My dear friends, family, neighbors, and colleagues,

Beyond the fact that it is the law, there are benefits to you and your dog if you register.

• A portion of all money raised from registration fees is directed to Chicago Animal Care and Control. 
• A dog’s registration tag will help you if your dog is lost. A quick call to 312-744-DOGS will get the City Clerk’s office involved in reuniting you with your dog. 
• To board your dog or to use a doggy daycare service at a boarding facility you dog must be registered.
• To use the new Pottawatomie Park dog friendly area, or any other of Chicago dog parks, your dog must be registered.

 Registering your dog can be done quickly and easily.

• It can be done online at www.chicityclerk.com
• It can be done by phone (312) 744-DOGS
• It can be done in person at the Clerk’s Main Office at City Hall, 121 N. LaSalle or at the Clerk’s Satellite office on the Northwest side, 5430 W. Gale.  Both are open from 8:00am to 5:00pm Monday – Friday.

 Cost to Register Your Dog

• Sterilized dog (neutered male, spayed female)…. $5
• Sterilized dog with a Chicago owner over age 65…. $2.50
• Unsterilized dog….$50
• Unsterilized dog with a Chicago owner over age 65….$5
• Replacement licenses are available at half the applicable fee,  or a maximum of $20

Unsterilized dog fees are higher because thousands of dogs are euthanized annually or suffer as strays because of unwanted, unplanned litters that could have been prevented by spaying or neutering. One unspayed female and her offspring can produce 67,000 puppies in just six years. Also, sterilized dogs are healthier and have fewer medical problems. In addition, spaying and neutering can make pets less likely to run away or fight with other animals. Other pets, (cats, birds, snakes, etc.), are not subject to city licensing.

Requirements for Registering Your Dog

Dogs must have a current rabies vaccination. Your dog registration expires one year after the date of your dog’s rabies vaccination. Registrations are sold in 1 year or 3 year increments (to coincide with rabies vaccinations).

For more information please contact the City Clerk’s office at www.chicityclerk.com or call (312) 744-DOGS (3647)

Not long ago I sent an email out about City Clerk Susana Mendoza holding a beauty contest for dogs promoting licensing of dogs in Chicago. Today I write regarding a much more serious situation. While beauty contests are fun, poisoning dogs is nothing but serious business. There are reportedly at least 3 deaths of dogs from what is believed to be squirrel poison, (which from a distance looks like ground beef), that is somehow within the reach of dogs in the Rogers Park/49th Ward neighborhood. It has been centered around Touhy and Clark, but caution is strongly advised no matter where you and your dog walk.

Thank you!  The results are in, and with your support I was successful in carrying the ward with a victory margin of almost 40 percentage points.  I am happy, proud and humbled by your strong show of support.  I asked you to trust me with leading our party for the next four years, and you voted to give me your trust.  I will be working hard each day to prove to you that you made the right decision.

Unlike many other offices, with my name being the one on the ballot, it would be easy to believe that this was just about me.  I have told people across the ward during this entire campaign, this was not about David Fagus; it was about our values and the way we’ve decided, collectively, to organize our local Democratic Party.  Our opponent directly challenged those values.  He made them the core of his campaign.  The people of the ward listened closely, and they have spoken very clearly.  Our open and diverse party, driven by grass-roots members, with a bottom up style of governing is the kind of Democratic Party they want. Again, I thank you for your support.

On Monday evening, February 6 the Democratic Party of the 49^th Ward held a reception for all of the candidates running for Appellate Court vacancies, for the candidates running countywide for the Circuit Court and for candidates running for the Circuit Court in the 8^th Sub-circuit.  The endorsements for the Supreme Court race and for the two 9^th Sub-circuit races were previously determined by a vote of the membership on January 23.  They will also be listed below.

The Meet the Judicial Candidates reception provided an opportunity for each member to have one on one conversations with the candidates.  Both the members and the candidates found the format to be very rewarding.  Numerous judicial candidates thanked me for the opportunity to have a fair and real chance to gain our endorsement. There were also several comments regarding the thoughtfulness of the members in asking very good and thought provoking questions.  Our members were impressive in there questioning.

As a follow up to Monday’s event, a group of eleven 49^th Ward residents volunteered to serve on a judicial endorsement committee.  Any member was welcome to volunteer and fortunately we had some very thoughtful people join us.

It was an exciting night at the fieldhouse as the members of the Democratic Party of the 49th Ward heard from the candidates and made its decisions about which ones will be supported in the March 20 primary election.  Races up and down the ballot were decided as the members asked questions and listened intently to what each of the candidates had to say for themselves.  There were some large margins of victory and some that were pretty close as you will see in the results that follow.  With good turnout, by the candidates, the members of the party, and the community the candidates were thouroghly screened and tested.

The results are:

The Chicago City Council approved a new ward map and it has changed the boundaries of the 49th Ward.  The new 49th Ward, which will not go into effect until after the March 20, 2012 election, brings much of the Rogers Park community into the ward.  I for one am happy with the outcome.  Working with our local elected officials I am happy to say that the 2010 re-map process has been good for the 49th Ward.  We have the entire 49th Ward in one State Senate and State Representative district and we now have a very large portion of the Rogers Park community in the ward.  Any new map is a crap shoot.  One only needs to look to the 2nd Ward or the 36th Ward to see how much things can change.

Tonight, 11/17/2011, the first round of Participatory Budgeting ended at with the meeting of Area A at Willye White Park.  Conbined with last nights meeting for Area D at Alden Village North, nearly 100 people participated and gave some of their best and brightest ideas.  Having been to more Participatory Budget meetings than nearly anyone in the 49th Ward there is no question that this year has been the best for bring people to the meetings.  The community representitive outreach at these initial introductory and brainstorming meetings has generated a significant number of volunteers so that as the process moves into the planning phase we can all be sure that again this year the process is in good hands.

This story in the Sun-Times today, (11/15/11), reports that many 49th Ward residents won a partial victory in having the condo garbage rebates phased out over four years rather immediately. The phase out agreement terms are:

   - a rebate of $50 per owner occupied unit for 2012
   - a rebate of $25 per owner occupied unit for 2013, 2014, and 2015
   - an additional $1 million to begin to pay the past due rebate payments in the program from past years
   - no new condominium associations would be eligible to participate
   - the program, except past due rebates, ends in 2016

From the Sun-Times:

Mayor Rahm Emanuel has agreed to tweak his $6.3 billion budget one last time to appease condominium owners who get a $75-a-year refuse-collection rebate to compensate them for the cost of private scavenger services.The mayor’s original plan called for eliminating the condo rebate.