Pop-ups expected to grow in Chicago thanks to new licensing system

Perhaps an idea for those who own real estate in the community. Create a spot for those "microbusinesses" to come in and establish their businesses. Perhaps this should be a trend in a variety of vacant store fronts or other commercial buildings. What do you all think?

Got wind of the above report from ABC 7 via Ald. Michelle Harris' (Ward 8) fb page.

For my block: When was Target local?

You might have seen this exact video on instagram through Jahmal Cole's My Block My Hood My City instagram page. Earlier this month he's shared this video on his FB page.

Basically what's he saying in this video? Cole is saying that we have an opportunity to build our local economy. We don't necessarily need a large chain store in our community. We need our own businesses to keep our cash in our communities. To go further we need our local businesses to hire people from our community and to help build up our communities.

Cole is right "Shop local. Buy local. Think Chatham".

African American Business: Do We Really Care

Another good piece written by Worlee Glover over at Nextdoor:

• There have been several comments making the suggestion that the community decide to use restrictive covenants on the sale on business/commercial properties in our community. A restrictive covenant restricts a certain demographic from purchasing property in the community.
  
  If you follow the paper trail of some properties in Chatham, Beverly and other communities there are documents that contain the language that the sale of the property to Negros(African Americans) is forbidden. Almost 50 years ago the federal courts struck down restrictive covenants and introduced fair housing laws ans well as other real estate laws that made restrictive covenants unenforceable. 
  
  Men such as Marion Manor(Manor Realty), Vernon Jarrett and other African American real estate professionals from this community were on the forefront of the movement. They started an organization called the Dearborn Realtist Board which is still in existence today. They also desegregated the Stevenson Hotel(Conrad Hilton). 
  
  Fast forward to today. the comments state that preference should be given to African American businesses but the question in my mind do we really care anymore. 
  
  Over the years African American businesses have closed because of a lack of support or when the owners retired they received insulting offers from African Americans wanting to purchase the business. Such businesses were:
  
  
  • Khan & Nate- High end clothing 
  • Mr Ebony- High end clothing 
  • Clark Gas - Gas Station 
  • Calumet Paint- Sherwin Williams paint 
  • Williams Hydroplant- Lawn & Garden 
  • Harolds #2(71st State)-Food Service Establishment 
  • All Dry Cleaners 
  • Chatham Foods-Grocery Stores 
  • Collins bros-Grocery Stores 
  • RL Dukes- Car dealership 
  
  There are more, but you get the point. Then when we get young African Americans wanting to open businesses, we fight them to the bitter end such as on 75th. So is the call for African American business real or lip service?

Coming soon BlockClubChi

Thanks to Robert Feder and his tweet we learn about a new operation being created by former editors of DNAInfo Chicago. Last fall the news outlet which also owned Chicagoist was abruptly shut down after the DNAInfo affiliate in New York decided to unionize. DNA Info is owned by Joe Ricketts whose son Tom Ricketts owns the Chicago Cubs.

BREAKING: Former @DNAinfoCHI editors @stoomey @jensabella @slulay2 reunite to launch @BlockClubCHI neighborhood news site: https://t.co/OhfPd0mhy2 pic.twitter.com/SXIk1lXKGK

— Robert Feder (@RobertFeder) February 6, 2018

All the same through the @BlockClubChi on Twitter we learn of a kickstarter campaign. So while the venture is about to start they're looking for funds to get operations going. According to Feder this is expected to be subscription based service.

Five full-time reporters/producers — Kelly Bauer, Mauricio Pena, Alisa Hauser, Mina Bloom and Lee Edwards — will comprise the initial news staff along with a team of freelance contributors. Bauer, Pena, Hauser and Bloom previously worked at DNAinfo.

While the approach to covering Chicago neighborhoods will be similar to that of DNAinfo, Block Club Chicago will rely on a subscription-based model for funding. Readers will be asked to subscribe once they reach a certain number of stories each month. Prices have not been set, but they’re likely to be around $4.99 a month.

In addition to a Kickstarter campaign, major support will come from Civil, a new decentralized, blockchain-based platform that’s helping start up hyperlocal newsrooms across the country. Civil was launched last year with $5 million from ConsenSys, the world’s premier venture crypto studio.

Sabella briefly worked as managing editor of The Takeout, a food site from The Onion and The A.V. Club, before rejoining Toomey and Lulay to create Block Club Chicago.

Here's hoping that when this venture is up and running BlockClubChi will soon be covering the many stories that occur in our communities as DNAInfo had. I'm glad to see there will be some efforts towards that.

Chatham Center Chicago launch

[VIDEO] Wednesday was the day of the official launch of the Chatham Center Chicago. The video above from WBBM-TV you will see many Chatham business owners, the people in charge of Chatham Center, and 6th ward Ald. Roderick Sawyer who talked about Chatham having good bones. With this event held at Chatham's Studio Movie Grill, this was a great presentation by the Greater Chatham Initiative to help get target markets to come to our community to shop & eat.

I also learned listening to the many speakers that the Chatham Center Chicago team got some help from Downtown Hyde Park. Wonderful things have been happening in Hyde Park and the commercial areas have looked much better in recent years especially along Lake Park, Hyde Park Blvd, and 57th Street.

I suppose in a way Chatham is getting "Hyde Parked". In the meanwhile, how many people are excited to see this move forward and where it goes.

BTW, here's another video from WLS-TV who was also there to mark the launch of Chatham Center. And more of the speech Ald. Sawyer gave to mark this occasion.

Herbert Hedgeman RIP

On the weekend of New Year's we learned of the passing of businessman Herbert Hedgeman. If you don't remember a few years ago there was a proposal for a hotel near 76th & State which was largely rejected forcing him to shelve his project.

I posted a pic of his image - attributed to the late DNA Info - on our ig page although I would like to also include the posting over at Worlee Glover's Concerned Citizens of Chatham.

I hope that there is another local entrepreneur who will start where Mr. Hedgement left off!

Boombox Chicago is coming to 79th & Rhodes

79th Street and Rhodes this past spring

 The former site of the Rhodes Theater is going to get itself a clean-up and a new use. If you're not familiar with Boombox read more at the site boomboxchicago.com. They nearest set up they have is across the street from Whole Foods Market Englewood at 63rd and Halsted. An example of this you will see below

An interesting proposal for the former UPB branch/Jeffrey Theater

UPDATE 11:25 AM - I apologize, failed to give this post a title!

7054 S. Jeffrey Blvd

Through NextDoor I found a DNA Info article regarding Alisa Starks making a pitch to the South Shore community regarding the former Urban Partnership Bank branch located at 7054 S. Jeffrey Blvd. It sounds like a good plan:

Alisa Starks, who developed movie theaters in Lawndale and Chatham, has been brought in by Monroe Investments to revive the bank at 7054 S. Jeffery Blvd. that closed in 2014.

At a 5th Ward meeting Tuesday at the South Shore Cultural Center, Starks presented a rough idea for the 46,000-square-foot bank that included a four-screen movie theater on the main floor, a six-lane bowling alley in the basement and a kid-friendly restaurant and play area on the second floor.

“It’s designed to be a boutique theater, think Hyde Park’s Harper Theater,” said Starks, who said she was alerted to the bank’s potential by one of her South Shore neighbors.

She said the first floor would also include a Cajun restaurant called Odessa with live jazz and blues run by the chef from the now-closed Epiphany Bistro in Lincoln Park. 

The former UPB branch - and longtime hq for the defunct Shorebank - had been closed since 2014. The space also includes the facade of the former Jeffrey Theater. It would be very cool to redevelop that site and it could be a movie theater again and revive this corner now that a important business anchor had left. There's just one problem.

This article is almost two years old. Published in August 2015 and during that month Starks' ICE Theaters had filed for bankruptcy. Of course this is not to say this wouldn't be a successful venture and that this project genuinely caught the entrepreneurial eye of Ms. Starks.

Not mentioned in this article was ICE Theaters other than the fact that the Chatham 14 was sold by the Starks and ultimately that venue is under the ownership and banner of Studio Movie Grill. So no indication of this development on Jeffrey becoming an outpost for ICE Theaters.

Now, it's about to be summer 2017, which is the expected opening date for this venue. One wonders if there are any further updates about this development or even a grand opening. In the meanwhile it's safe to say this space remains shuttered and there is also a shuttered grocery store just across the street still looking for a tenant.

Finally here's a recent picture of 71st/Jeffrey taken from the J14 bus on the way to downtown Chicago. I could be wrong but there's no evidence of any development here. Perhaps Ms. Starks wasn't able to make this development happen during the course of the last two years.

71st/Jeffrey

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.

Chicagoist: 6 People We Met In Chatham Tell Us How The Historic Neighborhood Is Changing

First got wind of this via Concerned Citizens of Chatham. Most of the people you see here are business owners in Chatham, the first one especially who is owner of Dat Donut. Here's the introduction:

Neat lawns and tidy bungalows line quiet residential streets in Chatham, a South Side neighborhood that, in some areas, still looks the part of a black middle class utopia.

Chatham represents the old bastion of black economic mobility in Chicago, where working class folk, political movers and shakers, business people and other professionals have formed the foundation of the tight-knit community since the 1950s. Yet the signs of decline are impossible to ignore, especially on once-thriving business corridors like Cottage Grove and 79th Street that are rife with empty storefronts and the types of businesses you’d expect to see in troubled urban communities: liquor stores, dollar stores, fast food joints, hair salons and payday lenders.

But if Chatham is anything, it is resilient. Despite its ailing local economy and high crime rate, despite the scores of residents and businesses that fled the neighborhood in recent years, the community still has a way of keeping people there—even luring new residents and entrepreneurs who see opportunity where others only see neglect. Though Chatham experiences more crime than some Chicago neighborhoods, it is not one of the city's most-violent communities. Between July 19 and Aug. 18, Chatham saw reports of at least 61 violent crimes, including 2 homicides, and just over 220 property and quality-of-life crimes such as thefts and property damages, according to a Tribune analysis of the city's data portal, making Chatham the 13th-most violent community in Chicago, tied with Chicago Lawn, in the past month.

The most interesting interview is of Artemus Gay who is a Liberian immigrant who moved to Chatham recently from Roger's Park. He wants to help build a community of African immigrants to Chatham to help keep up its prestige. Gay especially notes that other Africans seem to have an aversion to living on the south side.

The first part of this series produced by City Bureau was published in the Chicago Magazine. We see a group holding "church" out in the open at 79th/Cottage Grove. It's a great article I recommend you read and hopefully in the near future it'll be the next post worth discussing.

Greater Chatham Initiative

VIA The Chicago Neighborhood

I think it starts with a laudable goal:

Local officials [June 29th] are kicking off a multi-year, $1.5-million-plus campaign to restore some of the glitz to Chatham, a once-prestigious African-American neighborhood that lately has been going through a difficult period.

The Greater Chatham Initiative—which will include Chatham, as well as the nearby Auburn Gresham, Greater Grand Crossing and Avalon neighborhoods—is designed to "set them on an upward path in the 21st century economy . . . enhance these communities as places of opportunity and choice," according to a statement released to me in advance.

The money will go into programs to rehab and sell now-troubled apartment buildings, attract middle-income homeowners and operate a new local workforce center that will train and place residents in existing jobs.

And two major Chicago politicians are backing this effort publicly:

Mayor Rahm Emanuel joined U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush (D-Chicago) Wednesday to announce an initiative to improve a handful of communities on the South Side, including Chatham, Auburn Gresham, Greater Grand Crossing and Avalon Park.

The two — joined by community leaders, aldermen and other partners — announced the launching of the Greater Chatham Initiative, a collaborative effort to strengthen those South Side communities.

They met at the Chatham Studio Movie Grill, 210 W. 87th St. The main focus of the initiative is to drive investment in those areas and generate neighborhood redevelopment and economic growth.

I've been somewhat interested in seeing what can be done to further invest in Chatham and here's hoping that in the next 5 years we will see some progress. I especially would look forward to seeing 79th Street spruced up in the future. It needs it and can be a wonderful commercial thoroughfare for the community.

One thing I would like to see is more entrepreneurship. Training the workforce is good, but anything to revitalize Chatham should involve entrepreneurs. Chatham has a strong history of that and is dotted throughout the community.

BTW, here's one opinion on this worth noting which is Worlee's through his Concerned Citizen's of Chatham.

Horrific numbers on youth unemployment

In sharing some startling statistics as far as youth unemployment Rich Miller of the Capitol Fax linked to a recent Mary Mitchell column on this subject:

It is particularly disheartening that Chicago had the highest percentage of black 16- to 19-year-olds (14.3 percent) who were out of work and out of school in 2014.

There’s just no getting around the barrier a lack of education presents.

These alarming jobless statistics could also explain why there is so much violence in black and brown communities.

Still, it is unlikely the private sector is going to rain down jobs on the West and South Sides or that a state government drowning in debt is going to launch a massive job training and employment operation.

Instead of begging for jobs, we ought to be nurturing the entrepreneurial spirit.

In the past, unemployed teenagers went door to door with a rake and lawn mower looking to earn some bucks. College-bound seniors sold snow cones on front porches in the summer and shoveled snow in the winter.

Instead of waiting for someone to hand them a job, these youngsters understood it was on them to make a way.

These unemployed young men who hopefully can find an honest way to make themselves some money can hopefully become future entrepreneurs. Not only could they fill up spaced in the storefronts of our community, but they can also help create jobs for other youths. One way to look at this and come up with a solution.

That hasn’t changed.

Konkol: Roseland's Only Steak House Survives Tough Times Down At 'The Ranch'

Photo by Mark Konkol - Yolanda Pierce from right and two employees

All the times I passed this place on Michigan Ave and never been inside. It seems to be one of the few consistent businesses on this stretch. It survived a long time and apparently still does although times and demographics have changed since this business opened in 1969.

On a morning stroll, I hiked west from Pullman and under the 113th Street viaduct that leads to the wrong side of the tracks.

I walked past Palmer Park, where the faint scent of marijuana hung in the cool, humid air, and headed up the hill toward Michigan Avenue — Roseland’s once-vibrant shopping strip now populated by hustlers, pimps and dealers who openly cater to the vices of the addicted, the desperate and the damned — on my way to “The Ranch.”

That’s what locals call the neighborhood’s only surviving steak joint, where you can get a T-bone, charbroiled just the way you like it, with a baked potato and salad for less than 20 bucks. And they serve tasty breakfast — two eggs with hash browns and toast for under $5 — all day long.

The late John Kapsaskis opened The Ranch Steak House at 11147 S. Michigan Ave. in 1969. Back then, Roseland was home to mostly blue-collar white families who later fled to the suburbs when black folks moved in and good-paying steel mill jobs dried up. His son, Dino — “The Greek Cowboy,” as one photo behind the counter calls him — kept the family steakhouse going even as the neighborhood’s population changed and its economy slumped.

Inside the front door is a far different world than the one left behind on the sidewalk. A set of bull horns hang from the ceiling. A sign welcomes customers to a dimly lit dining room decorated with carved Indian chief statues and faded photos of cowboys, those rifle-toting white men on horseback from Hollywood westerns.

Yolanda Pierce runs the ranch although the family who owns it no longer appears to be involved. Pierce's ex-fiance who's family runs the business is out taking care of his elderly mother in Greece. So now it's Pierce:

She’s the blond-haired, blue-eyed gal, a former hair stylist from Griffith, Indiana, who runs The Ranch now that Dino Kapsaskis — the owner and her ex-fiance — packed up and moved to Greece to take care of his 93-year-old mother.

Pierce’s friends tell her she should be angry that Kapsaskis left her to run The Ranch by herself, unsure if he’ll ever return.

“Even though he is my ex, this is his business. Dino could have sold this place. He always said business is business. He felt like he was doing me a favor. If I go anywhere else I’ll make minimum wage. What can I do?” Pierce said.

“We still care about each other enough to keep it going. I’m not mad at him. He did what he had to do. I’m taking care of my mother. I take care of my daughter. I do what I got to do.”

If you read the rest of the article she'll not that this place considering it's location isn't making a huge profit but she emphasizes how she helps her employees:

She doesn’t just do it for herself and her own family. The Ranch is the lifeblood that keeps a lot of people — her dishwasher, waitresses and cooks and even Kapsaskis, whom Pierce sends cash she considers “rent” — on the winning side of “the struggle.”

“They say when you eat at Outback Steakhouse or one of those chain places you’re paying for the owner's private jets and fancy houses. What we make helps everyone here. Nobody makes a lot of money. Here, you’re paying for our people to buy clothes for their kids,” Pierce said.

“I just feel like I don’t care if it’s a struggle. I’m gonna keep it going and that’s how Dino feels, too. No matter what, we’re going to try to keep The Ranch open for as long as can. Either things are going to get better or … whatever.”

I suggest you read the whole thing. This is a course on how to run a business in a difficult community to own a business. You may not agree with everything Griffith says about parking meters or minimum wage

Here's hoping The Ranch survives for any position renaissance that I expect Roseland to one day have. Especially when the CTA Red Line is finally extended further south. Plus I hope that the Pullman National Monument will have an effect on the surrounding communities as well.

ABC 7: Smash-and-grab burglars hit Chatham boutique days before grand opening

Worlee posted this story to our FB page recently. Local business owners experienced an unfortunate robbery.

The dreams of two sisters have been shattered after a boutique they were planning to open in the city's Chatham neighborhood was burglarized, police said.

The owners of Lure Chaussures say the smash-and-grab robbers targeted their boutique just two days before the store's grand opening.

"When I came in and looked around I was like oh, everything is gone," said Contessa Houston, Lure Chaussures co-owner.

According to police, the thieves broke into the business around 12:30 a.m. Thursday. It's around that time, Houston says, that she got a call from ADT alerting her there was a problem.

As I like to emphasize Chatham is a predominantly Black middle class community that has been known for it's business activity. This story now makes an issue out of whether or not this community is suitable for starting a business.

Born and raised in Chicago's Englewood and Roseland neighborhoods, the sisters say they are questioning the decision to put their store in the Chatham location on the South Side in an effort to give back to the community.

"If it was left up to me, I would pack all of this up, stay online, find something else. But I know what this means to her," Whitney said.

Now, all they can do is board up, clean up and hope for the best as they vow not to give up on their dream.

"I will not be defeated, I will not let it defeat me," Contessa said.

The owners say that because the store's insurance does not actually kick in until Saturday - the store's would-be grand opening - they will now have to absorb the thousands of dollars of lost merchandise and repairs. They have set up a GoFundMe.com page to help fundraise.

Here's hoping these ladies are able to open their store. We also hope there will be a plan to at least allow 79th Street to become safe for businesses. I realize that there isn't much we can do about burglaries, but hopefully there's something that can be done where businesses and their assets can be protected from incidents such as these.

A comic book cafe

In recognizing that Chatham has a history of entrepreneurship, I found this concept of a comic book cafe interesting. In Philadelphia, a young lady Ariell Johnson - who understands "geek culture's importance to marginalized groups" - is about to open up this community oriented establishment.

I realize that over years there have been attempts at having an independent cafe on our part of town. For example Englewood has Kusanya Cafe and Chatham had the now closed Flecks Coffee. It's a great idea to have a shared space that's community oriented and certainly offer beverages and snacks for that purpose. The concept of a comic book cafe is very unique, and hopefully a success for Ms. Johnson in Philadelpia.

As much as I don't often enjoy being called a geek having been a Star Trek fan in addition to many comic books you can firmly place me into that category. Many of us are eagerly anticipating the release of the new Avengers movie coming out later this month. In addition to that I'm definitely going to see that Batman/Superman movie coming out next year.

Could such an establishment be welcome in our community? Check out this video from the future owner and let us know what you think of this unusual concept. Also refer to this future establishment's FB page.

Amalgam Comics & Coffeehouse from MoolaHoop on Vimeo.

CapFax: Fixing a city that still doesn’t work well

So Rich Miller of the Capitol Fax blog shares with us an op-ed from Crain's regarding small businesses. What does the city have to do help small business start and grow in the city? The second paragraph sums up some of my feelings regarding why we need small businesses in minority communities:

Small businesses can bring a steady stream of opportunities into Chicago's neighborhoods, infusing them with new flavors and innovative ideas, while making city streets safer and local jobs more plentiful. But Chicago's notoriously complicated regulations create bottlenecks, reducing that stream to a trickle.

I suggest you read the whole thing.

BTW, another wrinkle is to ensure that we have a healthy number of small business owners who are from minority communities. Furthermore the comments on this issue at the Capitol Fax are pretty good as well.

DNA Info: Alderman Wants to Bring Coffee Shops, Bars to Desolate State St. Stretch

When Alderman Sawyer first got into office in 2011 he was talking about the need for businesses around the 6th ward's L stops. So would developing a business strip along stretches of State Street would help in that effort.

Ald. Roderick Sawyer dreams of bringing coffee shops, restaurants and bars to a desolate stretch of State Street in the neighborhood where he grew up: Chatham.

By doing so, he hopes he can transform and revive the once-vibrant community by persuading the younger generation to remain in the neighborhood — and even coaxing young families to move here.

“We still have young people who aren’t choosing Chatham as a destination place to live, even though I think we have decent housing stock, because we don’t have the stuff they like,” the 6th Ward alderman said.

Sawyer has targeted the strip between 69th and 79th streets, the site of many empty storefronts, vacant lots and few thriving businesses.

Last week, the City Council Committee on Zoning approved Sawyer's request to rezone State between 76th and 77th streets to allow retail. He also is working with the Chicago Department of Transportation to make the strip more walkable and pedestrian-friendly.

Well there is plenty of room for redevelopment between 69th and 79th Streets. What would you like to see along that stretch of State Street?

DNA Info: South Side Baker Impresses Food Network Judges Before Elimination

Stephanie Hart on Food Network

To be honest, I've never been to Brown Sugar Bakery and never had any tasty treats from our local baker Stephanie Hart. It's great to know how much support she has gotten from her appearance on Food Network as part of a competition. Unfortunately she was eliminated early on, however, surely this may have gained her more supporters.

And you know that this means, I need to make my way to Brown Sugar in the future. This means the next visit to Lem's just across the street I can find out what sweet treats are available from Ms. Hart.

DNA Info on monthly business breakfasts at Fleck's Coffee

JP wrote about this monthly event hosted by Bruce Montgomery at Flecks Coffee a while back. I'm very sorry I missed this write-up from DNA Info about it as well. It was written and published the same day but before the actual breakfast took place. Still worth reading however.

How many of you own businesses in the community and would take advantage of this opportunity? Even if you didn't own a business would you be open to meeting neighborhood entrepreneurs?


The next meeting is scheduled for Friday, November 7 at 8am. Flecks Coffee is located at 343 E. 79th Street, Chicago IL 60640.

The Business First Friday Facebook page is located here.

DNA Info: Humboldt Park's Future As Seen By 'Artistic' Developer

Remember at various points last year, there were a series of posts about buildings, corners, and lots where I asked the question: what would you like to see here? In fact the last we did was regarding 63rd & Halsted in light of the news about Whole Foods Market coming to Englewood.

This I find this article over at DNA Info and see that someone had a vision for their community and took action on it. Now he's creating an economic hub that he hopes would turn around his neighborhood of Humboldt Park on the north side. Question is do we have such a person(s) with a vision similar to his on the south side?