Thank you, Neighbors!
 Our annual “Clean up, Evanston!" event to honor Earth Day and Arbor Day generated lots of social capital and produced many bags of landfill. Special thanks to the Colfax St./Ashland Ave. neighbors who targeted the litter along the Metra tracks at the Central Street station.
 Torgerson Park neighbors responded to the park's loss of seven ash trees by raising funds to purchase nine new trees, which were planted last week by City forestry crews. You can donate to the larger effort to enhance Evanston's urban forest through the I Heart Evanston Trees initiative. Thank you in advance.
 Finally, Eggleston Orchard has been expanded
thanks to the efforts of Evanston's Edible Orchard. Edible Evanston continued work on Phase 3 of the
Eggleston Orchard along McCormick Boulevard this spring with two work days in April.
The Eggleston Orchard is an outgrowth of the
Evanston 150th Anniversary Celebration.
The Orchard now has 60 fruit trees, 10 hazelnut trees, a dozen fruiting
berry bushes, and over 30 raspberry bushes.
Thanks to over 25 volunteers who helped, including Cub Scout Pack 922
and two of the original Northwestern University Brady Scholars, who started the
orchard initiative. Also thanks for
support from the City of Evanston's Public Works Department for timely delivery
of wood chips, and to the Ecology Center for loan of tools.
 Remember the house built by Evanston Township High
School's Geometry in Construction class last year? Well, the house has found its permanent Evanston
address, but needs some finishing touches.
You'll want to say you've been part of this great endeavor, so join
Community Partners for Affordable Housing (CPAH) this Saturday, May 9, from 8:30 am to 12:30 pm, to help complete the project for the house's first
family. Contact CPAH at 847-681-8746 or email akaufman@cpahousing.org to register. You can also check out
the time lapse video of the geometry class building the house online at wildkitconstruction.com.
By the way, the second ETHS Geometry in Construction
house is well underway and can be viewed in the school's back parking lot.
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Last
week's impromptu lunch benefit for Nepal earthquake relief at Mt. Everest
Restaurant in Evanston was a big success, thanks to the efforts and matching
funds of Ramakant Kharel, the restaurant's owner, and Steve Hagerty of Hagerty
Consulting. Recovery and rebuilding efforts continue, but our
local Nepalese community needs help. 100% of the tax-deductible donations
made to the nonprofit Nepali American Center will go to earthquake
disaster relief. Your kindness is appreciated.
 Celebrate Evanston's vibrant literary community and
history next week for the first annual Evanston Literary Festival. Venues around the city will host readings
and talks by authors, including Stuart Dybek, Garry Wills, Christine Sneed,
Julia Sweeney, and Roxane Gay. The event will also feature children’s storytimes and panel
discussions about writing and publishing.
The festival is a joint production of the Chicago Book Expo, Northwestern
University’s Creative Writing Program, Bookends & Beginnings bookstore, the
Evanston Public Library, and Northwestern University Press. All events are free and open to the
public. To view the Festival's
schedule, click here >>>
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 Bring your best thinking and bright ideas to a community
workshop to explore the viability and desirability of five
general options for the Harley Clarke building, convened by the Harley Clarke
Citizens Committee. The meeting will be held on Monday, May 18, 7 pm, in the Parasol Room of the Morton Civic Center, 2100 Ridge Ave.
PLEASE NOTE (because folks keep forgetting): The
Harley Clarke Citizens Committee has unanimously agreed that it will not
consider any option in which Lighthouse Beach or access to the beach does not
remain publicly owned. Repeat: Lighthouse Beach will remain a public beach with
public access.
Each option will be presented by a member of the
community. The proposed general options include:
- Renovating the building for some to-be-determined use by the City.
- Demolishing the building and redeveloping the site as park land.
- Selling the building and allowing it to be renovated for a commercial use, such as a hotel or event space.
- Selling the building and allowing the site to be redeveloped under R1 (residential) zoning.
- Selling or gifting the building to an organization that would renovate and preserve it for public cultural and/or educational use.
Community members interested in presenting at the workshop are required to submit a 1-2 page summary of their argument in favor of their option, in addition to their qualifications to present, via email at harleyclarkemansion@cityofevanston.org by Friday, May 8. Please note: All submissions must include “Presentation Proposal” and the option they wish to present in the subject line of the email. Presenters will be selected by the committee on Tuesday, May 12.
For more information about the building, visit the
website. Minutes of the Committee's deliberations can
be found online.
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 In early April, City representatives met with the
postmaster for the U.S. Postal Service in Evanston and a regional
supervisor. The USPS is eager to work
more closely with the community not only to resolve delivery issues, but also
improve communications and be a positive presence in the community. We learned:
- There are 83 carrier routes in Evanston and over 34,000
addresses in Evanston for mail delivery.
- Evanston has 112 regular mail carriers, and 17-24
temporary carriers covering vacancies, vacation, and time-off. Evanston’s post office faces an annual
employee attrition rate of 17%.
- A mail carrier works 8-hour shifts, spending 1-2 hours
in the office depending on the mail volume assigned to his/her route, then works 6-7
hours on the route.
- The limited parking for mail trucks at Evanston's main
USPS office at Davis/Oak means our mail carriers must stagger their shifts.
The fastest way to address delivery issues and share
compliments is to call the local USPS Consumer Affairs at 800-275-8777. Those calls are routed
directly to our local postmaster and to the regional supervisor. The postmaster will resolve delivery issues
with the mail carriers through street checks, observations, employee
discipline, and identifying access challenges at specific addresses. By the end of August, the scanners used by
USPS mail carriers will also have built-in GPS software to help track
deliveries and route coverage. Calls to
the City of Evanston's 311 Service Center regarding mail service will also be
forwarded directly to the Evanston postmaster.
We explored other opportunities to work with Evanston's
downtown post office, such as:
- Facility tours to view Evanston's mail delivery operations and the history of Evanston’s local post office.
- The availability of the downtown facility's lobby for
special events, including receptions, fundraisers, and meetings.
- Collaborative promotion of local businesses and
initiatives with introduction of new stamps.
- Including USPS in Evanston's summer youth job program.
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Evanston lost a treasure -- an emerald -- hiding in
plain sight last month, with the passing of Francis J. Mahon, Jr., at 64 years
of age. Mr. Mahon was a playwright,
columnist, producer, attorney, great Irish wit, attentive brother and Evanston
neighbor. Mr. Mahon loved the movie "The
Quiet Man" and wrote a play called "The Quiet Man
Tales", based on the book of short stories from which "The Quiet Man" originated. Condolences to his family,
friends and neighbors.
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