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Events & Announcements

4th Annual GWCA scholarship award recipient announced

Your GWCA memberships provide for a $1,ooo college scholarship to a graduating LVHS senior. We’re pleased to announce the 2018 Scholarship will be awarded on June 6th to Erika Cedillo.  You may have met her when she volunteered and helped with GWCA Community Events..

Erika Cedillo is a dedicated and responsible young woman who has demonstrated her commitment to community service during her four years at Lake View High School. She has been a valued member of on campus clubs such as Freshman Family and Mentoring (FFAM), the Ambassadors Club, and Key Club. In addition to school service, Erika has volunteered with organizations that help to raise money for children in Ecuador by participating in folkoric dances.  Her love for helping others will continue with her goals and aspirations of one day becoming a registered nurse and continuing her service to the community in the healthcare industry.

We’re honored to be able to provide this scholarship to Erika and we congratulate her and wish her well.

 

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Events & Announcements

GWCA Green Roof Presentation & Demonstration – Mon, June 11, 7 pm, Rizal

Curious about Green Roofs, including DIY?

Do you own or live in a building with a flat roof or a flat-roof garage?

Does your business have a flat roof?


GWCA is having its Quarterly Community Meeting (short) followed by a fun and informative Green Roof Presentation and Demonstration   Food too as we always celebrate Summer Solstice at our June meeting.  Our Green Roof Meeting is a continuation of 40 years of Green and Environmental neighborhood efforts.  Learn how to save our endangered rusty patched bumblebee and other pollinators too.

See you at the Rizal Community Center, 1332 Irving Park on Monday, June 11 at 7 pm.  All are welcome.

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Events & Announcements

Last chance to be in June 2nd GWCA Annual Yard / Garage Sale 9 am – 4 pm

Email mnehring@yahoo.com to participate. Sign up deadline is Wed, May 23rd.

Free to GWCA member households.  If you aren’t a member yet, you can join and waive the $10 non-member household fee.

You can sell from your yard, parkway, garage, parking pad or residence.  If you want selling space, we have that available at no extra charge.

 

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Events & Announcements

Paid Summer Internship at Alderman Pawar’s Office

We are seeking an undergraduate ($11/hr) or graduate level ($12/hr) student who has completed at least one semester or quarter of college during the spring of 2018 in an accredited program and must be able to show proof of Chicago residency at the time of hire. If a senior in college, an acceptance letter for a graduate school or law school must be provided.

The 10-week 35-hour per week internship runs from June 4 to August 10.

Past internship projects have included census data analysis, ward tree & infrastructure surveys, brochure creation, topical research and report writing, newsletter articles and of course handling constituent issues at our front desk. The student should be competent in Excel & Word as well as using the internet for research.

A statement of interest and resume may be sent to Ernie Constantino at ernie@chicago47.org. Deadline May 7.

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Events & Announcements

Our neighborhood bee is on the endangered species list. You can help

The Rusty Patched Bumble Bee is our neighborhood bee.  You can help Rusty by planting favored plants, trees and shrubs.  Here’s a link to the plant list:  https://www.fws.gov/midwest/endangered/insects/rpbb/plants.html

You can even use some of these plants in a green roof.  Avoid pesticide use too. Bee Smart!  Learn about Green Roofs at our GWCA Meeting on Monday, June 11, 7 pm at Rizal.  Food too.


 

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Events & Announcements

LVHS Construction Update

GWCA leaders have both attended and held dedicated community meetings about the $20M Improvements coming to LVHS.  Many neighbors have attended.  Noise complaints, especially because the project is exempt from city noise ordinances so work can continue until 11 pm, are coming in and being communicated to Alderman Pawar’s office and LVHS.  Contractors have made some modifications to reduce noise, though Greenview neighbors especially have expressed that even with modifications children can’t sleep in their rooms at night with construction going on.  Here is an update from Alderman Pawar’s office.

To follow up with some additional information, steps are being taken to reduce noise impacts at these early and late hours and crews are rushing to complete this grinding/tuckpointing work as soon as possible.  They will maneuver the high lifts in circles, where possible, instead of backing up to avoid the loud beeping in reverse late at night.  Crews are working two shifts to get this work completed on the east side of the building ASAP and LVHS is working hard to help accommodate additional work during the day by shifting classrooms around to allow more work to be completed while classes are in session.  At night, crews will be primarily cleaning up instead of grinding/sawing/drilling.  There is no evening work currently scheduled for tomorrow or next Thursday and contractors are working quickly in hopes of completing this phase (grinding/tuckpointing on east wall) within the next 2-3 weeks.  Once this work is complete, crews will shift to working on the outdoor areas with the goal of completing this work before classes resume in the fall… and the loud work is expected to be performed during the day.  Thanks,
Brad Gregorka

 

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Events & Announcements

GWCA Quarterly Mtg. Green Roof Presentation – June 11th, 7 pm at Rizal

The Graceland West neighborhood has an abundance of flat roofs on schools, businesses, gas stations, a car wash, large and small apartment buildings, condos, single family homes and garages.   If you own, rent, manage a neighborhood property or business or are a realtor, please attend our Green Roof presentation and demonstration on June 11th.

Green Roofs help reduce the urban “heat island” effect, can include plants that attract and support pollinators, are beautiful and absorb some stormwater (helping with neighborhood flooding and reducing the amount of stormwater that needs to be handled by sewers or treated).

Lightweight Green Roof panels now come in thicknesses of 2.5″, 4.24″, 6″ and 8″ so a wide variety of needs can be met. Installations can range from DYI to professional.  Let’s green our roofs!

The short GWCA Meeting and semi-annual elections will be followed by the Green Roof Presentation and Demonstration.  Please join us on June 2nd.

 

 

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Events & Announcements

Neighbors, please vote for Lake View HS LSC Candidates Thursday 6 AM – 7 PM

I’ve asked all LVHS LSC candidates to submit their information to GWCA.  Please use LVHS door #6 on Ashland to vote.  This letter is from Arnold Davis and Mary Lubben.  GWCA Council Members have been working with them both since their elections to the LVHS LSC.  Arnold was elected to the LVHS LSC in 2014 and has been Vice Chair for 2 years.  From 2010 – 2014 he was on the Nettlehorst LSC and was Chair for 3 years.  Lubben Was elected to the LVHS LSC in 2016 and has been Budget Chair for 2 years.  She was elected to the Ravenswood LSC from 2008 – 2016 and served 8 years as Budget Chair.  Here is Arnold’s letter.

“Dear friends and neighbors –

For the last four years I have worked to make Lake View High School Chicago’s premier neighborhood high school and put an end to the selective enrollment madness  I am asking for your vote so I can continue this important work as a community member of the school’s Local School Council.

Voting is this Thursday, April 19, at the school (4015 N. Ashland) between 6 am and 7 pm.  It should only take a few minutes.  If you live within the boundaries of the map below or have children at the school, you are eligible to vote.

As a result of our work, opportunities have been created for students across Chicago, with roughly 50% of next year’s freshman coming from the neighborhood and the rest from schools across the city.  Over 80% of last year’s graduates planned to enroll in college.  This year students have been accepted to schools such as the University of Michigan and Middlebury.  Once completed, the new park facilities outside the school will be a magnet for families for many years to come. You can read more about our accomplishments in the flyer below.

None of this would be possible without the school’s highly effective Local School Council.  Each voter gets five votes to spread among two community and six parent representatives.  I am running with Mary Lubben, who is the Budget Chair, to be your community representatives. I also encourage you to vote for the Council’s Chair, Peggy Herrington, and Secretary, Amy O’Rourke.  The other parent members of the board, Ana Breen, Eddie Daugherty, Phil English also do an excellent job and I encourage you to vote for one of them.

Thank you for your support”.

Arnold Davis

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Events & Announcements

Jim Poole, Alderman Pawar’s Chief of Staff to join NAMI as Director

Dear Neighbor,

Today, I’m sharing bittersweet news for all of us at the 47th Ward Public Service Office. In the coming weeks, Jim Poole will be leaving his position as Chief of Staff and taking on the role of Director of Resources and Referrals at the National Alliance of Mental Illness Chicago (NAMI Chicago). In addition to working to reduce stigma around mental illness and working with families to support loved ones with mental illness, NAMI Chicago is on the leading edge of providing crisis intervention training to the Chicago Police Department (CPD) and served on the Chicago Police Accountability Task Force. I know Jim will make important contributions to all of NAMI’s work and establish himself as a rising leader in the mental health community.

 

Jim and I have been working together since 2009 when we both started graduate school at the University Of Chicago School of Social Service Administration. Jim was one of the top students. I was not! Jim was interested in all things radical. I was not. But Jim jumped at the chance to partner on an aldermanic campaign to take on the Chicago machine. So together with Jim and Charna, we started knocking on doors. You know the rest of the campaign story. But here’s one fun fact: Jim graduated from SSA in two years and it took me until 2016, a full seven years.

 

After taking office, Jim has helped push initiatives and see them through from concept to implementation. Some notable highlights include: helping to manage the growth of GROW47, developing and implementing the 47th ward participatory budgeting process, coordinating capital infrastructure projects, and working on legislation. Some examples of Jim’s legislative talents include: crafting the Chicago Towing Bill of Rights, the Chicago Fair Trade Ordinance, and the forthcoming legislation creating the Office of Labor Standards. Jim was also a key player in passing the Chicago Earned Sick Time Ordinance.

 

More locally, Jim has led on efforts to build new affordable housing in our community and he has an encyclopedic knowledge of nearly every service issue that has crossed his desk.

 

Most of all, Jim is a kind, caring, and empathetic human being. He cares about good government and our community. So before Jim goes, he and I are working on one final project. When we took office in 2011, we had to start a ward office from scratch. So we vowed to ensure a smooth, honest, and seamless transition for whoever comes after us, no matter their politics. As you know, I am not running again and to prepare our office for next year’s transition, Jim has been spending time setting up the transition. Like all things with Jim, he always leaves things better than he found them.

 

Jim: thank you for your service. You will be missed. I also want to extend a bigger thanks to Jim’s wife, Betzi. Thanks for lending Jim to us for many long days, evenings, weekends and beyond. And thank you for your unwavering support of our office and community. Oh, and one final thing: Go Louisville! (Jim and Betzi are graduated from the University of Kentuky, and were members of the marching band.)

 

Next Chief

Brad Gregorka will be taking over as my new Chief of Staff. Over the last four years, Brad has been managing our office’s transportation policy planning, aldermanic menu, and various service related issues. Brad has one of the most important jobs in politics: the closer. As we plan to transition our office over the next year, Brad will be working closely with me and the community to advance and close-out community projects. I hope that you will join me in congratulating Brad.

 

And finally, I will leave you with one of Jim’s most memorable quotes. We have a quote wall in our office where we’ve documented the funniest, oddest, and most interesting quotes from our team and people around the city. My favorite is a Jim Poole classic. “If you fart once, they forever call you stinky”.

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Events & Announcements

Job Announcement: 47th Ward Constituent Services Liaison

47th Ward, www.chicago47.org

JOB ANNOUNCEMENT

Constituent Services Liaison

47th Ward Public Service Office Alderman Ameya Pawar City of Chicago

Salary Range: $40-47K plus benefits

Full-time (9AM-5PM): 85% at Ward Office (4243 N Lincoln, 60618)/15% at City Hall, off-site meetings, or in the field; some weekday evenings and weekend days are requested (time can be flexed)

Duties:

▪ Serve as an aide to Ald. Ameya Pawar. The position will focus primarily on constituent service work, but can also include other interests and draw from specialized skill sets (e.g. urban planning, community organizing, project management, GIS).

▪ Act as a liaison between residents and city departments (Streets and San, CDOT, etc.) as well as sister agencies (CTA, CPS, etc.) to solve problems and provide quality city services. This includes responding to emails, answering phone calls, and addressing residents and businesses that visit in person.

▪ Assist with managing public projects around the ward and coordinating various initiatives of the office.


To Qualify:

▪ Seeking an individual who is energetic, professional, compassionate, and committed to serving all constituents of the 47th Ward and the City of Chicago.

▪ Comfortable working in a fast-paced environment and organizing a high volume of requests as a member of a small team.

▪ Customer service experience and an interest in transportation-related issues are desired.

▪ Ability to establish and maintain effective working relationships with elected officials, city employees, representatives from community groups and other agencies, and the public.

▪ Basic proficiency with Microsoft applications (Word, Excel, PowerPoint etc.), Adobe Reader, and Google Maps and StreetView.

▪ Must be a resident of the City of Chicago.

*To apply, submit a cover letter and resume to info@chicago47.org by 11:59PM on Sunday, April 15.

 

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