Michael VanDam East Village Association board minutes for March 13, 2017, by Daniel Navarro Board updates: New president Michael VanDam looking for more board members, meeting location. Options include West Town Bakery, Lincoln Bathhouse, Ask Nagel Realty. General meeting would stay at Happy Village. Planning update: Honore-Augusta upzone sought to add floor area; 925 N. Damen Ave. special use and variation for 4-story 3-flat condos. Membership agenda: Ald. Ameya Pawar, a candidate for governor , confirmed as April 3 speaker, according to Peter Gariepy. Earth Day cleanup, Aeslin Pup Hub business minute; membership committee formation. New business: Polish Triangle working with architect on schematic designs and project pricing. Tom Tomek to send high-resolution EVA logo to Brian Foote. Stephen Rynkiewicz will be on security committee ; Anne Shaw looking to become liaiaon, more involved with safety and EVA. VanDam to reach out. Eckhart Park Spring Swing May 12. Meeitn...

The East Village Association has asked 1st Ward Ald. Proco Joe Moreno to support creation of a citywide college preparatory program in foreign languages at Wells Community Academy High School, 936 N. Ashland Ave. President Michael VanDam sent Moreno this statement on March 10: "I am writing on behalf of the East Village Association to express our strong support for the selection of Wells High School as the charter location for the proposed World Language Academy currently under consideration. "After hearing from Principal Raichoudhuri at our meeting on March 6, 2017, the members of EVA voted unanimously to express support for this initiative. "We believe that the Language Academy would be an excellent complement to their current Computer Science and Law Academies, and that Principal Raichoudhuri, as one of the primary driving forces behind the Language Academy pilot program, is uniquely qualified to ensure its success. "We also wanted to express our than...

A packed Feb. 6 community meeting prompted a joint response from neighborhood groups. Organizers of the West Town Public Safety Committee thank the neighbors who came to the initial March 4 meeting in the Goldblatt's Building, 1625 W. Chicago Ave. It was an outstanding meeting with all attendees providing insights on their interest and how they thought they could assist our community and the Chicago Police Department in reducing crime. Among initiatives discussed were development of an app that could be downloaded by neighbors and would push out alerts of suspicious person, crimes, etc. Things like this are possible when you have a theoretical physicist and a technology company professional in the room. One volunteer, who could not attend but sent a letter, is a Guardian Angel and wants to help organize "citizen patrols" in the area. Other participants have connections to elected officials and will use those relationships to lobby for passage of appropriate legi...

Wells Community Academy High School principal Rituparna Raichoudhuri East Village Association minutes for March 6, 2017, by Daniel Navarro Officer Elections President - Michael VanDam Vice President - Daniel Navarro Treasurer - Peter Gariepy Secretary - Michelle Hayward Call for nominations from the floor - no such nominations. Call to vote - all approved. Stephen Rynkiewicz appointed webmaster/newsletter editor. Discussion with Principal Rita Raichoudhuri of Wells High School Progress on World Language Academy at Wells: Several elementary school teach foreign language, but there is no high school college-prep program for language. Initial thought was to a new building as a language academy; this was changed to moving it towards an existing facility. Wells has improved to a level 2+, close to a level 1. Wells needs students, as more students = more funds. The language academy would assist in bringing more students. Parents vote at end of March to pursue a pilot progra...