Dispatches from Chicago's south side.
Sorry to have not shared this information earlier as it was also shared on Concerned Citizens of Chatham on Thursday. If you're looking for work there are opportunities out there including at the 83rd Street Walmart which fell victim and was closed for a while due to the unrest from over the summer.
However, you can still early vote if you're still concerned about the pandemic. Or if you choose a Main-In ballot you can drop it off at an early voting location. Concerned Citizens of Chatham has all the city's early voting locations & there are drop off places at city libraries also.
I shared a listing of early voting locations earlier this month where I list locations in Wards 6, 9, and 21. And as far as local libraries listing in Worlee Glover's posting I will share some nearby ones you can drop off your mail in ballot. It doesn't include that new Whitney Young Library Branch, unfortunately.
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| The Chicago Neighborhoods |
I got it wrong on Saturday. While Chatham didn't feature seemingly on the webpage for the Chicago's South Side documentary was mentioned during the program that aired on Channel 11. They mentioned that Dempsey Travis called this community the jewel of the south east side and also noted those "garlow" properties along King Drive. If you don't know those are homes that were intended to become garages once people had the means to build a larger house on the front of the lot closer to King Drive.
Also noted was the home of Mahalia Jackson and the fact that Chatham was home to Chicago Mayor Eugene Sawyer - actually the father of Ward 6 Ald. Roderick Sawyer - and former state comptroller, attorney general, and US Senator Roland Burris. Also you might have seen the house that is said to resemble the White House on this blog it was shown during this documentary as well.
Either way Chatham was mentioned so I hit them with a critique just about five years too late and it turns out they covered that neighborhood.
[VIDEO] Allow me to state from the jump that I found this video on YouTube as opposed to sharing the video on WTTW's page for this documentary. I believe this aired on WTTW in 2015 and didn't find this until doing a Google search on the Roseland neighborhood.
Basically this documentary focuses on the south side neighborhoods of Brighton Park, Chinatown, Ashburn, Bridgeport, Bronzeville, Hyde Park, Washington Park, Woodlawn, Englewood, Auburn Gresham, Beverly, Washington Park, Roseland, South Shore, Pullman and the southeast side. Basically the south side is divided up into near southwest and southeast and far southwest and southeast.
I know over the years Geoffrey Baer has done documentaries of interest such as Chicago by L (of which there was another edition produced in 2020 according to his wikipedia page), he did one on the Chicago Lakefront, I think he even did one that featured the Illinois & Michigan Canal that runs through the southwest side.
I guess my takeaway without watching having yet watched this is I wish he had some other neighborhoods on this such as Chatham. Perhaps there wasn't enough material for him to really document the neighborhood as he had Englewood, South Shore, Hyde Park, Auburn Gresham, or even Ashburn. However it has my attention and plan to watch this documentary with you all.
The Magikist sign was a childhood landmark for myself until it was dismantled in 1992 according to Pete Kasantes of Vanished Chicagoland. I'm sharing this with you as the Chatham neighborhood was home to this recognizable landmark for many commuters going into the city on the Dan Ryan Expressway. I was disappointed to see it was gone at some point in the 1990s, however, the memories remain.
[VIDEO] There were members of the Chicago City Council who expressed interest in "defunding" the police here in Chicago. I didn't expect this, unless of course someone who observes the city finances expected this.
Also bear in mind Illinois voters will be voting on changing the state constitution to allow for a progressive or graduated income tax - you might have seen ads that advocate for a fair tax on the wealthy residents of this state. These cuts are also dependent upon any relief from the federal gov't and it seems for the moment none is forthcoming.
This has been a year of calamity. We've gotten the economic realities of the pandemic with many businesses considered non-essential at one point. Worse still jobs that were considered non-essential will probably not come back. And let's not forget the summer's unrest over police actions around America. Unfortunately some tough decisions will have to be made.
You will see Ward 9 Ald. Anthony Beale here agreeing with the mayor as far as why there shouldn't be deeper cuts in the CPD budget.
[VIDEO] Yesterday WGN news was at the Ward 6 early voting site at Deneen Elementary School located at 7257 S. State St. BTW, did Julian Crews pronounce Deneen correctly? Can someone who has attended that school say for certain?
Anyway Crews noted in his report that while things were moving smoothly for the most part throughout the city, there were technical issues at Deneen and as a result there were lines as you saw in this report. People were getting out here and one person Crews spoke to was correct to say we had to fight for our right to vote.
And as another man stated in this report, it doesn't matter who you vote for just vote. He's right. Early voting continues through Nov. 3rd.
If you want to vote early I blogged about it on Tuesday.
We will have a different election than we had in our history so far. This is due to the ongoing pandemic as the rage for now is to vote by mail instead of voting in person or even waiting until Election Day and going to your local precinct which is what I plan to do.
On Oct. 14, 2020 - tomorrow on Wednesday - early voting around the city will begin. You can register and cast your ballot at designated locations within all 50 wards and at the Loop Super Site located at 191 N. Clark St. or at Clark/Lake.
Here are the locations for wards 6, 9 & 21
[VIDEO] Probably not exactly germane news to the south side, however, one of things I have been keeping on eye on during this pandemic is the movie theater business. From what I can tell the Studio Movie Grill at 210 W. 87th Street remains closed.
Chains such as Regal Cinemas, AMC Theatres, and even the Showplace Icon on Roosevelt have since reopened back in August. Some of you may have seen the latest anticipated release Tenet starring John David Washington - he's the son of the legendary Denzel Washington - and directed by Christopher Nolan who you may know from the The Dark Knight trilogy and Inception to name a few big ticket releases he's made.
Well what's happening to Regal Cinemas who does have two locations within the city limits aren't much different from what other chains are doing. The Logan Theater announced that they were closing after reopening. Another chain with a few locations within the area Classic Cinemas earlier this summer announced that they were closing temporarily. And as of Thursday, yesterday, Regal Cinemas will again shut down operations temporarily.
The concern is that there aren't movies available to get people out of the house as much as it might be the continuing restrictions due to the coronavirus pandemic. I'm sure there is a reason why the 87th theaters remain close and it's exactly those two factors.
As a matter of fact if you're a James Bond fan you were probably anticipating that release in the near future. Unfortunately it has been pushed back due to this pandemic. Originally it was supposed to have been released in the spring when these stay-at-home orders were in effect, then it was supposed to have been released during this summer, then the fall, and now it has been pushed back into next year.
As I've stated over the past summer and it's true now, people want to get out of the house. Now is the time for entertainment. Thankfully we've finally gotten out of this tumultuous summer and at least so far this week in fall the weather has been nice.
Also stated at some point on this blog, this pandemic is temporary. We should continue to take our precautions with this tricky virus. I shared a video from the state about wearing face masks, my expectation is that we won't be doing that forever. I wish we could flick a switch and this pandemic is over.
As far as the 87th theaters, I'm looking to see what's going on with them. If you have any updates feel free to share.
