All meetings will be held at the Hamlin Park Field House and begin at 7:30PM.  Please note that after a brief summer hiatus, Hamlin Park Neighbors is resuming its regularly scheduled general meetings on the fourth Tuesday of each month, and board meetings on the second Tuesday of each month, both at 7:30 p.m. in the Hamlin Park field house.  We hope to see you there.  To be notified of the meeting dates and times by email, please contact hp@lakeviewcitizens.org.

NOTE: The February 26, 2008 Hamlin Park Neighbors meeting will be held at Beat Kitchen (2100 W Belmont) at 7:30PM.   Pizza will be provided.

Hamlin Park Neighbors is the community voice for citizens who live between Belmont, Ravenswood, Diversey and the Chicago River. The Hamlin Park Neighborhood is divided between the 1st Ward and the 32nd Ward as follows: North of Wellington Avenue - 1st Ward includes any addresses either west of Clybourn or West of Oakley; 32nd Ward includes those to the East of both Clybourn AND Oakley.  South of Wellington Avenue - 1st Ward includes addresses West of Damen; 32nd Ward includes those East of Damen.

Current Executive Board:        Adam Jaffe, President
                                              Tom Barnard, VP & Zoning Committee Chair
                                              Corey Berman, Secretary and Treasurer

 

Hamlin Park Neighbors is at a critical junction in its development.  Over the last year, we have increased membership and our involvement in the community, increased our name recognition among our neighbors, established a website, updated our legal status and have established strong relationships with elected officials.   The next board must continue to work on these issues to push HPN further ahead.  If you or your neighbors choose not to get involved, HPN could slide backward.   With so many pressing issues in our neighborhood (development of Lathrop Homes and the Belmont and Damen corridors, improving schools, improving our park, retaining our green space, safety issues, etc) this is a critical time for our community.

 

Lathrop Homes

 

You may have heard that Lathrop Homes, the Chicago Housing Authority development along Clyborn between Damen and Oakley, will be redeveloped to make way for new housing.   This new housing is likely to be split up between Market Rate Housing, Affordable Housing and Public Housing.  The CHA contends that a model development would be comprised of equal parts of each of these types of housing.   As you may expect, there is no final plan of what this new area will look like, the proportion of one type of housing versus another, and whether there will be new commercial development along with the residential.   In order to determine what the development will look like, some research must be conducted by the Working Group.  The Working Group members include various public service agencies and community stakeholders.   Hamlin Park Neighbors is not, as of yet, officially a part of this Working Group.  I have had multiple conversations with Alderman Manny Flores and his staff regarding our role in this process.   Alderman Flores has assured me that he will make sure that our voice is heard even if we are not officially on the Working Group.  I will continue to press the issue to ensure that our thoughts are represented to the community.  

 

In the short term, the Working Group will be submitting a "Request for Qualifications."  This will ask developers to submit their qualifications for the ability to take on this job, giving them an outline of the goals that the working group has for the job.  After that, the Working Group will pare down those developers and submit "Request for Proposals" from those qualified developers.   As the project progresses, Hamlin Park Neighbors will make every effort to keep you apprised of any new information relating the redevelopment of Lathrop Homes.   I plan to invite members of the Working Group to our general meetings to give periodic updates on the progress of the development.  This is one of the more important issues to come to our area in a long time.   The outcome of this development could very well shape our neighborhood for years to come, including educational opportunities for our children and new commercial development in our area.   Please stay tuned.