Let's Meet for Coffee Ribbon Cutting

February 13th at 4:30 p.m.
109 E. Highland
(847)289-1122

Valentines Day Activities

Friday, February 10th

• Candlelight Dinner at the Wonderland Center 7:30 p.m. Reservations required (847)888-8558
• Al's Cafe Candlelight Dinner 4 to 9 p.m. Reservations recommended (847)742-1180
• David Sanborn at the Hemmens Cultural Center 8:00 p.m. call (847)931-5900

Saturday, February 11th

• Al's Cafe Candlelight Dinner 4 to 9 p.m. Reservations recommended (847)742-1180

Tuesday, February 14th

• Al's Cafe Candlelight Dinner 4 to 9 p.m. Reservations recommended (847)742-1180
• Singles Night Out at Let's Meet for Coffee 6 to 8:30 p.m. limited seating call (847)289-1122
• Café Magdalena - Enjoy a romantic Italian dinner (847)742-2270
• The Great American Family Diner - Candle lit dining room with live music entertainment and
  dancing. (847)289-0524

More ideas...

• Buy a gift at a downtown shop. Jewelry, books, sporting goods, cigars, flowers and more
• Create your own dinner package at one of the many downtown restaurants

Click the image below for more ideas

Elgin Heritage Commission Seeking Mayor's Awards Nominations

The Elgin Heritage Commission is seeking nominations for the 2006 Elgin Mayor’s Awards for Preservation. These annual awards honor outstanding contributions to Elgin’s heritage and educate the general public of the value of our unique architecture, neighborhoods, and history. The awards further the Heritage Commission’s goals of neighborhood and downtown revitalization to benefit the entire city of Elgin. Three awards are honors of distinction: The Mayor George Van De Voorde Award, The William Stickling Award and The Artisan Award.
Winners are selected by members of the Elgin Heritage Commission, and will be honored at the annual Mayor’s Awards for Preservation event scheduled for Thursday, May 4, 2006 at The Centre of Elgin.
For more information or questions regarding the Mayor’s Awards please contact Cindy Walden at 847-931-5910. Nomination are due by 5:00 p.m. on Wednesday, March 1, 2006, to Cindy Walden, Planning Department, City Hall, 150 Dexter Court, Elgin, Illinois, 60120-5555. Those selected to receive a Mayor’s Award will be notified by April 2006.
The Elgin Heritage Commission is a citizen’s advisory board that promotes Elgin’s historic preservation activity through the protection, maintenance and preservation of the City’s architecture, historic and cultural resources. The Elgin Heritage Commission is composed of nine voting members appointed by the Mayor with the consent of the Elgin City Council.

Priority Places - Where Smart Transportation Gets Done!

The Kane County Board is presenting a Smart Transportation workshop on February 22, 2006 at the Q Center in St. Charles. It runs from 7:45 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.

Agenda Topics include:
-Kane County Transportation and Land Use Connection
-Measuring the Health Effects of Sprawl
-Visual Preference Survey
-Roundabout Development and Implementation
-Transportation and Land Use Innovations
-Mobility Choices
-Lunch

This workshop is the second in a series of implementation workshops for the 2030 Plans. Transportation congestion, diversified housing and sustainable water supply are the three main challenges of the 2030 Plans. Our Transportation Challenge is to coordinate Smart Growth land use planning with Smart Transportation planning to reduce the growth of Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT) by 20%. Come hear transportation and land use experts explain how we can meet our transportation challenges in the Urban Corridor and critical Growth Area!

The cost is $20 and pre-registration is required by 2/15/2006, no walk in registration. Call (630)208-3320 for more information

UPDATE: Here's a link the the county's 2030 Plans.

Arts Funding Workshop - February 6th

The Elgin Cultural Arts Commission, Representative Ruth Munson and Senator Steven Rauschenberger are sponsoring an Arts Funding Workshop conducted by the Illinois Arts Councilat 5:00 p.m. in the lower level of the Hemmens Cultural Center, 45 Symphony Way in Elgin.

Thousands of dollars are distributed each year for the arts by the Illinois Arts Council. This free workshop will provide information about funding, resources, and programs that will help keep Elgin a vibrant arts community.We are sponsoring this workshop as a service to the organizations in the area that may be eligible for funding. We will discuss what arts programs are available, the application process for grants, and when and how often organizations can apply.

The workshop is free, however seating is limited. Therefore you must be registered to attend. You may register by calling Gil Feliciano at 847-931-6019.

"Giving Hope" in Rwanda Africa

The First Congregational Church of Elgin Mission Grants Committee is hosting Ms. Epiphanine Mujawimana, the program director for the Rwanda YWCA. She oversees the "Giving Hope" program which is empowering orphaned heads of households affected by HIV/AIDS. The program was a recipient of a 2006 Mission Grant.

If you are interested in attending please RSVP at (847)741-4045 by 2/3/2006.

First Congregational Church of Elgin
256 E. Chicago Street (Yahoo! Maps, Google Maps)Elgin, Illinois 60120

Tonight's aring of Chicago Tonight had a segment on the documentary, "Somebody's Child: The Redemption of Rwanda", by Felicia Middlebrooks.

Favorite Children's Book Animals Stamp Unveiling

stamp2
Originally uploaded by downtownelgin.

Postmaster Diane Tindle at the stamp unveiling on Friday at the Gail Borden Public Library. A large crowd was on hand including librarians from the U46 school district. Good planning to have this on a teacher in service day so children could attend. See the previous post for more details on the event.

george
Originally uploaded by downtownelgin.

A photo-op with Curious George, I'm the one on the left. I remember reading his books on trips to the school library during my early years. After seeing this picture I think George and I should visit The Centre and exercise.

Goodyear Building Demolition

goodyear
Originally uploaded by downtownelgin.

Demolition of the Goodyear Training Center at 211 Douglas started yesterday. See previous post for a list of buildings on the demo schedule.

The city has plans to redevelop the entire block.
From the Courier News.

Also on the council's agenda is spending $20,000 to tear down the city-owned former Goodyear building directly north of the Elgin Law Enforcement Facility.
The building occupies one corner of a downtown block that is largely taken up by the Grater Inc. cheese factory but which the city would like to see redeveloped. Officials probably are not interested in seeing the Goodyear site redeveloped on its own, being more interested in a large-scale project that would include the majority of the block bound by Spring and Kimball streets, Douglas Avenue and Symphony Way, according to Deering."I think we would like to see a bigger plan, a bigger approach, maybe the whole block," he said.

What are your thoughts?

Out to Lunch at Jalapenos Restaurant

Join us for the monthly Out to Lunch event

Date: Monday, January 30th
Time: 12 pm
Where: Jalapenos Restaurant
7 Clock Tower Plaza
Elgin, IL

Dan Fox and Don Waters of the Elgin Leadership Academy will be our guests. Dan and Don have run the Academy with the backing of the Elgin Area Chamber for the last 15 years. The academy has nurtured hundreds of future leaders including a state representative, county board member, city council members, school board, social service and community organization board members and business leaders. Many DNA volunteers and staff members have attended over the years and Armida Dominguez, Jennifer Benson and Heidi Lipinski are in the academy this year. I am a proud alum of the class of 1999, "Leading Elgin Into the New Millennium". Please post a comment if you are an academy alumni and share the impact the experience has had on you.

So join us on the 30th to meet two individuals that have contributed in many ways to the volunteer spirit that defines this place we call Elgin.

The menu is an all you can eat Buffet Lunch. Please RSVP at (847)488-1456.

Event Expected to Bring Philatelists to Elgin

The U.S. Postal Service is unveiling the newest 2006 first-class 39 cent stamps, Favorite Children's Book Animals, on Friday, January 27, 2006. The event will take place at the Gail Borden Library at 270 N. Grove Avenue, from 11 to 3. Wild Thing and Curious George characters will be present and there will be many, many fun activities throughout the library. Honored guests at the 11 a.m. ceremony will include Elgin Postmaster, Diane Tindle, and Connie Neale, superintendent of U-46 schools. A unique one-day-only Gail Borden Public Library cancellation will make its 4-hour cameo appearance from 11 a.m. – 3 p.m. at the library. More information.

This is the second time in the last six months that a stamp was unveiled in downtown Elgin. The "Let's Dance" series was unveiled on September 17, 2005 at Fiesta Salsa.

Downtown Businesses in the News

Kim's Black Belt Academy at 5 S. Spring St was featured in an article on the Larsen Middle School Fine Arts/Life Arts Career Day.

For the second year in a row, Butters, a drama teacher at the school, helped coordinate Fine Arts/Life Arts Career Day, an opportunity for pupils to explore various careers or hobbies and absorb some of the passion for those activities from the people who love doing them.
Margaret and Jeff Kim, for example, got educated in computer science and law, respectively. But the couple have turned their love of martial arts into a running business. The duo runs Kim's Black Belt Academy in downtown Elgin. And on Friday morning, they were speaking with seventh- and eighth-graders about martial arts and their love for it.

It was written by Liza Roche and appeared in the Saturday Courier News.

Andersen's Engraving at 64 N. Grove Ave was featured in an article by Lenore Adkins in the Sunday Daily Herald.

Sverre Jarl Andersen, founder of what was known as Andersen’s Gifts of Distinction in downtown Elgin, believed in doing things his way when he opened the store in 1961.
“He would take the business and always want to improve it somehow,” said his son Dave Andersen. “He never wanted to follow the template, he wanted to be the guy that writes the template.”

Metra Schedule Changes Starting January 30th

This from the Chicago Tribune.

No trains have been eliminated or added but commuters may find arrival times adjusted by a few minutes at stations between Big Timber Road in Elgin and Union Station.

All new schedules can be viewed at Metra's Web site, www.metrarail.com, starting today, the release said. Commuters can pick up paper copies of the new schedules later in the month at Ogilvie and at Union Station.For Union Pacific/West riders, Metra personnel will pass out schedules at Ogilvie during the evening rush hour on Jan. 12. Those schedules will be available downtown and at all outlying stations after that day.For SouthWest Service and North Central Service commuters, Metra personnel will begin passing out schedules at Union Station on Jan. 19. In the following days, those schedules will be available downtown and at outlying stations, along with revised Milwaukee District West schedules, the release said.

Read the article here.

Coffee Shop to Reopen

The coffee shop, formerly known as "The Daily Bean", will reopen on Monday, January 9th. The new name is "Let's Meet for Coffee". The shop is located at 109 E. Highland.

Rebuilding Place in the Urban Space: Holiday storefront photo from Elgin Illinois

Elgin's downtown efforts are being noticed. See the post from Richard Layman's Rebuilding Place in the Urban Space blog regarding getting students involved in the effort. Click here for a map of all the windows decorated for Window Wonderland 2005. A hat tip to Richard for the communitywalk.com site that hosts our maps. I first saw the Google Map tool on one of his posts and applied it to our site.

Downtown demolition on city agenda

This from today's Courier News.

The city council is set to vote Wednesday on tearing down a quartet of vacant buildings, a move that could pave the way for more downtown redevelopment.

Also on the council's agenda is spending $20,000 to tear down the city-owned former Goodyear building directly north of the Elgin Law Enforcement Facility. The building occupies one corner of a downtown block that is largely taken up by the Grater Inc. cheese factory but which the city would like to see redeveloped.
Officials probably are not interested in seeing the Goodyear site redeveloped on its own, being more interested in a large-scale project that would include the majority of the block bound by Spring and Kimball streets, Douglas Avenue and Symphony Way, according to Deering.
"I think we would like to see a bigger plan, a bigger approach, maybe the whole block," he said.

The locations are as follows:
64 S. State St./Illinois 31
The Goodyear building directly north of the Elgin Law Enforcement Facility.
The former Amy Plumbing buildings at 58 Kimball St. and 271 N. Grove Ave .

The old Grant Park Elementary School at 265 N. Jackson St in the near west area is also scheduled for demolition.

Read the full story by Nathaniel Zimmer here.

Condos, kids' center added to ESO concert hall plan

These details on the proposed Symphony Center were reported in the Courier News today.

The Elgin Symphony Orchestra has added 200 condominiums and a children's "discovery center" to its proposal to build a 1,800-seat concert hall downtown, directly east of the new Gail Borden Public Library.

The hall would be located on the southern half of roughly 9.5 acres bound by North Grove Avenue and Ann, Kimball and Brook streets. The children's center and a four-level parking deck topped by a condominium tower would stand to the north.

Read the full article by Nathaniel Zimmer here.
Map of location.

Great American Family Diner Ribbon Cutting

The ribbon cutting took place on Thursday, December 15th.

"A Reel Holiday" Window Wonderland 2005

The Downtown Neighborhood Association of Elgin Holiday decorating contest. Ends 1/1/2006. The theme is "A Reel Holiday" your favorite holiday movies. Click here for a map of the windows and a ballot.

Versatile Prius Used for Ribbon Cutting

The opening of the Fulton Street Parking Deck was held on December 14, 2005. Mayor Schock and Councilman Gilliam drove the new Prius city vehicle through the ribbon. This may be the first time a hybrid has been used for a ribbon cutting ceremony. The new deck has parking for 550 cars and is located between South Grove and Villa Street, with entrances from both Fulton Street and Prairie Street. It is located just behind the Prairie Rock Brewing Company and was designed to blend in with the existing buildings.







The buildings in the background are Phase 2 of the River Park Place Townhomes.

The Great American Family Diner is Open

The Great American Family Diner at 231 Douglas is open!
The ribbon cutting is on Thursday, December 15th at 5pm.
I stopped by for lunch today. Here's the highlights.

• Diner menu
• Plenty of hot coffee
• My server Kathy called me sweetie
• Friendly staff and owners
• Saw Councilman Tom Sandor and Jack Sabo of Studio One chowing down

They are open for Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner so stop by and tell them DNA sent you.

This Saturday the entertainment is a singer performing Frank Sinatra Christmas songs from 7 to 9 pm. Have dinner and enjoy the music.