Dispatches from Chicago's south side.
 |
| 79th/Cottage Grove bus shelter loitering |
Administrators of the Concerned Citizens of Chatham, a popular neighborhood Facebook page, said there were requests to remove the bus shelter bench, as well as one on 71st Street and Indiana Ave., due to the robberies and other “dangerous activities” at both locations.Here's an update with the above photo from Worlee Glover's Concerned Citizens of Chatham
The shelter bench at 71st Street remained in place as of Sunday.
Harris and 6th District Police Cmdr. Rahman Muhammad said they believe the removals are a good way to combat loitering. But when asked about how the removal affects elderly riders and passengers with disabilities, Harris said the move removal was only temporary.
“Once we get things under control, it will return,” Harris said. “I and Cmdr. Muhammad will be monitoring the intersection for the next week or so, and going from there.”
Muhammad said he is taking a “three-pronged approach” to tackle the problem.
“Firstly, offering those individuals a warning to leave the area, while at the same time giving them job fliers for employment opportunities,” Muhammad said.
Harris and Muhammad are planning to meet with CTA leadership “in the near future” about the issue and possible solutions.
“There will be weekly updates,” said Harris, who added that she hopes to have a meeting with the owner of the nearby currency exchange to persuade them to hire security.
This Lightfoot vs. Preckwinkle fight could have far-reaching consequences https://t.co/dkdmVM9JAF— Rich Miller (@capitolfax) September 23, 2019
Get the money, mayor https://t.co/Zr0OOARzlH— Rich Miller (@capitolfax) September 23, 2019
With Trump now in office, the chances of securing federal funds for the Red Line Extension project are slim. And with the lower property values of the Red Line Extension Project area, the Metropolitan Planning Council has estimated that, at best, an RLE transit TIF would raise only $200 million over the next 35 years.Especially noted was the efforts to secure funding for improvements to the Red, Purple, and Brown Lines on the north side. This was noted as the largest capital project in CTA history...
To his credit, Emanuel spent $280 million to rebuild the 95th Street Red Line station that opened last January.
When compared to other projects on the North Side, including the latest Red-Purple Bypass project, the South Side projects looks like peanuts and another example of the inequity of services between the North and the South Sides.
During the mayoral campaign many candidates including Lori Lightfoot, in political forums, acknowledged that federal funding is the only real option for financing the Red Line Extension Project. But none had come up with creative alternatives for a project that has been on the back burner for so long.
Last summer Governor JB Pritzker passed his $41.5 billion capital spending plan, which would be spent on public roads, transit, schools and other public, state-wide projects. Transportation would get $28.6 billion and $3.4 billion will go to mass transit. There was no mention of funds going towards the Red Line Extension project and no one made a fuss about it, not even Black leaders.
Shortly after he was elected, Pritzker said funds for the Red Line Extension project would come from the Illinois Transportation and infrastructure funding bill, which is part of his passed $41.5 billion capital spending plan. Since then, Pritzker has been largely silent. With Trump in the White House and little funding and vocal leadership, Pritzker seems the only leader whose administration can keep the Red Line Extension project from being a dream deferred.
County Board President Toni Preckwinkle cemented a plan to lower fares and increase service on both the Metra Electric and Rock Island train lines at the center of a racial equity agenda presented to the City Club of Chicago earlier this week — saying the effort would help ensure South Side and south suburban residents have better access to transit.I think increased service on the Metra Electric at least could be a good thing. I do hear there are those public transit users who prefer taking Metra over taking the L. I think at current the increased service on the south side and even the close in southern suburbs could be great.
“This is what equity investments in transportation look like," Preckwinkle said of what she described as a three-year pilot plan that would advance with financial support from the county government.
Lightfoot’s not convinced. The fare reduction plan would have “a dramatic effect” on the Chicago Transit Authority, the mayor told reporters Wednesday.
“I’m not in favor of it based upon the analysis that we’ve done," Lightfoot said. "I’ve spent some time talking with (CTA President) Dorval Carter about it, and it looks like it is essentially a transfer of CTA passengers to the Metra line.
“Obviously there’s an area of the South Side where we need to have better transportation services," Lightfoot said. "That Metra line is underserved, and I’m absolutely willing to work with Metra and the county, but this particular proposal I think causes problems for the CTA and I’m not going to support something that would have the effect of diminishing ridership at the CTA.”
Trying to look on the bright side https://t.co/UPV9FkHlv4— Rich Miller (@capitolfax) September 18, 2019
Question of the day https://t.co/UnIYJkt3T1— Rich Miller (@capitolfax) September 11, 2019
The Rev. Leon Finney Jr. spent the last half-century building a real estate empire on Chicago’s South Side while amassing political power and hobnobbing with politicians like Barack Obama, Rahm Emanuel, Richard M. Daley and Toni Preckwinkle.Read the whole thing.
Now in his twilight years, Finney’s fiefdom teeters on the brink of collapse.
Once revered for his community work, Finney, 81, stands accused of fraud, self-dealing and mismanagement after his nonprofit, the Woodlawn Community Development Corporation, filed for bankruptcy in October and the curtains were pulled back on its finances.
Finney has been ousted at the organization he helped create. And, in a rare step, a federal judge appointed a trustee in April to take control of Woodlawn, a move the nonprofit fought. Piece by piece, its real estate holdings are being sold off.
After the bankruptcy came more financial blows. Woodlawn’s main source of revenue — lucrative contracts to manage more than 4,300 apartments for the Chicago Housing Authority, bringing in about $170,000 a month in management fees — was canceled in June after the CHA accused Woodlawn of mismanagement resulting in nearly $400,000 in damages.
Finney’s personal finances are in tatters, too, with the bank going after his church and his home.
And his wife has filed for divorce.
Investigations into allegations of wrongdoing and mismanagement have dogged Finney for decades. But the troubles he now faces represent the gravest threat to his legacy.
Last year, former mayor Rahm Emanuel praised Little Angels Learning Center, pledging $1.4 million to turn a vacant lot near the Englewood church from which it currently operates into an early learning center.
Emanuel has since left office, and the city just this month sent a letter to center founder Nashone Greer-Adams telling her the funding is being cut.
Chalkbeat Chicago reported this week that Greer-Adams got a letter from the Chicago Department of Family and Support Services Commissioner Lisa Morrison-Butler with the bad news for her center, which operates out of a church at 6701 S. Emerald Ave.
Sawyer says he wants the city to reverse the cuts.
“We’ve been a big supporter of Little Angels. They’ve been doing a phenomenal job with our children in the Englewood community,” said Sawyer, who had worked to get funding for the preschool program.
“A lot of their grant dollars were based on the programming they’d been doing over the years. They were held up as a model of what a preschool should be. How could they do that? It’s unheard of,” said Sawyer. “[Greer-Adams] came to me today in tears. She works so hard.”
“We’re not finished. There’s are going to be more conversations about this.”
