Catherine Garypie is a resident of the East Village, a member of EVA and an environmental attorney. She will give a short presentation at the 7pm Sept. 9 EVA meeting in the Happy Village, 1059 N. Wolcott Ave. By Catherine Garypie Express bus lanes along Ashland Avenue will not be built without an environmental analysis: It’s a requirement for federal funding. Here’s how the Bus Rapid Transit project will proceed and how you can participate. The Department of Transportation Federal Transit Administration defines a BRT as “an enhanced bus system that operates on bus lanes or other transitways in order to combine the flexibility of buses with the efficiency of rail.” BRTs are up and running both in the United States and elsewhere. Chicago has one BRT currently operating: the Jeffrey Jump . Launched on Nov. 12, 2012, the Jeffery Jump J14 service runs from 103rd Street to Metra’s Ogilvie and Union Stations. Chicago is also developing a “Central Loop” BRT: bus-only lanes along Washingt...

East Village Association board minutes for August 19, 2013 Submitted by Meghan Quinn Upcoming speakers Neal McKnight will ask Catherine Garypie to speak in September about how to approach the BRT Environmental Impact Assessment. For October, we should ask the new LaSalle II principal. Ashland BRT The board discussed what stance should be taken, if any, on the Ashland Bus Rapid Transit. If there were an eventual vote, the Planning, Preservation & Development committee would make a recommendation in advance. However, we cannot take a stance at this point due to lack of information. Some questions we still would like answers to are: Will there be a new line item in the budget? Can road dollars be used? CTA mentioned the Loop BRT as an upcoming example to look at, but there are one-way streets and no parking in those locations, making it a very different situation and hard to compare to the conditions on Ashland. One of the crucial issues that will need to be addressed to gain s...

By Jason Nosek Chicago History Book Club Please join us on Tuesday, Sept. 3 to discuss " The Chicago River : A Natural and Unnatural History" by Libby Hill. The Chicago History Book Club meets at 6:30pm at the West Town Branch, 1625 W. Chicago Ave. The club explores the City’s history through reading and discussing books on events, themes, time periods and personalities that have contributed to making Chicago what it is today. If you cannot join us this time, please stop by the branch pick-up our next book " Fort Dearborn : A Novel" by Jerry Crimmins and join us to discuss it on Tuesday, Oct. 1. Film Screening: 'Al Otro Lado' (To the Other Side) Please join us in celebrating National Hispanic Heritage Month by attending a free screening of 'Al Otro Lado' at 6pm Thursday, Sept. 5. The proud Mexican tradition of corrido music – captured in the performances of Mexican band Los Tigres del Norte and the late Chalino Sanchez – provides both heartb...

East Village Association membership meeting minutes, Aug. 5, 2013 Submitted by Meghan Quinn Guest Speaker: Congressman Mike Quigley Mike Quigley stopped by to talk about his work representing Illinois’ 5th Congressional District. He pointed out that there are approximately 750,000 people in his district, which covers a wide geographical area, and includes Old Town as well as Hinsdale. He touched on the well-known legacy of the 5th district, and infamy of a few of its past representatives, namely Dan Rostenkowski and Rod Blagojevich. Quigley has proposed smart policies to crack down on corruption and increase government transparency. He introduced the State Ethics Law Protection Act with Sen. Mark Kirk to target pay-to-play politics. Quigley supports issues such as environmental protection, equal rights, and ethical, open government. According to Quigley's website , during his time on the Cook County Board of Commissioners, Quigley sponsored every piece of major environmental le...

West Town Crime: July 2013 Crime in the West Town community was down across the board in July, according to police figures. The East Village Association analyzed statistics downloaded from the City of Chicago Data Portal and published on the Chicago Tribune Crime in Chicago website, comparing them to 2012.   July 2013 July 2012 % Change YTD 2013 YTD 2012 % Change Homicide 0 1 -100% 5 5 0% Sexual Assault 4 6 -33% 15 16 -6% Assault 5 17 -71% 46 57 -19% Battery 13 9 44% 71 78 -9% Robbery 37 51 -27% 184 236 -22% Violent Crime 59 84 -30% 321 392 -18% Burglary 82 87 -6% 433 440 -2% Theft 229 319 -28% 1,397 1,685 -17% Motor Vehicle Theft 33 83 -60% 312 369 -15% Arson 0 0 0% 5 4 25% Property Crime 344 ...

Western Park, 907 N. Western Ave. By Ronda Locke Four local playgrounds are scheduled for renovation next year, Ald. Proco Joe Moreno announced Thursday. Monticello (1814 N. Monticello), Snowberry (1855 W. Huron), Superior (2101 W. Superior) and Western (907 N. Western) playlots were selected. "Our communities made a superior case to the Chicago Plays! program, which is run by Friends of the Parks," Moreno said. "The commitment and enthusiasm of our community was clear to the Chicago Park District and Friends of the Parks." The Commercial Park Advisory Council helps to oversee three local playlots: Honore, Superior and Snowberry. We applied for three grants offered up by Chicago Park District and helped facilitated by Friends of the Parks. We received a note about a month or so ago among some 50 granted across the city, all three of our requests were granted. We are still waiting for details, but per the alderman, we understand that he is willing to kick in and...

Rep. Mike Quigley ( Chicago Tribune photo ) As the U.S. House of Representatives heads toward its August recess this weekend, Rep. Mike Quigley has set the Happy Village as an early stop on his return to the 5th Congressional District. Quigley says he will attend Monday's 7pm East Village Association meeting at 1059 N. Wolcott Ave. Quigley will speak for 15 minutes and answer questions. In recent weeks, the House Appropriations Committee member fought to restore a $190 million cut from Asian carp control and Great Lakes cleanup , fund community policing and roll back an increase for the B61 nuclear bomb . He also pushed for reduced nuclear stockpiles and increased firearms tracking and National Security Agency oversight . The Aug. 5 EVA meeting will also continue discussion of the Ashland Bus Rapid Transit plan. Joe Iacobucci, the Chicago Transit Authority's planning and policy manager, has agreed to attend. Neal McKnight and Scott Rappe of EVA met with CTA and Chicago ...