I've been very keen on doing a photo essay taking aim at the 9th ward. Alas I'm only armed with a camera-phone at this point, but it's something worth doing. Perhaps select photos could be posted to this blog's instagram in addition to being posted here. The goal is to document those areas that could use some investment on that part of town. The vacant lots and storefronts for example. Another possible project to undertake with this project is the potential in the Chatham community as well. I want to look at the site of the proposed Hedgeman hotel near 76th & State Street for example. The purpose there may not be whether or not this is a great location for a hotel. Indeed it could be a matter of deciding what is a good vision for this area. Main goal is to document the community as it is today and hopefully start a discuss as to how we want the community to look in the next few years. We can always come back and see how things have changed in the future.

DNA Info reported on a recent Resident Association of Greater Englewood meeting who had the featured guest Walter Robb who is the Co-CEO of Whole Foods Market. A new Whole Foods store is coming in August 2016 to the corner of 63rd & Halsted and with it comes the new community liason who was just brought on in her capacity. A special guest was introduced at the meeting: in July, the company said they were seeking a community liaison, someone who knows the community and is passionate about it. Cecile De Mello was offered the job last week. She said she’s “honored, overwhelmed and excited.” She plans to work on creating meetings, focus groups and more, anything to connect the community to the store, she said. And then the number of jobs expected to be created. In addition to a Starbuck's coming to the future Englewood Square shopping center there will also be a Chipotle: The store will create 80-90 jobs, said Michael Bashaw, Whole Foods Market Midwest Regional presiden

The initial hearing had been held recently at City Hall an update provided by a Greater Chatham Alliance e-mail blast. Update on the 76th State Street Hotel Zoning Hearing meeting held on Friday, September 18t at City Hall. The zoning hearing on the hotel was continued until: December 18th at 2:00 p.m. in City Hall, room 200 . This request was officially made to the zoning board by Alderman Sawyer. The Alderman wants the developer to provide more documents and information about his proposed hotel, which is rumored to be a franchise or branded hotel. According to Alderman Sawyer, he has not received any new, or updated presentations regarding Mr. Hedgeman’s hotel proposal. The Alderman said at the zoning meeting that he was not opposed to a hotel; but , he added, the hotel had to be a branded franchise (I.e., Holiday Inn, Best Western, Marriott, Ramada, La Quinta or Embassy Suites for example). Approximately 35 to 40 people from the community were present. At the next zoning

What is going on at that bank? Via Crain's : The president of Seaway Bank & Trust has departed barely a year after he succeeded Chicago's longest-tenured bank CEO as top executive at Chicago's largest African-American-owned lender. In a release, the bank gave no reason for the exit of Darrell Jackson, who took over at Seaway Aug. 1, 2014, after nearly two decades at Chicago-based Northern Trust. Veranda Dickens, chair of the bank's executive committee, is assuming Jackson's duties while she leads a search committee to find a permanent replacement for him. “We are grateful to Darrell for his contributions to our organization,” she said in a release. “His experience and presence have been assets to our team, and we wish him well in his future endeavors.” Jackson's departure marks yet more uncertainty for Seaway, which has struggled to find its footing after two acquisitions of failed banks in Milwaukee and the western suburbs resulted in losses. Dickens t

Via an e-mail blast from Ald. Anthony Beale: Please Join Us! 9th Ward Alderman Anthony A. Beale and City Department Representatives present a 9th Ward Community Meeting Tuesday, September 22, 2015 6:30 - 7:30 p.m. Pullman Presbyterian Church 550 East 103rd Street Chicago, Illinois 60628 9th Ward Alderman Anthony A. Beale 34 East 112th Place Chicago, Illinois 60628 773.785.1100 

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

Rendering of Hedgeman's Hotel Forgot to note this. A zoning hearing is coming up on September 18th this Friday regarding that proposed hotel near 76th & State Streets. Information below is from a Greater Chatham Alliance e-mail blast: Chatham and other 6th Ward Neighbors: First of all, we are sorry to report that Mr. Hedgeman, the developer for the 7600 S. State street hotel site, has gotten a zoning hearing meeting scheduled. You know what this means. WE BETTER HAVE 50 OR MORE FOLKS THERE TO SPEAK UP ABOUT IT! Don't come--- or urge your neighbors to attend-- then don't whine if the developer pushes that hotel through! Here is the zoning meeting info: Zoning Board of Appeals Public Hearing for Hotel Proposal of 90 rooms, 5 stories tall and 80 parking spaces 7621-7639 S. State Street Friday, September 18, 2015 9 a.m. SHARP City Hall, 121 N. LaSalle Street Room 200 Dial 311 if you have questions on where to park For additional background to this ho

 Via the office of Alderman Anthony Beale 9th Ward Senior Resource Fair Thursday, September 17, 2015 10:00 am - 1:00 pm Victory Center of Roseland 10450 S Michigan Ave. 9th Ward Anthony A. Beale 34 East 112th Place Chicago, Illinois 60628 773.785.1100 Refer to flyer below for more information as to who the service providers are.

This event is expected to take place on Monday, Sept. 28, 2014 at the US Bank Building 4th Floor at 815 W 63rd St or 63rd & Halsted). Here there is a seminar for home energy assistance programs, LIHEAP, and other cost saving measures from ComEd, People's Gas, or CEDA representatives. Refer to flyer below for more details.

I first caught wind of this program when it was first unveiled in the  Englewood  neighborhood. Now finally this program has expanded to the Roseland & Pullman communities. Chicago's Large Lots program, in which city residents can apply to buy designated vacant lots in their neighborhoods for $1, is expanding to the Roseland and Pullman neighborhoods, Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced Friday. Applications for 286 lots in Roseland and 20 lots in Pullman will be accepted, beginning Tuesday through Oct. 31. The Large Lots Program is open to individuals and nonprofits (like block clubs) that own property on the same block as city-owned vacant residential lots. The city determines which lots to put up for sale after seeking input from neighbors and aldermen. Buyers must agree to maintain the lot and pay property taxes, which typically run a few hundred dollars a year. If the lot is not adjacent to the buyer's property, it must be fenced, which helps deter criminals. Buyers

Sometime before the 2011 municipal elections an earlier iteration of the Clout Wiki was shared on the 1n73rw3bs to the delight of Chicago political geeks such as myself. For many years, it was online with no updates other than the current officer holders when it was first published then eventually went offline. Our friends at Aldertrack has unveiled a new version with the current players of Chicago politics especially those elected this year. Here's hoping they will continue to update for years go come. In addition they have some changes to make such as 21st ward Ald. Howard Brookins is no longer chairman of the City Council Black Caucus. That distinction now goes to 6th ward Alderman Roderick Sawyer. Just one example amongst many to be sure. Now I wonder who ran the earlier Clout Wiki! UPDATE: The earlier version of the Clout Wiki was produced by Aldertrack's Mike Fourcher who conversely is also responsible for the current iteration of it. As per the comment you se

Via the office of State Representative Elgie Sims on Sept. 19, 2015. Join State Representative Elgie R. Sims, Jr. along with State Senator Donne E. Trotter and Cook County Stanley Moore for the annual Community Shred Day and Open House! Saturday, September 19, 2015 9:00 am - 12:00 pm 8658 S. Cottage Grove, Suite 404 Chicago, IL 60619. Help protect yourself from identity theft by safely disposing of documents. Flu shots available. If you have any questions please don't hesitate to contact us at our office at (773) 783-8800. Don't forget about the Purnell Silas College Expo that is also being held next Saturday. Flyer for the district shred day and open house is below.

Coming on Saturday, September 19, 2015 at Tuley Park at 90th & King Drive. One place where our young people can decide where they may choose to further their education. This is an annual event hosted by the Chesterfield Community Council . It's something we don't often advertise enough, but is very important.

Sorry for this last minute post, but I was literally at the Whitney Young Library, 7901 S. King Drive, just a few minutes ago. Gerald Levert of the Ojays will be at the library tonight at 6pm for a book signing of I Got Your Back.. I saw the signs, as well as informed by library personnel, that Gerald Levert of the Ojays would be at the Library THIS evening at 6pm for a book signing. This event was just scheduled yesterday, so they staff had little time to publicize it. (It's not even on the Chicago Public Library main website!) If anyone can go, please take photos. We would be happy to post them. Again, apologies for the lack of details...I just found out about it, but need to run off. Hope someone can make it!

Stony Island Arts Bank 68th & Stony Island by Zbigniew Bzdak, Chicago Tribune One of the cultural things that I would like to see more of in our communities. How many of us would support such a project and when it's done come visit? The last time Theaster Gates walked me through the abandoned bank at East 68th Street and South Stony Island Avenue, water dripped from the ceiling, clouds wafted over a hole in the roof, and shards of glass and scraps of plaster crunched under his feet. The 42-year-old Chicago artist will debut his $4.5 million renovation of the bank — which he has transformed into a library and cultural center — on Oct. 3, the opening day of the city's first architectural biennial. That the city's cultural elite will be drawn about 9 miles south of the Loop into a building once scheduled for demolition speaks to Gates' lofty position in the contemporary art world. It also speaks to his commitment to the South Side, even as Manhattan and Europe

Unfortunately, this is the unofficial last day of summer and I can't believe it went by so quick. Well now we have next summer to look forward to as the weather changes and eventually time will go back an hour in the near future. BTW, I want to ask I've decided that it's time to update any possible events on our calendar. It might be time to start a new system where people can add dates. That being said send an e-mail to blog @ thesixthward.us if you want to share any future events and we will be sure to pass the word. I sincerely hope you all have a safe and happy Labor Day. Hopefully those grills are ready to go for one last time this summer.

When you speak of high rise apartment buildings in Chatham the conversation ends abruptly. Many will tell you that there are zoning laws that do not permit high rises. Some base there answer on past events as when CHA wanted to build high rises on land that includes the 87th Cottage mall and Chatham Co-ops in the 50's and were denied. Others base their answer that past residential zoning ordinances had restrictions on height. The fact is that many of these restrictions have been relaxed over the years to allow projects in the best interest of the community to move forward(i.e. Senior building next to Pirie). While there are still some zoning restrictions for some areas, the restrictions do not include the entire community. The conversation is not new as developers have made proposals in the past but none were warmly received and did not move forward. The conversation is necessary because current trends indicate that young professionals are not as interested in single family ho

Wow, people really don't like Mayor Rahm Emanuel. Indeed in spite of this he got re-elected in the April run-off. Via Chicagoist : There was no shortage of protestors at Monday night's public city budget meeting but this video of a man somberly refusing to shake Mayor Rahm Emanuel's hand stood out. The man who rebuffed Emanuel is Isaac Krantz-Perlman, a special education classroom assistant at Hanson Park Elementary School and a member of the Chicago Teacher's Union, according to In These Times . When Emanuel approached Krantz-Perlman, the teacher said, "I don't want to shake your hand," before quickly looking down at his phone. "I think every time he walks around shaking the hands of the people whose lives he is intentionally trying to ruin, he is wondering how soon he can wash the working-class sweat and grease off his hands," Krantz-Perlman said to In These Times. "He was probably happy he had one less person's hand to shake.