Ankum's story was first brought to light by Worlee at Concerned Citizen's of Chatham . This story from the Tribune was about Ankum's visitation: On Wednesday, firefighters from throughout the Chicago area marked their third day of commemorating a fallen colleague. This time, they gathered to honor Corey Ankum, who friends and co-workers called a promising addition to the force since he started about a year ago. "One is too many. It's very tough on everyone," Chicago Fire Commissioner Bob Hoff said of the strain of planning and attending multiple memorials taking place most of this week for Ankum and fallen fireman Edward Stringer. Hundreds of firefighters and Ankum's former colleagues with the Chicago police — he had done a short stint with the force — made their way to Apostolic Church of God on the South Side to salute and pray for him at his visitation service. Ankum and Stringer were killed Dec. 22 after a roof collapsed on them, in

Crossposted at Shedd Public School ! The video above is from Chicago Tonight which talks about calls for an elected Chicago School Board. Below an article from the Chicago Tribune : Chicago's next mayor shouldn't control the city's public school system, a coalition of teachers, community leaders, parents and students said Wednesday, raising an idea that quickly splintered the major contenders for the office. The group called for an elected school board that would geographically represent the city instead of the current panel the mayor appoints. The proposed board would dedicate seven of the 13 seats for parents and community members. Two would go to teachers and one each to an administrator, education researcher, paraprofessional and business person. The push is in its early stages; advocates will need to persuade state legislators to overhaul the landmark 1995 law that put control of Chicago Public Schools into Mayor Richard Daley's hands. To that end, the g

In 2010 some major issues came to light in our community. We saw a rise in serious crime that took the life of Officer Thomas Wortham, an up and coming police officer and community leader. We saw the fall of education where one of our high schools Robeson was called one of the worst in the nation and three of our elementary schools, Deneen, Gillespie and Ruggles showed up on CPS probationary list. Lastly, 79th street one of the longest streets in the city of Chicago and once a mecca for African American business now is a street of empty storefronts. While we have had our struggles this year, the new year 2011 brings a lot of promise. The election of a new mayor, a real aldermandic election, and a community that has wakened up. What do we need to do in 2011? The first topic we want to discuss is education. We cannot continue to make excuses for our schools. Whether they are elementary, secondary or post secondary we MUST demand excellence from our educational institutions. I suggest t

As of this posting, this deal is only good for another 9 hours. Soul Vegetarian East Groupon This is the restaurant at 75th & Indiana, and has been featured/mentioned several times here. Let us know if you got this offer, or if you think of any businesses that would benefit from it.

Education Forum Flyer For the Chicago Urban Education forum to take place at Kennedy-King College @ 740 W. 63rd St in the Great Hall - U building on Thursday, January 6, 2011 from 3:30 PM to 5:30 PM. Do you plan to be there? Hat-tip Ay-Sha !

View north on 63rd & Halsted in 1935 I really like this picture above. It was in this morning's post on Englewood from John R. Schmidt's Unknown Chicago . Every Sunday, the Chicago Now blog will quiz you on Chicago Trivia or will present pictures for you to guess where this picture was taken. This picture was from such a post on December 19th .

This article is referring to Roderick Sawyer who is the son of Eugene Sawyer, former Mayor and also former 6th Ward Alderman before he became mayor in 1987. That wasn't long after the death of Mayor Harold Washington Roderick Sawyer, son of Mr. Daley’s predecessor, Eugene Sawyer, has his eye on his father’s old City Council seat in the 6th Ward of the city’s South Side. He said he will need at least $150,000 to beat the incumbent, Alderman Freddrenna Lyle, and six other candidates. To help reach that benchmark, Mr. Sawyer said, he is seeking support from the Illinois Merchants Association and from Roland Burris, the former United States senator, whose legal defense fund included Mr. Sawyer, a lawyer, as a trustee. “I know that if I called him for advice, he’d give it to me,” Mr. Sawyer said of Mr. Burris, who joined Eugene Sawyer’s ward organization in the late 1970s. “Am I expecting a check from him? Yeah, I’m expecting a check from him. I’ll be honest with you, I don

Concerned Citizens of Chatham: Updated Worlee reports that Cassandra Goodrum Burton is on the ballot to run against Ald. Lyle for 6th Ward Alderman. Officially we now have 4 people running for Alderman in this election. That includes the Incumbent, Roderick Sawyer who will be the first name on the ballot for Alderman, and of course Richard Wooten. Brian Sleet and Burundi Davis still have recommendations pending against them and more hearings at that! So this objections process is still not over for them. I would like to refer you to the previous post to learn more about Ms. Goodrum Burton.

She talks about her plans if she was to win the Aldermanic seat for the 6th Ward. EDIT: I'm with her on the opportunity for business development on the site of the former Kennedy-King College Campus. That is a great opportunity for commercial development. It seems she's confident that she has beaten the petition challenges to her in this 32 second clip . Rulings have not been made for her however. And as for her campaign website she plugged in this video, it's time for an update or a redesign. Can't point anyone to a website that doesn't have much on it anyway. If nothing else just set up a blog here at Blogger . Free advice I promise. Campaign website @ http://www.goodrumburtonfor6thwardalderman.com/ Facebook @ http://www.facebook.com/pages/Cassandra-Goodrum-Burton/146469758732567 That 32 second clip was found via Early & Often .

Municipal elections are February 22, 2011. The last day to register to vote for the municipal elections is January 25, 2011. If you're uncertain about which ward you reside in refer to this page from the City of Chicago to find out which ward you reside in. This ward abuts the 20th, 5th, 8th, 9th, 21st, 17th, and 16th Wards. I'm sure there are some reading this blog from those particular wards. Info via Uptown Update .

From ChathamNOW According to the U.S. Census Bureau and the New York Times, Chatham has a 97% African-American, 1% white, and 1% Asian and 1% Hispanic as a community demographic.  I would like very much to verify these statistics since well ChathamNow failed to offer a link to these findings or at the very least cite the source other than saying this was from the US Census or the NY Times. YoChicago had a post up last week linking to a NY Times graphic that measures census tracts from around the country looking at race ethnicity, sexual orientation, housing prices, etc. This is based on census data.

A Sun-Times interview with Meeks, the Mayoral candidate. Here are some of the answers I do like from him: Q. Do you have business-recruitment techniques you’ve used here that you’d like to take citywide? A. We have the “Arise’’ program. People come to the church and propose start-up businesses. A panel of judges votes on the best presentation. The winner gets $5,000 to start a business. I’d like to see the city figure out a way to invest in start-up business. I’ve tried to work with the alderman to bring a simple thing to this neighborhood called a supermarket. I would like to use TIF [Tax Increment Financing] funds to make sure there is a grocery store in every neighborhood. I’m working with the general assembly to change the law so that revenues that exceed a certain amount in TIF accounts can be used for blighted communities. ... Q. What do you think of Daley declaring parts of downtown “blighted” to start TIFs there? A. Development downtown is good. Downto

District 299 : Deneen staffers who lost their jobs when CPS decided to do a turnaround of their school still got TAP funding in amounts ranging from $200 to $1400 per person. "KUDOS! To an outstanding staff who continued to persevere even after losing their battle against C.P.S. to stop the "turn around " of their school," writes Mary Stack. Been a while since we heard anything about Deneen since CPS decided to rid the school of most of its faculty. The image about is the full statement from Ms. Stack.

Concerned Citizens of Chatham reported that Bobby Joe Johnson has been removed from the ballot this morning. It has been ruled that Johnson has been removed from the ballot to run for Alderman of the 6th Ward. The ruling was that he failed to obtain a sufficient number of valid signatures to his petition. Almost the same situation he faced running for State Representative in the Democratic primary against the incument Andre Thapedi in 2010. Refer to this document at the Board of Elections. Other objections to other 6th Ward Aldermanic candidates are still pending.

I'm copying this from the Board of Elections . I have only allowed the case number, objector, candidate and either dates for next hearing or some type of ruling that has either occurred or eminent. 11-EB-ALD-059 | Denise Smith Cassandra | Goodrum Burton | 400 pm 12/15/10 11-EB-ALD-060 | Vinona Summers |  Bobby Joe Johnson | Recommendation pending 11-EB-ALD-067 | Vinona Summers | Sekum Walker | 400 pm 12/16/10 11-EB-ALD-068 | Denise Smith | Burundi Davis | 12:00 pm 12/20/10 11-EB-ALD-069 | Denise Smith | Brian E. Sleet | 12:00 pm 12/17/10 11-EB-ALD-298 | Delton J. Pierce | Burundi Davis | 12:00 pm 12/20/10 11-EB-ALD-299 | Delton Pierce | Sekum Walker | Recommendation pending 11-EB-ALD-303 | Delton J. Pierce | Cassandra Goodrum-Burton | Recommendation Pending 11-EB-ALD-307 | Delton Pierce | Bobby Joe Johnson | Recommendation pending Those cases that are dated will take place at the Conference Room on the Lower Level 69 E. Washington Blvd in the building where the Chicago Bo

Curtis Black : The conservative contention that ShoreBank was politically favored , with connections to Presidents Clinton and Obama among others, might have been rendered moot when the FDIC closed the bank in August.  But Fernholz notes “a new conservative conspiracy theory” – “regulators were letting the FDIC’s insurance fund absorb losses so that the social experiment could start anew.” In fact the consoritum of investors who formed Urban Partnership Bank was tagged to purchase the bank’s assets only after hundreds of banks passed on the same opportunity.  And the new operation will share ShoreBank’s losses with the FDIC, which would have been on the hook for the entire bill otherwise. Now “ShoreBank’s experience is being taken as a call to end government support for community lenders , as though encouraging credit access in underserved communities is the moral equivalent of bailing out Wall Street’s megabanks,” says Fernholz.  (This echoes the contention that the C

Consider this a bit of an open blog open to many different ranges of opinion on this. I can understand the more fiscal angle to this as many believe that Aldermen get a lot of money in terms of salary (especially if this elected office is considered a part-time job), also they get money to hire staff in addition to an allowance to run their offices. Also consider this in terms of other major cities in this nation courtesy of the Better Government Association (BGA): According to the US Census Bureau, Chicago’s population reached 2.8 million in 2009. The City is broken down into 50 districts, or wards, each with its own alderman to represent it in City Council. That gives each alderman roughly 57,000 constituents to represent. In contrast, New York City has 51 City Council members, and each of those represent over 164,000 constituents. Los Angeles City Council members are only 15 in number, representing over 250,000 constituents each. Below the remainder of this quote is a char

I got some work to do now, since I never shoveled up the recent snowfall and we're being pelted with snow today as well. I share this article from Active Transport Alliance. To shovel up the snow on your sidewalk makes you a good neighbor. So I will do my part to be a good neighbor. Also flashback to 2007, a message from Craig Gernhardt, The Broken Heart of Roger's Park .

Here are the the upcoming objections for 6th ward aldermanic candidates. It can be found here from the Chicago Board of Elections. The list includes the following info: Case Number (Links do not include recapitulation sheets) Objector(s) Candidate Office Ward/City Hearing Time Location Hearing Officer ========= 11-EB-ALD-059 Denise Smith Cassandra Goodrum Burton Alderman 6th Ward 400 pm 12/15/10 Building’s Lower Level Conf. Room Frank A. Tedesso ------- 11-EB-ALD-060 Vinona Summers Bobby Joe Johnson Alderman 6th Ward 500 pm 12/13/10 Building’s Lower Level Conf. Room Frank A. Tedesso -------    11-EB-ALD-067 Vinona Summers Sekum Walker Alderman 6th Ward 400 pm 12/16/10 Building’s Lower Level Conf. Room Frank A. Tedesso ------- 11-EB-ALD-068 Denise Smith Burundi Davis Alderman 6th Ward 400 pm 12/13/10 Building’s Lower Level Conf. Room Frank A. Tedesso ------- 11-EB-ALD-069 Denise Smith Brian E. Sleet Alderman 6th Ward

Chatham Center at 79th and Cottage Grove Chatham Center pictured above you might have seen a couple of posts on this building during the time this blog has been publishing. This Archived News post from June 2009 takes an old news article about its re-opening back in 1986. You may have also seen a post that mentioned this building in a scan from the book Hands on Chicago . Thanks to Lee Bey he alerts us to "an overlooked but dazzling collection of terra cotta-clad buildings on and around 79th & Cottage Grove and 75th & Cottage Grove." He provides us with a document from the City of Chicago on the Chatham Greater Grand Crossing Commercial District. The pic of the Chatham Center comes from that document which is provided here on the blog near the end of this post.

News from the CTA Tattler and at that some of these routes are those that run through the 6th Ward. 3 King Drive 4 Cottage Grove 34 South Michigan  67 67th/69th/71st 79 79th  87 87th   95E 93rd/95th 103 West 103rd 111 Pullman/111th/115th  119 Michigan/119th   You can find more information about these schedule changes at the CTA's website !

Just provided to the blog by Roseland Heights Parks and Recreation Committee Chairman C. Tucker: The Chicago Park District has plans to renovate the track behind Harlan High School by replacing the center area grass with artificial turf. There was an Abbott Park Artificial Turf Meeting on Nov. 30 at 6:00pm in Abbott Park. Community residents, RHCA Parks Committee members, Abbott Park Advisory Council members, Harlan's Principle Evens, Alderman Lyle, 6th ward candidate Sawyer & campaign workers met with spoke person (Mr. Lang...I think) about The Chicago Park District plans to renovate the track behind Harlan High School. NO CPD officials were there. Here is what we found out: 1. According to the spoke person who headed the hearing on artificial grass, the Council and residents need to say Yes to what is being proposed – the speaker said if we say no the artificial grass will not be used. 2. There is NO public money being used for this project! It is all being done

In this video Sawyer, candidate for 6th Ward Alderman in 2011, is talking more about issues affecting the whole city. He does talk a little about the religious institutions in our ward. In addition he talks about serving with the Chatham/Avalon Park Community Council, Park Manor Neighbors, and the LSC at McDade Classical School. Other than that not enough quotes on what is going on in our neighborhoods. Although I'm sure many people appreciate his thoughts on the issues facing the city as a whole.

Courtesy of Concerned Citizens of Chatham . What you see listed area the case numbers, the objector, and the candidate. Below those are the hearing time and the reason for the objection. 11-EB-ALD 303 Delton Pierce Cassandra Goodrum Burton Hearing Time 12/6/2010 11:00am - Discrepant Signatures 11-EB-ALD 307 Delton Pierce Bobby Joe Johnson Hearing Time 12/6/2010 11:30am - Discrepant Signatures 11-EB-ALD 299 Delton Pierce Sekum Walker Hearing Time- 12/6/2010 12:00pm - Voter Registration address does not match petition address 11-EB-ALD 068 Delton Pierce Burundi Davis Hearing Time-12/6/2010 12:30pm- Delinquent Parking Fines 11-EB_ALD 309 Delton Pierce Brian E. Sleet Hearing Time-12/6/2010 1:45pm- Discrepant Signatures When there are rulings, be sure to check back here. And if there are future hearings we will inform you here as well. You can check out this schedule courtesy of the Chicago Board of Elections . You can also check out this document from the Board of Elect

I posted this video on the FB page and mentioned in passing in a post Saturday night. This video not only shows how Harlan Community Academy utilize CTA Bus Tracker for the benefit of their students. There are quite a few shots of the outside community as well of course with shots of arriving and departing CTA Buses.vi Also this is just an excuse to post links to a pair of related posts about a 2001 article from Catalyst: "From excellence to exodus, Harlan strives for rebirth". Links posted below are crossposts from my other blog: From excellence to exodus, Harlan strives for rebirth Part 1 From excellence to exodus, Harlan strives for rebirth Part 2  BTW, part two was noticed by YoChicago on their Weekend feed where they share interesting articles from the bloggosphere and the media.

I had posted part one to this back in September, so expect me to bump that post up in case you have yet to see it. I figured this was an appropriate time since this morning I saw that Harlan was featured in an episode of Connections , a TV program that talks about what goes on at CTA. Basically it was about Harlan utilizing CTA Bus Tracker for the benefit of their students. I should post it alone as it provides shots of what many who live along South Michigan Avenue are very familiar with especially when school is in session and when school is out for the day. In any event enjoy the rest of this article. It was originally posted at It's My Mind last year as well. So Part 2 is supposed to be about leadership. I mentioned that one of my classmates had his two cents about our principal during our time there. Of course let me preferace that by saying he doesn't blame her for everything and nor would I for that matter. Although in that position well the turnaround either

This post was actually posted at my blog It's My Mind on July 5, 2009. Since I've had to bump up a post from last month twice because people were continuing to comment in that thread, I decided this post was appropriate. Especially since school starts at Harlan today! The article excerpted here is from December of 2001. Also note this article was linked in a post here once before . I think you would like that post! :) Yesterday, I decided to peruse the home page of my high school alma mater, Harlan Community Academy . For the most part I keep it vague about where I went to school perhaps save for one time. I blogged a story in 2005 about a shooting that took place within the school. It caused me to post a couple of blogs at The Sixth Ward about Harlan as they have a NING group, a blog, and even a Twitter account. Awesome news I thought, as I found those thru their compilation of links , more specifically their " in the news " links, an article from the Dec. 2

Watch live streaming video from pccnet at livestream.com This PCC Community Newtork Forum video via Concerned Citizens of Chatham is of 6th Ward Aldermanic candidate Richard Wooten who talks a lot about his background as not only a Chicago Police Officer, but as a minister as well. He makes quite a few comments about what he sees in our community. Some quotes of note: "If we continue to be afraid of our young people, they will never learn how to be responsible or how to be respectful" "The incumbent has been in office for a little over 10 years. And in 10 years our community has remained pretty much the same. And we understand that we need to grow as a community. We're not Lincoln Park, OK, but we should have the same resources as Lincoln Park. We should be able to function the same as Lincoln Park." "We have a park in our community, Abbott Park, that been deteriorated. Bottomed out almost, you know, but we don't have the resources that ha

Chicago News Coop : The frequency of beat community meetings—a staple of Chicago’s community policing program since it was launched in 1993 to improve communication between police and residents—will be cut in many areas of the city from every month to every other month starting the first of the year, Ron Holt , the director of the CAPS program, told the Chicago News Cooperative Tuesday. Holt said most of the city’s police districts simply don’t have enough officers available to hold monthly meetings in each of their beats. The scheduling will vary by district depending on available staffing, he said. Holt said he was in a meeting and would provide more information later but did not respond to follow-up calls. City budget constraints have limited police hiring in recent years, leading to a major reduction in the number of officers and a fierce political debate about how they should be deployed. To help cope with the drop, Holt and Mayor Richard M. Daley announced in Sept

To 6th Ward Aldermanic challengers. Worlee had posted over at Concerned Citizens of Chatham the names of the challengers to the petitions of five Aldermanic candidates. Apparently the Chicago Board of Elections updated their master list not long after I posted the most recent blog article late last night. I would like to have this information on our 2011 page, however, here are those 6th Ward candidates who have objections to their petitions. Listed below are case numbers, objector, and the candidate. 11-EB-ALD 059 | Denise Smith | Cassandra Goodrum Burton 11-EB-ALD 303 | Delton Pierce | Cassandra Goodrum Burton 11-EB-ALD 060 | Vinona Summers | Bobby Joe Johnson 11-EB-ALD 307 | Delton Pierce | Bobby Joe Johnson  11-EB-ALD 067 | Vinona Summers | Sekum Walker  11-EB-ALD 299 | Delton Pierce | Sekum Walker  11-EB-ALD 068 | Denise Smith | Burundi Davis  11-EB-ALD 068 | Delton Pierce | Burundi Davis 11-EB-ALD 069 | Denise Smith | Brian E. Sleet 11-EB_ALD 309 | Delton Pierce | Bri