Eco-Tip | By Scott A. Rappe  Have you ever wondered how much stuff you throw away? For years I wanted to measure our household waste stream. My opportunity finally came when Santa brought me a small spring-balance weighing scale. It took a lot of persistence, but I found the effort very enlightening. Here’s a breakdown: Trash discarded by my family of four, during 2009 (1,800 pounds total) First, I was amazed by how much paper we accumulated. Beyond an occasional Sunday newspaper and typical food packaging, the bulk of it was junk mail — 600 pounds of junk mail! The next number that struck me was glass. No pretenses here: With two kids and two stressful professional lives, we drink a lot of wine. The plastic number is a bit misleading. While the weight (47 pounds) was almost equal to that of the metal (43 pounds) I would bet that the volume was at least 100 times larger, so diverting it from landfills is really important. But while metal is recycled, plastic is only dow...

By Marjorie Isaacson  By now you should have received a U.S. Census form in the mail. If you thought it was a piece of junk mail, think again. The consequences of not acting are expensive, and you'll pay these costs in taxes. There is a big ad campaign going on designed to encourage the public to fill out and return the forms promptly. The cost for this outreach was $130 million, which sounded like a lot to me. But this sum pales in comparison to the costs of following up on the forms that aren't returned, estimated at $56 a household, as much as $1.5 billion. According to the Census, those least likely to return forms are undocumented immigrants, Hispanics, young adults, city dwellers and residents displaced by foreclosures. For cities, getting an accurate count is crucially important because the statistics help determine funding for government services. Census statistics are also published and free for anyone who wants to use them. It's a wealth of information for all kin...

President's Message | By Greg Nagel  This spring brings transformation to East Village, but also many reassuring constants. First, I want to take a moment to acknowledge the contribution of the East Village Association's outgoing two-term president, John Scheer. I served as John's vice president for two years and was always impressed with his diplomacy and ability to form consensus among the group. I'm going to strive to emulate John that way. John did a great job and I think we owe him gratitude for his dedication and contribution to our community. As I'm sure you have heard, Mayor Daley has appointed a new 1st Ward alderman , Joe Moreno. Some of you might be familiar with Joe from 2008, when he ran unsuccessfully for Illinois' 2nd District seat as state senator. There were eight challengers for the state senate and all of them lost to their incumbents. I got a chance to talk with Joe after his appointment as alderman. "I will be looking to the comm...

Proco “Joe” Moreno will be sworn in April 14 as the new 1st Ward alderman. A 14-year resident of the ward, Moreno is vice president of Buhl Press Inc. , a printing company in west suburban Berkeley. He is a leader in the Metropolitan Leadership Institute of the United Neighborhood Organization, a Latino nonprofit group that works with city agencies. UNO has political ties to Mayor Daley, who appointed Moreno alderman on Monday. “He has proven over the years that he can work effectively with the diverse communities of the 1st Ward,” Daley said in a City Hall press conference . Raymond Valadez, chief of staff for Ald. Manuel Flores and a candidate to replace him, will stay on as Moreno's chief of staff. Flores left the 1st Ward post in January to chair the Illinois Commerce Commission. Moreno, 37, has served as a member of the Jose de Diego local school council and on the board of the Humboldt Park Social Services agency. Moreno also lost in a run for the state Senate in 2008. ...

Chicago plants thousands of trees a year, but few in East Village. The April 5 meeting of the East Village Association will dig deeper into the reasons for that, and explore how to make the neighborhood a greener place. Guests in this run-up to Arbor Day will include Mark Duntemann, whose Chicago company Natural Path is a consultant on urban forestry management. The meeting starts at 7 p.m. in the Happy Village, 1059 N. Wolcott. Bringing more trees to East Village is one of EVA's goals for the year, and an agenda item leaders plan to press on the new 1st Ward alderman. As the original sponsor of the Frankie Machine Garden at Wood and Haddon, EVA has a long track record on urban greening. This year EVA is trying to revive a stalled 1990s city plan to beautify Augusta Boulevard, which lacks much of the landscaping associated with the city's boulevard system. The project would have constructed sidewalk bumpouts as bookends to street parking. Since then city agencies have expanded...

East Village Association members will continue to meet on the first Monday of the month. The new board members find the early date fits their schedule, and members have come out for nearly two years of regular 7 p.m. Monday meetings in the Happy Village game room at Wolcott and Thomas. Fourth of July or election dates often bumped EVA meetings off the calendar when the date was set as the first Tuesday, as set in the bylaws. The EVA board would reschedule those meetings, even though the postal service could never guarantee prompt notice of the change. This year's board is proposing that the first sentence of Article X of the bylaws be amended to read: "General meetings shall be held monthly and shall be open to the public." That would allow the board to schedule the meeting time, date and place, and use e-mail and this website to spread the word on schedule changes. The new language will be debated at the Monday, April 5 meeting, and members will vote on the proposal May...

Minutes for March 8, 2010 board meeting Submitted by Dana Palmer Attendance Board Members: Greg Nagel, Brodi Cole, Nicole Semple, Neal McKnight, Dana Palmer, Rich Anselmo, Scott Rappe, Stephen Rynkiewicz and Steve Crane Non-Board Members: Marjorie Isaacson The president from East Village Neighbors met with the board regarding the possibility of EVN and EVA rejoining as one group, EVA. General consensus from the EVA board was positive and it was agreed that current EVN members would be welcomed into EVA. New EVA President Greg Nagel requested secretary Dana Palmer to not only do general reports from both the monthly membership meeting and board meeting but to also compile a list of “to do's” after each board meeting and e-mail it to the Board members so that everyone knows and is reminded of the tasks they committed themselves to do. Greg Nagel also asked secretary Dana Palmer to draft a letter to be sent to the new alderman's office informing them of the newly elected office...

Minutes for March 1, 2010 membership meeting Submitted by Dana Palmer Meeting Commenced at 7:07 p.m. EVA officer nominations: The nominating committee consisting of Rich Anselmo, Stephen Rynkiewicz and Scott Rappe made nominations for EVA officers. Nominations included Greg Nagel for President, Neal McKnight for vice president, Nicole Semple for treasurer and Dana Palmer for secretary. Stephen Rynkiewicz voiced a motion to strike a vote since no else was running against the nominees. Greg Nagel seconded the motion and a unanimous vote was had to elect all four nominees into office. Treasurers Report: Pay-Pal account is not yet settled. To be discussed at next Board meeting. Planning, Preservation and Development: Scott Rappe raised two topics. The first topic involved an email he received from an East Village resident residing close to the intersection of Thomas and Ashland who had concerns about up-zoning and double lot development in her area. Rappe encouraged letters...

Two new directors joined the East Village Association board in March. President Greg Nagel named East Village Neighbors president Thomas Tomek and former EVA president Aaron Bilton, an EVN co-founder. Bilton and Tomek replace Steven Crane and Rich Anselmo, who served with past president John Scheer. Continuing on the board are Scott Rappe, who now co-chairs the Planning, Preservation and Development committee with vice president Neil McKnight, and newsletter editor and webmaster Stephen Rynkiewicz. Scott A. Rappe - Planning, Preservation & Development Committee Co-Chair/Board Member I came to East Village in 1988, and after spending a year restoring a building on Division Street for my father's office, I bought a burned out four-flat around the corner, on Wolcott. I deconverted the building from four to three units and, after marrying my wife Grace and having children, expanded our living space into a second apartment. I have a small architectural firm on Division Stre...