Moreno supports moratorium repeal, tax increase

By -

Plans to revive the Club Foot bar have fallen apart, but 1st Ward Ald. Proco Joe Moreno said he would support lifting a tavern license moratorium at the Augusta Boulevard site.

"I am very seriously considering lifting all moratoriums in East Village because they are old ways of dealing with protections in our city," he told EVA members Sept. 14.

Moreno also said he'd support a $500 million property tax increase to balance the Chicago budget. He noted that his proposal for a city tax on smokeless tobacco would need a new state law, and claimed that tax increment financing has been abused, although he'd keep the 1st Ward's TIF district.

Ed Marszewski, Club Foot's prospective new owner, did not attend the meeting. But Moreno said Marszewski couldn't get a lease at 1824 W. Augusta Blvd.

Members discussed the prospect anyway. Supporters of Marszewski's Golden Arms plan said EVA should be more flexibile on side-street zoning. Neighbor Caroline Garypie said she gathered 38 opposing signatures within a block of the bar.

Moreno's staff asked Marszewski in May to approach EVA. Marszewski wanted to lift the moratorium and roll back residential zoning on Augusta. EVA's board advised him instead to ask neighbors to support transferring the Club Foot license, a "grandfathered" zoning use.

"The East Village Association leadership has got to go through a big change for me to start recognizing," Moreno told EVA members. "I like a lot of what the membership are saying here tonight because for too long a cadre of nine or 10 people have been trying to control this neighborhood. It's not going to happen under me."

EVA members last year agreed to lift a Chicago Avenue moratorium to allow the pending Forbidden Root brewpub, 1742-50 W. Chicago Ave.

In the night's only vote, members agreed to let a 33-unit apartment project proceed at 1062-1100 N. Ashland. Developer Mark Sutherland told the group the East Village Lofts would require residential upzoning and extension of the city's transit-oriented development zones.

Anselmo @properties business card,
Ask Nagel business card.

Popular posts from this blog

Crime puts La Spata on the spot

By -
Image
Ald. Daniel La Spata (1st Ward) speaks to East Village Association members June 13, 2022. Weekend gunfire turned a scheduled meeting with Ald. Daniel LaSpata into an hourlong discussion of public safety. Residents pressed the alderman on police response to calls and his own response to violent crime. The June 13 meeting was streamed on EVA's Facebook page . La Spata stated that the number of aggravated batteries and carjackings had fallen in East Village's two beats but a rise of robberies had been "frustrating." In weekly calls with 12th District Cmdr. Beth Giltmier, La Spata said he pushed for Chicago Avenue foot patrols. Residents asked if more street cameras would be installed in the ward, noting that early morning shots fired on their block two days before had no police response for more than an hour. La Spata said cameras were funded from the ward's discretionary "menu money" but he would not commit to funding cameras without consulting Giltmi...
Read more

Ald. Villegas gets to know East Village

By -
Image
36th Ward Ald. Gilbert Villegas meets East Vlllage Association members Sept. 12, 2022 at Roots Pizza. East Village Association membership meeting Sept. 12, 2022, at Roots Pizza, 1924 W. Chicago Ave. Presiding: Dan Johnson, director East Village again is split in Chicago's City Council redistricting. Ald. Gilbert Villegas introduced himself to East Village Association members Sept. 12. In turn, members sounded him out on how he works with community groups on neighborhood issues. The remap pushes Villegas' 36th Ward boundaries east along Grand Avenue from Belmont Cragin into East Village. A West Town satellite office at 2246 W. Chicago Ave. is staffed Tuesday through Thursday. "I ran in 2019 under an acronym that I still use today, which is PEACE—Public Safety, Education Accountability, City Services and Economic Development," Villegas told EVA members before taking questions. "I'm not an alderman that's about defunding the police. I'm an alderma...
Read more