WBBM-TV: 'My Block, My Hood, My City' Distributing PPE For Monday's MLK Day Of Service

 

[VIDEO] Jahmal Cole of My Block, My Hood, My City distributing PPE for senior citizens at 99th & King Drive at the Secretary of State facility there this morning on Dr. King Day. I hope you all are having a very safe and happy holiday.

Car crashes into the Whitney Young Library branch

[VIDEO] This happened earlier this afternoon a car crashed into the Whitney Young Library at 79th Street and King Drive. Will repost any new updates when available.

Krispy's Chicken is coming to Chatham on 87th

Photo by Lee Edwards - BlockClubChi

Well I'm glad to see that the garish signs from the King Food & Deli has been removed along with their bulletproof glass to be replaced by a different business. This building which was formerly a Church's Chicken is going back to its original function.

Lee Edwards of BlockClubChi informs us:

After complaints from residents, community leaders and the neighborhood’s alderman, a controversial Chatham convenience store that used bulletproof glass and sold junk food and cigars has been replaced with a restaurant.

A new Krispy’s Fried Chicken & Seafood restaurant location recently opened its doors in place of the King Food and Deli convenience store, which Ald. Roderick Sawyer (6th) labeled a “problem business” this summer.

Krispy’s Fried Chicken & Seafood is a restaurant chain based out of Wichita, Kansas, with four existing locations on Chicago’s South Side.

“I’m glad the community got together and made the owner rethink his business model because his former model wasn’t conducive for the Chatham community,” Sawyer said. “It’s not ideal but it’s better than what it was before.”

The new restaurant at 400 E. 87th St. is the result of several conversations between the alderman, the store’s owner, who also owned King Food and Deli, and Melinda Kelly, executive director of Chatham Business Association, Sawyer said. He said he voiced his opinions about the business, which were well-received by the business owner, who ultimately decided to convert the store into a restaurant.

We see the good people over at Concerned Citizens of Chatham have already been debating this new development since last month.

King Food and Deli update

As Worlee Glover starts his campaign for 6th Ward Alderman he offers an update with regards to the King Food & Deli at the former Church's Chicken on 87th & King Drive. It appears the owners of that "controversial" establishment are looking to change the concept of their business and establish a restaurant.

August 7, 2018 Meyering Park National Night Out

Presented by the 3rd Chicago Police District

National Night Out
Tuesday, August 7, 2018
5:30 PM to 8:00 PM
Meyering Park
7140 S. King Drive

Refer to flyer below!

Block Club Chi: Chatham Doesn’t Need New Convenience Store’s Bulletproof Glass, Cigars And Junk Food, Alderman Says

Worlee Glover also shared the article below to our FB page regarding the new convenience store that opened in the former Church's Chicken store on 87th & King Drive. We wrote about this new business earlier this month as may community stakeholders are concerned about the new business and the image upon the Chatham and Chesterfield neighborhoods.

Chatham doesn’t need new convenience store's bulletproof glass, cigars and junk food, alderman says https://t.co/0F3AnUuQEn pic.twitter.com/EIKiWKlqhn

— Block Club Chicago (@BlockClubCHI) July 25, 2018

Located on the corner of 87th & King Drive in the heart of one of Chatham’s business corridors stands what many in the neighborhood — including Ald. Roderick Sawyer (6th) — call a “problem business.”

King Food & Deli, a convenience store at 400 E. 87th St. that replaced a long-standing Church’s Chicken, was recently identified by Sawyer and community groups as a neighborhood concern.

Earlier this month, Sawyer and leadership from Chatham-Avalon Community Council, Greater Chatham Alliance and Chesterfield Community Council held a press conference to criticize King Food & Deli’s use of bulletproof glass, the sale of unhealthy snacks and cigars that could be used for blunts.

“The food was munchies, it was Black & Milds, Backwoods, Swisher Sweets, limited deli items, limited grocery items,” the alderman said. “It was mostly snacks. Is there a place for that? Maybe so. I think for the corner of 87th & King Drive, that’s kind of disappointing to me, personally.”

Following Sawyer’s public criticism of the business, a “constructive” meeting between Chatham residents and the store’s owner happened, he said.

“I think there were other retail opportunities that we could’ve placed in that location that would’ve been more reflective of the community and that would’ve gotten community support,” Sawyer said.

Read the whole thing. This is certainly a curious case it didn't take long for this business to open and already it's a controversial business due to their product offerings. Another angle to this which is what Ald. Sawyer suggests, a "scared operator". Judging based upon usage of bullet proof glass to protect employees although to be honest that's not too uncommon!

Peace in Cole Park August 17 & 18

You might have seen this in a e-mail blast from 6th Ward Ald. Roderick Sawyer earlier this summer. Peace in the Park - After Dark: Overnight Camping Experience. To take place in Cole Park - 361 E. 85th Street from 2:00 PM on August 17, 2018 to 8:00 PM on August 18, 2018.

You may have seen some blurbs on this blog about such an event overtime on this blog.

Grand opening of senior park 107th/King Drive

You might have seen something about this lot on 107th & King Drive close to two years ago. There was a proposal to put up a cell phone tower there. Today Tomorrow, there is a grand opening for a senior park on that lot. Evidently the ones who wanted a small park won out over the company that wanted to put a cell tower here.

Here's the flyer from Ald. Anthony Beale's office below

Also here is a pic of the lot that I shot in April 2016

107th/King Dr by Levois J April '16

King Food & Deli #6WardChicago

Photo by Richard Wooten

On Nextdoor Richard Wooten a prominent leader in the 6th Ward posted this picture of a business that moved into the former Church's Chicken on 87th & King Drive. The complaints made by Wooten and others is based upon the signage and also the products they offer. What you see would be acceptable in other neighborhoods - I could dare say low-income - but for Chatham well not acceptable.

Apparently enough people complained that 6th Ward Ald. Roderick Sawyer had to release a statement on this.

• Ald. Sawyer, community leaders speak out about new problem business in Chatham
  
  CHICAGO (July 5, 2018)--Ald. Roderick T. Sawyer (6) stood with community leaders on Thursday to speak out against a newly opened business in the Chatham neighborhood.
  
  Ald. Sawyer joined Chatham-Avalon Community Council President Rev. Dr. Marc A. Robertson, Greater Chatham Alliance President Richard Wooten, and Chesterfield Community Council President Elizabeth Prowell to voice outrage at the King Food & Deli located at 87th Street and King Drive. Ald. Sawyer said he had heard from a number of neighborhood residents who were offended by the store’s use of bulletproof glass and merchandise for sale, including blunts and unhealthy snacks.
  
  “This store is an affront to our community,” said Ald. Sawyer. “Chatham is a family-oriented neighborhood. By marketing unsavory items and using bulletproof glass, the store fails to treat our residents--its potential customers--with the respect we deserve.”
  
  Ald. Sawyer said he had been unable to prevent the opening or regulation of the opening of the store, and called on his colleagues in the City Council to pass 7th Ward Ald. Greg Mitchell’s proposed ordinance to require aldermanic approval of these sort of retail food licenses.
  
  “Unfortunately, this is a problem we see far too often in African American communities,” said Ald. Sawyer, who is chair of the City Council Black Caucus. “I believe this could be at least partially addressed by increased local control over licensing decisions for aldermen. That’s why I support Ald. Mitchell’s ordinance, and hope it is passed quickly by the City Council.”
  
  Ald. Sawyer said he would continue to fight to protect the 6th Ward against problem businesses, and was seeking solutions to address community concerns about King Food & Deli in the immediate term.

This could beg the question of how does Chatham and the surrounding areas that want to be attached to Chatham attract these so-called family-oriented businesses? How do we keep businesses such as the King Food & Deli from opening in the community?

Community is helping to restore Josephine's

The community is helping restore Josephine's!

The Chicago Tribune has reported in today's paper that Josephine's (also known as Captain's Hard TIme Dining), is back in business. They had to shut down due to copper wiring being stolen. Thepaper reported that IBEW Local 134, electric company MZI Group Inc. and ComEd are reworking wires at cost to help restore the business.

The NextDoor Community and Jahmal Cole of My Block, My Hood, My City have been huge contributors to the restoration.

You can still contribute by going to the GoFundMe page from Jahmal Cole. The fund is currently at $5389 of the $10,000 goal, more than half way there. Keep it up, community!

What would you like to see at 83rd & King Drive?

83rd/King Dr August 2009

For this post I'm sharing a link to another post about this lot from August 2009. The basic history of this lot that it was formerly a Jewel store and then was a state police facility and finally a church. The lot is currently vacant after a fire destroyed the building that former stood here where the community garden stands.

Fast forward to 2017, Worlee Glover had mentioned in one of his posts on Concerned Citizens of Chatham about a 6th ward resident wanting to get support for a Trader Joe's. Well this could be a great site for a Trader Joe's. Then again who else would want to get their hands on this lot I can only wonder.

Snapshots along 75th Street #6wardchicago

In 2009 there was a infrastructure project on 75th Street where the city had to dig out some sewer lines which resulted in traffic being shut down and reopened to great hoopla and was declared a "Black Wall Street". Although it seems that has died down since then I see this area as a center for dining & night life.

Feel free to click on the pics for a larger resolution.

This pic is a professional building for sale. Earlier in the year there I posted about a listing for this building. Perhaps a place for doctors, lawyers, or business people. Granted I noted that this is a street great for dining & night life however bear in mind this is a street that has a number of retail establishments also.

75th/King Drive: What would you like to see here?

The today's post is to ask one simple question, "What would you like to see here?" The collage of 75th/King Drive was posted to our ig page and one comment by Worlee Glover stated simply that in 6 months this corner will look a lot different. We can consider the changes up to the point when I snapped these shots last Wednesday.

In 2014 we featured the corner shown in the lower right of the above collage. This was home to a store and offices of state Representative Andre Thapedi that fell victim to a fire. Once the ashes of the buildings were cleared finally now there's this vacant lot on this corner.

In the lower left another building was said to have fell victim to another fire. While I'm not a building inspector, the fact that it's still standing shows that it's potentially salvageable. It's a building looking for redevelopment in the near future and consider that next door to that building are two thriving businesses one of which - 5 Loaves Eatery - has gotten a lot of notice lately on local media.

In the upper right is a Dunkin Donuts/Baskin Robins store. The building was formerly a KFC and much more recently a JJ's fish. The choices of business to take up shop here has only reopened the worms of what types of business would we prefer in our communites. Better question as increasingly 75th seems to be a center of food businesses in our community, what types of restaurants would we prefer to frequent? What healthy foods would be like to eat in a local restaurant?

Here's the ig post of the above collage

What happened to the homeless sisters?

The sisters' tent has collapsed, and has been this way for days

Does anyone know what happened to the homeless sisters who have camped out in various parts of our neighborhood?

You have probably seen them somewhere around the neighborhood.  They have camped out at 75th & King Drive (just before and after the fire that took down the building), at 87th & The Dan Ryan, 84th & King, and most recently in front of the former Church's Chicken at 87th & King Drive.

They are two sisters who sit under a makeshift tarp tent. They claim it is a church, and that as such, gives them the right to be encamped wherever they are.  They seem to sit in 2 chairs under the tarp, stay there all day, and then sleep there. They only occasionally come out.

They have been encamped by the former Church's Chicken on 87th & King Drive. They seem to have been there some time after it closed, and when they took off the Church's sign.So it has been a number of weeks, if not months.

Last week, I noticed that one of the chairs seemed to be down. A few days later, the "tent" hadn't returned to normal.

That made me suspicious,so I stopped by. Now, if someone was there, if someone tried to do anythign, they would be out and chasing people away. But there was no response. In fact, one chair had fell over, and rain water had filled the top of that part of the tarp.  I couldn't lift the other one, but there did not seem to be a body (also, no odor).

Their encampment has been abandoned for days

Even with this bitterly cold weather, it doesn't seem like they died. Does anyone know if they have been arrested, taken , or brought to the hospital?

They are very protective of their stuff and territory (for example, arguing with the owner of a truck which was parked in the lot). So it seems odd for it to just be left there. At some point, I know someone will want to have the debris removed.

If you have any information on them, please e-mail the blog at blog+blog@thesixthward.us

We hope they are OK.

The sisters are fierce in keeping their home.  

Ground Breaking for Chicago Public Library Whitney Young Media Center Renovation

Refer to the embed below that contaings renderings of the new Whitney Young branch from Worlee Glover's Concerned Citizens of Chatham fb page.


Ground Breaking for Chicago Public Library Whitney Young Media Center Renovation

• Whitney Young Library
  7901 S King Dr
  Monday January 22, 2018
  12:30pm

Throwback: New Year's Eve 2007

New Year's Eve 2007

On New Year's Eve 2007, I captured a few snapshots and posted three of them to the blog. The one shared above was of the sign at Seaway Bank which reflected a name change. I probably chose those three thanks to some then current events & changes at the time.

In 2008, Seaway National Bank of Chicago would become Seaway Bank & Trust Company in a re-branding. That's what you see here eventually the sign that has been outside of this branch probably since it opened in the 1960s (seen here) would ultimately be replaced. On this day however a simple tarp covers the bank's former official name.

Of course on that day 10 years ago, that wasn't the only shot I captured as I captured the sign of Illinois Service Federal bank near 87th & King Drive. During the summer of 2007, the bank had been robbed and a teller was killed. In recent years the bank robbers have been caught and ultimately convicted for the robbery and murder of a teller.

I also captured a shot of the Family Dollar - across from ISF bank - which was formerly a Food Basket grocery store. The Family Dollar at the time shocked me because I had little idea that the old grocery store had closed. With the Chesterfield Community Council at the time - as documented in their newsletters back then - were opposed to the Family Dollar being there and advocated instead for another grocery store to move in. Unfortunately as happens with real estate and business for whoever owns this property, it's possible getting the rent was more important than who exactly moves in later.

If it wasn't so cold out this New Year's and with snow on the ground, I would've liked to have re-enacted some of these shots and even taken some additional ones on New Year's Eve 2017. From Cottage Grove to King Drive at least, there has been a lot of changes on that stretch

Chicago's Best Fried Chicken: 5 Loaves Eatery

[VIDEO] Recently a 6th Ward business 5 Loaves Eatery was show on Chicago's Best TV which airs both on WGN & CLTV. We shared an Instagram post from 5 Loaves early last month letting us know that CBTV host Britney Payton was dropping by to film a segment hear and invited people to drop by.

I'm sorry to say I've never visited this place, however, since they are located near 75th/King Drive they're worth a visit. Also it's a plus that they're not far from Lem's Bar-B-Q which is down the street on 75th also.

Has anyone else been? How do they like the food? Also what would you recommend for a first timer to that restaurant?

West Chesterfield on the recent Walgreen's closure in the neighborhood

347 E. 95th Street - June 2017

Unfortunately I didn't get the chance to go to the recent meeting hosted by state Rep. Elgie Sims on the Walgreen's store that closed on Tuesday Jun. 27th at 95th/King Drive. However I'm glad that the West Chesterfield Community Association was able to share a quick report on their fb page. That report is embedded below

The Walgreen's on 95th & King Drive is closing

In about one month the Walgreen's location at 347 E. 95th Street will be closed permanently on June 27, 2017. It'll just be another vacant storefront just like the former Wendy's across the street on 95th.

The flyer you see below is seen on a table as you enter the store and signs are posted in that location alerting customers of the impending closing. This particular space had only been open for roughly a decade.

Vallas to run Chicago State University

On Friday over at the Capitol Fax we were given an idea on how Paul Vallas would run Chicago State University. Seems look a good plan.

Let's remember Vallas was formerly the CEO of Chicago's Public Schools and after leaving Chicago lead other urban school districts and came back to become former Gov. Pat Quinn's candidate for Lt. Governor in 2014. Unfortunately Quinn didn't win his bid for re-election.

Now as we consider the strong possibility that Vallas could run Chicago State there is opposition. A group of Black leaders expressed their opposition. For example 6th Ward Alderman Roderick Sawyer spoke on this issue.

"I just don't know what value he adds to this university, that's my concern," said Ald. Roderick Sawyer, 6th. "I don't even know what a crisis intervention specialist means. I can understand it, but I would like to see a defined description of what that looks like and what he's supposed to do. Is he usurping the president's authority and powers? Is he adding to that? Has he got a specific task in mind?"

In the meanwhile it appears Vallas is coming whether anyone likes it or not:

Chicago State University trustees will vote on potential leadership changes at a Monday morning meeting, where it is widely expected ex-Chicago Public Schools chief Paul Vallas will be given a top administrative role.

The board is convening for a special session, which was added to the schedule amid a frenetic week of rumors and political wrangling.

What exact responsibilities Vallas could assume are not clear. Nor is it known how any changes in upper administration will affect the job of interim President Cecil B. Lucy, who has led the university since September. But the shift comes as Gov. Bruce Rauner ramps up efforts to engineer a turnaround at the beleaguered Far South Side university by handing direct control over to his political rival-turned-ally.

I wonder what the good folks at the CSU Faculty Voice are saying about Vallas coming over to shake things up.

Here's one indication of what they think. Not in favor of Vallas, however, they want Chicago State to be treated as a state university not a political ward. I strongly agree!