87th & Dan Ryan donation box broken!

The clothes donation box at 87th & The Dan Ryan has been vandalized!!!. 

As of Sunday afternoon at 5pm, these pictures were the scene. This donation box is on the 8800 block of Lafayette, near Sistar Beauty at the Chicago Ridge Mall.

The door was busted open, and clothes and other items (including a  computer monitor) were strewn about.


This is a very sad situation, and adds to the negative perception about our community.

This mall is also under fire for potentially hosting a Chuck E. Cheese, who some in the community are strongly against.

There is a number, 1-800-264-8560, which is listed on the box.  

We will try to call the phone number to report it, but please feel free to make your own calls, and post the results in our comments section. 

Join The Sixth Ward Blog to see The Hobbit!

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Join The Sixth Ward blog as we celebrate the birthdays of Levois and JP! The Hobbit's opening night is actually on our birthdays (December 14).


We will make a special presentation 15 minutes before the movie starts.  So buy tickets for the show at the box office, but make sure you are at the theater 1/2 hour before show time!

We will have a table where we will will share info on the blog. Please stop by BEFORE the show and say hi!

The price of the ticket is the same as normal, $9.50. 

Chatham 14 does NOT do online ticketing...however you can buy tickets at the box office up to 1 week before showtime!


We hope to see you there!

e-mail us at blog (at) thesixthward.us to let us know you are coming

Press Relase: ICE Chatham to re-open this Friday

Thanks to Leslie Honore and Greater Chatham Alliance, who passed on this press release.

Also, WBEZ (Chicago Public Radio) released an in-depth story on ICE Theater this afternoon, which included a mention that there would be an official statement either today or tomorrow (No link to that story was available. It aired Tuesday at ~ 6:22pm). Here is that official statement:

ICE Theaters EVICTED from Chatham!

(see bottom of post for updates)   When stopping by the ICE Theaters in Chatham this evening, we discovered a neon green sign from the Cook County Sheriff's office that the ICE Theater was evicted form the building. According to the sign, this happened TODAY (Friday, October 19), some time just before the movies were about to begin.

There were addtional yellow signs which stated that the closure was temporary and would open soon. These were signs that looked like they were printed from a computer, which may indicate an actual attempt to re-open (as opposed to handwritten signs which are hastily put up to give hope to surprised customers).

Looking at the ICE Theater Facebook page, an entry was posted by ICE as of 12 noon , promoting the Alex Cross movie. However, a patron also wrote on the Facebook page that she went to the 12:30pm showing of that same movie, and the doors were closed. People who had purchased tickets in advance had no idea that they theater was closed, and neither did a busful of seniors.

We do not know if the ICE Theater in Lawndale is also closed, or who will be taking over the theater and at what time. We will attempt to do research (or pass it on to full time journalists) to find out what is happening, or has happened with Donzell & Alisa Starks, co-owners of ICE Development, L.L.C. (ICE Theaters is, or perhaps was, an African-American owned theater). We also do not know who currently owns the building (and thus have the right to evict ICE Development).

As of 6pm, there were no news stories from the Chicago Tribune's Chicago Breaking News site.

In January 2011, we re-posted here an entry Worlee through his Concerned Citizens of Chatham blog wrote about Stonehenge Capital Company financing $10 million to help re-open the Lawndale Theater, as well as renovations for Chatham. 

ICE Parking lot as of 5pm. There was security patrol car, as well as a Chicago Police car (on the side, out of range of this photo), and several cars who stopped by the see what happened as they were attempting to see a movie. )

UPDATE 1:
A phone call to the theater's main phone number (773-892-3204) showed a few things:

• In going to the Chatham section, and pressing the number for showtimes, a message simply said "The Theater is closed"
• In going to the Lawndale section, the schedule given was for LAST week's schedule.

Also, a search with the Cook County Recorder of Deeds showed several mortgages taken out.


UPDATE 2:
The Chicago Sun Times posted a story as of 9:33pm (and updated ~ 10:17pm)  regarding the closure in Chatham, but noted that the Lawndale facility was still in operation.

UPDATE 3:
We emailed the President of Inner City Entertainment, Mrs. Alisha Starks about the status of Chatham 14 and she responded that the closure is the result of an internal dispute between the owners Mr and Mrs. Donzell and Alisha Starks and Mr. Michael Silver.

UPDATE 4:
On Tuesday, we posted the official press release on the resolution to this matter.