You can still contribute to the forward motion.  Your energy and input is important. You can respond to this email with your intentions or place your comments on our Facebook page

 Hold these dates

 APRIL

Tuesday    April 16     6:30pm      General Meeting

 Saturday  April 20     10:00am    Spring Clean and Green

MAY

Saturday  May 11      10:00am    Beautification Project

We are still working on the following projects. Please let us know how you want to contribute to these efforts.

• Family Movie Nights
• Beautification Program
• Neighborhood Festival
• Holiday Celebration

For example, You can provide support through

• Volunteer hours
• Perennial plant donations
• Pick- up truck access
• Wheelbarrows
• Mulch
• Flyer delivery
• Refreshments

You can use your imagination to think of ways we can help each other make our neighborhood better.

We look forward to working with you.

 They state the move will free up “the equivalent of 44 police officers a day for patrol duties. This is not the same thing as actually adding 44 police officers a day for patrol duties.

MAKE IT HAPPEN !!!!!

CENTRAL AUSTIN NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIATION

Come prepared to work on your ideas and concerns. Our meetings are short and focused on action steps.

6:30PM  to 8:00PM

Tomorrow Tuesday

February 19, 2013

301 N. Mayfield, Third Unitarian Church

6:30 pm to 7:00pm

Calls to Action/Activity Reports

Up to 5 people can each take 5 minutes to present a proposed action or report on their activities in the Austin community. Time permitting, short announcements can be made during this time.

7:00-8:00pm

Scheduled Projects

Discussion of action plans created for previously agreed upon projects. 

                                                                        REALLY ??????

How can you build a solid house if your contractor is setting small fires in the basement?

How can a community continue to find the energy and resources to build and to improve its quality of life when it must expend so much of its limited capital on fixing unnecessary problems created by those entrusted with its safekeeping ?

For years, additional package good stores were prohibited on a stretch of Madison Street until the 29^th ward alderman took action to remove the barrier. Alderman Deborah L. Graham, on September 12, 2012, sponsored an amendment to Section 4-60-023 of the Municipal Code of Chicago to allow additional package goods licenses on Madison Street. See the ordinance in the link that follows.

http://chicago.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=F&ID=2116922&GUID=6077DCC7-5034-44FB-BE55-3B886EDE3487

Convenience for You, operated by Farrah Monroe, submitted an application on December 4, 2012 to the Local Liquor Commissioner, Greg Steadman to operate what can become the second liquor store in the 5300 block of West Madison Street. Austin residents were given notice of this activity in an AustinTalks newsletter. The full article is presented in the following link.

http://austintalks.org/2012/11/new-liquor-store-likely-coming-to-west-madison/

It is difficult to identify positive community benefits from the addition of another liquor store. Much has been written about the harmful impact of liquor stores and particularly a concentration of them. Consider just two examples that follow:

“These locations often harbor drug dealers and street gang members and become a cancer on the community” according to Mayor Rahm Emanuel. Read the whole article, as published in the Sun Times in the following link, where he describes his effort, with the chief of police, to close liquor stores.

http://www.suntimes.com/news/cityhall/11841677-418/rahm-emanuel-says-problem-liquor-stores-a-cancer-proposes-crackdown.html

According to research issued by the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation,” a number of studies have found that in and near neighborhoods where there is a high density of places that sell alcohol, there is a higher rate of violence. That is, when bars, liquor stores, and other businesses that sell alcohol are close together, more assaults and other violent crimes occur.”  Read the statistics in the full paper as published in the link below.

http://resources.prev.org/documents/AlcoholViolenceGruenewald.pdf

We wonder whether the taxes generated by the operation of a package good store offset the known costs to the community such as:

• Making the area less attractive for other major businesses and employers looking for a place to open
• Increasing the volume of garbage collected
• Increasing the demand for police , jail and emergency room services

Residents who live on streets which intersect Madison Street talk about their long, protracted battles with liquor store operators over the negative impact of the stores. Residents spoke of the noise, violence, traffic, filth and loitering. They invested years conducting community meetings with the police, circulating petitions and calling 911. With resignation and frustration, they point to some success a few years ago with the elimination of a liquor store from the corner of Austin and Madison.

On Monday, January 14, 2013, at 2:30PM, we walked in front of the existing liquor store located at 5318 W. Madison, Perfect Food and Liquor. We couldn’t walk in a straight line because of the discarded liquor bottles and cans, along with other trash, strewn about every two to three feet.

Some residents are taking action. They have had to turn their energy away from seeking community economic development and beautification projects to put out this potential fire in their home, their community.

They have sent letters to the Local Liquor Commissioner and asked their neighbors to do the same. They have prepared petitions. They have called Alderman Deborah L. Graham’s office to let her know of their opposition to the addition of another package good store.

More must be done now. We must submit formal objections to the Local Liquor Commissioner by January 19, 2013. You can send in a simple statement of your objection to another liquor license to:

Local Liquor Commissioner

Dept. of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection

Greg Steadman,

121 N. LaSalle St, Rm 805

Chicago, Il 60602

We must continue to let Alderman Deborah L. Graham know of our objections. She could benefit from hearing directly from constituents about their expectations. Action on her part can save the community from having to spend so much of its energy and resources in a protracted battle.

 Come participate in bringing out the beauty in our neighborhood, creating a neighborhood of peace with a greater sense of safety. Make a positive contribution to the revitalization of our community.

WHAT WE BELIEVE DETERMINES HOW WE BEHAVE.

NEXT MEETING

TUESDAY

JANUARY 15

6:30pm to 8:00pm

301 N. Mayfield

THIRD UNITARIAN CHURCH

Your Central Austin Neighborhood Association, CANA, is looking forward to the positive possibilities of the New Year. We are encouraged by the support we received during 2012 from college alumni associations, high school students, large corporations, small companies, and residents like you. 

 Because we joined together and worked on common goals, we were able to make significant, positive changes in our neighborhood last year.  We want to build on our accomplishments and momentum to move ourselves and our community forward.

 Your neighborhood association is asking you to plan ahead to invest a few hours in 2013 to help enrich your community. We are asking you to consider investing 12 hours during the coming year.  You can consider one hour per month or one day for the entire year. Here are  a few examples of what  your investment might be.

Seeing More Beauty    

Call or Join us for the first meeting of 2013

Tuesday    January 15,2013                  6:30-8:00PM

301 N. Mayfield

Third Unitarian Church

RESIDENTS OF THE AREA

CENTRAL TO AUSTIN

MADISON TO LAKE

You Have the Power to Help Take Back Your Neighborhood

• The Chicago Police Department recently concluded a

narcotics enforcement operation targeting violent street gangs in the area of West End to Madison, Central to Austin  in the 15th District.

• In the next few days, the Mayor’s Office and City Departments will be providing additional services in your neighborhood.  But you have a role in helping to support this activity and maintain and sustain this neighborhood in the long-term. 
• Come learn more about this enforcement and service activity and how you can play a part in reclaiming this neighborhood.

When:       Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Time:         6:00 p.m. 

Where:      Rock of Our Salvation Evangelical Free

                   Church, 118 N. Central

For More Information, Contact the 15th District Community Policing Office at (312) 743-1495

We remain excited and encouraged about the possibilities for our neighborhood. We continue to meet neighbors who share our desire for a better community.

We continue to be amazed at the number and type of resources that are available to assist in accomplishing this goal. These potential supporters are looking for evidence of interest, as measured by the number of individuals willing to make themselves available to bring the support to their community.

In our last three meetings, five events/campaigns were selected for consideration for next year.

• Neighborhood Cleaning
• Beautification
• Outdoor Movie Night
• Neighborhood Safety
• Summer Festival

2013 PLANNING

Pursue your interests and step up to make our neighborhood wonderful. We want to start planning now to ensure that there is sufficient time to fit everyone’s schedule. It also allows enough time to identify and solicit support.  By starting months ahead you can complete your work when you have time and not encounter a rush for the last minute.

At the last meeting, we reviewed a sample event planning model, like the one we used for the events this year. The idea is to identify early the many elements, resources, manpower and schedule needed to complete the project in a timely basis as smoothly as possible.

HOLIDAY PARTY

Unfortunately, Third Unitarian Church cannot accommodate the entire CANA community at their annual fundraiser event on Saturday, December 1, 2012.  However Third Unitarian Church  has made their facility available to us for four other dates: Friday, December 14; Saturday, December 15;  Friday, December, 21; and Saturday, December 22.

If you are interested in planning a party for one of those dates, please contact a neighbor or 2, as well as Serethea. She will collect feedback. and assess the level of interest.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO ALL

We had a full day the started with a group Tai Chi demonstration and exercise thanks to Jerry White

Group Tai Chi was followed by a Salsa demonstration and then a Tango Demonstration.

Thank you Valerie Wright for arranging for the Salsa and Tango dancers.

We had two live DJs led by neighbor Doug Herlihy of the 300 block of  North Mayfield. Doug’s flat bed of professional quality speakers and amps rocked the block all day. Thanks Doug for your support.

We had lots of events for the kids that included Basketball and Table Tennis. Smitty brought out a huge Chess Board that was in constant use by the many Chess Enthusiasts in the neighborhood!

We had many many beautiful faces painted by Wadeane Jackson and her son Theo. Theo also created works of art with balloons for the kids.

Special thanks to all the many neighbors and friends who brought out equipment and food.

Thank you Ms Tabb for the beautiful signs and posters created by your grands with your help I’m sure!

In addition to our Block Party, Third Unitarian Church coordinated a free community Health Faire at the same time so that we could send participants between events. This was great! Thanks Ms Minor and Ms Roberta and all of our friends at Third Church.  Thanks for the pictures and video Allen.  It was great to see the Boulanger’s at our event as well!

Thanks for all the donations from Ms Scott, Ms Velma, Tracie, Ms Beulah White, The Marshall’s, Ms Clayton, Val Jennings, Barbara Minor, Ruth

Thanks Marvin and Lizette Marshall for all the logistics support and your amazing pick-up truck!

We want to especially thank Judge Maryanne Jackson who supplied the much of the food and then stood all day and served us. Thank you also for donating the collection of Beanie Babies for prizes for the kids. Thank you so much!

Hats off to a Real Man — Joe Hardy who did the grilling. Joe is also a member and participant of the excellent “Real Men Cook” organization. Thanks Joe and Bea and your sons.

Thank you Robert Sykes for loaning the grill. It cooks excellent food or was it Joe?

Thank you Smitty for bringing out the basketball goal and the Chess board. Both were hits with kids and adults. Also thanks for helping with the food serving along with others.

We were paid a visit by our Alderman Deborah Graham and her staff member Victoria in what we think was their seventh block party of the day!

We were also happy to have our new Police Commander Barbara West stop by as well. Thank you for the great job so far that includes getting officers out of the cars and on foot patrols through parts of our community. We are starting to see a difference.

We also had State Rep Camille Lilly stop by as well.  Could that be her below executing a perfect dance step?

Thanks to the Anderson’s at the corner of Mason and West End for supplying power to the sound systems throughout the day. We appreciate that and all the other support you give our community.

To our friends at BUILD, thank you for coming out and supporting our community through your work with our youth. We enjoyed the art demonstrations and engagement with our youth.

A final heart felt thank you for all those that helped that I missed or did not name personally. My memory is like a steel trap …. rusted shut.

And oh Yes Thanks to my lovely wife Serethea who’s tireless planning and coordination made this event possible.  Let’s continue to build community everyone!

Just some of the events are listed below:

Group Tai Chi

Acrobat Team

Tango Dancing Demonstration

Live DJ

Basketball and Ping Pong

Face Painting

Games and Prizes

Music and More

Food and Refreshments

First Annual Block Party - July 21, 2012