This week I had the privilege to attend the "East" Devon Avenue Business Owners Meeting on Monday, February 11, 2013 with my mentor Professor Pincince. It invited Devon Ave. business owners located east of Western Ave. to meet with 50th Ward Alderman Debra Silverstein and the 24th District Police Department. The meeting was hosted by the West Ridge Chamber of Commerce. Unfortunately, Alderman Silverstein could not make it, but she had two representatives from her office attend the meeting. This type of meeting is usually held every four weeks on a Monday. It is designed to help business owners on Devon Ave. voice their opinions and concerns to the community leaders and police so that issues related to crimes specifically may be resolved. A resturanrant owner usually volunteers their venue to host the meeting. This month the meeting took place in the Kabul Express Restaurant. The meeting went well. The police officer stated that crime within the neighborhood has decreased 9% since last year and the police department is going to install more cameras in the neighborhood so that it can be more safe for residents and business owners. The police officers also stated that they would like the neighborhood to become more affluent and the only way to ensure this, would be to reduce crime. The next meeting is going to take place on March 4, 2013 and I hope to attend that one as well.
Our group has also been assigned to document all addresses on Devon Ave from Broadway to Kedzie. This work has been divided amongst all four of us in the internship. I began documenting every address (commercial and residential) between Damen and Western on Devon Ave on an excel spread sheet. This is a tedious and time-consuming task and I will continue working on it well into next week as well. Along with documenting the information, I would like to take pictures of several store-fronts within this stretch next week, so please stay tuned for some vibrant and colorful pictures!
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