Lori Lightfoot Mayor-elect #ChiMayor19

[VIDEO] Congrats to the Lightfoot campaign on their victory last night in the runoff for Chicago Mayor over County Board President Toni Preckwinkle. What will the next four years under a Mayor Lightfoot look like. I'm sure in the coming days we will know more about her plans for the city.

From Chicago Tribune returns from last night's runoff election which includes the city treasurer's race and of course the 15 wards with runoff elections.

Let's start with the namesake of this blog The Sixth Ward Alderman Sawyer beats a challenge from Deborah Foster-Bonner.

 And in the 21st ward Ald. Brookins beats a challenge from his 2015 runoff opponent Marvin McNeil

In other nearby wards:

Ald. Hairston appears to thinly defeat a challenge from opponent in the 5th Ward

 In the 15th Ward Ald. Raymond Lopez defeats a challenge by Raquel Yanez

In the 16th Ward, Ald Toni Foulkes - who had been elected to that post in 2015 after being an alderman in the neighboring 15th Ward - was defeated by Stephanie Coleman who is the daughter of former 16th Ward Ald. Shirley Coleman.

And in the 20th Ward which was held by Ald. Willie B. Cochran who resigned his seat due to a federal plea deal there will be a new Alderman there Jeanette Taylor defeating Nicole Johnson

Whole Foods Market Englewood updates

Two meetings are coming up next week where Englewood residents will receive updates on the future Whole Foods Market coming to 63rd & Halsted. First up you will hear updates regarding employment, opening and other ways to support the future store at a RAGE meeting next Tuesday:

The Resident Association of Greater Englewood has invited Whole Foods to provide an update to the community on Tuesday.

Co-CEO Walter Robb is scheduled to attend the meeting to give an update on the progress of the new 18,000-square-foot Englewood store at 63rd and Halsted streets.

The RAGE meeting will be held at Kennedy-King College, 6301 S. Halsted, Room U-105 from 6-8 p.m. Dinner will be served.

On Saturday 16th Ward Ald. Toni Foulkes will also discuss the future Whole Foods Market among other issues at her meeting as well:

Ald. Toni Foulkes (16th) will discuss the new Englewood Whole Foods and more at a community development meeting on Saturday.

The meeting will take place from 10 a.m.-noon at Providence Elementary School, 6515 S. Ashland Ave.

Foulkes will also give updates on on Woods Academy and Botemps Public School, commercial property at 60th Street and Western Avenue and the Montclare Senior Residence building.

DNA Info: Englewood Lots to Be Sold for $1 to Local Groups Under City Housing Plan

City of Chicago graphic via DNA Info

If you took advantage of this program what would you use your vacant lot for or how do you plan to use it?

Mayor Rahm Emanuel will formally propose Wednesday that 322 city properties in Englewood be sold to local groups for $1 apiece as part of an ambitious five-year housing plan.

The "Large Lots" pilot program, to be submitted in the City Council meeting, would sell the properties to area homeowners, block clubs and nonprofit groups.

Ald. JoAnn Thompson (16th) pointed out the program has been in the works for a while, but welcomed Emanuel's move to advance it.

"The lots are being sold to the residents who live next to them," Thompson said before Wednesday's City Council meeting. "I'm pretty sure they're using them for side yards." Yet they also eliminate vacant lots at the same time, she added, and "get the community looking better."

According to the Mayor's Press Office, the program was so successful in Englewood that it's been expanded to East Garfield Park.

You can also read more on this subject from DNA Info's Wendell Hutson.

Not to be a downer but for those of you who are seeking to use the vacant lot as a garden take heed what this woman is going through in Rogers Park. The city could still come over and slap you with violations.

Remember the Whole Foods Market groundbreaking from earlier this month?

If you missed the groundbreaking earlier this month for the Whole Foods Market coming to 63rd/Halsted, guess who was there to record the proceedings - our old friend artistmac. He recorded these festivities in two parts and posted here for your enjoyment. Here's a description written by artistmac for those two-part videos:

On July 1, 2014 at 10 in the morning, ground was broken on the northwest corner of 63rd and Halsted for Englewood Plaza, which will be anchored by the south side of Chicago's first Whole Foods grocery store.

As late as the 1950's, the shopping district centered around 63rd and Halsted (and extending for several blocks in all directions) was the second largest, in terms of dollar sales, after the Loop. Sears (with a Hillman's grocery store in the basement, Walgreens', Kresge's (a Woolworth's style five and dime),Wieboldts, L.Fish Furniture, Jewel Food Store, the Englewood and Southtown Theaters -- they were all there, within a few blocks of each other. What caused its decline should be a case study in any urban planning class.

At any rate, by the 1980's, Englewood was anthrax for retailers and housing developers. Former Mayor Daley's fast track demolition program only hastened the decline; from the air, on Google Maps, Englewood's residential neighborhoods are an almost unbroken stretch of green, denoting vacant lots where houses once stood.

Englewood's population has dropped by two-thirds since 1960. It's population in the last census, 30,000, is half that of Lincoln Park, the location of Chicago's first Whole Foods, and its median household income, at less than $20,000, is a quarter of Lincoln Park's. But I'm sure Whole Foods has run the numbers.

What I'm afraid of is that this is the city's way of telling Englewood's current residents that their days in that neighborhood are numbered, and that the bulk of future residential development in Englewood will be for those who CAN afford to pay $4.50 and up for a gallon of milk.

It's happened before. Lincoln Park's working-class Puerto Rican residents were gradually kicked out in favor of the upper-middle class and wealthy residents who live there now.

Ah the "dreaded G word" has come back to the surface. Many of the people including Mayor Emanuel who were seen in these videos talked a good game about building this store with the community. Ald. Thompson certainly spoke of Englewood's history and she's right young people now could say I remember when just as her generation did. In addition we certainly heard about the difficulty of finding fresh produce in the community.

[VIDEO: PART 1 & PART 2]

Links of stories regarding the groundbreaking for Whole Foods Market Englewood

Before groundbreaking Michael Tercha / Chicago Tribune / July 1, 2014

On Tuesday, a ceremonial groundbreaking was held at 63rd/Halsted for the groundbreaking of the Whole Foods Market expected to open in the spring of 2016. I've decided to compile some stories mainly those directly referencing the ground breaking and then other stories that mention the coming Whole Foods store and mainly focus on the Englewood neighborhood.

• Groundbreaking Takes Place on Englewood Whole Foods Site - Citizen
• Englewood Whole Foods store represents bet by Emanuel, company - Chicago Tribune
• Emanuel breaks ground on Englewood Whole Foods - Chicago Sun-Times
• Whole Foods Could Boost Local Businesses, Englewood Restaurant Owners Say - DNA Info

For that last link from DNA Info, we can always look at this development this way. Yeah Whole Foods is coming to the community, but what else will the store bring. Certainly in the new shopping center to be built other shops are coming. That article even noted that the City Colleges operated restaurant Sikia could benefit from the Whole Foods store.

Now some additional stories. The photo above I lifted from a Red Eye article that briefly mentions the groundbreaking and how homicides are going down in Englewood.

• Progress in Englewood - RedEye
• For Sale: Vacant Lots On Chicago Blocks, Just $1 Each - WGBH
• Urban Garden Offers Hope For Englewood Residents - CBS Chicago

DNA Info: Community Meeting to Update Englewood Residents About Whole Foods Store

63rd/Halsted Whole Foods Market conceptulization

If you're still interesting in knowing more about Whole Foods Market coming to 63rd/Halsted in 2016, DNA Info alerts us to a groundbreaking and a community meeting to take place on Tuesday.

Ald. JoAnn Thompson (16th) will meet with Englewood residents shortly after a groundbreaking ceremony takes place for a new retail development, to provide further details, such as job opportunities.

The meeting is from 6-8 p.m. Tuesday in the Community Room at the Englewood Police District, 1438 W. 63rd St., which follows a 10 a.m. grounbreaking for the five-acre development at the corner of 63rd and Halsted streets and will be anchored by a Whole Foods store.

While I'm sure many who attends the meeting with Ald. Thompson would have jobs on their mind, they would also be concerned about how much the products will cost at this new Whole Foods. That's certainly one thing many people opined about when this development was announced last September.

Hopefully those who attend will certainly have questions and Ald. Thompson and Whole Foods representatives will have answers for the community.

Two incumbent Alderman could go head to head in 2015 elections

Left Ald. Thompson, Right Ald. Foulkes via DNAInfo

 All the rumors I heard before the ward remap was approved by the city council I figured one person who could get hurt was 15th Ward Alderman Toni Foulkes. She seemed to be a not very visible alderman, and especially noted was her unwillingness to debate her 2007 challenger - Raymond Lopez who's now the 15th Ward Democratic Committeeman. Now she's a bit more visible having made some TV appearances, she made some noise about the remap, and she even joined a progress caucus on the city council which is largely opposed to Mayor Rahm Emanuel.

Today we're hearing that she's making a new move literally. She wants to challenges 16th Ward Alderman JoAnn Thompson for her city council seat. Saw two stories this morning about that from DNA Info and Mark Brown of the Sun-Times. It's interesting that Ald. Foulkes spoke to DNA Info's Wendell Hutson instead of Mark Browk but it is what it is.

All the same, Ald. Foulkes from this in terms of race as she indicated she wanted to run for Alderman of a Black ward as the 16th Ward in Englewood remains. Her 15th Ward where he actually home remains was largely drawn as a Latino majority ward. In fact Brown noted that experts indicated that if Foulkes remained in the ward that elected her she could still win despite the fact that this ward has more Latinos now. In any event in order to run in the 16th Foulkes would literally have to move from the 15th Ward.

Now that it's in the news that Ald. Foulkes wants to challenge Ald. Thompson next year we hear comments from Thompson expressing her disappointment. Foulkes is making inroads to her new electorate while Thompson is surely going to promote her own accoplishments as 16th Ward Alderman since 2007. For example Ald. Thompson is taking credit for the Whole Foods Market coming to 63rd/Halsted.

BTW, Brown noted that there is a decision coming on the ward remap from the federal U.S. Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals. I wanted to write about that before but never found the time or the reason, but there are certainly some people who are still opposed to the new ward map who want to see it struck down. It came before a court last year and the remap was upheld.

Also while it does seem early to talk about municipal elections next year the time to circulate positions for Alderman, City Treasurer, Clerk, and of course Mayor is in August. It will be an interesting time to watch who will step up to the place for February 2015.

Is Rahm Pimpin Englewood

I guess my age is catching up with me. I can remember the dreary bus ride along 63rd street to Lindblom Technical High School. The only non blighted spot on 63rd street was the 63rd Halsted Street mall. The mall had stores that included Sears, Jewel Foods and a movie theater. From my freshman year to my senior year the mall went from vibrant to blighted, Sears and the theater closed and all was left was small "junky" stores selling cheap substandard merchandise.

 Once the mall hit rock bottom the city under the direction of Mayor Richard Daley decided to tear down the mall and move Kennedy King College on most of the site and Jewel Foods would build a state of art store at the corner of 63rd Halsted. The college was built but the Jewel Food store was never built.  After years of sitting vacant the site was submitted to Walmart but they passed and several other retailers have been asked to look at the site but all have passed.

Now, Whole Foods has announced that they will open a store on this site by 2016. While I applaud the company for seeing potential in the site I only asked why 2.5 years later?  When it was announced that they were coming to Hyde Park, it was not 2.5 years later.

Hmmm, so I had to ask the questions that others don't want to ask.

• Is the scheduled completion date set conveniently after the 2015 election? 
• Is the Mayor taking advantage of a lame duck ineffective Alderman Joann Thompson? 
• Is this a compromise to give the mayor access to the Englewood TIF funds?

The biggest question I have deals with the blow the mayor took several weeks ago when the proposed Norfolk Southern freight yard. Over the last several years, the railroad has been purchasing vacant lots and occupied homes from Englewood residents. The freight yard is scheduled to open 2015. Environmentalist, community organizations such as R.A.G.E have opposed the way the land has and is being acquired and where the freight yard is going to be located.  The mayor supports the freight yard as he sees it part of a larger plan to make the city of Chicago a transportation hub. So my question is was this announcement planned to lessen the opposition to the proposed freight yard that is scheduled to come up for a vote? While I'm aware that Englewood needs a full service grocery store, I question the timing of this proposal. Recently,

I attended the Resident Association of Greater Englewood(R.A.G.E.) general meeting. They had contacted Jewel Foods about opening another grocery store and were informed that Jewel did not have an interest in reopening a full service store in Englewood ,but rather their limited offering store  "Save A Lot". The closest full service stores are either the Food For Less at 69th Ashland or Walmart Express at 47th Ashland. This is woofully inadequate as a community needs a full service grocery store for approximately every 10,000 residents. So we will see what happens this time around.

If the freight yard gets blocked will the corner of 63rd Halsted stay vacant?    

Whole Foods Market is coming to 63rd/Halsted

Rendering of 63rd/Halsted Whole Foods store

In June I put my eye on the intersection of 63rd & Halsted in the Englewood neighborhood. During most of the 20th Century it was a major commercial area that was home to stores and theaters and then by the 1960s that area began a long decline. Even the urban renewal that diverted traffic around the area save for CTA buses didn't stop the decline.

In recent years there have been new construction in the area, by 2007 Kennedy-King College was constructed in this area and now the other part of this area is expected to be built upon. Whole Foods Market is coming to this area by 2016.

The Sun-Times wrote:

Whole Foods Market is set to open an 18,000-square-foot store at 63rd Street and Halsted by 2016.

And the chain’s co-CEO, Walter Robb, knows exactly what you’re thinking.

Why would a high-end grocer known for its pricier organic offerings come to an impoverished South Side community?

Because Mayor Rahm Emanuel asked, Robb said. And because it fits with the mission of the 33-year-old chain based in Austin, Texas.

“It’s been our purpose to bring healthier foods to the world,” he said. “We realize it’s probably a stretch in your readers’ minds. But so what? Stretch is good.”

The store will anchor a 13-acre complex for which the city has promised TIF funding through the Chicago Neighborhoods Now initiative. From that, developer DL3 will get funding for a buildout. The complex will include retail and other shops, a park and green space.

On Wednesday, officials will announce what community leaders and others are calling a major coup: luring the chain to one of 11 parcels of land that the mayor has promoted to grocery CEOs since June 2011 as ripe for new grocery store developments.

And of course this means jobs for the students at Kennedy-King College nearby. Also Hyde Park is supposed to get a Whole Foods in their community in the near future so there will be two stores located further south of Roosevelt where one is located in the South Loop.

Here's hoping all goes to plan and we'll see some more construction in the former Englewood "downtown" in the near future!

Curbed Chicago: Family housing for 73 veterans breaks ground in Englewood

This development chronicled by Curbed Chicago is called Hope Manor II located at 61st & Halsted. Not too far from the corner of 63rd & Halsted. Governor Pat Quinn dropped by to ground break this project and it seems appropriate since the Governor does care for our veterans. Primary purpose of this project:

That project has a focus on the needs of single veterans. Hope Manor II will offer on-site job training, family counseling, and health care. As depicted in the above rendering, the town homes and apartments will address the street while cradling a small park and children's play area.

According to the Hope Manor II page linked above this project is a partnership between "the City of Chicago and Alderman JoAnn Thompson of the 16th ward".

Time Out Chicago: The ward debate in Englewood

This article about Aisaha Butler's R.A.G.E organization out of Englewood talks about what that organization is doing as far as ward redistricting. Alderman-elect Sawyer was the only person able to come on record to talk about the problems of Englewood:

To Asiaha Butler and the other members of RAGE, Englewood’s political pot is bubbling. The question is: Do too many aldermen spoil the broth? A combined 3.1 square miles, Englewood and West Englewood are split among six wards: the 3rd, 6th, 15th, 16th, 17th and 20th. But a bigger problem, according to Butler: There is not one aldermanic office in the neighborhood. Residents say this is a symbol that none of the aldermen wants to take the lead in tackling the neighborhood’s problems. RAGE members are calling for redistricting that would reshape Greater Englewood into just two wards.

Englewood has been in political flux this spring: Of the 14 aldermanic seats contested in the April 5 runoff election, five were in wards that include parts of Englewood. RAGE held three candidate forums leading up to the February elections, with five of the incumbent aldermen and 28 out of 35 challengers attending. None of the incumbents agreed to support RAGE’s redistricting proposal, Butler says. Incoming 6th Ward Ald. Roderick Sawyer, the only nonincumbent to win a seat, says he might discuss redistricting with the other aldermen. At press time, he had not yet decided where to locate his office.

“I will serve the needs of the whole 6th Ward,” says Sawyer, the son of former Chicago Mayor Eugene Sawyer. “I realize Englewood might have more needs than some other areas.” He listed neighborhood cleanup and job training as primary focuses, with the idea
that jobs are the key to crime reduction.

Ald. JoAnn Thompson (16th) and Ald. Latasha Thomas (17th) didn’t return repeated requests for interviews. Ald. Willie Cochran (20th) and Ald. Pat Dowell (3rd) did respond, but interviews couldn't be scheduled by press time. At the March 31 RAGE meeting, Ald. Toni Foulkes (15th), showing off her scuffed sneakers, says she prides herself on spending time in West Englewood. “Look at my feet,” she says. “I get down and dirty.”

“When you start something new, you need to clean up and see what you have,” Sawyer says. “There’s so much debris in Englewood, people need to start picking things up. The residents of Englewood need to partner with me. I’m just one person; I can’t do it alone.”

VIDEO: The lastest edition of Off 63rd w/ Garrard McClendon

This week's edition we see the challengers to the three incumbent Aldermen we saw the week before. Aldermen Joann Thompson (16th), Willie Cochran (20th), and Freddrenna Lyle  appeared on the show the Thursday before. This week we have Hal Baskin (16th), Che "Rhymefest" Smith (20th) and Roderick Sawyer.

I won't attempt to editorialize just attempt to remember some of what was said Thurdsay night. McClendon had to challenge the notion of one of the incumbents who claimed they didn't have time to campaign. Roderick Sawyer challenged why Ald. Lyle hadn't started turning neighborhood schools into community schools. He was probably referring to what she said on Chicago Tonight the previous evening.

Also a caller called in to support Roderick Sawyer. He said he was a senior citizen and he doesn't like the condition of 79th Street. He also talked about the days of Sawyer's father, who...well we already know who Roderick's father is.

In any event, here are videos from Thursday night embedded below here are the links [VIDEO: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3]

VIDEO: If you missed the latest episode of Off 63rd here it is...

The appearance of not only Ald. Freddrenna Lyle of our very own 6th Ward. In addition other neighboring Aldermen, Willie Cochran of the 20th Ward and Joann Thompson of the 16th Ward appears with Garrard McClendon on his show last Thursday. The first video is about 10 mins, the second video is 10 minutes and the final video is about 8 minutes. Hmmm they should really consider not breaking these programs up and just have one YouTube video for them.

You will find the videos embedded below unless the embeds doesn't work it's provided in the brackets [VIDEO: Part 1, Part 2 & Part 3].

Expect their challengers to be on Off 63rd next week.

Oh Garrard, it's either thesixthward.us or thesixthward.blogspot.com. Thanks for the mention though. :)

There are other run-offs in the surrounding wards

Those surrounding wards are the 16th, 17th, & 20th wards.

As the Chicago Defender reports:

Six incumbent aldermen in Black wards on the South and West sides must continue campaigning.

Failing to get at least 50 percent of the vote, Alds. Freddrenna Lyle (6th), Toni Foulkes (15th), JoAnn Thompson (16th), Latasha Thomas (17th), Willie Cochran (20th) and Sharon Dixon (24th) will fight to retain their seats in an April 5 runoff election.
...
Community organizer Hal Baskin is going after Thompson’s seat, who got 43 percent of the vote.

With 49 percent of the vote, Thomas must face David Moore in the runoff.

Cochran couldn’t escape a battle with rapper Che “Rhymefest” Smith. Cochran snagged 46 percent of the vote.

From the Chicago News Coop:

Incumbents in two traditionally volatile South Side wards are headed for runoffs. The irregularly shaped 15th and 16th wards, which include portions of Englewood, West Englewood, and surrounding communities, have lacked political power for years, and election-season scrums are frequent. Leadership of the 15th Ward, for example, has been decided by a runoff in five of the last six municipal elections. Four years ago organized labor contributed hundreds of thousands of dollars to help Toni Foulkes and JoAnn Thompson emerge from crowded fields to win in runoffs. They’ll need to win in the second round again if they want to hold their seats, since both finished first again this time around without getting outright majorities. Foulkes will face Southwest Airlines skycap Raymond Lopez while Thompson will square off against Hal Baskin, a former gang member whose background stirred up controversy in previous unsuccessful runs for the office.

Their neighbor, 17th Ward Alderman Latasha Thomas, is also headed for a runoff. With 89 percent of precincts reporting, the 11-year veteran, an ally of powerful Reverend Michael Pfleger and a key black City Council loyalist of Mayor Daley’s, had 49 percent of the vote to 19 percent for her closest challenger, Cook County employee David Moore.

In the 20th Ward, another rookie alderman, Willie Cochran, was forced into a runoff against Grammy Award-winning rapper Che “Rhymefest” Smith.

Cochran, a former cop, won the seat in 2007 after his predecessor, Arenda Troutman, was arrested for accepting bribes, but Smith said not enough had been done to reverse the fortunes of the depressed ward, which includes much of Woodlawn and Washington Park as well as slivers of Englewood and Back of the Yards. Cochran, meanwhile, highlighted Smith’s decade-old guilty plea on a misdemeanor domestic violence charge and six-year-old conviction on a gun charge. “That’s just what we need in an alderman,” Cochran told the Chicago News Cooperative.

“Low voter turnout is to blame,” Cochran said Tuesday. “Or Willie Cochran may be to blame because we didn’t go out and do the things that we needed to do.”

Smith called the results a victory for the community. “I think now young people see that we don’t have to just be rappers. We don’t have to just be athletes. We can be aldermen. We can be teachers. We can be more than our past presented. We can be more than our present dictates.”

In the other surrounding wards 5th, 8th, 9th and 21st Wards the incumbents there are staying put because they won their re-election bids yesterday.

Neighboring alderman released from hospital

Ald. Joann Thompson who represents the 16th Ward which is largely the Englewood neighbood was released from the hospital. She was listed by Clout St. as a freshman (or rookie if you want to be PC) Alderman.

First-term Ald. Joann Thompson (16th) was resting at home today after spending a couple days in the hospital, her top aide said.

Thompson was hospitalized after becoming “nauseous and dizzy at a function” on Saturday, chief of staff Debbie Blair said.

She said Thompson, whose ward includes the Englewood neighborhood on the South Side, failed to take prescribed medication and was hospitalized until Monday.

Also it should be noted and it's unfortunate that I had to list it under a serving Alderman and this man is noteworthy for certain, but I didn't want to neglect him at all.

Crain's:

Former Chicago Alderman Leon Despres, an often lonely independent voice on the Chicago City Council during the reign of Mayor Richard J. Daley, died Wednesday. He was 101.

A Hyde Park resident, Mr. Despres served for two decades in the City Council after he was elected in 1955, coming to office at the same time as Mr. Daley and retiring a year before the mayor’s death in 1976.

During that momentous era, he was best known as an opponent of Mr. Daley and his tight-fisted control over city politics and the Cook County Democratic Party, a disciplined ward organization known as the Machine.

In fact, Mr. Despres titled his 2005 memoir “Challenging the Daley Machine.” The relationship was best summarized by Mr. Daley’s tendency to switch off Mr. Despres’ microphone during vigorous council debate.

“He stamped a possibility of reform on city politics,” said Abner Mikva, a Hyde Park political ally. “He demonstrated that a single voice can make difference, even when there are 49 others and a mayor going the other way.”

May he rest in peace. May there be other city council mavericks!