Minutes – October 3, 2017
October 3, 2017 ELVN Meeting Minutes
19th District Police Station
In attendance:
Michael Zink
Jim Spencer
Beth Murphy
Kit Welch
Tom Rothschild
Aileen Tien
Marty Wallace
Maggie Koehler
Chester Kropidlowski
Terie Kata
Heather Way-Kitzes
Jean O’Neill
Mark Lundgren
Patrick Carlson
Patrick Nagle
Absent:
None
The meeting was called to order at 7:01 p.m.
Jim opened the meeting welcoming everyone. Terie called read the names of all paid members to ensure that a quorum was present. After the roll call, 26 members were present and thus a quorum was present. The ELVN Board members introduced themselves.
46th Ward
Alderman Cappleman was present to give the report.
Broadway has been resurfaced after the water main work was completed. In some sections, sidewalks were not replaced yet due to new acorn lighting to be installed, but they should be replaced by Thanksgiving.
The bicycle path at Montrose is being redone, as it hosts some of highest accidents rates in the city.
For the building at the 3800 block of Broadway, construction is currently focused on the foundation, and there will be geothermal heating in the new structure.
The sidewalk at Addison and Pine Grove will be made ADA compliant.
A community member asks if any trees will be planted on Broadway between Addison and Grace. The Alderman confirms as much, but Maureen Martino is present from the Chamber and reminds him that the trees cannot be planted on a vaulted sidewalk.
Chester asks for the Alderman to send us a way to nominate businesses and organizations for ward awards, which the Alderman indicates that he will do.
Aileen asks about Vermillion Development’s project on the former Mobil site. The company previously represented to the community that the new structure will have 60 parking spaces, but an article online says that there will only be 29. The Alderman stats that he will investigate.
44th Ward
Ald. Tunney and his staffer Chris Jessup were present to give joint reports.
Chris provides a brief report while Alderman was taking a phone call outside the meeting.
The Chicago Marathon is this weekend, and the route will be the same in Lakeview as it has been in recent years. The race will clear Lakeview at approximately noon.
The Cubs’ NLDS Monday and Tuesday home game times next week have not yet been set by Major League Baseball, but they will be set by Thursday.
Chester says that the next LVCC meeting will be Thursday in this room, and he asks for the latest playoff information to be passed on to other wards.
Terie asks about local crime, particularly a robbery in Kelly Park and a rape on Dakin. Ald. Cappleman asks her to come to the CAPS meeting tomorrow about leads and restates the numbers of police officers promised by the Mayor.
Ald. Tunney says that parking restrictions for Cubs playoff games are on his web site. He anticipates salt trucks blocking intersections similar to last year.
Cubs
Heather was present to give the report.
Tonight was the Cubs playoff rally at the Park from 3-7 p.m. There were giveaways and it was a family event that was well attended.
The Cubs are working with the City and agencies regarding traffic, parking, and security for playoff games. They will not know the NLDS game times until after the wild card games are completed.
Heather offers to sign up attendees for the Cubs mailing list and has “W” posters to distribute.
The hotel is on track to be open for Opening Day 2018.
Fitness classes and farmer’s markets will continue to be held at the Park through October, and winter events at the Park will be announced in the coming weeks. On October 23 the Park will host a Halloween pumpkin party, with singers from the Old Town School of Folk Music.
A community member asks about problems encountered in signing up for postseason tickets. Heather will help navigate the process.
Kendra Lundgren says that she received a robocall stating that she will need identification to enter the community during playoff games. Chris says that the restrictions should only be two hours before each game and one hour after. He says that these were the same restrictions in place last year and that the restrictions pertain only to vehicles.
A community member asks about many problems with the Cubs blocking the nearby Clifton alley this year with cones and that the problems were never resolved, even after repeated conversations with Heather and Mike Lufrano. Mike Lufrano is present and says that when he went to the location he saw no cones. After extended debate, the community member will speak further with Heather and Mike after the meeting.
Bylaws
Jim states that ELVN is voting to amend its bylaws and will apply for 501(c)(3) status for future fundraising activities. He says that the new template would replace the 3-page bylaws document. A committee met in August and at our September 5 meeting recommended changes. The Board voted on a final version which was published on the web site, and soon thereafter it a clause was discovered that would effectively allow only the owner of a business to be elected to the Board. Practical application of this provision would preclude the Cubs from having a Board member unless is was a member of the Ricketts family. He polled Board members and the Board almost unanimously wished to strike this exclusionary clause. Jim moves to strike the exclusionary clause.
Mark says that the word “member” is defined early in the proposed revised bylaws. Mark accordingly moves to strike the language from the penultimate sentence of the first paragraph of Article 7, Section 2 and to replace it to state, “Each Director must be a member in good standing of the Corporation” and also to strike the last sentence of the paragraph that states, “No person running for or holding an elected public office shall be a Director.” Aileen seconded the motion.
Terie says that the exclusionary clause would not even affect most business owners in neighborhood, and it would simply prevent Board membership from becoming a tag team event.
Maggie says that it would be extremely unlikely to have any member of the Ricketts family in attendance. She also states that elections would be the ideal channel to determine whether a Board member is retained.
Bruce Handler says that businesses should communicate to the community through the Chamber and not through neighborhood organizations.
Maggie states that there is no question that this is a debate exclusively about whether the Cubs should be permitted to have an employee on the Board and that this does not pertain to any other business in East Lakeview.
Jim asks Michael why no elected officials or candidates for elected office should be on the Board. Michael states that such a situation would probably violate the requirements of 501(c)(3) status,
Mark is not opposed to withdrawing that portion of his motion.
Maureen Martino says that businesses on the ELVN board lend to diversity.
Heather states that such a policy could shut out Lakeview Pantry from having any Board representation for example, as it has no particular owner. She states that the Cubs are very active in the community and has 50 front office members who reside in East Lakeview. She personally attends meetings and cultivates relationships, and the Cubs have supported schools, art, etc.
Terie says that the Cubs’ only community involvement is through ELVN and LVCC.
Chester says that he supports the Cubs participation.
Bruce says that he does not think that the Cubs should be able to send a representative to the Board.
Jim restates Mark’s motion, and Mark states his revised motion which withdrew his objection to language prohibiting elected officials and candidates from being on the Board. The revised motion would effectively allow the Cubs and any others to stand for election. Aileen again seconds. The motion passed with 27 votes.
Jim then moved for a provisional vote to suspend the current bylaws but only if the forthcoming motion to ratify the new bylaws is successful. Aileen seconds and the motion passed. Jim then moved to approve the language in the new bylaws with the amendments passed by Mark, Kit seconded the motion, and it passed with 31 votes.
New Business
Margaret Meister and a representative from LJ’s LLC were present. Although their business is located just outside of the ELVN boundaries, they wanted to explain that they are undertaking a project to maximize food space and to downsize. They will not need a zoning change but simply wanted to make ELVN aware.
Chester reminds the attendees of a CAPS meeting tomorrow night.
Maggie says that businesses on Broadway that were affected by the water main project will be having coordinated specials to reinvigorate the business. She says that the holiday season will have snowflakes on the lights.
Brandon Cunningham of Kelly Park says that architectural landscape firms have been selected to give presentations for renovations of Kelly Park.
Old Business
Patrick thanks Ald. Cappleman for his Oktoberfest contributions. Jim says that there will be an Oktoberfest update at the ELVN November meeting. Jim thanks the Murphy family for its efforts in hosting and fundraising for Oktoberfest.
Jim moves to adjourn, and his motion passed. The meeting adjourned at 8:11 p.m.
Closed Session
No Closed Session was held.