Howard Rieger Archives - Page 2 of 3 - Get Down To Business with Shalom Klein

“Our Great Rivers Plan” and West Rogers Park – Shabbat Message from Howard Rieger, President, JCCWRP

Posted on September 15, 2016 by Shalom Klein

Shabbat Message from Howard Rieger, President, JCCWRP

The City of Chicago and the Metropolitan Planning Council recently unveiled Chicago’s first unified vision for the Calumet, Chicago and Des Plaines Rivers. It’s known as Our Great Rivers Plan. With the support of the Chicago Community Trust and other funders and the involvement of the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District (MWRD), the Plan’s 26 goals include expanding river-edge open spaces, improving riverfront parks, enhancing continuous trails and river access, and promoting neighborhood tourism.

As a teenager, my friends and I called what is now known as the North Branch Channel the “sewer river.” Who could have envisioned that the channel would become the site of a treasured recreational amenity? Who could have imagined that the McCormick Trail, beautifying Evanston, Skokie, Lincolnwood and Chicago, would ever become a reality? But it did. and our community is incalculably enriched by it.

Today West Rogers Park is poised to be transformed by similar river-related amenities. Starting with the new park that will be created in 2017 at Devon and McCormick, thanks to the support of Ald. Silverstein, and the new biking/running/walking bridge that will finally connect the trail on the west side of the channel with the trail on the east side at Kedzie and Lincoln, that is exactly what is beginning to happen.

With the promulgation of Our Great Rivers Plan, another dream takes a step closer to becoming reality: transforming the park on the east side of the channel that runs along Kedzie from just north of the former Thillins ballpark to Touhy — Park 538, the park no one knows about — into the extraordinary neighborhood and regional asset it has the potential to become.

With 3 ½ miles of volunteer-maintained trails adjacent to the channel, Park 538 could provide a perfect venue for collaboration between the City of Chicago, the Chicago Park District, the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District and some of the funders and planners who are helping to implement the Plan. What it would take initially would be fairly simple. Name the park. Erect signage to let the community know of its existence, and clear a few access points so people can actually see it and use it.

For next steps, MWRD could add interpretive signage similar to the displays they created at the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum in Lincoln Park, underscoring the crucial role of water treatment in assuring the public health of our region.

Being in the right place at the right time is one key to success. Recognizing opportunities and creating synergies to take advantage of these openings is equally important.

Hopefully our advocacy together with other individuals and organizations in West Rogers Park and beyond will achieve that fulfillment for the continued betterment of our community.

Shabbat Shalom,

Howard

Raising Awareness

Posted on July 10, 2015 by Shalom Klein

Friends and Colleagues:

Sharing the facts is changing the perception about West Rogers Park. Our community is growing. Synagogues have an increasing membership of young families, millions of dollars are being invested in new and existing neighborhood institutions and government resources are now being directed to improve our streets. On a recent visit at a community function, I only recognized a handful of familiar faces which indicates positive growth and development!

One of our priorities has been raising awareness about the hidden gems of West Rogers Park. Our Alderman, Debra Silverstein, has referred to Devon Avenue as “a diamond in the rough” and we agree. The way to influence perception is to engage in a public relations campaign and we are very fortunate to have the volunteer services of Beverly Siegel who has gotten us considerable visibility. Our work (and more importantly, our neighborhood) has been featured in news articles in:

1. Chicago Tribune

2. JUF News

3. Chicago Jewish News

4. DNAInfo

5. News-Star

Most recently, we were included in a story about Devon Avenue in the AmericanWay magazine which is distributed on every American Airlines flight domestically and internationally. This exposure is a great way to showcase local businesses and raise awareness about advocacy. A number of friends traveling to Chicago have commented positively after reading the article. That article is posted here: http://www.gowrp.org/blog/2068/jccwrp-in-the-american-way/

I encourage you to visit our website, www.GoWRP.org, and share that link with your colleagues and neighbors. Recent news articles and blog updates on our progress are regularly posted. We also have links to our active social media pages. There is no substitute for positive word of mouth!

Shalom Klein

Check out my comments in the Chicago Tribune: Abandoned lot in West Rogers Park may soon get renovations

Posted on April 15, 2015 by Shalom Klein

An empty lot near West Devon Avenue and McCormick Boulevard has been untouched in nearly a decade. The Metropolitan Water Reclamation District, which owns the property, hopes to get funding approved to renovate it into a productive space for the public. (Jewish Community Council of West Rogers Park)

The slab of concrete sits at the end of miles of otherwise well-kept parks along the North Shore Channel. Untouched for at least a decade, the empty parking lot is filled with graffiti and broken glass and has become a magnet for crime. Long-patient West Rogers Park residents hope that may change soon.

David St. Pierre, executive director of the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District, met with more than 100 members of the community last month to hear their ideas about turning the space at West Devon Avenue and McCormick Boulevard into a park or green space. The reclamation district owns the lot.

The Jewish Community Council of West Rogers Park has led efforts to upgrade the area, and its yearlong push for meetings with officials may have finally paid off.

“That parking lot is really in many ways a gateway to many neighborhoods,” said Shalom Klein, executive director of the community council. “Especially Rogers Park, Lincolnwood, Peterson Park, as well as cultures and people that live in that area.”

St. Pierre estimated it would cost $200,000 to $300,000 to tear down the parking lot, install turf and repurpose the area, but he said the district doesn’t have a final estimate for the project yet. St. Pierre said he plans to bring a proposal to the district’s board of commissioners at its next meeting April 9. If the board approves the plan, he said he hopes the project could begin “as soon as possible.”

At one end of the property sits an abandoned movie theater and car wash. Howard Rieger, president of the community council, said the two buildings aren’t owned by the reclamation district and therefore cannot be included in the renovation plans for the empty lot. The two buildings are under the jurisdiction of the 50th Ward.

Ald. Debra Silverstein, 50th, said last week that any changes to the current structures are in the “early stages.” She had no further comment.

Klein said members of the community council and neighborhood residents hope to remain involved in developing plans for the lot, something St. Pierre said he would also like to happen once the project is funded.

Although Klein mentioned one idea of turning the space into a public park, he and St. Pierre said future conversations would determine how the space could best serve the neighborhood.

Klein called the initiatives over the past year a “strong community effort.”

“We really want to represent the community that hasn’t had the opportunity to enjoy that property for close to 10 years,” he said.

pfirozi@tribpub.com

Twitter @paulina_milla

DNA Info: Vacant Movie Theater 'Eyesore' Could Become Park, Storage Facility

Posted on March 18, 2015 by Shalom Klein

Howard Rieger, president of the Jewish Community Council of West Rogers Park, organized a community meeting Tuesday night about the property. He said more than 100 people attended.

“There isn’t 1 inch of the property along the [North Shore Channel] trail that’s an eyesore except for this miserable couple of acres,” Rieger said. “We’re allowing the site to be used by gangs and drug dealers. … Everything looks good around there except for this disaster.”

But now a deal is in the works to transform the property.

Podcast of “Get Down To Business with Shalom Klein” – 3/8/2015 – with Bruce Leon, Chris Everett, Howard Rieger and Debbie Schreiner

Posted on March 11, 2015 by Shalom Klein

I led a tour of West Rogers Park (Devon and Touhy Avenues) for University of Illinois students as part of their "Commercial Corridor Revitalization" course

Posted on February 10, 2015 by Shalom Klein

JCCWRP Updates and Shabbos Message from Shalom Klein – January 19, 2015

Posted on January 19, 2015 by Shalom Klein

Friends and Colleagues:

On Monday, I was a guest of Governor Bruce Rauner at the inauguration in Springfield. Many of you may recall that he visited West Rogers Park a month before the election for several hours for meetings with communal leadership and tours of our non-profit organizations. He also visited the abandoned movie theater/car wash at Devon and McCormick and agreed that this eyesore needed to be removed from the heart of our community. Now that he is Governor, I have been in close communication with his senior staff and they have expressed support for our work and commitment to help us build bridges in local units of government. Hopefully this will open additional doors that will enable us to address this problem, and will serve as a boost for many of our other initiatives.

Tuesday was filled with meetings at JUF with Emily Sweet of the Jewish Community Relations Council who we have been collaborating closely with on creating programming across the Jewish and east-Asian communities that call West Rogers Park home. I also met with John Lowenstein to start a dialogue with the Hillel at Loyola University about working on resources for students and faculty in East Rogers Park.

To wrap up the day on Tuesday, I presented to the semester’s first session of the UIC urban planning department’s commercial revitalization graduate seminar . Several of our lay leaders joined me in presenting the background of our neighborhood to the group of students who will be spending tens of hours this semester developing a plan to help us attract new businesses to the Devon and Touhy avenue corridors. Our former consultant, Michael Schubert, opened the door for an introduction at the college of urban planning and I am pleased to report that we have leveraged that relationship to bring more resources to the community.

On Thursday upon our initiative, a meeting was convened at Alderman Silverstein’s office, along with representatives of Agudath Israel, Chicago Rabbinical Council, Anti-Defamation League and the Jewish Community Relations Council, to discuss the recent acts of vandalism that took place in West Rogers Park. Subsequent to the threatening graffiti that was smeared on many structures in the community, we collaborated with ADL and JCRC to request the above meeting. With the recent tragedy in Paris, we also discussed the concern of possible local threats relating to the terror attacks in France.

Today we will be meeting at Alderman Silverstein’s office with a developer who has a plan to purchase the abandoned/blighted movie theatre and car wash at Devon and McCormick, and convert that site into a public storage facility. The developer has other facilities which are attractive and well-designed. The facility would require only five parking places, and that would open the possibility of the unused parking lot just behind the existing structures being redeveloped as a park to enhance the bike trail adjacent to it. We hope that our participation will demonstrate community support for the immediate improvement of the site.

To further encourage cleanup of the Devon/McCormick site, this week we sent a letter to the top leadership of the metropolitan water reclamation district signed by 26 rabbis and co-signed by 350 members of the community, inviting them to a meeting on March 10^th at 6pm at Congregation B’nei Reuven to explain why the property they control at this site has been allowed to become a symbol of decline at the gateway to our community. We tried over the last six months to arrange a meeting with MWRD officials, to no avail. Now we will schedule a public meeting of our own to which we will invite media, and offer MWRD leaders a platform. If they come we will ask the tough questions and gain media coverage. If they don’t come, that will become a story in itself. It is MWRD policies that have led to the blight that gets worse day after day. We await their response and will continue to mobilize the community in support of our advocacy on this issue which will not stop until something positive is done to resolve this problem.

On Friday I will be continuing our development plan by asking local organizations on our list for financial support for our work. We have made progress in mobilizing our community and with your help we are building a sustainable base to continue our critical work in the community.

Wishing you and your family a wonderful Shabbos.

Best,

Shalom Klein

Executive Director, Jewish Community Council of West Rogers Park

What J Comm Can Do for You and and You Can Do for J Comm Drives JCCWRP Event

Posted on September 10, 2014 by Shalom Klein

JCCWRP Family Event Features Fun for Kids, Neighborhood Advocacy, Mortgage Assistance and Enrichment Info For Moms and Dads

More than 400 WRP residents of all ages -but especially moms, dads and kids – enjoyed an afternoon of socializing and community building at Back-to-School Fun Day, Sunday, Aug. 31, on the grounds of the Bernard Horwich Center, sponsored by Jewish Community Council of West Rogers Park and Associated Talmud Torahs of Chicago.

Featuring free rides for children including a moonwalk and rock-climbing wall, musical entertainment, door prizes, and food for purchase from Great Chicago Food & Beverage, the event provided a bounty of information from participating exhibitors on services and opportunities available in the neighborhood.

“Our goal was to connect community members to valuable – and little known — resources,” said JCCWRP Executive Director Shalom Klein.

JCCWRP informed guests of its mission to strengthen and preserve West Rogers Park as Chicago’s flagship Jewish neighborhood, providing a vehicle for advocacy for better amenities in the parks and a new public library; revitalization of commercial streets, and alleviating eye soars, like the blighted area behind Lincoln Village. To learn more about how community members can participate in efforts to become a force for positive change in the neighborhood, visit the JCCWRP website atwww.gowrp.org.

Among other highlights, Richard Trumbo, proprietor of Music House, located at 2925 W. Devon, delighted guests with a live mini-concert and answered questions from scores of parents about music lessons for kids (www.musichouseinc.com).

Devon Bank representatives shared information about a program developed in partnership with JCCWRP, providing financial assistance to qualified buyers to encourage home ownership. (Contact Irv Loundy, Senior VP, ILoundy@DevonBank.com.)

Jewish Child and Family Services staff explained the “safer schools” initiative, aimed to protect children from abuse in the day-school system. (Information is available athttp://www.jcfs.org/node/677)

A volunteer for Ald. Debra Silverstein’s office advised neighbors on how to utilize her constituent services to report crime, potholes, graffiti, worn-out refuse cans, and more (visitwww.50thWardChicago.com).

Akiba Schechter Day School (www.akibaschechter.org), Council for Jewish Elderly (www.cje.net/), Sinai Health System (www.sinai.org), and HIAS(www.hias.org) also participated in the event.

Co-sponsors included Jewish Community Centers of Chicago, Devon Bank, Ald. Debra Silverstein and State Sen. Ira Silverstein.

You are invited to… Shabbat Dinner for Young Professionals with the Honorable Roey Gilad

Posted on March 14, 2014 by Shalom Klein

The Jewish Community Council of West Rogers Park
invites you to
a Shabbat dinner for young professionals
with The Honorable Roey Gilad, Consul General of Israel to the Midwest
March 28, 2014 at 8pm
at Congregation K.I.N.S.
2800 W. North Shore Avenue
Chicago, IL 60645
Singles, couples and families are welcome. Register at www.GoWRP.org by March 20, 2014.
$18 Adults
$10 Children
Questions: Shalom Klein, sklein@gowrp.org
JCCWRP is an organization of neighborhood residents and Jewish community leaders who care deeply about the past, the present, and the future of West Rogers Park.
Howard Rieger, President
Shalom Klein, Executive Director