STREETERVILLE
In today's difficult housing market, the downtown home buyer is a coveted and rare creature, much sought after, but cautious.
As the selling season starts, developers continue to search for strategies to get skittish buyers to make a move.
Ways of attracting them include enhanced fees for brokers, upgraded interiors in addition to other extras that amounting in discounted unit prices.
While sales were down sharply in 2007 and the number of new units slated to rise dramatically, many developers are encountering house shoppers like Nirali Shah, a 29-year-old pathologist assistant.
While admiring a Streeterville high-rise with a view of the lake, this first-time buyer says she won't commit to purchasing a condo unless the developer gets into a bargaining mood.
"I'm waiting for the seller to bring down the price at least 10 percent, to include a $65,000 parking space or a year of free assessments," said Shah, who is prepared to spend about $650,000 for a newly built unit.
"It's a buyer's market," she said with assurance. Read the entire article by clicking here.
LINCOLN PARK
Chicago Public Schools will kick off an annual magnet school lottery Tuesday. Thousands of students and their parents will anxiously await word on whether their children will win spots in the city's most sought after public schools.
Over the next few weeks, the city's nearly 36 magnet schools will select, through a lottery done on computers, new students for the 2008-09 school year. At some schools, hundreds of children are waiting for only a few dozen spots.
At LaSalle Language Academy in Lincoln Park, for example, 1,200 children applied for 64 openings. At Drummond Montessori in Bucktown, 995 children applied for 36 slots. Suder Montessori on the Near West Side received about 500 applications for 28 seats. Read about this process by clicking here.
UPTOWN
Chicago shoppers have a new on-line destination in chicagofashionresource.com. It is a web site that intends to be a resource for fashion industry insiders, local shoppers and visitors.
"This was really a way for us to connect people with designers, boutiques and neighborhoods and make it all more accessible," said Melissa Gamble, director of fashion, arts and events for the City of Chicago.
The site includes information about the city's shopping organized by designer, boutique and neighborhood. It highlights some of the city's most popular retail sectors (such as Bucktown and Lincoln Park) as shopping destinations, but other areas with major shopping scenes such as Beverly, Bridgeport and Uptown will also be represented. The designer section is extensive.
The "If you like ____, you might like ___" feature in the designer section almost guarantees you'll spend more time on-line than you planned. You can click on Kristen Amato to read about her jewelry collection, and soon find yourself immersed in descriptions of Tennille White's plus-size designs and Diego Rocha's handbag inspirations. If you have a specific place in mind, or if you're just looking to explore by neighborhood or type of apparel, you'll find plenty of options. The site's a pleasure to navigate. Read more by clicking here.
NORWOOD PARK
Our readers first met 4-year-old Emmett Leyden, of Norwood Park, in April in an earlier Pioneer Press Story. Little Emmett has a rare form of epilepsy which is called Doose Syndrome. He can have "drop seizures" where he falls down without warning and goes into convulsions. Nine months after the initial story, Emmett is seizure-free, thanks to a drug of last resort for epileptics, and his family has begun a foundation to raise awareness about the disorder.
After countless doctor visits and failed treatments over a period of 15 months, Emmett began treatment with the anticonvulsant drug, Felbatol, and has been seizure-free since July 2007. Felbatol is a drug of last resort for epilepsy because it may cause serious side effects.
During the past six months, while cautious about their son's progress, Emmett's parents, Erin and Patrick Leyden, and Patrick's sister, Ann Marie Clancy (a caregiver) started the American Epilepsy Outreach Foundation, a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization dedicated to raising awareness about epilepsy and providing support to people with the disorder and their families. The Web site, www.epilepsyoutreach.org, is expected to become active in the next few weeks.
Learn more about epilepsy and the foundation by clicking here.
NAPERVILLE
Approximately three or four times a winter, Naperville Mayor George Pradel takes the wheel of a city snowplow and clears alleys and cul-de-sacs. He'll often stop to wave or chat with residents who recognize him.
Operating the truck allows him a breather from City Hall and puts him in contact with his constituents, he said. "And I just like to drive," he added.
But his fondness for the road and those extra winter duties snagged the 70-year-old former police officer his first ticket after he backed a city plow into a 1993 Honda Civic on School Street near Ellsworth Avenue.
"I did not see the little Honda," Pradel said. "I was thinking I should take one more pass on that one-way street."
The Honda's driver is a 20-year-old Bolingbrook woman. She complained of pain on the scene but declined medical attention, said Naperville Police Cmdr. Dave Hoffman. The Mayor was ticketed with improper backing of a vehicle.
Mayor Pradel said he hopes his traffic accident doesn't mean his snowplowing duties have come to an end.
"I did something wrong and I should be treated like everyone else," he said. "I'm just glad no one was hurt. We can fix the car." Read about it by clicking here.
JENNIFER GARRITY & DEAN'S TEAM CHICAGO
