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Dear neighbors,
While Alderman La Spata is on paternity leave for the coming weeks our staff will be writing newsletter openings. This is Victoria, the Associate Urban Planner at the 1st Ward Office, and first in line to intro this week's newsletter! I am excited to announce we have released our first survey in preparation for the upcoming 2026-2027 Participatory Budgeting (PB) process. Click here to share your infrastructure priorities, engagement preferences, and to opt in for 2026-2027 PB outreach. To learn more about our past PB processes, click here!
As a quick reminder, we are still committed to the top ballot items from the 2025 PB that you all are still waiting on, including an all-way pedestrian scramble at North, Milwaukee, and Damen, as well as improved pedestrian infrastructure at Cortland and Western. CDOT has been slow to develop these concepts with us and as a result they will instead be funded and implemented this year. We will also be improving infrastructure in the school safety zones adjacent to St. John Berchmans and Brentano Elementary following overwhelming outreach from those communities and specific needs identified in those areas.
This year, the 1st Ward will also introduce the city's first automated public toilet (APT) in partnership with JCDecaux at the intersection of Milwaukee, Division, and Ashland, more commonly known as the Polish Triangle! This has been in the works ever since residents shared their immense interest and support during one of our very first PB cycles. Public bathrooms are one of the most popular policy proposals our office has ever seen, from everyday residents and homelessness advocates to members of our chambers of commerce and business community, and everyone in between. Since then Alderman La Spata has been working diligently to bring this pilot project to Chicago with JCDecaux and has put forward menu money to ensure installation by the end of this year.
In other news the Chicago Park District has started their very own PB process! Parks will accept idea submissions until March 31st, click here to learn more about their criteria and submit your ideas!
Don't forget to tell us your infrastructure priorities!
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