32nd Ward Newsletter July 3, 2025

Dear Scott,

It's going to be hot this weekend- make sure to take it easy and check on your family, friends, and neighbors. Don't forget to think of your pets as well. See below for a list of heat related tips. If you are setting off fireworks, be mindful of all neighbors who may be affected differently by fireworks.

Our office will be closed on Friday, July 4th in observance of Independence Day. There will also be no black or blue cart collection on Friday. Residents should ensure all carts are accessible throughout the week, not solely on their regular day of collection. Additionally, residents should be advised of potential changes to blue cart recycling collection based on their service provider. Please visit www.chicagorecycles.org to find out your waste and recycling pick up schedule.

Nascar is this weekend. Click here for more information about the event including street closures. These street closures will impact much of downtown and Grant Park use so check all the schedules before you go downtown.

IDOT is also suspending some ramp closures on the Kennedy reconstruction project, but there will be several closures starting next week. See below for the impact in our area.

Properties in the City of Chicago and south & west suburbs are not scheduled to be reassessed this year, but property owners still have an opportunity to file an appeal once a year with the Cook County Assessor's Office and right now, Lake View Township is now open for appeal until 7/9/2025. To file an appeal online, click here. To watch virtual workshops that may help your appeal process, click here.

The Bucktown Garden and Roscoe Village Garden walks are next weekend so there is still time to participate. Sheffield Garden Walk starts the third weekend of the month. Mark your calendars for some great the Movies in the Parks (see below) as well as Circus in the Park @ Holstein! The next movie in the ward is The Sandlot at Churchill on the 12th.

Have a nice 4th of July weekend,

Alderman Scott Waguespack

2025 Street Cleaning Calendar

Next week, street sweeping will occur in sections 17, 18, and 19 (Bucktown). Click on the map above to see your section's schedule.

Please be on the lookout for signs and make sure to move your vehicle on your scheduled day (south and east sides of the street are normally done on the first day, north and west on the second; please watch for signs). Sweepers will do more than one pass on the block in their initial cleaning but will not come back to clean sections outside of their officially scheduled day.

Please take the time to help clear the curb in front of your property to keep the sewers flowing well. Any landscaping debris should be bagged and put in the alley by your trash cans. Please do not sweep landscaping debris into the street. Piles of leaves and heavy garbage also clog the sweepers and will cause significant delays. Other large objects like branches and metal will also damage the sweepers, so please remove them from curbs.

Residents can view street sweepers in real time using the Sweeper Tracker online tool. 

Public Safety Section

Bucktown Shooting

On Saturday, June 28th at about 2:47 a.m., a 32 year old black male was shot on the 2200 block of Cortland near Ehrler Park.

Two vehicles were seen leaving the area shortly after the shooting, including a black or dark blue SUV fleeing at a high speed and a white sedan shortly after. The 14th District police officers responded within a couple minutes to the 911 calls made by neighbors. Four others with the male gunshot victim were uncooperative with police. The male with the gunshot was pronounced dead at the hospital.

I met with the new 14th District Commander about this incident and he will be sharing any information they gather at the next CAPS meetings at Holstein Park and Wicker Park Library (see upcoming dates above). He has personally canvassed the area along with other officers from the 14th and brought in additional officers to help patrol. TACT teams have been assigned on each watch to work gang suppression missions in the area. We've spoken with the Park District as well who has been told to be on alert for any gang graffiti that may appear.

If you live in this area and have any video footage showing the incident (or the vehicles mentioned above right before/after the incident), please share what you have by emailing caps.014district@chicagopolice.org and reference RD# JJ312024 along with your address and time of footage.

We strongly encourage anyone using Ehrler Park or walking in that immediate vicinity to report all suspicious activity to the police. This includes graffiti, crowds forming or overtaking the park or street, or any other types of criminal behavior. Please be aware of your surroundings at all times, and do not hesitate to call 911. 

You can also report suspicious activity or send tips to the 14th District Police via caps.014district@chicagopolice.org, CPDTIP.com, or call the Community Policing office for the 14th District at 312-744-1261. Make sure to call 911 though to get the police out there while an incident is happening as this is the only way police are dispatched. The 14th District officers need our assistance and cooperation to help prevent crime in the area and thwart any potential gang or criminal activity.

We will provide more information if it becomes available from the investigation.

The police are encouraging anyone with a camera that faces the public way to sign up to have their camera registered. This program doesn’t give the police access to the cameras themselves, just lets the police know it’s there so that officers will know where to go right away if a crime occurs.

Graffiti Identification

One question that we have been asked is how to tell gang graffiti from regular but just as damaging tags. The great majority of graffiti is regular tagging. We encourage anyone who sees it call it in or help remove graffiti as quickly as possible. We also try to remove graffiti with out own equipment and have judicially approved community service crews that are also tasked with graffiti and trash cleanup work on weekends.

In Bucktown, gang tags usually consist of a circle on top of a staff (representing the Spanish Lords, who used to be at Holstein Park) or a heart with devil horns or a swastika inside of it representing the Maniac Latin Disciples, who are west of Western, or a diamond, representing the Cobras, also west of Western. You may also see these tags upside down as a diss to the other gang. You may also see the letters SL or MLD or YLOC representing the gang name, or SLK or MLDK or YLOCK as a diss (K standing for killer). Other common gang tags you might see here are pitchforks (MLDs) or crowns (Latin Kings); if they are upside down, it is a diss. Outside of these, almost all other graffiti in the area is garbage tagging. All graffiti should be removed quickly. 

Sending pictures to us with the exact address is the fastest way to remove graffiti. Graffitiblasters from the Dept. of Streets and Sanitation has been very helpful in removing graffiti. We encourage all building owners with graffiti tags or shadows left from removal to take immediate additional steps to get rid of graffiti. If it is gang graffiti, we share the information we receive from residents and businesses with the police's CAPS and gang units. 

Examples of gang graffiti-

Examples of non-gang graffiti-

Reminder: Wellington Greenway Meeting

Join the 32nd Ward, 44th Ward, and CDOT for the Wellington Bikeway Community Engagement Meeting. The 2.5-mile bike-friendly route would connect Clybourn to the Lakefront Trail along Wellington Avenue, creating a new path for cyclists.

The meeting will be on July 9th at 6 pm in the Illinois Masonic auditorium. Entrance is off of 836 W. Wellington.

Kennedy Stage Change Begins Monday, July 7

 Two consecutive overnight closures required to start second half of bridge work

The Illinois Department of Transportation announced today that as part of the ongoing rehabilitation of the Kennedy Expressway (Interstate 90/94) from the Edens Expressway (I-94) junction to Ohio Street, a stage change is scheduled to take place over two consecutive nights beginning, weather permitting, Monday, July 7.

To safely shift the work zone, starting at 10 p.m. Monday and Tuesday the outbound Kennedy will be gradually reduced to one outbound lane from Washington Boulevard to Addison Street with intermittent ramp closures taking place between Washington Boulevard and Addison Street. At midnight, the reversible express lanes will close. By 5 a.m. each morning, lanes and ramps that were temporarily closed overnight will reopen. The work is anticipated to be completed by 5 a.m. Wednesday, July 9, when the new traffic pattern will be in place.

The following ramps will close:

• Outbound Kennedy to Augusta Boulevard/Milwaukee Avenue, anticipated to reopen mid-October.
• North Avenue (Illinois 64) to outbound Kennedy, anticipated to reopen early September.
• Outbound Kennedy to Armitage Avenue, anticipated to reopen early September.
• Fullerton Avenue to outbound Kennedy, anticipated to reopen mid-August.
• Outbound Kennedy to Kimball Avenue, anticipated to reopen mid-August.

Current ramp closures:

• Keeler Avenue to outbound Kennedy, anticipated to reopen early September.
• Outbound Kennedy to Kostner Avenue, anticipated to reopen early September.

For more information, visit https://idot.illinois.gov/projects/Interstate-90-Kennedy-Bridge-Study. The website features project details, maps, photos and fact sheets. The public can email questions to DOT.KennedyRehab@illinois.gov.

Lincoln Park Sewer Main Project #7158

Weekly Update

Project Status:

Hydroseeding is at 95% completed (primarily Lakewood remaining)



Striping is at 50% completed (Greenview and Altgeld remaining)

Streets have been repaved and crews are cleaning up and checking in on any last items in their list.

Barry/Lincoln/Southport Alley Update

Here is an update concerning the CDOT Capital Program alley project located at Barry & Lincoln and Lincoln & Southport.

The Public Building Commission of Chicago (PBC) has awarded a contract to Sumit Construction Company, Inc.

Here are the anticipated

site activities:

• Contractor Permitting & Mobilization: July 2025

• Alley Reconstruction: July 2025 to November 2025

• New Landscaping: November 2025

In accordance with the Chicago Municipal Code, the PBC is granting permission to the contractor to begin the workday at 6:00am and to end the workday at 7:00pm, Monday

through Friday; 8:00am to 5:00pm on Saturdays (if needed); and 9:00am to 5:00pm on

Sundays (if needed) for the duration of the project.

Principal Search at Jahn Update

The Jahn Local School Council (LSC) sincerely thanks everyone who participated in to the Community Listening Session for the principal selection process on Thursday, June 26th. Your valuable feedback and engagement are crucial as we select our next school leader.

Here are the next steps in the principal selection process:

• Principal Selection Committee Confirmation: The LSC will individually contact volunteers to confirm participation and provide specific details on roles and initial meeting schedules.
• Job Posting Publication: The approved principal job posting has been sent to CPS and will be published as soon as they approve to attract qualified candidates.
• Kick-off of Committee Meetings: The Principal Selection Committee will hopefully begin recurring meetings next week to get organized and continue the work.

Jahn LSC's committed to transparency and keeping you informed. Your continued support is essential.

Thank you again for your dedication to the Jahn school community.

Trebes Park Renovation Ribbon Cutting

Trebes Park is officially re-open! The Trebes Park Advisory Council is excited to host the official Ribbon Cutting Ceremony on Tuesday July 15th from 4:00pm to 6:00pm. At the southeast corner of the park. Please mark your calendars.

There will be a short ceremony with remarks by Park District Superintendent and CEO Carlos Ramirez-Rosa, Regional Director Stacey Anti, 43rd Ward Alderman Timmy Knudsen, and 5th District State Senator Lakesia Collins. Following the ceremony, please join us for complementary food, drinks and entertainment including-

• Da Pizza Dude - https://www.dapizzadude.com/
• Tacomotora Taco Truck - https://www.tacomotora.com/
• Big Bros Ice Cream - https://www.bigbrosicecream.com/
• Edd Fairman – Wizard of Sorts - https://www.wizardofsorts.com/
• DJ’d music by Bizar Entertainment - https://bizaronline.com/

Hope to see you all on Tuesday July 15th at 4:00pm! 

West Lakeview Special Service Area (SSA) 27’s 15 year term ends 12/31/2025, and must go through a renewal process throughout 2025 in order for West Lakeview to keep crucial SSA services such as Litter Pickup, Landscaping, Holiday Decor, Outdoor Furniture Maintenance, Community Events (ex. Lakeview Tree Lighting Ceremony), Public Art, and more.

To keep West Lakeview safe, beautiful, and fun, SSA 27 will require signatures representing 20% of Property Index Numbers (PIN) within SSA 27 boundaries by August 1st. We are just under 50 signatures from our goal, and you can help. Spread the word, and reach out to help if you own or rent within the boundaries below:

• Southport: 3150 to 3880 (Byron to Belmont)
• Lincoln: 2800 to 3599 (Addison to Diversey)
• Ashland: 2800 to 3599 (Addison to Diversey)
• Belmont: 1200 to 1799 (Racine to Ravenswood)
• Any side-street intersecting the above-listed streets, up to the first alley or 100ft if no alley is present

Please reach out to SSA 27 Program Manager Robert Morvay at robert@lrvcc.org or (773) 472-7171 ext. 102 to receive your signature form.

For more info, please refer to lakeviewssa27.com/reconstitution 

Blissful Blooms

Join The Yoga Seed in Lincoln park to combine the meditative powers of yoga and flowers. Connect with nature and calm your mind through the meditative practice of floral arranging and therapeutic yoga. Guests will choose stems from a curated bloom bar and mindfully prepare each flower, engaging the senses in a grounding, repetitive ritual.

With your unique 10-stem bouquet as a focal point, flow into a gentle yoga session, using the arrangement to anchor meditation and presence.

A soothing experience for all.

To register for class, click here.

Register for the Roscoe Village Garden Walk

Register now to be an exhibitor in the 2025 Roscoe Village Garden Walk on July 13th from 12pm-5pm. Deadline to register is July 7th.

Bucktown Garden Walk July 12-13

Explore the urban oases of Bucktown at the annual Bucktown Garden Walk! This self-guided tour showcases the diverse and beautiful private gardens and green spaces throughout our vibrant neighborhood. Discover hidden gems, admire creative landscaping, and experience the unique charm of Bucktown. The Garden Walk is a key fundraiser for the Bucktown Community Organization (BCO), supporting our local parks, schools, and green spaces.

We are looking for people to staff our BCO table for a few two-hour shifts. All you have to do is take donations for guidebooks and be a friendly face in the neighborhood to help people out.

 One shift can be the difference between a new public sculpture, support for a local school initiative, or a community event happening.

Plus, you get a free Garden Walk t-shirt and an invite to the VIP party!

Click here to volunteer.

Mobile City Hall Event

Events in 32nd Ward parks (click flyer above for more info)-

The Park District asks that all moviegoers clean up after their time at movies. Please do not leave litter, especially glass bottles after events.

Churchill Park (1825 N. Damen)

July 12- Movies in the Park- The Sandlot

August 18- Movies in the Park- Wicked

Park 567 (1801 N. Milwaukee)

July 23- Yves Francois Rocambu Jazz

Walsh Park (1722 N. Ashland)

July 26- Hirde with Alpha and the Princes of Futa

August 5- Movies in the Park- Wicked, sing a long version

August 16- La Cantera & Friends

Holstein Park (2200 N. Oakley)

August 1- Circus in the Parks

Wrightwood Park (2534 N. Greenview)

August 2- Movies in the Park- Twister

Hamlin Park (3035 N. Hoyne)

August 11- Movies in the Park- Sonic the Hedgehog 3

Volunteer at Burger Fest with Your Business!

Roscoe Village Burger Fest will take place July 18-20 on Belmont in between Damen and Oakley. We need volunteers to work the beer tents. Grab a few of your business team members and sling some beers together! It's a great opportunity for a team-building activity with some great photo ops.  Submit your restaurant burger for one of the best of Chicago!

Please email TERESA@LRVCC.ORG for more info.

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