Alderman Smith "Menu" Walk: Every year aldermen are allocated $1.2 million for infrastructure repairs in their ward. Aldermen can select projects from a "menu" of items such as alley and street resurfacing, streetlight replacement or painting and sidewalk replacement. This year, Alderman Smith and her staff will get our input by walking through RANCH and getting our comments and suggestions. You are invited to join us on our walk. We will meet on Saturday, March 31st at 9:00 am at the Bridgeview Bank parking lot at 1970 N. Halsted. If you can not join us on our walk, but would like to submit a project for inclusion on the list, please email a complete description of the project to president@ranchtriangle.org.

Earth Day Park Clean-Up: Once again, RANCH will sponsor an Earth Day clean-up of Adams Park, Privet Park, and the Wisconsin Pocket Park from 9:00am - 12:00pm on Saturday, April 21st. Please plan to join your neighbors to get these parks ready for Spring. Our neighborhood parks receive heavy use and this is a terrific way to show our appreciation to Maureen Belling and her crew for all the hard work they put in keeping things running so smoothly. Coffee, donuts and some cleaning supplies will be provided but we suggest bringing rakes, brooms, dustpans and gardening gloves if you can. We hope to see you there.

Fullerton Construction: The Chicago Department of Transportation is reconstructing the Fullerton Parkway Bridge starting March 19, 2012 and ending in December, 2012. This project has been planned for years, and was approved by the Plan Commission in May 2011. Traffic will remain open in both directions, but with only one lane each way. We suggest that you plan to take alternate routes.

The project will:

• reconstruct the historic bridge and remove a pier to improve the lagoon
• create two turning lanes onto Lake Shore Drive
• move pedestrian access to the lakefront to the north side of the street to improve safety
• stop accidents between pedestrians and cars trying to enter south-bound Lake Shore Drive
• reconstruct the running path underneath the bridge
• make pedestrian access to the lakefront ADA compliant