To print a copy of this flyer, click here.
May 14, 2018 By
Secretary of State Mobile Drivers Services Facility – June 5, 2018
May 13, 2018 By
Chicago Police Memorial Foundation – “Run to Remember” – 18th District Team Bauer wins the Superintendent’s Cup
Congratulations to the “18th District Team Bauer” who won the Superintendent’s Cup at the 14th Annual Run to Remember on Saturday May 5. Team Bauer alone had nearly 500 registered runners and walkers. What a lovely tribute to our beloved Commander Paul Bauer. The community rallied around our 18th District to show support and appreciation. Officer Yolanda Ortiz was the Captain of the winning team. Great job Officer Ortiz!
Thousands of people showed up Saturday morning to run and walk in honor of fallen and injured Chicago police officers. Commander Paul Bauer’s widow Erin and daughter Grace kicked off the race. The weather couldn’t have been better. The race started at Gold Star Families Memorial and Park at 1410 S. Museum Campus and proceeded South winding back along the lakefront. It was a perfect day!
River North residents, let’s make this a time honored tradition and mark our calendars for next year.
May 13, 2018 By
Chicago River Day – Thanks to all who participated in the Ward Park Clean-up!
To celebrate Chicago River Day, River North Residents Association (RNRA) and the Chicago Rotary Club partnered with Friends of the Chicago River to clean-up Ward Park on Saturday, May 12.
Thank you to all our volunteers who came out despite the rain and cold. The park looks great!
Our clean & beautiful Ward Park
May 12, 2018 By
Grand Avenue Streetlight Upgrade Completed as part of Citywide Smart Lighting Modernization Program
(Smart Lighting Fixture Close-up)
Alderman Reilly is happy to announce that the Chicago Department of Transportation (CDOT) has recently completed an upgrade to the streetlights along Grand Avenue, spanning nearly the entire width of the 42nd Ward, as part of the City’s Smart Lighting Modernization Program.
The new lights will produce a soft white light and consume 50-75 percent less electricity than traditional High Pressure Sodium (HPS) lights which produce orange light, generating significant electricity cost savings that will offset the cost of the modernization. LED fixtures also last two-to-three times longer than HPS lights. LED lights provide better nighttime visibility, and the LED light fixtures selected by the City are “full cut-off,” meaning they are designed to project light downward where it is needed on streets and sidewalks, not into the night sky or nearby properties.
The modernization program will replace over 270,000 of Chicago’s street, alley and viaduct lights with high-quality LED fixtures during its four-year timeframe. Chicago is also installing a citywide lighting management system for the new LED lights. When it becomes operational later this year, the system will alert the City when lights need service; however, residents are asked to continue calling 311 to report inoperative street lights.
The City expects to cut its streetlight electricity costs by more than half through the modernization, yielding savings of approximately $100 million over 10 years. In addition, through ComEd’s energy efficiency incentive efforts, the City will earn ComEd rebates that subsidize the cost of converting outdated HPS lights to LED technology. These rebates are projected to total $35 million.
To date, more than 42,000 new streetlight fixtures have been installed. Streetlight fixture replacements in the first year have been focused in South and West Side neighborhoods with heightened public safety concerns, providing more reliable lighting. By the end of this summer, the new lights will be installed on more than a dozen major arterial routes across the city. The scope of this program does not include ornamental fixtures or previously installed white light fixtures.
The program was procured by the Chicago Infrastructure Trust (CIT) in coordination with CDOT and the Department of Innovation and Technology (DOIT). The CIT is dedicated to assisting the City in executing large-scale and complex public projects efficiently and economically.
To learn more, click here to read the full press release. Chicagoans can also track the progress of the program at chicagosmartlighting.org.
Source: Reilly Reports 5/11/18
May 11, 2018 By
New Public Art Sculpture, Upright, Unveiled in River North! Clement Meadmore Sculpture at Hubbard 221
Earlier this week, Alderman Reilly joined representatives from Hubbard Street Group, Centrum Realty and Development, Rosenthal Fine Art, The Clement Meadmore Foundation, River North Residents Association and River North Business Association for the formal unveiling of UPRIGHT (2002), a sculpture by the late Clement Meadmore that was recently installed in the public plaza at the corner of Hubbard and Wells in River North.
Meadmore was an Australian-American artist known for creating massive outdoor steel sculptures – many incorporating elements of minimalism and abstract expressionism. The 11-foot-tall sculpture “UPRIGHT” is a single, rectangular volume repeatedly twisting and turning upon itself before lunging into space, as in a mood of aspiration or exhilaration, or simply to release physical forces held in tension.
Sculpture:
Meadmore Upright, 2000
Garden Scale Sculpture, 4/4 (last multiple in an edition of 4).
Dimensions: 11 “5” x 3’ 5” x 4’ 5” (approx)
Material: Aluminum plate (1/4” thick), painted black w/flat polyurethane.
Meadmore’s works fuse the elements of Abstract Expressionism and Minimalism, including their formal clarity, their basis in geometry, their preference for smooth, uninflected surfaces, and, above all, in their penchant for single, unitary forms. His sculptures express ideas and feelings beyond the minimalist analytics of an idea developed in advance. Instead his compositions were arrived at intuitively.
May 11, 2018 By
108 New Police Officers (including 24 within 42nd Ward Police Districts) and New Police Car Technology Hitting the Street
Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson recently announced two significant investments in the crime fight – 108 new police officers and five new patrol vehicles equipped with License Plate Reader Technology aimed at stopping carjackings and recovering stolen vehicles.
108 new officers hitting the street
The 108 new police officers are now deployed to their first district assignments, with eight officers assigned to each police district within the 42nd Ward: 1st (Central), 12th (Near West), and 18th (Near North).
During their six-months of training at the Police Academy, recruits learned all applicable laws and protocols for being a Chicago Police Officer. In addition to physical training, they received instruction in procedural justice, crisis intervention and de-escalation, use of force, community building and critical thinking. Recruits also received cultural awareness training at the DuSable Museum of African American History and the Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center. This was followed by three months of field training, during which officers are paired with Field Training Officers for hands-on guidance during their first in-the-field months.
Two thirds of the newly assigned officers identify as minority. The Chicago Police Department (CPD)’s ongoing “Be the Change” recruitment campaign, reflects the belief that this new generation of police officers will lay the groundwork for a more diverse department, and be future leaders who define how police support, protect, and work together with Chicago’s communities. The next police entry exam will take place on May 5th at McCormick Place.
Since the Mayor and CPD launched its aggressive hiring plan, the Department has had a net increase of 1,037 sworn personnel compared to January 1, 2017, including accounting for all retirements, attrition, and promotions that occurred throughout 2017 and into 2018. The City is on track to meet the Mayor’s plan for hiring an additional 1,000 officers by the end of 2018.
To read the full press release, click here.
More tools to stop carjackings
CPD has also expanded the use of License Plate Recognition (LPR) technology. Five new patrol vehicles have been equipped with LPR readers, aimed at stopping auto thefts, carjackings, and recovering stolen vehicles. Automated LPR technology helps officers quickly identify stolen cars, return vehicles to the rightful owner and apprehend offenders.
The City is also harnessing the Department of Finance’s (DOF) vehicle booting operation to feed license plates to the Office of Emergency Management and Communication’s (OEMC) stolen car and other crime databases. DOF booters canvas City streets six days a week, providing over 3,000 license plate reads per boot vehicle, per day. By collaborating with the OEMC, not only are the boot trucks identifying the vehicles that are boot-eligible, but LPR technology allows the City to match license plates against the list of stolen vehicles.
The 26 DOF booter vehicles add to an existing 100 fixed (pole-mounted) and CPD’s mobile LPR cameras. If a vehicle is identified as stolen, CPD is notified by a 911 dispatcher. Since March 2018, DOF booters have identified and reported over 190 hits from the stolen vehicle list to CPD.
This coordinated effort to quickly identify stolen cars through LPR cameras is part of the City’s strategic plan to combat carjacking and car thefts, and invest in technology that raises situational awareness and likelihood of apprehension. As a result, CPD has made 20% more arrests for vehicular hijacking compared to last year.
To read the full press release, click here.
Source: Alderman Reilly Reports 5/4/18
May 7, 2018 By
Burglary Prevention Presentation – Presented by 18th District Community Policing Office
May 3, 2018 By
Maria Pappas: $94 million in property tax refunds available on new website
Cook County property owners can recover $94.1 million in tax overpayments by going to cookcountytreasurer.com.
The money is unclaimed even though since 2009 nearly $544 million in overpayments has been refunded or prevented by the Treasurer’s Office.
Because refund claims often are disputed among different payers, including mortgage companies, banks, buyers and sellers, the application requires proof that the refund applicant paid the taxes.
Pappas has revamped cookcountytreasurer.com so that property owners can now search by address as well as Property Index Number (PIN) and get an instantaneous response for available refunds going back 20 years.
The redesigned site puts key information about your property in a single place. To see if you are entitled to a refund, go to the website:
• Select “Your Property Tax Overview”
• Search by address or by Property Index Number (PIN)
• Look for the results under “Are There Any Overpayments on Your PIN?”
• Complete the online application if you believe you are entitled to a refund
By Illinois law, the total annual payout of refunds that arose before 2009 is capped at $2.5 million. The money available for refund has been distributed to Taxing Districts. If a refund is granted, the Treasurer’s Office recovers the money from the appropriate local government.
Source: Alderman Walter Burnette 3/28/18 Newsletter
