Edna White garden Easter egg hunt on 3/23

The first spring event at Edna White Community Garden will be an Easter egg hunt on Sat. March 23rd from 10-1.

 10:00 Egg Hunt is for children of all ages with Special Needs
11:30 Egg Hunt all are welcome 

They will have sweets and coffee donated by Beverly Bakery and kid friendly lemonades and cocktails for adults, as well as a photo booth by All That Shimmers & Shine .

A $10 donation to the garden per family is appreciated!

They are seeking donations of plastic eggs and candy/toys that will fit into the eggs.

 

weekend events in the neighborhood

There's lots of good stuff happening this weekend.

99th & Walden block party on Saturday - info here

Live music (Railway Gamblers) at Horse Thief Hollow - info here

95th St. farmers market on Sunday - info here

Summer Solstice Uprising Market and Art Festival on Sunday - info here

Have a great weekend!

Friends of the Major Taylor Trail clean-up for Earth Day - this Saturday

Come out on Saturday 4/22 from 9 am to noon to help us clean up the trail and get things in better shape for the season.

We're meeting on the trail at 111th St. (between Morgan and Aberdeen).

Use this QR code to sign up, or go to the Eventbrite link below.

Eventbrite link

111th St. fun

Coming soon to 111th St. - a Chicago Department of Water Management to replace 1,934 feet of 100 year old water main from Western Avenue to Longwood Drive starting in mid-March.

The street will have lane reductions -  one lane in each direction until further notice.

The official word is that there will 24-hour notice to affected residents before any temporary interruptions to water service. In an emergency situation, there might be less notice.

For more info, call the Department of Water Management Office of Public Affairs at 773-744-7242, the 19th Ward Office at 773-238-8766 or 311.

new business in Morgan Park opening 7/2

Update: here's some news on their grand opening this Saturday 7/2.

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I've heard about a new business opening soon near the 111th St. Metra station. I'm looking forward to trying Laine's Bake Shop. It sounds like a great excuse for a bike ride.

BAPA survey on neighborhood business districts

Have you taken the BAPA survey about our 19th ward business districts?  If not, please do.

Most businesses on 95th and on Western can be reached by bike with a little creative navigation and many can be reached by walking, some of them quite easily. Getting across on 111th to destinations in Mt. Greenwood would be so much easier if we had bike lanes from about Washtenaw to Albany. Speeding drivers are a major problem there. Kedzie is even worse, because too many drivers try to run cyclists off the road there.  Even though Mt. Greenwood businesses there do have bike racks, I won't put them on the list due to the hazard of Mt. Greenwood drivers.

We've got plenty of bike friendly places to eat and drink in the neighborhood. If Cafe 103 was still around, I would have included them in the list. Jimmy Jamm is easy to walk to, and I hope the city will give us a bike rack there.

Bike groups do tours all over the city. When they hear about good restaurants in areas that interest them, they come. If they have good experiences, they tell their friends and they come back again. Neighborhood business districts in many parts of the city have learned this lesson. Why can't ours?

Top Notch
Hardboiled Coffee
Ellie's Cafe
Rainbow Cone
Calabria
Horse Thief Hollow
Kingston's
Iona's
Beverly Bakery & Cafe
Janson's
Markland Hubbard

Saturday morning at Ellie's

Businesses around 99th & Walden make their pedestrian friendly locations inviting. While sidewalk space along Walden is too tight for bike racks, having racks just around the corner on 99th works pretty well.  I really miss Blue Moon and wish we had a lunch and dinner cafe at that intersection.

Here's my list of biggest frustrations with our neighborhood restaurant offerings:

* not enough quality places open for dinner or on Sundays
* not enough non-Italian ethnic choices
* not enough variety in types of food offered (too much emphasis on pizza, sandwiches, burgers and not enough other choices)

There's so much untapped potential here.  Has there ever been any thought about doing an incentive program for building owners on 95th to improve the appearance of their buildings? Are there other long-term issues about the buildings themselves that have made them unattractive to mid-level businesses? Does anyone have an answer as to why the street level retail space in the new 103rd St. residential building east of the Metra tracks is still vacant? Is it an issue of rents that are too high for the neighborhood?

We've got a lot of good independent businesses in the ward that are worth supporting. Independents help give our business districts a unique character and make those areas destinations - for folks in the ward and from other parts of the city.  Let's give them our support and try to get more of them to fill the abundance of vacant storefronts.

fire assistance update

I previously posted about last weekend's fire on 111th St.  Here are videos from Channel 7 and Channel 2 news about efforts to help the fire victims.  There is still an opportunity to help, if you'd like to do so.

The Morgan Park Fire Victims Fund has just been set up at Standard Bank. Donations will be accepted at Standard Bank, 2400 W. 95th St., Evergreen Park, IL 60805 or at the 19th ward office, 10400 S. Western Ave., Chicago, IL 60643. 

after the fire

On Saturday afternoon, the Chicago Fire Department spent several hours attacking and containing a major fire that severely damaged a 5-story residential building at 2030 W. 111th St.  About 120 fire fighters and EMTs and 40 trucks and ambulances were involved in the effort.  All residents, fire fighters and EMTs are safe.  Unfortunately, the building is uninhabitable, leaving 64 Morgan Park residents without a home.

In order to help those displaced by the fire, Alderman Matt O'Shea and State Rep. Monique Davis are working to provide assistance to residents of the burned building.  If you would like to help, donations in the form of gift cards to retailers such as Jewel, Walgreens, Target, Kohl's and others, or Visa gift cards, are being collected at the offices of Alderman O'Shea (10400 S. Western) and Rep. Davis (1234 W. 95th St.).

Major Taylor Trail workday tomorrow 7/28

If you'd like to help Friends of the Major Taylor Trail and TreeKeepers in their efforts to maintain good trail conditions, please join us for a workday tomorrow morning from 8:00 to 11:00 a.m.

We'll meet by the Major Taylor mural (approx. 1050 W. 111th St.) and do some tree pruning to eliminate branches that are blocking part of the trail.  If you have work gloves and tools, please bring them, otherwise some will be available for use.  After our recent rains, insect repellent might be a good idea, too.

Click here for more info.  We hope to see you there.

Major Taylor Trail clean-up on 4/21

Please join the Friends of the Major Taylor Trail and TreeKeepers for a community trail clean-up workday on Saturday 4/21.

We will meet at the Major Taylor mural (north side of 111th St., where the trail crosses the street) and work from 2-4 p.m. to continue where we left off on 4/7.

We welcome community participation in clearing small trees and brush to minimize trail blockage from summer growth, as well as improving sightlines along the trail.  Long sleeves, long pants and enclosed boots or shoes are strongly recommended.  If you have work gloves, please bring them.  Some gloves and tools will be available.  Our work area will be on the trail between 111th and 115th, starting from 111th St.  We hope to see you there.

Major Taylor Trail clean-up on 4/7

Please join the Friends of the Major Taylor Trail and TreeKeepers for a community trail clean-up workday on Saturday 4/7.

We will meet at the Major Taylor mural (north side of 111th St., where the trail crosses the street) and work from 2-4 p.m. to continue the clean-up started on 3/31.


We welcome community participation in clearing small trees and brush to minimize trail blockage from summer growth, as well as improving sightlines along the trail.  Long sleeves, long pants and enclosed boots or shoes are strongly recommended.  If you have work gloves, please bring them.  Some gloves and tools will be available.  Our work area will be on the trail between 111th and 115th, starting from 111th St.  We hope to see you there.

Major Taylor Trail clean-up on 3/31

Please join the Friends of the Major Taylor Trail and TreeKeepers for a community trail clean-up workday on Saturday 3/31.

We will meet at the Major Taylor mural (north side of 111th St., where the trail crosses the street) and work from 2-4 p.m.

We welcome community participation in clearing small trees and brush to minimize trail blockage from summer growth, as well as improving sightlines along the trail.  Long sleeves, long pants and enclosed boots or shoes are strongly recommended.  If you have work gloves, please bring them.  Some gloves and tools will be available.  Our work area will be on the trail between 111th and 115th, starting from 111th St.  We hope to see you there.

out and about in the neighborhood

I was out for a ride this morning, running some errands, and noticed a few things.

When I first checked out the new Dat Donuts on 111th, there was a large group of us, and we watched each other's bikes. This morning I stopped there and realized there are no bike racks on that section of 111th. Checked the signpost nearby - don't lock to that! Someone could easily pull the loose pole and take off with your bike. The iron fence next door worked as an improvised rack. Afterwards, I noticed orange paint marks on the sidewalk nearby - early warning of a new bike rack. Yeah!! Also, there are a couple of racks around the corner on Longwood next to the BAPA office.

Next stop, 103rd St. I've long appreciated all the racks within a block or so of the Metra tracks, and I use them often. Stopped in at Calabria to pick up a few goodies. They've taken out another cooler and added more tables. Goodbye, Pellegrino Limonata. I love that stuff. They've changed the product mix a bit, presumably because a greater variety of people have been visiting for lunch. Now they have Jarritos Limon instead. It's tasty if I want something sweet. I guess I'll have to get my next tart lemon fix with Schweppes Bitter Lemon from County Fair.