40th Ward Townhall Meeting Summary

This is a brief summary of issues that were covered last night, 11 April, at the State of the 40th Ward Townhall Meeting held at Hayt Elementary School.

Present were:

Patrick O'Connor, 40th Ward Alderman

Michael Wick, Chicago Police Commander

The Ward Superintendent

Representative of Buildings

The meeting began promptly at 7:00 P.M. with a crime report from Police Commander, Michael Wick. There has been an increase in criminal activity at the intersection of Granville and Hoyne, where juveniles have been observed congregating and committing offenses such as vandalism and theft of contents inside parked cars (i.e. GPS, stereos,etc.) Also, residents mentioned the problem of a certain motorist who has been seen stopping his car, at Granville and Ravenswood, and dumping food for pigeons roosting underneath the Metra tracks. The police have a license plate number and are continuing to identify the person, or persons, responsible for the mess. After about 15 minutes, the floor was handed over to Alderman O'Connor, who reported that city crews will soon begin the task of filling - in the numerous potholes in our ward. Also, as of April 1st, street cleaning begins. The crossing guard at the corner of Granville and Ravenswood has been removed because, according to Alderman O'Connor, the city is trying to save money and the considerable distance of the school, Hayt Elementary, makes a crossing guard unnecessary. "Everything right now is about money," O'Connor told me at the end of the townhall meeting. O'Connor also reiterated the problems created by the pigeons roosting in the Metra underpass, and those responsible for feeding them. The alderman stated that Metra plans to rebuild its network of tracks and underpasses. Another topic covered: Community gardens and, specifically, the rooftop garden and beehive at the restaurant, Uncommon Ground. Also on the agenda: Plans to convert a portion of Rosehill Cemetery into, in O'Connor's words, "A mini - Morton Arboretum." The Alderman also mentioned the new Walgreens that will be located at Clark and Catalpa, in Andersonville. As well as the lack of funds available to replace the Edgewater Hospital structure with a mixed - use builiding, that will include a park, retail space and residential units. Jackie