Reminder: Your Signature Is Needed

Click here to sign the petition brought to you by Fix Wilson Yard and Uptown Neighborhood Council. The decisions made regarding the Wilson Yard TIF will impact TIFs all over Chicago. Please let your friends and neighbors know that ANY resident of Cook County is eligible to sign the petition.

Bob Dylan To Play Aragon October 29-31

via "Turn It Up" by Greg Kot

The Need For Speed

A reader sends in the following photo showing the speed at which Target is being completed at Broadway and Sunnyside. He noticed that the bricks where installed in large sheets.

Accident Waiting To Happen At Broncho Billy

A reader sends in the following photo and emails:

Email #1: "I am writing in case you might be able to include this on the website:  I live behind the Broncho Billy playlot, which as you know is located on the 4400 block of N Magnolia. 

The kids that play basketball at the park have torn a hole in the fence that faces the alley to the east (last year they made more holes, and this is the first one so far this summer).  I have called the appropriate rep from the Chicago Parks and Rec Department FOUR times in the past few weeks (3 voice mails and 1 time we spoke), each time asking him to give me the status.
Needless to say, this is a huge safety issue because kids can run into the alley from the playlot at any moment.  A few days ago I saw about four unattended children around the age of 5 running into the alley through the hole in the fence.  If an unsuspecting motorist hits a kid in the alley, we're all going to be asking ourselves "how could something like this have happened?"

Email #2: "Here is the latest:  Today I finally received a message from Brian Loll from the Chicago Park District.  This is his first follow up after I've left him 6 voice mails over the course of the summer to correct the holes.

He agreed with my previous statements that we need a more permanent solution than a chain link fence, since the kids will continue to cut it.  I suggested a high (wrought) iron fence or something, and he said that would take "Capital Improvement Plan Budget" to do.  He then said he was going to talk to his "Capital Dept."

I urge everyone in the area to call and insist that this (wrought) iron fence happen.  Again, his contact info:  Brian Loll, direct line 312-742-0825.  We can also involve the Alderman (insert laugh track)."

NPR: "Homeless in Chicago: Calling a Patch of Grass 'Home'"

...Every night, homeless people sleep scattered throughout Lincoln Park, but especially in the city’s Uptown neighborhood.

Early in the morning, two worlds of Uptown converge along this stretch of Lincoln Park west of Lakeshore Drive. People stroll through walking their dogs. And then there are people like Ed Laster.

LASTER: They put $2 million for a pump to pump fresh water for them funky dogs. I love dogs, but go taste the water from that pump there that’s for the people. It tastes like gasoline.

Laster and his girlfriend Vanessa, whom he calls his wife, sleep here on the grass south of Lawrence.

Read (and listen to) the entire story here.

Public Transit Hearing At Truman Tonight

RTA has 19 projects in mind for public transit improvements, called "Moving Beyond Congestion." You can read about them here, and the final public hearing is tonight, right here at Truman College, just steps from the Crustiest Station in Chicago. Interested? Tonight you can speak up, starting at 6pm in the Student Cafe.

Sun Wah Heads North

Thanks to the reader who let us know that Sun Wah BBQ Restaurant is moving off Argyle. But not too far -- just a half block north, on Broadway, to the Broadway Business Center. Construction is underway; does anyone know any more information?

Liquor Tax Increase Affects Local Bars

From RedEye: Other spots might dock their offerings in an attempt to recoup. "One option we are seriously considering is scaling back our options in alcohol and beer," says Steven Milford, co-owner of Wild Pug and Crew in Uptown, the latter of which stocks 68 kinds of beer. "With fewer options, we would go through more products quickly, earning us money back sooner."

What Happened To Challenger Park?

From today's Tribune:

For years, the faded green welcome sign at Chicago's Challenger Park in Uptown boasted of its amenities: native wildflowers and prairie grasses, fields for youth soccer and volleyball, half-court basketball and areas for ice-skating.

It must have been news to passersby on Irving Park Road, who saw nothing but a parking lot behind the fence gates.

But this summer, a few days after the Tribune began asking questions about Challenger Park, someone from the park district removed the sign and replaced it with a more apt, drab sign: Chicago Park District, Permit Parking Only.

What happened to Challenger Park's ice rink and recreational fields?

Read the whole story in the Trib here (bless their hearts), and previous UU stories here, here and here.

Beer Lovers Unite At Driftwood

A reader writes in with shoutout to Driftwood:

"I wanted to let you know about a deal that's running right now for Driftwood (1021 W Montrose), a really cool neighborhood bar a few blocks from the Wilson stop. A new site called SpecialsAgent.com is running a three-hour deal for $15 all-you-can-drink beer, call liquor and wine to be used at any time to help Driftwood drive business. Once you purchase the deal, it's valid to be used at anytime within a year, so long as you give the bar a three-hour advance notice. This should hopefully help drive a lot of traffic to this dog-friendly Uptown bar, and will hopefully bring more folks from around the city into the Uptown neighborhood. I thought this might be a good opportunity for you to highlight this special and hopefully help get more people on board to support this great neighborhood bar. The website again is http://specialsagent.com/, and hopefully this will help get more business to the neighborhood."

Shootings?

We're hearing there's a lot of police activity at Winthrop and Lawrence, and (from another Updater) that there were three shootings in Uptown in the past 20 minutes. Not sure if they're the same incident. Please leave any additional information in the comments.

Update: There were reports of three different shootings. The only one confirmed is a gangbanger-shoots-gangbanger attack at Wilson and Broadway. It's not life-threatening and the victim was taken to Weiss Hospital. (One common tactic gangbangers use when they shoot at each other is to call 911 with false reports to draw the police to other areas and create confusion. We wonder if this is what's going on here.)

Update 2: Chicago Breaking News has the story on the Wilson/Sheridan shooting. We're hearing lots of different rumors, but nothing concrete, about the other two reports of shots fired.

More Bad News About The Wilson Station

RedEye has an article about safety on the CTA, and all we can say is, Be careful out there, folks!

The good news: Incidents of assault on trains decreased this year compared to the same period last year. Battery cases on platforms and trains also decreased.

The bad news: Incidents of assault on CTA buses and platforms rose slightly compared to last year as did battery incidents on CTA buses.

The worst offender was the Red Line, specifically the 95th Street station in Roseland for assault and battery cases, the Wilson station in Uptown for assault cases and the 79th Street station in Chatham for battery cases.

CAPS Meeting Tonight

Beat 2311's CAPS meeting is tonight (first Tuesday of every month), 7pm, at Truman College's cafeteria. This beat includes Clifton, the Wilson el station, and the Sunnyside Mall. If you live in that area and/or have community concerns, please show up and participate.