This family-friendly festival is a celebration and an exploration of our global diversity and raises much needed revenue for the school. Festivities begin with a 5:00PM Mass, followed by a celebration from 6:00 – 11:00PM in the school gym and tented beer garden. Global Fest is the culminating event of the school year, presenting students’ studies of various countries. Celebrate the sights, sounds and taste of Nigeria, Germany, Ireland, Greece, Mexico, England, the Philippines, Poland, and Vietnam. The Preschool students will celebrate the City of Chicago. Enjoy student performances celebrating cultural diversity, decorations from these countries, and delicious ethnic food.

Explore the many groups that make St. Matthias School and Church great, while helping to raise funds for our future. Proceeds will benefit continuing the 125 year-old St. Matthias tradition of Catholic faith and education leadership. Tickets are $12 in advance or $15 at the door for adults and $6 in advance and $8 at the door for children.

“On May 19, NATO demonstrators will gather at the Irving Park Brown Line stop, where they will be given hospital gowns with “Healthcare Not Warfare,” and, “Clinics Not NATO,” written on them. They intend to go door to door in the nearby neighborhood. 

At 12pm, the demonstrators will converge on Horner Park at Irving and California, and will then march on Rahm Emanuel’s house at 4228 N Hermitage.”

Please avoid driving in the area until after 2:00 p.m. this Saturday if at all possible.

The $5.2 million plan will use $1.25 million of TIF as well as $2.7 million of private donations and $1.25 million combined from the schools and the parks to create the only regulation high school baseball diamond in the city.

The baseball announcement comes on top of Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s plan to spend $4 million on a boathouse to replace the container currently being used to secure canoes and kayaks rented at the site.

That plan would build a boat house designed by a team led by Jeanne Gang.

Approval of that plan sailed through the Chicago Park District last week with a new price tag of $9.45 million, more than double the original plan. Costs increased due to a significant increase in the size of the boat house.

About $2 million of the boat house funding will come from Western Ave South TIF funds.

Lane Stadium, which was in a deteriorated condition, is in the second phase of a $3 million upgrade of the field, locker rooms and other facilities.

Two other plans dealing with Clark Park also seem to have been dealt with. The Chicago Department of Transportation is beginning the design of the North Branch Riverwalk Trail connection under the Addison Street Bridge. The trail connection to California Park includes a bridge over the Chicago River at about Grace Street. The cost of that connection is $7.1 million, according to the 2012 City budget.

Memorial of Chris Drew's work at the American Indian Center where artist Chris Drew worked and taught.Photo Credit: Jane Rickard

Chris Drew passed away earlier this week, he is mourned by artists and activists alike. The world is a less interesting place without him, God Speed Chris.

There are a few examples of his work posted on our FaceBook page.

www.facebook.com/The.Chicago.Bulldog

Photo credit :Suzanne Ryan

Gallery posted on our FaceBook page…

www.facebook.com/The.Chicago.Bulldog

A broken swingset and tired wood chips describe the needs of Jacob Playlot. Credit: Patrick Boylan

A plan is advancing to purchase the vacant CTA lot adjacent to Jacob Playlot and turn it over to the  Park District, the Welles Park Bulldog has learned.

The plan, advanced by Ald. Ameya Pawar and Ald. Patrick O’Connor, would tap Tax Increment Financing funds from the Western North TIF to purchase the land. O’Connor’s office indicated the alderman had drafted a letter to Chicago Transit Authority Chairman Forrest Claypool.

Pawar told The Bulldog he is working with O’Connor on the plan which depends on the use of the TIF funds. The land, which sits between Jacob Playlot and the Brown Line tracks where the tracks cross the Chicago River, was offered for sale by the CTA in March. The community, led by the Friends of Jacob Playlot, had been seeking to obtain control of the land for the playlot for years.

That interest was expressed in a petition to the city from residents that gathered 250 signatures, according to Martin Perdoux, a member of Friends of Jacob Playlot.

The Friends of Jacob Playlot received a call from Ald Pawar,” Perdoux told The Bulldog in an interview two weeks ago. “He said both he and Ald O’Connor want to work out an arrangement to transfer the land to the Chicago Park District.”

Pawar told The Bulldog the two aldermen intend to investigate the use of the Western Ave North TIF. Although the playlot is located outside the TIF district, the TIF could be used for this purpose, Pawar said.

The land, which is currently firmly in the 47th Ward, will be remapped into the 40th Ward starting in 2015, with the 47th Ward surrounding it on two sides. The 33rd 32nd Ward lies across the river.

The CTA indicated the minimum bid for the parcel was $1.4 million.

The Western Ave North TIF had a fund balance of $15,440,620 on December 31, 2010, the most recent annual report published by the city. The TIF has ported out more than $3.8 million in 2009, its funds benefiting other nearby TIFs, in particular a TIF on Clark Street.

The TIF used $3 million to assist 4800 Damen LLC, a company wholly owned by Kent Knebelkamp according to a 2004 Economic Disclosure Filing, to create nine affordable apartments at the 4800 Damen building. Other uses of the TIF include a $2 million Small Business Improvement Fund that reported $981,385 in disbursements since the TIF was started in 1999.

The playlot is in need of help. The extensive work likely to happen if the land is acquired will benefit a forgotten bit of park real estate.

On a bright warm Saturday a week ago two children played on the equipment.

The chips appeared tired and the lot empty.

Composed of two sets of swings, a slide and a swinging bridge, the playlot lost most of a pirate ship over the winter. Four of the twelve swings need replacement. The swinging bridge looks too steep for toddlers. Neighbors told The Bulldog that although they lived within a block of the playlot they preferred walking to Waters School with their children.

That playlot was full of children.

Ben Rainey a neighbor involved in Friends of Jacob Playlot told the Bulldog he felt it was important to preserve the land for its access to the river.

Pawar echoed that concern, noting that the playlot is situated on the North Branch between two multi-million dollar boathouse developments planned by the city.

The Chicago Park District and the CTA indicated they had not yet communicated with each other about the resident’s interest in the land.

The tired equipment of Jacob Playlot

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Read the letter of support from the Horner Park Advisory Council to Forrest Claypool

Read the letter of support from Ald. Pawar to Forrest Claypool

Read the letter of support from Friends of the Chicago River to Forrest Claypool 

Read the letter of support from Friends of the Parks to Forrest Claypool

Read the letter of support from Openlands to Forrest Claypool

Sign the petition in support of Jacob Playlot being transferred to the Chicago Park District

The Chicago Bomb and Arson squad is reported by ABC/WLS to be investigating the incidents. Authorities told WLS they might be looking for a man on a bicycle.

The Fire Department did not return calls about the status of the incidents.

WLS- ABC Local Report

Read the WLS Report of the incident

One man is dead and another in serious condition following a shooting Wednesday at the Citgo Station, 3600 N Ashland Ave. Credit: Google Street View

Two men were shot Wednesday morning at the Citgo Station located at 3600 N Ashland Ave. Media reports indicate one of the victims has since died.

Chicago Police say the two men, a Hispanic 29 year old and a Hispanic 26 year old, were sitting in a private tow truck at the station. At 3.37A they were approached by a man on foot.

The one of the victims suffered wounds to the neck, the other to the gut and abdomen. Both were transported to Advocate Illinois Masonic Hospital, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. Police told The Bulldog the men were in serious condition.

The perpetrator is reported to have fled on foot west-bound. Police told other media they were reviewing video evidence. The Chicago Sun-Times reports one of the two victims, 26 year old Max Vallejo of 192 Farm Gate Lane of Bollingbrook died shortly after midnight Thursday.

The Cook County Medical Examiner did not return calls about the incident. The police say no arrests have been made.

FOX News Video Report

View Raw WGN footage of witness statements

Read the Chicago Sun-Times coverage of the incident

View the WGN News report of the incident

Read the CBS Local report on the incident