Six motor vehicle thefts were reported in the area between about midnight Thursday, Sept. 10, and about 7:10 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 19, according to 16th (Jefferson Park) District police. The read story
New NW Side coalition to focus on issues that transcend neighborhood boundaries
by BRIAN NADIG
A newly formed civic organization is designed to help bring community groups together to better address issues that transcend group boundaries.
“It’s not about a zoning issue on one block in one neighborhood,” Northwest Area Citizens Organization founder Jac Charlier said.
“These are issues that don’t stop at a neighborhood group’s boundaries.”
NWACO’s first meeting will be held at 1 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 26, at the Jefferson Park Library, 5363 W. Lawrence Ave. It is open to the public.
Quality of life, environmental, small business climate and public safety concerns could be among the issues which the group decides to tackle in some form or another, Charlier said.
However, NWACO is not intended to replace existing community groups.
“First, get involved in your local community group,” Charlier said, adding that NWACO’s focus will be helping local organizations with the “bigger issues” as they arise.
Over the years area community groups have banded together on issues such as a need for more police officers in the 16th (Jefferson Park) District and jet noise over the Northwest Side.
The latter issue led in 2013 to the formation of the Fair Allocation in Runways Coalition, which Charlier was co-founder. More than a dozen community groups signed on to the coalition, and many local officials wrote letters of support for the coalition, which fought for changes to flight patterns.
“NWACO will work alongside existing community organizations and not in competition with them,” Charlier said.
He added, “NWACO can be summed up by our slogan: ‘Citizen-led solutions to shared neighborhood challenges, and our motto: More community. Less politics. More solutions. Less ideology.'”
Charlier, who in 2016 unsuccessfully ran for state representative, said that NWACO welcomes residents with differing perspectives but who are willing to work together. The group will be non-political but will undoubtedly have to work with elected officials on certain issues, he said.
“Are people ready to be neighbors (once again) to those in our Northwest area/side, even/especially if they do not think or believe as we do?” Charlier said. “Are people longing for community (once again), as citizens and neighbors to one and all, and not limited to those with whom we agree, and not avoiding those with whom we do not agree?”
On the Northwest Side, the North River Commission addresses a variety of issues, but its focus is primarily east of Cicero Avenue, Charlier said.
Charlier, a lifelong Northwest Sider, also has served on groups that supported the North Branch Trail extension, which extended the trail from Devon and Caldwell avenues to Gompers Park, 4222 W. Foster Ave., and in the late 1990s he worked on a coalition whose focus was revitalizing Six Corners.
For more information, visit NWACO’s Facebook page:
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