SSA Presents Progress, History At Community Meeting

The Wicker Park Bucktown Special Service Area Board of Commissioners invited community members to the local library Wednesday night for an overview of their efforts and an explanation of just what an SSA is and how it works.

The SSA board held the latest in its series of community meetings at the Bucktown-Wicker Park Library, 1701 N. Milwaukee Ave., on Jan. 30. The meeting included a presentation by Commissioner John Paige to update the area about the SSA's progress after five years of operation, along with an opportunity for public comment and discussion.

"The purpose of this meeting—and we've had a whole series of meetings—is really to give a snapshot of the SSA over its approximately first five years, and then to hear any ideas that people have," Paige said. "We sit on a board and we encourage people to come to meetings and we listen to people, but we really want to hear what people in the neighborhood have to say about what we're doing."

Similar presentations have been given at meetings of the Bucktown Community Organization, the Wicker Park Committee, the Wicker Park Advisory Council and several other neighborhood groups, but the Jan. 30 meeting was intended to reach out to the community as a whole, rather than any specific group. The SSA sent out postcards to the addresses within its boundaries, put up flyers and promoted the meeting online via email and social media to spread the word. Approximately 20 people attended the meeting, including area residents, SSA commissioners and committee members, representatives of local businesses and vendors who serve the area via contracts with the city or the SSA.

Part of Paige's presentation was an explanation of the SSA's history and its role in the community. The SSA was established by a city ordinance in 2008, which designated specific areas of Bucktown and Wicker Park to constitute the area's boundaries. Money from property taxes collected within these boundaries is collected into a fund that is to be spent on community improvements and services within that area, and the SSA's board of commissioners is responsible for determining how those funds are spent. The SSA's budget for 2013 is $1,215,133.

Paige went on to explain that a Master Plan was adopted in 2009 to guide the board's decisions and actions. The Master Plan also called for the creation of the commission's five committees: Arts, Promote WPB, Guide Development, Transportation and Clean, Green and Safe. These committees each manage a different aspect of the SSA's overall mission.

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Much of the public comment and community discussion after the presentation revolved around the services that SSAs around the city provide. Attendees raised questions about whether SSAs could cooperate with one another to get better rates when it comes to paying for services such as landscaping or snow removal. Some also suggested that the city make an effort to standardize the way all the SSAs solicit contracts and services.

However, Commission Chair David Ginople said such consolidation was unlikely because each SSA is created with its own individual city ordinance dictating what it can or cannot do and, more importantly, where it can spend its money.

"Each one is an island," Ginople said. "Each SSA has a specific mission statement. Each SSA has its own city ordinance governing and guiding it ... So the idea of aggregating all the SSAs probably will not happen in the foreseeable future, in terms of them all functioning the same way."

The SSA commission holds its monthly meetings on the third Wednesday of each month at the Wicker Park Field House, 1425 N. Damen Ave., at 7 p.m. The SSA has been authorized by the city to operate for a 10-year period from its original creation and will be up for renewal in the City Council in 2014.

What do you think of the SSA's performance so far? Do you have any suggestions for additional programming? Let us know in the comments, and be sure to fill out the SSA's online survey to let commissioners know what you think.