A Final Goodbye to A Historic Chicago Fire-Era Building | |
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This week, the historic three-flat at 2240 N. Burling Street was officially demolished. The Lincoln Central Association Zoning and Planning Committee was active in trying to preserve this building. While we didn’t succeed in this effort, the committee will continue in their efforts to ensure an open and fair process for developers and homeowners, while also protecting the history and beauty of our neighborhood.
Read the history of 2240 N Burling here in our December newsletter. Learn more about our active Zoning and Planning Committee here.
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LCA is dedicated to inspiring people to join together for the social, cultural, and physical enrichment of our neighborhood, and our local businesses are a critical part of that! LCA is honored to work with local businesses to improve our neighborhood and promote their business.
Thank You to Our Sponsors:
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Oz Park is Getting a New Playground and You Can Buy a Custom Picket | A new playground is coming to Oz Park this fall, and you can show your support by purchasing a custom picket! To learn more and order, visit Picket Order Form - Oz Park Advisory Council. | |
Lincoln Park Uncorked Set for May 10 | |
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Join the Lincoln Park Chamber of Commerce for Lincoln Park Uncorked: An Armitage - Halsted Wine Stroll on Wednesday, May 10 for the ultimate wine tasting adventure. Sip and stroll your way through charming boutiques and restaurants in one of Chicago’s most famous and historic shopping districts!
Use the promotional code LCALPU23 to receive $5 off tickets!
Wednesday, May 10
6:00 - 9:00 p.m.
Event check in will take place at J9 Wine Bar, 1961 N. Halsted
Learn more and buy tickets here.
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Wine With Elected Officials | Representative Croke, along with State Senator Feigenholtz and Alderman Knudsen, are hosting a Wine Night on June 6 from 5:30-7pm at Verve Wine. They invite you to stop in, grab a glass of wine, and mingle with your elected officials. | |
Blood Drive at St. Teresa of Avila Church on June 11 | |
Rare and Exotic Cars Coming to Lincoln Common | |
On Saturday, May 20 from 9:30 a.m. - 1:00 p.m., Lincoln Common is partnering with Lowend Garage Chicago for their second CARS AT LINCOLN COMMON Event! Stop by and see the beautiful showcase of a very special collection of rare and exotic cars.
Cars at Lincoln Common is FREE and open to the public. Event is weather permitting. Learn more here.
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New City Concerts Are Back! | |
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NEWCITY’s 2023 Sounds of Summer Concert series kicks off for the season on Thursday, July 13!
Sounds of Summer is NEWCITY’s free outdoor concert series in the plaza. Limited seating is on site so grab your friends, family, blankets and chairs, and enjoy a Chicago summer evening of live music. Don’t forget to order ahead for takeout from your favorite NEWCITY eateries!
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43rd Ward Runner Sets State Record at the 127th Boston Marathon | |
Mark Buciak, long-time resident of the 43rd ward and member of Lincoln Central Association, set a State of Illinois record by completing his 44th consecutive Boston Marathon on Monday, April 17th.
No other runner from Illinois has run more Boston Marathons than Buciak. He is currently number six on Boston's all-time list for consecutive Marathon finishes. His time was over five minutes faster than last year.
Buciak's Boston career began in 1980 while he was a member of the DePaul University Cross Country team and has never eased. He is extremely thankful to his family, fellow runners, neighbors and members of LCA for their support not only this year but throughout the years.
Buciak welcomes runners of all abilities to join him on Saturday, May 13th at Oz Park near the Lion for some miles and smiles. Please RSVP to his webpage: theroadtoboston.info.
We wish Mark many more miles and Boston Marathons to come!
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A Letter from Alderman Timmy Knudsen | |
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Dear Neighbors,
On Monday, May 15th, 16 new aldermen and a new mayor take office. This is a new evolution and shift in Chicago leadership, and from discussions with incoming alders, I am confident the new council has a shared belief that we need to capture this moment of change to do the most good for our communities and city as a whole.
It’s with that North Star in mind that I am so honored to continue serving each of you and the Lincoln Central Association neighborhood for a full 4-year term. In the past seven months, our office has focused on increasing community safety, modernizing our constituent service system, strengthening our neighborhood schools, and more. Throughout these months, I have had the gift of learning from an amazing 43rd Ward staff, who I will never stop thanking.
Our office is kicking off the new term with no time wasted. First, we are undergoing many meetings with community leaders in order to set goals and result-oriented processes of working together. In addition, we will be releasing a community survey via our email newsletter (sign up at ward43.org) in order to keep an active pulse on all your priorities and concerns. Finally, we are setting the groundwork to move our current office space, bring back Ward Nights, create a volunteer pool, and more!
When I think about how it feels to live in this community, with some of the best neighborhoods, parks, and lakefront in the world – the words love and gratitude come to mind. The 43rd Ward is an amazing place to live and lead, and I don’t take either for granted. I am sure I will see you all around the community this summer and don’t ever hesitate to reach out to our office at 773-348-9500 or yourvoice@ward43.org.
Fondly,
Alderman Timmy Knudsen
43rd Ward
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I Think that I Shall Never See
A Poem Lovely As A Tree - Joyce Kilmer
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Lincoln Park is a gifted community. The beauty and poetry of our trees are exceptional. Overall, Chicago has a 20% tree canopy coverage. In Lincoln Park, we are blessed with 26% coverage. As in other parts of our city, the highest percentage of our canopy is found in our parks and transit properties. Potentially, we could increase our canopy to 52%. An achievement that would be pure poetry.
Though we have many more trees than other less fortunate communities, we are facing challenges. Disease and, at times, development have caused the loss of many of our mature parkway trees. We need to be better caretakers of our cathedral of green. For trees are not only beautiful, trees nurture us and protect us, especially against the threatening onslaughts of climate change. Trees save energy by reducing surface temperatures and shading buildings. Trees store carbon dioxide and remove pollutants from the air. Trees intercept stormwater and help reduce flooding. Trees increase property values and make our communities more pleasant. And trees improve our health. (Lincoln Park Urban Forest Summary Chicago Regions Tree Initiative). Unbelievable as it may seem, more trees it has been asserted can extend our lives by seven years (Celebrating Arbor Day Webinar Why Trees Matter April 26,2023). A study published in Environmental Health Perspectives also asserted that people living in greener neighborhoods may live longer. This is beyond poetry.
Our lives, our health are significantly impacted by the presence of trees and the creatures that inhabit them. Trees are a haven for birds, squirrels and other creatures that are beneficial to our ecosystem. Birds eat mosquitos, squirrels with their storing of acorns propagate our oaks. We are interdependent on one another. By protecting our trees, we are in fact protecting ourselves and we are securing our own future and those of our offsprings,
Our park trees, our parkway trees, our backyard trees, all need us to be their caretakers, their protectors. Our parkway trees especially need our care. The city in its wisdom actually mandates residents are responsible for the care of their parkway trees for the first five years after their planting. We need to water them, mulch then and oversee their development so they can establish a strong growing base, so they can flourish. When trees flourish we all flourish. There is a cycle of interdependence in nature that benefits us all.
Regretfully over the years, our community has lost many of our mature trees. We now understand diversity is needed to counteract Nature’s uneven hand. Dutch Elm Disease and Emerald Ash Boar decimated many of our blocks causing tree after tree to be cut down. The city now plants a diversity of trees to protect against such devastating diseases. But we have also faced the loss of far too many parkway trees due to development. Though the city has ordinances in place to protect parkway trees, far too often developers have not followed the city’s ordinances and our trees have suffered. Our greatest loss is the death of our mature trees, the winnowing away of our beautiful tree canopies.
It is rare to see the mandated protection barrier or temporary fences of at least 1.2m (4feet) that the city states must be installed around each tree to be protected and preserved. Such tree protection is to be installed prior to the actual construction start and maintained for the duration of the project (City Code 10-32-200). Such protection is now too often the exception rather than the rule.
As the pictures below illustrate, City Tree Standards are not honored at times in our community. Assaults occur though the city publicly promotes and promulgates the protection of parkway trees.
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Under the City of Chicago Standard Tree Protection Instructions: A) Building Placement and driveway, walkway and parking areas shall be designed in such a way as to avoid unnecessary removal of existing street trees. B) Proposed placement of all utility service lines shall be shown on the site/landscaping plan. Every effort shall be made to protect existing trees during the placement of utility service lines including auguring and/or jacking as opposed to open cutting as appropriate. These explicit tree protections requirements are intended to guide a construction process to ensure that appropriate practices will be implemented in the field to eliminate undesirable consequences that may result from uniformed or careless acts and preserve both trees and property value.
Trees should not be abused during construction. The pictured tree above was saved but it took a concerted effort by neighbors. If it were not for voices being raised, another mature tree would be gone. Trees cannot speak for themselves. Once lost, it takes decades for a young tree to truly become part of our deep green canopy. At times, instead of protecting a parkway tree or even replacing a tree, developers will pave over where a mature parkway tree once stood. (Picture to the right )
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Unsuspecting buyers often do not know a tree was lost and never replaced during construction. We need to protest. With every mature tree we lose, we lose years of benefit. Though we all can request replacement trees, tree keepers know saplings will take years to reach the height and beauty of their mature predecessor.
Our trees need protectors. Officially Protection of Existing Trees in the Right of Way is the rule not the exception. The city clearly states: The Contractor must protect all trees and shrubs at the construction site from damage in accordance with the provisions of Chapter 10-32 of the Municipal Code. The Contractor must restore all damaged parkways to their original condition and repair or remove and replace any trees and shrubs damaged as a result of construction activity as determined by the Department of Streets & Sanitation, Bureau of Forestry, at the Contractor’s expense.
If any trees or shrubs are damaged by construction activity, they must be removed and replaced, and trees or shrubs of comparable size, type, and value. If trees are unavailable or the time for planting is unsuitable, the City will charge Contractor their appraised value determined as provided under section 10-32-200 of the Municipal Code, which amount the City will deduct from amounts due the Contractor, or, if no amounts are due, then Contractor must promptly pay the City the amounts determined.
Clearly and the city agrees, it is in our own best interest and the best interest of our community to protect our parkway trees. It is in our best interest to be aware and to protest when our treasured trees are under threat.
Our city, our neighborhood, our families need our city’s trees. They are vital to our quality of life, vital to our planet’s survival. Propagating and planting more trees in our neighborhood, in our parkways and in our backyards is an endeavor worthy of us of all.
The concretizing of our city lots needs to stop.
We need our trees. The poetry of trees in our lives is too precious to lose.
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From the Heart is an award-winning newsletter published by Lincoln Central Association.
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