January 2019

Board Report come to the 1500 Room and surrounding area. New flooring, painting and furni-ture are on the way. The House Commit-tee followed color and fabric selections voted by the majority of homeowners. The goal is to enhance the ambience of our multi-purpose area for many years to come.

Kudos to the Hospitality Committee for what was purported to be a fantastic par-ty with great food, entertainment and decorations. If you have not already, please introduce yourself to Besim who started working here in December. Besim is already making his mark helping resolve issues as they occur and noting maintenance projects to be completed as time permits. We are still one janitor short and the Board is working on filling

We enter 2019 here at 1500 deep in many projects. This January new fobs and keycards will be distributed as Phase 2 of the Security Upgrade. The office will send detailed instructions for replacing our current fobs when the schedule is finalized. Phase 3, upgrad-ing our garage entry devices, will fol-low shortly after the successful turn over and complete the Security project. The winter will also bring replacement of the obsolete hot water tank in the garage with two smaller, state of the art and more efficient hot water tanks as Phase 3 of the Garage Maintenance project. Final Phase 4 is slated for spring 2020. Look for changes soon to

Film Night 1/2 7:00 pm

Ladies’ Night 1/7 5:30 pm

Opera Club 1/9 7:00 pm

Residents’ Mtg 1/15 5:00 pm

Board Meeting 1/15 5:30 pm

Cocktail Party 1/21 5:30 pm

Sleeper Film 1/24 7:00 pm

Ladies’ Night 1/28 5:30 pm

Bridge Wednesdays 2 pm

Knitting Thursdays 3 pm

January Calendar

Moving Toward Zero Waste

that position soon. Winter came early and with a bang and since then has given us an easy ride. I look forward to a good year in our Building wish-ing everyone good health, some fun and if Mother Nature co-operates a calm remainder of winter.

Penny Fisher, President

Holiday Party Review

Flower Arranging for Beginners Join 1500’s very own Ginny Noyes, a master flower arranger, on January 30 at 2:00 at the Wil-mette Public Library for a very special program. You will learn easy ways to incorporate simple household items into striking flower arrangements for your home. Ginny’s presentations are filled with warmth and humor. Join us for an enjoyable afternoon where you’ll laugh and learn.

Some audience members will receive one of Ginny’s ar-

rangements to take home after the presentation.

The photograph is from the 1500 Holiday Party, for

which Ginny created all of the centerpieces, from “bits

and pieces” she found in her closet or along the sidewalk,

but we don’t believe her.

(with apologies to ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas)

‘Twas the night of the Party -- the hour grew near,

It happens just once at this time of the year.

The tables were dressed all in silver and red,

“Never more lovely” it was known to be said.

The lights all were hung by the mirrors with care,

And flowers so lovely added such flare.

The food was the best that has ever been served,

The ooh’s and the ahh’s were clearly deserved.

Live music and laughter filled all of the room,

All having great fun one can only assume.

No reindeer or elves or Santa or sleigh,

Just happiness, joy and good cheer one must say.

And I heard folks exclaim as they faded from sight,

“Happy Holidays to all, and to all a good night!”

With thanks to Suzanne Schoolmaster.

Very little from our party went into the garbage, eliminating much that would normally go into a landfill.

• All cans and bottles were rinsed and recycled.

• Can tabs were collected to support the Ronald McDonald Housing program

• Plates and silverware were taken back by the caterers to clean and use again. The glassware was returned to the liquor supplier. The tablecloths were purchased with the intention of using them for future events.

• And, most significantly, there was “zero” food waste as all refuse was put into a compost bin and picked up by a local compost service.

Congratulations to the Hospitality Committee and to Jan and

Don Barshis for their excellent planning, effort and foresight!

Film, Opera and Sleeper Film Clubs - 7:00 pm

Artist’s Corner - January

Who Knew?

Did all homeowners celebrated the 200

th birthday of Illinois on December

3, 2018? On that day, 200 years ago, Illinois became the 21

st state in the

Union. James Monroe was President; Shadrach Bond was the first Governor. Before it was a state, the fur-trading French had in 1709 founded a settle-ment in Kaskaskia, on the Mississippi River, near the confluence of the Mis-

sissippi and Ohio rivers in the south-ern part of the state. Kaskaskia be-came the capital of the Illinois Terri-tory in 1809, and, in 1818, when Illi-nois became a state, it was the first state capital. Hoping to attract set-tlers to the interior of the state, in 1820 the capital was moved to Van-dalia, about 80 miles inland from

Kaskaskia. In 1833, a bill was introduced for a statewide vote to move the capital from Vandalia to Alton, Jacksonville, Peo-

ria, Springfield, or Vandalia. Alton won, but the vote was deemed too close, and the legislature ignored the results of the vote. In 1836 a young lawyer from Springfield, along with several of his col-leagues, persuaded the legislature to re-locate the capital to Springfield. The name of the young lawyer was Abraham Lincoln.

Great Lakes Primer Part IV - Final Part

The Film Club meet at 7:00 pm on Wednesday January 2. As we usually try to show some of the recent re-leases, in all honesty, it has been difficult to get excited about any of them. The three possibilities I have considered are “Molly’s Game” star-ring Jessica Chastain, about an Olympic skier who ran an illegal poker game, “Roman J Israel, Esq”, starring Denzel Washington as an idealistic defense attorney in LA, and “The Leisure Seeker”, starring Donald Sutherland and Helen Mir-ren, about seniors who travel by RV

The last day to deposit Styrofoam on the terrace level will be January 9. The photo shows the recycling collected for the December 26 pickup. Thank you to all the recy-clers.

Wilmette’s Place for History

Recycling Corner

Many of us who have lived in Wil-mette for a while know that our 146 year-old village was once two sepa-rate villages—Wilmette and Gross Point—that divided at Ridge Road and were distinguished by religion, ethnicity, and attitudes toward alco-hol. East side, Protestant, Anglo Wil-mette became the commercial center of the area and a bastion of temper-ance. On the west side, Catholic Ger-man Gross Point (incorporated two years after Wilmette in 1874) consist-ed mainly of small farms and the re-gion’s principal economic engine—the 15 taverns along Ridge Road. Despite differences (some of which

persist even today), the stronger economic base of Wilmette won out and it formally annexed Gross Point in 1924 to become one of Chicago’s premier suburbs and the place we call home. One way to appreciate Wilmette’s wonderfully diverse history is to visit the beautifully restored 1896 Gross Point Village Hall at 609 Ridge Road which (with its spacious 2004 addition) serves today as the Wilmette Historical Museum. The Museum contains archives with more than 10,000 photos of Wil-

mette as it evolved over the years, won-derful paint-ings and tapestries depicting Wilmette’s first settlers and namesake, Antoine and Archange Ouilmette, and artifacts from the area’s past (including the basement jail used by the area’s first police force). The Museum also hosts special exhibits and community events. To learn more about the Wilmette Historical Museum,, visit it or explore their website at www.wilmettehistory.org.

We’ve examined a few of the myriad issues facing the Great Lakes in recent issues of Focus and have seen a rea-sonably successful multi-state/provincial effort to regulate the QUANTITY of water withdrawn from the Lakes to prevent depletion of this major resource. The water QUALITY issues we face unfortunately offer no easy solutions. Will state or federal governments restrict shipping from the Atlantic into the Great Lakes to combat the invasion of harmful for-eign species through discharged bal-

last water? How effective will the gov-ernment prevention strategies be in keeping Asian carp out of Lake Michi-gan and the other lakes? How will we convince the agriculture industry to stop deadly farm run-offs of fertilizer and pesticides into rivers that feed the Great Lakes? Will we ever ween our-selves from the plastics that clog every waterway on earth? A recent web broadcast by the Alliance for the Great Lakes, the most successful Great Lakes environmental group, stresses a multi-faceted attack on QUALITY issues.

These include enforceable pollution laws that eliminate current loopholes for industry, agriculture, and municipal-ities that allow them to pollute the Lakes; large-scale municipal compost-ing; fees for plastic bag use as a first step to banning them; deposits on cans and plastic bottles; improved municipal stormwater management plans; new and innovative ways to use recycled materials; and improved public educa-tion. The Alliance concluded its broad-cast by stating that the Great Lakes are too great a national treasure for us not to remain vigilant and proactive in their defense.

from Boston to Key West. Other-wise, we could see “Hairspray”, the musical with John Travolta. Please share your thoughts at chayes@northwestern.edu. The Opera Club will meet on Jan-uary 9, a week early , and see the La Scala production of Mozart’s “Don Giovanni” starring Anna Netrebko and Bryn Terfel and con-ducted by Daniel Barenboim. The Sleeper Film Club will meet on Thursday, January 24 to view the completion of “The Hucksters” starring Clark Gable.

Joanne Epcke's painting in acrylics is enti-tled, "L'Opera" and shows those "superior" ones in the balcony looking down upon the lowly ones!

In an effort to improve 1500 security, the Building Man-agement has requested that all caregivers and regular service personnel register with the office. This will in-volve filling out a form, including their name and contact information, and their employer. If they, or another fami-ly member, are to be allowed to use the homeowner’s parking space, the office must also be notified. The care-giver should not be given a remote control for garage entry. When caregivers or family members wish to enter the garage, they should pull up to the front entrance, and the doorman will grant access. As security is im-portant to all homeowners, your cooperation with these requests will be greatly appreciated.

Request from Management