Input Requested: The Lot

Currently in its second season, The Lot is an event space at the northwest corner of St. Johns and Central that hosts music, food, markets and other special events throughout the summer and into the fall. The schedule for the season is here. The City is seeking input for a more permanent space for events. Please make your voice heard by filling out this survey.

Candidate Forum

The League of Women Voters is holding a candidate forum on March 21 at 1 pm. Join this virtual event to learn more about the views of the candidates running for local office in Highland Park. Register for the zoom event and submit your questions here. You can learn more about my views on issues impacting Highland Park in the newsletter archive, and this post on the HP Patch.

Environmental Town Hall meeting

Please join me on November 29 for this Environmental Town Hall meeting in Highland Park. Experts from Illinois Environmental Council, Union of Concerned Scientists, Moms Clean Air Force, Sierra Club and Illinois Solar Energy Association will address climate change, clean energy, flooding and air pollution, along with suggestions on what you can do.

May 13 Events

SWALCO’s annual rain barrel, compost bin and native plant sale will take place from 9 am – 3 pm at Independence Grove Forest Preserve in Libertyville. Details are here.

Help clean up the Chicago River on Saturday morning between 9 am and 12 pm. In Highland Park, there are 2 clean up sites: 1) the northeast end of the Target parking lot or 2) the Golf Dome off the highway north of Park Avenue. Bring gloves and wear rain boots.

Moraine Township is looking for volunteers in the morning to help plant their garden, and in the afternoon to help sort food at the pantry. Details are here. You can also donate to the food pantry by leaving a bag of shelf stable, unexpired food by your mailbox during Saturday’s Postal Food Drive.

Active By Design Summit

Please join me on October 4 at 1 pm at Chicago Botanic Gardens to learn more about the many benefits of designing communities that promote physical activity. Featuring Mark Fenton, nationally renowned walkability expert, and Eric Chehab, MD, of Illinois Bone and Joint Institute, the program will also include a panel of local community leaders who will share their successes with complete street enhancements and strategies for funding healthier places for walking and bicycling. Registration is required for this free event. There will also be a “walk audit” in Highland Park at 8 am on October 5. If you’d like to participate, email me for details.

Bike Walk Fair and Film Fest

Bike walk flyer 2

Bike over to the Highland Park Library on Sunday, May 15, 2016 for Highland Park’s second annual Bike/Walk Fair. From 1-3 pm there will be bike and helmet safety checks, information from local bicycle shops and environmental organizations, and even some free stuff. Bring used bikes that you no longer need to donate to Working Bikes. Stay to see the one hour Bicycle Film Fest inside the Library at 2 or 3:15. This event is free and all are welcome. Please share.

Just Eat It Film Showing

Just Eat It posterFood waste is the one of the hot environmental issues of 2016. We throw away over 40% of our food in the US. In addition to the waste of food and the energy used to produce it, organic matter that ends up in  landfills gives off methane, a potent greenhouse gas.

You can learn more on April 18 at 7 pm at the Highland Park Public Library screening of Just Eat It. An entertaining film that explores the issue of waste from farm, through retail, to home. After catching a glimpse of the billions of dollars of good food that is tossed each year in North America, the filmmakers pledge to survive only on foods that would otherwise be thrown away. In a nation where one in 10 people is food insecure, the images they capture of squandered groceries are both shocking and strangely compelling.

The film is free and open to the public.  I hope to see you there!