The Roscoe Village Neighbors is a non-profit organization managed by an all-volunteer, 12-member Board of Directors. The three-year terms for the Board of Director positions are staggered, so four board seats are up for election each year by members. Directors may be re-elected, but must run for re-election. Director-at-large positions may be filled by any active RVN member, while executive positions may only be filled by members with at least one year of service on the RVN board as a director-at-large.

This year, due to a recent resignation, there are five positions up for election, including Vice-President, Treasurer and 3 at-large positions.

What does being an RVN Board Member entail?

The board meets approximately 10 times a year, on the second Tuesday of most months. Each board member is asked to chair or co-chair one of our committees (which generally takes about 10 hours within a two week period), and to help run Retro on Roscoe, one of the most successful street festivals in Chicago, which takes place on the second weekend in August. New friendships and  lots of fun are two benefits of RVN Board Membership, but, most importantly, you’ll get the satisfaction of knowing that you’re helping to make Roscoe Village the best neighborhood in Chicago!

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Date: May 15th, 2013
Location: 2452 W. Belmont Ave

1. Welcome, Introductions of Beat Facilitators, Officers and Alderman staff. This was one of the most well attended meetings in recent history! Thank you Roscoe Village Residents, your voice does make a difference.

2. Previously identified Problems

A. Blue Light Bar continues to have guests leaving late at night making a lot of noise, urinating in alleys, getting into fights and causing a general nuisance

B. There is continued increase in graffiti in the neighborhood

3. Suggested Solutions for above problems:

A. Officer Simz will request that Blue Light Owners attend the next BEAT Meeting on Wednesday, June 19th at 7:00pm to discuss noise and disturbance issues

B. Residents can get the free APP “SeeClickFix” and take a picture with their smart phones and report graffiti, potholes, lights that are out, etc. to the city with one quick text. Check it out at: http://seeclickfix.com/chicago

4. Arrest Data Statistics and Clear Map Reports

A. https://portal.chicagopolice.org/portal/page/portal/ClearPath/News/Crime%20Statistics/22_pdfsam_compstat_public_2013_week18.pdf

B. Terminology discussed: Theft is when someone steals something from your garage or car. Burglary is when they steal from your home by force or non forced entry. Robbery is when something is stolen from a person

5. New Problems and Issues

A. Criminals are following the UPS trucks and waiting for a package to sit on a porch and stealing them. Please don’t have packages left on your front porch!

B. Purses are getting stolen at the local grocery stores. Do not leave your purse unattended in your grocery cart!

6. Roscoe Village Community Watch is in need of Block Captains. Please e-mail RVN if you are interested. See the attached form for details:

7. Announcements: Officer Appreciation Day is Friday, June 14th! All residents are invited to help thank our local police through an all day celebration at the District 19 HQ at 850 W. Addison. Please come for breakfast, lunch or dinner to show your support!

Next CAPS Meeting: Wednesday, June 19th at 7:00pm 2452 W. Belmont Ave (Auditorium)

A special thank you to Sergeant Clark for sharing valuable information with our community and for providing the support and encouragement to make a difference. We had a dozen residents who offered to join the RVCW steering committee and many more who have agreed to be block captains.  Please continue to spread the word as we need more block captains.

For those of you who were not able to attend, below are some highlights from Sergeant Clark’s presentation:

Although there has been an increase in crime city wide, Roscoe Village continues to be a very safe neighborhood to live in.  In fact, most of the crime that happens in our neighborhood can be prevented.

Burglaries- The majority take place Monday through Friday, with Thursday being the most popular day.  Very few of these burglaries involve forced entry, with most criminals entering through open garage doors and open back doors of homes or windows.  Lock your doors and windows to prevent burglaries – this is a very easy fix!  Burglars can be extremely lazy and if your house is hard to enter, they will likely move on to the next one.  Please reinforce the frame around your side garage door and get a dead bolt installed.  If you experience crime to your person or property PLEASE REPORT IT!  The police can only deter the crime they know about.

Helpful tips- Report any suspicious behavior including door-to-door solicitations that seem unusual.  These individuals may be investigating your home. He also recommended that you not leave your car parked on the street with your garage door opener on your visor.  Criminals steal the garage door opener and your registration (with your address on it) out of your glove box and help themselves to the contents of your garage. Don’t leave any items visually available in your car.

Robberies- Chicago Police saw a significant increase in robberies in the month of January of 2013.  Most of these robberies happened because individuals were walking home from bars after hours with their $400 phones up to their ear.  Criminals target obvious smart phone users for robberies.

Be aware of your surroundings-  Do not walk around talking on your phone. Walk with a friend at night when possible.  IPhones are a hot commodity selling for $200 quick money.  People think that if they are talking on the phone while walking at night they will be safer; however, in fact it is like they are walking around waving $200 to tempt burglars.

Car theft- There has been a significant increase in car theft city wide.  Please lock your doors and report stolen vehicles and any car entry (even to an unlocked car) to 311 after the fact. Please report suspicious behavior to 911 if in progress.

CALLING 911: Many people are hesitant to call police or 911 for anything less that an obvious crime being committed. However the police rely on residents to be the first lead in reporting suspicious behavior, which can include loitering by non-residents in alleys, chronic loud disruptive behavior, kids checking cars late at night, and graffiti in process.  If a report is made, the police will have a record and names on file if a crime is later reported in the same area or similar times. To see more tips, please see the attached prevention ideas from the Chicago Police Department.

Most importantly please attend the upcoming BEAT Meeting on Wednesday, May 15^th at 7:00pm at the Belmont & Western Police Department (2452 W. Belmont) in the auditorium.  In the past the 1921 and 1922 Beat meetings have been sparsely attended.

Our new Roscoe Village Community Watch program hopes to use this valuable police information and share it with our members. We believe that this increased communication can make a huge difference to fight crime in our neighborhood. With the support of one another we can turn crime around in Roscoe Village!

Warm regards,

Roscoe Village Community Watch

www.roscoevillage.org

Riverview Tavern will be serving all sorts of delicious items like Eggs Benedict, Breakfast Burrito Pinwheels, Pastries, Muffins, Bacon, Sausage, Chicken Sausage, and much much more! And, it’s buffet style for all those big appetites! We’ll also have fun activities for the kids. Be sure to sign up now. You don’t want to miss out on this fun event to meet new neighbors and spend time with the ones you already know and love!

There will be one seating at 9:30AM. The cost is $40 per family and an additional $10 per adult if there are more than two adults in your party.

We look forward to seeing all of our neighbors there! Remember, you must be an active RVN Member to register for the Spring Brunch. To become a Member, click here. To renew your membership, click here.

Register for 9:30AM Seating

Thank you for all your support and quick responses in preparation for our meeting with Alderman Pawar that took place on Wednesday evening, February 27th. With your help, we provided Alderman Pawar with 129 handwritten signatures and over 300 electronic signatures showing the need for a safe community space around Audubon School for us to gather and play.

This email is an update to the community on the legwork we have done thus far in the process of moving this proposal forward and the result of our meeting with Alderman Pawar on Wednesday night.  Firstly, we received a quote of $780,000 from CPS to replace the asphalt with turf and remove the playground and replace it with a safer apparatus on the Cornelia side of the school where the mud currently resides.  Due to liability reasons, we are unable to choose a less expensive vendor to complete the project, so we are saddled with the cost of the project being $780,000.

With that said, we are looking for support from Alderman Pawar to help us find funds for this project.  Our meeting on Wednesday night got the Alderman’s attention on the unsafe environment that currently surrounds the school, and we believe he would like to assist us but we are uncertain about his ability to fully fund this project.  We will keep you posted on the next steps.  We plan to hold a community meeting this spring about this project.

Thank you again for your support!

The Audubon Ambassador Committee

Start fluffing your big hats and pressing your pastel pants, the RVN Spring “Talk Derby to Me” Charity Pub Crawl is coming May 4, 2013.

Join us for a fancy stroll through Roscoe Village to celebrate the Kentucky Derby for a great cause! Guys, we want to see pastel suits and seersucker pants, and girls, bring out the big hats and floral-print dresses.

The Pub Crawl will be from 2:30PM-7:30PM on May 4th. Pre-register for $25 or register at the door for $30. They’ll be fantastic drink specials, delicious food, super fun games and awesome prizes including gift certificates, Brookfield Zoo tickets, pint glasses and more! RVN Members will have special priveleges all night, so don’t be left in the infield! Become a member now! This is going to be the biggest and best Pub Crawl we’ve had in years. You definitely won’t want to miss it! Call your friends and line up babysitters now! No kids allowed!

Here’s the line-up!

2:30-3:30 PM
The Prerace Tailgate | Black Rock Tavern, 3614 North Damen Avenue

3:30-4:30 PM
The Stable Party | The Village Tap, 2005 West Roscoe Street

4:30-6:00 PM
The Main Event | Riverview Tavern, 1958 West Roscoe Street

6:00-7:00 PM
The Winner’s Circle | The Four Treys Tavern, 3333 North Damen Avenue

This is a great way to meet new friends and hang out with your old ones! Register early, save $5 and help us get an accurate count for the awesome T-Shirts!

Register Now!

VIEW MAP OF ALL PARTICIPATING RESIDENTS