Earth Day Projects in our Neighborhood
- Bucktown Community Organization - 9am clean up of Ehrler Playlot Park; located at 2230 W. Cortland - between Leavitt and Wilmot. Organizer Steve Jensen 773.677.6023; steve.jensen@gmail.com
- Churchill Park Planting Project - 9am planting of flowers outside of Churchill Park located at 1825 N. Damen - between Churchill and Bloomingdale Avenue. Organizer and plant supplier Sam Marts. Bring your own gloves and shovels if you have them! This is an informal activity.
- Kendall College - clean up activity scheduled. Kendall College is located at 900 N. North Branch Trail. For more information, contact Kendall College at 312.752.2000
- Ranch Triangle Association - 9am-12pm clean up of Adams Park, Privet Park, and Wisconsin Pocket Park. Contact Ranch Triangle Association for more information. www.ranchtriangle.org
- Roscoe Village Neighbors - hosting a clean up in Roscoe Village; Contact Roscoe Village Neighbors for more information. www.roscoevillage.org
- Wrightwood Neighbors Association - 10am clean up of Jonquil Park; located at 1023 W. Wrightwood, between Sheffield and Lincoln. Contact Wrightwood Neighbors Association for more information. www.wrightwoodneighbors.org
Take of look at this in-depth tour of Goose Island’s Brewery, one of LEED Council’s business members.
goodbeerhunting:
A couple Thursdays ago, I had the unique opportunity to visit Goose Island during working hours for some photo documentation. I’ve been here a few times for hosted events, but never to document the brewery itself. I was psyched to get some extended access. Paul from Chitownontap.com…
LEED Council Videos in the Works
This summer we are celebrating Local Economic and Employment Development (LEED) Councils’ 30th Anniversary. And to celebrate this momentous occasion, we decided to produce three short films about LEED Council. Our Associate Director of Communications and Marketing, Clarisa Ramirez, was zipping around the Clybourn Corridor down to Goose Island and up to Green Exchange via bicycle, bus and taxi with a tripod, camcorder and her equipment during the month of March, shooting b-roll and capturing interviews with board members, business owners and students who work and have worked with LEED Council.
Our objective was to have other people tell our story for us, and for us to use this footage as an educational and marketing tool leading up to our 30th Anniversary Fundraiser. We premiered two of our videos at our recent Hosting Event on April 3 at Sanctuary Music + Aesthetics. Our video 30 Years of Economic Development features interviews with board members Steve Kersten of Water Saver Faucet, Anne Bigane Wilson of Bigane Paving and Brian Benzer of SRAM LLC. 30 Years of Employment Development features Reggie Grant, a former student, current LEED Council board member and founder of the mentoring group 100 Men Standing; Charles Jones of Sanctuary Music + Aesthetics; and Jay Nowak, manager at Rainforest Learning Center. We will be uploading these two five-minue videos to our YouTube account soon. Our third video, which is focused on LEED Council’s history, relationship with the City of Chicago and mission to combine economic and employment development, will premier at our fundraiser on June 21. Stay tuned!
Goose Island Small Business Improvement Fund (SBIF)
Is your small business located in the Goose Island TIF district?
There are currently substantial funds available in the Small Business Improvment Fund for the Goose Island TIF district. SBIF is designed to provide funding assistance for improvements to qualifying small businesses located in designated TIF districts across the city.The fund uses TIF revenues to help owners of commercial and industrial properties repair or remodel their facilities for their own business, or on behalf of tenants. Participants can receive from 25% to 75% reimbursement for improvement costs, with a maximum of $150,000. Examples of eligible improvements include new windows, floors or roofing, truck pointing, HVAC equipment, and the purchasing of adjacent property for building expansion or parking.
To be eligible:
- Have a maximum of 100 full-time employees (industrial)
- Have a maximum of $3.0 million annual sales (commercial)
- Other conditions apply
For more information contact Adam at the LEED Council at adam@leedcouncil.org
Elston Avenue is now going to be a little safer for bicyclists. During our last Infrastructure Task Force meeting, David Smith, Chicago Department of Transportation Bikeways Planner, informed LEED Council members that the Elston Avenue Protected Bike Lane project was launching this month (April). The design for the bike lane from North Avenue to Milwaukee Avenue is illustrated below. The design was completed with both biker’s safety and business’s concerns, regarding parking and access to loading docks and other infrastructure needs in mind. CDOT determined that several locations on the Elston Avenue were under-utilized for on-street parking, so a protected bike lane can be installed without too much disruption of parking. Some location needs, parking or access and those areas will use a more typical, painted and striped bike-lane. This project will also include improved pedestrian crosswalk striping and signage to promote safe crossings on Elston Avenue.
CDOT is still exploring the North Avenue to Cortland Street portion’s feasibility and has not yet developed a design.
Take a look at this video, made by Street Films, featuring Chicago’s first protected bike lane on Kinzie Street.
Today was an emotional day for our Computer Skills graduates. Out of the seven, three gained employment and one cried today during the graduation celebration, saying she was proud of herself for finishing LEED Council’s challenging class, which teaches typing skills and focuses on Microsoft Office 2010. What made this class unique was two of our part time trainers, Angelic Phillips and Kathy Price, taught the class for the first time – and they received accolades from our students for their persistence and dedication to helping the students get the skills they needed from the class.
Vote and Support Preserving Lathrop Homes
Please vote online THIS WEEK to support preserving the Lathrop Homes and SHARE this request with your friends & contacts!
The Chicago Housing Authority (CHA) has a web page — www.thecha.ideascale.com — for the public to comment on how CHA should “Recalibrate” (revise) it’s 1999 Plan for Transformation. The web page will close this Friday, March 30!
Anyone can register on the site, post a comment and vote to agree/disagree with previous comments.
A Lathrop ally has posted a simple comment, headlined “Preserve Lathrop Homes — No Market Rate.” We are asking everyone to “agree” with this comment, along with a post by the Chicago Housing Initiative titled “CHA must lease up its vacant units.”
When you arrive at the web page, click on ”Register” on the top right corner of the page. While you register, the website will send you an e-mail to confirm that the e-mail address you’re using is really yours. Click on this e-mail and it will take you back to the registration process, where you will be asked to create a password.
Registering may be a little tricky, but please be persistent. If the registration process stops after you confirm your password, go back to the main window and click on the “Preserve Lathrop” and “Vacant Units” comments. If your vote is accepted, your registration has been accepted.
— From our friends at Logan Square Neighborhood Association
Our Assistant Economic Development Coordinator, Adam Panza, created this great map of our Workforce Development Service Areas. He also created this map of our Economic Development Service area.
