 for the 1924 portion of the property. The motion passed by a vote of 17 to 9, subject to a number of contingencies regarding the construction and operation of the restaurant: The restaurant shall not include a roof deck. The outdoor café shall close no later than 11:00 pm, regardless of whether the sidewalk café permit allows a later closure. The café shall have a permitted, and actual, capacity of no greater than forty four (44) people. Exterior doors opening onto the sidewalk shall close no later than 11 p.m. The Winchester shall employ an off-duty thirteenth dist...

Membership meeting minutes for May 4, 2009 Submitted by Dana Palmer Guest speaker Bill Loumbardias, along with attorney Lisa Moreno, presented a proposal for The Winchester restaurant located at 1924 W. Chicago. Mr. Loumbardias and Mrs. Moreno provided a revised proposal regarding neighborhood concerns raised at the previous March 2009 membership meeting . Among the concerns were noise, parking, garbage removal and storage, ventilation and the seeking of a Public Place of Amusement license: Noise: Many concerns were raised regarding the noise level of The Winchester due to the large capacity of seating, outdoor seating and drunken nuisances. Capacity: It was previously assessed that The Winchester would seat approximately 290 occupants. However, the new proposal assessed 190 indoor seats with 50 outdoor seats. Outdoor seating: Mr. Loumbardias stated that in the new proposal most outdoor seating will be directed towards Chicago Ave. versus the previous proposal having a large por...

May 12, 2009 Alderman Manny Flores 2058 North Western Avenue Chicago, Illinois 60647 Re: RT-4/B3-2 Split Zoning 1900-1916 West Chicago Avenue Dear Alderman Flores: As communicated in a previous letter, the EVA membership voted to approve the requested zoning change for the 1924 W. Chicago Avenue parcel only. A separate vote was taken on the 1916 W. Chicago Avenue property because there was a consensus that each property should be evaluated on its own merits. It is worth mentioning that the general membership clearly validated this position by opposing the zoning change on 1916 by a vote of 19 to 8. Similarly, in regards to the other 'split-zoned' parcels on this block of Chicago Avenue, we would like to retain the ability to review and approve zoning changes on a lot-by-lot basis. Thus, we respectfully request that you not pre-emptively change the zoning on the remaining split-zoned parcels. We are aware that this creates an additional burden on the property owners, but there a...

By Greg Nagel Banks and businesses must turn over unclaimed property to the state Treasurer’s Office if they are unable to locate the rightful owner after five years. The laws that govern this activity are called escheat or unclaimed-property laws. From my previous life in Corporate America I recall how common it was for companies to not issue checks for credits on accounts, but rather simply turn over this money to the state. Also, there was situations where payroll money also got turned over to the state when an employee's contact info became stale. Nearly every state has a website to look up your name to see if you can claim any of that money. In Illinois this site is subtitled Cash Dash . Simply go to this site, type your name and search. If the state has unclaimed funds in your name, you'll have to fill out a short form , get it notarized, and mail it to the state. I collected a whopping $68 for myself. I hope you find your pot of gold!