EVENTS: Whole Foods Market community outreach & CTA red line extension history

Community outreach for the Whole Foods Market Distribution Center to be built on 111th Street will be held at Gwendolyn Brooks College Prep auditorum located at 250 E. 111th Street and enter parking at 111th & King Drive door 36. As per information noted at the 9th Ward meeting if you have a trade they are hiring at this event. To pre-register call 888.642.5023 or email pullmanpark @ sbcglobal.net

Also a public hearing for the CTA red line extension project's draft environmental impact statement (EIS) to take place at the St. John MB Church at 211 E. 115th Street on Tuesday, Nov. 1, 2016 from 5:30 - 7:30 PM.

Please refer to the flyers below

#halloween haunted house

5th district haunted house at 727 E. 111th St. on Oct. 31 from 4 PM to 8PM all children must be accompanied by an adult

EVENT: Red line extension hearing

A public hearing for the red line extension project's draft environmental impact statement (EIS) to take place at the St. John MB Church at 211 E. 115th Street on Tuesday, Nov. 1, 2016 from 5:30 - 7:30 PM. For more information please refer to the flyer below.

Events

5th district haunted house at 727 E. 111th St. on Oct. 31 from 4 PM to 8PM all children must be accompanied by an adult

Community outreach for the Whole Foods Market Distribution to be built on 111th Street held at Gwendolyn Brooks College Prep auditorium located at 250 E. 111th Street and enter parking at 111th & King Drive door 36. As per information noted at the 9th Ward meeting if you have a trade they are hiring at this event. To pre-register call 888.642.5023 or email pullmanpark@sbcglobal.net

This information was provided at the 9th ward meeting on Tuesday.

What's new with ICE Theaters?

ICE Theaters Lawndale 10 by Costar Group

To be transparent, I edited the post regarding the death of ICE Theaters owner Donzell Starks that had been published earlier this month. The reason why is because there was no need to be stuck in some negativity as I realize there are a few people who might still mention the "hostile takeover" of the Chatham 14 from over four years ago.

Originally when the blog post was published - and before any editing - was the inclusion of a link to a Crain's article from August 2015. It showed that ICE Theaters - or referred to as a Donzell Starks venture - had filed for bankruptcy. Starks' untimely demise was clearly a shock, but finding this article looking for any published reports in the mainstream media of Donzell's death was also a shock.

From 1997 to 2012, the Chatham theaters had been owned and operated by ICE Theaters. Then after a business dispute ICE moved to the ICE Theaters Lawndale 10 as their company headquarters. I called the showtimes phone number sometime in 2014 as I saw that the official company FB page had stopped updating- save for one random post regarding Serena Williams. Learned at that time that the Lawndale facility had been closed in December 2013 open only for private events.

At this point it's a sad end for a company with a significant legacy. As noted in Crain's, ICE Theaters beat a bid by Magic Johnson to open three movie theaters in minority neighborhoods. Also the Starks owned Meridian which operated theaters in and around downtown Chicago which unfortunately didn't survive. Many of them were originally Cineplex-Odeon theaters.

Even during all the controversy over the Chatham after the events of October 2012 it's often noted the legacy of the Starks bringing movie theaters back to under served neighborhoods in our city.

DNA Info: Pride Cleaners, Chatham 'Architectural Icon,' For Sale

Photo by Lee Bey

This is actually old news, but worth noting. This modernist design gem could be yours for $650K. If you had that much cash what would you like to do with it?

This building @ 558 E. 79th St had been built in 1959 and DNA Info provides some more history:

Pride Cleaners opened in a thriving community with many other black-owned businesses, but it's no longer black-owned. It's now on its fourth owner, who could not be reached for comment.

Sixth Ward Ald. Roderick Sawyer said he appreciated the legacy of the cleaners and admired the building's design.

“It was an architectural gem at the time,” he said. “It always had a distinctive look.”

Bey said that the dry cleaners had a Space Age look, which stood out on a strip that was still reminiscent of the 1920s. It was the “angled concrete hyperbolic paraboloid roof and free-standing marquee-like electric sign” that made Pride distinct from other businesses in the area.

Neighborhood resident Worlee Glover said when Pride Cleaners left black hands, it was just a part of the Chatham business corridor's transformation.

The area was once a “thriving community with businesses that people wanted to use,” Glover said. “Now it’s a bunch of businesses the community doesn't want.”

Lee Bey's forte has often been architecture. He added this considering the Chatham neighborhood:

Fortunately, the building is being marketed as an active, stable business and not a teardown, according to the listing brochure from Matanky Realty, meaning Pride Cleaners could continue to be preserved under new ownership.

But it's a thing that shouldn't be left to chance. Now is a good time for the city to step in and seek protected landmark status for Pride, its sign, and critical portions of the interior. The protections would make sure the building is safe from demolition and would help insure alterations would be in line with Siegwart's vision. It would also draw attention to Chatham's overall wealth of modernist residential and commercial architecture.

Our own Worlee Glover would like to see this as a clothing store or another dry cleaner. Perhaps this can be a welcome center to promote Chatham's architecture and history. Just one idea and consider that the Pride Cleaner's sign is used as inspiration for Chatham's branding

The Chicago Neighborhoods

Chicago Bauhaus

Announcements

The 9th Ward Community Meeting is to be held tomorrow night at 7:30 6:30 PM at 550 E. 103rd Street at the Pullman Presbyterian Church. If you want more information you can call the 9th Ward Alderman's office at 773.785.1100.

In addition if you live in Roseland Heights their neighborhood meeting is also being held tomorrow night at 5:30 PM at the Temple of Glory located at 311 E. 95th Street.

Finally early voting for the 2016 elections has started. If you reside in the 6th Ward early voting is at Whitney Young Library 7901 S. King Drive. If you reside in the 9th Ward early voting is at Palmer Park Fieldhouse 201 E. 111th Street. Early voting lasts through November 7th, 2016 the day before Election Day.

If you want to know about other early voting places around the city visit chicagoelections.com

A flyer for Ald. Beale's 9th Ward community meeting is below.

No strike

 This is really old news and most of our young people are in school this morning after the Columbus Day holiday weekend. The deal was struck yesterday between CPS and CTU to avert a teacher's strike. I'm glad that the children are back in school and we won't have a repeat of 2012.

Donzell Starks RIP

On Monday, we've learned that Donzell Starks - one of the owners of ICE Theaters with his wife Alisa Starks - has passed away. According to a fb status shared on Concerned Citizens of Chatham he died due to pancreatic cancer.

Also in that same status Alisa was referred to as his ex-wife, unsure if that could be verified independently of social media.

One of the main stories we covered during the past four years revolves around the change in ownership of the Chatham 14 Theaters. With a business dispute causing ICE Theaters to be evicted from the Chatham and operations taken over by new ownership. Currently, the Chatham is owned by the Texas based company Studio Movie Grill.

In 1997 ICE Theaters built and opened theaters in Chatham, Englewood, and Lawndale bringing movie theaters back into inner city neighborhoods. He without a doubt leaves behind a significant legacy that hopefully other entrepreneurs in our communities will also do something as groundbreaking.

Condolences to the Starks family.

EDITED 10/4/2016 8:45 PM- Another post via Concerned Citizens of Chatham shows information on memorial services.

Vocalo: Chatham Changes

[AUDIO] The Vocalo's Barber Shop show discusses the current state of Chatham with journalists from City Bureau. Duration of this program is 48 minutes.

Having listened to this clip they talk to the owner of Dat Donut on 83rd & Cottage Grove. Also a question comes up about how we can bring the younger generation - millennials to the Chatham neighborhood for it's revitalization.

Bringing in millennials is something hinted in a post regarding Englewood and how that neighborhood could change in the future with an influx of new residents. Perhaps that's Chatham's future also.

Another important aspect of this discussion is the state of the Black middle class.

63rd & Halsted documented three years apart

Click here to see on ig

In June 2013, I posted a collage of four pictures at 63rd & Halsted. Today I post an updated collage of three pictures which you see above which also has been posted onto our ig page.

Between three years ago to this past Wednesday when we saw the opening of the highly anticipated Whole Food Market Englewood we see a building missing on the southwest corner and new structures on the northwest corner where there is now a shopping center.

The older collage you see below was published here in June 2013 that asks what would you like to see here. Well there's more development to be had here in this general area.

Also posted on ig

I also want to share with you a revisited post also published in Sept. 2013 not long after the initial Whole Foods announcement. In that post was a few ideas on what I would like to see happen there in addition to the retail in Englewood Square. Perhaps more entertainment such as a movie theater or a bowling alley. Also contained within this post is how 63rd and Halsted had once been considered one of Chicago's bright light districts.

Chicago Tonight: Whole Foods Brings Economic Development, Lower Prices to Englewood

Chicago Tonight did a story about the new Whole Foods Market Englewood that opened on Wednesday. Since this development was announced in 2013, there were plans to keep prices down at this store. It appears that they've kept their promise:

“Definitely there are lower prices here and some very reasonable prices. For an example, whole milk is $1.99 a gallon here, and it’s roughly $4 a gallon in our other locations,” said Michael Bashaw, regional president of Whole Foods. “I think you can go all through the store and look at commodity, day-to-day items that you need to feed your family, and you’ll find those good values.

“We are passing on the benefit of being here in Englewood … the rents are cheaper here, and so our operating costs are lower and that allowed us to have lower retails.”

The dreaded "G" word has come up in this excitement and it appears from this quote from Andrea Natay of RAGE that it's not a concern, “Whole Foods coming into the community does not equal gentrification. Whole Foods coming into the community equals great change. A great, positive change, at that.”

Also consider the fact that 63rd & Halsted had once been an important commercial hub as stated on Chicago Tonight which went into decline during the 1960s and 1970s. We see a fall and now a rebirth.

Speaking of that, it's funny how before 2013 another member of RAGE - in fact the founder - was on WCIU calling for a Whole Foods in Englewood and then guess what it happens. If only I could find that video and preserve it as it had been posted here but is no longer available online. A self-fulfilling prophecy?

Disclaimer: One of the bloggers at The Sixth Ward is a Whole Foods Market team member.

Red line extension moves forward

Rendering of the 103rd CTA station

I'm somewhat disappointed that the red line extension to Roseland may not open until at least 2026 at the earlier according to what was written by Greg Hinz. Regardless more progress is being made in the future progress to bring the CTA L system further south from 95th street. This project is expected to cost about $2.3 billion.

As CTA continues to move forward we will see a draft environmental impact statement which will be seen on this project's website. In addition as hopefully construction would begin at 2022 at the earliest another step is to purchase those properties within the footprint of the route whether or not the CTA goes with the two options for their preferred routing.