Illinois Bike Transportation Plan  

Neighborhood Businesses Selected at 2013 Best of Chicago  

Ald. Pawar and Ald. Schulter join Merryman Park Advisory Council and Neighbors for last weekend's ribbon cutting.  Check out the wonderful space at 3738 N. Marshfield.

You should have received the second-installment property tax bills by now with a due date of August 1. If you have any questions about your tax bill, please contact the Cook County Treasurer's Office at 312.443.5100.

Friends of the Parks is part of a citywide coalition that released a civic platform outlining a series of principals that should guide the North Lake Shore Drive reconstruction project.  This document calls for a bold vision that will transform Lake Shore Drive to better meet the needs of all of its users. 

As project team, including the Illinois Department of Transportation and the Chicago Department of Transportation, begin the planning process. Friends of the Park believes that the focus should not be on moving Lake Shore Drive further towards becoming a highway but return to its roots as a boulevard in a park. Make sure your voice is heard at one of the upcoming public meetings on August 6, 7, and 8.  For more information click here.  

Thanks to Lincoln Square Ravenswood Chamber of Commerce and the many generous businesses in the square. Because of them 33 homeless animals from Angels with Tails were adopted this past weekend.  Wish you could have been there? Their next adoption day is August 25th in Roscoe Village.

Native Plants and Hardy Perennials will be available through the fall for anyone who wants to garden on a parkway or corner. We have a sample corner plot drawing from Designer Rinda West, a neighbor and gifted landscape designer.  Lists of native plants and other resources are also available on our website.

Join Archeworks 2013-14 Sustainable Urban Design Certificate Program and 
collaborate on exciting public interest design partnerships. Interested candidates are encouraged to submit an application by August 12, 2013. The program starts in late September, 2013. Visit archeworks.org for more information and to download application materials.
 
Archeworks is a multidisciplinary design educator that advances design in 
the public interest and inspires collaborative action to shape healthy, 
sustainable and equitable communities.

The Tree House Working Cats Project is a "green" program that relocates sterilized, vaccinated feral cats-that would otherwise have been euthanized-to locales that have problems with rats and mice. Rodents are repelled by the cats' scent, and leave areas with cats. Most cats will hunt and catch rodents on occasion, but if they are fed regularly, cats usually won't eat them. Traditional methods commonly used to control rats tend to be short-term and not permanent solutions. Many involve poison, which is dangerous to pets and the environment.

To see a fact sheet on the program, please click here.  If you are interested in learning more about how you can adopt some working cats, please contact Treehouse's TNR Hotline at: 773-784-5488 ext. 234 or  kari@treehouseanimals.org.

Volunteers wanted for Dancing in the Square on Thursday evening August 15. This free family friendly fun event combines performance and dance lessons by three of Northcenter's best dance groups-Perceptual Motion, Inc. (Modern dance), Flamenco Arts (Flamenco) and Read My Hips (Middle Eastern Dance). The event is from 7:00 to 8:00 pm on Thursday August 15 in the NorthCenter Town Square at Belle Plaine and Damen.  We need help with a variety of tasks both prior to the event and day of. Please contact Lin Shook at pmidance@gmail.com or call 773 549-3958 for more information.

Bring in Your Old Linens.  When you clean out your linen closet please think of the abandoned pets who are awaiting their forever homes at local shelters and foster homes. Bring us your old towels, blankets and sheets and we will deliver them.   

47th A&E    

Events from FOUND Chicago  

Each Tuesday through August 27, Welles Park plays host to some amazing local performers in all genres in this family-friendly, picnic-friendly series. All shows begin at 6:30pm and most consist of two sets with a short intermission, wrapping up before it gets dark, at around 8:30pm. Bring a blanket, some dinner or beverages, and some friends, and enjoy music in the park every week! They'll also offer light snacks for sale at most shows. Download a pdf flyer to print here.

7/30: The Lawrence Peters Outfit

8/6: Ligon & McDonough

8/13: Merit School of Music Wind Symphony

8/20: Jim Gill children's show

8/27: Aloha Lives joined by students of Ke Kula

The Welles Park Advisory Council would like to extend very special thanks to this year's series sponsors: Welles Park Parents Association Baseball, The Gene and Rosemary Schulter Foundation, State Senator Heather Steans, and Alderman Ameya Pawar.  

NEUROTYPICAL by Adam Larsen on Tuesday, July 30, 2013 6:30 p.m.

Neurotypical is an unprecedented exploration of autism from the point of view of autistic people themselves. Four-year-old Violet, teenaged Nicholas and adult Paula occupy different positions on the autism spectrum, but they are all at pivotal moments in their lives. How they and the people around them work out their perceptual and behavioral differences becomes a remarkable reflection of the "neurotypical" world - the world of the non-autistic - revealing inventive adaptations on each side and an emerging critique of both what it means to be normal and what it means to be human. "This event is a collaboration with POV, PBS' award-winning nonfiction film series." http://www.pbs.org/pov. Neurotypical will broadcast on PBS's POV series on July 29, 2013.