Dear Bob,

 

 

Thank you very much for all your hard work and efforts. It seems like we will have a very good program and we all appreciate that very much!

Answers to some of your questions:

 

1.      The group will arrive on Sunday June 10^th in 2 flights: The first flight will arrive at 20:30 & the second flight at 21:15, both American Airlines, both in O'Hare International Airport.

2.      I will arrive earlier in the afternoon in order to be ready with the Hotel and the bus. We have a bus reservation, that is settled by our Embassy in DC.

3.      We will depart in 3 flights on Wednesday June 13^th: The first flight will depart at 18:25 from O'Hare International Airport. That’s a Jet Blue flight. We will all plan to be in time for this flight.

4.      On Tuesday morning – if the Mayor is not available, we can meet some Illinois Official. As for location I will check if there is a conference room at our Hotel.

5.      Meeting with the Mayor is a must, so we will adjust any other plans we have to match his schedule. Having said that, I would prefer (if possible) not to have him on our last day. If We can have him Tuesday afternoon that would be great.

6.      Reception at CDs is planned for 17:30, If necessary we can postpone that to 18:00.

7.      We need 30-60 minutes for conclusions of the trip on Wednesday. Do you think we can use a conference room at Nucor Steel at the end of the visit?

 

Thanks again, I will call on Monday.

 

 

Matan

 

 

 

 

 

Hi Matan, Haim and Itay,

 

Attached please find the latest draft of the MABAL schedule for June 10-13.

 

Meetings not yet scheduled or confirmed are in italics.

 

Since I don’t have a copy of the Hebrew schedule, I set times (and topics) according to emails I found. If there are any time discrepancies on my agenda with the Hebrew schedule, please let me know.

 

Matan, I saw your correspondence with Steve Dishler and that the location and content of the meeting has been finalized. Steve will do an excellent job..

 

I spoke with Jordan Miller, our contact in Mayor Emanuel’s office yesterday and she has not received a new day and time for a possible meeting. I proposed that she consider either the afternoon of June 12^th or the morning of June 13^th after the Federation.

 

The exact time will depend on whether or not Hillel can come up with a program, since most students will have departed by then. It is possible that the staff could do a panel on the topic designated, but it would not be the same as hearing from the students. We could also hear the staff perspective as part of the presentations at the Federation on the 13^th.  

 

If Hillel can’t do it, we can eat lunch at Booth, or return downtown for lunch from MetroKlub or Bebe’s deli, then either the Mayor or officials from the State of Illinois and Cook County (per my conversation with Matan). Another time to meet with those officials (as well as Illinois National Guard)  would be the morning of the 12^th before heading off to Hyde Park (since we know the Mayor is unavailable at that time).

 

I also wrote to Rodney Carter at Bright Star church for final details but have not heard back.

 

I will reach out to Tina at CPD next week but am not worried that they will put together a quality program along the lines we stipulated at our meeting with her in April.

 

I also heard back from VP Johnny Jacobs at Nucor Steel who appreciated my guidance on topics for their presentation (what Matan and I discussed regarding the “story of steel”.

 

I think that given that we still have a month before the visit, we are in pretty good shape.

 

Question: Is the Embassy arranging your bus? Will it pick up the group from the airport?

 

Question 2: How many in the group require kosher food. As you can see from the links to the two kosher downtown places, they are not cheap. There is another kosher restaurant in Lincoln Park, Milt’s Bar-B-Que, which may be a dinner option on Monday: http://www.miltsbbq.com/on-the-menu/ .

 

All for now.

 

Shabbat shalom.

 

Bob

 

 

Bob Schwartz| Senior Policy Advisor

Consulate General of Israel to the Midwest
Phone: (312) 380-8812 (Direct)|Fax: (312) 380-8855
500 W. Madison St., Suite 3100, Chicago, IL 60661

http://embassies.gov.il/chicago/