We had our first meeting in our new location at St. Helen’s School cafeteria this week. Thanks to Principal Marianne Johnson for offering their space for our monthly meetings!

Paul from the 32nd Ward office also joined us for this meeting

• Recap of our meeting with the 32nd Ward Alderman Scott Waugespack last week
   
  • 1st Ward Aldermanic Aide Rudi DeJesus attended to represent the 1st Ward at that meeting
  • Topic for discussion was the progress on the installation of a stoplight at Chicago & Hoyne (near Dominick’s)
  • History
    • Studies were done as far back as 2009 with recommendations to install a light
    • Intersection sits in both Wards so Aldermen would have to agree to split the total
    • Cost to install: about $325k
  • Status
    • Per Alderman Waugespack the 32nd ward has committed menu funds to this project as part of the 2011 budget
    • Since CDOT is only working on 2009 menu items, not sure when it will be done
    • The stoplights are also in the CDOT queue, but there is no way to tell where it’s at in the queue
  • Suggestions to help move it along
    • The 32nd Ward Alderman will be meeting to the new CDOT Comissioner (Gabe Klein) about prioritizing this project in the CDOT queue
    • The two wards have agreed to split the cost using menu funds
    • Contact the state rep for our area and see if there some funds available there (like were used fore the recent sideway re-paving project)
    • Related issue to the Stoplight
      • How do we get accident information for that intersection? Paul from the 32nd Ward office said his office would look into the FOIA queue for that

• Landmark Enforcement Update
  • We need to get an updated report of landmark violations
  • Who should be notified?
    • You can notify the UVNA (info@unva.org or president@uvna.org)
    • Notify the aldermans’s office
    • First step is to get out the building inspector
    • They’ll inspect (and will do so more quickly if it is a landmark’s issue)
    • A stopwork order will be issued if warranted
    • Then the landmarks commission will be brought in
  • We will create a form on the UVNA website to report and track landmark violations
• Other neighborhood code-enforcement updates
  • Reviewed issues of pavers in the parkway at Leavitt & Iowa
    • 32nd ward is following up
  • Review issue of illegal curb cuts at 952 N. Hoyne St
    • They have no driveway permit
    • They have been cited(?)
    • 32nd ward will follow-up
• Longstanding issue of the lack 0f recycle bins in our area was brought up
  • Since both the previous and current mayor want to privatize this service,  it is basically on hold
• Update on restriping bike lanes on Augusta and Damen
  • The 32 Ward (of which Ukrainian Village is only a part) allocated 30k last year and 40k this year. Can’t say where/when the lanes will be restriped within the ward. The projects are divided into Tier 1, Tier 2, and Tier 3 projects
• One resident asked if there were any traffic-calming proposals (street lights or medians) for the Hoyne & Division intersection
  • The 32nd ward office replied that they can make an inquiry to CDOT who will reply with what may or may not be warranted at the intersection

NEIGHBORHOOD ALERT: As discussed in last month’s meeting, there have been some daytime burglaries in our area.  Some neighbors have reported seeing a gray Honda Pilot parked around the area, perhaps casing the buildings.

• Pleas keep an eye out and remember to always call 911 if you see something suspicious
• We post a feed from everyblock.com to our website in the Community Resources section that lists out all the recent criminal activity in Ukrainian Village in the last few days.  You can also go to their site and sign up from email updates as well.