Here is the activity at Ridge and Dobson to which Jeanne and Braha referred


The Suspect arrested during this incident by CPD is identified as Ray
Smith, M/B, 5'9", 180lbs,Dob: 17 April 84 of LKA 245 Ridge Av. Evanston,
Illinois.

Event #20417, While responding to numerous shots fired calls, R/O's
observed described subject who matched the description and attempted to
initiate a street stop. Subject fled and R/O's gave chase. As Oddender
fled R/O's observed the subject with a gun in his hand and place gun in
the wheel well of a parked vehicle, a Nissan bering Illinois plate
#8016664, and continue to flee but was soon placed in custody. The gun
was immediately recovered and secured by P.O. Tanovic, a custodial
search of offender revealed 3 knotted plastic bags containing green
leafy substance, suspect cannabis and 1 knotted plastic bag containing
10 pills, suspect Ecstacy.

Recovered Weapon Luger P11 9mm semi-auto

Ann,

I may be "mean", but more to the point, I always try to be rational.

You say "Unlike Vito, I can see the work all the aldermen do and there isn't one current alderman who doesn't deserve the stipend and then some."

Well, you might see the "work" they do, but I gauge the Council by the results. Unfortunately the Council does not do well by that measure. We are in a financial hole. The pension fund debacle is one example, and it is a debacle, keeps growing - $140 million, $145 million, and if bond rates sink it could be closer to $180 to $200 million. The Council may consider issues such as being a Sanctuary City, Nuke Free, anti-war, etc. as "work" but the net result is that we are in a financial hole with likely future cuts in services and increased taxes.

Sorry, no cigars...

Ann & Braha:

Thanks for the follow-up & info on last night's excitement at Ridge & Dobson.

Jeanne

BIKE THE RIDGE
Here is an announcement of sorts, we are polishing up the announcement but the facts are firm.

Bike the Ridge is an historic family event when for the first time the City of Evanston allows bike riders to travel the lengths of Ridge Avenue during “Bike the Ridge,” scheduled from 8 to 10 a.m. Sunday, Oct. 26.

Ridge Avenue will be closed to ALL vehicular traffic from Howard St to Church St during this event.

Rain or shine, bike riders of every age are invited to travel the newly-paved Ridge Avenue from Howard Street to Church Street and back again or anywhere in the middle. It is illegal to bike on Ridge Avenue at any other time, so come out and enjoy this non-competitive, city-sponsored, first time ever, bicycle special event.
• A special letter is being sent to ALL residents with driveways and parking lots who live on Ridge explaining driveway issues.
• Unsignaled side streets that intersect with Ridge will be barricaded and will not have Ridge Avenue access. These streets will require a volunteer. Signaled intersections (east/west) will be open as normal and patrolled by an officer.
 Please volunteer or participate during this once-in-a-lifetime event:
• Bring yourself, family and friends and bike down the brand-new roadway; kids are encouraged to come in costume and preview their Halloween attire.
• Volunteer to help keep people safe during the event, oversee a barricaded street.
• Visit with clubs and organizations in the Ridgeville Park on the corner of Seward and Ridge Avenue; buy snacks, water from Oakton PTA, reap giveaways, register your bikes with the Evanston Police Department, or get your bikes fixed by the Pony Shop and first aid from St Francis.
• Observe the Evanston Bicycle Club parade in costume down the lengths of Ridge Avenue, led by an Evanston Police motorcycle officer.
• Purchase commemorative t-shirts, available for sale online at http://www.cafepress.com/BiketheRidge
• Bike the Ridge is supported by Evanston Bicycle Club, the Ridgeville Park District, St Francis Hospital, the YMCA, Oakton School PTA.

We are looking for more support so if your school, club or whatever would like to participate - email us. We need lots of volunteers to oversee the barricades.
 
To volunteer contact:
Ann Rainey, annrainey8@aol.com
Anjana Hansen ahansen@cityofevanston.org

Nice raid at 4:30 PM today at 2120 Seward - drugs and another gun off the street. Go Evanston Police! More info press release coming soon!

Friday is court in Skokie - 1:30, Room 204 Witkowski and Bennett. PLEASE ATTEND - THIS COULD BE IT!

For all of you who like to watch the City Council meetings and School Board meetings (and Arts Camp projects) on tv--please share (the YouTube clip is 4 minutes long but it is produced by a governmental agency and is well done):

*** There will be a PUBLIC meeting tonight, Thursday at 7:30 p.m. at the Robert Crown Center, 1701 Main St.

The meeting is about the unsightly boxes AT&T are installing throughout the community, but there is also have a problem that needs to be exposed to the rest of Evanston.

Various groups are concerned that AT&T is putting all Public, Educational and Governmental access channels on Channel 99 as part of their system. This will make it much more difficult to access public meetings and the public access channels. If you would like to see a demo of the problem, watch this short video:
http://www.youtube.com/californiaDRA

If you think this isn't important, realize that there was an FCC hearing on the issue last week. If our public access channels get relegated to channel 99, user numbers will decrease and the argument will be made to discontinue the channels!

More information about the meeting:

Citywide Meeting
Topic: AT&T Refrigerator size utility boxes on parkways throughout Evanston

Thursday, September 25, 2008
7:30pm Room A-B
Robert Crown Community Center
1701 Main St.

Opportunity to hear from City Staff and AT&T & for residents to voice concerns and questions directly to those tasked with implementing the"Lightspeed Project."

Public Works Director- John Burke
Parks and Forestry Director- Paul D'Agastino
City Legal Dept. - Ken Cox
AT&T representatives
Alderman Lionel Jean-Baptiste and others from City Council

Meeting sponsored by ad hoc citizen group: StoptheBox
http://act.stopthebox.org/

Mindy -

I wonder what ATT&t's reasoning is for this. It does seem to be very inconvenient for all but the most devoted political junkies. All the worst features of cable surfing and computer hassles.

Ann, I had an idea for getting together some volunteers.

How about we ask groups and organizations along the route to put together a volunteer group and then they could also have signs or info along Ridge. (It could be like the non-profit day at the Farmer's Market).

So, St. Nicks Church could be asked to do the crossing at Washington Street, and they could put up signs and flags. YWCA could be asked to do one block south of Church. The are a few other churches along Ridge. I've already sent a note to the ETHS and CHUTE PTA's to see if they want to claim a street corner, and wear school colors.

Nichols and Washington's PTA could also claim a street. Maybe Brummel Park neighbors will want to claim it's intersection and wear your shirts. This is a nice oppportunity for parents who would like to put their kids/teens on bikes, but don't want to ride themselves.

I think if you made a list of street crossings, and offered them to specific neighborhood and school groups, that these could put together teams of four and five who could cheer, wave banners, and have a little community spirit. Kind of like the Central Street parade?

I'm having a meeting at my house on Saturday. I'll let you know if we will be claiming the corner of Ridge and Austin.

Candace

ok candace - feel free to get volunteers. All volunteers will be required to attend a meeting at ridgeville sometime the week before Ride the Ridge - we will lt the 60 volunteers have plety of notice. This is pretty organized what with liability - contractor and city and the danger of idiots driving thru the intersections.

Keep in mind - St Nicks will be having mass all morning. All the not for profit activity will be allowed at Ridgeville not along the route. Let's also keep in mind that this is a family bike ride and the activities at Ridgeville are bike and refreshment related.

Diane,

TV channels are money makers, some more than others. AT&T, as with Comcast, see little revenue, from advertising, on the public channels.

On a digital channel they can get 10 to 12 standard definition programs in lieu of a single NTSC analog channel. Comcast has already started by putting some of the C-SPAN channels on digital, thereby denying access to anyone who does not have a digital set top box.

By doing this they can cram all the PEG channels into one digital channel. There are 4 PEG analog channels now, with those channels going into one digital channel, with room to add more, they can put 40+ revenue generating digital channels on the four vacated analog channels.

It is only money.

Vito, since we don't subscribe to cable, I guess it won't affect us since we don't get the public access channels anyway. But sometimes technology doesn't make things better.

BIKE THE RIDGE VOLUNTEERS -

Gus P AT Wiener and Still Champion, 802 Dempster

is donating a meal of a hotdog, fries and a drink to anyone that volunteers for BIKE THE RIDGE

Thanks, Gus!!!
Wiener and Still Champion

update re status of 329 Custer and 309 Sherman. See you in court.

Ald. Rainey,
Scott Williams and Jim Edwards inspected 329 Custer early in the month and gave Ms Bennett several items to change/fix. They will be inspecting again today to see what has been accomplished. Also, they were able to determine that everyone has moved out but the grandson. They stated that the beds and clothes had been removed and that the place looked vacated. I have inquired with the police department regarding the police activity you told me about and am waiting for the reports.

 

As for Witkowski, last time we were in court the Judge was to rule on Witkowski’s motion to vacate but it was continued to tomorrow because the Court forgot to assign Judge Murray to our Courtroom last time.

 

See you tomorrow.

Beth

Gus is a really good guy - not to mention that WASC has the best french fries in Chicagoland.