3659 S. Halsted | Chicago, IL 60609 | 773.254.6677

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July 12, 2026 

Dear neighbors, 

Unfortunately, we do still have downed trees in the ward that have not yet been removed. We are still waiting for these requests to be filled by the Department of Forestry, but our office is aware of many of them which haven’t been reached. If you haven’t let 311 know about something you’ve seen, please report it or reach out to our office. It’s frustrating not to have this debris being picked up promptly, but I hope we can celebrate the effort of those City workers cleaning up after the storm with such a large impact. They have been understandably overwhelmed.

We had our Mega Bridgeport Yard Sale with 100+ participating locations on Saturday, including one I held in the parking lot of the ward office. I think it’s safe to say everyone had a good time. I know we have a lot of serious thrift and bargain shoppers in the ward! Big thanks to our amazing resident organizer, Jessi Manion, who came up with the idea. 

Lots of fun outdoor events this weekend: The Ping Tom Park Advisory Council held their “School’s Out Bash” at Ping Tom Park Fieldhouse and the Bridgeport Alliance had their picnic on Saturday. Earlier today, I attended the Chinese American Association of Greater Chicago community appreciation and public safety picnic at Ping Tom Park. Three great organizations volunteering their time to better the ward! 

The final public open house about the Moving Archer Forward Study happened last week at St. Mother Theresa of Calcutta Parish, St. Barbara Church on Wednesday. The draft plan is available now for public comment, and you can find it here. I encourage everyone to read it and make your voices heard by offering your feedback before August 6. As a reminder, Moving Archer Forward is a planning initiative led by the Department of Planning and Development (DPD), in partnership with the Regional Transportation Authority (RTA), to evaluate land use, zoning and development opportunities, with a focus on transit access and equitable transit-oriented development (ETOD) near the CTA Orange Line. 

Due to schedule changes, our Veterans Assistance services that were scheduled for Friday, July 10 have been rescheduled to Friday, July 24, from 12:00 PM to 3:00 PM. We will return to our regular service schedule next month. We apologize for any inconvenience and appreciate your understanding, and we thank all of our partners in the County for their support of the Veterans Office Hours. 

Our 11th Ward public meeting regarding the new TIF proposal going before the Committee of Finance (and likely the City Council) next week for the 78 project last Friday can be viewed here. Many thanks to the 40 people who signed on to the virtual meeting and to the Coalition for a Better Chinese American Community (CBCAC) for hosting a group of 30 residents to participate in the meeting.

The Department of Planning and Development provided an update on construction that is underway for the Fire Stadium and then presented the infrastructure plans for the first phase of development on The 78. The two largest parts of the work were reinforcing the river wall and constructing a parking structure that would create a pavilion accessible at Roosevelt Road. The 1,200 spot parking structure would be built to to safely support future construction of buildings on top of it. During the meeting, we learned that the parking lot will be wholly owned and operated by the City of Chicago, creating an opportunity for ongoing revenue generation. An overview of the planned flow of traffic and new roadway improvements was also provided. Topics of the concerns and questions voiced by participants and included: the lack of transit improvements; accessibility of the site and traffic; public access to the planned soccer field and pickleball courts for this phase; how the parking structure will be operated and plans for the revenue generated; and concern that the TIF funding is being requested while negotiations on the parking lot have not yet been finalized. I promised to hold a public meeting for future phases of development on The 78. While this is not a new phase, the $400+ million TIF request is a significant investment from the Roosevelt and Clark TIF, of which the 11th Ward makes up 15% of the geographical area. Our portion of the TIF is small–however, the impact of the development is significant to our ward, especially Chinatown. The full development team will be attending the City Council Finance Committee meeting on Monday to take questions.

Have a great week,

Alderwoman Lee

This week was the six-month mark of the FY 2026 City budget, and I wanted to share my thoughts. We’re still monitoring the progress of the efficiencies we put into place, and waiting for items like our public infrastructure advertising on things like bridge houses and light poles and augmented reality advertising to be implemented. As a City Council, we’re trying to maintain the faith that everything we passed in the budget will be implemented in a timely manner. We’ve seen some successes, with things like the tax on social media companies per user bringing in millions more in revenue than projected. We need to continue to work together to implement this budget entirely. 

In the Committee on Ethics and Government Oversight, we had a subject matter hearing to explore ways to expand and improve voting access. We heard from organizations like the youth-orientated, civic engagement group Chicago Votes, who presented on the the concept of a mobile voting site, which is voting that takes place out of a vehicle -- which has the ability to do things like print ballots in multiple languages and go to harder to reach locations like jails or shelters.

July 13: Committee on Finance 

July 14: Committee on Aviation

July 15: Next full City Council meeting 

July 16: Committee on Government and Budget Operations

On Thursday we saw a Fox32 News story about CPD taking dozens of guns out of a home in the ward. I was notified of the incident the day after it happened by the 9th District. The initial call for service was related to an assault. Police took the offender into custody. Multiple firearms were recovered on the scene, and Area One detectives are investigating.  

Ongoing Project - Water Main, Sewer Main & Lead Service Line Replacement Project - Pershing Road:

Projected schedule: 7/6/2026 - 7/10/2026 (Weather Permitting)

Going forward our updates will focus on the completion of restoration activities which are currently under way. Concrete road base is expected to be fully completed by the end of the month, and the project will be handed over to MWRD/IDOT shortly after.

One lane open in each direction (east and west) during construction hours from 7:00 AM to 4:00 PM. One lane of the westbound roadway between S Stewart Ave and S Wentworth Ave will be closed for restoration work.



• Final Connections and Concrete Cap - S. Stewart to S Wentworth - ongoing

Ongoing Project - 3500 - 3900 S Parnell Ave.:

We are coming down to the home stretch for the installation of mainline sewer. In one week the mainline sewer installation should be completed within 150 feet of the 35^th St intersection.

Roadway restoration is occurring in the following phases over the next 4 weeks:

1. 38^th St intersection
2. The north half of the 3600 block
3. The south half of the 3600 block and 37^th St intersection.
4. The 3500 block and 36^th St intersection

See below for updates on traffic control:

• 38^th and Parnell intersection: Closed in all directions for the next 1-2 weeks
• 36 and Parnell intersection: Closed for EB and SB traffic. WB accessible from the 3500 block of Parnell
• 3800 and 3700 block: Open for local traffic

The ComEd Project

Most Recent Updates - 7/2/2026

A ComEd notification was issued for work beginning May 25, identifying the full design area (31st street to 39th street between Lituanica to Normal Street) as potentially impacted. The project has been segmented into smaller work areas to enable more precise notifications. Scheduled work updates will be provided weekly. Below is the Pershing project work planned for the upcoming four-week period.

Due to ongoing storm activity, continued storm restoration efforts, and the forecasted extreme temperatures, the start of the overhead work has been postponed to July 20, 2026. We will proceed with the original four-week plan beginning on July 20^th.

• Weeks 1 -2 WEEK (7/20/26 – 7/31/26)

We will be working between 33rd Pl & 33rd St and Lituanica Ave & Halsted St. We are reframing two existing poles and replacing four existing poles. We are installing 270’ of new Overhead wire.

• Week 3 (8/3/26 to 8/7/26)

We will be working on 34th St between Lituanica Ave & Halsted St. We are replacing four existing poles and reframing two poles. We are replacing two existing overhead transformers.

• Week 4 (8/10/26 to 8/14/26)

We will be working between 33rd Pl & 33rd St and Lituanica Ave & Halsted St. We are replacing two existing overhead transformers and adding wildlife protection.

Most Recent Updates - 7/2/2026

• Peoples Gas contractors continue environmental cleanup activities at 2730 S. Eleanor Street.
• The primary activities at the site for the first two weeks of July will continue to be excavating and hauling away soil, followed by backfilling excavations with clean stone. Trucks will visit the site most days to pick up soil or deliver stone. 
• 24-hour air monitoring is taking place and will continue during all intrusive activity.
• As a reminder, if you have questions about this project, please contact the Peoples Gas project number at 877-380-0522.

Chinese-American Association of Greater Chicago Community Appreciation & Safety Picnic

Chinese-American Association of Greater Chicago (CAAGC) Community Appreciation & Safety Picnic Event took place on Sunday, July 12th 2026, at Ping Tom Memorial Park in Chicago's Chinatown. The event brought together community leaders, families, public officials, and public safety professionals for a day of fellowship, appreciation, and community engagement. The picnic was held to honor our community partners for their dedicated service and unwavering commitment to supporting and protecting the Chinese American community. 

11th Ward July Zoom Beat Meetings QR Codes

Beat 913 - 9th District (July 14th)

Beat 914 - Chinatown (July 29th)

11th Ward

School and Parish Information

The 11th Ward office is happy to announce has a free ‘Constituent Education Resource Card’ available to residents wishing to visit select museums and zoos in the Chicagoland area. Constituents can reserve our Constituent Education Resource Card on a first come first serve basis (more instructions below), to visit any of the following museums in 2026:

• Adler Planetarium
• The Art Institute of Chicago
• Brookfield Zoo
• Chicago Botanic Garden
• Chicago Children’s Museum
• Chicago History Museum
• Dusable Museum of African American History
• The Field Museum
• Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center
• Lincoln Park Zoo
• Museum of Contemporary Art
• Museum of Science and Industry
• National Museum of Mexican Art
• National Museum of Puerto Rican Arts & Culture
• Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum
• John G. Shedd Aquarium

Only one group of up to four (4) can reserve the pass at a time. The pass must be picked up and brought back to the 11th Ward Office. Constituents need to call for an appointment to come to the office to pick up the pass before visiting the museums. We recommend calling two business days before your scheduled visit.

It is strongly recommended that families utilizing the card contact the museum they plan to visit to learn if pre-registration is required to visit. 

9th District Police District Council & Beat Meeting Schedules

The office has extended hours on Monday nights until 7:00 p.m., is open on the first Saturday of each month from 9:00am - 12:00 pm, if it's a holiday weekend, the office will

be open the following Saturday and/or Monday.

Alderwoman Lee will be happy to see residents on Monday nights from 5:30 - 7:00 p.m. If you'd like to make an appointment, please call the ward office at 773.254.6677.

11th Ward Office| 3659 South Halsted Chicago, IL 60609 | 773-254-6677