Chicago City Council voted to approve Mayor Emanuel’s Parking Meter Settlement by a vote of 39 – 11 on Wednesday June 5th..

Alderman  Brendan Reilly was one of the 11 aldermen who voted against the Settlement, because the plan called for extending parking meter hours from 9 PM to 10 PM on 30,000 meters across Chicago and from 9 PM to Midnight at thousands of meters located across downtown Chicago’s 42nd Ward including River North – to offset costs associated with providing so-called “Free Sunday” parking in the outlying neighborhood wards.  Although he opposed the measure, Alderman Reilly recognized Mayor Emanuel, Corporation Counsel Stephen Patton and Chicago’s Chief Financial Officer Lois Scott for their excellent work negotiating the settlement of “true-up” calculations and invoices that will save Chicago taxpayers nearly $1 billion in payments to Chicago Parking Meters, LLC over the next 71 years.

During the debate, the Alderman raised concerns that the extended meter hours will result in yet another revenue windfall for Chicago Parking Meters, LLC, and could have a chilling effect on local businesses across Chicago and throughout the 42nd Ward.

Alderman Reilly appreciates the hundreds of phone calls and emails of encouragement and support he has received over the past month. He remains committed to trying to find a way for the City of Chicago to buy-back this valuable public asset and finally put an end to the disastrous Parking Meter Lease that continues to soak local taxpayers.

Are you up to the River North Challenge?

This amazing journey through River North will challenge you mentally and physically but the prize is worth the effort!

Teams of four will visit challenge stops around River North – they will be directed to a total of four (4) hotel checkpoints to complete Challenges and refresh themselves with complimentary food and beverages. Bonus street stops are there for you to find and win additional challenge points.

At each stop, teams will complete a challenge to earn a passport stamp and challenge points before moving on to the next location. Teams can choose an active challenge, a mental challenge or both to gain more points. At the completion of each challenge you will receive your points, passport stamp and next location card.

Are you ready to celebrate the 2013 Stanley Cup Champions, our Chicago Blackhawks? Parade will begin at 10:30 travelling east from Des Plaines and Washington Street on to Hutchinson Field in Grant Park. For more information on the parade and festivities.

Once again, your RNRA with the Chicago Park District will be hosting six Movies in the Park this summer in A. Montgomery Ward Park. We are looking for some wonderful volunteers for our Park Advisory Council (PAC). If you have some time before and or after the movie, we sure could use your help. Before the movie, we need volunteers to hand out our programs and small bags for litter. After the movie, we need volunteers to do a little clean up to keep our park looking beautiful.

Our first movie is Tuesday, June 18th.

To volunteer, please email us at info@rnrachicago.org. Thank you! See you in the park!

Coming July 19th-21st, the 12th Annual TASTE of RIVER NORTH. Bigger and better with all the flavor of our River North restaurants, artisans and great music thrown in. Want to volunteer? Just a two hour fun filled shift will get you a FREE admission, FREE collectible T-shirt, FREE training party at Castle, and food/drink coupons to enjoy at the best fest in the City.

River North teens who are interested in art and museums are invited to the first Teen Event, planned and hosted by the Art Institute Teen Council, on Saturday, June 8th from 1:00-4 pm in the Ryan Education Center. This event is FREE and open to any teen.

The Art Institute Teen Council, a group of 11 teens from all over Chicago, has planned this event to feature art-marking, food, music, teen performances, and to highlight the Teen Council exhibition, on view in the Ryan Education Center. Teens can drip in any time to participate in the activities and get more infomation about how to get involved in other programs for youth.

This event will hopefully attract a wide range of teens to the museum and to allow their ideas and energy to be visible in the museum and in the Education Center. For more information, www.artic.edu/learn/teens/teen-council.

The Chicago Blues Festival, June 6 – 9, is the largest free blues festival in the world and remains the largest of Chicago’s Music Festivals. During three days on five stages, more than 500,000 blues fans prove that Chicago is the “Blues Capital of the World.”

The headliners for the 30th Annual Chicago Blues Festival include: Shemekia Copeland, Bobby Rush, Irma Thomas, Jimmy Johnson, Otis Clay, The Bar-Kays, Eddie Floyd, Sir Mack Rice and a multigenerational Chicago blues showcase finale featuring James Cotton, Lil’ Ed and Billy Branch, among others, closing the festival on Sunday. Admission is free.

New this year, the festival will open for the first time at the Jay Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park on June 6, and move to Grant Park for the remainder of the weekend. The festival is “Rollin’ Up the River” to celebrate the blues with a musical journey up the Mississippi River. During the great migration from the south in the 1940s and 1950s, the “delta blues” landed in Chicago establishing the genre’s electric guitar sound known as the “Chicago blues” style. The voyage will start in New Orleans, Louisiana, and Mississippi on Friday; then continue on to Memphis, Tennessee, and St. Louis, Missouri, on Saturday; ending in Chicago on Sunday, where the blues electrified the world.

Please call 312.744.3316 or visit www.chicagobluesfestival.us for more information.

Please note the following street closures will be in effect from June 5 to June 10 for the Blues Festival:
Jackson between Michigan and Lake Shore Drive Columbus between Congress and Monroe.

As Lurie Children’s one-year anniversary approaches, please join them for coffee and a tour. They would like to thank the neighbors for the warm welcome to the River North neighborhood.  Please RSVP by Friday, May 31,  to Ken Labok, klabok@luriechildrens.org.  Be sure to include how many people will be attending.

Saturday, June 8, 2013
9 a.m. to 11 a.m.
Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago
225 E. Chicago Avenue
Chicago, IL 60611

Registration will be held on the 2nd Floor
Coffee and donuts generously donated by Glazed and Infused
www.goglazed.com