LAKEVIEW — What a year, Lakeview.
The past 12 months have been anything but dull, with Wrigleyville seeing plenty of action during the Chicago Cubs' postseason and Wrigley Field construction. On Lakeview's west side, controversial developments met with resistance.
Meanwhile, continued burglaries and robberies in the area had residents on edge.
Here are the top stories from 2015:
Cubs celebrate Jake Arrieta's 20th win. [Getty Images]
1. The Cubs win first playoff series at Wrigley — ever: As if you hadn't heard. In the postseason for the first time since 2003, the Chicago Cubs beat the St. Louis Cardinals on their home turf and made it all the way to the National League Championship Series, where they lost four straight games to the New York Mets. While no one likes to lose to smelly old New York, Chicago showed its love for the Cubbies in more ways than one. From Andy Lerner's undying love for the Cubs to dedicated chest hair stylings, this city bled Cubbie blue, and we did so while staying relatively calm: police arrested 39 people in Wrigleyville during nine postseason games (that's 13 fewer than during the Pride Parade and its aftermath).
Even as the postseason soured, fans remained loyal to their Cubbies, keeping the team in mind even through Halloween. It was a fun and somewhat unexpected season for the Cubs, and hey, there's always next year.
Rosecrance Lakeview, a proposed substance abuse counseling center and recovery residence at 3701 N. Ashland Ave., had neighbors concerned about safety in a residential area. [DNAinfo/Ariel Cheung]
2. Rosecrance and MedMar get the OK: Two proposals bringing controversial healthcare options to Lakeview came under scorn from neighbors. At Ashland and Waveland, Rosecrance's proposal for a post-treatment recovery residence and counseling center roiled neighbors, who fumed that that project had been snuck into a spot approved for condominiums.
Rosecrance met resistance from the Lakeview Action Committee, a group formed in opposition to Rosecrance's chosen location for its first Chicago residence. Not in the committee's plans were pink signs posted in a park warning against Rosecrance, which were met with more politically correct signs posted by the Big Shoulder Welcoming Committee.
While the committee quickly raised $30,000 for legal help, its arguments fell short for the Zoning Board of Appeals, which unanimously approved Rosecrance's plans after an eight-hour hearing, leaving out restrictions Ald. Tom Tunney (44th) hoped would appease neighbors.
After its Halsted Street plan flopped, MedMar Inc. returned in November with a new plan for 3812 N. Clark St. While neighbors were impressed by the extensive safety plan and reassurances that MedMar would never sell recreational marijuana, neighbors said its closeness to an Uptown dispensary could limit its customer base, but the main opponent was Catholic Charities. The group felt day care services offered by a nearby domestic violence shelter should qualify for state law banning dispensaries within 1,000 feet of licensed day cares.
Tunney backed the project, and the zoning board said the state law was not the city's concern before it approved the plan.
In surveillance footage provided to DNAinfo Chicago, a man is seen taking two laptops from Annoyance Theatre and Bar on Saturday, Aug. 8, 2015. [Screenshot/Annoyance Theatre]
3. Summer crime gets more manpower: The death of Kevin O'Malley at the end of May triggered criticism that Tunney and the Chicago Police Department weren't doing enough to keep Lakeview safe as in years past. Lakeview became a target for robberies and burglaries during what Tunney referred to as a "rough" summer of crime in the neighborhood, largely focused near the Belmont "L" station. While the total number of incidents remained fairly steady compared to last year, neighbors said they felt crime was more prevalent than in the past.
Amid burglaries in broad daylight and a rash of arson across the North Side, Tunney and the Town Hall District called on chambers of commerce to use business development dollars to pay for private security guards to patrol the streets. Both acknowledged that it was unlikely more officers would be dedicated to the relatively safe North Side, despite broken promises that the 19th District would not shrink following the 2013 merger with the 23rd District.
With no authority over operations at the police department, Tunney had few cards to play in bargaining for more officers — that is, until city budget talks began in October. After North Side aldermen secured a promise for 35 more officers in 2016, the budget passed.
Meant to get eight more officers in November, the Town Hall District got its promise off to a shaky start, but has since increased the net gain to 10 officers. Tunney's office said to expect a net gain of 43 officers by the end of 2016. Meanwhile, the Town Hall District cut back its number of community meetings for 2016 and changed their format.
The notion of an understaffed district left some unsettled and looking to prevent events like The Twelve Bars of Christmas bar crawl that they said drain police resources. While unrelated to the bar crawl, a huge shootout the night after the event had neighbors on edge and asking what can be done to put an end to the spate of crime.
Officials break ground at the site of a planned Whole Foods at 3201 N. Ashland Ave., which is expected to open in spring 2017. [DNAinfo/Ariel Cheung]
4. Big developments irk neighbors: Upscale grocery chains set their sights on Lakeview, with plans moving forward for a Mariano's on Broadway and a Whole Foods Market twice as large as the current store on Ashland Avenue. Target will also open a smaller-scale store at 3200 N. Clark St., which broke ground in August.
But with growth comes growing pains, and all three projects have clashed with neighbors while still in their infancies. Whole Foods spent months retooling designs to address neighbors' concerns. After a park and new facade were added, neighbors still feared added traffic would congest the residential area. Still, the plans were approved in August, and Whole Foods broke ground at 3201 N. Ashland Ave. on Nov. 12.
At 3200 N. Clark St., vibrations used to place steel sheets deep in the ground had an adverse impact on neighbors, who complained they'd received no notice of the planned work. The construction left walls quaking at The Alley Chicago, which announced it would close next month after four decades due to the loss of business caused, in part, by the construction. Combined with the demolition of the so-called Punkin' Donuts, the loss of The Alley marked the end of punk culture in Lakeview for some. The first large transit-oriented development for Lakeview is expected to be a "catalyst" for development, Tunney said, and should be complete by the end of 2016.
Over on Broadway, the behemoth that will hold Mariano's, an XSports Fitness gym, two floors of parking and 15,000-square-feet of retail space broke ground in early 2015. This month, neighboring businesses bemoaned the timing of crane work that involved street closures. Hit during the holiday shopping season, business owners feared that Mariano's was failing early on to be a good neighbor, but the grocery chain said it had no control over the construction schedule. Street closures concluded Dec. 11, leaving two weeks for shoppers to make up for lost time.
Construction crews remove the marquee from Wrigley Field to make way for renovation work on Monday, Nov. 2, 2015. The marquee will be returned to its perch above Clark and Addison ahead of Opening Day 2016. [DNAinfo/Ariel Cheung]
5. Wrigley Field renovations head into second year: No renovations, however, are as talked about as those at Wrigley Field. The first in five years of construction started slowly, with tons of snow and a spring slow to thaw delayed work. Crews scrambled to complete bleachers and video boards before Opening Day on April 5, and flooded bathrooms caused a brief snafu. The (at-times noisy) work continued on the bleachers until June, which that Cubs owner Tom Ricketts attributed to winter weather delays.
The project lost another eight weeks as the Cubs' playoff schedule lasted into late October, but construction was back in full swing shortly after. By November, the Wrigley Field marquee had been temporarily removed while the ballpark's facade gets a major facelift.
This year, the Cubs will be building the plaza, clubhouse and office building. The team has already begun discussion with neighbors on how much activity they want to see in the plaza, and side projects like the Hotel Sheraton and Addison Park on Clark could be moving forward soon, as well.
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