TRADE SHOW EXHIBITORS

HELP WANTED

The Trade Show Committee can still use some help on the day of the show, January 31, to help with registering attendees. Please contact Boyd Briscoe at 630-717-0124 to sign up to help for an hour or two.

MORE TRADE SHOW NEWS

Boyd Briscoe reports that all vendor booths have been sold out for the Confederation's 4th Annual Mini-Conference and Trade Show. But a 5th show hinges on how well our associations and their members support this year's Show. Last year, we had a very poor turnout considering the time and money the vendors put into the Show. This is where the leaders of our many associations have to take action. If we had just two attendees from each of our 140 associations we could have 280 attendees, a great increase over last year. Our success will largely depend upon our member associations to get the "vote out". Certainly we can do much better than just two persons from each association. We need more help from the many newsletters. Please, each Association have at least two members go to the Trade Show.

BICYCLE PARKING HEARINGS

The City of Naperville will present a draft of the proposed Bicycle Parking Requirements to the Plan Commission at its meeting on Wednesday, January 21 at 7 p.m. in the Council Chambers of the Naperville Municipal Center, 400 S. Eagle Street.

The proposed requirements will require most new and revised commercial developments within the City of Naperville to provide off-street bicycle parking. The proposed requirements would assure the availability of bicycle parking facilities at both commercial and public buildings within Naperville.

Residents are encouraged to attend the Plan Commission meeting and additional comments regarding the draft requirements are welcome at the meeting. If you have questions or comments regarding this project, please contact Community Planner Allison Laff via phone at (630) 420-6692 or Transportation Programs Coordinator Carmen Carruthers at (630) 305-5315.

FUTURE MEETING TOPICS

The Board is always planning for future meetings. Do you have a specific problem or a general topic that might be of interest to other homeowners associations? If so, please let a member of the NAHC Board know. Any member of the Board would be happy to receive input from our member associations. Contact our president Chuck Schlabach at 630-983-4661, or our vice-president Dr. Robert Buckman at 630-357-7677 with your suggestions and comments.

FEBRUARY NAHC MEETING

We will resume our regular schedule in February with a meeting at City Hall on February 21 with Naperville City officials. This meeting is one of our every other month "town meetings" when we have a joint meeting with the City Council and Staff. At every such meeting, there is an open forum provided -- and with no three minute rule like there is at regular City Council meetings. This is an exceptional opportunity for all homeowners to meet and communicate with the Council and Staff.

COMMUTER PARKING

On February 7, the City staff will present their recommendations to the Transportation Advisory Board (TAB) to increase and improve Downtown Naperville Metra Commuter Parking facilities at 5th Avenue. The staff recommendations will include both short and longer term solutions. A Draft Assessment Report, of around 90 pages, was presented to the TAB on January 10th and is now available in the Library for review. Just three residents made comments in the public forum. There is currently an 8-year parking waiting list and this has to be an important issue for many homeowners. Attend the Feb 7 meeting at City Hall if you are interested in commuter parking.

FUTURE NAHC MEETINGS

March 20, 2004 - General Membership Meeting

April 17, 2004 - Joint Meeting With Mayor and City Council and Annual Bus Tour of the City

May 15, 2004 - General Membership Meeting with Annual Elections of Officers & Directors

June 19, 2004 - Joint Meeting With Mayor and City Council

FUTURE NAHC BOARD MEETINGS

March 4, 2004 at the Municipal Center on the Lower Level of City Municipal Center.

May 6, 2004 at the Municipal Center on the Lower Level of City Municipal Center.

CITY NOTES

IMPROVE YOUR RESUME. The Naperville Public Library will kick off a three-part business and job hunting series with “Resume and Interviewing Skills” on Monday,
January 19, at 7 p.m. in the Community Room at Nichols Library, 200 E. Jefferson Avenue. Professional facilitator Ether Russell-Ajisomo will lead the group and will provide tips on resume preparation and interviewing. For more information about the program and to register, please contact Mary Bannon at (630) 637-2231.

DOWNTOWN BICYCLE ROUTES. The City of Naperville will host an open house on the proposed downtown bicycle route on Thursday, February 5, from 6:30-8:30 p.m. in the lunchroom of the Naperville Municipal Center, 400 S. Eagle Street. The open house, which will include a formal presentation at 7:15 p.m. will give residents the opportunity to review and provide comments on the route that is being considered to allow cyclists to access the downtown area from existing trails to the north and south. For more information, please contact Project Engineer Anastasia Urban by phone at (630) 305-5316 or by e-mail at urbana@naperville.il.us.

CONGRATULATIONS. Cristina VanValkenburg, a resident of the City and a member of of Board of Directors, has been hired by the City to head planning activities for the City. She is leaving her planning job with DuPage County to take the job with the City.

ELECTION 2004- MARCH 16, 2004. The Naperville City Clerk’s Office can register both DuPage and Will County City residents from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday in the Municipal Center at 400 S. Eagle Street. To register to vote, you must produce two pieces of identification, one of which must have your current address. A checkbook or utility bill is acceptable if you have not yet updated your driver’s license. Voter registration services for DuPage and Will County residents are also available on a limited basis at the city’s satellite office Community Connection, located at 535 Fairway Drive in the Railway Plaza Mall. Call (630) 305-7060 to confirm the availability of a registrar. Voter Registration will close for the Primary Election on Tuesday, February 17.

Absentee Ballots. Residents, who will be out of the area on March 16, 2004, can obtain absentee ballots for the Primary Election in two ways. College students or those who will be out of town for an extended period of time, can call their County office to obtain an application for an absentee ballot. The county will then handle the entire voting process by mail.-DuPage County Election Commission… (630) 682-7440. Will County Clerk’s Office (815) 740-4615

Residents, who will be in town between February 24-March 13, can also cast an absentee ballot in person at the City Clerk’s Office in the Naperville Municipal Center between the hours of 8:30 a.m.- 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. One form of picture identification is required to obtain an absentee ballot. For more information on voter registration or the absentee balloting process, please call the City Clerk’s Office at (630) 305-5300.

SCHOOL HELP NEEDED.Historically, the majority of volunteers in our schools have been parents with children in the school. As more and more parents entered the work force, a group of retired teachers and other retirees volunteered to assist our teachers and their students. This partnership was called HURRAH, translated to Happy, Upbeat, Recycled, Retirees, Actively Helping. We now have over 200 retired volunteers who active in special projects and working directly with our students.

This year we had many more requests for volunteers than our current retiree base could provide. So, the HURRAH Program is now being expanded and will also include residents who don't have children in school and are not yet retired but who would like to contribute to the education of our young people.

Our volunteers are in the schools working directly with students who need reading help, tutoring in math or science, providing homework assistance, mentoring. Some of our volunteers work as classroom assistants and are participating in curriculum development. We are now in the process of developing a program to assist teachers with Special Education Students.

Our volunteer opportunities can be as little as an hour or two a week and scheduling can be arranged to meet your personal schedule. If you would like more information about HURRAH volunteer opportunities, you can call the District 203 Community Relations Department at 420-6475 or you can call Russ Marineau, a HURRAH volunteer at 420-1029. Another good source of information is the District 203 Web Site www.ncusd203.org, click on "Community" and then on "HURRAH

DID YOU KNOW? The City of Naperville gives NAHC information when there are plans for development or change in an existing built-up area of Naperville. NAHC in turn makes this information available to the appropriate homeowners association president, at no cost to either NAHC or the individual association, except for the effort involved in distributing the information. Some association have not been taking advantage of this great opportunity to find out what is being planned for their neighborhoods, because they do not follow up on the information that is being made available to their association. When the information finally gets publicity in the newspapers, there is frequently not enough time available for affected homeowners to plan their response to the proposed changes. Association presidents need to be more responsive when they receive a call from a NAHC board member telling them that information is available that will affect their area.

MUNICIPAL MEETING SCHEDULE

THE NAPERVILLE CITY COUNCIL will meet at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, January 20, in the Council Chambers of the Naperville Municipal Center. For more information, call (630) 420-6018.

THE NAPERVILLE PLAN COMMISSION will meet at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, January 21, in the Council Chambers of the Naperville Municipal Center. The meeting will be televised live on the city’s government access channel and re-broadcast the following day at 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. For more information, call (630) 420-6069.

THE HISTORIC SITES COMMISSION will meet at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, January 22, at the Naperville Municipal Center. For more information, call (630) 420-6692.

hrhofmann@att.net 1/17/2004