Category: Uncategorized

2021 SPCA Holiday Decorating Contest

We’ve made some revisions to our annual holiday decorating contest. This year community members will nominate well-decorated homes.  Previously only our board members participated in the nominations and judging. Now the winners will be entirely determined by the community.

You can nominate your own home if you want, but it’s probably more “in-the-spirit” to nominate a neighbor’s home. You can nominate more than one home also. Here are the rules and procedures for this contest:

1. Neighbors will nominate well-decorated homes until 12/19. Homes must be in Sauganash Park.  Use this webform to nominate homes. Please include a photo for the voting process. You may find this easier to do on your phone.

2. Members of our community will vote for the winning homes from 12/20 to 12/26.

3. Winners will be awarded a gift card to one of our partner restaurants in the following increments: $100 (1st), $50 (2nd), and $25 (3rd and 4th). Runners up will also receive a special prize.

We hope that you like this revision of our classic holiday contest. We need your nominations, votes, and participation to make this a success. Please join us!

Participatory Budgeting

Alderman Nugent’s participatory budgeting process is underway for 2021-2022. The next meeting is December 9th. 

Participatory Budgeting is a great way to direct funds to our community, but we need to participate to be considered. Keep up with all the meeting dates here.

Remember when we won this improvement? We couldn’t have done it without community participation. Please participate if you can.

BEAT Meetings in the 17th District for 2022

The Chicago Police Department hosts local beat meetings monthly. You can connect with police officers at these meetings. You can learn about ongoing criminal activity in the area, and you can report problems that you are experiencing and request assistance.

The Sauganash Park Community is part of the 1711 beat. It is helpful for our community if we have representation at these meetings. Please consider attending. Here is the schedule for 2022:

December is yet another great month to get involved with your community.

Let’s make this a memorable holiday season!

Don Morton
SPCA President

Summer Carnival Event at The Learning Experience Sauganash TODAY

Our friends at The Learning Experience Sauganash are hosting a fun event TODAY from 11 AM to 1 PM. Their Summer Carnival Event will have face painting, games, live music, and food. The event is free and all are welcome to attend.

Stop by. It is right in the neighborhood.

Where: 4110 W. Peterson
When: 11 AM – 1 PM TODAY, August 21st
What: Face painting, games, live music, food, and socializing

39th Ward Public Safety Meeting to be Held Online

Alderman Nugent is hosting a ward-wide virtual community safety meeting on Thursday, August 26 at 6:30 p.m. The purpose of this meeting is to provide residents with primary source information about public safety in our ward.

Commander Ronald Pontecore of the 17th Police District will join the Alderman to answer questions from our community. All questions should be submitted in advance of the meeting: [email protected].

Where: Online – Advance Registration Required
When: 6:30 PM on Thursday, August 26th
What: 39th Ward Public Safety Meeting with Civic Leaders

Membership Cards Have Been Distributed

We are continuing to distribute our membership cards. These cards can be used at these six local businesses: Alarmist Brewing and Taproom, Dakota 94, Donna’s Garden, Chai Asian Bistro, Sauganash Grill, and The Learning Experience Sauganash. We appreciate these local businesses extending discounts and promotions to our members.

We have finished distributing our membership cards to all members who paid their dues as of August 17th. If you paid dues for our 2021-2022 membership cycle and you haven’t received your cards, contact us. Sometimes we make mistakes. We will be happy to look into things and get your membership cards to you. Also, if you haven’t joined our association for this cycle yet, now is a great time to join.
Thank you for being our neighbor!

Don Morton
SPCA President

New SPCA Membership Cycle Begins Today

 

Today is the first day of the 2021-2022 SPCA membership cycle. I hope that you received our mailing. Our membership cycle runs from July 1st until June 30th. Our membership fees remain just $30 a household ($20 for seniors).

You can pay your dues by credit card online.

Or mail a check to our PO Box:

SPCA Treasurer
PO BOX 46174
Chicago, IL 60646-0174

We also have two upcoming events at which you can pay in-person. Your dues allow us to function. Please support your neighborhood association with your membership.

Membership Card Program

New For This Year: SPCA member households will receive two membership cards. These cards can be used to receive discounts and bonuses at local businesses. Here is an overview of those benefits:

Alarmist Brewing and Taproom – 10% off for SPCA Members

Dakota 94 – 10% off for SPCA Members

Donna’s Garden -10% off for SPCA Members

Chai Asian Bistro – Free appetizer for first-time customers (up to $6.00 in value) with order of two entrees

Sauganash Grill – 10% off for first time customers

The Learning Experience Sauganash – Enrollment Fee Waived for SPCA Members

This is our first year trying a membership card program. We thank our current partners for offering our members these discounts. We also hope to expand and improve this program in the coming years if it proves both manageable and valuable to our members and partners.

You will receive your membership cards immediately if you pay in-person at an upcoming event. Otherwise we will begin delivering membership cards to homes mid-July.

UPDATED July 4th Parade in Sauganash

 

The parade route has been updated. The flag raising ceremony WILL take place near Hiawatha and Forest Glen after the parade. This is where the parade traditionally ends.

The parade starts at Thorndale and Kostner at 9:30 AM. Meet us there if you want to march with us. Look for our Sauganash Park banner. I will be marching in the parade with some of our board members. The parade will end near Hiawatha and Forest Glen. The flag will be raised and there will be a few speeches. Also, we will have our SPCA booth set up at the end of the parade if you’d like to pay membership dues in-person.

SPCA Summer Kickoff Event on July 10th

The SPCA is looking forward to our Summer Kickoff Event on Saturday, July 10th from 11:00 – 3:00 PM. It will be held on Glenlake between Kedvale and Keeler.  We invite all our neighbors to celebrate the summer with us.

This event is sponsored by the SPCA and our friend Congressman Quigley, who will be at the event visiting with our neighbors at 1 PM. Alderman Nugent is also expected to attend. Here is the agenda:

11:00 – Start Time
12:00 – 1:30 – Face-painting
1:00 – Congressman Quigley visits
1:30 – 3:00 – Ballon Artist
3:00 – End Time

We will have games and food for all our neighbors. The event will feature impromptu performances from a kilted bagpiper with the Shannon Rovers Irish Pipe Band.  We are all looking forward to that!

The event is FREE FOR MEMBERS. We are asking for a $10 donation from guest families. This is also a great event to pay your dues in-person, if you’d like. We will be distributing SPCA membership cards at this event.

We hope to see you there!

July 4th Parade in Sauganash

The permit for the annual 4th of July parade through Sauganash has been approved. That means that this event WILL BE happening this year.

Our friends from the SCA have invited us to march in the parade. I will be there with some other SPCA board members. We will have our banner. You are welcome to march with us. We think it would be a lot of fun for children. And it’s a great day to decorate bicycles with patriotic trimmings.

Don’t feel like marching? Come and watch!

The parade will begin at Thorndale and Kostner at 9:30 AM. The parade will follow its traditional route (shown below). AND (updated) the flag raising ceremony WILL take place AFTER the parade.

We will have our booth set-up at the end of the parade if you’d like to renew your membership with the SPCA at that time.

SPCA Summer Kickoff Event on July 10th

The SPCA is planning a Summer Kickoff Event for Saturday, July 10th from 11:00 – 3:00 PM. We have requested permits to close Glenlake between Kedvale and Keeler.  We invite all our neighbors to celebrate the start of summer with us.

This event is sponsored by the SPCA and our friend Congressman Quigley, who will be at the event visiting with our neighbors at 1 PM. Alderman Nugent is also expected to attend. Here is what the agenda looks like currently:

11:00 – Start Time
12:00 – 1:30 – Face-painting
1:00 – Congressman Quigley visits
1:30 – 3:00 – Ballon Artist
3:00 – End Time

We will have games and food for all our neighbors. The event will also feature impromptu performances from a kilted bagpiper with the Shannon Rovers Irish Pipe Band.  So that should be a lot of fun.

The event is FREE FOR MEMBERS. We encourage a $10 donation from guest families.

We are also looking for volunteers to help us cook hotdogs, popcorn, and cleanup. If you’d be willing to pitch in and help your neighbors, sign up here. We could use you!

Praying Mantis Egg Delivery Has Concluded

The praying mantis eggs have been delivered. If you signed up for praying mantis egg delivery and were a dues-paying SPCA member for the 2020-2021 cycle, you should have received your praying mantis eggs. If you didn’t receive them, contact us now.

Also, as a reminder, don’t let them hatch in your house! I’ve heard some stories…

New SPCA Membership Cycle Begins July 1st

The SPCA membership cycle runs from July 1st until June 30th. Our new membership cycle begins next month. We will have membership booths at both of these events. You are welcome to pay your dues in person. You should also receive a mailing from us by the start of next month. We hope that you decide to join or renew your SPCA membership for the 2021-2022 cycle.

Thank you for being a part of our community!

Don Morton
SPCA President

July 4th Parade in Sauganash

Historically, the SPCA has partnered with the SCA on the annual picnic-in-the-park event to celebrate the 4th of July.

Due to the lingering effects of Covid-19, the party in the park event WILL NOT happen this year.

But, the SCA is still organizing a parade. And they have invited all members of Sauganash Park to share in this event on Sunday, July 4th.

The SPCA will be marching in the parade with our banner. Neighborhood children and interested parties are welcome to march alongside us. Decorating bicycles is suggested and encouraged.

We will send another email with the exact start-time and parade route as the event gets near.

We thank our neighbors from Sauganash for including us in this event and hope to join them in the park again next year.

SPCA Summer Kickoff Event on July 10th

The SPCA is planning a fun summer event to begin our new membership cycle. Details about the event will be relayed as it gets closer. But I can promise you that there will be food, friends, and community at this event.

In the meantime, save the date: Saturday, July 10th. 

Praying Mantis Egg Delivery Begins This Week

Egg distributions will begin this week. Everyone who signed up for praying mantis egg distribution should expect to receive their eggs in the next two weeks. They are headed your way!

Thank you for being a part of our community!

We try to avoid calling for private snow plows. The service causes a lot of frustrations for our neighbors and depletes our treasury. Due to record snowfall, however, we have once again called for private snow plows. They should arrive in Sauganash Park by 10 AM to clear the center of our streets.

NO End-to-End Clearance

We are NOT asking our neighbors to coordinate the movements of their cars. This is because we are not plowing the streets end-to-end this time. The plows will simply come through our neighborhood and clear the center of our roads. We hope that this allows residents and service providers to freely enter and exit our neighborhood.

The SPCA and The Economics of Snow Plowing

The SPCA Board is a group of neighborhood volunteers. We work to make our neighborhood a better place, and we do so because we care. Sometimes we fail to meet the expectations of our neighbors. That is ok. We invite these neighbors to volunteer as well if they feel that they can help us improve.

We are charged hourly by the plow company. Last time we called we were charged for 25.5 hours. They charge us a rate of $225 an hour. So the last snow plowing job cost our association nearly $6000. That’s the amount in membership dues that we receive from 200 households!

Our funds are provided by our members. There are around 750 homes in Sauganash Park. Just over 200 of these homes have joined our association during 2020-2021. Barely a quarter of the families in Sauganash Park are dues-paying members. Our membership cycle runs from July 1st to June 30th. Please consider joining for 2020-2021 if you haven’t already.

Remember that we are all neighbors. If you see a neighbor struggling in this weather, and you have the energy to help, please do. We are in this together. We will get through this together.

Thank you!

Don Morton
SPCA President

Calling private snow plows to clear our streets is a heavy expense, so we try to only call when necessary. Today, it appears to be necessary. We have already called for snow plows. They are headed to Sauganash Park immediately to clear the center of our streets. 

End-to-End Street Clearance

 

Initially, the snow plows will clear the center of our roads so that cars can enter and exit our neighborhood. They will return tonight to plow our streets end-to-end.

The streets running east and west (Glenlake, Granville, Rosemont) will be cleared from midnight till 8 AM. Please remove your cars from those streets overnight. This will allow the plows to clear from end-to-end, so that we may easily park on the street once again.

The streets running north and south (Keystone, Karlov, Kedvale, etc.) will be cleared from 8 AM tomorrow morning until noon. Please remove your cars from these streets at those times so that the streets can be plowed from end-to-end.

Please help us by notifying your neighbors who may not receive our emails about these plans.

Thank you!

Our neighborhood looked better than ever.

Here are the winners of our contest:

First Place

Second Place

Third Place

The 2020 Sauganash Park Community Association General Meeting will be held on October 20th at 7 PM via ZOOM.

Alderman Nugent is expected to speak.

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89492982583?pwd=K3hzcGlZb1dWNEw1WEMxNG8rZG1IZz09

Meeting ID: 894 9298 2583
Passcode: 000111222

Or Join by Phone: 1 312 626 6799

Meeting ID: 894 9298 2583
Passcode: 000111222

 

The Sounds newspaper is accepting “Grad Ads” for Saturday’s issue (June 20^th) if you provide the photo and the message by 5:00 PM tomorrow (June 16^th).

You may have seen the Grad Ads in the June 6^th issue of The Sounds and wished you had placed one for your grad. Now you have the opportunity if you act fast.

Several families from Sauganash Park are placing ads for their grads. Join in the fun.

Grad Ads are 3” x 6” and include a photo of your grad. Cap and gown optional. The text includes the grad’s name, a congratulatory message, where they are graduating from and, optionally, where they are headed. The ads generally end with “Love”, “With love”, “All our love” from the family (Dad, mom, sisters, brothers).

If you’re interested, send a photo and your message to [email protected] . The cost of a grad ad is $22 and you pay online on The Sounds website on the donation page. Select the graduation ad option.