44th Ward Newsletter: December 19, 2025

Dear Neighbors,

We hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday season filled with rest, time with family and friends, and meaningful connection. If you’re looking for events or thoughtful local gifts for Christmas or Hanukkah, be sure to check out the Christmas guide and the Hanukkah guide from the Lakeview East Chamber of Commerce, and the holiday gift guide from the Lakeview Roscoe Village Chamber of Commerce. Each highlights many ways to celebrate locally this season.

Earlier this week, I was glad to attend Chabad of Lakeview East’s Hanukkah celebration, a joyful gathering highlighting the strength, warmth, and resilience of our local Jewish community. Following the recent horrific attack on the Jewish community in Australia and the rise in antisemitic hate crimes in Chicago, this celebration was a powerful reminder of the importance of standing together. We remain committed to showing up for our Jewish neighbors, and those of all faiths and backgrounds.

We also celebrated an important milestone this week with the groundbreaking of John Kelly Park's renovations. This project brings an improved and expanded play lot, upgraded paths, enhanced landscaping, and new cherry trees throughout the park. It also includes improved park entryways, safer pedestrian and vehicle crossings, and will thoughtfully honor Lakeview’s history as the historic center of Chicago’s Japanese American community. I am grateful to the Kelly Park Advisory Council, Japanese Culture Center, Cubs, Park District, and other partners and residents who helped the project reach this milestone. Read more about this and see a presentation on the renovations here.
 

In public safety news, earlier this week Leon Jackson pled guilty to charges of misdemeanor battery and reckless conduct. This is one of the high-priority court cases we've been following over the last few months. He received a sentence of 250 days. The maximum sentence for a misdemeanor is one year, and the State’s Attorney’s Office determined this sentence was what they believed they could reasonably offer while avoiding the uncertainty of a trial. With approximately 30 days of time served during his hearings prior to this plea, and assuming good behavior, this could result in a potential release in late March. Our office will continue to organize victims and concerned residents, advocate for accountability, and pursue outcomes in the interest of public safety.

If you’re interested in getting more involved in local public safety efforts, the 19th Police District has released its 2026 community meetings calendar. This schedule expands opportunities for engagement by increasing meetings from 6 to 10 per beat for the year. These meetings are a great way to connect with neighbors and officers, share concerns, and stay informed. Residents can view the full calendar here.

In community news, following a successful soft launch, Hot Chi Chicken (953 W Belmont) recently celebrated its official grand opening at their Lakeview location. Brothers Amer and Mutaz Abdullah and business partner Kinan Moufti bring a unique Chicago-style take on Nashville hot chicken to the neighborhood, serving crowd favorites like hot honey butter sandwiches, Nashville hot tenders, and loaded “Cheat Day Fries.” We’re excited to welcome this new business to the area, and we encourage neighbors to check them out!
 

As you start filling in your calendar for the new year, be sure to check out the Lakeview Roscoe Village Chamber of Commerce's comprehensive 2026 events guide. The upcoming roster includes live ice sculpting, sidewalk sales, food festivals, and more, making it a great resource for planning ahead and staying connected to local events throughout the year. Read the full guide here.

The Department of Streets and Sanitation has launched its fourth annual “You Name a Snowplow” contest, inviting residents to submit creative snowplow names for the 2026 winter season. Submissions are open now through January 10, 2026, with finalists later put up for a public vote. Six names will be featured on snowplows across the city, joining past winners such as Sleet Home Chicago, Ctrl-Salt-Delete, Snower Wacker, and more. You can submit entries here.

As a reminder, our office will be closed for the holidays from December 24th–26th and December 31st–January 2nd, with normal 9:00am-5:00pm hours on other weekdays. We will reopen after the holidays on Monday, January 5th.

Barring a special update once City budget negotiations are finalized, this will be our last newsletter of the year. My staff and I are grateful to work alongside residents and businesses every day on a wide range of issues, including parks, public safety housing, legislation, infrastructure, transit, and everyday city services. Thank you for the role you play in strengthening our neighborhood, and we look forward to continuing that work together in the year ahead. Please see below for a '2025 Year in Review' celebrating highlights from the past year.

Legislation:
This year, we advanced several important legislative efforts focused on housing, safety, and neighborhood quality of life. We expanded the Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU) ordinance, legalizing coach houses and basement or attic units citywide in multi-unit and business/commercial districts citywide, and in many single family home areas for the first time since the 1950s. I believe this will be a crucial way to grow Chicago's housing supply responsibly. We also passed legislation that's enabled Chicago to host the 2027 MLB All-Star Game at Wrigley Field, which included funding for permanent security barriers around the ballpark and widening the Addison sidewalk, infrastructure improvements that will benefit the neighborhood long after the event. Other legislative work included cutting red tape for converting vacant storefronts into housing, strengthening regulations on short-term rentals, and passing honorary street designations and resolutions recognizing community leaders, institutions, and milestones that help define Lakeview.
 

Housing, Development & Planning:
We saw progress on several major developments and planning efforts across the ward. This year marked the opening of Lakeview Landing, a new affordable housing community serving residents with disabilities, and we also cut the ribbon on the Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center expansion. We moved forward on projects that balance preservation with growth, including the Briar Street Theater redevelopment, which preserves a historic theater while adding new housing, and supported the Halsted hotel project to grow our role as a tourism destination. Other developments advanced at Belmont and Clifton and Belmont and Racine, adding new housing and ground-floor activity. With your help, we also launched our 2025 Community Plan to guide Lakeview's future, developed with extensive resident input to shape thoughtful growth.
 

New Businesses:
Lakeview welcomed several dozen new businesses this year, adding to the vibrancy of our strong commercial corridors. We celebrated new restaurants, shops, and neighborhood services choosing to call Lakeview home. We were also proud to help secure City grant funding for the Music Box Theatre's addition of a third screen and the opening of Lucky Cat on Clark. A full list of businesses new to our ward in 2025 is available here.
 

Public Safety:
Public safety remained a core focus of our work. We continued our court advocacy efforts, attending hearings across criminal cases that affected our community, working to support victims and engage concerned residents. Our office strengthened partnerships with the 19th Police District, the 19th Police District Council, the Cook County State's Attorney's Community Justice Center, and more. We partnered with these organizations on gun turn-in events, donation drives, and community presentations on package theft prevention, check fraud, and senior safety. These partnerships helped ensure ongoing coordination on safety concerns throughout the year.
 

Community & Partnerships:
Staying connected with residents was at the heart of our work this year. We partnered regularly with institutions such as the Center on Halsted, Chabad of East Lakeview, Nourishing Hope, Toys for Tots, the Chicago Furniture Bank, and our neighborhood associations. Throughout the year, we attended and supported a wide range of gatherings—including parades, block parties, food festivals, cultural and holiday celebrations, school fundraisers, neighborhood traditions such as Southport Art Fest, the Pride Parade, Pride Fest, Market Days, Belmont Sheffield Music Fest, Lakeview Taco Fest, Trick or Treat on Southport, and many more.

Events hosted directly by our office included meetings on housing and proposed bike lanes, bi-annual shredding events, the Kids Bike Parade, our Senior Picnic, seasonal senior luncheons, school supply and backpack drives, property tax exemption workshops, the North Side Small Business Expo, and the annual Wrigley Field community meeting. We also spoke in civic classes at several local schools, continued fundraising toward the Lakeview Dog Park, supported community members through ICE response efforts, and refreshed our website with new resources—including our new Immigrant Rights & Resources and Donations Hub pages, and a refreshed Community Groups and Landmarks page.

Our neighborhood schools also celebrated significant accomplishments this year. Hawthorne Elementary was recognized as a top-ranked CPS elementary school in the 2025 U.S. News & World Report, ranking 4th in the city and 14th in the state, while Our Lady of Mount Carmel earned a designation as a 2025 Illinois Governor’s Blue Ribbon School. Harriet Tubman Elementary continued to stand out as one of only 16 wall-to-wall International Baccalaureate (IB) schools in Chicago Public Schools. Nettelhorst's robotics teams made impressive strides in competitions, with both varsity and junior varsity heading to sectionals in January!
 

Infrastructure & Transit:
We made important investments in safer streets and transportation this year. Halsted Street was resurfaced, complete with new and improved rainbow crosswalks celebrating the LGBTQ+ community. We installed a raised crosswalk at Roscoe and Elaine near Wendt Park to better protect children and families, added detached pedestrian bump-outs along Southport to calm traffic, and completed a new sustainable green alley. We also saw major progress on the CTA Red and Purple Line Modernization, including construction of the new Red–Purple Bypass, the conclusion of Phase One, and vacant project sites being listed market—now cleared, paved, and prepared for productive redevelopment.
 

For more pictures from the year, you can browse our newsletter archive here. As the year comes to a close, I want to thank the many residents who partner with us every day, as well as my staff, Esme, Isaac, Jake, and Jess, and our volunteers and interns for their tireless dedication to the community throughout the year. Whether through civic engagement, community events, feedback on development, or day-to-day constituent service requests, your involvement helps shape the future of our neighborhood. From all of us in the 44th Ward office, we wish you and your loved ones a joyful and restful holiday season, and we look forward to continuing this work together in the year ahead.

LAKEVIEW DOG PARK - DONATION PAGE

44th WARD COMMUNITY FOOD BOX

WRIGLEY WONDERLAND - THRU JAN 10th

LAKESHORE FITNESS STUDENT ART CONTEST - DUE JAN 31st

ST ANDREW EARLY LEARNERS PROGRAM - JAN 20-MAR 13th

HAWTHORNE SCHOOL FUNDRAISER - 20% OFF STATIONERY

BURLING PARK FUNDRAISER - 20% OFF STATIONERY

FREE VIRTUAL LEGAL SEMINARS (NEXT ON JAN 21st)

APPLY TO BE AN ELECTION JUDGE - ROLLING BASIS

WEISMAN PARK ADVISORY COUNCIL SEEKING VOLUNTEERS

PUBLIC SAFETY & 19th DISTRICT WEEKLY REPORT:
December 8th - December 14th

• Year to Date, Robberies are down 25%, and compared to the same 28-day time period in 2024 are up 5%
• Year to Date, Aggravated Battery is down 8%, and compared to the same 28-day time period in 2024 is down 12%
• Year to Date, Burglaries are down 29%, and compared to the same 28-day time period in 2024 they're down 72%
• Year to Date, Felony Thefts are down 12%, and compared to the same 28-day time period in 2024 they're down 23%
• Year to Date, Misdemeanor Thefts are down 11%, and compared to the same 28-day time period in 2024 they're down 22%
• Year to Date, Motor Vehicle Thefts are down 33%, and compared to the same 28-day time period in 2024 they're down 6%

See full report below: 

MENTAL HEALTH RESPONSE RESOURCES

SCOOTER REPORTING

REPORTING POTHOLES

TIPS FROM TOMMY K - DECEMBER

GARBAGE & RECYCLING

THE CITY IS HIRING

• City
  • City of Chicago
    • 27 Vacancies - 911 Operators | Job Posting | Informational Video
  • Chicago Public Schools
  • Chicago Transit Authority
  • Park District

• County
  • All - Cook County
  • Cook County State's Attorney
  • Cook County Sheriff's Office
• State/Other
  • State of Illinois
  • Secretary of State of Illinois
  • PACE bus system

44th WARD 2025 COMMUNITY MEETINGS