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?

West Chesterfield moves up on leader board State Farm neighborhood assist

From The Chicago Neighborhoods

We got an e-mail recently from West Chesterfield's Michael LaFargue

• THANK those who have voted! and ask PLEASE VOTE TODAY, TOMORROW, THURSDAY and FRIDAY!
  
  UPDATE!
  We have moved up on the Leader Board to #145. We need to be at #40.
  
  VOTE:
  GO TO: www.neighborhoodassist.com
  SIGN UP: name, personal email…
  SEARCH: type in West Chesterfield
  VOTE: Today *
  VOTE: Daily **
  
  Please help the West Chesterfield Community Association Inc. win a $25,000 State Farm "Safety" Surveillance Camera Grant!
  
  Only the "The forty (40) Causes earning the highest number of votes by 11:59:59 P.M. ET, Friday, August 25, 2017 will be designated the winners"

Also there was a press release attached to this e-mail which includes reference to Cook County Judge Raymond Myles who had been murdered this past spring. The private surveillance camera network of West Chesterfield was instrumental in capturing his killers.

Chicago Stars Ep. 4 - Century of Progress // MBMHMC tv

[VIDEO] Unfotunately Mr. Jahmal Cole didn't go to the area where the 1933 Century of Progress Fair was held which was Northerly Island/Adler Planetarium/former Meigs Field. According to Cole anything built for the fair over 80 years ago is no longer standing. It's still recorded as the fourth star on Chicago's flag.

In this edition Cole pays a visit to the predominantly latino Little Village neighborhood. He purchases donuts from La Central Bakery and ask customers what the fourth star on the Chicago flag represents.

Another message from this video is basically how to break down the segregation in Chicago. Our city basically is divided into thirds between latinos, Blacks, and whites. And regardless if we cluster on the south, north or west sides of towns we all reside in this great city. The best ideas come when people of diverse backgrounds come together and share ideas.

Is this something we've failed to do in Chicago in recent years? Perhaps through this little project Cole could bridge the gap between different communities of Chicago. He says shop local and as he does in most of his videos he visits local eateries.

In the meanwhile it's time to buy myself a shirt. And you all should consider doing the same. His activities is far more than interacting with Chicago residents or even tourists. Cole has also helped innercity teens leave their neighborhoods and explore the many communities and cultures that exist in our fair city. Expand their horizons and that's certainly something we can support.

Woodlawn - 2016 Curbed Cup champs

After the New Years break over at Curbed Chicago and some voting irregularity Woodlawn has won the Curbed Cup in 2016. In 2015 another south side community Pullman won the Curbed Cup.

So what's going on in Woodlawn that has caught Curbed's attention. This is from yesterday's post:

This new year is going to be an important one for the Woodlawn community. It seems like 2015 and 2016 were the years that really set a few major things in motion, but the neighborhood will really begin to see the fruits of these projects pay off in the coming years. In 2015, the neighborhood’s historic Shrine of Christ the King cathedral designed by Henry J. Schlacks burned down in a horrific blaze which left the church’s future in limbo. However, the community pulled together to save the historic building and work is underway to restore it.

 ...
However, the biggest news in Woodlawn in the last year has been about the future Obama Presidential Center. The new facility is planned for a section of Jackson Park which faces the Woodlawn community. It will be designed by the famous husband and wife architects Tod Williams and Billie Tsien and is expected to cost anywhere from $500 million up to $1 billion. The Obama Presidential Center is a major investment that will not only attract visitors to the community, but it help create new permanent jobs, and is expected to spur economic growth and new development activity throughout the South Side.

Congratulations to Woodlawn and may greater growth happen in that neighborhood. A future post I would like to reiterate those communities who I hope will place in future Curbed Cups. There was a similar post written about this last year.

October 2015 photos along 103rd Street

I realized that I failed to what I set out to do a few months ago. I wanted to do a photo essay and basically I started with taking some photos along 103rd Street. This was back in October and although I shared a few pics back then there were than that in my photo library.

For example, I have some pics taken east of King Drive on 103rd Street.

103rd & Rhodes

The pic above I knew at one time as the offices of Congressman Mel Reynolds. In 1995 he was caught up in a sex scandal with an underaged girl and was forced to resign. Unfortunately this property is now vacant and looking for a use since the time of Reynold's having his congressional offices here.

Across the street is a former dry cleaners. It's unclear when this particular building became vacant. Across the street from here is this.

103rd Street between Rhodes and St. Lawrence

In a different time this property had once been home to a McDonald's. That store eventually closed down and was ultimately demolished a with a church built instead.

Beyond this church and the former dry cleaners is this vacant lot.

103rd Street between Rhodes & St. Lawrence

I see this as potention for this part of 103rd and one of many undeveloped lots ready for the right development. To be sure 103rd is largely a commercial corridor and is quite walkable. With the right development it could be a very vibrant corridor.

Of course this is only an example of some of the pics I took in October 2016. I hope to share more of them in the future. And apologies for not sharing these much sooner. My goal is hopefully to come up with some ideas perhaps this part of town could use some bold vision and why not.

Proposed photo essay project

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.

BTW, I hope to cross-post some photo essays to the Shedd School blog as well.

LSC election flyer and some thoughts on education...

Monday and Tuesday are days for LSC Elections. Monday was LSC election for elementary schools and Tuesday are such days for the high schools. 

It was my intention to post the above flyer over the weekend unfortunately it seems I kept running into a snag with regards to posting it online whether through Blogger or the FB page. Anyway if you're living at least in the Roseland Heights or West Chesterfield area you may have found this in your screendoors or mailboxes. Sharon Banks-Pincham represents the community on the LSCs for both Gillespie Elementary and Harlan Community Academy.

Hopefully you were able to be informed of the LSC elections on Monday and were able to vote. Hopefully you're able to vote on Tuesday for LSC members at your local high schools.

Speaking of education, on Monday Rich Miller of the Capitol Fax ranted about the state of education in Illinois. Many of us are concerned about the state of education in Chicago especially for the K-12 set. So he starts out with comparing charter schools with the neighborhood public schools and states:

2013: Year in review

Looking back at the year that was and looking forward to the year that will be.

2013 started off with a special election for Jesse Jackson's old congressional seat. He had resigned after his re-election in 2012 as a result of a federal investigation into his campaign finances. Jackson later pled guilty and sentenced to 30 months in prison and is currently serving his sentence.

BTW, his wife  former 7th Ward Alderman Sandi Jackson also plead guilty to federal charges involving her husband's campaign finances and is expected to serve her sentence of one year after Jesse Jr. completes his sentence. She also had resigned from her Chicago City Council seat.

In connection with that, State Senator Donne Trotter was one of the early aspirants to succeed Jesse Jr. in the 2013 special election until he had been charged with having a gun at O'Hare. One of our more popular postings of the year showed that he took a plea deal in connection with this incident. Before the plea deal he was forced to drop out of the 2nd Congressional district race that was ultimately won by Robin Kelly.

There were some other changes to the political scene on this part of town. Jesse Jr. and his wife Sandi weren't the only ones to go down thanks to federal charges. Former Alderman and Cook County Commissioner Bill Beavers vacated his office as a result of a guilty verdict for tax evasion in federal court. He was ultimately replaced by current Commissioner Stanley Moore.

If you read Worlee's post over at Concerned Citizen's of Chatham we see that there were some success stories in Chatham in 2013. New businesses opened such as Louis Groceries & Fleck's Coffee and also a new garden at 82nd & King Drive as well as Ruggles School being taken off probation. However there were still some negatives such as some new businesses not surviving and continuing conflict among the community organizations.

Also the Red Line underwent not only a reconstruction but a makeover as well. Many stations along the Dan Ryan branch of the Red Line got new elevators for the handicapped. It was closed between May and October of 2013 with promises of faster and more reliable service. During those five months affected Red Line passengers took advantage of free shuttle buses to trains at Garfield on the CTA Green Line. That in addition to a .50 cent fare discount for bus rides south of 63rd Street. In addition to the closure and reopening of the CTA Red Line we're looking forward to 2014 is the start of the reconstruction of the 95th Street terminal which will remain open for its duration!

Also with 2012 ending at the Chatham 14 with the original owners ICE Theaters being unceremoniously evicted. 2013 started with our neighborhood movie house under new ownership and management. Many of the people who worked there and many in our communities are familiar with remain employed there. Over the holiday season they played host to a coat drive and a food/toy drive. Also any movie played there are now viewed in digital projection.

Over in Englewood, we've heard about Kusanya Cafe over the years and it's finally open for business. Also Whole Foods Market is expected to open in 2016 at the corner of 63rd & Halsted. The public opinion is basically anywhere from concern over the "dreaded G word" or how this could be a positive especially a new place to shop or more jobs. Still there were certainly concerns over whether or not Englewood residents can afford to shop there although the current plans are to sell items that are affordable at that location.

Also let's not forget the fight over a railyard expansion in Englewood. Many were active in fighting Norfolk Southern Railroad's attempt to buy off the many property owners in the area they sought to expand their railyard. Ultimately after some apparent concessions, the project was approved by the Chicago Plan Commission.

Speaking of retail, there's a new Walmart Supercenter in Chicago. It opened in the Pullman neighborhood in September. At the last minute direct bus service was implemented into the shopping center where the Walmart resides.

In any event, what shall we look forward to as we enter into the year 2014 here on the south side of Chicago. Also any stories you think we should add to the stories of the year 2013?

YoChicago: Price risks in buying into third-tier neighborhoods

Late last month I posted about a foreclosure rehab for sale in Chatham. Then I see Joe Zekas' post at YoChicago discussing the four-tiers of Chicago neighborhoods:

The first tier consists of the neighborhoods that have long been stable, sought-after and are either near the lakefront or far from it with good public or parochial schools, e.g. Lincoln Park and Edison Park.

The second tier includes neighborhoods that have changed rapidly in the last 20 years and have become trendy places to live, e.g. Bucktown, Lincoln Square and Andersonville.

The third-tier neighborhoods are where people are willing to gamble on a near-term (5 years or less) advance to second-tier status, with a corresponding increase in livability and, perhaps, some price appreciation.

Fourth-tier neighborhoods, which include far too much of Chicago, are hardscrabble places where people only move when they either can’t afford a better place or moving to one would take them out of their personal comfort zone.

Of course there is more to it than that. Zekas especially focuses on buying into third-tier neighborhoods. No matter how to slice it real-estate is a risk. One must buy property where they can afford it and then hope that some money can be made. It makes you wonder what it takes for a third-tier neighborhoods into a second-tier neighborhood.

Now I know about brought up the house for sale in Chatham. I really did want to ask where does a neighborhood like Chatham lie, but as stated in that earlier posting here it still worth investing in real estate in that neighborhood.

October 6th Ward Neighborhood Meetings

Courtesy of Concerned Citizens of Chatham, but I added another scheduled neighborhood meeting to the listing here.

• West Chesterfield Community Association
  Saturday, October 8, 2012 @ 10am
  West Chesterfield Community Fieldhouse
  9351 S Michigan 

• Park Manor Neighbors Community Council
  Monday, October 1, 2012
  St. Columbanus (Glass House)
  317 E. 71st

• Chatham Avalon Park Community Council
  Monday, October 8, 2012 @ 6:30 to 8:30 pm
  Chatham Avalon Church of Christ
  8601 S. State Street

• Greater Chatham Alliance Community Organization
  Saturday, October 13, 2012 @ 11:00 am to 1:30 pm
  St. James Lutheran Church
  8001 S. Michigan

• Roseland Heights Community Association
  Tuesday, October 23, 2012 @ 7:00 PM
  Temple of Glory
  311 E. 95th Street