Friday, November 05, 2010

Downtown Comes Together for One of Its Neighbors


The Downtown Neighborhood Association of Elgin and our downtown businesses invite you to join us in raising funds for Patricia Keeney, owner of Keeney’s Sporting Goods in downtown Elgin.

Patricia is very ill and will be in the hospital for quite some time. DNA volunteers have been running her store in her absence in an effort to keep her business afloat; however additional financial help from the community is very much needed.

You can help by making a cash donation or a check made out to “Patricia Keeney Fund”. Drop off your donation or mail it to the DNA, 2 Douglas Avenue, Elgin, IL 60120. Many downtown businesses also have collection jars ready to accept your donations. You can also help by shopping at Keeney’s Sporting Goods & PK’s Antiques, Monday-Saturday, 11AM-6PM.

For additional information, please contact Tonya Hudson at the DNA at (847) 488-1456 or email thudson@downtownelgin.com

Thursday, November 04, 2010

Final Stages of Phase 4 Streetscape Work Underway

Phase 4 improvements of the CDB Streetscape Project will be winding down over the next few weeks. The remaining work includes street paving and crosswalk installation.

The City, DNA and TranSystems have come up with a plan to complete the majority of the remaining work by mid-November. Special attention has been given to allow as much access to local businesses as possible as we push through this final phase.

PAVING
Paving of the surface course on Dexter Court, Highland Avenue, Grove Court, Spring Street (between Highland Avenue and Division Street) and Center Street (between Kimball Street and Dundee Avenue) is scheduled for Friday, November 5. Paving will begin on Dexter Court and Grove Court in order to allow rush hour traffic on Highland to get through. Paving will be completed by Friday afternoon.

Temporary centerline striping will be in place until the weekend of November 13 -14 when all permanent striping will be installed.

CROSSWALKS
Once the paving work is complete, the final step in the Phase 4 streetscape improvements is the installation of the brick paver crosswalks. The plan is to complete the crosswalks at all intersections on Highland Avenue, working west to east from Riverside Drive to Center St., over the next two weeks, weather permitting. Crosswalks on Division Street, east and west of Spring Street and all crosswalks on Center Street between Kimball St. and Dundee Avenue will be done in the spring of 2011.

November 8 through 15:

1. Full closure of Dexter Court (main entrance to City Hall) in order to install 3 crosswalks. Entrances to the Civic Parking Lot at Division, Highland and Grove Ct. (Post Office) will remain open at all times.
2. Full closure of Douglas Avenue at the north and south sides of Highland to install two complete crosswalks on Douglas.
3. Closure of north side lane on Highland Avenue to complete the north half of the crosswalks on Highland at Riverside, Grove, Douglas, Spring and Center. The south lane of Highland will reamin open at all times.
4. Closure of west side of Grove Court (north of Highland) to complete southbound portion of crosswalk. Grove Court will remain open to two-way traffic.

Traffic Detour & Local Access for November 8-15:

Click here to download a detour map > >


Northbound traffic on Grove Avenue / Douglas Avenue will be detoured eastbound on Chicago Street, northbound on Spring Street, westbound on Division Street to rejoin northbound Douglas Avenue.

Local access to Douglas between Chicago Street and Highland Avenue will be available as well as local access to Douglas between Division Street and Highland Avenue. Motorists wishing to travel westbound on Highland Avenue may turn left from Spring Street and proceed westbound on Highland through the construction zone.

Southbound traffic on Douglas Avenue will be detoured eastbound on Division St. to Spring Street and then southbound on Spring Street to rejoin S. Grove Avenue at Fulton Street. Motorists wishing to access the Riverboat should use this route and then continue south past Fulton Street to the Riverboat.

Motorists wishing to travel westbound on Highland Avenue may turn from Spring Street and proceed westbound on Highland Avenue, as one lane of Highland will be open at all times.

November 15-22:

1. Closure of the south side of Highland to complete the second half of the crosswalks on Highland at Riverside, Grove, Douglas, Spring and Center. The north lane of Highland will remain open at all times.
2. Closure of Spring Street from south of Division through the south side of Highland for the full installation of three crosswalks.
3. Closure of the northbound side of Grove Court. Access to and from Grove Court will only be allowed for deliveries to the post office and for post office vehicles. Post office customer parking will be in the Civic Center parking lot only. Pedestrian access from the Civic Center parking lot will be available.
4. Full closure of Grove Avenue at the south side of Highland Avenue to allow construction of the full crosswalk.

Additional information on lane closures for the week of November 15 through November 22 will be available on November 11.

City Hall Drop Box Access

The City's payment drop box has been temporarily relocated during construction. To access the drop box, enter the Civic Center Parking lot from Douglas Avenue. Vehicular access to the drop box will be available in a drive up lane set up in the parking area along the north side of this entrance. The drop box will remain in its temporary location until the new center planter/wall is built in Dexter Court.

Specific questions regarding the construction can be directed to Shelley Costello with TranSystems at 847-871-3185 or to Tonya Hudson with the DNA at 847-488-1456.

Weekly progress meetings for the Central Business District construction project are held on Thursdays at 8:30 a.m. at the construction office located at 201 E. Chicago Street. Business and property owners are invited to attend the first 15 minutes of the meeting if they have any questions or concerns regarding the construction.

RSVP Now for Downtown Brainstorm


What do you love about your downtown?
What would you like to see changed?
How can you get involved to make it happen?

The Downtown Neighborhood Association (DNA) of Elgin invites the community to participate in Downtown Brainstorm - an interactive planning workshop about downtown Elgin and the DNA on:

Tuesday, November 16
6-8PM
Gail Borden Public Library
270 N. Grove Ave.
Downtown Elgin

This community brainstorming workshop will focus on existing and new downtown programs, projects and special events for 2011 in the areas of:

• arts initatives
• green initiatives
• new business development
• retail/restaurant promotions
• neighborhood outreach
• social media/marketing
• non-profit partnerships
• image enhancement

All individuals, organizations and businesses who currently partner with the DNA on special events and other programming are strongly encouraged to attend in order to discuss partnership plans for 2011.

The general public is invited to join in on these existing initiatives and to offer suggestions on new events, programming and partnerships for the coming year.

The workshop will also be presented via live video stream and chat at http://www.bocajump.com/.

For more information and to RSVP, please contact the DNA Office at (847) 488-1456, e-mail downtownelgin@gmail.com or RSVP online.